Val of “Arty Ole Bird” is my good blogging friend who lives in Wales. She sent me the link to the WordPress Gallery instructions on how to do this gallery. I honestly did not know if I could make it work or not but I have found that I was lucky. Val is a http and Word Press genius. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for being such a good friend. She is super funny and very gracious.
http://artyoldbird.com/2013/05/02/question-time/
The link with instructions is here:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/images/gallery/
These are all old photos taken eons ago. My children’s pic is quite faded and I think the original was slide film. Just don’t remember what was what when I took about 10 photos to the local camera store to be scanned to CD about two years ago. All of these are faded.
The photo of my Dad in the blue denim overalls was taken about 1984-5. That photo won a blue ribbon and I’ve been asked for copies of that one by several individuals. This is not a very good repro of it and I wish that I could show the pic as an original.
The photos of the cats in the window of the farm house back porch are all listing to one side. I suppose by now you can see I’ve always had a problem with “listing to one side or the other.” 🙂
Gracie came to live with me after my Dad died. She lived to be 17-18 years old. There is a story about Gracie that I’ll write some day if I live long enough. Gracie had a very interesting life, escape wise, and I hope I can do justice to her story.
Meetzie died at about age 4 and was most likely eaten by coyotes. That was a very sad day for my mother. She loved her little tortie so much.
Graybaby, came from the farm also. Meetzie might have been Graybaby’s mother, not sure. Bibble as my son Danny often called Graybaby lived to about age 14. The photo of Graybaby won a blue ribbon as well. I really like that one. I shot the “good pics” using two stobes (flash) or speed lights as I think they are now called with one flash bounced from an umbrella. I did all my pet photos without any assistance. It was really lots of work that called for infinite patience. I’m able to still get some decent ones using two flash heads and an umbrella. The amount of work required is exhausting but I am grateful that I can still produce a decent photo.
The caption on my son’s photo is obscured. Danny was about 15 years old in this pic. The little dog’s name was Andy, short for Andrew. When ever Andy was a bit of trouble I resorted to calling him Andrew. Andy was one of the smartest dogs that we were fortunate to have as part of our family. My son adored Andy and that little dog acted as if the sun rose and set in his human. Andy was 14 years old when he went to doggie heaven.
I’ve cried as I remember. And, while most of the pets lived to be old or really old, I think of my parents and the love they had for their pets. Of course, I remember the pets that were so important to my children as they were growing up. Pets and other animals and birds were and still are extremely important in the lives of my children. Each of my children continue to have dogs and cats in the household so it is not just their mother who has a love for the furry ones. 🙂
Post and photographs ~yvonne~
Pets, People and, Life 
I really enjoyed these photos. I’m not sure, but I think you are animal lover??? ;O)
Very touching, and I especially loved the photo of your father and Gracie. Very nice…..I am so lucky to still have my 81-year-old parents AND two precious, precious dogs in my life. I am the luckiest gal in the world! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Looking forward to keeping up with yours!
Thanks for stopping by and reading. I am glad to know that you have your parents and pets as well. Indeed you are fortunate to be able to have both.
Yes, I began blogging on my daughter's web site in the fall of 2010. I really love dogs and cats. The blog was intended to be something for info about pets mostly. I also wrote several stories about her pets that were all saved from death by Lisa. She had to give up her mobile practice after becoming seriously ill with arthritis a year ago. Her practice was Vet to Pet Austin and it was growing all the time. Now we both wonder if the potent meds will put her disease in remission and allow her to open her practice again.
I began my own blog site last fall when it was apparent that my daughter would not be able to work and there was no need to keep the blpg.
Hmmmm. I am sorry to hear about your daughter’s health challenges. You have been so helpful to me, perhaps I can be of help to you. I work in a healthcare office – I know a lot about healing! If it’s Rheumatoid Arthritis, I will have to say I don’t have much to offer except some ideas for pain management (acupuncture, energy work, etc). If it is the other kind of arthritis, then the first thing your daughter can do to reduce pain and inflammation all over the body is to quit eating wheat, and possibly corn/soy. These items are becoming trickier and trickier for all of us and cause autoimmune inflammatory response……….tell your daughter that if she wants to try an experiment that doesn’t involve going to a doctor, eliminate wheat from her diet in all forms (bread, baked goods, etc.) Going gluten-free might help her out. Just a suggestion, for what it’s worth.
