Our Core

I read a quick post yesterday from fellow blogger Shybiker titled, "Our Core." It wasn't a long post, just something real short and sweet that included a photograph of him from his childhood and all the similarities he can point out in the young child and his present day counterpart. At the end, a question was posed: Do you have any childhood photos?   

Well, of course I do! I'm a third generation photographer and the daughter of a genealogist! But I've had an idea percolating in the back of my mind for a while now that I decided would be a perfect way to reply to this question. My great-grandparents moved to Ferndale, MI in the 1920's after being chased out of Detroit by the Purple Gang. My family owned an apartment building in Detroit that had a billiards table the gang took a particular liking to. I'm sketchy on the details but I do know that they moved north and built a house in Ferndale. My grandmother was born in the late 20's and raised in that house.

This first photograph is of my grandma on the left, playing with a friend of hers in front of the house my great-grandparents built. It was taken in 1934, which I believe makes Grandma about five years old.

This is Grandma a few years later with her dog, Skipper. I'd put this to be mid-1930's. Look at those curls!

But then, check this out! My grandma on that same very porch, holding my mom as my uncles sit around her! This was most likely mid-1957.

Fast forward to the mid-1960's. That's my mom, probably not even yet a teenager, standing with her cousin and his girlfriend.

Then we have the (possibly late 70's but more likely) early 80's. If you ever wondered where I earned my cat lady status, look no farther than my grandmother. I think this was Max, who was a Siamese / Manx mix. Do you see a tail?

Another 80's shot, this of my grandparents. Even to this day, photos of plants are referred to as "Grandpa pictures." He started the shutterbug itch in my family, which passed on to Mom and subsequently, me.

But here we go! My mom (in the stripes) sitting with me in a stroller with my pretty little bonnet. Behind me are my Uncle Dan, Aunt Sue and cousin Kathy. They live in Pennsylvania so for them to be in Michigan, I assume this was taken at Easter of 1986 (you know what happens when you assume...). That would make me about 8 months old.

Uncle Dan's trying to get everyone to look at the camera. Or he really likes pointing. Anyway, that's my dad holding me while Kathy watches on.

Mom and her loud-mouth daughter, ~ 1987-88.

Family portrait, probably Easter of 1989. I'm sitting in the pink coat in front of my cousin Sara and next to my best friend forever, Big Bird.

Mom and me in August, 1989. This is the day we brought my brother, Ricky, home from the hospital. This was just a few days before my fourth birthday.

Yep. I was Bert for Halloween. Two years in a row. I am a Sesame Street girl, no doubt about it. (Probably 1991-ish)

I've got my arm around my cousin Kathy, sitting next to her younger sister, Julia, while my brother Ricky jumps and screams behind me. Meanwhile, Aunt Sue is reading and Uncle Doug and Grandma (in one of her many cat shirts) sit and chat. (1995?)

Uncle Doug finished restoring his 1965 Austin Healy Sprite so we had to do a little photo shoot. (Fall, 1999)

Which brings us to yesterday, where after dinner, Uncle Doug (who now lives at this house) brought out his camera. Mom's hugging me and my little little brother, Kevin. This was one of maybe 40 photographs, but definitely the nicest.

I think it's fascinating how much history one little porch has. The house has changed a lot over the years but has stayed in the family throughout the entire time. I can't wait to see what else is in store for this porch in the future!

Attacking Ferndale!

I had a girl's night out with Jamie and Sara last week. It was warm enough for light jackets, though the other two opted for knitted caps and scarves. We took a walk to the Woodward Avenue Brewers in downtown Ferndale.

The lobby is great because it's always filled with free local newspapers and fliers for shows and exhibits going on in the area. There's a chalkboard at the entrance with all the daily specials and I kick myself each time because I want to bring chalk and vandalize the board a little bit. With nice things, of course. I want to draw cats all over the place.

We were having fun taking pictures and I accidentally had the camera set on burst mode. Out of the rapid succession of photos, I think this is my favorite:

Kyle came up for a little while, even though he actually was supposed to be at work. So some classic photographs such as this one were created. Don't ask. I really don't know. 

Jamie got a hold of the camera at one point and took a stealth picture of me while I was being particularly blurry.

We packed up and got ready to leave. Sara called up her brother David to come hang out with us next door at a bar / pool hall called The Loving Touch. I'll be honest, it's not one of my favorite establishments because it's usually loud and crowded. They don't even serve food. I loves me some food. But hey, good company counts for everything.

It's not every day a prime parking spot on Woodward is available so Jamie and Sara did their best to keep this space occupied for David.

But alas, as it's a bar and David is only 17, we were kicked out of The Loving Touch after only a few minutes. Which was fine by me, personally. We opted to stop at Pairs for a six pack and go back to Sara and Kyle's instead.

Let me tell you about Pairs. It's a convenience store that also sells clothes, baseball caps and jerseys. It's the most random mismatched assortment of merchandise. The six packs are often missing bottles because they sell them individually. I wouldn't be shocked if they sell cigarettes individually. It's just one of those places. But the people who work there are nice and it always seems to be the same people every time I go in, which is why I keep going back.

But yeah, it's the type of establishment where one would find a half eaten piece of fried chicken sitting in the ashtray of the garbage can outside.

Mmm, Pabst Blue Ribbon! Breakfast of champions.

But hey, what's a girl to do, right?

If you're this girl, it's taking pictures of David until he gets super annoyed with you. But this one actually turned out rather nicely.

And we all know the best thing to go along with a cold PBR is Apples to Apples! The highlight of the game was probably this brilliantly unplanned hand laid down for "miserable:"

And then I found five dollars.