My Dad’s mother, my paternal grandmother – had over 50 grandchildren (See: Being a Middle Child #7 of 14). She did her best to make each of her grandchildren feel special, but with that many it was not an easy task. I do remember cheering at a Pee-Wee football game (See: Football Boogie ) and when doing the cheer “Teams in a huddle, Captains at the head. Out comes the coach and this is what he said . . . ” I bent over to be in a huddle and the back seam of my corduroy cheerleading pants ripped. My Dad took me across the street from the park to my grandmother’s house and she stitched up my pants so that I could return to my game. That is one of the few memories I have of being with her alone and having a typical interaction that most grandmothers and granddaughters probably have. Usually there were dozens of cousins there whenever we visited her. I can’t remember sitting on her lap at all or having her visit our house. We had giant family Christmas parties in one uncle’s basement and Grandma would give out 50 envelopes with $1 each in them. All of her grandchildren were remembered equally and fondly, but I missed out on something in that relationship.

Lil at our house for Christmas

I saw my other grandmother only 2 times in my life. She ran off with another man when my mother was a baby and proceeded to rob a train with him. She spent some time in prison (See: Archiving Photos and Videos, But Most Importantly Preserving the Family Story ). She visited our house when I was in 8th grade and I remember almost every minute of that visit, almost like it was a few days ago. My mother  tolerated her mother’s visit, but avoided her hugs and refused to call her “mother”.  She called her Ruby instead. Ruby seemed interested in getting to know us, but didn’t ask detail questions about our activities. She wasn’t around long enough to become very acquainted with the details of our lives.

When I was first married, I heard that Ruby was bitten by a rat while sleeping in her apartment and was hospitalized. Though I didn’t know her, it bothered me that my grandmother was living in such conditions. I received a small bonus at my first job for Christmas and sent her the check that I received. Afterwards, she started writing me telling me bits and pieces about her life.  I visited her  when I was pregnant with my second child. She lived in the projects in Washington, D.C. and when I parked my car to walk to her apartment, I was very nervous. I didn’t know how to start to build a relationship with her. I was intrigued, but didn’t feel I could ask her many questions about her past. We had a pleasant visit for a couple of hours. She did show me a china doll that my mother had when she was a child and introduced me to some of her friends. I wanted to ask her a zillion questions, but instead settled for a few moments of politeness and a short getting-to-know-you session. I remember most that she stuttered when on the telephone, like my mother did, and also made a circle with her thumb and forefinger, weaving them around each other when she was nervous. She was a nice lady, but it was hardly an intimate relationship.

Lil and a Photo of her late husband

While I didn’t have grandmothers present in my life, I did have Lil. She was my mother’s best friend and though not related to us in any way, she was a very special person in our lives. My mother met Lil when my Mom first moved to Ohio to work in factory there. My mother lived with her brother at first, but my uncle moved on and my Mom didn’t know a soul in her new town. She met Lil at her boarding house and they fast became friends. They behaved like sisters.

Lil didn’t drive and lived in an apartment downtown. She was not married and on Sunday, at least twice a month, my Dad would go pick her up and bring her to our house for the day. Lil usually asked him to stop at a grocery store and she would pick up a quarter bag of candy or a box of donuts for our family to share. Sometimes, she would make her famous deviled eggs or pineapple pie to bring. Lil was part of our family celebrations whether it was Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mother’s Day, or all of our birthdays. At the end of the day, we all piled into our car to take Lil home.

One Easter morning, the weather was bad and we were unable to have out Easter egg hunt outside. We improvised and held it indoors. Lil fully participated and allowed us to hide eggs around her chair. Lil was about 5 feet tall probably weighed 200 pounds. She had a very cushy lap to sit on and she was comfortable to cuddle with. That day, we hunted eggs for hours and Lil ended up having an egg in her chest pocket of her shirt dress for quite some time. She laughed until tears rolled down her face, because it should have been obvious that an egg was there. But with her extra padding, no one realized where the egg was hidden until she revealed it. It was an especially good hiding place.

Lil and her pie at Thanksgiving

When I started dating Paul in high school, he and Lil fast became friends. They would conspire against me and gently tease me on her visits. For graduation from high school, she gave me a pearl necklace for a gift. It was very special to get that from her. I knew that she didn’t have much money and that she had sacrificed to give such a gift.

When Lil became older, she had several health problems. I visited her whenever I came home from college. She would sit with me and tell me stories about her life. She told me about her marriage. She knew a man for several years and was deeply in love with him. He was married. He was a doorman for the “mob” during prohibition and made sure that no one entered the speakeasy and gambling facility. My home town was called “Little Chicago” because of the gang activity there during Prohibition. Lil made deposits at the bank for the mob, carrying the money in the pockets of large overcoat to the bank. No one suspected that she was a participant in illegal activity. After several years, he divorced his wife and married Lil. He died after a couple of years of marriage. I heard that the mob family in town paid for her apartment until she died.

