Searching through old Photos, Memories and Immigrations.

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My goal has been to get through the MOUNTAIN of bins, boxes, plastic bags, envelopes, photo boxes full of five generations of photos my family never bothered to label or sort. 

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I think this is my dad and his sisters, circa 1935-ish in the middle of the Depression and a big Wisconsin snow.

They were compulsive photo takers/and so far many are multiples. 

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Great Grandparents in early 1890's, Denmark.

Some are formal photos...this is an engagement/wedding photo.

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We also have photos of my husband's Bohemian Czech family, this is from the 1880s who came to Wisconsin in the 1850's.(centerfront and right) the rest are their six grown children.

Hubby has tons of relatives and photos.

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1910-11 in Denmark. They all came to Wisconsin, several times, a long story.

My great-grandparents' came from Lithuania and Denmark

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Farm outside Lokken Denmark.

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Early 1890's. Everyone here stayed in Denmark.

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So, I have photos from there-pre1890's, and from every trip they took back.

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My mom on a steamer to Denmark 1929 (she was 7)

My parent's photo stash isn't any better.

My Dad took a brownie camera to WWII and boot camp, he was stationed in New Guinea, Philipines, Borneo, and finally Australia with a Portable Medical Corps, the precursor to M.A.S.H. units.

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Dad is 3rd from left.

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So I have all those from the war, unlabeled. I can trace his units movements from Army records...this could be Luzon, Philipines, or Borneo, or New Guinea. The surgical hospital followed the action.

 I have business photos of: telephone operators,

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1943 Long Distance Operators, from an old photocopy?

no source My mom worked with these ladies, in 1941-2.

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My Dad had a service station and an Omar bakery truck,

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our family's fish market, opening in1922

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1964 Local Kringle Festival at the fish market. My grandmother in costume.

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My Mom--1964, a 'Fisker' woman...! 

I also have photos in restaurants, and of dairy trucks, and fishing boats. 

More than that, every birthday and holiday.

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Mother's Day 1955 my grandmother made all these dresses for my cousins.

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Easter 1956--yes, that is a turquoise/navy Hudson vehicle.

EVERY HOLIDAY,

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My 11th birthday (on right) with the cousins at the kid's table, my poor cousin center was 14...how humiliating! I was 5 foot 5-135# with size 10 feet. I was an Amazon in 5th grade.

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Every Anniversary (25th for my Grandparents)1955

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about 1984 for another family Birthday at the local Dania Hall. 

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Grandparent's 25th Anniversary formal party with music--1955

and ALL the

graduations, confirmations, baptisms and a few funerals. 

Yes, photos of people in their coffins, sent home to the 'old country' and the same coming back. I'll spare you those. 

Some bring back pleasant memories and some sad...

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1962

My 14th birthday and my first pair of heels, stockings and lipstick.

Some are just silly...

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 Hot dates---prom dates the day after...sorry Mic and Bob! 1966.
Some are just silly 

,,,and some are inspiring. 

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How about the 'we should have...,' photos? 

My dad spied an early box 'camper' at a vacation expo in the 1950's. So he decided to make a pull-behind trailer with a tent on it. Always a handyman, he built one of his own design in 1954-5. I remember it consisted of a 4'x8 foot plywood box, with a two fold-out doors, 2'x8' that were the lid---which became bunks, with some nifty side supports. My bed was another board supported between the two crosswise on a separate piece of plywood, 

2'x4' I was only 7. 

Dad bragged it was made from only 3 pieces of plywood.

An old smelly canvas tent was supported by a center pole, with the bottom cut out..and tied around everything. It all just worked.

We were quite the hit of the campground with our little gray trailer  and moldy tent.

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Here is the first camping trip---on St.Germaine Lake in N.Wisconsin for two whole weeks in 1955, I think. We were plagued by rain, but we were off the ground and dry! 

We had to put all the food and coolers in the car at night (bears and raccoons) and their 'little' paw prints were all over the tables each morning. 

However,

my mom was a person who had to do everything correctly. 

We had cloth tablecloths and napkins--a double dishpan for a sink, a folding (cardboard and wood) card-table for the kitchen. 

The fire supported a huge kettle of hot-water for all her ceramic dishes. She even brought a dish-rack to drain them. Long story short---her professional set-up was health conscious, however the soapy hot water softened the table top which was supporting the legs. It caved on the uneven ground. All the dishes collapsed into a heap of shards. She was horrified--with all the broken crockery on the ground. A passing fellow camper stood and watched. 

His comment---"I betcha, it's the first time camping?" 

A large portion of our meager vacation funds went to a set of Melmac dishes(my mother hated them), purchased new in town just for camping.

This whole story came from looking at that one photograph....! 

And there are thousands, more to move on to!

My dad always said he 'shoulda' patented the trailer design. 

Now, we have online files/photo applications and sorting systems at our finger tips...blogging has helped at least record some of these photos and their history.

Well, what have you found in 

your familys' photos?

Thanks always for visiting.

Linking to these wonderful blog parties:

Love Your Creativity

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

Midwest Gardening: A Summer of Records, and none Good.

