Sunday, April 19, 2009

Home Makeover Update

Here are some pictures of our Home Make over. I saw the following picture in Heidi's picture book and thought it w0uld make a good "Before" shot of our living room. This was taken probably shortly after we moved into the house (so maybe 14 years ago.)
Now here is essentially the same shot with our Home Makeover. We have gone from green and green plaid to red and black and white. Some change I would say.
Here is a view if the room from the other angle showing our new couch and love seat along with the shelves (ala Heidi)
Here is the family room with it's Make Over. Recycled furniture, shelves, new lighting, a film coating on the window (since the picture was taken to cut the light a little) along with the new carpet (thoughout the house).
What comes next? Well plans are on the way to get the bathrooms remodeled - so stay tuned.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Grandma Betty on her 92nd Birthday - Baby Pictures

I am a couple of days late honoring my mother on her 92nd birthday. The following pictures are a pictorial of her life from birth up to the time she went to Tucson, Arizona and met my father. The big missing picture will never be shown - one with her mother. Her mother died a couple of weeks after giving birth to Grandma and there were no pictures of the two of them together. Enjoy these pictures.
This is an extremely rare picture as Grandpa Hale took most of the pictures of Grandma when she was little. It is hard to find him in a picture with her.
This is a great picture.
A collection of baby pictures isn't complete unless you have one of these.

It isn't labeled but this is Grandma's first Christmas in her home in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Not much hair to need a brush. Wishful thinking?

Grandma Betty - 1918 - Age 1

Carrie Lutz - later Grandma Henry after marrying Howard Henry - was in Grandma's life from an early age. Claude must have had a hard time trying to raise a baby and work after his wife died.
We don't have a marriage date between Carrie and Claude Hale but it was not that long after Grandma was born.
This is one of my all time favorite pictures.
I wonder if Grandma is laughing because the dollie has no clothes on?
I love the smile.

Grandma Betty - 1919 - Age 2

The toddler got around .
Naturally dolls had to be around the place. Grandma was never without dolls.
Not sure who the cousin is but it is Grandma sitting. This was at the Sands homestead.
Love the look in her eyes.
This is a cute picture even if the lighting is a little soft.

Grandma Betty - 1920 - Age 3

Age 3 but with personality. These pretty much tell the story of the summer vacation to see both sides of the family.
This is Grandma (right) with a cousin and her Grandma Hale (Mary Jane Bortner Hale)
I have always thought this was an interesting picture with some cousin.
Always checking out the flowers.
This is Grandma (left this time) with Grandma Sands (Jennie Elizabeth Beck Sands) and some cousins.
These are the same Sands cousins - I love Grandma's pose (left.)

Grandma Betty - 1921 - Age 4

Some interesting pictures from Grandma's 4th year. I often don't know who the other people were. I need to go back and see if anything is written on the backs of some of these.
Most of the pictures in this set appear to have been taken in the area of Grandma's grandmother Sands' home in central Pennsylvania. She was taken to see them every year but it was never explained to her that they were her relatives (of her deceased mother.) This is a cute picture with a dog.
Grandma is on the right. I believe the other girl is a cousin - Vivian Fenstermaker.
This is a summer picture on some beach or river bank. Grandma is on the left. Her mother, Carrie, is in the middle. I don't know who the other girl is. A cousin no doubt.
I believe this could be titled, "The Swimming Pool." I believe this was at the Sands home.
Grandma is in the front seated facing the camera. I believe her Grandmother Sands is in the rocking chair. She wasn't a heavy woman like Grandma Hale. Grandma Sands is important as she is Jennie Elizabeth Beck Sands, the woman my mother was named for. But this isn't totally true as Grandma Sands' real name at birth was Elizabeth Jane Beck. She changed it herself to Jennie Elizabeth about the time she married Henry Harrison Sands.