Lil died when I was 8 months pregnant with my first child. I lived in Texas and couldn’t return to Ohio for the funeral. Before I left for Texas, she gave me a rattle for my yet-to-be-born baby. My heart ached to not be there for her at the end. She exemplified what it was to have a grandmother. And as Barbara Bush said, “To us, family means putting your arms around each other and just being there.” Lil was there for us.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

My Mom couldn’t stand to have a question and not have the answer to it. Our small farm house had two sets of encyclopedias when I was growing up. We couldn’t afford the World Book from the salesman that came by, but my resourceful father found a Funk and Wagnall’s set at a garage sale. It was the subject of many jokes on Laugh-In, but in our household it was a prized possession The set was only 5 years old and had fairly recent information. Through the years, we acquired a used set of Encyclopedia Britannica as well. It was my mother’s treasure to have access to those books and, more importantly, the information contained on those pages.

My grandfather was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse (see The Story Part of Family History)  and he had the strong belief that education could change circumstances for people. They had no electricity in their household, so each night my mother, her brothers and her father would read by lamp light until bedtime. When they didn’t have resources for food, they somehow found a book to read. Perhaps my mother’s thirst for knowledge was part of my grandfather’s legacy.

Library Contest Winner in First Grade - My essay about my favorite book

As a child, we frequented the library often. They knew us by first name there. All 5 of us would spend an hour picking out our best guess of a new favorite book. I knew how to use the card catalog many years before my peers. It contained the key to finding the next great book. Mom would leave us in the children’s section sometimes so that she could find books that interested her, mostly historical fiction. She actually read history textbooks. We all marched out of the library with a stack of books taller than we were. It was 30 miles to our library, so my mother arranged for the county bookmobile  – a large RV equipped with books – to park in our driveway twice a month. Essentially our books came to us. If we called the library, they would send books that we requested to our stop. My family was their best customer, for sure.

Library contest winner for essay on Favorite Book - 1st Grade

I still surround myself with books, both fiction and non-fiction. They fill my shelves with great reading material, but they also provide comfort of my memories from my childhood. My night stand is filled with my next 15 books to read. It is the best pleasure to read in bed and devouring the story contained in those books. You’ll never find me with a Kindle. I love to hold the paper variety in my hands.

My sister has 4 children and has received a good number of “Why?” questions from her children. She answers them with a very simple statement. She says to them, “Look it up, Mary.”, meaning take after your Grandmother Mary and research it yourself. My nieces and nephew find their answers on the internet. My mother would have loved Google. But then maybe she wouldn’t have had the love affair with books that she enjoyed all her life. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.

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• VHS or reels to DVD
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Most of us have a box of videotapes collecting dust in the garage or attic.  Video memories stuck on tape and degrading with each passing day.  Converting your VHS to DVD will put your video memories on a long-lasting digital video format that is easy to watch and will (with care) last through the next generation.

But transferring your video to DVD can be difficult, expensive and a time-consuming process.  If you don’t want to convert video to DVD yourself, you can choose a Video to DVD Conversion service that specializes in the digitizing and transfer of home videos.

How much does a Video Transfer Service Cost?
Most video transfer shops will charge anywhere from $15 to $29 to do a professional, quality transfer of your video to DVD.  Depending on the process used by the DVD transfer service, your finished DVD should come complete with a Hollywood-style DVD menu complete with a Scene Selection Menu and Scene Thumbnails so you can jump directly to your desired scene(s) in the video.

Some companies that convert VHS to DVD also allow you to edit your video online so you can cut out video footage, customize your DVD Scene Menus, or even combine multiple tapes onto one DVD.

I grew up in a Brethren church or rather my parents dropped us off at a nearby Brethren church every Sunday morning. The Church of the Brethren is rather like a Mennonite church. Their “Thou Shalt Nots” number far more than the Ten Commandments. Most specifically, our church didn’t believe in war. There was a volunteer service available to any young men who would be drafted, as they could easily get a 4F status for being a conscientious objector.

We felt very welcome there, even without our parents attending with us.  I was sure if I ever heard God talk, He would sound just like Pastor Fells sounded. He had a big booming voice that was clear and kind, deep and warm. His words made sense to me and I felt the community and God’s love that existed there.

