Monkey Feet

The McKenzies

I was given an old box of photos a few years ago.  It's an old slide projector case with a clasp and leather handle.  When you open it the musty smell permeates the room almost to the point of being sickening.  I sat on it (not literally) until yesterday.

It's a treasure chest of inspiration but I was torn because of how it came to me.  It was left discarded along with a whole bunch of junk in a barn on some property that was donated to a national not-for-profit.  I asked if the family was sure they didn't want it and was told that the family wanted nothing that was left on the property and the n-f-p had a big job of getting rid of it all. 

I was still hesitant to do anything with it apart from sift through the photos and wonder about the people.  There's a story in my family about an extended member who sold off his mother's house and everything in it including an entire trunk full of family photos and momentos.  We lost an entire trunk full of family history because of pure carelessness.  What if these people didn't know the case of photos was left behind?  I thought about ways of using the photos without actually using the original but the result was that I didn't do a single thing with them and they stayed dormant in their enclosure for about 5 years.

This week I went down into my storage locker to kill some time by rearranging the space.  As I shuffled things around I came across the black worn case and decided to pull it out and sift through it again while I'm off work.  Yesterday I opened it and started pulling out the photos one by one and I realized that the family wouldn't have left them behind if they wanted them.  There was a barn full of all kinds of things from their past and they wanted nothing that was inside.  Whether or not they went through the barn before donating, they just decided that nothing in there was of value.  So why wouldn't a family want to have this box of photos?

I came up empty handed.  They appear genuinely happy.  The father seems to be a photography buff and worked to create some interesting holiday photo-collages.  There are boxes of slides and envelopes of negatives.  There are family portraits taken in the living room with mother, father, children, cat and dog.  I started studying the details thinking that there is something that I'm missing.  Something I'm not seeing...something that I can't quite figure out.

Suddenly, I noticed that they all seem to be missing something.  That's when I picked up the white out and sharpie next to me.  Because if I'm going to do something as mischievous as mark up someone else's family photos, the least I can do is make it ridiculously obvious graffiti.  I'm thinking Banksy obvious.  I've since progressed to some acrylic paint and a fabulous black brush pen, but I'm still trying to have as much fun. 
Having said all this, if you happen to recognize the family I've dubbed "The McKenzies" please let me know if they want their family heirlooms back.

Tickle Sue's neck!

Gramma McKenzie and the birds

Checking in on baby Eli

Bear scare!

Jessica meets Socks the cat