Sticks and Stones can be found high and low and all around. Some stones can be walked on, but be careful you don’t stumble and get hurt. Some stones draw your attention to an amazing object or view. While other stones bring about sadness and the memories you wish you could still feel and hold onto.
Stones in Dinosaur exhibit Stones near water’s edges Stone Mountain State Park Roaring Gap, North Carolina Paternal Great Grandparents Grave Stones (Markers) Bethune, South Carolina
Sticks can be a nuisance or extremely useful, as in an outdoor fire pit. Sometimes branches and limbs break off of tress during storms and cling together along a body of water. Sometimes sticks need to removed from a trail so hikers don’t stumble over them and get hurt. At other times a fallen tree is cut up and the wood is out to good use. I’m not sure why my maternal grandfather and his sister were sitting on top of the pile of sticks (wood), they may have needed a break after piling it all up in a neat stack.
Sticks piled together by the lakeSticks burning 🔥 in firepitThrowback Photo Maternal Grandpa & Grand Aunt Sitting Atop of a Pile of “Sticks” Deep Gap, North Carolina
For this week’s challenge I went off script a little using throwback photos of my mom depicting various types of transportation used way back when. Not quite sure the pathway that were used are clearly detectable or not. I might need to do an additional post that would be more accurately depict the trail, road, or paths used for traveling.
I chose these particular photos in remembrance of my mom. She would have been 92 on Wednesday. We were not close after I became an adult, but that didn’t mean I didn’t care or think about her. No matter what she was still my mom and I did love her.
Military tanks the way to travel … Care to hop aboard Maybe you’d prefer to travel … in a pony cart… Or climb on up and ride bareback Then again, you might prefer … to take a walk
For this week’s challenge I dug into my archives to share some throwback photos of things one might choose to “Just Do It.”
Just Ride a Monorail 🚝 Throwback Photo – Mid 70’sJust Fly an Elephant Disneyland Mid 70’sJust Fly an Airplane Camp Snoopy Carowinds May 2018Just take a Drive Along the Blue Ridge Parkway October 2017
What is SCSPA? They are letters on a couple of my dad’s memorabilia from his high school days. You may wonder what they actually stand for as did I when I first saw them. Let me tell you, they stand for South Carolina Scholastic Press Association. I never knew my dad was apart of the South Carolina Scholastic Press Association. He never talked about his time growing up in South Carolina. The only part of South Carolina he shared was when he brought our family on vacation to visit his parents and his brother and sister. We visited Great Falls, South Carolina, where his parents lived, approximately every three to five years.
However, I am not discussing our vacations in this post. I am discussing the SCSPA and his small role in it.
OFFICIAL DELEGATE South Carolina Scholastic Press Association Nornal Waters Business Manager The Hi-Times Great Falls Eleventh Annual Convention April 10-11, 1947 Columbia, South Carolina
The South Carolina Scholastic Press Association promotes responsible scholastic journalism in South Carolina. We educate, evaluate and empower students and advisers who work with middle and high school literary magazine, newspaper, and yearbook programs in the state.
What I only learned recently is that my dad was a part of the Great Falls Hi-Times newspaper staff. He served as the school newspaper’s business manager. I found this interesting, my dad never talked about his school days. I thought it was cool to discover his involvement in this aspect of his high school.
The school newspaper business manager oversees the operations of all business-related operations of the Hi-Times, but will primarily be responsible for the promotion and tracking of advertising sales.
A few of my dad’s responsibilities were:
to obtain ad sales possibly by phone as well as in person.
Keeping and organizing record of all ad sales
Prepare a final sales report for each issue and makes sure the ad designer gets a copy
Serve as a member of the editorial board
A bit of History of SCSPA
“It all began as the journalist begins- with people, an idea, an empty page. Today, after more than half a century, the idea expands toward fulfillment as the pages are filled with a history. It is a story of people working toward excellence- people tending toward an ideal that promises to shine far, far into the future. It is a story of youth yearning toward an expression of truth. It is the story of the South Carolina Scholastic Press Association.”