Look for email soon. Am working on getting your email address correct. Thought I could copy it but that did not work 🙂 will give you details of her arthritis not RA or Lupus).
Thanks for following my blog. I hope you continue to enjoy my ramblings. I need a “Val” to straighten out my photography!
Thank you, Kayti for visiting and commenting. What is wrong with your with photographs? Maybe I can help. I’m not sure if Val is doing much blog fixing at this time. She has cut back on doing posts plus staying off the computer entirely for a week or more. She simply offered on her own to fix my blog which had messed up in a very bad way. It was awful looking. Don’t know how it went from just fine to a total mess one night as I was trying to post
You are a talented photographer! Great pics and descriptions of each one. The little dog Andrew looks a bit like a Jack Russell Terrier. Though I love cats, we seem to have settled our lives with the canine world. The current love affair is with a Jack Russell named Charlie. Good post.
Kayti you really flatter me. My pics are so-so and I need prime lenses for my camera. Can’t spend the money right now since my daughter has been ill with arthritis for a year now. She had to give up her practice because she was so ill. Still not controlled by medication.
The little dog Andrew was part fox terrier, poodle. pomeranian, and beagle. A real mutt but ever so smart.
Such sweet, sweet pictures. Thanks for sharing the how-to link.
Thanks for commenting. You are welcome about the link. I could not have made it happen without Val’s direction of http://artyoldbird.com/. She knows all there is to know about WP
Love the photos. Our cats are always in the windows. Chris is always taking cat pictures. I should do a cat post.
Thanks for commenting Jeri.Yes, that would be really nice if you post some cat pics and write about them. I would love to see a post about your cats.
Wow, that’s really a beautiful collections!!! The past photo’s are always golden collection of old memories.. Gracie is too beautiful!!! You got a great and lovely friend…..
Rexlin thank you for your nice comment. Yes, I loved Gracie. She was one of a kind cat. I thought that she was beautiful too.
How nice to see these old photos, I love your Dad in his Denim with his cat, your children with Andy. Thanks to your friend Val for helping you, the result is great. I’am going to see your links.. thanks Yvonne. There is a lot of nostalgia in your pic with probably happy and sad moments.
Chatou, thank you for commenting. You are so nice. Do you know, I think you are second in the number of comments (per WP’s records)?
I hope you’ll find some links that you’ll like from the list.
The photos are just splendid – and I really enjoyed seeing them in a slideshow. There are a lot of new things at WP I’ve not messed with – partly because I don’t post so many photographs – but now that I’ve seen you do it, I’m inspired to give it a try. I have one topic that might lend itself to plenty of photos, and it would be a good way to do it.
Nostalgia is so normal – and sometimes even a little grief that we didn’t say “then” what we would say now, and so on. But that’s the way of life, I suppose. Posts like the one you’ve given us here not only makes me reflective, eager to look to the past for a while, they also offer encouragement to do better in the future. I can’t go back and spend another day with my parents, but there are plenty of people around me who could use some attention!
Linda, as usual whatever you write is so nice and filled with insight and good ideas- no matter if it is on your blog or mine. I too, wish that I could go back and redo some of my actions. I feel I did not give my parents enough of me in their elderly years. And as you have written, one can not go back and change. However, you certainly have the insight and the attitude of helping some elderly folks around you and I wish that I were one of those potential beneficiaries. 🙂
The slideshow, I am sure will be quite easy for you. One quick witted and smart individual, you are. I’ll look forward to seeing your photos in slideshow for the future. 🙂
Thank you for the nice compliment. ~yvonne~
Thank you for this wonderful post, Yvonne. I love the way you shared family memories and pictures and how you respond to everyone adding more souvenirs and details.
I know how pets are precious and how I remember them at different stages of my life.
Zita was the first dog my Dad brought home, a Beauce Shepherd. She taught me not to be afraid of dogs after I had been bitten by one when I was very young. Then there was Arri, a beautiful German Shepherd, the one I got really attached to during my teenage years. How many walks we made together when I came back from schooI ! I was truly heartbroken when Arri died crossing the road to welcome me home, hit by a car before I could shout “Stop !” The third and last dog we had at my parents’ was Baldor, a big, affectionate Belgian Shepherd. He became very old and his legs hurt him so much, he had to be put to sleep. Another very unhappy moment indeed. What remains though is the love shared between our pets and us, respect and faithfulness. Love your post, Yvonne, for all it brings back.