It was a bit strange for us to be orphans in our church, orphans in the sense that our parents didn’t attend with us.  We attended Sunday school and then went directly into the church service. I was the oldest girl in our family, so I would round up my three younger sisters and find a place for us to sit together. Our aunt and uncle would include us in their pew, but sometimes we would get moved from one pew to another so that entire families could sit together. I don’t remember getting in trouble for talking or anything, but I’m sure our behavior wasn’t perfect for four young girls under the age of 11. My older brother attended with us sometimes, but he was five years older and probably sat with his teenage friends.

I remember one sermon when I was a teenager that stressed the importance of Baptism and being saved. I was ready to go to the altar to ask to be saved, baptized and then become a member of the church. But before I got the courage to do it, I wanted to ask my parents why they didn’t go to church. Because if they didn’t go to church, would they go to heaven? It concerned me greatly that if we went to church without them, we could also end up in heaven without them.

I asked my Mom  about it first. She had alluded to an incident that happened to her when she was young. She didn’t grow up with her mother as I have explained previously in the post Archive the Photo AND Tell the Story: Ruby. After her mother left their household, my mother attended a church and was surrounded by the women of her church who prayed for my mother. My mother was sensitive and ashamed that her mother was in prison and felt that she was being condemned by these women. She thought they expected her to also end up as her mother had. My mother avoided church all of her adult life because of this incident. She assured me that she didn’t think it was necessary to attend church. She didn’t like being “religious”, instead explained that she was spiritual and believed in Jesus.

It was harder to talk to my dad about it. He joked about everything, and this seemed a serious subject, one that we tended to avoid in our family. I approached him and simply asked him to go to church with us next Sunday, that I was going to be saved and I wanted him to be there. And I asked him if thought about getting into heaven. I will never forget his words and his tone. He was deeply serious and his voice trembled – I couldn’t tell if from anger  or conviction. He told me that it was impossible to dig  a foxhole one morning during WWII and know that while you were digging it that you would be wounded by enemy fire that day. And he was hit by enemy fire that day and hospitalized for 10 months for injuries sustained during that attack. (See The Front Line) He said he knew his relationship with God was solid and that he made his peace with God during that time. I replied “Yes Sir” and didn’t push the matter of him attending my baptism.

I knew that our family was not the usual church family. My parents didn’t feel the need for church. But for some reason, they dropped off us off every Sunday. They gave us the gift of deciding for ourselves. And I do think that it was part of God’s plan.

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My mother

My mother grew up on the edge. It was the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, but it was in reality it was the edge of society. She was the youngest of 4 children in a one-parent family. Her father was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse and her mother spent a few years in prison for robbing a train (See Archive the Photo AND Tell the Story:Ruby ).

As much as my mother told us what her life was growing up in poverty, I don’t think we ever fully grasped what her day-to-day tasks were like. There was no electricity and no inside plumbing. She washed the family clothing down at the spring. Her brothers made a fire in the stove in the kitchen every evening before my mother cooked dinner for the family. They all ate beans and cornbread every day for dinner. My mother reportedly never owned a dress, instead dressing in her brothers’ hand-me-downs. And these hardships were before the Depression started.

But even though there was extreme poverty in may parts of the Appalachian  Mountains, my mother’s family was set apart from the others in the area. They were children from a divorced family and their mother had been in prison. My mother and her siblings were seen as outcasts by some.

My grandmother came back to town when my mother was 5 years old. She was trying to get some of her children back to live with her and her future husband. My mother heard from her father that her mother was going to marry a “half-wit”. My mother sobbed for hours that night. When her father persisted to find out what was wrong. She admitted that she didn’t want her name changed to “Mary Half-Wit”. She told the story in a humorous way, but we could feel the pain of her childhood trying to come to grips with this situation.

My mother told us the story about going to church when she was about 13 years old. She attended with a girlfriend, even though she didn’t have the appropriate clothing. She felt scorned because of this. At some part of the service, all the women from the church gathered around her and prayed over my mother. It may have been a religious ceremony for young teenagers in her church. But in my mother’s eyes, she was being punished for her family’s situation and for her mother’s sins. She never returned to any church except for the few times her children were in Christmas pageants and when we got married. She didn’t belong.

My mother attended teacher’s college at the age of 16 and graduated the year after World War II started. She taught for a year and hated it. She tried different careers, and eventually in 1946 moved to Lima, Ohio where her brother and sister-in-law lived.

Lil - my mother's best friend

She didn’t try to fit in with society there. She worked in a factory and became friends with other women who were seen as “not proper”. She didn’t try to hide her differences and instead she and her friends created their own societal rules. (I later learned some amazing – even scandalous – stories about these women.) They became life-long friends, bound by their similar situations. With them she felt respected, valued and loved. When my mother was with them, she belonged and felt normal. When they were not around, she felt different from most.