Grandma Betty - 1922 - 1924 - Age 5 - 7

I have no idea why I have so few pictures. These are about the only ones from this time period.
I don't know who the friend was. Grandma is on the left. This is really a great picture.
Grandma and her dollies! What else can I say.
Shoveling snow in the winter.
It is so sad when a great picture is wrecked by over exposure. Even with the sun over exposure it is an interesting picture taken in the summer - probably in PA at the Sands or Hale home.

Grandma Betty - 1925 - Age 8

This had to be the worse year of Grandma's life. She turned 8 in April and her father died in June. I believe most of these were taken before her father died. He had been a coal miner and had black lung disease. This had caused him to stop mining at a young age. He was hospitalized at a young age in Philadelphia where he met my grandmother, Helen Alcesta Sands, who was a nurse. He died in August 1925 while siting on the porch swing with Grandmother. He had a stroke and died within seconds still holding her hand.
Must have still been cold - probably in the spring. All dressed up to go out somewhere.
Anyone who knew Grandma now understands her love for her dolls. Started at an early age no doubt.
Dancing in a ballet dress?
Probably taken in the summer after her father died. I love pictures of these old cars.

Grandma Betty - 1926 - Age 9

Pictures from this time period were far and few between.
This picture is easy to place. She was in Washington, DC with the Washington Memorial behind her. I would place this in Spring (th0ugh it could be fall too.)
This picture has to be from the same trip. Grandma is in the middle and her step-mother (Carrie) is just to the right of her. I don't know who the others are.

Grandma Betty - 1927 - Age 10

Why are there no pictures you may ask? Her father had been the photographer in her life and with him gone there simply aren't any pictures from 1927.

Grandma Betty - 1928 - Age 11

Still a little girl - on the edge of beginning to grow up. 1928 - no father in her life and the country poised to enter the Great Depression.
Winter in New Jersey was always snowy. Grandma with her mother in front of their house.
Grandma always loved roses. Now I know why. Who is the little guy? I surely don't know.
Grandma and her mother in front of some place they visited. Grandma looks so much like a 5th or 6th grader in this picture.
Gandma visiting the Great Smokey Mountains in the Appalachian Mountains. This is one of my favorite pictures of my mother.

Gandma Betty - 1929 - Age 12

By this time a new father was in her life - Howard W. Henry. With him came two new siblings - children of his from a prior marriage - John and Margaret.
Grandpa Hale had always loved to garden. Here Grandma Henry and Grandma were working on a rose bush in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Sometimes objects in pictures are more interesting than the human subjects. The driver is Grandma Henry. This car was the car they drove to cross the country to go to Arizona a year later. Look how big those tires were.
Grandma at summer camp no doubt.

Grandma Betty - 1930 - Age 13 - the Move to Arizona

1930 was a momentous year. The family moved from New Jersey to Arizona and Grandma found out her mother was really her step-mother. It had to be a time of much emotion and confusion.
This must be equivalent to what we consider school pictures. Junior high age. Love that hair cut.
This is from some swimming spot in New Jersey just shortly before leaving for Arizona.
To me this is the best picture showing (l to r) Margaret Henry, Grandma, John Henry. John and Margaret were her step-siblings. It was this year that Margaret, in a fit of anger, told Grandma that her "Mother" wasn't really her mother but a step-mother.
This may be one of the first pictures of the family in Arizona at some lake. (l to r) Margaret, Grandma Henry, Grandma, and John.

Grandma Betty - 1931 - Age 14

Age 14 - ad0lesence in full bloom. These pictures show many sides of Grandma's personality as a young woman.
Walking to Phoenix Union (PU) High School. I guess she walked but I really don't know.
Interesting bathing suit fashions in the 30's. Probably at summer camp.
A little risque but it's my blog and I can post what I want. I believe the male is Uncle John Henry.
Grandpa Henry was a high school teacher in Arizona and took courses at the University of Oregon in the summer. They would go with him. This is a picture taken in Northern California during one of these working vacations in 1931. The road into California from Arizona was wood planks tied together over the sand dunes because the dunes would shift and bury a paved road.
This is a most interesting picture - I believe it was for some program she was in. All grown up looking don't you think?