The Old Brownie

It's only in the 30's today-- cloudy, drizzly & dreary, so I've spent the day cleaning, as I wasn't even tempted to go outside! Today I blipped my grandpa's old Brownie movie camera. It was actually his "newer" one, as the original one he used came with huge bright lights that burned your eye sockets out when he aimed it at you to film! He brought this with him to every family function for as long as I can remember. My brothers, sister, cousins & I would see him coming with it, & we'd all roll our eyes & scatter, as we didn't want to be filmed. But grandpa persisted, and thank goodness he did! How else would you be able, some 40 years after his death, to watch both he & my grandma, my parents & aunts & uncles--almost all of them gone now-- all caught on film....laughing, playing cards, eating...to watch ourselves as children, playing & just generally acting silly!
My grandpa was born in 1905 to parents who had both been born in Norway, & whose families had come to the U.S. in the late 1800's. By all accounts, he was rather a wild young man, who once took an old Harley that someone was throwing out & pieced it back together so it worked. According to my grandma, he then drove the Harley up the steps of the school she was teaching at to pick her up for their date--quite scandalous behavior back then! My mother said he was very strict when they were growing up, & didn't tolerate much nonsense, but to us kids, he was the greatest man who ever walked the earth! He had a wonderful sense of humor, was kind & generous & loving. I remember him more than once sitting at the table in his kitchen as my mom lectured one or the other of us on what we'd done wrong or shouldn't be doing, then he'd wink at us, & he'd tell our mom that whatever we'd done was "nothing to worry about as we were all such great kids!" My mom would give him "the look" & he'd give her that grin, then she'd give in. We were in awe that he out-ranked Mom! Ha! It's a wonderful testament to the man he was, that even now, when all my siblings & our cousins get together, it isn't long before one of us remarks : "I sure miss grandpa!"