Christmas break

So I haven't been posting here all that much.

But now, we're heading out for our Christmas travels.  So consider this a Christmas hiatus.  I'll be back in the new year, with more frequent posts.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Photos of clocks, II

Clocks on the mantel in the Coopers' front room

Photos of clocks, I

One of the many many clocks in Kenneth Cooper's clock collection.

Snow falling

In honor of our first flurry of snow here in NC.

Meeker family photo

My great uncle Ben Meeker has always taken a lot of pictures (okay, every Meeker takes a lot of pictures. One of the things about being a younger member of the family means that you're well documented doing anything. We have lots and lots of documentation of cousins sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan, cousins sitting around the table, cousins hanging out at the family cabin in Colorado at the family reunion, and on and on). Ben is the one pulling the string for this photo.

The younger family members look prepared for bed (and look to be in various states of amazement over Ben's technique).

Young Dorothy

My great aunt Dorothy (Cooper) Leighton as a teenager

Cars

Young Barbara with her little car, near Kenneth's big car.

Learning to ride

That's a bit of an oversized bike there.

But the big sister is there to make sure he does it right.

Young Kenneth

Looking farmerly in the family field in Kansas

Painting

Kent and Barbara painting. And making a mess ...

Around the corner ...

On my walk to work every morning, I see this structure.


It's adjacent to the cotton field. The cotton field that's two blocks from where we live.
This is an enormous change from the paved wonderland that is South Florida ...

Sunset in a small town

We've arrived! We're sort of settled in!
We're adjusting to small town life. And we're really liking it right now. I managed to get a pretty decent shot of the sunset the other night.

Packing

Moving is not fun. We're not packed up completely yet, but we've got a lot done.

This will likely be one of the last posts for a while -- we're very busy and we'll lose out internet connection early next week. I will, however, take pictures to document the move -- especially pictures once we're in the new place, the new town.

But for now, we're on hold here at the BrIsaacson Family Photo Album.

On the new campus

One of the things I like about the new campus is that it has a number of swings hanging from the trees...

And chaos ensues

I don't actually have any pictures that are particularly chaotic, but I thought this one of Jon opening Christmas presents would work. The paper strewn upon the floor, and all.
So, the big news for Casa BrIsaacson is that it's moving. To North Carolina. Our immediate family members know this, but we've not yet really gotten in touch with everyone -- things have been moving very quickly. So, posting will probably be even lighter than it has been over the next few weeks.

This is our new town:


If you want to learn more about it, you can go here or here. I've also posted some links elsewhere.

We plan to update this blog with pictures of the town and the move. But as I said, posting might be a bit light in the next couple of weeks as we pack, pack, pack. Check back, though, around the middle of August for more pictures of the new town -- and pictures of us in it.

Hiding under the books?

So here we are, pretending to be asleep under our books, I think. I don't think we're actually asleep under there -- naps weren't exactly my thing when I was a kid.

Baking, 1957

I don't know what kind of pie Josie is baking, but I'm sure it's wonderful.

Making calls

The caption that my grandmother wrote on the back of this picture explains that Barbara is standing around in her birthday pajamas.

She looks might glad about it, too.

Summer fun

I'm not exactly sure what the plastic down on the grass is (painter's tarp, maybe?), but Jon and I are clearly having a great deal of fun.

And what a cool shower/sprinkler thing. I don't actually remember that.

More of Kenneth at work

Another serious Kenneth photo:Here, my grandfather looks serious while reading. The photo was taken in the apartment Kenneth and Ruthe lived in in Booneville, Missouri.

Outdoor cooking

I've never been clear on this picture. Ruthe and Kent are looking at the pan (with a different top) sitting on the grill. But they stand far off, as if expecting danger.


I meant to post yesterday to wish Kent and Pat a happy anniversary, but I forgot! Argh! So happy belated anniversary to them.

Update: read the comments for an explanation of what's happening. I knew my mother would come through with an explanation

Bradley weddings

I have only been to one Bradley wedding (um ... other than mine), but I'm told they're always a good time. A picture from the Cook-Bradley wedding:

Ann dances with her father, William Cook, at her wedding.

I post this today to wish Ann a happy birthday!

Meekers

Georgia and John Meeker, my great-grandparents, at Ruthe Meeker and Kenneth Cooper's wedding ... looking very serious (it was their youngest daughter's wedding, after all)

Fun with groceries

Not actually a picture of relatives, but rather a glimpse of life here in Casa BrIsaacson:

Often, I will discover that extra items have been added to my grocery list. This week I put olive oil on the list. I later discovered that someone (ahem) had put Popeye on the list immediately below olive oil.

So, imagine my surprise when at the store I actually discovered a can of Popeye spinach.

Now we have the complete set. (Yes that's a big thing of olive oil, but we use a lot of it around her.)

In Tokyo

My mother at the Hachiko statue outside of the Shibuya train station. A picture from our trip to Japan, June 2007.

Cooper siblings, 1957

Kenneth, Dorothy, Harold and Gladys ... in color ...

Even more baby Barbara

This time, it's baby Barbara with a toy named Hugo.

Entertaining baby

Barbara and Kent, outside. Kent seems more intent on whatever is on the blanket than on the rattle that Ruthe is shaking for him.

