The father of my children....

Happy, happy Father's Day to John, the best dad ever.  He's also become the best Grandfather (Grumpy) ever.  He's always there for his family, a strong rock for us all to cling to.  I count my blessings every day.

Happy Father's Day

To celebrate, here's a few favorite photos of my dad through the years.  I miss him every day.  None of these are dated and only one has a note on the back, but I tried to put them in order.

 Must have been very young here, maybe 1945 or so?

 Another young photo, he's got a pipe in his mouth.  The back says, "Mr. Schwencke" (ha! not helpful!)

 Dad in their front yard

 Dad was a docent at the Institute of Texan Cultures for a while...this was taken at one of their events. He was striking a pose!

 One of my favorite photos of him.  We were hiking at one of the parks, it might have been Lost Maples.  Wonder who the little blond head is walking with him there?  Colleen or Sarah?

 Dad on Mary's front porch.  There's Mary, Mom, Dad and Mike

This is Dad with the Sister that came to visit him at the nursing home

In the pool!

I'm hoping you weren't thinking you were going to see a picture of me in a pool now....you'd be totally disappointed!  But here we four Schwencke kids are in July of 1959 in the backyard pool.  I'm sure we were loving it!  There's Danny making another of his funny faces, me in bathing beauty mode (with another terrible perm...sigh), Mary laughing it up, and Mike squinting at the camera.  There's our dog, Niggy, in the background.  Don't ask about his name.  Some things we don't talk about. ha!  He was a great dog.

I was just wondering about my middle name....why Lynn?  Where did that come from?  Is a southern tradition that you have to use Lynn for your girl children?  Oh well ... deep thoughts.

A motley crew.....

Okay, here's a teaser.  Can you name all of these cousins from the Vahalik family reunion in 1959? 

If you can, please send me the names so I can make a note of them.  I know a few of them, but it might take me a while to remember them all.  And the babies are a toss up.

If I get a good list of names for them all, I'll repost with all of that info, I promise.

I remember this event, it was out at one of the halls just outside of Yoakum.  They had a stage, and I can remember having such fun up on that stage and running around outside.  We got ahold of the mike and sang "The Battle of New Orleans", or at least the few stanzas that we could remember. That song was a big hit that year...who doesn't like a song where a gator loses his mind!  Fun!

 Sabina must have sent this photo to mom, on the back it says "Beck, Grandma would not have approved of some of the young ladies poses. -- Sabina"

Around the garden this weekend....

These are the Mississippi Silver Cow Peas, or black-eyed peas.  These showed up first, and then the Red Ripper cow peas began to show up.  I'm not sure if I should pick them fresh or let them dry....???

 An ear of popcorn on the Black Dakota plants

 Another ear of popcorn on the strawberry red...

This is one of the Godiva pumpkins.  I'm putting strainers from the Dollar Store under them to keep them dry and away from the mud and the bugs.

Pollen dropping from the corn tassels...amazing...

I am unsure about when to pick these tromboncino squash.  Some say to pick young for summer type squash and let some grow to full length and they can be eaten and stored like winter squash...what to do...what to do....  I'm picking one to try young (about 14" long) and then will decide depending on how it tastes.  There's about 8 of them in various stages of growth out there now.

 KT's little squash are turning orange...they're about ready to pick.  She's going to be so thrilled!

I put up more green beans today.  John even helped me snap them, he must have felt sorry for me!

Grandpa Bruno Schwencke

This is a copy of a photo from Germany from 1907.  There's a written note at the top with Bruno W. Schwencke, Germany, 3/9/1883 - 11/18/1954, his birth and death dates, I'm assuming.  He's the one sitting on the left with the checkmark on his sleeve.  Kegel Club is written on the desk there, which was a bowling club.  I can't really make out the words below Kegel Club, they might be Ferbuna or Femluna, but I think it's "Fortuna".  I tried to google it and found a soccer club in Dusseldorf by the name of Fortuna.  Any ideas?

A few more old family photos...

Here's a few school photos I've found as I've been rummaging through the photos....

 What a huge forehead! I remember those glasses...they were a frosty metalic blue...

 Danny boy!

 Same style glasses...and a nasty perm.  Mom, what were you thinking?!!

Mary....I'll bet this was a perm too.  Sigh...Mom really thought a lot of perms.