Another Reason For Pictures

I am still uncovering some pictures that my mother had in a little 4"x7" scrapbook. I knew I had them somewhere. I started looking for a picture of my sister Juanita a few days ago. I found one. It's a group picture, it will have to do. They were all black and white and chock full of love and history as well as insight into some of the stories my mother used to tell.
My mother was raised close to Cherokee, Iowa on a farm that had originally belonged to my Great Grandfather Nathan Hayes. He gave it to  my grandmother, Lulu E. Hayes Banister for a wedding present. She had married my grandfather, G.D. Banister son of G.W. Banister one of the original settlers of Cherokee, Iowa.
It happened that my father being single  was looking for work. The Depression was in full swing. My grandfather hired him for a hired hand around the farm. Dad had experience doing farm work in what he used to call The Dakotas. He helped thrash oats and picked corn and a general farm hand. You see my father was raised by his elderly grandmother due to his mother's very early death and his father being a victim of a stroke. He was a determined young man and vowed to finish high school. That he did at the age of 27. He had to work to pay for his clothes and food. When he had enough he would go back to school. He was part of the Cherokee basket ball team which he was very proud. My brother still has the Year Book with his picture in it. When his money ran out he would go back to work. That's just how much an education meant to him.
Well, in those days a hired hand was part of the family and ate meals with the family at the kitchen table. The kitchen had a west window that allowed the sun to shine on my mother's auburn hair. He told me one day that he fell in love with that beautiful woman with the sun glowing in her red hair. I'm sure that the sun made the red more red when it was directly shining on it.
Here are some pictures of the two people that ended up being my parents for many many years.
My brother, Keith R. Johnson and my father look so much alike. This picture looks like he is at a park pavilion, note the picnic basket in the background. My daughter mentioned that she would always recognize his posture. He stood like that even in his older age.

The next picture asks many questions. He is wearing an apron which he did in latter years as a lineotype operator at the Cherokee Daily Times newspaper, but I cannot determine exactly what he is doing in this photo. Again he and my brother are mirror images.
My father's birthday will be soon in January. He was born in 1903. He was nine years older than my mother. This picture of her makes me smile. There are many pictures of her always wearing a hat. Note pants and high heel shoes. She was making a fashion statement that's for sure. (I have a feeling that my grandparents were not impressed.)
And the last picture is of them together. Very much in love.
He lived to be 75 and my mother lived until she was 90.