family supper

Just as I think I'm fresh out of memory posts...
I find another photo to that takes me back to my childhood.

I think I must have been about five.
My oldest brother Ken at the top left corner looking at the camera married when I was seven...
so that is my scale to find a date.

I don't remember how my second oldest brother was given the opposite end of the table as my father....
but perhaps it was because he most certainly had the biggest muscles and never complained about food.

Look at the large photo above the china cabinet.
It is of my oldest two brothers...
Sweet boys that my mother was surely proud of.

Notice the photo beside that..
the smaller one.
That one is of the next two  sons that came before me.

Look at me...  (sounds rather narcissistic doesn't it?)
am I wearing an apron?
Go figure.

I'm sitting in a high chair with the table part swung back so that I could sit at the table.
Everyone of us sat in that high chair and when I had our own children...
they had their turns sitting there as well.

Beside me is the middle child...
my brother Bob.
He appears to be concerned with the amount of scalloped potato casserole being removed from the roasting pan.
He didn't have to worry.
Look across the table at my brother Gerry.
Look at his plate.
It seemed he didn't appreciate the meal...
and I think...
that was the reason for the composition.
(learning the importance of that in my photography reading).

What amazes me is how much more I see in the photo.

I see a mother...
exhausted.

I see home made bread...
to round out the meal.

I see stained melmac cups that had not seen a soak of bleach in some time.

I see a jar of Postum...(roasted barley beverage)
 remembering my mother never did drink coffee.

I see a jar of instant coffee...
which my dad drank with his supper meal..
every day.

I see it is winter..
because it is dark...
and there is plastic on the outside of the windows to keep the cold out.

I'm seeing that it was my job to set the table...
and I didn't do a very neat job.

I see a family that ate supper together...
every night.

It is February..
I'm off to find the pussy willows.

all for now..




Comments

  1. I just noticed something. My wife's mother's side of the family is all from Canada! She has a Blog as well (http://maplecottagestitcher.blogspot.com/). Stop in and give her a yell.

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  2. Beautiful poem (:

    Can really relate to it, and I fondly remember the quiet dinner settings I had with my family when I was younger.

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  3. You can say so much by stating what would not be obvious to the casual observer. You see that your mother is tired. I see that your hair and her hair behave in the same ways with the side flip off brightly to the right. I don't imagine that it had to be trained to do that. So cute. Your parents are doing so well to raise you all. They are working hard. And you look happy and bright and curious right in the midst of it all. Interesting to note the three who look at the camera and the three who ignore it.

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  4. I am guessing your father was the photographer? So interesting that he would chose to document the ordinary scene that in later years would be treasured. Wise man.
    I noticed the pickle jar and what looks to be a plate of sliced celery. My grandmother's dinners would always include those two items...as do most menus from her era. Wonder when pickles stopped being an automatic menu item.

    Do you suppose that there is a gene that makes young men unwilling to pose properly for a camera? And can enough money be raised to fix that genetic problem? I'd be willing to donate to help find a cure...

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  5. Loved it! So simple and pure and that is what life is all about. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. I think many of us can identify ourselves in a similar picture. I love your observations and they tell me how much you treasure your childhood and your loving family. You look a lot like your mom in this photo. How much love she poured into you to make you the person you are today.

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  7. I see one plate upside down--my brother did that for dessert--no need to dirty an extra plate! Fun to reminisce.

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  8. This is such a great post! It brings back a ton of memories for me. I see jam on the table - something we always had as well as the pickles and bread. Our table also always had apple sauce. Mom and Dad's drinks at supper were instant coffee measured by a certain little ivory handled spoon that stayed right in the coffee jar. I also see the vinyl table cloth just like ours had! So many brothers (I had four brothers too but also had 3 sisters to help set the table and do the dishes). Thanks for the memories :).

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  9. I love these walks down memory lane! Funny to see those who could not wait to fill their plates. One did not even have time to look up! I was wondering if maybe your birthday was the reason for the photo and why you were dressed up. You are so cute! There is much to think about, when we see how much food we have today compared to two generations ago. Much to be grateful for.

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  10. I love your snapshot from another era! I can so relate to that photo...from the melmac dishes that needed bleaching regularly...to the table set by the kids...to the pickles and postum. You were a little rose among thorns. Well, I'm sure they weren't thorns...but boys were a rare breed in my childhood home!

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  11. Love the old photos. Good for you for looking right at the camera. I'm cracking up over that turned over plate! You really were surrounded by brothers!

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  12. I think we all have a photo like this tucked away somewhere in our old photo albums! Isn't it funny what you can all read from the old photos? And yes, now that I look at the old photos through my own eyes of motherhood, I see the exhausted mom too! LOL.

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  13. Just ran across your blog. I love old photos. (I have a ton of mom' and grandma's). The drapes are so 70s. Love them.

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  14. What a great photo --- and such cherished memories. I thought the apron strings were braids and was trying to figure out how you had short curly hair mixed with tails! And the Postum jar --- oh yes --- lots of memories of the Postum jar at our house as well.

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