They were with her when she gave birth to her first son, fathered by a railroad man who did not marry her. They were her family and part of our lives, becoming more like a grandmother to us than a family friend. Even with their support, I’m not sure my mother ever overcame this feeling of being on the outside looking in. She grew up in poverty without a mother. But with the help of her friends, she found a place to belong.

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Copyright 2009, All rights reserved.

I love football. You can blame my Dad for that. You remember that he grew up in a family of 10 boys. (See Being a Middle Child – #7 of 14). Football was important to him and his brothers. He played in high school and from the stories I heard (from him), he was quite good his senior year. His younger brother was all-state.

There is an old family story about his letter  in football. His school colors were black and red and he was very proud of his big black letter ‘S’. But he never had a jacket or sweater to put it on. It always lived in his special box with his war commendations.

Check out this newspaper article that I found on http://www.newspaperarchives.com about a touchdown pass my Dad’s  senior year.

My dad coached Pee-Wee football for the Bath Cats – the precursor to Pop Warner. He was devoted, even though he didn’t have any boys playing. I got to be on the cheerleading squad. Our uniforms were corduroy pants with a white sweatshirt with a bright blue ‘B’ on the front. We wore white headbands. We did cheers like “Teams in a Huddle, Captain at the Head. Out comes the coach and this is what he says . . .”. My favorite though was Football Boogie. I still remember every word and all the dance motions. “Football Boogie, Yeah Man! Football helmet, football shoes. I’m gonna get ready for the football boogie . . .” I was all of 5 years old and loved it.

My cheerleading years

My Dad and my Uncle Jim attended every high school football game  – home and away. Since I was the oldest of 4 girls, I was allowed to go with them. My Mom stayed home with the younger girls, and it was pretty special for me to be able to travel with them to the football games. They talked football, the stats of the season, and during the quiet times, sang along with Johnny Cash and George Jones on the radio.

We took blankets to keep warm and bought popcorn to share. When we arrived home late at night, my Dad would make home-made hot chocolate. It had cocoa, sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk and the taste was exquisite. I still love football, and I still love his recipe for hot chocolate.  I now attend high school football games and have Texas season tickets. I just can’t get enough of football. My Dad would be proud.

*Complete Words to Football Boogie:

“Football Boogie, Yeah Man! Football Boogie, Yeah Man! Football helmet, Football shoes, We’re gonna get ready for some Football Boogie. It’s the football Boogie, Yeah Man! It’s the Football Boogie, Yeah Man! It’s the Football Boogie and we’re gonna win today, today, today. Yeah!

Sitting in the grandstand, beating on my tin can. Who can, We Can. Nobody else can.

Football Boogie, Yeah Man! Football Boogie, Yeah Man! Football Boogie and we’re gonna win Today, today, Today. Yeah!”

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In my senior year, my Dad earned $3200. It helped me get Federal Grants for college for sure, but it made life pretty hard that year in my family of 5 kids. My Dad was a laborer in the local Union. I remember my Dad getting up and calling the Union to see if there was work for him that week. It was a requirement of unemployment and Union benefits that he contact 2 new employers each week.The phone call to the Union counted as one call.

The family’s only phone was in the living room. We were all embarrassed for my Dad having to make those calls – especially when the answer was “no work” -  so we ducked out of the main room of our house each Monday morning. He was willing to do anything to support his family, but the unemployment rate was quite high.

My Dad had much time on his hands and also a problem of trying to figure out how to feed his family. His solution was part therapy from being unemployed, and part survival skills from having gone through the Depression. As a result, we had the area’s largest organic garden in 1974.

The Apple Orchard

I grew up on 7 acres in Ohio. We had 13 apple tress, 2 cherry trees, a strawberry patch mixed with rhubarb, a grape harbor, blackberries in the field, and a 1/2 acre garden. We lived off the land.

Taking care of the soil was the secret ingredient. He composted our food scraps and lawn rakings. Fertilizer was easily accessed from area farms. My Dad tilled the soil, mixing all the components together to make the soil ready to bear fruit. As inadequate as he felt when calling to inquire about work, he knew what he was doing when preparing the soil.

The garden started with seeds in early March – getting their start in egg cartons. When the seedlings were a few inches tall, they would be transplanted into their home in the rows of  rich soil. My Dad tended those plants, perhaps compensating for his inability to tend to our family’s financial requirements.

My Dad on his gardening tractor (my VW Beetle in the background)

No chemicals were used in his garden. Bugs were kept away from the tomatoes by planting marigolds next to them. How creative he was. We had the first personal watermelons. We had greeen beans that were purple until they were cooked and turned green. Others in the county would come to inquire about growing asparagus like he did. Apple branches were grafted to improve the yield. He grew horseradish and ground it. He even tried to make dandelion wine – not for the faint of heart.