Oh my Isa. I shared your childhood grief as I read about the shepherd killed by a car. Back in our youth, parents and our young selves were careless and could not foresee the tragic consequences of being too lax when supervising our pets activities. That is just how it was and still is sometimes.
Your dogs sound as if they were wonderul pets. You had large to farily large dogs and now you have a little Beagle who is the apple of your eye.
I need to look up Beauce Shepherd. I’ve not heard of that breed. I like the names of your former pets. Thank you for sharing your memories. 🙂
I understand the tears so well, Yvonne, and you’ve made my eyes blur a bit, (well, not made, just my memories coming to the fore, 🙂 ) … Aren’t photo’s just the best for adding something to your life?… They hold such an amount of emotion, just by the merest glance. Many thanks for sharing yours with us… Pets especially make me smile with happiness, for without the photo’s I can hardly recall how some looked, but the feeling of their loved presence is drawn that bit closer… xPenx
Thank you for viewing and for commenting. I like your words a great deal. Yes, where would we be if there were no photographs of the past? I remember my dogs from my childhood as well. Sometimes the memories are sad and sometimes not. ~yvonne~ xx
Yvonne, you really did wonderful with this slide show. That picture of your dad is so cool. And Val has helped me out more than once with technical details here on WordPress. Really enjoyed this post.
Hi Kathy. Thanks for stopping to take a look and to comment. Yes, Val is in- Val-uable for sure. She knows all there is to know about http and WP. She is one incredible and smart peson who is so gracious to share her knowledge with us dumb hats. Only thing I am most likely slower on the uptake than the rest of you due to my elderly self (I hate to admit that) 🙂 but there you are. I have it staring me in the face every day. 🙂 Val has become a good friend and we exchange emails on average about every 10 days or so. She is incredibly busy and I do not see how she accomplishes so much. She mentioned that she corresponds with some other Americans. I think that is so nice that she has made friends with us. Frankly I feel honored. 🙂
And, thank you for your nice comment re: my Dad’s photo and the post. I have won ribbons and money with photos of him with two diffrent little dogs. The monotone pic won a tri-colored ribbon and I am most proud of that one. The photo in color also won a blue ribbon at an art fair and “gasp” $100. That same photo then won 3rd place at a regional mall contest and I think that win also yielded $100 bucks. I bought shoes with that at Dilliard’s. Anyhow, I’ll be posting those at some time or the other, hopefully before I croak. 🙂
Of course you would shed a tear, Yvonne. There is so much love in our lives and, although a natural thing, losing that love in our daily existence is saddening and would certainly bring a tear to most. But it is wonderful that you have all these memories to keep your past in your heart and mind.
Although I have basically no family pictures, we do have quite a few of Mary Beth’s, I did take many of our beagles…Cassie, Dixie and Murphy, so we enjoy our doggie memories that hang on the wall as well as in our mind’s eyes.
Good work on creating the slide presentation. I haven’t thought of trying but you have made good work of it.
Thanks for commenting, Steve. Pics from my parents are few since they did not own a camera. The few pictures that I have of my parents, sister and myself are school pics or those taken by relatives. There might be one shoe box total. I have access to ancestors pics of those that were garnered by my cousin as she put together several family trees.
For me and my kids and husband, lots of 8mm home movies and slides when they were small.And quite a few of our pets. Almost none of me since I was always the photographer. My husband’s collection from the past is huge and I don’t even want to think of where to begin. But I need to tackle that before I get to old to do anything about it.
I’m glad that you have your wife’s family pics. Maybe you can get those scanned and put to CD. I’m sure that you’ve lots of wonderful pics of the dogs. I like the names that you gave your dogs. Almost all of my dogs have a name that ends with an i, ie or a y. Dancer is my only dog that does not. All the cats have names ending in an i, e, or y. I like that sound for a pet.:-)
That is too bad there are not more from your family, but as you described your father’s hard work I am sure a camera was most likely considered a luxury. Your folks concentration was on raising their children well and that seems a great success judging from you, Yvonne. And I am sorry, I neglected to comment on the nice picture you took of your dad and how well you captured his character. It is a fine portrait of a man who did an honest day’s work.
