Old Photos

There are a seemingly infinite number of old photographs sitting around waiting to be digitized. Recently, I tidied up the study and made a pile of them. Last night I started to work on the pile. A good part of the pile consists of very old photographs of the Winter family, my mother's family. My mother had three siblings, her older brother, Julius, a younger sister, Julia and a younger brother, Clarence. Her parents were August Winter and Juliana Neu. Julius had three children, Elsie, Ruth and Herb. Julia never married; Clarence married but had no children. Mother was born in Kaiserslautern, Germany on March 5, 1901. The family emigrated to the U.S. in 1910 and settled in Canton, OH. Her father was a musician - he played the trumpet in a military band, and also played the violin. I don't know the name of his band in Europe, but do know that it toured widely and played for the royal families of Russia and the Netherlands, and thus played in person for Princess Olga of Russia and Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. When my mother was born, she was named Olga Wilhelmina. (I visited Kaiserslautern on one of Shirley's and my trips to Europe and I got a copy of her birth certificate and was surprised to see that it read "Wilhelmina Olga." But mother was always called "Olga.") At some point, I will post a fuller story of her life. For now, here are three photos I have digitized: (1)Mother in our living-room in Providence in the 1960s; (2)Mother with Shirley, John and Betsey, probably 1966; (3) Grandfather August Winter (front, center) with members of his band. I have also included portraits of the two Princesses: Olga and Wilhelmina.

Today I had a follow-up dental appointment after my cleaning last week: for X-rays and an exam by the dentist. He found an old filling that needed to be replaced, so he did it on the spot! I wasn't expecting that, but figured I might as well get it over with.It took him about 20 minutes to do the job! Tonight will be our final session of the Faulkner course - the final chapters of Absalom, Absalom!. An amazing novel.