Saturday, June 27, 2009

Twins 2nd Birthday





On our second birthday in 1948 we got dolls and buggies to play with. These photos are from a bunch of old photos my cousin Marilyn sent me this week. The 4 photos here were taken on the front lawn of our house on Harcourt Ave off Jefferson Blvd in LA. Grandpa Powers had build 2 brick houses side by side on lots behind his office on Jefferson. We lived in the 3 bedroom one and Frank and Enid lived in the other 2 bed room home. The houses shared a common driveway. I think we only lived there 2 years before we moved to another new house on Virginia Road in LA, across Crenshaw from Gram's house. The only memory I have of living here is one late afternoon I stood crying and screaming at the gate of the driveway at Gram and Grandpa Powers to come get me and take me with them. They had come over to get Frank and Enid to go out somewhere. They were all getting into a big car and I could not understand why they ignored me!! Dad finally hollered at me to get my ass into our house and be quite. So I must have done so, otherwise I'd be dead now. hahaha.
MOm years later told me another story of living in this brick house. Enid always had bulldogs around. The dogs would live in the house and she would cook food for them, sometimes not feeding Frank but always feeding the dogs. Mom and Dad could look out a window from our house across the driveway into a window into Frank's dining or living room. One night when Frank and Enid were gone, Mom and Dad watched Enid's bulldogs eat a box of chocolates that had been left open on a table. the dogs soon got ill and crapped all over Frank's house. Dad must've gotten a huge laugh out of that escapade.
Anyway, in the above pictures, I do not know me from Joan. We both seem to have same style shoes, so I can't just say I am the one in the orthopedic shoes. But I may be the one on the left because it seems the twin on the left has her left leg sticking out funny like it is just an outrigger for balance, and that is always a good clue to find myself.
Now... you all gotta admit these photos are CUTE, right??? They should NOT bring hysterical laughter.
more later.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Hair-do hell


Joan on left, Jayne on right. our natural hair in 1951.

This was 1953 probably, with John, and Dad is shown in the background.

Then in 1954 we got perms. Jim truly thought we looked lovely as you can tell by his face.



Jayne on left, (pissed off evidently)at Christmas 1955 (i think.) HORRIBLE perms!






The 1950's brought all kinds of hairdos, and home or professional perms were all the rage at times. There was a home perm brand called "Toni". The commercial featured a pair of twins and the refrain was "which twin has the Toni?" You might imagine the teasing this brought about when Mom began to get us perm brillo-pad-heads. I was so upset after one perm that I recall going into Mom's bathroom for an hour and wetting my bangs down to plaster them against my forehead so they would not be curly. I hated having poodle-head but we did what we had to do to fit the times.
Oh, the price of beauty!

Saturday, June 13, 2009


We planted sunflowers in April with Braden. Sunflowers are cool to watch grow. Some days you'd think they grew a whole foot more when the sun shines. Even in our recent June gloom days, they have been growing. Braden is amazed each time he comes over at how "giant" they are getting. Some times he doesn't see them for 2 weeks. The first part of this video was taken May 6 on a sunny day when Grandpa picked him up from preschool and brought him over for a few hours. The rest of the video is from yesterday; a June gloom day, but the amazement at the sunflower growth continues.
Sorry for the beet crop failure, Mikey. I will take the blame for not reading the directions and soaking the seeds overnight before you almost killed yerself planting the seeds. (OY! Ira! Are you killing yourself??) live and learn!