This being the first Friday Photo Flashback of the New Year, I went looking for a New Year’s Picture. It seems like I was always doing something for New Year’s Eve. Usually, we’d hang out at the VFW hall with my folks. There was always cheap drinks, good music and good people.
When I got married to my ex, I recall spending one NYE at a Mason Lodge. It was right downtown and they did fireworks at night. There were a few years where we’d get a block of 3-4 hotel rooms. My ex’s sisters would each get a room for their family. We’d all bring a dish to pass and play board games. When the hotel thing became too expensive, one of the sisters hosted. There were plenty of game nights as I recall.
One year, my best friend Jeff was dating a mutual friend of my sister-in-law. So he came over that NYE. Everyone was to wear one piece pajamas that night. It was ridiculous, but fun. They had this Can-Jam game that we played in their basement.
I had quite a few photos from those various events to choose from. However, I found one that I treasure, despite the way I look. The photo was probably taken NYE 1996 or 1997.
This photo of my mom and I was taken at the VFW Hall. I am sure that my dad was DJing the party. If I had to guess, my Uncle Tom was probably there, as well as many of the other veterans. These parties were so much fun.
I love this picture because we both look happy as ever! I see that my mom is wearing what we called a “Brooks and Dunn” shirt. My dad was probably wearing one, too. They were big into line dancing at the time. I’m sure there were plenty of those played that night. I have “gone country” in the picture, too. You can see that by the silly “tie” I am wearing.
The simple joy of being together is on both of our faces. This is how I always remember my mom. Healthy, laughing and smiling. It is a perfect capture!
With Christmas less than a week away, I found myself looking back at old Christmas photos. In many cases, there are photos of people that are no longer with us. For the ones I remember, I can look back on the photos and smile. For the ones that I don’t remember, I stare at the photos and wonder.
Case in point – the above photo was taken on Christmas 1970. In the photo I am just 7 months old. The man holding me is my Great Grandpa Becker. I only know him from photos. He would pass away just two months after these pictures were taken.
There may be other photos of him and I together, but these two are the only ones I remember. The lady standing next to us is my grandma, my great grandpa’s daughter. Despite not ever knowing him, I love the fact that he seems to be quite happy holding his great grandson. I wish I knew more about him.
Outside of the people in the photo, I do like looking at the background stuff. The first thing that screams out at me is the paneling. This may be in my grandparent’s basement, but I don’t know for sure. The Christmas tree is probably a real tree. It certainly looks that way. I seem to remember everyone having that type of tree topper as a kid.
In the picture with my grandma, those ducks on the wall I remember well. I may be mistaken, but they may have been hung on the wall of the trailer they had in Caseville long after this picture was taken. I also love that folks still dressed up for holidays. My great grandpa looks pretty spiffy in a suit. I know that there are other photos over the years where men wore suits and ties to Christmas dinner.
On that end table (which was common in SO many homes at that time) is an ashtray. An ashtray was a staple in homes when I was growing up. They pop up in SO many photos. I am going to guess that is an old beer bottle there, too. The thing that is funny about that photo is that I believe that may be an old phone book that the bottle is sitting on.
It is hard to tell, but it looks like a map of Michigan counties on the front. It also looks like the top pages are white (they would be residential numbers) and the bottom pages are yellow (the businesses). These were in every home. There was no Google back then. If you needed a number, you grabbed the yellow pages!
There are times that I wish that I could go back and look at past Christmases. You know, like Scrooge did in A Christmas Carol. I wouldn’t need to be seen or heard, I would just like to watch and observe those loved ones from the past. I would love to smell the dinner grandma was preparing. I would love to once again hear the voices of folks who I have forgotten what they sounded like. I’d love to hear my mother laughing again. I would love to relive the excitement that all of us kids felt when opening presents.
I wouldn’t go back to learn a lesson as Scrooge did. I would just like to experience it all – one more time.
I found a hard drive recently that has some of my old radio audio on it. It also has about 2 years worth of show prep, jokes, and stuff I will never use again. There were also some photos on there.
As I began to copy some of the pictures over, I attempted to sort them. I was transferring some photos I had of my dad. I noticed one already in the folder that made me laugh. Since it is a holiday picture, I thought I would share it.
You can always count on my dad and I doing something silly in a photo. I would guess this photo is probably from the late 1990’s. As I got older, my bald spot got bigger. I think my brother or mother took this picture. We were obviously talking about me losing my hair.
This was taken in my grandma’s condo. It is probably Christmas Eve. This was back when we wore a shirt and tie for holiday visits! As I look at this photo, I am frustrated. I cannot bring how the rest of the house looked to mind. I remember this room and the kitchen mostly.
I can make out a few things behind my dad and me. Those brass birds on the wall were just a small part of grandma’s collection. The blue flower lamp on the table was something. It just seemed so unlike my grandma’s style. She got it anyway. She got that gold clock on the wall after the grandfather clock stopped working, I think.
