Vincent Van Gogh had his yellow house in Provence...
...and my father, George Simmons, had his yellow bushes in a suburb of Providence.
This is a black and white photo, but trust me, those bushes in the background are ablaze with flaming YELLOW blossoms. Vincent and George had a thing for that color - the color of sunlit wheat, the color of cooked corn, the color of fox eyes, the color of rodent teeth - the color of forsythias!
I wrote a bit about the infamous forsythia bushes aka "the yellow bushes" in
a previous post. They were one of my father's all time favorite backdrops for family photo ops. Here I am in front of them with my siblings, Steven, Debby, Kenny and Sue, on Easter Sunday, 1958.
And here are my brothers with my
double cousins Del and Christopher, that same Easter Sunday, in front of those same yellow bushes. Those boys are all tanked up on chocolate, I'm certain.
And here I am with my sisters Sue and Deb, and my
double cousin Kathy. Kathy and Debby are 8 years older than me, and their birthdays are less than a week apart! Both Leos. And they look it! They've both always been terrific dressers. Check out those hats! And the pearls, gloves and corsages. We didn't mess around at
Eastertime. And my mother made all our dresses! I'll wager that my Aunt Carolyn or my grandmother made Kathy's frock...
My mother must have taken this photo.
l-r, back row: Del, Steve, Uncle Stuart (holding Christopher) Kenny, Aunt Carolyn, Louise and Jim Young (family friends from Williamstown, MA) and Gramma.
l-r, front row: my father, George, holding me and Susan, Kathy and Debby.
Fast forward to 1963, and here's my baby sister, Amy, who is eight years younger than me, taking her place in front of the requisite backdrop.
Martha, Steven, Susan. Yikes. Big Steve is almost as tall as those bushes!
Debby with an old beau. (I did not like that guy - he had smelly feet.)
Sisters, sixteen years apart. Debby holding Amy.
Debby and Amy again. I love this photo.
Martha, Amy, Susan and
Fraulein, our neighbors'
dachshund.
(That poor dog had dozens and dozens of puppies in her life time. Our neighbors never had her spade and every male dog in the neighborhood was always after her! Regardless of breed, regardless of size...(!)
Fast forward again to 1972. My senior prom. Dig those outfits! Look at that
jacket! I had a great time at my prom because I just went as friends with this young man. He was very sweet and very bright. Sadly, I heard that he
committed suicide in the 90's.
My parents in front of the yellow bushes, 1974.
I realized that I had a picture of all my siblings and all my double cousins in front of those jaundiced blooms, all except Jonathan! I did not want to leave him out, so here is the budding musician in 1974, sporting a golden yellow jacket that old Vincent would have approved of...
So much creativity in my family, thanks for letting me share. I figure that if nothing else, these old photos are of general interest purely for the fashions! And thoughts of yellow bushes are really quite nice right now - it was 13 below zero outside when I awoke this morning! Stay warm and have a great weekend!
this one is SOLD. thanks, sue!!! my first etsy sale! ta da!
Four Flirty Valentines
Our new president. Listening to NPR this morning I caught the end of an interview with a man whose name I did not catch. He said that in electing Obama we are in a time of spiritual rebirth as a nation and that Obama summons "the better spirit" in all of us.
A beautiful cardinal sought shelter from yesterday's storm in our Charlie Brown Christmas tree, which is now propped up against our fence out back. We got about a foot and a half of snow in Woolwich! Pretty. 
My brother Steven and my mother. Steven asked me to find a picture of him from 1963 where he is smiling. Seems that 1963 - 1965 were sober years for my bro. I think that "Iron Man" had a reputation to live up to in the neighborhood...
Of course, too, his political leanings had begun to formulate...
My brother Ken's had, too, and they were going in the opposite direction from Steven's...
Here stands a future Democrat and a future Republican. Don't let their tie colors fool you...you can see it in their hair styles (long bangs vs. crew cut) and their shoes ( loafers vs. wing tips...)
Yes, Steve was leaning toward red (and look, is that a smile I see??)
and Kenny toward blue. (What the heck is that backdrop anyway, a shower curtain? Those wacky liberals!)
...and my father, George Simmons, had his yellow bushes in a suburb of Providence. 
I wrote a bit about the infamous forsythia bushes aka "the yellow bushes" in a previous post. They were one of my father's all time favorite backdrops for family photo ops. Here I am in front of them with my siblings, Steven, Debby, Kenny and Sue, on Easter Sunday, 1958.
And here are my brothers with my double cousins Del and Christopher, that same Easter Sunday, in front of those same yellow bushes. Those boys are all tanked up on chocolate, I'm certain.
And here I am with my sisters Sue and Deb, and my double cousin Kathy. Kathy and Debby are 8 years older than me, and their birthdays are less than a week apart! Both Leos. And they look it! They've both always been terrific dressers. Check out those hats! And the pearls, gloves and corsages. We didn't mess around at Eastertime. And my mother made all our dresses! I'll wager that my Aunt Carolyn or my grandmother made Kathy's frock...
My mother must have taken this photo. 
My parents in front of the yellow bushes, 1974.
I realized that I had a picture of all my siblings and all my double cousins in front of those jaundiced blooms, all except Jonathan! I did not want to leave him out, so here is the budding musician in 1974, sporting a golden yellow jacket that old Vincent would have approved of...
