...things that we don't do any more. Sigh, I think it's true that it seems to take small children to make the decorating worthwhile. Or maybe it takes a child-like pleasure in seeing the colored lights, decorating a tree, shaking the presents, grabbing a warm cookie from the rack... DH isn't into all that, and I'm tired of swimming upstream against his non-participation and aggrieved sniffs at having the living room rearranged. Less [conflict] is indeed more [serenity]. But, yes, I remember the tinsel... one bro would carefully drape one strip at a time off each branch tip; the other bros tossed clumps which often slithered down to the floor. We made paper-chains (teensy-tiny links too small to fit your finger, not the big, clumsy ones today's kindergartner brings home), and cut out lacy snowflakes and stars from precisely folded paper, and strung popcorn with a cranberry every tenth place. Long before it was fashionable jewelry, we pasted and rolled colored paper into beads to be strung together, a necklace for the tree. One year Da surprised Mum with a couple strings of multi-colored bubbling candles... goodness, I remember those clearly, and I haven't thought of them in decades. The tree was set into a bay window and the lights reflected in each pane. For a week, each night after dinner, we would sit with only the tree lights on, nibbling cookies and luxuriating in the sight. Sometimes mum would play the piano, and we would sing all the old carols; going la-la-la until we learned the words. From the time I was very small, bro-1 would give me a box of kumquats and I remember counting the sweet-tart globes, and doling them out to myself carefully to be sure I had enough to last through the season. Many gifts were hand-made... there was the faintest implication that a 'store-bought' present was considered an indication that the giver hadn't really given much thought to the givee. Considering that even the fastest knitter needs a month to make a sweater, there was certainly some validity in that attitude -- It's much faster to run into the store to buy a sweater; and if the preferred color isn't available, it doesn't seem to matter. Sometimes I look at all the catalogs with their seasonal 'specials' stuffing the mailbox, and remember the single Sears catalog that arrived in September, which allowed enough time to choose, order, and receive something... and that it usually took about 3 weeks for the shipment to be delivered. Shoes, boots, and winter coats would be ordered, and it was toss-up whether the bad weather or the package would arrive first. And the grown-ups opened the package after the kids were in bed, because that was the box that might contain a surprise gift [a pocketknife for bro-1, or the trumpet bro-2 wanted] to be hidden until wrapped in colored paper and put under the tree.

I could tell you got one by the message on my machine the night of return, even though only the last couple of words came through. Can't wait to see more pictures, although don't you know that you can find pales in northern Jackson county, MO, where they intergrade with syspila? In northwestern Jackson, you can find syspila/gentilis/multistriata that blow the common multistriata out of the water -- long live Marshall. May this week's adventure be so successful... oh me oh my am I excited.

The spirit image is placed onto the photo in the darkroom using a process of 'dodging'. First, mask is made with a cut out roughly matching the outline of the little picture to be dubbed in. The photo paper is exposed with the little picture while the mask is moved about slightly to blur the sharp edge. Next the mask is removed and a handheld 'dodge' with a shape slightly larger than the little photo is held above the first image and the main exposure is done. The little dodging mask is dithered, moved about a bit, so that its edges are not sharp and to blur the shadow of the wire holder. I've seen cotton balls used for dodges. This is where the expert part of the photo-finisher come into play. After the final exposure, the photo paper is developed in the normal way and there should be the small image floating on the larger one. Often, the photofinisher has to make several tries to get it right. If this picture was made for a commercial card, the original would be used as a master and duplicated with photo techniques. To print many copies, a printing plate would be made. I have several greeting and birthday cards that were sold in Illinois ca 1900 through 1920 and a German card company is imprinted on these. Your picture appears to be an original print and possible by an amatuer, maybe someone in the family. From 1880 through 1930, there were many self taught photographers in the central US. My uncle was one of these. They made a few extra dollars by applying their hobby to grammer school pictures and family gatherings. For example, my uncle moved to Noxon, MT in 1918 and was the only photographer in the area, so it was he who did several school group shots in that period. Your photo is most definitely posed. The table, chair and floor are real, but the backdrop is a scene on paper or cloth. The floor pattern seems real enough, but a nice floor could also be simulated by laying down a piece of linonleum over an otherwise rough floor. The table may have been a necessary prop, literaly a prop to help steady the subject. Exposure time may have been realtive slow, about 1/25 sec. Require exposure time in early photography, (daguaerrotpye [tin type]) was slow until better lenses were developed. Sometimes, unseen was a support rod in back of the person to hold their upper torso still. The subject pressed themselves against this rod and held a facial expression that they thought they could hold for a couple of seconds. This may explain the dour expressions seen in many early photos plus the fact that many people did not like to be photographed. One item that helps to date a photo is shoe styles. If her shoes have button and hook fasteners, this is an indicator. I can't bring to mind when shoe laces became the norm, but shoe laces did replace button and hook fasterners in a relatively short time. Her hair style says 1920s to me. In tin types, the image is reversed from left to right. Thus a right handed person will appear as left handed. For many years, it was assummed that Billy the Kid was left handed based on the side he wore and held his gun until it was realized that the image was reversed left to right. Therefore, expect to see wedding bands on seeming the right hand. When a print is made from a negative, the right and left sides are righted again (this is, if the photofinisher did not make a mistake on which side was up on the negative). One thing to remember: There was no photography before 1840. The patent for the daguerrotype was filed that year. Also, about that time, an English astronomer developed a camera lense with better light gathering power and photography advanced beyond the "pin hole" era. The wet glass plate was developed ca 1950 followed shortly by the dry glass plate. Kodak developed emulsion on paper in the 1880s and the first of these were primitive indeed. Kodak soon improved this technique with a transparent film on an opaque paper backing and photography was off and running. However, large format studio cameras used frames loaded with film with a dark slide in front of it. The frame was inserted into the back of the camera and the dark slide pulled out before an exposure was made. After the exposure, the dark slide was put back into place so that the frame could be removed and transported to the dark room for developing. Many techniques were found and employed after 1890 to produce picture post cards and novelty photos. So if someone hands you a photo and says it was made in 1830, be very skeptical.

You guys are freaking me out. Long time ago when I was in the Air Force the girl across the hall used to tell me about the ghosts in the family home outside Philadelphia. She said both her parents were dr's and her mother could also read aura's and see ghosts and she once had some sort of wild nature ghost bothering her and they had to call people in to evict it etc. etc. and I just didn't believe any of it. Why would the daughter of a doctor be enlisted in the Air Force? She didn't even have a car. Anyway one weekend I went home with her. Oh my. Big old huge white elephant just off the Main line, mother comes home from volunteer teaching CPR and tells us to get bread from the freezer in the basement. I'm down there trying to get their dog to come down and she yells down "oh the dog doesn't like it down there because of the ghost" She reads her sons friends aura at dinner and tells me on the way to the train the next day that at the present time my guardian was a woman. Man I didn't get ANY sleep. The girl also said the more you think about spirits the more they are drawn to you. So I used to lie in my barracks bunk thinking "i'm not thinking about spirits I'm not thinking about spirits" like some sort of idiot.