It’s Throwback Thursday! I Should Say Something.

“LOST MUSKET DIARY” Thursday February 12, 2015

Sunny and Very Warm 86°F/30°C in Rancho Santa Margarita

(Santa Ana Winds Blowing)

Buongiorno,

 

Me and Mom 1944

It’s Throwback Thursday! Facebook’s answer to Antiques Roadshow! Only the antiques here are – memories.

  Somewhere between, “Monday-BLEAH!” “Hump Day” on Wednesday (Many thanks, GEICO camel), and “Thank God it’s Friday” or TGIF, we have “Throwback Thursday.” And, for the first time in my life, I am realizing it on the correct day-Thursday. (It’s also Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, but that’s beside the point). For once, I’m happy to make a contribution, since  it coincides with one of my “retirement projects”- going through a lifetime accumulation of family snapshots and other memorabilia and digitizing it so I can pass it down to generations yet unborn.

Grandma and Grandpa Botula

  My son, Mike, actually started it all when he put together a memorial video for his mom, my first wife Donna back in 2010. Mike and his sister, Dana, had closed up her house in Arizona after her passing and Mike spent a week with me scanning old photos, and putting the video together. (That whole project also prompted a lot of thoughtful reflecting. But, another time for that).

  Since I've been back in Southern California I'm still sorting through it all. As I go through the process, I’m aware that this may take longer than I have time left on Earth and I may have to finish by working with The Ghost Whisperer. I’m dredging up of a lot of memories. “Fire up the slide projector, Maudie! Were gonna put on a SHOW!"

 

Little Mary Percy around 1918

Ah! Baby pictures. There’s my favorite one of my mom, little Mary Percy. The original was taken around 1918 using an old glass plate negative. This colorized version was done by my friend Steve  Weakley, using Photoshop. One of the things that struck me as I sorted through these pictures was that family photos were the social media of their time.  My grandparents, Karel and Johana Botula and Mike and Maggie Percy also left good photographic records. Even the poorest families made periodic visits to the local photography studio.  And, everybody had a “Brownie” or other inexpensive box camera to document their lives. The generations that took their pictures in the old Black and White format made pictures for all eternity. The color generations on film will eventually fade and be lost.

Dad in the Navy 1944

       That’s another reason it’s so important to digitize, taking care to use a medium that won’t itself become obsolete. (Which seems to happen every other day). I'm also finding that my research will be of benefit not just to my own children and grandchildren, but also to our still-growing extended family. I once received a Facebook message from the granddaughter of my oldest uncle, Max with a familiar-to-me Botula family portrait. Her question was,"I know Max Botula was my grandfather, but, who are all these other people?" That caught me off guard. Our family migrated to the U.S. from Austria in 1903. There was Karel and Johana and three children-Max, Karola and Frances. But, in the tradition of the Book of Genesis, the Botulas begat and begat and lo, the earth was filled with a multitude of Botula's, all prospering in the Promised Land, America. So, now I realize that my humble efforts will have an impact beyond my immediate family. 

Santa, Mike an little bro "Packy" 1948

   

    There ya go. Throwback Memories! Sure Happy It’s Thursday!

  Ciao,

  MikeBo

PS: More stories where this came from at my web site: www.mikebotula.com

© Mike Botula 2015