So we survived the recession of 1974. My Dad traded bushels of apples for eggs from the local farmer. We bought milk from the dairy farmer down the road after selling gallons of apple cider. We canned, made pickles and relish,  froze vegetables and made it through the year with unemployment and the fruits – literally – of my Dad’s labor.

I can still remember coming home from my first fall away at college. My Dad waited until I pulled into the driveway and then trotted to the garden to pick the largest tomato to give to me for a treat. I realized then that he was giving me more than a tomato. He was caring for me the best way he knew how.

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Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved

My Dad wouldn’t talk about his experience in the war much. It was possible that he never could comprehend the situation that he was in – even 35 years after it happened. It was also possible that it was so horrible, it was just best to not talk about it. Every single one of his children knew not to ask. We knew that coming from the farm and reporting to duty in Europe was a stretch for our father at age 20. It changed his life.

My father graduated from high school in 1940 and two years later, he was drafted into World War II. In November, 1942, he reported to Camp Wheeler Georgia for basic training. After three months, he went overseas to Tunisia and then to Sicily. He was in the 9th infantry and was on the front lines. He was in all the famous battles of WWII in Europe and survived to not talk about it.

My father died in 1982. Before he died, we didn’t ask him too many details about his war experience. He wouldn’t answer the few questions that we asked him. He did tell us about kissing the ladies in the streets of France when VE happened. He talked about playing poker in the trenches to pass the time. He talked about sending his checks home to his mother and asking her to put the money into his bank account. We remembered that his mother needed the money and when he arrived home, his bank account had no more money in it than when he left for the war. We sent off for his war records after he died to trace his battle fronts and found that his records were burned in a fire in 1974 in St. Louis. My sister and I have detailed from letters from our aunt, books about the 9th Infantry, and telegrams from his injuries which battles he was in, when he was injured and even what his military life might have been about.

My dad trained as a BAR man, which stood Browning Automatic Rifle and would have weighed 60 pounds. My dad was a football player in high school and in very good health and fitness, so it makes sense that he would have been chosen for such a task. He won an award for his sharp-shooting in training and we believe he was a sniper on the front lines. In Sicily, Dad was wounded in the left thigh while on Mt. Etna. We have the telegram sent to my grandmother that he was wounded in July, 1943 in Sicily. She received the telegram in September (2 months later!) telling of his injury. He was hospitalized and returned to active duty in October, 1943. He had three brothers in Europe in the war and they all got to visit him during his hospital stay. He received a Purple Heart in October, 1943 for his injuries and his part in serving his country during that war.

Newspaper article about my father's injuries and Purple Heart Award

Dad was part of Operation Overlord – the invasion of Normandy, but because he had combat experience, went in on D-Day +4 on June 10th, 1944. The less experienced men went in on day one.  I can’t imagine his experience going ashore four days after the initial battle. I have seen the movie Saving Private Ryan and if that movie is as true to fact as they say, it must have been horrific. My dad would have been 22 then.

My father was injured July 13, 1944 during the battle at St. Lo, France. It was an 8-day battle and he was hurt on day 2.  He was hit with shrapnel which struck behind his right hear. They never removed this shrapnel, though he return home with the shrapnel from his earlier wound in the thigh.He returned to duty soon. It’s remarkable to me that after getting injured twice that he wasn’t sent home. They needed all men and if were able, they put you back with your unit for more battle.

My Dad wrote several letters to his sister Bert and talked about his socks rotting away and never having to go longer than 2 months without brushing his teeth. He wanted to know if any of his old girlfriends asked about him. He served in Belgium after France in the Battle of the Bulge, and remarked how cold it was. He was injured the third time in Germany on March 7, 1945. At this point, he was a driver for officers in his unit – possibly due to his previous injuries. Still – he was a target from the enemy as before.

After victory in Europe, he was assigned to a contingent who was to report for duty on the Pacific front. The atomic bonbs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and kept his from having to serve time in the Pacific. He was discharged in September 1945 after 2 years of service to his country. He received a disability check from the government due to the shrapnel left behind his ear.

My father was the only one of his brothers who served in the war who never advanced beyond Private First Class. He told the story that he had to dig a foxhole for an officer, but during an attack, he jumped in the foxhole (he had none). He was demoted for this offense, but he lived to tell the story.

What was it like to live in rural Ohio, never traveling out of the county, and then called to serve your country on another 2 continents? My father was a bashful young man before the war, and a quiet, wise older man after.

