SKY-VUE

Summer months passed fast enough for those of us who wanted to stay out of that prison called school.  One activity that help occupy this free time was "SKY-VUE, Drive In Theatre".  Located on US 60 some miles out of Winchester, you had to have a car, or a friend who had a car, to get there.  The picture shown is that taken directly across US 60.  Sitting on a fence in front of the house that Granny and Grandad were living at the time, this view was seen showing the front entrance with sign listing the movies that were being shown.  What a sight I thought, this big screen under the stars.  Would I ever get there...sighed I.   Mom, Dad, Henry, and of course me, would come and visit Granny and Grandad on many occasions, but it took Cecil B. DeMille, Chariton Heston, and Yul Brynner to bring our family to this picture show.

October 5, 1956, the movie everyone was waiting to see was released.  I am sure it took a while to get to this little drive-in, but we were there one night under the stars to see the Red Sea part.  What color, what story, what action, what fun was that night under the stars.  Buttered popcorn,  Moses and Pharaoh going head to head, and a speaker inside the car...what more could a guy ask for.  It was nothing like any Bible Story Book that I had ever seen. 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A number of items have come to my attention.  The following is my copyright notice which has been filed since 1989.

You may not use the contents of this site (blog and post) for commercial purposes without explicit written permission from the author and blog owner.  Commercial purposes includes blogs with ads and income generation features, and/or blogs or sites using feed content as a replacement for original content.  Full content usage is not permitted.

Jerry E. Jones, MD, MS, The Jones Genealogist, Library of Congress No. 6192-01064476.

1st Cousins

It was May, 1956, and a group of the Ewen clan were gathered for what looks like a birthday party. Standing on the from row, second from the right, is my brother Henry.  He was born in May, and it might be a picture of his birthday party.  It would have been his seventh year, and most of the folks look pretty dressed up for this event.  A single light bulb illuminates the room, and most seem to want to get this picture taking over.

"1st Cousins", I would call it.  A product of a large family.  Myrna Jean [my Mom] was in the middle of 12 children.  Nine were to reach adulthood, and would add their chromosomes to this group of party goers.  You can imagine what a family get together was like.  This front row seemed to be involved in the enjoyment of that long straw full of powered sugar that you had to open at one end, and shake onto your waiting tongue.  A lot of work for very little reward, or least for me it seemed that way.

Speaking of me, I am that glowing face high in the background with fingers in the mouth.  At five years of age, always ready to provide some extra entertainment to the festivities, I would often make faces to the camera.  I had some good ones saved for special occasions.  They were not always well received by the adults of the camera, but the other kids seemed to enjoy them.  Occasionally, I would get a whole group making faces. [Crossing eyes was my specialty!]

Anyway, here we were, 1st cousins to the end.

True Laughter

The year, 1950...the month is May...the smile is big...and the shirt says "Let's Hide".  It is a picture of my older brother as a young un', what a deal!

I came across this photograph last evening while looking through a group of family pictures.  It had never passed before my eyes, and I smiled as wide as Henry seemed to be smiling.  My older brother as a young child of one year of age.  Not many times do you get a chance to see your older brother in his life before you were born.  He certainly seems to have enjoyed his first year.

"Man that was a good one", he seems to be saying.  "Got another one to keep me laughing?"  It must have really been hard to keep those one year old kids laughing while you tried to get a good picture taken.

Well Henry, you got a good one taken here.  True laughter comes from within.

A New Blog

An interest in history has helped me to explore many facets of my own family tree climbing.  It has added depth and color to the leaves and branches.  Many of these branches have lead to Kentucky, its history, and early settlement. [Richard Henderson of Transylvania Company is a g.g....grandfather on the maternal side!]

A new blog titled: Historic Danville, KY gives me a way to express this interest by writing about the early history of Kentucky.  Moving to Danville some 12 years ago, I became interested in how it came to be named.   My years of research forms the foundation of this blog.  Come join me if you have an interest in this..."Dan(s)...ville".

The Music of Life

Life is our existence as we know it. Existence is our reality as we experience it. Experience is our conscious perception of the environment that surrounds us. Our perception of this environment is brought to us through an organic platform made up of trillions of cells that somehow have figured out a way to function in concert. A concert that provides our conscious existence with this experience. Beginning at the union of 23 chromosomes to make that first unique cell [seems to take 46 chromosomes to get things working well], our existence and experience play their first note ... ah yes, the music of life.

Adam's Rib...sort of...

Expressing one's thoughts has been a goal of mankind for generations. Taking what is in the mind, and placing it as an image on things that will remain, seems to be an activity from the earliest times. From the first "doodle" [an aimless scribble, design, or sketch] to the "Mona Lisa" [a master piece], mankind has left such markings.

The sketch to the right is a tracing from one of the earliest human images. It is an engraving on a bone, thought to be a piece of reindeer bone. Some believe it to be an image of a man. The lines are certainly purposeful. A man...or a bird... or a... what do you think? The bone was found in a limestone cave [Pin Hole Cave], Derbyshire, England. It must have been one of those long winter nights with spare ribs for dinner. After eating, what does one do to pass the time. Let's take this little piece of flint and carve into this bone while it is still soft. Legs, arms, head... an eye... maybe could use a knife in hand... a little chunky maybe. Oh well, try again next time.

Wow, I thought... Adam's rib it is. The first to draw an image left to us...sort of.

The tracing is made from a picture shown:

Piggott S., Daniel G., A Picture Book of Ancient British Art, Cambridge, University Press, 1951. plate I.

Also shown in:

Hadingham, E. Secrets of The Ice Age, A Reappraisal of Prehistoric Man, Walker and Company, NY, 1979. p.226.

Pin Hole Cave is discussed in:

Dyer, J., Prehistoric England and Wales, Penguin Books, NY, 1981. p.99.

What would you have drawn?