Sepia Saturday #234 Unusual Swimwear

The theme for this week's Sepia Saturday is all about people wading in the water. So I went through my collection of photos and came up with a few bathing beauties with unique swimwear. The first photo I've posted previously but it's so perfect for this week's theme that I decided to post it again.

This is a little treasure I picked up at a garage sale years ago. Here are three lovely bathing beauties enjoying some water sports accompanied by a herd of buffalo.  It's such a fun collage. I wish I knew who did it - he or she had a great sense of humor.

Doesn't it resemble the theme photo - random people having fun in the water?

Then we have Mabel (doesn't she look like a Mabel?). She's got on her new swimwear and just might touch her foot in the water. She won't go in all the way because she'd totally ruin that lovely hat:

To continue with the fashion show, we next have Gloria (I call her goofy Gloria because she's just such a card). She's designed her own swimwear which looks kind of like a Project Runway challenge (for those of you who might not get this TV show - it involves fashion designers who have to create designs using things such as kelp from the beach or...I think you get the idea).

And last but not least is Mary. She can't wait to get to the beach. I wonder if she'll slip her shoes off when she hits the surf. But she's going to have to drag Harold kicking and screaming. He's just not the beach type. He looks like he would like to be anywhere else but here.

Mabel had a nice swim cap, but wait until you get a load of these (This video just keeps going and going and I couldn't figure out how to edit out just one of the videos - so watch as much as you have time for):



Wade over to Sepia Saturday for more swimmingly fun stories.

Sepia Saturday #233 The mystery of the tiny nylon stocking

Two years ago my daughter was visiting from New York and we did our favorite thing, went junk shopping (or should I say antique shopping?). We went to a shabby chic kind of place in Solana Beach, Ca and I found this wonderful treasure that I really wanted. But my daughter in her infinite wisdom said, "don't buy that. What are you going to do with it? You already have enough stuff and I thought you were trying to get rid of stuff."

So against my better judgement I declined the treasure that day.

My daughter left the next day and called me that night to let me know she arrived safely. Her first question was "Did you go back and buy that thing that you wanted?" and I had to reply, "What do you think? I had to, it was just too cute." I heard a big sigh on the other end of the line. She knew me too well.

So see if you agree. Didn't I have to have this?:

This is the tiniest little nylon stocking which is attached with a safety pin to a love letter (which I'll translate later).

Also here is the engagement announcement from The Standard, New Bedford, Mass.

 And to top it off, a wedding photo:

 

I wish the groom was included in the photo. He was in the Navy, so I'll bet he wore his white navy dress uniform. Maybe one of the flower girls was small enough to wear the tiny nylon stocking! 

Here's the size of the stocking just for your info:

  

And here's the letter which is quite touching. Did he write it to her, or her to him? I think it was from her because of the handwriting.

 

Translation:

"This is to be saved till next Christmas. Maybe Santa will fill it full of toys? This is also a reminder that after sand and heat you'll be able to look at nylon, smell perfume and hear lovely music. It won't be long darling."

Yes, I definitely think it was written by Helen.  But where did that tiny little stocking come from and what was it? Maybe she worked in the hosiery section of some fancy department store and this was a sample to let you know the shade of the stocking. Or maybe it was a salesman's sample. It's too big to be a stocking for a doll. Maybe it would fit a one legged munchkin. I don't know. Any ideas? 

And isn't it interesting that he was being sent to the Persian Gulf? There were no dates on any of these documents, but from the looks of the photo I think it was the 40s. Can you imagine we were off meddling in the Persian Gulf then? Will things never change?

A little more info about the couple (I couldn't find much). Thomas Kurtz Kline was born in Baltimore on Nov. 10, 1924 and died on June 18, 2006 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and buried in Santa Fe. His parents were John Louis Kline and Alice N. Gonder. Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 and was discharged in 1965. I found nothing about Helen except that she was born in 1924 in New Bedford, Mass.

Let's hope they had a long and happy marriage and that she filled many of his Christmas stockings with many wonderful toys.

For more wedding stories, click here Sepia Saturday.

 

Sepia Saturday 232 - I survived the Lima to Huancayo train trip

This week the theme for Sepia Saturday is railroads, trains, tracks, perspective, etc. I've decided to write about my most harrowing train ride - the one from Lima to Huancayo in Peru.

Here I am on the trip to Peru. This was in 1971 (I was a lot younger and way more adventuresome).

I was with a group of 11 people (2 anthropology professors and 9 students from Cal State LA University.) We were on an archeological survey on the north coast of Peru. During our 3 months there we took several side trips and one was from Lima to Huancayo on the highest train in the Americas (it used to be in the world, but now there's a higher one in Tibet).  This particular train soars to 15,839 feet up into the Andes.

It's a historic route.  The more than 500 kilometers of tracks were planned out by Ernesto Malinowski and Henry Meiggs in 1870 and laid down by thousands of laborers, including Chinese who were brought to the country for this task that ended in 1893.

The train passes through 69 tunnels, goes over 58 bridges including the Carrión and Infiernillo and 6 zigzag paths.

Because of the high elevation, there was a nurse at the ready to make sure that no one was overcome with altitude sickness. She had a portable oxygen tank and could dispense oxygen to those who appeared sick. Our group had come prepared with lots of chocolate bars - someone had told us this was the best antidote for altitude sickness. No one in our party got sick so maybe chocolate really did the trick.

When we finally got to Huancayo, it happened to be market day. The high altitude did not keep us from a day of shopping.

This is a map of the route just to give you an idea:

If you're ever in Peru and you're a train buff, you might want to try this trip Lima to huancayo.

Roll on down the track and check out more train stories on sepia saturday.