Monday, August 31, 2009 at 8:56PM 
Oh My!
Goodness me!
She actually ordered a print? And kept it? For posterity?
I can hear my Mom saying now, "If you can't think of anything nice to say, maybe you should say nothing at all."
Hmmm. Her expression could peel paint? ... curdle cream?
I think, had I been the photographer, instead of putting the black cloth over my head to focus, I would have put it over her's!
Sorry, Mom ... I couldn't help myself.
Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 5:10PM 
A simple, pleasant homemade snapshot of children pleased to pose on the front porch steps with their dolls and wagon. The shadows indicate there are leaves on the tree but the girls have coats on over their skirts, wear large hats and shoes tied with bows, so the season may be Fall. The fashions and the metal wheels and body of the wagon suggest 1915 – 1925. A grassy lawn was not a priority at this home.
Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 4:38PM 
For a somewhat modest rural community hotel, J.J. Joyce's Manhattan Hotel and Farmer's Rest looks relatively prosperous with Victorian era tower and trim and very large windows; the attached shed is of later date and is ramshackle by comparison. The signage above the porch makes it clear that it is the local watering hole as well: Congress Lager, Wines and Liquors, surely for on-premises consumption but perhaps also for sale for home use.
The hotel shed predates the automobile as the signs say Water Your Horses Here. The hotel is also a Telephone Pay Station, advertises tobacco, and has a hand-lettered sign which appears to say Station Wear (?) For Sale, so the establishment may also have sold sundries to locals and guests. If J.J. Joyce, Proprietor, is in the photo, he or she must have been hands-on and not interested in making an ego fashion statement. The two little boys have a rather nice large toy horse which at today's collectors' price would have set them up quite well in the currency valuation of their own day.
Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 3:03PM 
A steam farm traction engine was not much more than a lighter weight railroad locomotive outfitted with rear drive wheels and front steering for use off rails. Like today's gas and diesel engine tractors, they pulled plows, and harrows, and powered balers and threshers with belts and pulleys.
The surviving farm engines are collectors' items that can be seen in demonstrations and competitions at fairs and Fall harvest festivals in the U.S. and the British Isles, some of them incredibly decorative in their ornamentation and paint schemes, some worth nearly half a million dollars (if you have an opportunity, it is worth your while to see an event at least once!)
This engine has a canopy that has had its share of collisions; some large engines even had enclosed cabs much like railroad locomotives (Timebinder will feature photos of some in the future). The combines always have a Rube Goldberg look to the uninitiated, appearing remarkably complex for what they are meant to accomplish, and making one wonder how much time a farmer spent keeping it operating, but what cannot be denied is the amount of work that was accomplished with such equipment. Individual farmers did own tractors and combines, but in many farming areas such equipment traveled the farming community circuits during planting and harvesting seasons for hire; crews were often made up of all the farmers and their hands who participated, going from farm to farm. With machinery came added dangers to an already dangerous occupation.
Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 6:41PM 
At least I hope it's the country. If not, I think they need to have a serious talk with the town council about what they are paying taxes for – that road looks like it has been recently plowed and is ready for planting! No automobile would go anywhere on that road in wet weather.
The child is wearing a kerchief so I think we are looking at a little girl in spite of the britches. If grandma had granddad bring the upholstered rocker into the yard and then didn't sit in it for the photo, do you suppose he made her take it back inside herself (well, probably not if he wanted any supper)? The carriage has nice seats but isn't sprung all that well.
Those of us who didn't live before paved streets, enclosed automobiles, electric water heaters, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and stoves, indoor bathrooms with showers and flush toilets, don't truly understand the meaning of the word clean!