All the pictures are very nice…I really like the picture of Graybaby and the wonderful light you captured in her eyes and it’s easy to see why it was a prize winner.
I’ve had but one cat and she was named Sasha. I had been told it was easier to get a cat’s attention if there is an ‘s’ sound to their name. I have no idea whether that is true or not.
You’re correct when you say that a camera was a luxury. We were poor of money but not of food, shelter, and basic clothing. My parents bought one of the small farms of his parents estate ater his Dad died. Mama and Daddy paid for that place by growing cotton and corn and hay to feed the cattle and hogs. Daddy sold steers at the auction barn- a few every year to help bring in money. They also sold “dressed” turkeys and guineas,fresh garden greens in the spring and fall, turnips, eggs and, butter that I had to help churn. They peddled each Saturday to a handful of customers. Some of their most loyal buyers were African Americans and some wealthy Jewish poeple who appreciated farm fresh produce even way back in the 40’s and 50’s. Finally in the early 60’s my parents no longer peddled.
They wisely chose to have only two children. But that also meant that I often took the place of a son when Daddy needed a tractor driver, corn puller or, milker. I helped muck manure from the barns and chicken houses, brought the cows in each evening from the pasture, helped hoe cotton and corn. There were few things that I could not do but of course I could not do heavy lifting. I was 5’4″ tall and weighed 98-100 pounds through high school and not much more than that now.
I reflect on life and wonder how all that came to be and how in the world I make it to this point in time. 🙂
You had a fine upbringing and much good experience. I think today’s children would be much better off with the same sort of start in life rather than most everything they could want and time spent in front of a computer or Xbox. I guess the future generations will have better hand-eye coordination but the rest of their preparedness for what life throws their way will be a little stunted.
Thanks Steve. Yes I learned the lessons of hard work, persistence, and dedication. Plus my parents were very strict. 🙂
Oh, Yvonne I have a special soft-spot for Meetzie! Of course I love all the kitties, they’re gorgeous, but Meetzie looks so much like our cat Skittywinks and I so rarely see other Black Torties/Calicos. I love the photos of your family and so enjoyed reading about the memories of your animals. They really are part of our family and it’s so sad when we lose them. I always think of the animals who come into our lives as gifts.
Your gallery is superb! I will check out your wonderful friend’s link.
I am very much looking forward to reading Gracie’s story!
Thank you Lady Knot for visiting and commneting. I appreciate that you have taken the time to make such nice comments. Meetzie was a special cat and to this day I’ve not gotten over her sudden disappearence and we were certain that she had strayed to far from the yard and was grabbed by a coyote or it could have been an owl.
But, yes, the dark torties are not that common. I am down to one tortie that was/is my son’s cat that was once feral when she arrived at his house. (I named her Marmey-is a dark tortie and who has the loudest purr of any cat that I’ve ever had) but I keep her in my cat barn which is really not a barn. It has AC and stained concrete floors with a double fenced run and an avairy entrance (enclosed double entry so that no cat can escape). They have over head shelving to play and sleep plus more 3 tiered shelving on one side of the house where they have cat beds. I spent enough money on that building to have bought a new SUV but I wanted more room for my cats and where I would be assured none of them could escape. (I was still working then and making a good salary. Now my check is half of what it was. 🙂
I hope that I can soon begin writing about Gracie but I’m not much of a writer and I wish that I could make it really good. I will give it my best shot.I’ve not had training to write other than putting together about 4 pages every 6 weeks in highschool where I had the same teacher for four years. (very small town school. I rode the bus to and from school for 12 years. 🙂
Everyone has doubts about themselves as writers, Yvonne. Your writing is heartfelt and that cannot be taught in school. Oh, and your comments and replies are always wonderful. 🙂
Lady Knot, you somehow manage to find something good about my little ole blog. You are so very nice. Heartfelt- now that is original for describing my lack of writing skills. 🙂 That made me smile and I thought to myself, “gee she is good.” But I see that you have noticed that I have loose fingers and in my humble opinion I write a “tad” better in my comments and replies. I just can not shut up my fingers. 🙂
I love these. The photos are terrific and the captions really great. Very nostalgic over here and grateful for all the furry kids that have graced my life. Thank you. 🙂
Thanks Paulette for the nice comment. Yes, the pics from the past evoke lots of memories. Sometimes for me, those are sad. But, I’d be aimless without any pets.
