Sitting At Christmas

Demented Grandpa prevents little Emily from playing with new doll.  Bad Grandpa, bad!  Dated "DEC 70"  No other information.

Posing In the Snow

I don't know whether these two photos are related or not, but I did find them in the same place, they look very similar, so I'm posting them together.  Because of the hat, I can't be sure, but I think it might be the same woman.  Call it small town America, in the twenties, in winter. 

Winter Sports In the Dolomites

Written on the back of the second photograph, "Selva  Dolomiten, Dezember 1956"

Selve refers to a small community in the Dolomite Mountains in the  South Tyrol region of northern Italy, Selva di Val Gardena, or as it's known in German, Wolkenstein in Groden.

 So why all the German?  Pretty simple, actually.  The South Tyrol was once part of Austria-Hungary.  At the beginning of World War 1, there were two political blocks in Europe.  The Triple Entente, Great Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  When the war started, Italy dropped out of the alliance.  In 1915, the British promised the Italians the South Tyrol if they'd switch sides and declare war on the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The Italians didn't do all that well in the actual fighting, but after the war, they were able to annex the South Tyrol.  Despite attempts to "Italianize" the area, the majority of people still speak German.  In Selva, 89% speak Ladin, a local dialect.  The remaining 11% are about equally divided between Italian and German.

Merry Christmas 1952

I have a confession to make.  I don't really like Christmas all that much.  My parents split up when I was young, and Christmas day was when they made their one effort of the year to be civil to each other.  It lasted about five minutes.  But for those whole love Christmas, a couple of cute kids standing in the snow, dated "Dec 1952"

Tapolcza

Tapolcza is a small town in Hungary.  As of the last census, it had 17,598 residents.  I was able to translate Palyaudvar as railway station, but the hand writing on the back is just too small and indistinct to be translated by someone who doesn't actually speak Hungarian.  I also need help with the postmark.  I think it's from August 10, 1916, but again, the design isn't something I'm familiar with.  It could also be from 1910.

If it is from 1916, this postcard would have been mailed right in the middle of World War 1.  Budapest would not have been the capitol of Hungary, it would have been a city in Austria-Hungary, a country that wouldn't survive the war.

The Swedish Snowman

Arghhh....The computer has been down for awhile.  About a week ago I logged on and a window popped up informing me that my computer was infected with all sorts of nasty intruders.  Windows XP security, and since I use Windows XP I followed the prompts.  Right up until I was asked for a credit card number.  Well, it doesn't take a computer genius (I'm not even close.) to know it was scam time.  And then, all of a sudden, inexplicably, the scam window disappeared and I'm back in business.  I suspect the virus is still hidden somewhere deep in the digital world that we all inhabit, but since I can't afford to get it removed by someone who knows what they're doing (Not me.) I'm just cruising along hoping for the best.

So, today's entry.  It's cold and there's snow in the local mountains.  The San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County.   Anyway, this image looked appropriate for winter weather.  I think it's Swedish.  Translations welcome.  I'll try and mix in some warmer photos over the next few months.

Mystery Woman

I'm going to be really embarrassed if someone leaves a comment identifying this lady as their mother, but I'm sorry, I think this is a picture of a man.  That jaw line, those bushy eyebrows.  And the hair...well, it looks like it might be a wig to me.

I spent decades working in photo labs.  I printed many an amateur pin-up, naked wives and girlfriends, the occasional naked man, and yes, pictures of people having sex.  But by far and away,  the most common "private" subject, was men dressed as woman. Many were fairly obvious; some were so good, I only knew because I was told.  And, obviously, there were probably some that I didn't know about at all.

 There are still plenty of conventional photo labs around, as well as a growing number of labs that specialize in digital photography.  Fair warning!  Photo lab workers collect favorite pictures.  Ladies, if you went to a lab to have that special photo printed up for your boyfriend,  more than likely it was taped up on a dark room wall.  I knew one guy who had albums full of pictures of nude and scantily clad women.  And yes, there are collections of guys in dresses that will, one day,  end up on EBay.