This is a photo of my great-uncle Jim taken I don't know how long ago. I think he took it himself. Maybe the 1890's?He was an eccentric to put it mildly. He built the instruments (except for the piano), composed music (mostly jigs and hornpipes), owned the first camera and car in my home town, voted Socialist, and was present when McKinley was shot. He let me play all of them including that strange double neck contraption which I think was half guitar and half mandolin. I adored him.
No real reason to put it on here. I just updated Picasa and they were bragging about how easy it is to add pictures to a blog and I've always loved this one.
5 comments:
Very cool -- plus, you`re writing it down for posterity, so the girls won`t find some old photo in a drawer and wonder who he is.
Such a great picture. I am a sucker for other people's photo albums - there is a sense of looking straight back into history that makes it so real to me. Your uncle was obviously something of a visionary.
Oh. I meant to ask in the comment for the other post about your uncle Jim - what is Johnny cake and how do you make it?
Spent the weekend with the Wild Child and we computered a while. She loved the johnnycake recipe; she's the cook in the family and imagines herself as a farm girl. She also loved the photo of your uncle and was fascinated by the double necked hybrid instrument, wondering how it was played. All of her in-laws are musical and talented on a number of instruments. So is my elder sister. Wild Child has my eclectic tastes in music, except grand opera but she likes light opera.
She wanted to know if you knew how that hybrid instrument was played, if it was still in your family, etc..
Great Picture. Treasure it always. I'm sure I would have liked your uncle. I admire any one who can play any instument, as I can't play any. My sons learned to play guitar and play the drums. A couple of my granddaughters took piano lessons. One grandson plays the trombone, two grandsons play the guitar and one of the piano players also plays clarinet. I'm happy that some in my family had some talent...LOL
wonderful photo!
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