Fun with scanners

For the last few weeks I've been working on a little project for my parents' 60th wedding anniversary. I sneaked into their house while they were at the gym (which makes me look great - the nearly-80-year-olds are working out and I'm doing a B&E) and "borrowed" their boxes of old family photographs to scan for use in a digital picture frame. Compared to the amount of pictures I take, my parents were hardly photo-prolific, but over 60 years the quantity begins to add up. I used only a small fraction of what I found, but I still ended up scanning about 500 pictures.

If you've done a little mental math, you'll realize that I was a later in life surprise baby. (Take note, boys and girls, that pill is only 97% effective!) Because they were both in their early 40s when I was born and because of the tunnel vision of youth, they always seemed "old" to me, so it's been a lot of fun seeing them as kids. I know that generation - children during the depression, teens during WWII - matured earlier than kids now, but they were still only 19 when they wed. So young! And yet, at 19 my dad had already served 2 years in the Marines. I couldn't even decide on a hairstyle at 19.

All in all, it was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I've gotten a lot better at touching up photos using GIMP and I found some really great treasures to add to my own photo gallery. I also found some absolutely hilarious pictures (*cough* my siblings' hip 1970s garb *cough*) as well as a few that need explanation, such as my mom at a party with a lampshade on her head. I don't believe she's ever mentioned that party...

Here are a few examples of my findings:

Young Mom and Dad, while they were dating. Aren't they cute?



Teenage Dad being a goof. I also found out that my grandparents sent this out as a Christmas card that year. That explains a few things about our family's sense of humor!



Auntie Jean and Uncle Carl, Christmas, circa 1966. Don't they look like they're having a blast?



I have to find out the story behind this picture!



And finally, a few examples of how I got the nickname Ellie May...