The Tea Party

 

This week on Two Peas in a Bucket, Garden Girl Erica Hernandez challenged us to create a layout using a photo as our entire background. Well, this is nothing new to me, I do it all the time. But I've been wanting to do a heritage layout for awhile now, I haven't done one for a few weeks. So, when I found this cute li'l photo of me in my collection, I thought it would be fun to do an entire layout about it.

I decided that the thing to do was to try to figure out as much as I could about the photo and when it was taken, and what I was doing just from looking at it, because I don't actually remember this little tea party. But there are many clues. First and foremost, we only lived in this hillside house in Glendale for a little over 6 months... from sometime before Halloween (I clearly remember my Tweety Bird costume Halloween '55, so we must have moved there before Halloween). And we moved to our permanent home in South Pasadena sometime in the summer of '56, just before I started kindergarten. Our family lore is that we lived in Glendale for six months, but it must have been somewhat longer than that.

I loved that table and chair set. We bought it when our family lived in Oregon. I have photos of me sitting at that table on my second birthday, but I have no idea if it was bought new for me, or if it belonged to my older sisters. It was white metal with red seats and table top.

Looking at the photo, it's hard to tell if I have the ginormous scab or scar above my lip where our dog Sandy bit me Christmas Eve 1955. (I had many, many stitches, I still have the scar). It's likely that, even though California is warmish in winter, the photo was taken in the spring, because I'm not wearing a jacket or long pants. So, Sherlock that I am, I surmise spring.  Afternoon, because the sunlight is coming from the west, over the hill by Forest Lawn. Late afternoon, because of the long shadows cast by the railing.

The funny little delight was noticing my brother Gene's scooter, propped up almost out of sight on the far left side. Seeing that little detail made me smile... I remember that scooter so well. It was red, and many years later, the handle was removed (by someone, probably not me) and I used it as a skateboard to smoothly traverse the hills of South Pasadena. It was on this makeshift skateboard that I took a nasty spill going down Stony Drive into the Arroyo Seco, but I digress.

The one thing that I wish I did remember, is that doll. I wasn't really a 'dolly' kind of girl, especially as I got older. I do remember playing with baby dolls a lot, and I had a wonderful Revlon doll when I was about 8 or 9. (I still have her). But I just don't remember this particular doll at all. So sad!  I DO remember a doll I had while living in that house, whose body was made out of a material called "magic skin". I took her to a little friend's house down the street, and she & I fought over the doll. She tugged and I tugged, and this doll split right down the middle of her magic skin. Stuffing flew everywhere! But I digress yet again!

So, here you have it. A few little clues, and a lot of empty spaces. But still, a fine photo of a happy little girl.