The chair in front of us I remember very well. There is a picture of all of us with my grandparents on their 50th anniversary. We took it in and around that chair. A few months later, my grandpa passed away.
On a lighter note, today, my dad has more hair than me. So the joke is on me, I suppose!
Today’s Friday Photo Flashback takes us all the way back to……. yesterday!
Ok, maybe the photo doesn’t really qualify as Flashback, but the story is too funny not to share.
I’ve said this on numerous occasions – my brother Christopher and I could not be more different. However, there are some things where we share a common bond. One of those things we share in common is our love of Christmas and Classic Christmas Specials. The Year Without A Santa Claus is probably our favorite.
Recently, he sent me a picture of a set of dish towels that feature the Heat Miser and Snow Miser that they bought for their house. They are pretty cool. Yesterday I got a hold of this year’s Hallmark Ornament featuring the Miser Brothers and Mrs. Claus. I sent him a picture of me with it and before the night was over he sent me a photo in return.
Yeah, we couldn’t be more different, and we couldn’t be more the same!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. My Facebook feed is full of friends posting their 30 Days of Thanks. Everyday they post something they are thankful for. Personally, I believe we can find something to be thankful for every day of the year.
I was transferring pictures from one hard drive to another this week and found a picture of Ella. She’s probably nine months old here.
That turkey hat was something I bought to wear when we hosted Thanksgiving. I remember putting it on her and snapping this picture. She has always been the perfect photo subject. She always seemed to know how to pose.
It is so hard to believe that she was ever this small. I love the rolled pants! That Gobble shirt/onesie was one of 3 or 4 that all had some sort of Thanksgiving phrase on it. Sam was always good about getting “holiday themed” outfits.
When I looked at this picture, I laughed because of the baby gate surrounding the Christmas tree. With the new kitty, we’ll need something like that to keep her away from the tree … And out of it!
Sam has already said that there will be no ornaments on the tree this year. There are too many important ornaments that might break. Instead, I have been instructed to go out and buy “a crap ton” (her words) of LED lights for it.
I’m sure my weekend will be filled with holiday decorating. Especially since she usually is in full blown Christmas mode on November 1st!
“There is something about losing a mother that is permanent and inexpressible—a wound that will never quite heal.” –Susan Wiggs
“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a while, but their hearts forever.” –Unknown
“Losing a parent is something like driving through a plate-glass window. You didn’t know it was there until it shattered, and then for years to come you’re picking up the pieces — down to the last glassy splinter.” –Saul Bellow
“I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought, and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love.” –Leo Buscaglia
“Mom, I am missing you today but I know that you will always be with me in my heart… I am who I am because of your loving hands. I have my sweet and compassionate soul from watching you and your generosity and kindness to others. I see the world full of wonder because of your imagination. I’ve learned to never give up seeing your drive and perseverance… I love you always and forever…” –Karen Kostyla
She is still everywhere with us. She is the air we breathe, she occupies our every thought and fills each moment of our lives … We carry her within ourselves and will never be able to free ourselves from this eternal bond.” — Jacques Prévert
“To my mother in heaven, thank you for always loving me and guiding me. Even though you are no longer here with me I can still feel your love guiding me. You are always in my heart. I love you and miss you dearly. – Unknown
“My mother is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune.” – Graycie Harmon
“A mom’s hug lasts long after she lets go.” – Unknown
____
Mom. The missing her never goes away. The “I wish mom was here to see this” moments are always present. There are so many things I want to share with her and ask her.
18 years ago today, at 5:24 AM, I held my mother’s hand as she took her last breath. After a decade long battle with breast cancer, the cancer won the war. That moment is forever cemented in my memory.
“I wonder if my first breath was as soul-stirring to my mother as her last breath was to me.”― Lisa Goich-Andreadis, “14 Days: A Mother, A Daughter, A Two Week Goodbye”
It’s been a long 18 years, mom. I love you. I miss you. See you later …
The timing on this photo find is almost perfect. We’re less than two weeks away from Halloween and I stumbled on this photo of my folks.
This photo made me laugh out loud! My mom is wearing one of my dad’s old band outfits. They used to wear these blue tuxes when they played weddings as I recall. That is definitely one of his tux shirts, too. Those ruffles were something!! If I had to guess, that is an old hat from a New Year’s Eve party, but I can’t say for certain.
Next to mom is dad, ever the clown! I love this picture of them. My dad is never one to shy away from dressing in something silly. I have NO idea where that polka dot shirt came from! I cannot begin to imagine where anyone would wear it that was NOT a Halloween party! The make up he is wearing was probably the makeup that they used on my brother and I the year we went out as “vampires.” The buttons on the coat are my Three Stooges buttons. I had quite a few of them as a teen. Obviously, the perfect things for his ensemble.
