Mom and Dad 1920 and 1957

My dad has the black sweater on...

 

 

 

Here are some photos of my parents taken thirty years apart and ones of my dad with his steam engine and friends...I'm delighted I can post these on my blog...Dad worked for the railroad for many years...He became an engineer about the time I started grammar school (1942)...He drove an old steam switch engine for the Chicago People's Gas Light and Coke Company...Then he had 17 miles of track inside a very large yard and his engine would move the coke cars wherever they had to go...By the time I entered high school they had switched from steam to diesel powered engines...But then they got rid of their coke cars and sold only natural gas...In huge storage tanks...This created a dilemma for my dad since he was only a year or so from retiring at 65...They asked him if he wanted one of two jobs they could offer him which were ...1. Watching over the boilers or 2. Being a weed picker around the tanks...My dad took the boiler job since he had worked out of doors all of his life and the winters in Chicago were pretty cold...But...He got so bored watching boilers and reading the daily newspaper from front to back he requested the weed picking job..

In high school the guys would occasionally ask one another..."What does your dad do for a living?" I remember one kid say ,"My father doesn't do anything....He's a cop!"...And so my answer was," My father is the highest paid weed picker in the city of Chicago"...My dad got a kick out of that answer and told his friends down at George's bar...

I have thank my ex neighbor (Delores A.) an e-mail friend,who lived directly across the street from me in Chicago for the picture of mom and dad all gussied up at maybe at a  wedding reception...Dee now lives in Florida and found the photo amongst some others recently and sent it to me...

God bless you Dee!

 

Oh yes...don't let me forget...Dee's parents were my God parents...Thanks again Dee...

John McCormick does Millers Beer Ads...

 

Scratchboard art is a thing of the past...Not anymore ...it's coming back strong...In 1954 when I was apprenticing at a large art and photography studio (Kling Studios) in the city where I grew up, Chicago ... I met an illustrator by the name of John McCormick...He had some Scotch blood in him and he grew up  in Australia...He had a gift that made him famous...He knew the art of scratchboard...and he knew it well...

There were other famous artists working there...Ralph Ballantine ...H. Charles McBarron Jr...to name a few....My job was as a gopher...(go for this...go for that)...I also matted and framed art work ...Back then the studio provided a still photographer for the artists so he could photograph various models in the poses which the artists has laid out before they finished their final illustrations...The apprentices (there were three of us) were ready models to be used by the artists ..Once I posed as a Roman centurion fast asleep while guarding Christ's tomb...the artist was illustrating a bible...I also posed as a WW I soldier on a scouting trip down in Panama...The in-house photographer was quite  character...He would always ask us if we knew any young girls who were aspiring to  become fashion  models to send them to him so he could work up a portfolio for them...This was how he would make extra money...

But let's get back to John McCormick...He would allow the apprentices to come into his small studio to watch him as he worked...I had never seen anything like this before and so I would spend as much time as he would allow to watch him bring his art to life...The ads you see here are for Miller High Life Beer...They respected John's work so much they even gave him a byline..Look at these ads closely and you will see why...

 

Check out the leather of his shoe...and the softness of his cap...

 

Check out all the textures of the various elements in the picture...

 

John had a fine sense of humor and would keep a bottle of whiskey in the bottom drawer of his short file cabinet... Back then it was common for the owner  of the studio to lead potential clients around to see the various artists while they were working.in their small studios ..Once ever so often ...when John heard them come to his open door which was to his back...he would pause as if he didn't hear them and then reach down to get a swig from that bottle...I think it might have disturbed Mr. Kling at first, but then I think once he knew John was teasing them and he would lead them to John's studio on purpose...

 I spent two summers working at that studio and I was fortunate to know this fine man and great artist...

Picture of the Day...Capital Dome...

This was a grab shot I took driving over the railroad tracks in downtown Columbia some months ago...
I'm surprised at the composition of the picture 

The Hummingbirds are back...

 I have always enjoyed my hummingbird feeder...It welcomes those little guys back to my deck every year..

 

This is the female...She's a little more hungry than her spouse...

LA VITA'E BELLA a poem by Uncle Ron

                                                                        LA VITA'E BELLA

                 LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL...

                                        IT CAN MAKE YOU LAUGH

               IT CAN MAKE YOU CRY ...

                                         IT CAN MAKE YOU LUST...

               IT CAN MAKE YOU SIGH.



                                  LIFE KNOWS NO BONDS AS IT GOES ROUND AND ROUND...

           THE FIRST DAY YOU'RE HAPPY...

                                            YOU'VE MET SOMEONE NEW...

                      THE SECOND DAY YOU'RE LAUGHING ...AND SHE'S LAUGHING TOO...

   THE THIRD DAY YOU'VE TRIPPED ON SOME UNKNOWN WIRE....

                              HER LAUGHTER IS STILL AS SHE PUTS OUT THE FIRE...

OH WHERE ARE THE MATCHES?   WHERE IS THE WOOD?

                         "SPEAK TO HER GOD...    I'VE BEEN MISUNDERSTOOD!"



BUT HER LAUGHTER IS GONE...THE ASHES ARE COLD...

                             HIS EYES THAT ONCE SPARKLED...  HAVE NOW GROWN SO OLD.

                IS THERE NO GOD?   IS THERE NO HOPE?

IS THERE NOT SOMEONE ...   WHO CAN HELP OUT THIS DOPE?



                    THE LONE RANGER IS DEAD... AND TONTO...AND SILVER...

SMOKE THE BEAR MIGHT BUT HE CANNOT PLAY WITH MATCHES...

                          SO WHAT IS HE TO DO?        THIS ILL FATED FELLOW?

A CLOWN WITH A BEARD AND A BRAIN FULL OF JELLO?

                          HE COULD SEND HER A FLOWER...  A VERY LARGE ROSE...

A FLOWER SO RED...IT RESEMBLES HIS NOSE.

                                        

                                                                                       ~Uncle Ron~

Is she Amanda Palmer?

Dear Friends 

I shot this video on my cell phone in October of 2012 at the SC State Fair in Columbia, SC...The young lady posing as a statue did a wonderful job...I recently came across a video of Amanda Palmer called "the art of asking"...I was struck by her beauty and the fact that she said her day job was posing as a statue...Amanda is an internationally know artist and song writer...One of her newest songs which she performs brilliantly is called "Bed Story" It is about two people who are in love and they slowly change toward each other as they grow older...

I can't believe this young lady that I video taped at the SC State Fair last October can be her...but it 

sure looks like her...PS...This a horrible video...I don't know what happened to it...

Happy Birthday Robert...

Hey Robert...May 28th is your birthday...

I hope it's a good day for you...

and I hope you will give me a call and let me know how you are doing...