Eclipse

There were high clouds but you could still see the sun was out. We ran errands in town.

People were standing outside with various glasses.  One group at the Farm Supply store had welders helmets.  In one parking lot people were pointing and they had no glasses on at all, the sad thing was they had small children with them.  We saw one guy stopped in his car with his sunglasses on…just stopped in the middle of the road. 

  As it got darker more car lights came on.  It never got really dark, but it was a twilight.  Far Guy called it an eerie twilight.

I waited in the car while Far Guy ran one errand and watched people watch.

I hung one of my old cameras a point and shoot out the window and took a photo. Nothing much to write home about. We were supposed to be at 80% of the eclipse.

The only other solar eclipse that I can recall was in July of 1963.  My baby brother built a box to view it, I may have helped him…I do not recall that part, the design was probably something out of the old Grit publication.  I recall people saying back then that you could look through old negatives…negatives were larger back then.  It was a sunny day back in 1963 as we sat out in the yard waiting for the eclipse to happen. It seemed darker than it was today, but perhaps that is because it was a sunny day….and I was younger and more easily impressed.  That time it was 78% and the main track was up in Canada.

My brother was at home in Oregon for the eclipse yesterday, they had special Tshirts and glasses…it looked like they might have been having a Total Eclipse of the Sun party.

Wistful Wednesday : 1963

Now that was some year.  Remember lining up in the gymnasium of your school to get the little white cup with the sugar cube that had the pink liquid on it?  That was how we got our Oral Polio Vaccine here in Minnesota.  I had a friend with polio, she already had braces on her legs.  She still has braces on her legs.

Gas was 29 cents a gallon and a loaf of bread cost 22 cents.  If you could plunk down $3,200 you could buy a car.  A first class stamp was 5 cents and we used zip codes for the first time.  We watched Bonanza on TV on Sunday nights.  A different night we watched Combat! with my Dad.

In 1963 I was 12 years old and in 7th grade.

John F. Kennedy would be assassinated and Robert Frost would die.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both… Robert Frost”

In 1963 Far Guy was 13 years old.

The Beatles were just starting to cause some excitement on the news.  My Dad would call them long hairs.  Crew cuts and very short well groomed hair was the norm.  Barbers were kept busy cutting hair. 

Quinn’s Barber Shop was where Far Guy went to get his haircuts.   He walked downtown by himself and waited his turn…he cannot remember how much a haircut was.

My Dad would go to town to get a haircut until my Mom saved enough S & H green stamps for a hair clipper…after that he and my brother would get their haircuts on the stool in the kitchen wearing a blue cape with pink flowers on it.

Only Sailors and ex-cons would have tattoos, they were usually anchors or hearts with arrows through them with a sweethearts name or Mom.  Piercings were found in National Geographic and it was usually something through the nose of an African tribe member.

Times were different back then. In fifty years things change.  What do you remember about 1963? :)    

Wistful Wednesday: 1963

It is High School Graduation in our area.  It is traditional to host an open house to celebrate the graduates accomplishment.  We went to an open house the other night..right at supper time of course and the food did not disappoint.  Far Guy said he wished he had brought along some take home containers..I told him that wouldn’t be polite.

This is a photo of Far Guy’s sister. This photo was taken inside their childhood home in Park Rapids. She graduated from High School in 1963.  She was a perfect “A” student, and on the National Honor Society.   Doesn’t she look smart?  She was an elementary teacher her entire career.  She lives in Indiana, so I irritate her from afar..she is retired.  Far Guys Dad took this photo, I am sure of it; his Mom would have taken the newspapers out of the chair.

Many of those trees in the forestry that were photographed out the window in the photo are no longer there.

There was a bad storm in Park Rapids late on Monday night.  Many trees are down and many homes were damaged. As far as I know,  no one was injured seriously or killed in the storm ( high winds/possible tornado.)  Far Guy asked me to be sure and check on his old home place..it came through just fine, one tree had a broken branch.  The Historical Museum came through unscathed.  I had lots of leaves to clean off the front steps.  The sound of chain saws filled the air the entire day yesterday. Many people are without electricity, and school was cancelled for the day:( 

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas 1963

Sometimes I look back on some of these old photos and I look at my hair and my glasses and shake my head..like this one taken back in 1963. I laughed..so it is okay if you find it amusing too.

I was 12 that year, my other baby brother who was part cowboy was 3, and my baby brother was 9.

Mohair sweaters were all the rage that Christmas, as were those stretch pants..I believe I got these clothes for Christmas that year, along with the snazzy looking boots.

In this photo I see the TV off to the left..Moms plant stand behind me, a very short tree, a Dieffenbachia plant, my Mothers sewing machine, and a rag rug on the floor with a few of my other baby brothers new toys.

The old oak floor looks pretty good,my Mother used to use Johnsons paste wax on it and then it was buffed to make it shine.  The oak floor was under many layers of linoleum when the house was remodeled the first time.  Off to the left you can see a section that looks different..we are actually standing in the old pantry and a section had to be put in the floor where the pantry wall had once been.  I can still remember the wonders that the pantry held..especially freshly baked bread.

It looks like it was frosty outside. This roll of film sat in the camera for four months before it was developed, my baby brothers tenth birthday photos were probably on the same roll of film:)

Wistful Wednesday: New Years Eve 1963

This must have been taken by Far Guys Dad..it is Far Guys Sister and her beau who she married five years later. She must have been in her first year of College. She was off getting straight A's and making life miserable academically for her goof off baby brother. This young couple must have hit it off pretty good..as they have been married for forty-one years. They do argue some, especially when one of them is driving..I thought once that they should get a car with dual controls. Oh darn I suppose she will call again..I told her to take whatever photographs she wanted..she must have left this one behind because she wanted me to blog about it. She lives in Indiana so it is unlikely that she will run right over and demand her photo back. I wonder where they were going for their New Years Eve celebration?  Probably out to dinner. They look really young, and my brother in law had hair! :)

What are your plans for New Years Eve?