Many of my father’s fellow war veterans told their stories at the 50th anniversary of WWII. They were honored and many published book and agreed to be interviewed about their experiences. As my sisters and I piece our father’s story together, I wish he had lived to tell the story himself.

Picture This! will help you create the gift of a lifetime.

• VHS or reels to DVD
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Copyright 2009 – All rights reserved.

This is my first WP blog. Unlike my last blog, which was updated three times in a year, this one will be updated frequently. The plan is to talk about the projects we are working on. As long as we are busy, I should never run out of topics.

Anyway, we are a real business with a real location near I-95 and 195 in Richmond. We have office space that customers visit all the time. Here are some pics:

View from our parking lot

The entrance to our office

Longview of our work area

Our greeting room/lobby where we discuss your project.

So that is us. Here is what we offer:

• Video Transfer-VHS, camcorder tapes, Beta, and broadcast tapes converted to DVD or digital file
• Video Editing and DVD Authoring
• CD/DVD Duplication with on disc print and a variety of packaging solutions
• Custom videos such Weddings and Highlight reels, edited with menus and chapters
• Audio Cassette and LP transfer to CD or MP3 format
• Digital Archiving for larger projects including organizing and indexing
• Photo scanning and DVD slideshows

Over the next few weeks, I’ll make this a true BLOG and talk about whats going on here and the different things we are working on.  Chances are we’ve done a project like yours in the past. Thanks for checking us out and do not hesitate to call or email with questions.  www.revolve-cd.com 804-332-6829

Ruby and Tim before my mother was born.

My mother at 6 months old - just weeks before the train robbery.

As the story goes, my grandmother robbed a train. My grandfather found out that she had a boyfriend and told her that she needed to leave town. She was a mother of four – youngest child was six months old. So off she went with the boyfriend and the nursing baby (my mother). She was on her way out of town and she helped rob a train. She was convicted and sentenced for 4 years and my mother was put in an orphanage.

The mountains of Tennessee had no phone and little outside communication in 1924, so it took six months for my grandfather to hear of the news. He found out where the orphanage was that housed my mother, and traveled with his sister to help with the baby and the boys. My grandfather Tim Campbell taught in a one-room schoolhouse and raised these children through the Depression all on his own.

My mom called her mother “Ruby” and had little communication with her in her life. I only saw my grandmother two times before she died. I met her when I was in eighth grade and then went to her apartment in Washington, D.C. when I was 25 to visit with her a second time.

I wanted to ask two questions: 1) How do you rob a train really? and 2) How could you leave your children behind?

Picture This! will help you create the gift of a lifetime.

• VHS or reels to DVD
• Scan your photos or slides
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Picture This! http://www.picturethisaustin.com

Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Pasando tus viejas cintas de vídeo a tu Mac…

Si tienes un montón de cintas con recuerdos familiares o películas o series míticas abandonadas, y te gustaría revivir esos momentos directamente en tu ordenador a través de un dvd en alta definición, la respuesta es Roxio Easy VHS to DVD, ya que es una aplicación con hardware incluido, que permite pasar la información desde un medio analógico como puede ser VHS o Betamax a ficheros de vídeo directamente en tu ordenador.

El precio es de 69,99 €, además incluye gratuitamente la versión básica de Toast (para grabar el vídeo generado a cd o dvd) .

Así que ya sabes, si eres un nostálgico, esta es tu aplicación.

Enlace | Roxio Easy VHS to DVD |

NWA Deals has a post on several items you can get for FREE after mail in rebate at Office Depot.  Be sure to get seperate receipts for each item, since each one will have to be mailed in seperately.  Go here for all the details.  Here are the items available for free after rebate:

Art Explosion T-Shirt Factory Deluxe

Scrapbook Boutique

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I have been going backwards a bit figuring out some things in ITunes. I need to re-format my IMac, so I have been making sure I have all my documents and music backed up. I have Time Machine going, but I don’t trust it. I have been archiving my VHS tapes to DVD through Toast, so I am making sure all my stuff is in a format anything can play. It has taken most of the day. I hope I remember everything (although I know I never do). I will report when I get it done.

Bob Swank Multimedia LLC’s
Fort Myers, FL Videoconference Room
Is Now Available for Booking!

Click on the picture for Details!

Bob Swank Multimedia LLC's Fort Myers Videoconference Room is now available for booking!

• The mission of Bob Swank Multimedia LLC is to provide:

  Fort Myers, FL Videoconferencing Services .

  Video Tape, Slides, Pictures and Negatives to DVD or Other Digital Formats.

  Synchronous Distance Learning Technology Consulting Services for the Higher Education, Continual Learning and Corporate Training communities.

