Saturday's Old Photo

This photo is taken from the editorial page of The Whitehorse Star, Tuesday, April 8, 1980. I intended to post it for last week’s Saturday’s old photo so I could compare that year’s April weather to this year’s April weather, but last Saturday ended with no time for posting. That turns out to have been not such a bad thing, because Wednesday evening’s swirling blizzard makes April, 2008 even more backward, season-wise, when compared to April, 1980.

 

Who are those people in the photo? No one keeps clippings of old newspaper photos unless it has something to do with them, do they? So, yes, this is me with my two oldest children.

 

Here’s the text that accompanies the photo.

Need we say more?

The snow is gone from almost every lawn and roof in the city. The river ice is breaking up. The sky is a brilliant blue and the air, though still brisk, is fresh and clean. After a long and dreary winter of asking ourselves why we’re here, a day like today comes as a shouted answer to that question. This picture of Becky Stark and her two children, Andrew and Libby, walking in the sun near their home today is a more eloquent evocation of spring, youth and hope than anything that could be written here and so we will leave today’s editorial comment up to it. Welcome back to life, Whitehorse.

How does that compare to this year? So far, this April, it’d be impossible to be an “eloquent evocation of spring.” I refuse to shovel in April, so I trudge through a couple inches of snow on the walkway to get to my car in the driveway. The yard itself has snow better measured in feet than inches.

 

We all had a big laugh yesterday over oldest daughter’s footwear, given that “[t]he snow is gone from almost every lawn.” You’ll also notice that she’s the only one with mittens on, and big bulky ones at that. Let’s just say she had trouble with transitions.

 

If I remember right, we were on our way to the park for some morning outdoor play. We lived in a small apartment, so we took daily strolls to the park and almost daily strolls to town. And yes, both tots are squished into a stroller built for one.

 

Earlier that morning I’d taken the cat to the vet to be spayed. My husband had made the appointment and the kids and I had dropped the cat off for her surgery. Late that afternoon I got a call from the vet’s office saying the cat was ready to go home, so I drove up to get her. In the office, the receptionist told me that they hadn’t had any record of our cat’s appointment, and they wouldn’t have known my name or how to contact me to tell me to come get the cat, except that they’d seen my photo, along with my name, in that afternoon’s newspaper.

 

As it turns out, our cat’s appointment had been with the other vet.

 

On the Thursday evening after this photo, when we were all gone for an hour, the cat chewed her stitches out. The vet had  to leave the movie theatre in the middle of a movie* to stitch her back up, and she came home wearing an old plastic bleach bottle around her neck. Back then, Whitehorse was a little less civilized, so the vet made his own plastic collars for pets because he knew most of his clients would balk at the cost of the manufactured ones. (A few years later, we’d have a dog sent home wearing a cut and stapled file folder collar.)

 

So there you have it: A snapshot of the good old days when vets tried their best to keep their prices down, I still had that purse, and spring came when it should.

 

*According to the ad on this page in the newspaper, he would have been watching 101 Dalmatians, “the canine comedy caper of the century!” 

Comments

[mummymac]

Rebecca - you haven't changed a bit!!!

I love the way the two kids are in the stroller, I reckon if they hadn't invented a buggy board I would have done that too :-)

Thanks for sharing.

[Dorothy]

What a neat picture! I love it, Rebecca, and I love the purse too! It looks like a classic to me.

[Karen]

Hi Becky, Love the picture and article. In my scrapbook is the original one you sent me at the time. I am going to have this photo as my screen saver.
Has been cold the past few days.
I really look forward to your Saturday Old Photo postings.
Take care :)

[Candy]

Sigh. The Yukon seems like such a great place. You look exactly the same. Hey. The snow you mention is so obviously a sign of global warming......ummm...not so much.

[missmellifluous]

Great story! I love it and the picture and the fact that the vet was watching 101 Dalmatians. How appropriate! :)

[jen elslager]

What a great story! And you do look much the same.

[rebecca]

In my scrapbook is the original one you sent me at the time.

I didn't remember that I'd sent any out. I hope yours isn't as yellow as mine...:)

[Kim in ON]

That is a great picture, and a good story, too. Cat stories are always goodies.

[Kim from Hiraeth]

I couldn't see the picture before, so I read the story and waited to comment.

I love the picture! I'm glad I came back to see it!