My grandpa loved me, and I loved him.

He was a good man, my grandfather. After my mom and dad got divorced shortly after I was born, we lived with my grandparents until mom remarried when I was seven. He picked up the slack on a daily basis and my dad came to visit almost every week until I was twelve, unless he was out of town on business. So, being an only child, I grew up with a lot of attention, including my great aunt and uncle who lived across town, all of which explains putting myself out there on the Internet all these years, like right now even!

My step dad, mom, grandmother, and me in my spiffy Nehru jacket, sunglasses, and moccasins. Very early 1970s, I’d say.

I haven’t yet found the picture of Candy I mentioned in a previous post. That picture is in color and indoors in the living room. But unexpectedly, I discovered this picture of me and Candy on the back steps that I don’t even recall having seen, much less having already scanned. But that’s not all that odd since most of these scans are from years and years ago when I was digitizing everything wholesale without really even looking at it. But, here it is now, and I’m pleased to immerse myself in that moment from 2/3 of a century ago. 🙂

This was taken in the back yard at California Street, probably around 1955. You can see my playpen in the upper right near the door to the garage. The back steps are just off to the left.

Taken right here where I’m living again after all these decades. In fact, I’m sitting on a couch in the patio that was added later, almost in the same spot! Now if you look carefully, you can see a dog in the upper right running toward camera. As far as I recall, we only had two dogs in my early childhood – Candy (who was white or cream) and Pierre “the millionaire.” who was black and bit. This is probably Candy though he/she looks too big to match my memory. I don’t know what became of Candy. I was pretty young and one day, I guess, Candy just wasn’t there any longer. Hit by a car? Given away? Died of natural causes. I recall her ( I think it was a she) as being a puppy or at least a young dog. Alas, everyone who would have know has passed on years ago or decades ago, so unless I can find some record of it in all these boxes of unsorted family papers and photos, none of us will every know. Then again, I’ve seen this pictures a dozen times before and never noticed the dog in the corner until now. But now that I think about, I recall another photo clearing showing candy. Perhaps i’ll re-discover it some day and be able to determine who the dog is in this photo. But if not Candy, who then? As my mom oft said, “It’s just one of life’s little mysteries.”