> recent entries
> calendar
> friends
> profile

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

thirdhand

8:02p Travel's and Fun: Sacred Lot No. 2 People who knew my dad say that he and I are very much alike (in both good ways and bad). In going through the scrapbooks I came upon this photograph: "Bird Fortune Telling. See what the little bird tells you. One Fortune." Look and see how the man's sign is worn and creased from years of use. Full size: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewtolson/4228147215/sizes/o/in/photostream/ When I took the photo out to scan it, I noticed a little note tucked behind it. Printed with a typewriter on very delicate paper. Full size: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewtolson/4228149583/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Dad must have photographed this man while getting his fortune told. He held on to the fortune until he developed the photo. This is my favorite find from all the photos because it feels like something I would have done. He and I may have shared the same drive to document and preserve moments, to make a record of places where people have gone. I know I do, with flickr, vlogs, etc. The decision he made in the 50s, to hold on to that fortune, is an artifact of his character––and something that helps me know a little more about who he was. current music: Bon Iver

(2 comments | comment on this)

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

thirdhand

10:03a Travel's and Fun Yesterday I was going through some old boxes full of my Dad's things. These are things that, after he died, we packed up without really examining. Yesterday I found a box full of picture books. One of these books, "Travel's And Fun", was full of pictures from Korea and Japan during the Korean War. I think the apostrophe on "Travel's" is particularly amusing. Dad wasn't the kind of person to make that mistake, he was meticulous about such things, but these albums were put together long before he went to college. They were taken by the man who became my father, but a very different man than I ever knew. "Billy" Busan, South Korea. ~1951 Yokosuka, Japan. ~1951 All of the photos are on my Flickr in very high resolution. I will post them here as I go about tagging them. Also, I'm off for some of my own Travel's and Fun soon! January 1st I leave for Jamaica, my first time out of the country. I will return on the 10th. More about it then. D. current mood: accomplished current music: Noah and the Whale

(1 comment | comment on this)