Photo of the Day - Reflecting Upon Reality

Vineyard Crawl, Hudson Valley, NY, December 2009

presented without comment or context

Photo of the Day - Snowy Seat

Caramoor, Katonah, NY, December 2009

presented without comment or context

Letters from Ollie J - Dec. 16, 1996

It was always hard to figure out what to get Grandma for Christmas. She wasn't into collecting, she didn't need "stuff," and heaven forbid you be extravagant. One year we figured out that that she really enjoyed the Reader's Digests. The articles weren't overly long. There was a variety of material, and better yet, it came in a large print version that made it easier for her to read. (Honestly right now, I'm even beginning to enjoy the large prints on things - time to see the eye doctor!) For a reasonable price, you could get a one or two year subscription and she'd be content. Plus, by the time you'd get around to visiting The Farm, there would be a nice stack that you could peruse between shelling pecans or sitting and rocking during all the relatives' visits.

[16 Dec 1996]

[The Farm
Pikeville, NC]

Thanks for the subscription to Readers Digest. Lot of reading.

You didn’t mean for me to have all those picturs[sic] did you?

They came today 16 Dec 1996 You didn’t say how much they cost. How can I pay you. The work you helped with was very much appreciated.

Come to visit any time you can.

What are plans for 1997?

Carol & I have tied three quilts for her & 2 boys. All done but heming[sic] one.

Want[sic] they be suprised[sic] Christmas.

Love and God Bless You Always

Grandma

Photo of the Day - Dancing's in the Blood

Family Cemetery, North Carolina, May 2010

presented with some comments:

I've been in and out of this cemetery a number of times, but never really noticed this footstone until the last time through.

A few years back, Grandmary asked for tickets to see Mama Mia! on Broadway, because she said that she always loved the music of ABBA and was a big fan. Now, I was there in the '70s when ABBA was big, and I have NO recollection of ABBA being much more than a passing part of my childhood. Easy listening music** yes, but hello? My mother? A huge fan of ABBA?

It's little things like that that shift your perception of your parents as ... well, just your parents, and remind you that they are people, with identities separate from their relationship to you-- that they are people with their own distinct preferences in musical styles.

Okay. Well then.

Grandmary likes ABBA.

Grandmary really liked Mama Mia! She was dancing in her seat and trying to sing along with the Broadway musicians. (not at all embarrassing)

Seeing this headstone clarified that WHOLE episode for me.

Grandmary likes ABBA because ... it's in the blood.

**"The Lite FM?"

"It's my kryptonite. I'd wage many persons born in the mid to late nineteen sevenites share the same affliction. Like, whatever radio waves were wafting through the air at the moment of your conception inexorably bonded themselves to your disposition. Ergo: my parents were really into Lionel Richie and the Commodores." .... "C'mon. Everyone has a musical weakness. Even you."

This Must be the Place by Kate Racculia on page 185

Happy Birthday Great-Aunt Rachel

Throughout the year there have been mentions of, and pictures of, my Grandma Ollie J's sisters, my aunts Ruby, Dorothy, and Shirley, not mention passing references to their siblings, Henry and Hyrum, Betty, and Martha. That's a large family, of which Grandma Ollie J was the eldest. However, Aunt Rachel actually was the first born of my maternal great-grandparents Bertha and Charlie -- Grandma's older sister, though they never knew each other on this plane of existence.

Growing up we knew of Aunt Rachel because of a very large, sepia photograph of a young child that hung in the spare/front/sewing room of The Farm house. When Grandma had to relocate to Utah and then to the Trailer, Aunt Rachel's picture went with her. After Grandma's passing, Mom (and I have to agree) thought it was only fitting that Aunt Rachel stay in the family. The photo is now in the safe keeping of one of her sisters.

Think about the existence of that photo for a moment. Photography was expensive at the turn of the last century. A photo the size of that one, almost 12 inches tall, must have been very expensive. My grandmother's family was not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. They had to sacrifice to make that possible. Yes, formal family photos were becoming "something that you did," but it's not like it is now, when every one can shoot anything all the time, and even prints are easy to get at the local store. What made them sacrifice the time and money to take a formal photo? Surely they could have waited. But, as you'll see, it's good they didn't.

Here's Charlie, and I have to say that the genetic legacy of the ears has not diluted this many generations later.Here's Great-grandma Bertha, she of the strong stock and later craftiness that will show up later this month. (Also, don't you think that Elle favors her a bit?)Some of the treasures that one of Mom's cousins pulled out on the family visit back in May, was a stack of little notebooks that Great-grandpa Charlie had kept. I had never seen these before and the trained librarian/archivist/conservationist within me was appalled that a) they weren't being kept in weatherproof conditions or even in acid free boxes, and b) that I wasn't wearing the conservator gloves to look at objects that were over 100 years old. [Notes to self: next time pack a mobile scanner, and a better camera to record this stuff! *Sponsor? Hello HP?]

Flipping through these little notebooks were glimpses into moments of family history: birth dates, marriage dates, etc.

The entries were fairly chronological. After entries about Bertha and Charlie, I found a note about Aunt Rachel's birth and blessing (an LDS naming/christening):

Rachel Amy was born Dec 16, 1912. Pikeville, N.C. Wayne Co. R.D.S.

Rachel Amy was Blessed Jan 21, 1913

By Elder Thomas Tanner of Blackfoot Idaho

Elder Thomas M. Rees, Coalvill(e) Utah

According to my calculations, Charlie was 30 and Bertha was 22 when Aunt Rachel was born.

They had her with them for less than a year.

Less than a year.
Their first child.
I can't even fathom.

The next entry in the notebook, reads:

Rachel Amy

Died Oct 3, 11:30 o'clock 1913

and was burried [sic] Sunday Oct 5, 13

Gone to a better land,

but not forgotten

Happy Birthday little one. I hope you are enjoying being the big sister.

Photo of the Day - What You Lookin' At Kid?

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

Mountain Goats

presented without comment or context

Photo of the Day - Mule Trio

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010

presented with some comments:

back in the day, mules were used to help haul cargo up and down the Salmon River. as time passed, and the nature of commerce and transport on the river changed, it was easier to let them loose to forage. it's still pretty isolated up in the range, but there are still herds of either completely wild or semi-domesticated animals that live up and down the banks of the river. one herd of horses we saw was actually led by a braying grey jack-ass, er. ... donkey, and most of the offspring definitely had those characteristics. (like yesterday's mare and foal, the mare was definitely a horse; her offspring, a mule.) i really liked this mule trio, because you can see all the different genetic possibilities when equines are left to cross breed. the colorings may be from the horse side of the tree, but those ears and muzzles give away the other side of the equation.