In the Garden

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1957. The husband of my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, walks in the garden of my Mom's childhood home.

Another View of the House

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1936. I recently stumbled upon this snapshot of my Mom's childhood home. Although the house looks quite different today, the original fence still stands.

A Closer Look (Part 35)

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1927. This is my Great-Grandmother Zigmunta. Although she married a clever and curious man, Zigmunta remained unhappy. After the war, Zigmunta lived with her daughter, Dora, in the house my Mom's parents had built.

Here's the original post.

The House, Later

Kaunas, Lithuania, September 7, 1997. My Mom's friend Joy sent this photo of Mom's childhood home. Mom's parents, Jadzė and Jake, incurred quite a bit of debt building it. It was a wooden structure; the builders put moss between the logs and then plastered the interior walls.

It's nice to see the residents retained the "veranda room."

A damaged image is still a keepsake.

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1944. My Mom and her friend didn't know that this would be their last Spring in Lithuania.

Trusted

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 2, 1960. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora (center), stands with two more of her tenants in the garden of Mom's childhood home.

The House in Winter

Kaunas, Lithuania, December 1935. Here's another view—from the opposite angle—of my Mom's childhood home. There's Mom, with her braids, looking at the house.

A Talented Tenant

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, February 20, 1957. After the second Soviet occupation, my Mom's maternal Aunt Dora continued to live in my Mom's childhood home.

Dora and her husband often took in one or two tenants. Dora wrote on the back of this photo, "This is Sig, our tenant, who takes our photographs and lives in the little bedroom by the stairwell. He works at the television station."

Dora, Dressed for Snow

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, January 6, 1959. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora—you remember Dora—stands in the snowy yard. Dora lived until she died in the home my Mom's Parents built.

On the back of this photo, Dora wrote, "Here I am in the garden. This is how our yard now looks. We really should plant some small trees. I've already planted about five currant bushes. They would be on the left side of where I stand. This year, our trees produced large fruit." It's touching that she writes about planting on the back of a wintery snapshot.

Winter approaches.

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, November 1957. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, stand in front of Mom's childhood home.

Childhood Garden

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1935. This is the backyard of my Mom's childhood home. Her Mother, Silvestras, liked to train trees to produce different types of fruit. My Mom remembers, for example, that the apple trees often bore pears.

Housemates

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 1, 1960. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora—in the center—stands in the garden with two of her tenants.

Puppies Under the Porch

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, June 20, 1956. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, sits in the yard with her husband. Dora writes, "A female dog showed up this past winter under the porch. A little while later, she led these precious pups to us. Now, I don't know what to do with them. Maybe I will keep them; they are so beautiful."

It looks like Dora kept at least the puppy on the left. That puppy looks like Pupkė.

Posing, with "Pupkė"

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, July 10, 1956. My Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, and her husband sit on the steps of my Mom's childhood home. Dora's doggie "Pupkė" sits on her lap.

Settled

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, January 25, 1957. Dora sits at the dining room table with her husband. After he died in 1965, she later remarried.

Dora is back.

Last night, as we prepared for our "three-dog-night" bedtime routine, my Mom came upstairs, as she usually does, to lend a hand with the pups. Yesterday she carried two envelopes with her, up to the dining room. The envelopes contained photos I had never seen. It was another "eureka moment," when an unexpected cache of photos appears in the house. Coincidentally, Mr. Irene visited his folks yesterday, and they, too, produced a few folders of "new" old snapshots.

I thought I had ferreted out all of the old family photos. I don't want the stream of old photos to end. But I've also considered how this blog will evolve when the old images all have been posted. I am delighted when I can postpone transformations.

So here is Dora, coaxing her little doggie to stay in the beg position:

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, September 10, 1959. Dora writes,"I am wearing the taffetta dress with 'Pupkė,' our little dog. But this is a weak photo. I look much better in real life."

(We have named two of our dogs, Pupa and Poppy, after the term "'Pupkė," a common Lithuanian word of endearment. My Mom, for example, still calls me "Pupulė.")

A Familiar Face

I've seen this image of my maternal Grandfather, Jake, so many times that it no longer seems like an "old photo" to me. As a result, I had not posted it here yet.

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1930. Jake sat for this photo (and for this one) while he and his family still lived on the "officers' campus" in the city of Kaunas. A few years later, Jake and Jadzė built the house that my Mom remembers as her childhood home.

The Healthy Apple Tree

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, July 2, 1957. Dora stands in the garden of my Mom's childhood home. She writes, "I am next to the healthy apple tree."

A Lot to Absorb

The photo of my Dad as a refugee reminded me of a shot of my Mom taken at about the same time.

In this photo, my Mom is a new refugee. She is dressed in the same coat that she wore in happier times in Lithuania. Mom also wears a black arm band because her Mother, Jadzė, had just died.  Jadzė passed away shortly before Mom fled Lithuania.

Mom believes that had Jadzė been alive in the summer of 1944, during the second Soviet occupation, then the family would never have left the country. Jadzė was very attached to the house that she and Jake built. Mom thinks Jadzė never would have left that home behind.

 
Unknown location, Germany, Autumn 1944. What lies ahead?

Dora, with Tulips

After World War II ended, my Mom's maternal Aunt, Dora, lived in Mom's childhood home until her death.

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, May 10, 1956. Dora writes, "These are the little tomato plants that I am trying to grow in containers."