Wednesday Without Much Going On

Kind of a dull day. I did a color wash in the morning while I trying to put a little organization on my father's memorabilia trove. I dug out some of the photos I have, but just a tiny percentage of the whole. Here are some from long before I was born:

My Mom and Dad at a picnic before they were married. The original is dated 1918, when my Dad would have just graduated from high school. He's on the front right, lounging. This is one of the few of him with a grin on his face. Mom is the third girl from the left.

The young Byrne family before the twinnies were born. They are on the Domino Lane farm, circa 1935, judging from baby Frankie in the front. Gene is on Mom's left, Larry and Jimmy in front of Dad.

Later, circa 1929, also on Domino Lane. Jimmy and Gene in front of Mom, with left, Uncles Ed and Frank, and Dad. I posted this one on Facebook and my cousin, Marifran, commented; she was actually embarrassed by what her Dad, Edmond (left), was wearing--94 years ago!  

When I went through some of my other family treasure trove, I came across pictures of Holy Family parish, in Manyunk, where Dad went to grammar school (I assume all or most of his siblings did, too). I emailed the contact there to ask if they had material from about 1913 or '14, and earlier, when Dad would have attended.   

I looked up from my absorbing labors and realized it was after one. Thought I'd take my lunch and bus to Montgomery Avenue, where Ellen used to live and enjoy it on a bench near the river. However, when I neared the bus stop, I realized I had forgotten my phone. Went back to get it, met up with Vickie on the way and we stopped to talk, at which point, I realized it was extremely windy, so I lost my enthusiasm for the trip. Instead, I headed over to Von's for broccoli, tuna, and a twelve-pack of 805 (beer).

Stopped to check my mail on the way back and ran into my pal, David, the ornithologist. He's now engaged in trying to persuade management to refrain from further trimming of the trees because the birds don't like it. Well, he didn't say that, of course; he reminded Manager Bianchi that trees are the birds' habitat and they need to build their nests on the branches. We must have stood there talking for forty-five minutes or so before we said goodbye.  Home and it was almost 3:00 before I finally had lunch. Just puttered around the rest if the day, except for...

...I can't decide if this is amusing or unsettling: Without going into detail, I've briefly been PMing with a man from Bucks County I "met" on Facebook. This is not one of those obviously scamming  communications (two have been directed at me), in which a stranger, whose FB page shows a handsome and clearly virile guy who "wants to get to know you better."  "Marc" (dollars to doughnuts he used to spell it with a "k") B. and I started commenting back and forth on a certain site, one thing led to another, and the situation starting going where I don't want to go. I looked him up and I think he is or was a car salesman in or around Philly, probably in his seventies. His communications were shading into the provocative and good grief, I need that like another grey hair, so I restricted him from my chat list--bye-bye, Marc!