The SCSPA holds annual fall and spring conferences which currently draws more than 600 participants. Not sure how many participants there were in 1947, only that my dad was one of those participants for the spring conference.
Students as well as their advisers from schools all over the state attend the annual SCSPA conference. It honors outstanding students and advisors during the spring conference. It recognizes contributions to scholastic journalism through awards and scholarships.
My dad’s attendance would have been an honor and recognition for his participation in his school’s Hi-Times newspaper. Through his memorabilia I am learning more and more about my dad and what his life was like before I came into existence.
This is a throwback photo from January 2018 taken on a visit to the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is a 170-acre zoo, aquarium, and botanical garden located along the Saluda River in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Riverbanks is home to more than 3,000 animals that represent over 400 species around the world.
The Zoo first opened its gates to the public on April 25, 1974. It has continued to be a popular destination to connect and learn about wildlife life for individuals, families, and groups. It is considered one of the largest mid-sized zoos in the United States. It draws an estimated one million visitors annually.
What is a library card? A library card is a card provided by a library so that library patrons can borrow a variety of materials including books and magazines. A library card is often required if a person wants to take advantage of other library services as well. Public libraries issue library cards free of charge to people who live in the library’s city but require patrons to pay for replacement cards.
The early libraries were non-circulating libraries. That meant that patrons needed to use the book or books in the library, and could not check out any books to take home for usage by themselves or their families.
In the 19th century, a free public library movement began. Before 1850, libraries consisted of subscription collections for members only to use. The first known publicly funded library was established in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where in 1833 the town meeting voted to use a part of the state literary fund for the support of schools instead to purchase books for a free town library.
However, the free public library movement really began in 1849, when the New Hampshire legislature authorized towns to levy taxes for the establishment and support of public libraries.
When did library cards become necessary? With the public library movement in the 19th century, it became necessary to register users who were permitted to borrow books and connect those users with the borrowed items. Originally this was done with cumbersome ledger systems, with each page representing a borrower and the books borrowed (and returned) listed.
1955 Library Card San Diego, California
The above library card was issued to my mother with an expiration date of May 1955. My mom was avid reader all her life. I do not remember going to a brick and mortar public library in my grade school days. Where we lived a bookmobile came onto our street approximately a long block away from our home. I do recall going into the bookmobile and being allowed to check out books 📚 to bring home to read. In the beginning, my mom would accompany my brother and me to the bookmobile.
Gaston County Library Card
As you can see the contrast from the San Diego Library Card from the 1950’s and the present day Library Card, there are several differences and yet they both serve the same exact purpose. That of allowing someone to check out various materials such as 📚 to take home to peruse at their leisure.
I have had several library cards over the years and have taken great pleasure in checking out books, movies. I also enjoyed the ability to use the libraries resources and computers for family research, search for jobs or for whatever purpose I needed at various times.
How about you? Do you or have you owned a library card? A library card opens the world to a vast resource of knowledge.
Have you ever seen a metal driver’s license? I had never seen one before myself until I started going through my dad’s old photo albums. This particular album had various items my dad saved over the years.
My Dad’s SC Driver’s License Expires June 30, 1957
According to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, from 1933 to 1957, motorists were required to carry their South Carolina driver’s license on a stamped brass tag, usually carried on a key ring. This required drivers to turn off the ignition to show an officer their license. The brass tags were not used during the time immediately before and after World War II when metals were scarce.
Expires June 30, 1953 Nornal H. Waters South Carolina Drivers License
The stamped brass South Carolina Driver’s License Tag included the year of expiration on top, followed by the driver’s name, address, city, & state. On the bottom of the Brass Tag is stamped South Carolina Driver’s License.
My dad’s Brass South Carolina Driver’s License tag was definitely an interesting item for me to discover. I have barely started going through this photo album with the various items he saved over the years. Stay tuned for more interesting discoveries.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all so very much.
