Kale Salad for Aunt Esther

Author Notes

I have been blessed with colorful characters in my family, as well as a long family history in Blue Island. This story is about a young girl,my grandmother Esther, in the days before World War I. With a new, highly fashionable habit of photography, and a Blue Islander ingenuity to fund it, my Grandmother Esther caught the Photography bug from a well-traveled uncle. Esther lived with her parents, in the family homestead, out on Wireton Road. During school breaks she would work the local farms, pulling horseradish, and other seasonal vegetables to pay for her camera supplies. The earth being rich, and bumper crops often plentiful, farmers recruited the local stock to help harvest. These type of crops would either end up at the local Market days on” Olde Western Ave”, or local canning plants. Esther's Eastman Kodak #24 Brownie, and later, her deluxe Kodak Duaflex, served her well. Esther's photograph collection gave me a truly wondrous retrospective of the early days of Blue Island. Both the photographs, the cameras and my love of vegetables are an important part of her legacy! From my Bungalow to yours, The Bungalow Chef! Mike Mech
—amy malysa