With Bob Swank’s 40+ years experience in all areas of professional video technology, you will be assured professional, up-to-date technical recommendations, reliable videoconferencing services and the highest quality digital preservation of your video tapes, photographs, negatives and slides.

Bob’s Professional Video Background

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU,) Fort Myers, FL Coordinator Distance Teaching & Learning Support/Videoconferencing Coordinator/Academic Video Coordinator  1998 – 2009

Pennsylvania Public Television Network (PPTN,) Assistant Director of Engineering/Operations 1971 – 1997

VHS to DVD | DVD from videotapes | VHS conversion | VHS DVD Transfers

About VHS to DVD Transfers
The VHS VCR is as good as dead as a dodo technology these days: long live the versatile video disk DVD. Now that VHS to DVD transfers are affodable and of the highest quality, there’s no good reason to keep all those old VHS tapes lying around with your precious and cherished family memories. VHS videocassettes are getting old, will fade and deteriorate over time, are subject to breakage and slow to access the point you want to see. VHS tape no longer impress and if your wedding is on a VHS videotape and it is over 10 years old you better get on to it quick smart. You can do it yourself if you have the equipment time and software-hardware or you can have a professional service provider do it all for you.

VHS to DVD Convert / Transfer VCR to DVD 

VHS2DVD.BIZ

Remember VHS? Well, it’s dead. This isn’t some kind of tech blog punditry like “blogging is dead” or “the music industry is dead” (For the record, you will never, ever read BS like that on this blog). I mean VHS is gone, no more, is chilling with the dinosaurs and dodo birds kind of dead. 

Melt in piece VHS

With that in mind, a reader contacted me wondering how he could convert his old VHS tapes to DVD or at least a digital format. I’ve done a little research and discovered that it isn’t as easy as I hoped it would be. 

If you are a “do it yourself” at all costs kind of person, here’s a link to a place that will help you get started.

What I recommend is using a service such as iMemories. You simply ship your tapes, slides, photos, etc. to iMemories, and they send you back everything plus digital versions of your stuff. Simple.

The only catch is that they cannot duplicate copyrighted material, so don’t bother sending them your VHS copy of Back to the Future. If you want digital copies of copyrighted stuff, you either have to convert it yourself, or attain it some other way (purchase or download). 

I’ve never done any of this, and quite frankly have no reason to, so I’m not going to become an expert on this subject… well… ever. So if you anyone has a better idea than the ones I’ve found, please let me know.

Melt in piece VHS. You weren’t a good format, but you were the right format for the right time. 

Click here to go directly to the ScanMyPhotos.com Web site

If you thought having upwards of 2,000 photos scanned for $99.95 (including all free shipping) was a great deal, here is another digital service from ScanMyPhotos.com

VHS Analog Cassette Tape Conversion to DVD*

Order today, we mail

today – *Just $249.95

*Fill-the-Box service (holds up to 14 standard-sized VHS tapes)

• Flat rate, fill-the-box, prepaid service includes all S&H; pay one price. Valid only for standard VHS tape transfer to DVD (NTSC U.S. format)

If you are not sure what type of VHS tapes you have, ask us, as we still charge and there are no refunds

• Must order prepaid fill-the-box online at ScanMyPhotos.com; no walk-in service, includes all S&H fees. We recommend you add extra signature confirmation when shipping your box back to us
• You can only ship standard-sized VHS tapes in these boxes, which cannot be combined with any other items – no photos, slides, negatives, etc.
• Your original VHS tapes are returned with your new DVDs
• Pack with as many VHS tapes as you can fit (max 14)
• Everything you need is included with your prepaid online order
• We transfer your standard VHS tapes to DVD and return everything to you – See link for description of services
• Order today and we mail your prepaid box today [Mon-Sat, 2pm (PST)]

Click here for more info and our frequently asked questions and limit of liability and copyright regulations.

You may find Retired Film Guys profile on our website at UrbanMelt.com/retiredfilmguys

This following is a small piece from RetiredFilmGuys.com

“Professional Services

Lowest Cost, Fastest Service, Finest Digital Quality for all of your old home movie transfers to DVD.

Some can be transferred same day at our Naperville, Illinois location.

Professional Service in Naperville, Illinois
Over 55 years of expert experience in film + video!!
We are a family owned and operated service.”

The Holidays are here!

One of my all-time favorite gifts from the past is a collection of old home movies, compiled on DVD. My aunt knew the value of these movies in our family history, and she also knew the old 8mm film and projector would not last forever. Her foresight prompted her to do something that created access for the entire family to a treasure of memories. A number of years ago, she had the 8mm film transferred to DVD, and gave copies to the entire family for Christmas.

