Notice the little girl has a yarn hair tie. I had forgotten how popular those were -- we bought bundles of them at the drugstore in different colors.

My eye went directly to the trash burner when i saw this photo. I couldn’t help it. It made me remember how satisfying it was to ignite a big bag of trash and after a good blazing conflagration was achieved throw my mother’s empty cans of aerosol hair spray down the nosecone and wait for them to explode. Ahhh, the joys of childhood.

Yes, 1973 yeah I showed my humorless edge there, sorry sorry sorry...I will try not to do that again....!!!

Sorry!

Almost takes of the dynamics of a Georges Seurat painting in composition. Everyone is engaged in some manner and positioning is very nicely balanced. Really a beautiful photograph.

[Plus the subjects are kind of pointillated. - Dave]

I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the piece of Americana that has virtually disappeared from modern society -- the "trash burner" at the edge of the lot. Those were immensely popular back in the late 50s - early 70s as a way to dispose of combustible household waste. Sears sold a model similar to the one shown through their catalog. It had a cone-shaped top with a heavy wire mesh to contain burning embers, and there were holes down near the bottom to promote upward airflow to provide efficient combustion. The "barrel" unhooked from the bottom to allow removal of the ashes. Awareness of environmental considerations in the 70s soon made these fixtures of suburban American life a thing of the past and today most incorporated areas ban any kind of burning of trash. Those few who insist on burning their trash use 55 gallon oil drums with the top cut out, much to the consternation of their neighbors.

"Hey, wait a minute. This site is for old photos. 1973 was only a couple of years ago, right?"

I guess this person missed the "Always Something Interesting" part of the webpage.

Interesting how some people think that there ought to be strictures to a photo website, can't they just enjoy something new and interesting? Nope, it's all rules and regs to them.

I'll let someone else remind them that 1973 was actually 36 years ago, which is older than a lot of people online out there. Younger people (gasp) might have an interest of a slice-of-life from before they were born, whether its 1873 or 1973. Imagine that!

[Well you know, that comment saying 1973 was just a few years ago -- that's what you call tongue-in-cheek. - Dave]

Hey, wait a minute. This site is for old photos. 1973 was only a couple of years ago, right?

This is the first of the old photos that actually has folks younger than me (well, maybe just two of them; I'd have been in that play group, at 7 years old. And I'd have been wearing clothes just like the kid in the middle in the game of keep-away.... he even looks a bit like me at that age!)

Reminds me of some of the family reunions we had when I was a child. Good times with family!

Thanks Del!

The little girl on the left is very fashionably dressed for 1973. Maxi dresses were the rage for a brief moment. They were banned at my middle school because girls were tripping on their hems and tumbling down the stairs.

This reminds me of "The Sound of Music." I'm not sure why -- maybe it's the girls who are dancing in the foreground.

No, Dave, my parents were Orthodox Agfachrome.

"Wonderful, wonderful color!" I don't know, I was around in 1973 (and about the same age as these kids), and I don't remember any photographs looking this color-saturated. Maybe the color got "bumped up" somehow, when it was scanned? It's still charming, nonetheless.

[Evidently your parents didn't believe in Kodachrome. - Dave]

Your suspicions will be confirmed when you see the next slide, tterrace.

OK, the truth finally comes out. You lived your life in an MGM musical directed by Vincente Minnelli, designed by Cecil Beaton and photographed in Technicolor, right?