Elaine and Chris in the Big Apple

I just received word that Elaine and Chris will be visiting New York City in February. They are planning to do all the normal fun touristy stuff --- see a play, maybe take a helicopter tour and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I know they will have a really good time here. 

Elaine and I got connected through her father, who is related to us through my grandfather's father. If you check out the family tree online, you can see exactly how we are related. We hope to see them when they are here. Elaine sent me a picture so I would know what she and Chris look like. They are vacationing in Florida.  They are cute!

Can you identify these people?

As I mentioned, I found a scrap book filled with old photos of my grandfather, Stan, and his family. It appears to be mostly from a trip that they took to Scotland sometime around the 1930s, but nothing is clearly marked. 

For all I know, the photos could be from one year or various trips. I'd like to see if anyone out there knows who the people in these photos are. 

I'll start with a group photo featuring my grandfather (on the right) as a young man all the way on the left side. There are two ladies and a man in the photo who I don't 

recongize. In the background are several young laughing children. I can't tell if it was taken in Scotland or not, but it looks like it could have been judging from the houses  background.

The photo on the left is a funny candid shot. The same people in the photo are the left are getting ready to pose, but someone is joking around and takes a photo while they are getting ready. One lady helps the other take off her apron in preparation for the photo while the man watches and laughs.  

This one is unique because you don't see too many candid shots like this. Everyone usually seems very formal and posed as in the second shot. This one gives you a better sense of who these people are, but not enough for me to identify them.

One guess is that it could be my great-grandmother's relatives in and around Aberdeen. I met a few of them during my first and last trip to Scotland when I graduated from college. I really enjoyed it there and can't wait to go back. Our relatives treated me and my friend very, very well. It was fun to see the old photos and learn more about the town where my family came from. 

I can't believe that I can't figure it out. Well, if you can help me out, send me an email!

Dunottar Castle from Stan and Tom's trip to Aberdeen

Okay, so I figured out the name of the castle. It's the Dunnottar Castle.  One of Tom and Stan's pictures of it is above. (They took a bunch of them!)  If you click the link to the castle, you can see what it looks like today and its history.

Apparently there are some interesting shanannigans that go along with the visit to this Castle. Tom and Stan were apparently pretty wild. They were about 17 or 18 when they were on this trip together.

Stan and Tom Shirreffs in Scotland

I found a scrapbook containing pictures of Stan [my grandfather] and Tom Shirreffs [my great-uncle] around the time they were graduating from high school.  I think the pictures are from a trip they took to Scotland, but I'm not entirely sure.  I believe they visited Aberdeen together. Most of the pictures do not have any sort of information on the back of them and the cover is missing from the book. The book is filled with interesting photos, but some are faded or damaged.

There are pictures of the sea, a castle and of faces that I do not recognize. I would love to

 know more about who these people are. Over the next couple of weeks, I will post some photos. Maybe some member of the Shirreffs family out there will know who they are.  

In the meantime, I'm going to show you some of the photos. Here is a photo of Tom on a motorcycle wearing his le

tterman's sweater. On the back of the photo it says, "Me and my motorcycle. I like ours better." I'm assuming he's referring to American motorcycles? He looks kind of a tough guy in this picture! 

I think he earned his letterman's sweater from swimming. A clipping in the book from a newspaper shows both 

Stan and Tom as star athletes. Tom was a star swimmer and one of the mainstay of the one hundred yard freestyle, backstroke and fancy diving. Stan was a baseball star.

The second photo shows Tom and Stan in front of a large ship called "Rock All." My grandfather is clad in a suit and looking quite nice. Tom is wearing poofy pants  and argyle socks that seem suitable for golfing, but I'm not familiar with the styles of those days.

I hope you find these photos interesting. I will post more over the next few weeks. 

The Canfield Fair!

In 2004, Aunt Carole, Sue, Gage and I visited Grandma Isabel in Canfield. We had a blast catching up and seeing the sights of the fair. 

To celebrate, Grandma took us to a special dinner at Red Lobster. We ate well and laughed and 

had a great time. 

Gage spent a lot of the time coloring pictures with crayons and doing cute little things. He was so little then! 

One day, we stopped by at the farmer's market to buy some fruits and veggies. Gage played in the playhouse. Later, Sue went antiquing and got some great finds!

Grandma and I had the chance to spend a day at the fair on our own. We walked around and saw the tractors and farm tools and ate fair food. Then, we got tickets to watch Bill Cosby perform. We had a fantastic time! It was probably one of the best times I had with Grandma Isabel. 

A Christmas Past with Grandma Isabel

I found some photos of Grandma Isabel and Amy from Christmas 2002. It was the last Christmas that we were all together -- both my grandmas, Mark and Genevieve. It was a good time.

Here's Grandma alone:

Here is a photo of Amy and Grandma during a "bow fight."