When you lead a quiet life...

it is sometimes a bit difficult to find things to write about.  There is no food preservation activity in between grocery deliveries every two weeks, once I take care of whatever I get to add to my food storage.

This past week, for example, I spent a lot of time working on two crocheted afghans I am making for my two youngest Grands.  For me that activity is enjoyable and relaxing.  To most everyone else it is about as exciting as watching grass grow or paint dry.

But this morning inspiration hit in the form of something that has become a morning routine.  I always go over to Gorges' Grouse where he daily posts not only memes but also lots of pictures of bygone days.  I find these pictures particularly interesting because many of them depict the time when my Dad was a boy.  I can see what it was like when he worked on wheat thrashing crews as a young man or when he plowed the fields using a team of horses.  I have seen pictures of logging camps like the ones Dad worked in as a young man in northern Minnesota. 

Gorges includes pictures of people.  We don't always know who they are or the location, but the pictures show how they were dressed and what they did and what the towns and farms where they lived looked like, anywhere from the late 1800's through the 1950's.  Those pictures bring to life some of Dad's stories and I am most grateful for the time and effort Gorges puts into keeping us mindful of those who came before us.

So with that in mind, here are a few of my own treasured photos that perhaps someone other than my kids and grands might enjoy.

This is my maternal Great Grandmother, Adella Caroline Curtis Paul.  She was born in 1847 in Chenango County, New York.  By 1870 she, her husband Hollis Brayton Paul and their children were living near the town of Barnum, Minnesota.  In this photo she is standing in the doorway of their cabin on their farm.  Her son, my Grandfather, wrote that she loved to stand as she is seen here, watching the sunset of an evening.

This is my maternal Grandmother, Gladys Adell Morehouse Paul.  She was born in Minnesota in 1896.  She is shown here relaxing at our "lake house."  Dad had dragged home an old travel trailer, fixed it up and rented a lot on a local lake where we had the best summer ever for kids.  Grandma would often spend a day at what was, tongue in cheek, called our lake house. :)     

This is my Grandmother Rachel Alzora Olmstead Matheny (known as 'Allie') shown here with my Dad, her son and with my Mother.  The year is 1946.  She was staying with my parents to help out following my birth.

My Grandmother was born in 1870.  As a child she moved from Indiana to Minnesota by covered wagon.  She and my Grandfather moved to northern Minnesota where they farmed and raised their family of 9 children.  In the above photo taken in their front yard, my Great Grandfather is on the far left and my Dad is on the far right.  The photo was taken in the early 1920's.

This is a picture of my Dad, held by his sister in front of the first house my Grandfather built on their farm.  Dad told me that when his father built the new house, it was built around the old one, tearing it down bit by bit as the new house went up.  The date is 1911/1912.

My Dad is the small kid on the right and his brother is next to him.  Dad told me he had pitched a fit before this picture was taken because he didn't want to get his new overalls wet.  When you are the youngest of 9 kids, a new pair of overalls is a big deal!  This picture was taken about 1917 or 1918.  Many years later I swam in this same lake at this same spot.  This lake was also where in the winter my Grandfather would drive a hay wagon puled by a team of horses out on the ice and cut blocks of ice that they hauled home, packed in straw and kept  in their root cellar.  Those blocks of ice also kept Grandma's ice box cold year round.

I hope my kids and grands will enjoy this little piece of family history and thanks to the rest of you for indulging me.

At this time when so many are trying to erase or rewrite history, keeping track of our own family history is important.  It is who we are and we need to never forget where we come from.