Pictures I Will Never See Again

My mother was the keeper of the photographs. She loved her big old Brownie box camera, and took hundreds of pictures with it. She had some in an album. Most were just thrown into a big box. I loved to go through that box every chance I got.

When Mother passed on, my sister became custodian of the pictures. That was fine. And during that time, I did some darkroom work, and copied quite a few of them. When she passed, her daughter took over everything she had. My niece is an unhappy woman who seems to feel a need to possess everything she can. Even if she doesn't really want it - it is hers, and no one else must have it. After my sister's funeral, we went back to my niece's house. She had the album and picture box there, and we spent a long time reminiscing over them. I put aside quite a few that I really wanted, and told her that I would have them copied and return the originals. She would not allow that. She insisted that she would have them copied herself. Somehow I knew this would not happen. I had my Pentax with me, and actually photographed a dozen or so. She kept saying that wasn't necessary. That was the last time I ever saw the pictures.

But no matter. They are engraved in my memory. Unfortunately, I can't show them to my children and grandchildren.

Most were taken out-of-doors. Flash bulbs weren't around back then. There are a few pictures of my mother as a child. A couple were taken in the Pocono Mountains, where her mother took her "for the air" after a bout with scarlet fever. There are several of my father's family - Grandmother sitting on the front steps, surrounded by her nine children. One really cute one of my father and one of his brothers taken at South Cape Meadows. Way in the distance you can make out Cape May Lighthouse. They spent summer vacation here even then.

There are some of Mother and Daddy and some of their friends, before they were married - long skirts and big hats. The men wore those flat straw hats. All taking silly poses, as young people do. There are beautiful pictures of my sister and brother taken before I was born. Then there are pictures of my own life - as an infant in a big wicker carriage - with the family cat. My kindergarten picture. I can see every child in that class. There are many pictures of Jack, of course, and the DeVries kids from across the street, and other neighborhood friends. Birthday parties - my own and friends'. My mother's garden, and the house, always in the background. Our front porch. Oh yes, and my swing. Why it was hung in the doorway of the garage, I can't tell you. If you fell off on the back-swing, you landed on the cement floor. If you went flying off on the forward-swing, you hit the cinder driveway. But I didn't fall off very often.

There are pictures of us sitting on the beach in Ocean City, and of the rooming house where we stayed, and the boardwalk.

I have only one picture of Bill, my brother, in uniform in World WarII, but I remember others of him, in basic training, holding up a 7' snake he found in his sleeping bag with him when he woke up one morning; pictures of him overseas, with an English nurse; one of children in Belgium, sitting on a jeep. Then, when he came home, his wedding day. Mother and I wore the most terrible dresses to that wedding. Big shoulder pads were in at the time. Then pictures of his two daughters. My sister and her dear husband, and their daughter.

Well, it seems I don't really need to have those pictures after all. I remember them all so clearly, and they will always be with me, won't they? And the Lord knows, I've filled enough albums of my own that my children will not know what to do with them all when I've gone. I keep them in my computer, too. That seems to be what my kids do. I hope they print enough to pass on to their own families though. There's nothing like holding them in your hands and reminiscing.

Random Stuff

"Firefox cannot find a server at my.yahoo.com" - and I couldn't figure it out for myself? Had to call Villas Girl, who asked me if my modem was on. Oh yeah - the modem! I'd turned it off along with the computer last night when thunder started to rumble. - Duh.

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And speaking of storms - How come we get a Weather Bureau ticker on the TV screen at 3:19pm to warn us that there is a severe storm watch in our county "until 3:30pm:? (and the sun shining brightly all afternoon) - Duh, again.

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Kitty and family are home again. She promises to try to blog soon about Cape Cod. Can't wait. Hope she adds pictures - although she's already posted a lot on Flickr. I'm always hungry for more.

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I have a crabby old lady question: Why do parents let their children scream? I don't mean yelling. Children yelling back and forth and laughing at play - that's fine with me. I mean shrill, blood curdling screams, as if they're being killed. If they're allowed to do that constantly, for no good reason, how are we supposed to know if they are really hurt or in danger? It's only certain children who seem to do it, and they're usually all in the same family.

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It's very hot. And they say hotter tomorrow. Good Lord! It's only June!

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Can you tell, it's been a quiet Sunday and I'm a little bored? I don't like being bored. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. Glad it doesn't happen often. Maybe I'll just play another game of mah jongg.

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Still 218 more days.

Family

Kit and Mike and our hope-for-the-future were in Massachusetts this past week. Mike had a business conference to attend in Cape Cod. First, they stopped at the grandparents' home for a couple of days.

Being the Other Grandmom, I can't resist the opportunity to show off a couple of pictures sent to me, of my youngest grandchild. I call this one The Eyes Have It.








And then there is Isaac, just being Isaac, while his mom is busy eating. He's making devil's horns.




And there are the three-generation pictures. I do love the one of the men of the family. The one with Grandma is pretty cute too.










Oh, OK, if you insist - here's one more. This one is of the oldest and youngest cousins, Ian and Isaac. Just because it's cute.
OK. I'll stop now.

SKY WATCH

I have visited South Cape Meadows hundreds of times over the past thirty years. Sadly, it is no longer what it used to be, but I have many photographs to remind me of what it once was. In this picture, taken a few years ago at sunset, the Cape May Lighthouse can be seen on the distant horizon.



Please take time to view the many other pictures entered in Sky Watch Friday from countries all over our world. You will find the list at Wigger's World, with our host, Tom.

In answer to some questions in comments:
Thanks to all of you,
South Cape Meadows, where this picture was taken, was always a beautiful natural area until about a year ago when the land owner, Nature Conservancy decided to "improve" it. They went to work with a federal grant I understand. It is now nice and neat with clean, straight paths and bridges, mowed grass, etc, and they now charge a fee to go in. So far as I'm concerned, it's ruined, although the birds are starting to find their way back. I do also hear that the township has an easement across the property, to the water, so I'm hoping that in the future we may be able to reclaim at least a little of what we once had.

GRANDILOQUENCE

Do you like that word? Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Actually, I just had to look it up to prove to myself that it was a real word. I'd never heard it before. The Wheel of Fortune came on TV. (I say it "came on" because it isn't a program that I normally watch.) The puzzle was "Bombastic". Then they asked the player to use it in a sentence, and she made up a sentence that really didn't use it properly. They accepted it anyway, and I, being rather compulsive about such things, had to go look it up to see if there was some kind of definition that would excuse it. The definition for "bombastic" was "grandiloquent". OK.

Enough of this.


I am happy to say that I just ate a sandwich made with lots of lettuce from my own garden. I wish I could say that the V-8 I had with it was squeezed from veggies from my own garden, but that is not to be. But it makes me very happy when I can eat something that I have grown myself. I wish I could grow everything. Remember the Victory Gardens we had during World War II? No, most of you aren't old enough to remember that. We had a big plot, and we ate very well from it.

The first of my wild flowers have put in an appearance too. Forget-me-nots. The rest of them, plus the sunflowers I planted in back of them, are showing great promise. And the tiger lilies are already blooming. I love tigers. They were volunteers - a few tiny plants that sprang up in the grass. I moved them into the garden a few years ago, and they thrived and spread. I now have them in two gardens. I love volunteers. You always know they will do well, because they aren't moved far from where they originated. And they always just seem to fit in.

And now, having ended the whole thing with a preposition, I will end the post. Nothing more to say. Just wanted to keep in touch.

BANNER

My daughter photographed this banner up in Northampton, Mass.
I like it.