Mershell, Mary V. and Doris Graham, my mother sitting on their front steps waving balloons on sticks. It was 1926. The house was on Theodore, the east side of Detroit. Sometimes I dream about this house and the porch usually figures in the dreams as I leave or enter or start down the street going somewhere.
Other posts about the house on Theodore are – Everyday Things Then and Now and T is for Theodore Street
So sweet. I love steps to a house. I wonder do you visit there on Google Maps?
No. It was torn down in 1968 and it’s an overgrown storage area now. My cousin and I drove by in the 1990s and it was very depressing. At the bottom of the post T is for Theodore (link at end the post above) there is a photo we took that day. In my dreams it’s still there though.
Such a sweet picture!
It’s one of my favorite pictures of my mother as a little tiny girl.
Funnily enough I don’t think I have any photos of that kind of balloon. A lovely photo from your mother’s childhood, and sad that the house is no more. We see on the news how much of Detroit is abandoned and in a very bad way these days.
Pretty sad.
Oh my goodness – I hadn’t thought about balloons on a stick in forever. I know I had one more than once. It was fun shaking the stick around & watching the balloon wobble back & forth. It’s a wonder I never popped one, but I don’t remember that happening. A really cute picture & it made me smile to remember the good old days! 🙂
In the days before they had the balloons with gas, if they weren’t on a stick, they just would hang there.
What an adorable picture! I love how Mary’s balloon is trying to “escape”, but that she is holding on very tightly.
She looks like she’s sort of waving it around too.
Cute picture. I don’t remember balloons on sticks, just on strings.
They were little thin dowel rods. or something thinner maybe.
It must be a pretty special house that even long after it is demolished it can provoke such a powerful memory. I remember balloons on a stick. They were cheaper because they didn’t use helium. The sticks were the kind mothers warned us about putting someone’s eye out.
You are so right about that warning. An eye accident waiting to happen.
The time we spent at my grandparent’s house was very special and the memories are very strong.
It is a wonderful photograph – so full of history. It is the kind of image that we lovers of old images love – the perfect capture of a moment in time.
My favorite kind – a snapshot of a moment.
I don’t remember seeing balloons on sticks………except in movies. It is a wonderful photo.
I have memories of playing on the steps and poles of my grandmothers home. It is a sentimental memory too 🙂
Oboy, I remember balloons on sticks! They made a funny noise if you “whooshed” them through the air quickly — we used to get them at the agricultural fairs in Maine. Great fun!
My mother said they used to have a little fair around the corner from their house. Maybe that is where they got them.
Children, balloons, and sitting on the doorsteps, all great combinations!!
Adorable. The girls were sitting like little ladies with their legs crossed.
I had to scroll back up to look. Someone must have told them to sit like that. I always thought my mother was kicking her leg out, but I believe you are right.
It’s a long while since I have seen a balloon on a stick. They used to be on sale at the annual Agricultural Show.
They must have been special to fairs and the like.
A sweet photo that elicits good memories. And the feet of a watchful someone sitting above.
I did notice that black skirt (of course it could be color, but it comes out as black here) and the shoes.
A wonderful photograph, although Mershell looks a bit unhappy – he seems to have drawn the short stick!
He pretty much looks like that in all his photos. The sticks were all the same length, I think it’s the point of view that makes it look short.