A few months ago, I wrote a rambling (surprise!) piece that ended with a recounting of a wretched day at baseball practice during my tender youth. (You can find said piece here. If you choose to visit, be sure to read the comments as well. It’s another shining example of how the commentary here at Bonnywood can be very satisfying and rewarding.) A few days ago, a friend on Facebook happened to share a photo of said baseball team on the very practice field where the startling incident occurred. Said photo is the lead-in for this post.
I’ll let you figure out which one is me. If this proves to be an initially impossible task, I’ll provide clues in the comments.
A bit of background on this snap: It was the early 70s, thus explaining the blurriness that I’m sure is mystifying to those who have grown up with smartphones. It was an impromptu birthday party for one of the players, thus explaining why the boy in the general center is holding a gift-wrapped something or other. (It seems there was also a cake involved, but I see no evidence of edibles, so we had either already consumed it or were anticipating such a development. Most everyone seems to be very happy and possibly giddy from mainlining sugar, so the first option is most likely the probable one.)
Oh, and before anyone reports this photo for the partial nudity, I should point out that the couture situation is the result of that old-school tradition known as “shirts and skins”, wherein we would break into mini-teams and play against each other, with the wearing or lack-of-wearing a clever top assisting our short-attention-span brains in identifying fellow mini-teammates. (Do they even do “shirts and skins” anymore? One would think that some fool somewhere has probably filed a lawsuit by now to stop such blatant carnality.)
Since this post has managed to get me waxing nostalgic, I’ll throw out a second photo. I believe I have used this one before, possibly multiple times, but at this late hour I will not confirm or deny anything. This is a shot of me and the oldest of my sisters, taken during a rare moment when we could tolerate each other. As an added bonus, here is a link to a recounting of the first moment when I made a bid for familial-emancipation, a break for freedom that occurred around the time of this photo, with me running out the back door of the very house in which the two of us are sitting.
Ah, memories.
Enjoy your day, folks. Make the best of it.
Categories: My Life
Bonnywood Manor 
Nope. I can not pick you out. Even with the really big clue i.e. the second photo! I’ve ruled out the blondes. Trying to see if any of the others are wearing tap shoes instead of trainers, but alas…….
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I suppose it would have helped immensely if there had been more footwear exposure in this tableau… 😉
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I think you are one of two. Either the younger fellow in the back on the left, or the tallest fellow in the centre. Waiting for clues.
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Well, you didn’t quite get there, but you made an admirable effort. As for clues, I’ve already scanned the other comments and we already have a winner, so additional clues are a bit moot at this point. And yes, you’ll have to scan the comments as well to get the answer… 😉
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Hang on, just left behind the kid holding a gift, is that another boy cast in eternal shadow?
Was this a deliberate thing? The photographer decided he was too ugly for being in the light so skilfully positioned him thus?
Or was it deliberate by the boy and he has gone on to make use of his skill in the dark arts of concealment and become a highly successful assassin?
Or have you ‘Photoshopped’ it to make sure no one ever sees him again because he was once rude to your cat?
No, can’t figure which one is you either.
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You know, I hadn’t even noticed the shadow-darkened soul until you mentioned it. I have no idea who that might have even been, even though I do recognize most everyone else. It’s rather creepy, along the lines of “The Ring” movies. Now I won’t be able to sleep tonight, concerned that a malevolent spirit has been tracking me all of my life. Thanks for that… 😉
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Hello. In the 1990s my brother Richard wrote a book about baseball. It’s titled Field Of Screams. Good book. Out of print now, though. Have a good day.
Neil Scheinin
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This rings a faint bell. Have you talked about this on your blog before? I seem to know about the existence of this book but I don’t know why. Hmm…
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I haven’t mentioned it in any of my stories.
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I think you’re the boy in the back on the left or the amorphous blob behind the birthday boy.
Btw, you were a really cute kid. 🙂
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I picked out the same ones! Either he’s the devious urchin behind birthday boy (bringing to mind Killer Bob from Twin Peaks), or the one standing slightly away from the group, not quite one of them.
Love the pics, Brian! I was going through some old photos myself in an attempt to get them organized. Not sure what I was thinking when I figured it’d take me an hour or two. Think I’ve been at it over a week now… 😉
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Lynette: Your guesses are warm but not quite hot. But it doesn’t matter, as I’m much more infatuated with the “really cute kid” angle. We’ll keep our focus on that… 😉
Christi: Killer Bob from Twin Peaks? Wow. I’ll need some time to process that. But your mention of organizing old photos reminds me of yet another personal story. My Granny was visiting one time and I happened to mention that I really don’t have many photos from my childhood. The next time she visited, she presented me with an entire album of youthful images. It is my favorite photo album, ever, not because it’s all about me, but because she DID it for me, a treasure that has increased in value since she passed…
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Those photos of our early years tend to be filled with nostalgia and the rose colored dreams that our parents had for us, their off spring. Even at such tender years, I have to wonder if your parents (like my mother, my father had more sense) foisted their dreams onto their children? And those photos are mis-leading. The children in them are always smiling, even if it’s a very small smile, while in reality all we might have been doing is wondering how soon we can get away from our sibling and if Mommy (or Daddy) will beat us if we pinch them or pull their hair? Well that’s how it was in my household anyway. Your family is very handsome and no I don’t know which kid is you in the baseball picture. I’m tending to that kid standing apart from the milling herd without his shirt, the one on the right though. That kid looks as if he’d rather be eating Astroturf as standing in the hot (?) sun and chasing some ball around a field.
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I completely embrace your comments. There was so much disappointment and longing to be “anywhere but here” in my childhood that I’m surprise I smiled in any of the photos from those years. But back then, taking a picture was still a relatively rare thing to occur, so we all tossed aside our experiences and smiled for the camera, for the most part, because that’s just what you did. So, yes, I’m smiling rather broadly in this one, so I’m not the little guy on the right, although his pose does capture my inner thoughts on the matter…
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I haven’t read the comments yet, or the story, but just guessing you are the second boy on the back row, left in a yellow shirt? Now, I go back to read …
I want to know more, now! I do remember that ‘bid for freedom’ post!
Cute photo of you and your sister! 🙂
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You win the prize, Barbara! That’s me, well before my growth spurt that would result in me being taller than just about everybody else in this shot. Great job!
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You’re the one with the stylish belt:-)
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Sadly, no. I’m the one who WANTED a stylish belt but we couldn’t afford one… 😉
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Ah youth. So fleeting, eh? P.S. such a cute pic of you and Prairie Dawn 🤩🤩💗
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I love the sparkle in our eyes. Still innocent wee bairns…
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