More pictures from the dynamite crate

There are more of this series on my flickr site if you'd like to poke around my grandfather's world.

Horseman by the shore, Nicaragua, late 50s

People at the swimming hole, Nicaragua, late 50s

Office workers, Honduras, late 1950s

Boy holding machete, Nicaragua, late 1950s

She's a little devil (Cousin in a mask)

Pirate cousin

Peace be with you

I got a hateful comment today on a little piece of piffle I wrote some time ago.  Generally I'm a pretty feisty person and not averse to mixing it up with bullies.  But it's been such a heart-wearying Fall that all I want is to do is to give and receive peace, kindness, heart's ease.

So to that end let me share with you one of the great bright spots of my life lately.  This summer I found, in my aunt's attic, an old dynamite crate full of slides and negatives that my grandfather took fifty +/- years ago, some in Nicaragua where he was working as an engineer, and some in the US.

Now let me tell you about my Grandfather.  He was a right-wing, racist, homophobic good ol' boy just one sheet short of the KKK.  But he was also my Granddaddy who taught me how to play chess and poker, bought me wonderful trinkets at junk shops, and put plastic flies on our grits to make us laugh.  I might hate some of the things he believed, but I could never hate him.

And for a right-wing racist homophobe he took some stunning pictures full of love, beauty, and humor.  By which I mean to say we are all complex, full of good and bad, and forgetting that makes everyone poorer, makes the whole world a sadder harder place.  So enjoy the pictures and the strange and beautiful conundrum of the man who took them.

Women on the road, Nicaragua 1958

Rodeo levade, Nicaragua 1958

Diver at the water hole, Nicaragua 1958

Diver, Gran Hotel, Nicaragua 1959

Cousin in a mask, North Carolina 1960s