I didn't throw any away because they were unidentifiable, this time. I threw away the tilted and slightly out of focus pictures of the animals at the San Diego Zoo. I'll have to tell my kids (grown, now) about the trips we used to take to see the animals, there. Although the Los Angeles Zoo would have been closer, we always went to the San Diego Zoo. I think I was in junior high before I was aware that there was a zoo in Los Angeles.
I threw away the snapshot of the headless woman holding a cake, even though I can recognize that it's my Grandma D. The legs angling leasurely into the photo are my Grandpa's and 3/4 of my youngest sister can be seen in the playpen to the right. She's obviously too old for a playpen. It would have been set up for a younger grandchild that didn't happen to be using it at that moment.
I threw out this, too.
I have no idea what that is. There is a frame. There are springs. There are ashes. It's looking too big for the frame of a rocking horse, but maybe that means it was a big one. Usually the ones with frames were plastic, though, not wood.
It is a mystery. A mystery that I will not be passing down to my descendents, unless they should happen to stumble across this blog.
I also decided to let these photos go. When I first described them, I guessed they were from the early sixties. The children in them are the stepchildren of an uncle's short marriage. I have since found his divorce papers in my mother's files. He married in 1961 and the divorce was final in 1965. But it took a year to finalize and I think they had to live at least a year apart before she could file. So early sixties was a good guess.
I met them in 1962. My previous guess of being 'about eight' can be corrected to six years old. And it's been a solid fifty years since I've seen them. There was no alimony or child support assigned, so it looks like the break was total. I think I can let go of the pictures.
I also chucked a handful of files that turned out to be bank statements and paid bills that were more than six years old. Anything that was referred to in her taxes has been grouped in big manilla envelopes, rather than left in the files. So I'm pretty sure I'm safe.
A friend came by to visit and I found a home for a tiny tea set, a glass pitcher, and a big, Christmas sleigh shaped glass candy dish. I feel lighter.
I scanned Gerry's Army photo album and chucked most of it. I have a small box of other Gerry photos that I haven't sorted or tossed. I added a few good ones from the album to the box. It's a small box, about the size of a pound of See's candy.
I only mention See's candy because that box is a similar size and the family has a holiday history with See's. The actual box isn't a See's candy box, it's the box from one of the Memoriam books that I sorted and scanned earlier.
Which reminds me, I have to do some Christmas shopping, still. I did the important and obvious bits yesterday. It's down to the fiddly bits, now. If I keep going through the boxes, maybe there will be room for Christmas.
