Deep from the bowels of the attic (you’re going to hear that phrase a lot) came this box of Lincoln Logs, with some colorful wooden stacking circles mixed in. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)
The construction toy was first produced by John Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, in 1916. The Lincoln Log name was registered on August 28, 1923. Several histories speculate that the idea for the logs came when John saw his father building the earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel in Japan. Here’s more information from the Chicago Historical Society,
As a side note, Lincoln Logs were one of the first toys to be advertised on television, starting in 1953. The target audience was said to be middle to upper-class families who had a TV in their home and could afford to purchase educational toys for their children.
Perfect for brother-boppin’
The longer pieces, made out of redwood in the old days, were long enough that you could swing them hard enough to get your bother’s attention. When we got around to buying a set for our kids in the 1970s, the pieces were shorter, too short to administer a good thumpin.’ In fact, for a time, they were made of plastic.
Holy Cowboys and Native Americans!
These and other treasures like the Martian Magic Tricks may already be on the shelves at Annie Laurie’s Antique Shop in case you’re looking for vintage toys.
I just did a quick Google search for the magic trick assortment. It sells for $50 to $200 if it’s in good condition. (Knowing my destructive brothers – also a phrase you’ll hear often – I doubt that it was in good condition. They probably let all the magic leak out.)
Tucked away in an envelope in a nondescript Bible buried in a metal cabinet that hadn’t been opened in decades was this telegram to Mother that validates a story that she told for years. (Click on the photo to make it large enough to read.)
Washington would never have been the same
Had this young college girl from Advance jumped at the War Department’s offer to become to junior clerk or typist in Washington, D.C., for the munificent salary of $1,440 per annum, D.C. would never had been the same.
“I’d rather be married than type”
When Mother told the story, she always said, “I’d rather be married than type.”
Dad and Mother were in a movie theater when the word about the attack on Pearl Harbor broke. When they came out, my grandfather said, “If you kids are going to get married, you’d better do it right away.”
And, they did, exactly one month later, on January 7, 1942.
The telegram has a time of day stamp – 3:23 p.m. – but it doesn’t have a date, so I don’t know when it was sent.
One of those things
We’ve had a long-standing family tradition of giving the car horn two short beep beeps when we pull out of the driveway. When I left Cape on Friday, I backed out onto Kingsway Drive, then, out of habit, went “BeepBeep.”
That’s when it hit me: there was nobody there to hear my good-bye beeps. Dammit, it’s those little things that sneak up on you.
I took advantage of a relatively cool day to venture up into the attic. Brothers Mark and David are coming to town the week of September 20 to, as Mark euphemistically puts it, “declutter the house.”
I’m going to ease off a few days to give me more time to root through and set aside stuff that I think has sentimental or historical value. It’s hard to realize, but this’ll be the last chance I’ll have to do that.
We’re not putting the house on the market until the spring unless something changes, so, except for a couple of quick trips back to Florida, I’ll be in Cape for the duration. When the house sells, it’ll probably mark the end of my Cape chapter, and maybe my Cape book.
Bring your own skate key
I’ll be posting more photos of treasures like these as we come upon them. Niece Laurie Everett of Annie Laurie’s Antique Shop is going to work with us, so you will have lots of opportunities to own some Steinhoff Originals.
You will need to find your own skate key, unfortunately. I didn’t see one in the box.
Over my years as a news photographer, I photographed presidents, would-be presidents, a pope and the Queen of England. I was at shot and missed, swung at and hit. I braved fires, floods and famines. (OK, maybe I’m exaggerating about the latter, but I DID go without lunch a few times.)
I waded in flood waters where I realized I represented high ground to the snakes around me, and I stood next to a water tower in a lightning storm hoping to get a good photo (with Wife Lila holding an umbrella over me. She was my insurance policy: I figured God wouldn’t strike HER with lightning).
So, where did I draw the line?
Weddings
I used to say that the only weddings I’d shoot were those of friends, and I defined a friend as someone who wouldn’t ask me to shoot his or her wedding.
Why did I feel that way?
I hate set-up shots, and most wedding photography I had seen was a collection of cliched set-ups.
I don’t herd cats well.
Because of pilot error, technical snafus, processing mistakes and just plain bad luck, I have blown assignments, exposing me to scorn and ridicule from my peers and ugly conversations with editors. None of that scares me like the wrath of a bride’s mother who has just found out her Princess Perfect’s wedding photos didn’t turn out.
Wedding Plan B
In the few times I couldn’t wheedle my way out of shooting a wedding, I’d set a ground rule: I wouldn’t deliver the prints until they had been married a year. If the marriage didn’t last that long, they wouldn’t want them anyway.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t walk around shooting candids at a wedding. That was a way I could keep from having to make small talk with folks I didn’t know, it would give them stuff that the formal photographer didn’t shoot, and it would insulate me from mad mothers.
So, when Robin and Brother Mark got married on her birthday, September 8, 2014, I did my wander-around-taking photos thing. Since they made it past the one-year mark, I guess it’s safe to post these pictures.
Wedding photo galler
Here’s where we all were a year ago. Steinhoff weddings are as unconventional as Steinhoff funerals. I’m happy to deliver these photos. Click on one to make it larger, then use the arrow keys to poke around.
Deep from the bowels of the attic (you’re going to hear that phrase a lot) came this box of Lincoln Logs, with some colorful wooden stacking circles mixed in. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)
These and other treasures like the Martian Magic Tricks may already be on the shelves at Annie Laurie’s Antique Shop in case you’re looking for vintage toys.
