I have a special fondness for my mother who had, and still has, a special fondness for her grandmother, Ona Minerva Harding.
I have always been mesmerized by history and especially my own family’s. We are all, I believe, just a part of those people and stories.

I can see the love of my ancestors through the love of my mother, and likewise I hope that one day my children will see the love of my mother through my love, just as I see my great grandmother’s through my mother.

Photos help to illustrate this idea succinctly and can provide so much insight into who we are and where we come from.

This picture was taken near the Coweeman River, east of Longview, WA in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range sometime in the early 1900’s. My great grandmother, seen far left on the the rigging, married a logger, Samuel Edwin Harding, who had camps all over SW Washington. “It’s my peoples dirt”, as my mother says.

The superimposed image is barely noticeable and I’m not sure if it was intentional. ~shared by @martinezine