.family history.

Last time Leif and I were at my parents we were able to pilfer their collection of old family photos so we could scan them onto my computer.  We found a lot of really amazing old photographs of my dad's side of the family.

The young girl in the white dress is my great-grandmother Una Chapman.  Later she would marry my great-grandpa and become Una Rider.  They all look so austere.  Nothing like modern family portraiture.

Here is Una again.  The back of the photograph says that she is on the Lusitania.

Una again.

I love that the subject of this postcard is about the Elmore car.  I think the photo was taken around 1904-1908 and again depicts Una's family.

My grandfather as a kid on family vacation.

I think this one is from the same family vacation as the one above.

We also found some old postcards from Oregon and the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

Finally I think that this one has to be one of my favorites.  It is of Una's brothers, which makes them my great-uncles, on their iceboat.  I think I love it so much because it reminds me of A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, one of my favorite novels of all time. 

I like to imagine these three in the novel, wintering on the frozen lake with dozens of other families, in a slightly more magical time than our own.