Redwood Retro

I am in the process of scanning and retouching all of my war photos and keepsakes to make into a slideshow for various family members. So many family members served and my goal to to tell the story of every one of them. The person I am drawn to the most is a relative named Bill Blakely. His mom (my gr aunt) was a single mother during WWII and it was just the two of them. He was killed in Germany in 1941. I have a ton of his pictures and clippings about him but have no one to pass them on to. He had no children or siblings and anyone who knew him personally is long gone. Each remembrance day it is Bill that I honor and pay tribute to, just to keep his memory alive. I am trying to learn more about who he was as a person but I do not have much to go on other than a box of photos.

Added a new page this week of wartime advertisements from Canada . The ones I have added so far are all WWII and are from Canadian newspapers. I have also started scanning election and political ads and hope to have a page up soon.

I have started adding Vintage Canadian Travel related ads to my pioneer advertising blog. Most of these are steamship ads from the early 1900's.

I have started to transcribe photos of headstones I recently took at St Thomas Anglican Church cemetery in Belleville. It is a work in progress. Some of my photos are hard to read so I think I will have to take a few trips back and try to decipher some in person. To learn more about this cemetery and see the photos click here . Supposedly there are a few ghosts who hang out there so I think a nighttime trip is in order this summer.

I have started to update my page on Canadian Vintage advertising.  Most of these are from Ontario newspapers that I have collected over the years.

Earlier this month we experienced an ice storm. I spent the day wandering around the city taking pictures, dodging tree branches and talking to people who were accessing damages.  Our yard was completely flooded afterwards and quickly became a nice little stopover for a good sized group of water fowl. Two mallard ducks have stayed behind. They must have a nest somewhere close by. The water has dried up but they make an appearance every evening after dinner waddling up and down the sidewalk going from lawn to lawn looking for food.