Trying Something New: Photo Friday

I am going to try something a little different. In addition to my regular posts (when I can think of one!), once a week I will post photos with a story. I have such an interesting family that I could go on for years. At least I think they’re interesting. lol Please give me some feedback on what you think.

A Pure Moment of Happiness



These are pictures of my Aunt Hanna and my Grandmother, Anna, laughing.

My Aunt Hanna had been sick since she was in her forties. They said it was a stroke, but I think, in light of my own MS, she may have had it too. At any rate, laughing was not something she did often. So when I recently found this photo I was both stunned and delighted, because I loved her.

In the other picture, my Grandmother is sitting next to her older sister, Mabel. I am the big fat baby on my Grandma’s lap. The little petite one is my cousin Jeannie, on her grandma Mabel’s lap. My grandmother had a very hard life and there are not many photos of her laughing either, so I treasure this one.

Hanna and Anna were twins. They were the third and fourth girls of what would eventually be five. Their little brother Edmund died before he was one.

They were born in Leadville, Colorado in November of 1897. My great-grandfather was a miner. By 1900, the Census places them in Denver. But within the next few years they returned to Prince Edward Island, Canada, where my great-grandparents were from originally. I can only imagine what it was like to travel across the United States to PEI with five little girls at the turn of the century!!

My grandmother told fantastic stories about growing up in PEI. By fantastic I mean pretty much unbelievable, but she swore they were true. These were a mischievous pair and if they were told not to do something it was almost certain they would do it when no one was looking.

Don’t ride the rogue pony. My grandmother climbed on his back, was thrown and suffered lifelong back troubles.

Don’t touch the ax. She did and says she cut off her big toe! But the good part of the story is that she patched it back on with mud and herbs and it grew back. Hmmm.

Glass was a precious commodity at that time and place. My great grandfather had gone into town and bought a piece to fix a window. Until he could get to it, he slid it behind a dresser for safe keeping. Hanna and Anna were playing hide and seek, one went behind the dresser and…goodbye glass.

He went and got another piece. He hid it in a closet. Same scenario. Third piece. Under the bed. Guess where Hanna hid? They got a licking that time and the fourth piece of hard gotten glass survived.

They had fascinating lives, ultimately ended up living together for the majority of that time in Manhattan. My Grandmother took care of Hanna after she got sick, along with working full time and raising my father as a single mother.

They were both so good to me, so loving and nurturing, I adored them. They have both been gone for over forty years, but I miss them still.

I am so glad that at least a few moments of their happiness have been recorded forever.