Mystery Monday

I've been way behind in my blogging lately.  And I've been even more behind in sharing stories about my crazy family history.  But I'm aiming to get back on the wagon this week.  I miss you guys!

Sharing the family stuff was no problem early on.  I had a list of crazy mysteries that I'd unearthed, could lay out and work on.  Easy enough.  But digging deeper, it gets harder to come up with answers.  Plus which, it can be a bit emotional.

So I took a little break.  And now I'm back to working on family stories, and digging through pictures.  I'm happy to report that I have one tiny mystery solved!

It's this guy.

I have, scattered through 6 boxes of loose photos and a dozen old albums, approximately 18 (but who's counting?) grainy copies of this picture of this handsome guy in his uniform.  I knew the vintage was WWII, but didn't recognize him.  And not a single one of these pictures had anything written on the back.  My cousin (actually, she's my grandmother's cousi n - Hi Shari!) didn't recognize him either.  Into the unknown pile for him...

Fast forward to a few days before Christmas when I, in a desperate search for some plaid ribbon, pulled two huge boxes down from the corner of the craft room closet.  Inside?  One zillion loose pictures that I'd forgotten about, dating back to the late 1800s.  Yikes.  I'd forgotten about them.  Also inside?  3 more copies of this infamous picture.  And... written on the back of one:  Donald.  I'm pleased to introduce you to my uncle Donald, my grandmother's little brother.  And a great big thanks to my Nana (my great grandmother) for taking 2 seconds to jot it down.  Yay!

Here's Donald in his younger days, with my very lovely grandma...

All that to say, I'm working away on figuring out the family again, and promise to share a bit more often.  You know, in between cabling rows on my mittens.