Between the end of World War II and our trip west in 1948 we went on several trips but I am not absolutely positive about the sequence of the trips. While Dad used both black and white and color (and Polaroids) for the trip in 1950 to Europe, I mostly just have color slides for this period.
When my sister Barbara was about six, she was playing dolls with her friend Becky from next door., as she walked down the sidewalk (broken by tree roots) with a doll in the crook of each elbow, she tripped and fell, hitting her elbow. Daddy made her move her arm around and she could do that, although she said it hurt. He said if she could move it, that meant that it wasn’t broken, but after three days Mother made him go and have Barbara’s elbow Xrayed. It was a green-stick fracture. The doctors — perhaps to save their anatomy professor’s face — said this was a rarely seen break. She didn’t have to have a cast on it but she must not use the arm so that the break didn’t get worse. She should put the arm in a sling. Mother made slings for her out of various scarves, like a sling for the beach out of a rain scarf, and one out of a linen napkin for best dress.
Barbara and I were to play in a piano recital - a duet, “In a Country Garden.” I played the bass and Barbara to play the melody. We walked up to the stage - Barbara with her arm in the linen napkin. We sat down at the piano, and Barbara ceremoniously took her arm out of the sling. Everyone whispered “Isn’t she brave.” Barbara admits, “I milked it for all it was worth! But my sister knew it hurt hardly at all.”
That year, my dad had a cosmic radiation experiment. He was checking whether radiation from cosmic rays of the sun would increase the amount of cancer. He had some mice at the top of Mt. Evans in Colorado, and some mice were in lead cages down deep in a coal mine in Pennsylvania.
Loading the car with the lead cages
pulleys at the top of the mine
Mine car going into the mine - Mother is in white on the left
coal miner
My dad with a miner and garbage pails for the mice.
Lead cage in mine's hospital
(color photos which look better in black and white)
Mice in garbage pail in the mine
The miners had to be trained to take care of the mice, clean their cages and give them food and water. My mother went down into the mine with my dad. She left us to amuse ourselves at the top. We made daisy chains
Barbara with a sling made from a bandana and me, with the mine superintendent. We are holding Geiger counters, with which to amuse ourselves while our parents were down in in the mine.
We stayed with the mine superintendent. The two of us slept on a mattress on the floor. I didn't sleep very well because I ended up on the very edge of the mattress because Barbara was a cuddler and I didn’t like to cuddle, but I couldn’t push Barbara away because of her arm.
Surface mining
That summer we went to Woods Hole and stayed at a house called the Lookout (we had two rooms upstairs) that was owned by a boat broker named Ed Athern and his wife Doris. We stayed there for two summers. Ed would take boats out to show clients and he often took us with him. That summer we went to Martha's Vinyard and visited the Cowdry family
Cowdry's house
Cowdry family - my sister with her arm in the sling on the left.
This year, my dad took most of the lab staff up to Woods Hole with us. We all went to visit Plymouth
Standing next to the Plymouth Rock pavilion, My sister with her arm in a sling, my mom, Marion, Jerry (a grad student) and me
Plymouth Rock pavilion - we are all sitting on the edge
Plymouth Rock
My sister and me in front of Massasoit statue
Plymouth Monument aka National Statue to Our Forefathers
Christmas was up in Philadelphia
My mother made the dolls clothes and our dresses
Playing pick-up sticks. In the back on the left is one of the doll cradles my mom made out of an oatmeal box. There's another one behind me.
When my sister Barbara was about six, she was playing dolls with her friend Becky from next door., as she walked down the sidewalk (broken by tree roots) with a doll in the crook of each elbow, she tripped and fell, hitting her elbow. Daddy made her move her arm around and she could do that, although she said it hurt. He said if she could move it, that meant that it wasn’t broken, but after three days Mother made him go and have Barbara’s elbow Xrayed. It was a green-stick fracture. The doctors — perhaps to save their anatomy professor’s face — said this was a rarely seen break. She didn’t have to have a cast on it but she must not use the arm so that the break didn’t get worse. She should put the arm in a sling. Mother made slings for her out of various scarves, like a sling for the beach out of a rain scarf, and one out of a linen napkin for best dress.
Barbara and I were to play in a piano recital - a duet, “In a Country Garden.” I played the bass and Barbara to play the melody. We walked up to the stage - Barbara with her arm in the linen napkin. We sat down at the piano, and Barbara ceremoniously took her arm out of the sling. Everyone whispered “Isn’t she brave.” Barbara admits, “I milked it for all it was worth! But my sister knew it hurt hardly at all.”
That year, my dad had a cosmic radiation experiment. He was checking whether radiation from cosmic rays of the sun would increase the amount of cancer. He had some mice at the top of Mt. Evans in Colorado, and some mice were in lead cages down deep in a coal mine in Pennsylvania.
Loading the car with the lead cages
pulleys at the top of the mine
Mine car going into the mine - Mother is in white on the left
coal miner
My dad with a miner and garbage pails for the mice.
Lead cage in mine's hospital
(color photos which look better in black and white)
Mice in garbage pail in the mine
The miners had to be trained to take care of the mice, clean their cages and give them food and water. My mother went down into the mine with my dad. She left us to amuse ourselves at the top. We made daisy chains
Barbara with a sling made from a bandana and me, with the mine superintendent. We are holding Geiger counters, with which to amuse ourselves while our parents were down in in the mine.
We stayed with the mine superintendent. The two of us slept on a mattress on the floor. I didn't sleep very well because I ended up on the very edge of the mattress because Barbara was a cuddler and I didn’t like to cuddle, but I couldn’t push Barbara away because of her arm.
Surface mining
That summer we went to Woods Hole and stayed at a house called the Lookout (we had two rooms upstairs) that was owned by a boat broker named Ed Athern and his wife Doris. We stayed there for two summers. Ed would take boats out to show clients and he often took us with him. That summer we went to Martha's Vinyard and visited the Cowdry family
Cowdry's house
Cowdry family - my sister with her arm in the sling on the left.
This year, my dad took most of the lab staff up to Woods Hole with us. We all went to visit Plymouth
Standing next to the Plymouth Rock pavilion, My sister with her arm in a sling, my mom, Marion, Jerry (a grad student) and me
Plymouth Rock pavilion - we are all sitting on the edge
Plymouth Rock
My sister and me in front of Massasoit statue
Plymouth Monument aka National Statue to Our Forefathers
Christmas was up in Philadelphia
My mother made the dolls clothes and our dresses
Playing pick-up sticks. In the back on the left is one of the doll cradles my mom made out of an oatmeal box. There's another one behind me.
- Next entry in the series 'Exploring the USA by Car': Spring, and Summers 1946 and 1947 in Woods Hole
- Previous entry in the series 'Exploring the USA by Car': Woods Hole 1939, New Haven 1940, Colorado 1942