What I don’t know is whether he wore this outfit first, or if I did. Our high school band had a Halloween party my sophomore year. That party would have taken place in October of 1985. I don’t recall much about it. I know it was in a barn or at a cider mill maybe. We had to pile onto a bus to get there. At any rate, I wore most of this same outfit!
If I had to guess, I wore it first. I am sure my dad didn’t wear the yellow pajama pants (more on why in a minute). There are also no buttons on the coat. I would think that if my dad wore the coat first, then I would have kept the buttons on it. Then there is the horn. Man, that horn was hilarious. It was your typical Harpo Marx horn that was loud and annoying. I can see why I made sure to bring it to the party. Missing from my dad’s take on the costume are the hat and giant scissors. Maybe I lost them at the party?
Back to the yellow pajama pants. There is another photo of me before the party. My mom, always happy to ham it up, had the perfect pose.
Look closely at the back of the left leg. I remember my dad grabbing a magic marker that night. He wrote “Band Reject” on there! This is totally my dad! Great stuff.
That Halloween costume may have been responsible for my three year reign as “Band Clown” in the mock elections! What an honor!
Back to the original photo for a minute as I wrap this up. It makes me smile. My mom looks young and healthy here. Nine or ten years later, she’d get the initial diagnosis of breast cancer. There would be a lot of changes from that point on. In this photo, though, she and my dad are happy and it reminds me of some great days.
I am a man of faith. I am not here to start a theological debate. I debated turning off the ability to comment on this post, but I didn’t. If you are a person of faith, too, you may enjoy a little history lesson.
Yesterday was Bring Your Bible Day. The idea is, that whether you were going to work or school, you have your Bible with you. I have my Bible in my cubby at work, so mine was already there. Coincidentally, today is another important biblical day.
On this day in 1535, the first complete English language Bible (that included both Old and New Testaments) was printed. The Photo Flashback is the title page from that Bible.
The Coverdale Bible, as it became known, was translated by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale. It is part of a line of Bibles referred to as the “Textus Receptus.” The phrase is Latin for the “Received Text.”
Here is a bit of history for you:
The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete English translation of the Bible to contain both the Old and New Testament and translated from the original Hebrew and Greek. The later editions (folio and quarto) published in 1539 were the first complete Bibles printed in England. The 1539 folio edition carried the royal license and was, therefore, the first officially approved Bible translation in English.
Tyndale never had the satisfaction of completing his English Bible; but during his imprisonment, he may have learned that a complete translation, based largely upon his own, had actually been produced. The credit for this achievement, the first complete printed English Bible, is due to Miles Coverdale (1488-1569), afterward bishop of Exeter (1551-1553).
The details of its production are obscure. Coverdale met Tyndale in Hamburg, Germany in 1529, and is said to have assisted him in the translation of the Pentateuch. His own work was done under the patronage of Oliver Cromwell, who was anxious for the publication of an English Bible; and it was no doubt forwarded by the action of Convocation, which, under Archbishop Cranmer’s leading, had petitioned in 1534 for the undertaking of such a work.
Coverdale’s Bible was probably printed by Froschover in Zurich, Switzerland and was published at the end of 1535, with a dedication to Henry VIII. By this time, the conditions were more favorable to a Protestant Bible than they had been in 1525. Henry had finally broken with the Pope and had committed himself to the principle of an English Bible. Coverdale’s work was accordingly tolerated by authority, and when the second edition of it appeared in 1537 (printed by an English printer, Nycolson of Southwark), it bore on its title-page the words, “Set forth with the King’s most gracious license.” In licensing Coverdale’s translation, King Henry probably did not know how far he was sanctioning the work of Tyndale, which he had previously condemned.
In the New Testament, in particular, Tyndale’s version is the basis of Coverdale’s, and to a somewhat less extent this is also the case in the Pentateuch and Jonah; but Coverdale revised the work of his predecessor with the help of the Zurich German Bible of Zwingli and others (1524-1529), a Latin version by Pagninus, the Vulgate, and Luther. In his preface, he explicitly disclaims originality as a translator, and there is no sign that he made any noticeable use of the Greek and Hebrew; but he used the available Latin, German, and English versions with judgment. In the parts of the Old Testament which Tyndale had not published he appears to have translated mainly from the Zurich Bible. [Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 was reprinted by Bagster, 1838.]
In one respect Coverdale’s Bible was groundbreaking, namely, in the arrangement of the books of the. It is to Tyndale’s example, no doubt, that the action of Coverdale is due. His Bible is divided into six parts — (1) Pentateuch; (2) Joshua — Esther; (3) Job — “Solomon’s Balettes” (i.e. Canticles); (4) Prophets; (5) “Apocrypha, the books and treatises which among the fathers of old are not reckoned to be of like authority with the other books of the Bible, neither are they found in the canon of the Hebrew”; (6) the New Testament. This represents the view generally taken by the Reformers, both in Germany and in England, and so far as concerns the English Bible, Coverdale’s example was decisive.
