But don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Not only is it wet out, the current
temperature is only 76°. When I realized it wasn't a fluke, I had to do a cost
benefit analysis, weighing the rain against the cooler temperatures. Sad to
say, the analysis was inconclusive, so I've been reading, watching Lord Jim, and writing this post. At least one of the weather sites is
forecasting scattered thunderstorms for the next two days as well. . . we can
only hope. In any case, I haven't been idle.
If you've been following my blog all along, you've seen this
fine fellow before. This is my great-great-grandfather, William Wernet (1818-1901)
or, as mother used to refer to him, Old William. The difference between
this version of the portrait and the other one, is that I re-scanned the
original and did my restoration this time using Photoshop. The previous version
was about as good as I could do with the program I was using then. Oh! And I
got enough experience in the last several months that I was able to reattempt
it.
This Wernet family portrait (minus the lovely Mable, who was
in Cleveland at the time) would
have benefited from some fill flash. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how
to do that after the fact even with Photoshop. I was able to scan it at a high
enough resolution that the size is large enough to see some detail that had
been missing previously and the restoration went fairly well. Up on the porch
are William Alexander (without his straw hat), and his wife, Eliza Conlin Wernet.
On the stone steps are my grandfather, Austin C, his elder sister Alice, and
their little brother, Vincent (or Vint). Vint left home shortly after this
picture was taken, working his way through Colorado and the Rockies and settled
in Rathdrum, Idaho. Mother was interested in whatever she could learn about Vint
because of the stories she heard growing up. Every Christmas, he would write my
grandmother, Austin's wife, and
tell her the year’s news from Idaho
and eastern Washington state. He
loved Idaho, where he owned the
eastern half of a mountain a dozen miles or so north of Coeur
d’Alene. So in 1999 mother flew from Dallas
to Salt Lake City and I flew from Atlanta
to meet her for a genealogy trek to northern Idaho.
They were so helpful in the Kootenai County Courthouse that she found all the
records she was looking for in less than an hour and we found ourselves four
days ahead of schedule. That gave us the time for sightseeing and we drove
through Washington, up into the Canadian Rockies (including Banff and Lake
Louise) then back into Idaho, where we inspected the Snake River, crossed into
Oregon to shop in Pendleton, back to Boise and down to Salt Lake again. That
was the best road trip I've ever taken. My only regret is, of course, that I
didn't then have the cameras I have now. . . or I'd be showing you pictures of
the Great Northwest.
This portrait is of Charles Wernet (1858-1925), Old William’s
youngest son, who lived nearby his whole life. I don't know very much about him.
His portrait required very little in the way of restoration, and he's such a
handsome gentleman that I felt like I ought to include him.
And this last little treat is because you've been so good.
The portrait was in pretty sad shape and, alas, there were no notes on the
back of the picture. I don't think mother knew who she was, and this is one
case where she didn't even speculate. For my part, the child is so beautiful I
had to at least try to salvage her portrait.
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