Wordless Wednesday - Hotel Pool

On family vacations of yore, the favorite attraction of all for the kids seems to be the pool at the hotel - at least for ours anyway. The year is 1999, our children aged 10 and 8 are frolicking away in this chlorinated oasis...see WW and WW

Shadow Shot Sunday - School Project

Given the old pics I am rediscovering on my old family photo archiving project, my post for Shadow Shot Sunday 2 takes me back. The year is 1999, and daughter Allegra's presentation of her fifth grade project at Ansonia's Willis School. She chose as her subject the Canadian Provence of Prince Edward Island. Specifically, her interest in the island stemmed from her love of the six Anne of Green Gables books she had read by then. Of course, slight shadowy lighting descends upon he project board - and we parents were happy that she chose a literate project...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Shadowy Summer 1999

As Shadow Shot Sunday 2 arrives at a change of season to folder days, I offer a shadowy look back to a family vacation in the Summer of 1999 to touristy venues in Groton Connecticut. These memories were from at the USS Nautilus Museum at the US Navy Sub Base. Our daughter (then age 10) and son (age 8) are standing alongside the prop/screw of the first nuclear submarine, the decommissioned USS Nautilus on a nice day...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Ohio Valley Collegiate Shadows

For Shadow Shot Sunday 2, I again look at decades past and places with a hint of shadow - and memories. 

I have been looking at many a digitized print that take me to my alma mater Franciscan University in Ohio.I haven't been there in 15 years (and Patti is still amazed that she agreed to take that 1999 drive with me to that mythical place called Steubenville :) 

Recently, I was contacted by a classmate who also graduated with me back then - and this prompted me to peruse tho my photo archives from back in the day. At the top, I receive my diploma; in 1999, the campus here prompting shadowy memories then - and now...

Pics, L-R: I receive my diploma, 8 May 1977; US-22 Gateway to Steubenville. August 1999, Chapel, 1999; Student Center, 1999; Patti with bookstore bruin, 1999

Shadow Shot Sunday - Learner's Permit

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and reminiscing - these pair up well.

Today, son Cameron is taking the test for his driving lesson at at the DMV in Bridgeport (these days, the driver's license seems to occur at a later age than for me who just couldn't wait for mine at age 16 a few decades ago :).

Yet here, he looks as if he were ready to drive as he handles a set of keys at age 8...actually, on my keychain is a magnet that operated the magnetic door opener and wheelchair lift switches that were hidden behind the taillight lens. 

He looks rather self-assured and confident standing amid the shadows back then. Good luck Cam with those humorless  DMV road testing personnel in mom's Hyundai...

Edit: Patti called at 10:46 EST (GMT-4:00) indicated that he passed :) Although the humorless DMV tester said that Patti needs new tires on the Hyundai :(

Whimsical Windows - Curvaceous Chapel

Chapel, Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio. July, 1999

Toby hosts the fun architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. Today, I am using a scanned print from 1999, and it is the chapel at my alma mater, Franciscan University in Steubenville. The building has few doors and windows but has a dramatic curvy shape that stands out on the hill of this old coal and steel city on a hot day. On top, I see a rowboat of sorts aiming up - to the heavens perhaps? Opened in 1968, the elliptical house of worship catches our eyes looking upward and outward...

Tina's Pic Story - Seasonal Orange

Tina hosts the fun themed weekly meme Pic Story, where we pick the photos to match the weekly theme - this week she has chosen the theme Orange

These are scans from 1998 or 1999 and showcase our Halloween decorations in the front of our home. Of course, pumpkins are an orange-y harvest color. The pumpkin fellow is actually full of fallen leaves to fatten him up and wears different headwear. Other orange highlights surround Mr. Pumpkinhead here too...

The costumes were easy - Cameron is a blue M&M, and Allegra's dance outfit from the previous dance recital in June - so she always had a costume ready in October. Thanks for the memories kids!

Whimsical Windows - Profiles in driving

I-376 Fort Pitt Bridge, Pittsburgh PA,1999

Cross Parkway, Route 15, Wallingford CT, more recently...

Toby graciously hosts the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors where we look for windows of seriousness, or fun. I choose the latter :)

Patti has the camera on road trips when I am driving. On occasion, the driver's profile may appear when least the driver least expects it...however, these window views offer an eclectic view of the driver's chin from way back then to now...thanks to Toby for the meme and Patti for the flattering profiles...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Vacation past

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 arrives in this summer season (north of the equator that is). Naturally family vacations are remembered, by child and parent alike, today it is the summer of 1999. The family ambled up the Connecticut coast to Groton and Mystic, about an hour away from home...there may be plenty of attractions in the area, yet what the bigger attractions for the kids is the motel - and the pool that we don't have at home...

Vacation visits included the Submarine Force Museum in Groton.The museum and sub history is great, look at the building detail that looks like a tower from a sub.

The USS Nautilus is moored here. This was the first nuclear sub, commissioned in 1954 and pulled from service in 1979.

I couldn't go inside the ship, but Patti and the children toured inside. In the shadowy photo, Allegra (10) and Cam (8) stand aside a sub's prop

The Mystic Aquarium, another family fun (and learning) place. They are looking into tank - the shadows fall outside and inside the aquatic pool. The scanned photos sharpen the memory even more...

See shadowy shots from the world over at SSS2!