Photo Friday, No. 925

Current Photo Friday theme: Many


Many Pennys.

Created in 1963, and sold as late as 1970, by the Deluxe Reading/Topper Toy Company, the Penny Brite doll was intended to be a solution for parents who wanted their children to play with fashion dolls who looked younger than the dolls in the Mattel line. In 2007, Charisma Brands reintroduced the doll, along with additional outfits and a carrying case, for $69.95. I don’t know what her original price was, but likely in the three- to five-dollar range.

Photo Friday, No. 923

Current Photo Friday theme: Museum


Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1996
Shot on film with Canon AE-1

This is one of the places Amy, Tom, and I visited when we volunteered at the NAMES Project’s AIDS Quilt display. Founded in 1869, the Corcoran Gallery of Art was the first institution in the United States created specifically as an art museum. The Beaux Arts building that housed it was designed by Ernest Flagg and opened in 1897.

When the museum closed in 2014, the National Gallery acquired approximately half of the Corcoran Collection, and the remaining objects were distributed to other museums in the Washington, D.C., area. The building is now home to the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, part of George Washington University. Located at 500 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo Friday, No. 922

Current Photo Friday theme: Path


Shot at The Compound in December 2007 with my first digital camera, the Kodak Easyshare CX7430 Zoom.

When you’re overwhelmed by details, it can be easy to overlook the obvious. This little path was created when our previous home was being remodeled. Tom, the dogs, and I were staying in the garage apartment while the contractors worked inside the house. A blocked driveway created all kinds of challenges for dog management and access to the apartment. The solution came to me in the middle of the night, and I woke Tom when I said, “A house has two sides.” The next day, he cleared the never-used, overgrown, gated area along the “other” side of the house, and before sunset, he’d created this tidy, easy means to get to the back of the property.

Photo Friday, No. 921

Current Photo Friday theme: Toys


The toy chest overflowed long ago. There are toys in every room of the house except maybe the kitchen and bathrooms. We never had children, but our friends and family did. The toy chest is never this organized and never left open, or four dogs would turn Houndstooth Hall into the Great Beanie BabiesĀ® & Friends Massacre.

Photo Friday, No. 919

Current Photo Friday theme: Dad


Christmas, 1983, I set the timer to shoot a family photo with my Canon AE-1. Ordered everyone to smile, look at the camera, and remain still. Darted into the picture, whereupon my brother slapped a bow on his forehead, grabbed me, bumped my sister, and made my mother crack up and shift a little. Daddy, Army vet, knew how to follow an order and remain in focus. One of my favorite photos of us forever.

Photo Friday, No. 918

Current Photo Friday theme: Coffee Shop

When I checked my photo archives and found this one, I was confused because I couldn’t find it on my website (which, back then, was LiveJournal). I dug deeper and found it in comments to what became a regular Wednesday feature called Hump Day Happy. My LJ friends gave me a page number and a second number, and I found the “answer” for them in the book 14,000 Things To Be Happy About.

On this date, I told them I’d take what was then my spankin’ new Nikon D40 and leave The Compound to shoot photos to go with the “answers” they were given from the book. Pretty sure I grabbed this iced coffee from Seattle’s Best before visiting my mother in the care home–her last Houston residence before hospice. I probably grabbed one of her crossword puzzle collections and completed a puzzle while we talked or she slept. While this photo wasn’t shot in the coffee shop, I’m glad I visited one on my way to visit Mother because it packs a lot of fun and bittersweet memories.