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 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.