Well done in creating a slideshow which shows you can do different things via your dashboard. You are becoming a computer geek Yvonne 😉
It’s a good idea to transfer old photos onto memory. I scanned all my albums through my printer/scanner into a memory stick. Your photos were lovely memories.
Have a great weekend. Ralph xox 😀
I forgot.
4) If you reply to a comment in the grey area at the top of the comment email that arrives in your inbox it is automatically sent to the comments on that blog. Clever !! 😀
Really? Gee why did you not write that before? Thanks for the info. More than clever!
Well, I don’t think I qualify much in the way of know how re: computer skills. I had directions to read per Val and WP and I was just lucky. Really.
I’ve had all my pics (DSLR) scanned to an external hard drive for right now. I would like to get a scanner but that will have to wait for later. I should take all my family and old photos to the safe deposit box at the bank. But since I mention it I need to get a scanner as soon as I can. And now that I have written about the bank there is no way that I could get all of those in a deposit box. My husband’s batch of photos is huge. I’ve not looked at them all and I doubt that my husband even knew where all of them were.
A great week-end to you too. ~Yvonne~ XXX
Scanning a lot of photographs is a lot of work, but worth it when finished. Never forget to back up your photos on a disc or memory stick Yvonne. 😀
Right you are. I don’t know anything about scanners so I assume that you then put them to disc. That is what the camera store did for me but I was not there and I have no idea how it was done. I hope the method/applications/job/or whatever it is called will not be too difficult to learn. I will probably ordr mine from Costco so I suppose no worries since Costco provides free tech support. 🙂
Lovely photos and nicely written, Yvonne. I especially like the picture of your father with his little cat. There’s so much love in that picture, I can definitely see why it won a blue ribbon.
Thank you, Calee for taking the time to comment and compliment.
PS. when I say it’s me, it was me in my early twenties.
Alrighty. I can’t wait to take a look at that link. 🙂
Val, the picture of you with the dog is such a sweet one and you still look much as you did when in your twenties. I am astounded at your artistic skills. Unbelievable to see what you have done with a monochrome pic and made a photo that looks as if it were originally done using color film.
That is a handsome dog that appears to have been very gentle and well mannered. Beautiful fur and color.
Yay! You did it! Well done, Yvonne. 🙂 And thanks for the mention, too.
I love the photo of your dad, and the one of your kids as tiny ones. Are they a similar age? They look it.
We had pets before my allergies were discovered. My mum’s cat was a long-haired black and white who was a total eccentric. She’d lay her tail in the fire grate and get it singed (she never learned her lesson) and got the tip of it – presumably just the fur – caught in the door too. She’d fetch mum when it was time for kittens (I think that cat must’ve populated most of the area we lived with kittens. Thankfully they all found loving homes), usually in a cardboard box in the basement of the house, and mum would have to act as midwife.
Despite my allergies, I have risked my health for other people’s pets from time to time (and still do). There’s a photo in my own slideshow on my website, on my photocolouring page, that you might like to look at – it’s of a girl and a dog. The dog belonged to a friend of mine, the girl is me. It’s here: http://artbyvalerde.com/my-photocolouring-work/
Val what a cute story of your cat. I’ve heard how cats go to their humans when they are about to give birth. They are so much smarter than we would ever think.
My cats walk across the kitchen stove and singe their tails and sometimes their whiskers. Makes for a comical looking cat.
Lisa and Danny are 22 months apart. Very different personalities with both of them nature and animals lovers.
I’m going to click on your link as soon as I finish replying to the comments this morning.
Wonderful photographs. The slides how works fine on my iPad.. Just going to look at Val’s blog now…
Thanks Mike for commenting. Those ipads always surprise me with what the device can do. Just carry it around and you have instant Internet. Amazing contraption.
What a heartwarming post, Yvonne, even though I can understand why you would shed a tear. We all do when we look back on happy days with parents and pets. They are wonderful images and your dad looks a truly good man. A lot of tenderness the way he nurses the cat. And you have cracked the gallery before me. I must try it. Lovely writing.
