Picture Identified

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This is the picture that Karen found at George's house. It is a picture of my mother, Adelaide Congdon, with her grand uncle Kenyon Hampton driving. This was taken circa 1926 when my mom was about 11 years old. She was living in Glendale, California with her grand Aunt Grace and grand Uncle Kenyon. I sent a message to the Los Angeles historical society and they identified the building as the Los Angeles Amory. This is one of the last great city armories still standing. It is located in Exposition Park which includes beautiful rose gardens. The Los Angeles Coliseum is nearby. Today the Amory has been converted to a science museum and includes an Imax theatre. Notice in the picture to the right below the exact spot where the picture was taken next to the lamp post. I can only imagine that they were on a outing to tour Exposition Park. My mom used to say that they took rides into Los Angeles on weekends and that her uncle had many fender benders with that car. The car is a 1924 or 1925 Ford Model T with nickle radiator shell. This car cost $685 in 1924 and based on inflation, the price today would be about $8,300.

1924 Ford Model T and advertisement

Another Old Friend Passes On

I bought my HP Laserjet 4L printer in 1994 for $600. It was a major purchase but it has served me well with thousands of pages printed. I have repaired it several times over the years and parts are readily available on the internet. Recently it starting giving me trouble and after about 4 hours of work on it, I was unsuccessful in getting it back to life. I have been wanting to get a new printer anyway since the 4L only does 4 ppm. So, for $160 I bought a new Dell 1720 Laser printer that prints 27 ppm. This is about the only printer available that has a parallel port that I can connect to my printer server.

Old ........................................................................................... New

O-KAY! I give up!

Today I retired my 20-year old Ikea desk chair. I had the seat and back reupholstered about ten years ago but the arms had several layers of black tape. I took them to an upholstery shop today and was told it was hopeless. When I moved last January I had forgotten to give my Ikea chair to the movers. So, I put it in my truck and carefully transported it across country. This chair originally came from the Ikea at Plymouth Meeting, PA. This is going to be a difficult transition for me so please pray for me.

Out with the old ....................................... In with the new

Rose Parade 2008

A good time was had by all thanks to Ray Bowman's hospitality with his motor home parked on Colorado Boulevard. Ray, his son Brad and I arrived about 1 p.m. Monday afternoon to set up the RV at about the 4 mile point of the parade. We got the RV settled and then welcomed our two neighbor RV's on either side. We staked out a sidewalk location with chairs and the self-contained fire pit. Soon Ray’s friends began to arrive. In total I think there were about 17 of us. We spent the night staying warm by the fire, cooking hot dogs and marshmallows, and drinking heavily. The children occupied themselves with the tossing of marshmallows and crazy string attacks. Ray insisted on launching fistfuls of marshmallows with his giant slingshot to the partiers on the opposite side of the street for which he had to attend a meeting with the police.

The police were in full force all evening up and down the street in squad cars, paddy wagons and on foot. Strangely, just before midnight they all disappeared only to show up again at about 12:30 a.m. For sleeping arrangements, there were eight of us in the RV, three on the street in sleeping bags, and some of the women and children in a local hotel.

I was up at 6 a.m. to sit by the fire and watch the sun rise over Pasadena. The parade starts at 8 a.m. but we didn’t see the start until about 9:30 a.m. It was great seeing the floats up close and all the bands and equestrian teams - a real treat not to be missed in one’s lifetime.

Ray is the consummate host with everything prepared, including fresh roses for the ladies, lots of marshmallows, dozens of cans of crazy string, party favors and a great breakfast. Thanks man! We love ya!

Christmas 2007

Many thanks to Andy, Dorinda and Maya for hosting the Christmas get together for the Rumbold clan in Perkasie. It was a great week of gatherings. On Wednesday and Thursday Andy, Jonathan and I drove up to Woodbridge. I installed the low temperature alarm in Elmcroft and on Thursday Karen came down to take us to the cemetery to see the plot for her parents and to George's house to see the work that has been done to get it ready to market.
See Andy's blog for lots more photos of the Christmas gathering.