Happy Birthday, Kent

Today is my Uncle Kent's birthday. He's a little older than he was in this picture, taken at the party for his second birthday. My grandmother is holding the cake, and my mother is keeping a careful eye on things -- making sure Kent blows the candles out well, I guess.

Isaacsons in Sweden

It was such a big deal when Oscar and Ruth went to Sweden that it made the local paper.

Okay, granted the town in Sweden is a little small, but still.

Picture from 1977, via my Aunt Ellen.

Barbara, 1951

Just hanging out ... at an angle

A more serious Kenneth

Working in the Booneville, MO apartment.

Honeymooner Kenneth

A shot from the Coopers' honeymoon in the Lake of the Ozarks (MO).


Kenneth stands upon a table. I like early photos like this, because they really show off my grandfather's sense of humor and sense of fun. My grandfather is a very funny man -- but he's also a very serious man. That sense of humor has generally entailed a very dry, satirical wit (he used to rewrite captions for pictures in the newspaper, for example). Plus, he's always held Kant's regularity in great regard (the story is that the townspeople could set their watches by Kant's afternoon walks). So moments of spontaneity are always a delight.

Easter 1951

Quite an Easter bonnet on Barbara in this one ...

Jaunty Bradley

I've cropped this picture quite a bit because I promised my sister-in-law that I wouldn't post the whole picture. Everyone in the picture is staring into the sun and looking, well, squinty. It's not a good photo of anyone except for Bradley.

So, I give you jaunty Bradley, stylin' in his suit.


And check out those shoes.

Kenneth in High School

My grandfather, Kenneth Cooper, grew up in small towns in northeast Kansas -- Atchison and Doniphan (the latter of the two is barely there any more).

This photo is from about 1935/1936, before Kenneth went off to college at the College of Emporia. This is before he met my grandmother at C of E; before he went off for a M.A. at the University of Nebraska; before he went off for a Ph.D. at the University of Missouri; and before he moved to Nashville to take an appointment at Peabody College (now the education school at Vanderbilt).

All that is still ahead for him. At the moment, he's just showing us how cool the car is.

Cooper women

Josie, Dorothy and Gladys Cooper, along with Ruthe (Meeker) Cooper

Baby Barbara -- another shot

My Great-Aunt Dorothy had a little album to keep track of my mother's early childhood -- Ruthe and Kenneth would send pictures from various times of the year (and stages of growth).

I now have the photo album -- and I think I've put up a number of pictures here already.
I scanned this one in the other day. On the back, my grandmother described this as a "good sober picture" of Barbara as a baby.

Wedding Assortment

I love the way that weddings bring together all sorts of relatives. This picture from my parents' wedding in 1971 brings together Coopers, a Meeker and and Isaacson.

Left to right we have Gladys Cooper (my maternal grandfather's sister), Frank Leighton (my maternal grandfather's brother-in-law), Ellen Isaacson (my paternal aunt), Dorothy (Cooper) Leighton (my maternal grandfather's sister and Frank's wife), and Mil (Meeker) Grant (my maternal grandmother's sister).


I like the picture because it's so very early 70s. I am also presenting you this picture because it illustrates two very important parts of Meeker family photography. My great aunt Mil (a lovely person, though I never knew her particularly well) simply could not keep her eyes open when a picture was taken. It seems like almost every picture of her has her eyes closed.

My grandmother -- Ruthe -- would solve this problem by drawing eyes in for her. As you can see, this wasn't always particularly successful. But grandma tried ...

(And by the way, what a great brooch Aunt Mil is wearing here!)

Happy Mother's Day

Pictures of the Coopers, but for all the mothers ...
Josie and Kent

Baby Kent, Ruthe and Barbara

Baby Barbara, Ruthe and Kenneth

Breadboard clock

This is my grandfather, Kenneth Cooper, holding up the breadboard clock -- the caption on the back of the photo (which was sent to his sister Dorothy) says that the breadboard was their mother's (Josephine).

It's a nice way to kick off a mother's day weekend (and happy mother's day to all of mine).

Ellen and Baby Carl

Blowing bubbles

We've hit the point of downright hot in Florida already -- and since the semester's over for us at the BrIsaacson household, we're definitely feeling like summer.

So I give you one of the best summertime activities: blowing bubbles on the porch.

It looks rather like Kent has managed to spill more bubble solution than use in the bubbles, but still it's a glorious summer pastime.

Teenager Gladys

It's always weird to imagine that the antique relatives were ever once teenagers. It's even weirder to think about my Aunt Gladys -- who died the year before I was born -- might have ever been 16.* Yet here she is.

*Gladys is my grandfather Kenneth Cooper's older sister.

Coopers and non-Coopers

Here are Josephine and Will Cooper and their adult children. Josie is seated in the front and Will is standing next to her.

Behind them, left to right, are Dorothy Leighton, Kenneth, Gladys, and Harold.


To match this is, of course, the obligatory spousal shot. Left to right are Esther Cooper (Harold's wife), Frank Leighton (Dorothy's husband), and Ruthe Cooper (Kenneth's wife).

On further inspection of the pictures, I have to admit that I'm a little puzzled by the centerpiece on the table. It looks like something for Christmas, but I can't quite figure out if those are really supposed to be reindeer or if this is actually a pair of Easter pictures and those are bunnies. Actually, the women are wearing short sleeves, so likely this is a Spring or summer shot. Those are definitely not reindeer.