Here's Uncle Willie from Hartley, just sitting in the hay

Greetings! I'm hoping to have a trio of autumn-themed posts for you today.¹

First up is this cabinet card, which measures 6½ inches by 4¼ inches. Written on the back, in pencil, is: "Uncle Willie from Hartley June 1897."²

Besides that note, I don't know a thing about Uncle Willie. Hartley is common location name. There are Hartleys in Texas, Iowa and California, among other places. So I think, beyond those few words written in pencil, this photo will remain forever within the category of Mysteries.

Here's a closer look at Uncle Willie. He doesn't look terribly pleased to have been plopped into the hay.

Footnotes
1. It is not, however, feeling very autumnal here in York, Pennsylvania. Today is the first of five consecutive days in which temperatures are forecast to be in the 80s. Here, we'd call that an Indian Summer. In other parts of the world, autumn heat waves are (or have been) called:

• Saint Martin's Summer (formerly used in Britain)
• Old Wives' Summer (formerly used in Britain)
• Veranillo de San Miguel or Veranillo de San Martín (Spain)
• Verão de São Martinho (Portugal)
• Brittsommar (Sweden)
• Altweibersommer (Germany and Austria)
• Vénasszonyok nyara (Hungary, where the white spiders seen at this time of the year are associated with the norns of Norse folklore or medieval witches)
• Bobų vasara (Lithuania)
• Intiaanikesä or Akkainkesä (Finland)

2. I know, of course, that June is not an autumnal month, but the pile of hay sure gave me that autumn vibe. So there.