Scanning

My scanning of slides has slowed down a bit - and not just because of decorating. Firstly I realised that a lot of them had dust on them that was ending up on the scan. I now brush each one with a soft brush before scanning them. Secondly, I found lots of other things were getting behind. Like washing the dishes! There is only so you can leave the baked bean sauce on the plates to develop penicillin (and despite what Son thinks it is less than three weeks!) And thirdly, and most importantly, my labelling of the resulting photos was fairly haphazard. I wasn’t bothered about typing errors or putting in dates. In conversation (e-mail conversation, that is) with Younger Daughter, I realised the importance of labelling them a bit better. So I am doing that.

Still, I always knew it would be a long process and I am thoroughly enjoying it. After that, it will be back to scanning in our photo albums and the boxes of odd prints. Wow, what a task I have set myself. I’d better not be claiming on that life insurance just yet...


Some of the photos are ones I haven’t looked at for years. All in all the standard is pretty satisfying but many of them are little more than blurred mementoes. What has really delighted me has been the memories of things that I would have completely forgotten without the photo to jolt my memory - like Older Daughter helping in the garden in April 1980.


During the first few weeks of Helen’s life I stayed home, using my annual leave (no paternity leave in those days), so that I could look after eighteen month old Bryony. It was May 1980 and the shone almost every single day.


Older Daughter and I played out and gardened for much of the time. A safe and easy birth (I can say that; it wasn’t me that did it), a healthy baby and sunshine almost every day – great memories.


This photo is a classic sample of Helen being watched by Bryony as she did her wibbly wobbly crawling act. She would crawl great distances shaking her head from side to side in a manner designed to create automatic neck ache in any watching adult.


September 1982 and Younger Daughter demonstrated her ability to fall asleep anywhere in almost any position. In this case with one foot in a welly and one in a slipper – we’d been trying one her footwear when she fell asleep.


This was New Year’s Day 1983 – a rocking horse day for Younger Daughter.


Have a nice day!

Blogs, slides and other things

I awoke this morning and after a few necessary jobs I took a trip around the world. It’s amazing that with 7 million bloggers I find that some of the postings I comment upon have often already received comments from people I ‘know’. This morning it was Pondside that I followed around the world. I wonder who it will be tomorrow.


The other day Simply Heather commented upon how small the transparencies or slides are and what detail they contain. So I thought I’d give you an example. This is the photo of Thirlmere in the Lake District that was featured on the slide on my posting.


This is a slide I took of the side of St George’s Hall in Liverpool in the 1960s.


To show you how much detail that little 35mm slide contained here is the lettering above the portico. The letter A is smaller than a pinhead on the original slide.
 

Scanning is good for you

No, I’m not talking about brain scans. Not after my Terry Pratchett posting! I’m talking about putting my old photos into the computer.

Bryony and Helen taking the Border Terriers for a walk in Formby – January 1984

In the garden with Pepper and Ginger - May 1984.

Apart from all the happy memories it’s bringing back, it is keeping me fit. I worry about how much time I spend sat at the computer and keep finding ways of interrupting myself to ensure I stand up and move around at regular intervals.

A sing-song - June 1982 on holiday at Llangrove, Herefordshire.

A study in concentration.

What have I put my foot in?

My scanner, although next to the computer, is at a higher level and in order to put new slides or photos into it I have to stand up. Automatically, when I stand up I glance out of the window – that alters my focussing. Both things are good for my health. But surely the best of all is reliving happy moments from the past, caught on the camera and which in turn trigger warm, fuzzy feelings.

The girls with Postman Pat at the Liverpool International Garden Festival - July 1984.