water

Throwback Thursday

/ handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

1937 Holland Pond (1)

This is my favorite photograph of all the ones I have from my father’s side of the family.  A few months ago I was thinking about our connection to water, swimming and boating and thought about this image.  I went looking for it in the place I last remembered it being located and it was missing ( along with a lot of other memorable photos).  I came across them a couple of days ago – woo hoo!

This image was taken on Holland Pond in MA around 1936.  I really don’t know any of the story around it.  Who’s boat was that?  How far away was the photographer (no long lenses then)?  Was this vacation?

My father has been filling in details as photographs have been coming out from family members recently.  He told me that every year his father had vacation in the first weeks of July because the mill shut down. This is when they went to Canada to visit family and took time to do vacation sorts of things.

My father looks like one happy kid in this photo.  I recognize that smile – our children were brought up on water and in boats.  They always had that same smile while they were on the water.

1937 Holland Pond

They also took the photos with each other.  Vacation photos.  Take my picture photos.  It’s nice to see that has happened for as long as there have been consumer cameras.  Now these common photos are family treasures.

1937 Holland Pond (2)

When I go through my archives and now with new images coming to light I know that this was probably my grandfather’s 1928 Chevrolet Coupe.  My father tells me about an accident they had with it in Canada.  It’s funny what he remembers (everything).

It’s funny how things repeat themselves over and over again, generation after generation.  My parents always took vacation the last week in June or the first week of July.  We always take ours around the first two weeks of July.  Maybe it’s a regional thing because of the weather but I’m willing to bet it has more to do with your upbringing.  Just as I’m willing to bet these take my picture moments are half done out of the notion that it’s what you’re supposed to do while you’re on vacation.

 

 

Oh the Joys of an Old Home

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Yellow Rose

There is no photograph of what is going on here right now that anyone would want to see.

Last week I noticed that the drains were making a glugging sound every time someone took a shower or a load of laundry was being done.  Last night when we arrived in Rowe after our 5 1/2 hour drive we found that the toilets weren’t flushing.  Hmmmmmm, I knew that we had had a lot of rain lately but I couldn’t believe the water table would be high enough to fill the septic tank.

This morning we conducted a series of experiments to see if we could pinpoint what was going on and figured out that we must have some sort of clogged pipe in the sewer system from the house out to the tank – not good.  We consider ourselves do it yourselfers but we have limits and the septic is where we draw the line.

We called our friendly plumbers at Ward Plumbing and Heating in Buckland and Dale was here before 1:00.  That’s service – it took him a couple of hours to get here and he’s half an hour away.  Somehow I think if I was a plumber and was called with this kind of problem I would leave it until the end of the day.

They cleared what was a clogged pipe of god knows what (I personally don’t want to know) and the water is running through beautifully.  They are cleaning up as I write.

If this had happened in Enfield it would probably be a couple of days to get someone to the house but there we have city sewer.  When you live in a rural area your septic system is a constant worry.  The expense of repairing or replacing it would do us in.  The good news is the septic is fine and we can breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that.

How Chester Spends His Days

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130615 Chester in the brook

We have a small brook that runs the perimeter of part of the field in the back forty.  It’s been raining buckets the past week so the brook is running well through the weeds.  This is truly one of Chester’s favorite spots.  He walks the entire length of it – in the water.  There’s a small pond on one end and a culvert that goes under a dirt road on the other.  He doesn’t like the heat much so this is where you can find him on any warm sunny day.  He’ll happily play fetch if you are willing, and will play with the girlfriend next door but it’s always interspersed with a walk in the brook.  He must be part lab.