In my last post I wrote about my 'philosophical disagreement' with the writer Marie Kondo on the subject of old photos and their value. I loved reading all the comments that readers posted. Now I may scan all those old photos and make digital albums, but I still keep those original photos. But my relatives, no matter where they live, are able to copy photos from those Facebook albums at any time. I've seen a few of my photos uploaded to family trees ( other branches of my tree) on Ancestry.com.au, so even fifth or sixth cousins can access pics of my great grandparents and numerous other relatives.
The portable scanner that DH bought me last year piqued the interest of a number of readers. Unfortunately, at the moment, the Kogan website does not appear to have any for sale. A quick Google showed that scanners similar to mine are certainly available, but the ones I checked out seem to be available from Amazon. Buying from Amazon tends to be an expensive enterprise for Aussies due to the high costs of shipping. My scanner slides over the photo or document; it's not fed through. The images are then uploaded via cable to a PC. If anyone does find a source of these portable scanners, I'd love to hear from you!
So yesterday I met up with one of my cousins whom I have not seen for 52 years...yep, you read that correctly, 52 years! Her mum was my dad's niece and for various reasons, my mum and I lost touch with many of dad's relatives after he died. Carmela and I met to mainly talk 'family tree'. Recently I have renewed efforts to fill in gaps about my father's family. It's not an easy task. This year though, I've had some help but I'll tell you about that in another post.
1963 my family went to my cousin's wedding...and yesterday I took a photo of this lovely couple!
Yesterday I showed my cousin those old photos that had belonged to my father. She positively identified one person; a little boy who was another of my dad's nephews. But most importantly, Carmela told me that there is another of my father's nieces who is still alive and is living in Sicily; her late mother's sister. And this lady is spritely and has all her faculties. So the family plan is for this aunt to see my photos...soon!
I scanned a few photos and took photos of ones that were in frames...this is a special one!
It's my dad's sister and her husband...Zia (Aunty) Carmela.
And my dad's niece Lucy at 18 years...
(Lucy is the mother of my cousin Carmela)
I have always thought that my dad only had one brother. I found out yesterday that there were 4 boys in the family, but my cousin could only remember the name of one...so that's another mystery for 'our team' to uncover.
My cousin's eldest doesn't really like the photo I took of her parents, so she sent me her favorite pic of her parents...
How wonderful to connect with a relative after all those years! My photos are some of my most precious possessions and I don't really understand Ms Kondo's opinion. But then she advocates that it is time to throw away an item of clothing when it loses a button and I also think that is absolutely crazy! My girls could sew a button on when they were six!
ReplyDeleteI do wonder about all the work of storing photos digitally because what happens when the technology changes? I have done some of that but I keep the paper ones, too, for that reason.
You are having a wonderful time with this Maria.....wish I had known about those scanners....would have been the perfect solution for my daughter for Christmas...nevermind we found a substitute.
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