One of the first classes I took in my Bible studies was a Manuscript Evidence class. Manuscript Evidence means you examine the manuscript for evidence about something. There is a line through history, down to the present time where God has preserved His Word. It looks like this:
HISTORY (After the Crucifixion)
100 AD
500-1000 AD
1000-1500 AD
1500-2000 AD
Original Text Written
Dark Ages
Dark Ages
Reformation
The Bible history and God’s preservation has a straight line flow through history:
The original text is written and collected;
The Bible is copied and sent out;
Bible Believers preach and teach from it.
This is called the Textus Receptus (TR), a Latin expression that is used around 1624 AD for this Greek Text, that goes back to 100 AD. TR means received text that is used commonly among the people. This text is written in Greek and most people do not speak Greek. Therefore in:
Syria there is a Syriac Bible Version made (150 AD)
Egypt there is a Coptic Bible Version made
Rome there is an Old Latin Bible Version made
This process has continued on throughout history whereby Bible versions were translated into the language of the various countries from the Greek Text, for the people.
Around 1522 AD Luther translates from the TR into German for the people he ministered to. After this came:
Tyndale 1525
Coverdale 1535
Matthews 1537
Great Bible 1539
Geneva Bible 1560
Bishop Bible 1568
After these, in 1611 you have the King James Bible. The various translations were gathered together from all the above versions and the final outcome was the King James Version.
My Manuscript Evidence class was a wealth of information and made my believe in God’s Word stronger.
It is hard to imagine the things that guys like Tyndale and Coverdale experienced as they worked. They wanted to get a Bible into the hands of anyone who wanted one. The quest to have a Bible written in the holders own language was very important to them. What did they get for their dedication? Torture. Ridicule. Prison. Death. What faith they must have had. I can only wish to have an ounce of that faith.
I’m not going to go back too far today, just a few years ago. While we were outside this week, the kids were talking about the leaves that were falling. They’ve been picking them up and coming over to me and showing me the different colors in them.
Fall, as you may be aware, is my favorite season. We’ve got a trip to the pumpkin patch planned for later this month already. This got me to thinking about the first time we took Ella to the local orchard.
It didn’t take me long to find this picture. This was such a fun day! Dimitri, my second born, came with us that day and we rode the hayride into the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins.
I remember that Covid was only about 6 or 7 months old at this time. Everyone was masked on the hayride and there was plenty of social distancing. Despite that, it was one of the first real outings we had had in a long time and it felt so good to be out and about.
As I look at Ella in the photo, I can hardly believe it is her. She is so tall and thin now and all the chubby cheeks are gone. It’s amazing how much she has changed. That shirt is folded up and in her memory bin in the basement. I will resurface in about 13 years when she graduates! I think we may have saved that bow, too!
I cannot wait for the trip this year. Andrew’s former speech therapist is coming along with us and bringing her daughters (who Ella calls her older sisters). It will be a wonderful time and I hope to be able to get some great photos while we are there.
There are times when I really miss having a real picture to hold on to. Back when MySpace and Facebook first got off the ground, we all seemed to post our pictures on those sites not knowing that over time, they would lose quality and become more pixilated. That’s the case with my photo today.
I thought I had a hard copy of this photo, but I was unable to find it. I also looked through some of my flash drives with no luck, so, I pulled this one off Facebook.
I post this one today because Joe Don Rooney (the guy to the right of me in this photo) celebrates his 49th birthday today. He was the group’s lead guitar player and sang a lot of the high harmonies on their songs. He played in Chely Wright’s band before he was in Rascal Flatts. He was once married to model and 2005 Playboy Playmate of the Year, Tiffany Fallon.
This photo was taken at DTE Energy Music theater in Michigan when Rascal Flatts came through on a summer tour. I would guess that they probably only had 2 albums out at the time, and I think they were they headliners of this tour.
Depending on the artist, the radio people either went first at the meet and greets or last. At this meet and greet, the fans got to go first and I always enjoyed watching them interact with an act. The guys were very gracious to them, signing autographs and posing for photos, and making sure to chat a little, too.
I am holding what looks like some sort of poster here. I am sure that I had stuff for them to sign for our St. Jude Auction at the radio station. A lot of times, the folks working with a band or artist want to keep things moving and simple. They had to keep them on schedule for the show. Whenever I mentioned that I had stuff for St. Jude, they allowed the artist to sign as much as they could to raise money.
I am sure that I met the guys a couple times. I may have to dig into the radio stuff to see if there is a better photo to post. Until I find one, this one will have to do ….
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 