Reds

Revolutionary firebrands.  Workers of the world unite. Written on the back, "Aunt Dorothy & Hubby"

Are You Ready For Steeler Football

First of all, I want to express my disappointment that Steeler comes up as a misspelling.  What's America coming to?

It's opening week for the NFL, and it's time to celebrate another season of Pittsburgh Steeler football.  I confess, I wouldn't have bought these photos from 1984 if I hadn't grown up in a small town fifty miles from downtown Pittsburgh.  Even though I've spent more than half my life in Los Angeles, I'm still a Pirate, Penguin and Steeler fan.  My Steelers, we never lose.  Sometimes the game ends before we win.

I've gone on line and have been able to identify some of the players in the photos.  Number 82 is Hall of Fame wide receiver John Stallworth.  90, Bob Kohrs, 38, Elton Veals, 78, Mark Catano, 49, Dwayne Woodruff, 60, Randy R. Rasmussen, 40, Anthony Corley, and 94, Terry Echols.  And the mystery, number 87.  The final Steeler roster from 1984 listed 87 as Weegie Thompson.  I couldn't make out the name on 87's uniform, but the number of letters is wrong.  These photos were taken at the Steeler training camp at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and some of the guys in these photos didn't make the final roster.  Weegie must have inherited 87 latter.  And let's not forget, The Terrible Towel.

3 Dapper Gents

With those jug ears, they've got to be related.  I'm thinking a youthful looking father and his two teen aged sons.

Young Hoyt Raymond

I haven't posted any cabinet cards for awhile, so what the hell, why not.  Much to my surprise, I was able to dig up a bit of info on young Hoyt Raymond.  He was born Hoyt Jackson Raymond on December 14, 1886 at Child's Farm in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.  Wayne County is in northeast Pennsylvania, but he grew up in Corry, the second largest community in Erie County, on the other side of the state.  On September 17, 1910, he married Lottie Berry Munger, who was born in nearby Columbus, PA on July 18, 1886.  Hoyt died on September 24, 1951.  Lottie died March 14, 1970.  They had at least one child, a son, Harold Hoyt Raymond, born in 1919, died in 2007.  And that's it.  I have no idea what any of them did for a living, if any of them went to college, fought in a war, or if Hoyt and Lottie had more kids.

Desert Oasis

I have no idea where this picture was taken, but I'm thinking, probably, somewhere in the Palm Springs area.  It doesn't take a genius to realize that Palm Springs is a natural, desert oasis. The city is there because warm water bubbled up to the surface.  Native Americans were there first, and then white settlers, who slowly turned it into a resort city.  Does water still bubble up to the surface, naturally?  I don't know.  In all the years I've lived in California, I've only been to Palm Springs a handful of times.  It's a resort that caters to the rich, and while they wouldn't stop me at the city line and ask to see my bank book, well, to put it mildly I don't feel welcome there.  I am, however, going to go out on a limb and state that the water table has been lowered over the years, to the point that naturally occurring springs are no longer in the mix.  Fun fact about Palm Springs, the largest land owners in the city are the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.  Their reservation includes 6,700 acres of land within city limits.

Now, for anyone interested...go to the MOMA web site, click on collections, go to photography, set search method to artist name, start from the last page, and it won't take long to come across the "unknown photographer" collection.  Yes, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City has a large collection of common, ordinary, snapshots.  Who knew?

Goodness Gracious, Another Bike Picture

Here in the United States, we'd call this a girl's bike.  As can be seen in this photo, it's a bike design that allows women to ride while wearing a skirt.  In countries with a tradition of bike commuting, it would be called a step through bike.  Men wearing suits can't  straddle a conventional bike any more efficiently  than a woman wearing a skirt.

Anyway, bought this one in southern California, and the house looks like the classic California craftsman.  They can be found all over Los Angeles County, and they're also common in the bay area.  There are a lot of them in Pasadena and South Pasadena.

Winning the War Is Easy...

Winning the peace is hard.  No matter how tough the war is, if you don't win the peace it's all for naught.  Roosevelt, Truman, Marshall, and Eisenhower understood that, Bush Jr., not so much.  My guess, North Africa, around 1944.