My copy is one of my “prized possessions,” surely in part because it contains footage of my mother. To see her form a smile versus seeing the smile formed and static (as with a photo) is of greater value to me than I can describe. This DVD also contains footage of grandparents, great-grandparents, and various great-aunts and uncles, many of whom are no longer living. Some of the later footage includes siblings, cousins, parents, aunts, uncles, and a host of other important people. Knowing I can easily access any part of that footage at any time is somehow comforting, and would not have been possible if the whole collection was still on 8mm film at my aunt and uncle’s place.

I treasure my DVD more with each passing year as I more fully realize its value.

If you have old home movies, you are already ahead of many people. Video tells a story that pictures can not fully tell. Think about that. Which would you rather have, a few snapshots from your great-grandparent’s wedding day, or the video on DVD? For many people, there simply aren’t any “old home movies” to watch, let alone transfer to DVD, but for anyone who has them, I urge you to consider transferring your home movies to DVD. Reasons include the following.

• DVD media lasts forever.
• DVD media takes less space to store than traditional film or video.
• It is easier to put in a DVD and watch than to set up the film projector.
• DVD media will not deteriorate and/or age as traditional video and film will.
• DVD compilations can include photos AND video.
• DVD compilations make great gifts.

Your 14-year-old may not thank you for a DVD of his family, but consider this, your 14-year-old will one day be a 35-year-old and will likely be most thankful to you for preserving the special memories unique to him and his family. You may even become a hero!

Some tips for your home movies:

• Take LOTS of footage, you can always have footage edited for highlights, but you can NEVER go back in time and capture more footage.
• Be sure to fully charge your batteries.
• Get at least one spare battery.
• Take along plenty of extra video tape.
• Always tape in plenty of flattering light.
• Avoid harsh lighting.
• Avoid the use of “in camera” special effects. These types of effects can sometimes cause you to miss critical moments of your shot and can never be edited out. Special effects are best left to editing software.
• In addition to typical posed shots, get plenty of spontaneous footage.

And remember, if your event is too special for YOU to be behind the video camera, The Video Scribe can help you out.

“Memories fade. Videos linger.”

The Holidays are here!

One of my all-time favorite gifts from the past is a collection of old home movies, compiled on DVD. My aunt knew the value of these movies in our family history, and she also knew the old 8mm film and projector would not last forever. Her foresight prompted her to do something that created access for the entire family to a treasure of memories. A number of years ago, she had the 8mm film transferred to DVD, and gave copies to the entire family for Christmas.

My copy is one of my “prized possessions,” surely in part because it contains footage of my mother. To see her form a smile versus seeing the smile formed and static (as with a photo) is of greater value to me than I can describe. This DVD also contains footage of grandparents, great-grandparents, and various great-aunts and uncles, many of whom are no longer living. Some of the later footage includes siblings, cousins, parents, aunts, uncles, and a host of other important people. Knowing I can easily access any part of that footage at any time is somehow comforting, and would not have been possible if the whole collection was still on 8mm film at my aunt and uncle’s place.

I treasure my DVD more with each passing year as I more fully realize its value.

If you have old home movies, you are already ahead of many people. Video tells a story that pictures can not fully tell. Think about that. Which would you rather have, a few snapshots from your great-grandparent’s wedding day, or the video on DVD? For many people, there simply aren’t any “old home movies” to watch, let alone transfer to DVD, but for anyone who has them, I urge you to consider transferring your home movies to DVD. Reasons include the following.

• DVD media lasts forever.
• DVD media takes less space to store than traditional film or video.
• It is easier to put in a DVD and watch than to set up the film projector.
• DVD media will not deteriorate and/or age as traditional video and film will.
• DVD compilations can include photos AND video.
• DVD compilations make great gifts.

Your 14-year-old may not thank you for a DVD of his family, but consider this, your 14-year-old will one day be a 35-year-old and will likely be most thankful to you for preserving the special memories unique to him and his family. You may even become a hero!

Some tips for your home movies:

• Take LOTS of footage, you can always have footage edited for highlights, but you can NEVER go back in time and capture more footage.
• Be sure to fully charge your batteries.
• Get at least one spare battery.
• Take along plenty of extra video tape.
• Always tape in plenty of flattering light.
• Avoid harsh lighting.
• Avoid the use of “in camera” special effects. These types of effects can sometimes cause you to miss critical moments of your shot and can never be edited out. Special effects are best left to editing software.
• In addition to typical posed shots, get plenty of spontaneous footage.

And remember, if your event is too special for YOU to be behind the video camera, The Video Scribe can help you out.

“Memories fade. Videos linger.”