Saturday, August 02, 2008

Pics from the Past

My brother has been scanning some pictures for an older family member and he sent me a few of them. I thought I'd post those today. Not much else going on at Fortress Gramlich. Can you guess who the first two pics are of? Just have a look at the "last" pic on the page and imagine taking off 49 years.

The other pics are my mom and dad with my oldest brother Jimmy as a baby, and pics of my mom and dad's wedding. All these were taken in the yard of the house where I grew up. In the pic with my brother Jimmy you can see the house in the background. It's kinda cool to have these images of a time long gone.











25 comments:

Travis Erwin said...

I agree it is cool to have pictures from the past. You've changed a might over the years.

Heff said...

Hmmm. One of those pix doesn't look quite as old as the others...

Steve Malley said...

Cool!!

L.A. Mitchell said...

In that picture of your mom and dad on their wedding day, I think I spy an old car hiding in the brush. Very cool pictures. Thanks for sharing :)

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Great pics Charles! I'm always fascinated by those old pics from yesteryear.

Barbara Martin said...

It's almost the same as the one you have for your photo. Nothing available of ones in diapers?

Nice family photos from the past.

Barbara Martin said...

Oh, I take that last question back. Such a cute baby!!!

Charles Gramlich said...

Travis, yeah I've changed a little. But I'm still cute. At least Lana says so.

Heff, but I'm as old as those other pics so it evens out.

Steve Malley, cool seeing my mom and dad from those times.

L A. Mitchell, there is something in the bushes there. Not quite sure what.

Wil, just like a Rainbow in the dark.

Barbara Martin, I never wore diapers, just animal skins.

X. Dell said...

Either you've grown taller in the last forty-nine years, or folks had really big lawn furniture back in the '50s.

With respect to the previous post, did you ever consider that what you read early on was a better influence in some ways? After all, if you've read certain narratives all your life, wouldn't there be a temptation to re-create those tales instead of creating fresh ones?

Sidney said...

There's a line in a John D. McDonald novel that always stuck with me. Travis McGee talks about kind of a "sweet sadness" like a photo of you taken with someone long ago on a distant shore.

ivan said...

Ah. Memories.The back yard was flooded every spring as the creek rose well past the back fence.
In the front of the neolithic clay house with its clay stove inside for heating (so thick you could sleep on it in winter), beynd the the two-foot thick walls-- acres of potatoes spread all the way to the railroad that led to Rumania.
And one day there were no potatoes in the flood and there was war-- and we had to be gone.
Shortest short story ever, I suppose.
I still have a photo of the Neolithic house. A tank cannon hit along the walls here and there. But it never fell. And stands empty, to this day.

BernardL said...

Add imagination, and we have a veritable time machine with photos like these.

JR's Thumbprints said...

I've always enjoyed old family pics and coming up with a story behind them. Really brings back memories.

Rick said...

Did you ever go back to the old neighborhood and walk the places where things happened that made an impact on your world view? (In Detroit that normally involves revisting the first place someone pulled a .38 on you. We lived on the edge of town so it was usually a switchblade.) To see if the things that loomed so large in your mind's eye still seemed as big?

Don't take a camera if you do. I thought I'd get some pictures, take them home, think about them, etc. You take a camera out in the old neighborhood and take pics of people's houses and you'd be surprised how quick the cars with the flashing lights show up! At least in Detroit.

I think you live in a more civilized area!

William Jones said...

There's nothing like old photos! They are even better if you find them in a box - being surprised by them. But that one with the car doesn't look so old. :)

Greg said...

Charles -- nice pics!

Bernita said...

Aww.
Such a lovely bridal gown...

Charles Gramlich said...

X-Dell, you know, that's a great question I think I'll blog on that so forgive me if I don't answer you clearly here. I have to think a little bit about it and will put it up as a blog entry either today or tomorrow.

Sidney, I think I know that feeling exactly. I have some old photos that certainly evoke that for me.

Ivan, the old house from that photo went through many more adventures before it finally began to fall in on itself. It's really only a pile of wreckage now, but the memories are still bright and shiny, like new pennies.

Bernardl, yes indeed. You know, imagination has saved me from a lot of boredom over the years.

JR's Thumbprints, I haven't written all those stories from these pictures yet, but some of them.

Vwriter, actually, this house still stands on our farm in Arkansas and I go back there all the time. The house is largely fallen in but there are so many memories of the woods around, and the ponds. It's a memory feast whenever I go back. Definitely safer than Detroit.

William Jones, that last one is just to show how an innocent baby from the first pictures can grow up to be long-hair in later life. No childlike innocence is safe from the evil of becoming an adult.

Charles Gramlich said...

Greg, thanks.

Bernita, I wonder where that dress is now. In one of the pics my dad has on a really "stylin" hat.

laughingwolf said...

lovely memories i'm sure, charles... :)

Lana Gramlich said...

Nice hat, you little cutie pie, you!

Danette Haworth said...

Why, Charles, you haven't changed a bit! Love your kiddie pic!

Charles Gramlich said...

Laughingwolf, I do have a lot of fun memories of that place.

Lana, no you.

Danette, except for my hair being a bit longer. lol.

Farrah Rochon said...

There's something about black and white pictures that just tug at my heart. These are great.