1939 Home on Water Street in Coshocton, Ohio1940 Home [My Mom at 8 yrs old on Porch] And Vintage Horse 🐎 Trailer Coshocton, Ohio1940 Rental Home [ My Mom & Her Brother, Jerry] Ocean Beach, California 1941 Home [My Mom & Jerry] 2912 E Street San Diego, California
Outdoors at Anne Springs Close Greenway Coleman’s “playground “ in the woods at Anne Springs Close Greenway Coleman Hanging onto the Swinging Bridge at Anne Springs Close Greenway Coleman playing in the Spillway at Anne Springs Close Greenway Coleman playing in the Catawba River along the Piedmont Medical Center Trail Riverwalk Catawba River TrailheadThrowback Outdoors Photo taken on Lake Fort Smith in Mountainburg, AR
Barn at Greenway Stables Entrance Anne Springs Close Greenway Fort Mill, South Carolina Gazebo at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens Belmont, North Carolina Fort Mill Dam Fort Mill, South Carolina Old School in Watauga County, North Carolina [This is an old school my maternal grandfather & ancestors attended.]Elizabeth Freese Elementary School San Diego, California [This is the elementary school I attended from Kindergarten through sixth grade.]2912 E Street House San Diego, California [This is the home where I often visited my maternal grandparents]
Camp Snoopy is a Peanuts-themed area for children at several Cedar Fair amusement parks. Camp Snoopy was first introduced at Knott’s Berry Farm in 1983. This was the first amusement park with a section dedicated to children under 12 years old.
On March 20, 2018 Carowinds opened its gates to its youngest guests as the stars. Carowinds has transformed its kids’ area into the new Camp Snoopy.
Camp Snoopy has a variety of attractions. In addition to the kid-sized rides, there are shows featuring the characters from Peanuts, and the Camp Depot, where you can shop and dine.
Snoopy and my granddaughter, Alona
These photos were taken on August 1, 2018 when I took my granddaughter to Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina about a half hour from where we lived. This was the year Carowinds introduced the Pre-K pass. The Pre-K pass allows children between the ages of three to five to visit the park for free with an accompanying paid adult.
An old one room school house where my ancestors went to school. The school house was also used for community event gatherings back in its hey day.
Deep Gap(Yuma) School House
This house was an intricate part of family gatherings once upon a time. My grandfather would have gathered here with his family for special occasions or just to visit and play with his cousins. Family get togethers we’re a regular happening during those times.
Home of my Maternal Great Grandfather Ambrose Lee Parks Watson
Throwback photo from the early 1960’s taken at my maternal grandparents place in San Diego, California. Pictured are my immediate family, my maternal grandparents, my mom’s sister & her husband, our cousin, his wife & sister-in-law. Taken back during a time when families used to gather together for Sunday Dinners. Can you guess where I am in the picture? I would probably bet ( if I bet, which I don’t) y’all would have no problem guessing correctly.
Deep Gap, North Carolina From my maternal grandfather, Harvey Martin Watson’s photos given to me after his passing many years ago ( 1968). Photo most likely taken in early 1900’s or earlier.
…. My husband, Terry, my eldest son, John and I visited the March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California back in late 1986.
Grumman F9F-5P ‘Panther’ | Planes of Fame Air Museum
March Field Air Museum began in 1979, when the first display of artifacts was opened up to the public at what was then March Air Force Base. During this period, the museum was recognized as an official U. S. Air Force Museum. [The museum was relocated in 1993to it’s current location alongside Interstate Highway 215.
Blue Angels Grumman F-11F Tigers
The March Field Air Museum displays one of the largest collections of military aircraft on the West Coast. It is staffed by approximately 100 volunteers and 12 full and part time employees. It holds various types of military aircraft from attack aircraft to cargo planes to helicopters and Cessnas.
This was a great family day trip which was both fun and educational. If you’re ever near Southern California it would definitely be a worthwhile stop to visit.
This photo goes way back to before I was even imagined. I’m not sure who took the photo, however, it is a picture I inherited.
Doyce Eileen Watson
This is a photo of my mom back probably in the mid to late 1940’s, before she graduated from high school. It was taken in San Diego, California.
It is a piece of nostalgia, a small piece of my mom’s past. A way to know about her life especially since she never talked about her childhood or any portion before the life I knew with my family.
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 