Andrew, thank you for the comments that warmed my heart. I didn’t put much into writing that post and I’m surprised that it came off as good. It was spontaneous as I was trying to quickly get something on the page to accompany the pictures.
I’m not sure if I like the slide gallery or not but I think it works for many pics since it gives the black frame.I miss having the ability to get a frame and I reckon the only way to get the frame is to pay for a custom theme. I actually like the CHUNK theme for the layout. I’ll have to ask Val if she can figure out a way to get the frame to stay. A frame will go around my pics if the cursor is moved to the picture but goes away as soon as the cursor is moved. And it is only there on certain pics and apparently I have not read all there is for me to know about photo insertion.
My Dad was a hard worker, quick, agile, loved to talk, excellent domino player and enjoyed a good prank. He adored my children who called him Pawpaw. He was 82 years old when he had a massive stroke or coronary and died instantly while living alone at the farmhouse.
How funny that the first two photos I was going to comment on were Greybaby and your dad and then you went on to write that they deservedly won a blue ribbon. You didn’t write deservedly of course, but I am adding that. Lovely selection of photos and with such a timeless feel to them.
Slideshow is a nuisance now. It was MUCH easier before they altered it. I didn’t realise they had changed the instructions. Originally when they changed the media upload function, you had to get round it by inserting code. I haven’t done one for a while, but I do prefer them to the gallery. People go overboard with the gallery and put 20 or 30 photos up at once. Far too many.
Anyway, nice post Yvonne. Did you frame the one of your dad? I would.
Thanks so much Ms. Gib for the welcome comments and compliments. I appreciate that you take the time to look and write.
About the slideshow thing. I’ve yet to figure out why WP seems to enjoy messing with something that is alread good and easy with which to work.
Yes, the one of my Dad is framed but I have taken it down from the den wall because I did not want it to fade. I need to get it reproduced from the original negative but I have to find which folder it is now hiding. I’ve not been good at keeping anything of importance in an orderly fashion. I wish that I could overcome my sloppiness before I get too much older. 🙂
Some wonderful memories, words and pictures. I love the photo of your Dad particularly.
The slideshow gallery works well. Even on my IPhone.
So good to see some if the pets that were part of your families life.
Lovely post!
Thank you Rod for your kind words. And for the compliment re: my Dad’s photo. I am particulary proud of that one and it one of my best sort of candid photos. It was not actually a planned photo. I was visiting my parents at the farm and got my Dad to sit down on a hay bale that he was going to load onto a trailer. Gracie left the back porch to come join us and so that is how the photo came about.
the photo of your father is absolutely wonderful. as is the photo of graybaby. the kids and pets are precious. 🙂
Thank you, Theresa for the comment and the compliments. I appreciate your visits a great deal.
Nice post… brought back some of my own memories about the pets in my life.
I’m so glad you stopped by and commented. I appreciate your visits. ~yvonne~
beautiful cats yvonne, the slideshow works great
Thank you Scott for viewing and commenting. 🙂 ~yvonne~
What a beautiful post. I’m sure I’d weep too if I found old photos of pets that I’ve loved and cared for over the years. I have such a happy memory of being collected from nursery school by my mother and she said ‘Look what I’ve got for you Lottie” she opened up her coat and hidden inside was a tiny, furry kitten. I was so excited and so happy. I called the cat Ambrosezeen and pushed her around in my dolls pram. I was 5 when she came into my life and 21, and married with a toddler when she left.
I am so impressed with your slideshow skills – thank you for sharing your wonderful memories and photographs xx
Lottie that thank you for commenting and I absolutely love the story of Ambrosezeen. What a sweeet cat she was and how wonderul that she was with you for so many years- 16 yrs. if I counted or added correctly. That’s a very good age for a cat. Lisa’s cat, when she was growing up rode in her little wagon as did Cotton’s brother Smokey. You always make my day or rather evening, now it’s (10:25pm) with heart warming comments.
The slide show was learned because Val of “Arty Ole Bird” http://artyoldbird.com/2013/05/02/question-time/ sent me the link for word press that proivides the instructions of how to get a slide show in a post. I’ll add the link back in here in a sec.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/images/gallery/
~yvonne~ XX