Child Labor: 1958 Style

Two extremely cute images of my Mom and Uncle Kevin shoveling snow from the front stoop of my grandparents' apartment on Hoyt Avenue in Staten Island. 

1958: Cake Face

My Aunt Karen samples her first birthday cake (and gets an icing facial).

  January 1958.  Staten Island, New York.

On The Hudson

Images from a walk around the Hoboken Train Station on a relatively quiet Saturday.

And then there was this restricted (though not guarded) area inside...

Parties, Pinafores & Potato Sacks

 

After a recent look at the DVD I made of the family slides, my Mom was reminiscing about how wonderfully simple yet completely joyful kids' birthday parties were in the 1950s and 60s.  Party favors here included small sombreros and what appear to be yoyos.  The taste of fruit flavored soda against the texture of a paper cup is such a "hyperactive sugar rush at the kids' table" moment.  Here's my Mom at the head of the table, celebrating with my Uncle Kevin (on left, peeking out below) and my cousin Dianne to his left.  My cousin Ricky is seen in the lower left.  Did anyone catch the color of the canary he just swallowed?

My Mom and Uncle Kevin are seen above in their Easter Sunday Best while my Great Grandmother Mae is seen below between my cousins Dianne and Lois.  This slide was unmarked (as were many others) so I'm guessing they're dressed in either confirmation dresses or flower girl gowns for a wedding.

Mom and Aunt Karen look great in their matching sailor suits (which were probably home-sewn from a Simplicity pattern) but why doesn't my Uncle Kevin have one? 

And here we move toward Summertime's picnics and games...

What picnic is complete without a toilet paper race?

Marshmallow Snow

Third day of Spring.  Seven and a half inches of snow.  March isn't exactly going out like a lamb.

Instagrams: Duran Duran Unstaged

Images from last night's David Lynch-directed live webcast of Duran Duran's concert at The Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles, which was part of the American Express Unstaged concert series.  

This was a truly fantastic (and unique) event which included onstage visits from Kelis, Beth Ditto of The Gossip and Superproducer-genius Mark Ronson.

The Calm Before The Ice Storm

Scenes from a long walk: 

Taking advantage of the warm daylight that would soon give way to heavy, wet snow and angry torrents of icy rain (complete with thunder and lighting).  Spring... Really?  22 March 2011.