Earl and Darwin II

It's still 1971, and Darwin Jones (right) and I are captured here sampling goodies during the 40th wedding anniversary celebration of our maternal grandparents. Once again, this photo was scanned by our mutual cousin David Newton. 

On the Rocks

Here I am sometime in the early  1970s watching my maternal grandfather fish in a Manitoba lake. We seem oblivious to the fallen birch between us. 

Two Empty Lawn Chairs

There's something very relaxing about this image of the Etsell farm shot in 1973. Those lawn chairs look like they're just waiting for someone to sit with a book and a lemonade. And see how vibrant the flowerbed was...

Kellingtons and Etsell 1918

Here's my great-grandmother, Alice Etsell, flanked by two Kellingtons, George and Tom. I imagine this was shot somewhere in southern Manitoba. Note the old car in the background. A Model T or Model A, perhaps? 

Grandma and Granddad's Wedding

Way back in 1931, my maternal grandparents were married. Almost 90 years ago! Mind-boggling. 

Horsey Repair Job

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the photo above because I thought the damage to the print created a neat effect.

I took a shot at repairing the damage with Photoshop, and I think it looks a bit better. As you can see, I had trouble in the hind leg area. 

Wedding Day: Peter Leask and Margaret Ferguson

Here we are on the wedding day of Peter Leask and Margaret Ferguson: March 20, 1883. These are my...great great (I think, there might be another generation in there) maternal grandparents. 

Unrepaired

Here's a damaged photo of my Aunt Jean and the Etsell horse, Thopsy. The damage on this photo might be beyond my ability to repair. But it might have made the photo a little more interesting. In the real world, both Aunt Jean and Thopsy were reacting to something on their right, out of frame. In the photograph, it now appears they're alarmed by the blob of off-yellow gunk spreading out toward them. 

Thomas Earl Etsell Reads a Book

Here's a badly damaged print of my maternal grandfather reading a book.

Here's my attempt to repair the image - a little clumsy in some spots, but an improvement, I think.

I wish I could make out what Granddad is reading. It looks like the title might be The Prime Minster - 1961, but obviously I'm extrapolating that from the visible text "PRIME," "STER," and "1961" (or perhaps it's "1962"). A search failed to turn up a match. John Diefenbaker was Prime Minister in 1961, but the image on the back cover doesn't really look like him...of course, that could be an author photo. 

Etsell Horse

Here is a photo of one of the Etsell horses, shot sometime in the 1950s.

The Etsell horses were all gone by the time I arrived on the scene, so I had to wait until a junior high horse-riding field trip to learn that I'm allergic to horses, as I seem to be to all things with fur. 

Alice Etsell and Mrs Euart

I'm scanning a bunch of Mom's old photos, and this one stood out. According to the back, this is Alice Etsell (a relative on my mother's side) and the mysterious Mrs. Euart. This may have been taken, based on the rough chronology of the album, anytime between the 19-teens and the 1940s. I presume it was shot in Manitoba. I think the cross form in the middle of the photo must be an artifact of the photographic process (judging by the way the horizontal bar overlaps the windows), but I haven't corrected it because it adds some strange, arcane interest. I wonder where this was taken, and what sort of building stands behind the two women. 

Granddad and some Ladies

Here's my paternal grandfather with the Kellington sisters (his cousins?) and, we think, their mother, listed only as Mrs. Tom Ralahan. Which doesn't seem to line up at first glance, but I'm tired and I could be missing something...

1896: The Thomas Etsell Family

This is among the oldest photos I've ever scanned. That's my maternal grandfather, Thomas Earl Etsell, on the knee of his namesake father, Thomas Etsell. Standing are Henry and Mary Ellen Etsell; the girls and women in the front row are Pearl, Clara, and Alice (Kellington) Etsell - the elder Thomas' wife? Hopefully Mom will weigh in. 

Lawn Chair Paradise

Manitoba winters suck, but Manitoba summers are lovely. This shot was taken on the Etsell farm sometime in the early 1970s. 

Saving the Cars

Sometime in the early 1970s, there was a kitchen fire in our Thompson house. Mom or Dad came to collect me from my room, but I grabbed my ice cream pail full of Hot Wheels cars before they hauled me out. "I'm not leaving without my cars!" I said, or so I imagine.

It wasn't a serious fire. I remember playing with my cars on the stoop as the firemen took care of it.

You can see the stoop above, with my maternal grandparents. We didn't live in Thompson for more than a couple of years, so I must have been approximately the age seen here when the fire happened. 

The Blue Bird of 1973

Sometime in 1973, either my parents or one of my aunts or uncles captured this shot of a blue bird enjoying the hospitality of a bird house on the Etsell farm in southern Manitoba. The colour is quite striking. 

2001 Manitoba Farm Family of the Year

I shot this in 2009 while on a trip through Manitoba with my younger brother, Sean. It's one of a couple of dozen photos I shot with Mom and Dad's old T70 with black and white film. Unfortunately I didn't follow the rule of thirds, so the composition is flawed. I still enjoy the textures of black and white, though.

The Hodson family mentioned in the sign were the neighbours who bought the Etsell farm where our Mom was raised. 

Etsell Farmhouse 1950

From Aunt Margaret's collection of photos, here is the Etsell farmhouse near Virden, Manitoba, in 1950. I wonder whose bicycle is leaning against the house...

Fading Wood

How many times did I visit the Etstell farm as a child in the 1970s and early 1980s? Perhaps not as many as I'd like to believe, for Virden was far away from northern Manitoba, and gasoline and vacation time were both dear.

Luckily, when you're a child time seems to flow more slowly, so the days (perhaps only a handful of them?) felt full indeed. My favourite place to play was the small building at right, which I believe was a chicken coop, though long abandoned by the beasts by the time I came along. It was mostly empty by my childhood save for some scattered tools and other odds and ends, but the sunlight coming through the windows made the tiny interior somehow magical.

There was also old farm equipment to play on, including an aging cutter with a bench from which you could pretend to drive horses. Three wooden granaries made excellent houses of mystery; they hadn't held grain for years, so I was in no danger of suffocating.

Today nothing remains but a lone steel granary, the trees, the fields, and a well with a pump. And, of course, the memories.

Alice Etsell

Mom just sent me this photo of her grandmother, my great-grandmother, Alice Etsell washing clothes on the Etsell farm near Virden. The shed in the background survived for many years; in fact, Sean and I saw it back in 2009, shortly before it was destroyed. Mom thinks this photo was taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s - almost a century ago.