Palmer Avenue

It was new snow when I shot this pic in 1972. That's our tiny (1930s-era) garage on Palmer Avenue in Kalamazoo in the foreground. I scanned 85 photographs yesterday, all from my first few months home from Vietnam. You'll certainly see more of 'em. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101

Another photo from late 1971 or early 1972: The view from our front porch on Palmer Avenue. Dad grew up on this block, and both his sister (in the house at the left in this photo) and his parents (a couple houses down the block) were still there when we moved to the neighborhood. So it was sort of a family enclave. If I can locate appropriate photographs, I'll give you a little tour. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of the folks in the pink house. (Debbie? Dick? Can you help?) I do recall that he was a skinny little thing, while she was the widest person I've ever encountered. Good neighbors, except for the pink siding. Another SR-T 101 photo.

More old snow. The back of our house on Palmer Avenue in Kalamazoo, late in 1971 or early 1972. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101.

Three views of our back yard, on Palmer Avenue, in Kalamazoo. Virginia Brown built that redwood fence to keep our baseballs out of her yard. This pic's obviously a DOF play. Came out fairly well, methinks. January 1972 or thereabouts; shot with my Minolta SR-T 101.

Three views of our back yard, on Palmer Avenue, in Kalamazoo. Virginia Brown built that redwood fence to keep our baseballs out of her yard. The tree's a butternut. Notice the picnic table in the background. January 1972 or thereabouts; shot with my Minolta SR-T 101.

Three views of our back yard, on Palmer Avenue, in Kalamazoo. Virginia Brown built that redwood fence to keep our baseballs out of her yard. The bushes are forsythias.... January 1972 or thereabouts; shot with my Minolta SR-T 101.

Dinda family Christmas in 1971; Palmer Avenue in Kalamazoo. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101

Deep snow at 1318 Palmer Avenue in Kalamazoo. Compare this view with the 1972 photo I took of the same sunporch for a sense of scale; there's a lot more snow in this pic. The icicles were a constant decoration, or bother. Dad's slide dates from the 1950s. We moved to the Palmer house in 1957, and I suspect this was taken during our first winter. Since we stayed there for fifteen years, the two pictures demonstrate the change in appearance of the house during our tenure. Things badly needed paint at this point; I'd guess this is a winter '57-'58 picture just from the state of the window frames. The house was never in poor shape, but we devoted a lot of effort to keeping things up. Looks like our predecessors weren't so determined to do that. Camera: Argus C3

Another previously-unseen photo of Kalamazoo Richard . Like this one , the developer never printed the picture, because it came from a damaged roll.... When we lived on Palmer, Dick & I shared an upstairs room with built-in beds. That's where he's sitting. Christmas or thereabouts, 1971/72. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101