JPHarr's Fotothing

My grandfather and my uncle, probably in the summer of '66, with a beautiful black Ford Galaxie. When I scanned the foto and studied it, I couldn't tell whether the younger man was my father or my uncle. Even my dad said he wasn't sure when he saw this image again.
This was in the back yard of my grandparents' house. They lived on a lake, and lake dwellers consider the lake side to be the front side. In the rear, the low house sheltered under mature cedar and majestic pine trees, as well as a collection of maples and dogwoods.
From the dead-end dirt road that climbed a short hill, placing the house upon a bluff over the lake, the circular driveway was paved with gravel. It was uniform, sorted, round gravel, not the sharp crushed stuff that Grandpa had delivered in subsequent years. It made a magical sound when cars slowly rounded the curve closest to the house and under the heavy boughs of the pine trees.
They had my all-time favorite dog, a burly dude named Toby, part German shepherd and part hound, a bruiser who loved to run and loved to be cuddled. I was a couple years old when this particular foto was taken, but all the other details are burned into my soul, as I spent half my youth here in this place, nearly every minute of it happy.
I know that real life went on every day for the people who lived there, but Grandma's ham dinners and Grandpa's ever-present pipe were a two of the life-sustaining elements that defined the family when gathered here. As others have said to me, "I hope that I can have the same influence on somebody else that your grandparents had upon me."
Amen.

My uncle writes of the car, "That's dad and me. We had just purchased the car and I was about to leave for Fort Benning, Georgia for OCS (U.S. Army officer candidate school) training in August, 1966. I purchased the car for the trip, and used it while I was in OCS to haul the company laundry to an off-post cleaner. We didn't use the post cleaner as they were too slow and inept. This sound like crappy duty, but I was one of the few that was allowed to leave the post once a week. I had a tight time schedule, but enough time to stop by a White Castle for some sliders on the way back to the base.
"The car was traded in on a 1967 Barracuda, midnight blue, 273 cubic inch V8 with four barrel, 3/4 cam and Hurst four speed. Fun car and I wish I had it back. I was told (by several police officers) that the car was illegal in New York because of the performance package. I think I paid $3500 for that Cuda out the door and fully loaded. I taught (my wife) to drive in that car. Lot's of memories."