Throwback Thursday

The photograph above was taken during Spirit Week of my senior year of high school (1979). You remember Spirit Week...you dressed in something different every day of that week, depending on the day's theme.

If I cobbled my costume together correctly, you know that the day this photograph was taken there was a western theme going on...the fact that I had all of the pieces of the costume on hand is a bit fortuitous, considering that I did not grow up anywhere near the "Wild West".

Of course it was 1979, and every red-blooded American girl had a couple denim skirts and a pair of boots in her closet...those are a given in the ensemble above.

I cannot recall who the red cowboy hat and toy pistol belonged to. One of my younger brothers or even my toddler nephew who was living with us at the time? I had no problem wearing the toy pistol to school that day...now you cannot even think the word pistol without gaining detention or being thrown out of school for a week.

The red and white checked shirt and denim vest belonged to one of my older sisters and the red neckerchief was one of my dad's handkerchiefs that he always carried with him.

As with some photographs, I think what is in the background is sometimes more interesting to look at than the main subject.

I see to the left of me is a thin sliver of the playpen that my nephew used. The little broom hanging to the right of me is dressed like a woman in a skirt and apron. I cannot recall where my mom got that (maybe a Christmas present) but it was hanging there for many years. Just to the left of the broom-woman is a colonial-era town crier statue. It owned that little piece of real estate on the hearth for decades. I recall he was a bit heavy and substantial.

The mantle is somewhat sparse in its decoration and what is on there is interesting. What are they and why would my mother deem them worthy of such a place of prominence in the family room? It looks like there is a round medallion flanking each side of me. I think I remember them as being weighty metal medallions that featured some sort of colonial theme. There was a time when my mother decorated the family room in a Colonial or Americana theme (remember 1976 and the American Bicentennial?). There is a golden eagle affixed to the mantle face behind me and you can just see one of its wings over my left shoulder.

There is a small red glass vase on the mantle too. Again, not sure where my mother got this and why it holds a special place on the mantle. You can see a rectangular glass container down on the right from the red vase. I remember that container but not what was inside of it. There are a couple other smaller items between the red vase and glass container (minus the metal medallion) but I cannot make them out in the photograph and would have no idea or remember what they were.

I always find it interesting to look at old (and new) photographs and check out what is in the background. Sometimes the background tells you more about the subject than you initially saw (or remembered).

Next time you look at a photograph, really look at the background and see what you can see.