Chapter 35: Carefree Summer Days

I love this photo of Barb and Larry.  An angelic Barb stares intently, solemnly into the camera, looking as though her mind has been transported to a faraway place.  A focused Larry seems to be making an adjustment or tying something the tricycle his sister is straddling.

The building behind them to the right is George's Paints.  The building has since been expanded, a section now extends to the edge of the alley, and extensively remodeled.  According to Google Maps Street View, it houses a business named the Hearing Aid Institute.  Central Avenue, Great Falls' main drag, is a just a block beyond the paint store.  We lived on the edge of the far reaches of downtown.

Cooling off on a hot summer's day?  Perhaps.  Larry and I are running through a sprinkler, at least that's what I assume from how Larry has his arms positioned.  If Dad was still trying to grow a decent-looking lawn, our frolicking around the front yard certainly didn't help.  Partially obscured by a tree trunk, Barb can be glimpsed in the background, sitting in what looks like a large metal bowl.  At a minimum, I hope she's wearing a diaper.  Otherwise, I gotta scratch my head about this family.

Chapter 34: A Summer Sunday in Gibson Park

This is the kind of day I remember from five summers in Great Falls.  A blue Big Sky with not a cloud in sight.  Tall elm trees providing abundant shade.  A lush, welcoming carpet of green. (At least the Great Falls Parks Department knew how to grow grass.)  Colorful flowers beds in full bloom.
It's another family visit to Gibson Park after church.  Why else would the three of us be so dressed up?   That red object I'm holding is a squirt gun.  I have no idea if it's loaded.  Probably not.  If it had been, I'm sure I would have squirted Larry or Barb and Mom, in a fit of impatience, would have demanded I turn it over to her.  It would then disappear into her purse, perhaps never to be seen again.

Three months from my 6th birthday, I'm obviously tall for my age, towering almost two heads over 3-year-old Larry, who is not even a head taller than 15-month-old Barb.  Larry, a pensive, almost melancholy expression on his face, must be pondering this unfair situation.  We looked more than 2 1/2 year apart well into our 20s.  And Barb has perfected the skill of taking a nap standing up.

The above photo, featuring a priceless pose by Barb, is slightly out of focus.  And her left foot is cut off at the ankle.  Below, she isn't particular enthused about her turn in the swing.

And what's going on here?  Larry fall into the duck pond?  As for the shirt I'm wearing, I think it's one that Mom sewed for me.

Chapter 33: Birthday and Graduation

The underexposure brings out an eerie, almost glowing glassiness in Larry's eyes, as if he's practicing for his Village of the Damned screen test.  Mom certainly went all out with the preparation of the cake, which is complete with a yellow "Happy Birthday" candle holder surrounded by what looks like frosted and sprinkled animal cookies.  Wonder if this is an idea she gleaned from Better Homes and Gardens, one of the few magazines -- Time and Reader's Digest being the other two -- to which my parents subscribed during the 1950s and into the 60s.

Somewhat surprisingly, Dad took few photos of the various activities, social and otherwise, that took place at First English Lutheran Church.  One of the exceptions of this informal and casually snapped group portrait of 1955 church member graduates of Great Falls High School.  With their mature, almost matronly appearances, the two young women in the center of the photo look to have graduated from high school the year their classmates were born.

Chapter 32: Radio Flyer

A new wagon?  I suspect so.  It hasn't appeared in any previous slides, and, as far as I can tell, Windows Photo Gallery magnifying tool included, the paint job looks factory-fresh.

Based on the classic 1950s little-boys' short-sleeved shirt I'm wearing, with no jacket, I'd say it's an unseasonably warm spring day.  And look at the abundance of dandelions on the patchy parsonage lawn.  (I'm pretty sure that's a 1951 or '52 Dodge parked in the background.)

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In the first picture Barb appears awfully patient while Dad snaps some pictures with his Kodak Pony.  In the second shot, though, a puzzled look clouds her face, as if she's asking herself, Is anyone going to give me a ride in this wagon?
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Steady on her feet and ever conscious of the camera.  What a sweetie!

Chapter 31: Easter Sunday 1955 (Best Guess)

Easter Sunday fell on April 10th in 1955, and from the look of the trees in this series of three photos of a family visit to Gibson Park.  The fact that we're wearing jackets or sweaters is another indication of a spring-like day, as are the dandelions that dot the grass. 

What particularly fasincates me about the first photo is the sidewalk perspective in the upper-lefthand corner.  A picture-within-a-picture, it seems to stretch unbroken, as if Great Falls' grid pattern north-south streets and east-west avenues had somehow disappeared.  The residential streets in this, one of the oldest sections of the city, were lined with rows of mature trees that provided abundant shade. 

If this picture was taken on Easter Sunday, Barb would be 10 days from her 1st birthday.  Her outfit looks to have been provided for either occasion, though more likely the former.  Mom's no longer here to verify, but I recall her saying that all of her children started walking before they were 1.

Chapter 30: Barb's 1st Birthday

Barb look oblivious to both the camera and her angel-food birthday cake, but my big smile and eye contact make up for her disinterest.

A few random observations.

Since just about the beginning of this slide review, we have regularly seen me wearing suspenders.  Guess this item of apparel was more than just a short-lived fad.

I have no memory of the lampshade, which looks like something that ran away from the circus.

The decorative cups and saucers displayed on the wall to the left of the floor lamp are part of a collection that Mom must have had well in place by this time.  They are now on a hutch in the dining room of the house on East Third Avenue in Warren, Pennsylvania, waiting for her three sons to lay claim to them.  As much as I treasure these items, due to their long association with Mom, I'm not sure what JoAnna and I would do with them.  Eventually pass them along to our daughter-in-laws?

Chapter 29: Another Visit to Gibson Park

From the sight of coats, hats, and a kerchief, it appears to be a cool, early spring day in Great Falls.  Posing sweetly and confidently for the camera, Barb looks very stylish in her matching light blue coat and hat.  That's not me between the two people wearing red tops.  I was tall for my age, but not that outsized at age 5 1/2.

Barb's in a much more contemplative mood in this second photo.  

Is that all there is....to a swing? she seems to be asking herself.  Is that all there is? Doesn't someone want to give me a push?

That's not me hanging on the pull-up bar in the background.  First of all, Mom would have quickly discouraged such an activity.

Get off that thing, Paul.  You might fall and crack your head open.

Yes, parents really talked like that in the 1950s.  Another favorite expression, uttered in anger or frustration:  I could wring your neck.

Chapter 28: Around the House

Popcorn time!  But we weren't watching The Lone Ranger.  In 1955, at least at the time this photo was taken, the Nelson family didn't own a TV set.  However, we could have been listening to the radio version of the program

The bookcase behind an angelically smiling Larry is one that remained in the family for many years, as did the books, although I'd ventured that few of them were ever read cover to cover.  Mom and Dad must have belonged to a book club for a period of time.

Larry and I appear very excited about the family's latest purchase, a suitcase, which our billowy pajamas leave mostly obscured.  I must be wearing a bathrobe that Mom made.  No offense to her sewing skills  -- which were quite good; she made most of her own and Barb's clothes -- but it doesn't looks like anything sold in stores.

I have no idea what Barb is noshing on.  A zweibeck?  One of Mom's molasses cookies?  Behind Barb is the entry hallway, which looks much narrower than what my 5 year old's brain remembers.