Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wistful Wednesday: Easter 1980

I looked through my old photos searching for a photo of both of the girls with an Easter basket.  I found some very sad dark looking photos. I was not a very good photographer back then.

Easter 1980

There wasn’t much I could do to the photo to make it any better. Jennifer is on the left she would have been 4 1/2 and Trica would have been 8. 

Since Jennifer was brought home to this trailer house ( mobile home) in Moorhead, Minnesota after she was born, I will describe the living room.  You walked in from outside directly into the living room..it had two large windows and one very small coat closet.  The carpeting was several shades of green and white shag.  The furniture was another shade of avocado green…lovely.  Behind Jen is an old rocker that we recovered…it was Grandma H’s ( Far Guys Grandma..the girls Great Grandma..it used to be burgundy and had an oval crochet rug in the seat cushion).  Oh the paneling, dark and oppressive. That “work of art” hanging in the background was a sheet of plywood that had a poster glued to it..a poster of a mountain and a lake in the Fall of the year someplace out west.  The curtains were beige..there is a plant stand off to the left..there was Swedish Ivy, Wandering Jews and Spider Plants in the south window.  There is a huge TV pillow on the floor ..it was Trica’s. The TV is no doubt in the corner..I have no idea why I had a table lamp and a hanging lamp in the corner.  What you cannot see..is a red brick fireplace along the south wall..we ripped out the bar and put in a fireplace..wood burning. Probably not the smartest thing we have ever done in our lives..but it kept the heat bill down.

Jen is wearing the same little blue dress that she wore for her Uncle Jody’s and Auntie Cindy’s wedding the previous December.  Trica has a new Easter dress, white with little blue flowers and green leaves. Back then a new Easter dress was a big deal, sometimes you got a new one, sometimes you had to make do if an old dress fit you and it was not in the budget, sometimes you might even have to wear a hand me down:)

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15 comments:

Patsy said...

They grow up to fast.

Judy said...

Looks like a wonderful time was had by all...

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

What a precious little pic of your beautiful girls!!!

Thanks for the livin' room tour of days gone by!

Have a beautiful day my friend! :o)

Mary Aalgaard said...

Oh, so cute. Sounds like it was terribly dark in there, so you can blame the setting on the dark pics. Great description. I can only imagine that carpet! Great memories, though, I hope.

Anonymous said...

Believe me - I lived with only hand-me downs from my two younger sisters! Younger but bigger... so not fair!

The kidlets look excited about Easter.

lisa said...

Great memories! Camera's have changed so much since then.

Country Gal said...

Wonderful memories ! Love your header ! Have a good day !

The Retired One said...

I love that you did the header in sepia too!!!

DJan said...

You are so talented. Even then your pictures had a feeling to them. I LOVE your beautiful Easter header, Connie.

CiCi said...

Nice picture and instead of a perfect picture, it is just the way we took photos then and were glad to have the pictures to save and enjoy in years to come. Your girls look happy.

Intense Guy said...

I think your photograph is fine! You probably had a very difficult lighting situation and I've found that prints made during that time period do not seem to be 'holding up' too well.

You captured the joy that was in your beautiful little girl's hearts - now that is the sign of a good photographer! :) They look thrilled with the eggs from their Easter baskets.

Just Stuff From a Boomer said...

Alot of us did trailor time in our younger years. I think I lived in that one with you and we never noticed. I had the same carpet and plants. We call the passed on clothing, "hand me ups". If I was lucky, my art work was Home Interior. The girls have big smiles so it was all good with them. Thanks for sharing that memory.

troutbirder said...

Very sweet.

Connie Peterson said...

We didn't take many Easter pictures when I was a child and also when my girls were little. But I remember them! Easter eggs hunts, baskets sitting by our beds (or hunting for them) when we woke up. It was a great time! Glad you have pictures to help remember, no matter how dark!

Pamela said...

I can't even detail the living rpom of the house I currently live in with that much clarity. (:

I'm not sure what my mama had against Easter ... but we never did do baskets or get dresses or anything. Perhaps it was just one way of holding down expenses after a hard winter.