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Summer of 2026, my Midwest Gardening posts have been few and far between. Like much of the USA, climate changes have wrecked havoc on normal garden growing practices here in our corner of NE Illinois.

After 4-5 years of drought or drought-like conditions we tried to adapt to a heavy watering schedule, but this summer's months in my zip code had way more rain than the usual averages, after a quite dry Spring which was down by a percipitation third.  No wonder I had problems getting seeds in the ground to start. 

April had a 3.4" deluge in one day, and that was about it for the whole month...right after I planted seeds. 

5/15/26 greenhouse

Even May was cold and I kept all the plants in the greenhouse until late in May.

Then came the hideous heat, all of our summer months have averaged  4-5 degrees hotter than normal.  

And, get this from AI....which is great for statistics if you give it specific questions.

Monthly Breakdown for 60047 AI

June: An exceptionally wet start to the summer with 7.46 inches of rain recorded locally, largely driven by back-to-back severe storm systems and flash flooding. 
July: A brief dry spell in mid-month was bookended by major holiday storms, bringing the local total to 3.98 inches (near normal). 
August: A rainy finish to the season brought 5.16 inches of precipitation to the area, keeping the soil highly saturated heading into autumn. 

Overall, 60047's total year-to-date precipitation sits at 31.53 inches, pacing well ahead of the typical 26.65-inch year-to-date average. AI

Add to that higher winds, higher heat...and CRAP, our garden yields were drowned, blossoms closed before being able to be pollinated, and those winds turned our  plants and flowers over. I've just about had everything in slings or tied up.

Early Peas were pretty good, then they rotted. A second and third planting, did not take...too wet, too hot.

Our normal canning is 25-30 jars of tomatoes each summer-pints and quarts, and we've only 15 pts this year. Maybe they will produce a few more...lots of grape tomatoes, though.

This was the best single picking I had this summer.

Beans are normally 5-1 gallon packages, I've gotten maybe 2 1 quart packages of beans. 

Pickles I did get 1 gallon of Dills and  8 jars of bread&butter pickles and quite a few fresh. But ,they have been done in the garden for 3 weeks now,  basically boiled and steamed.

Peppers, I made 6 jars of pickled long yellow peppers, See above. we also have been using them all along, but only 2 carnival peppers so far. The plants are still holding in pots, though spindly.

Summer squash/zuchinni from 6 plants, just 1 yellow summer squash and then the plants rotted. rotted. 

We've had about 8 Japanese Eggplants from 5 plants (1 died), they are blossoming again and are fast growers, we may get a few more.

All my other squash plants in the garden either died, got bugs, or just didn't produce. I did pick 1 long hard shell squash which rotted in kitchen drawer in less than a week.

Green onions, lettuce were great until July. 

BASIL, Rosmeary, Majoram and Sage are all...excellent. I've already put up a huge pack of frozen pesto, how to here.

Herbs apparently love it hot and being drowned. The Cilantro is good, the curly parsley...Eh.

We still have Carrots, Beets, Onions, waiting for harvest.

Broccoli, we've had 3 small stalks, Brussel Sprouts-the plants are struggling,  and potatoes to harvest===so who knows? I hope they aren't rotten at the bottom. Lots of greens still going though.

A few sprigs of Chard and Spinach are trying. I had bought more seeds for a late planting, but it is too hot and wet now.  I would rather start them late next week and end up in the greenhouse in October.

We resurrected the back 40, a small 10x14 plot with new dirt, compost, and lots of peat moss. Hubby planted it heavy with squash and pumpkins...we are still waiting to see if anything happens there.  

I'm afraid these below will be our only pumpkins  this year. 

Old canning rim pumpkins, velvet and an artisan Gourd cat

Perennials" Phlox have been bonkers over 4-5 feet tall.

It's a jungle out there still.

Black-eyed Susans were very happy. 

Roses had one big bloom and then nothing.

My Russian Sage was spindly but lots of fronds.

Peonies were gorgeous for a fleeting moment until the next storm.

HollyHocks...were spectacular, and are very soggy and ugly right now...hoping the seed pods get a chance to dry out for broadcasting.

My planters were all happy, but now the Petunias have pooped out from the heat...clipped back they may re-bloom. 

Hydrangeas have added some growth and quite a few blooms on my two new plants from last year.

2025..Nasturtiums Sigh

My Nasturtiums (3 packages in different planters) didn't make one plant this year, even pre-soaking and planting twice. Even started these in the greenhouse in May.

Zinnias and others from my mixed seed collections are doing well and will be good until a hard frost.

4 packages and saved seeds of Mammoth Sunflowers,  didn't produce any. These will be started in the greenhouse next year. 

So many Sunflowers were blown over, and then rotting on the stalks. I will get very few seeds this year. Other sunflowers from saved seeds did okay, but they are drying up or rotting on the stalks.

Today, Friday Sept.4  4pm...the TEMP is 88 and feels like 97...UGH.

Post Script: I was gone an hour this noon,  and we got another 3/4"rain in an hour, when none was forecasted.

Please share YOUR GARDEN 

I hope it did better than 

OURS!

Thanks always for visiting.

Linking to these wonderful blog parties:

Love Your Creativity

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle