Slides. Not the playground kind.

My mom took tons of pictures.  She only took slides.  We sat many summer nights outside with a white sheet hanging on the side of the house as a screen  just looking at slides.  When my mom died I insisted on taking as many of the family photos and slides as possible with the good intentions of getting everything copied and scanned to share with my sister.  

That was 1993.    

The road to hell should be finished by now with a bypass and several interchanges complete with scenic overlooks and rest stops.

And my mother didn't store them in small boxes. Nooooooooooo.  I brought home about 50 Kodak Carousels jammed packed ( 100 slides each) plus a couple of boxes of the tiny boxes of slides which of course is just so easy to find a place to store in a controlled environment.    And so begins my scanning projects.

I picked up a cheap simple slide scanner, which I regretted almost immediately , as I have to hand feed each slide.  Plus I get side tracked looking at the tiny 2 x 3 inch screen with my less than perfect vision trying to discern which tree in the state of Missouri my mother felt the need to commemorate.  And there are lots of them.  And after scanning a couple of the boxes and complaining about NOT having a clue how to clean the slides I discovered it wasn't the slides it was the darn scanner.  Yay for the hundreds I've already scanned.  And my highly observant skills.

I am not exaggerating

And here we have......trees.

when I say 80 percent of each Kodak Carousel that I've scanned is trees.  Trees on the side of hill.  Trees by the lake.  Trees on the farm.  Trees on the side of the road as they drove about 75 miles per hour  down some unnamed highway while clicking pictures out of the car window.  And she saved all of them.  Bad shots, missed shots, unfocused shots.  I know because they are numbered. And none are missing.  At first I tried to just scan the good ones but it was easier to set up a rhythm and scan them all.  Which is probably how she came to keep all of hers too.

Occasionally I run into real gems.  Ones that answer age old questions, you know, like  Why are the animals in zoos so far away from the people now?

Clearly some parents.....

use questionable methods.....

for expanding their toddlers education.  Thanks Dad. 

Or this,  did Colonel Sanders just sell chicken? 

Apparently not.  Beef AND Ham.  

Or - Were there any signs that I had terrible eyesight as a child? 

nahhhhhhh..

And the treasure hunt continues.  

Stay tuned for more secrets revealed 

1969  trip to the Smokies.  More damn tree pictures.