Polaroids

I can't believe that Polaroids are coming back! I think I took the last of the cameras to Goodwill just last year! Yikes. Not a problem, though. There's an app for that. Pretty darn cool, eh? 

Self Portrait Puerto Rico 1978

While this one? It's an original. This is one of my all-time favorite original Polaroids. The oldest one I was looking for was of me at my Aunt Ollie's, wrapped in a fur rug when I was about four years old. I can see it; I just can't find it. The following aren't quite as old, but they are pretty darn old, kids!

This is probably about 1975 at work. I would have to walk over to the bank every Friday and get cash for payroll. I was the banker! No, really. My father paid our employees CASH every Friday! Nice!

This is at the Grant Memorial at the Capitol where our photographs were taken. After I finally got my diver's license, I'd have a little freedom to drive up to the Capitol, pick up the film and then take it back to the shop to develop and print. I must be killing time here waiting on a shot. This looks like a "dad" pose to me! Too funny. Note the Dr. Shoals!!! brahahahahah I had just got my first pair of glasses--hippyish, of course, no frames. My dad said they looked like granny glasses. :( 1978

Here I am at the shop. Looks like I was cutting a small mat for a print. Where's the print?? Perhaps it's a practice piece for my photography class. 1979

 

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

1977

El Yunque National Rainforest, Puerto Rico. 1978

Posing perty in the L.A. hills. HA! 1982

     Skiing in the Poconos. 1983

Twenty-fourth birthday with my mom's new English Bulldog, Brittany--better known as "The Brit." I miss her handwriting.

The Brit has grown in a year! Twenty-fifth birthday.

1985

Hey Kell!

This is the first time my brother Johnny met the hub-to-be. 1986 

This could be the first time my father met the hub-to-be in my first apartment! New furniture had just arrived--finally something to sit on!! Oh, and by the way, I literally JUST got rid of the set this year. It held up pretty well until the last couple of years! Here we are with my dad. 

Freshly back from our honeymoon at one of my oldest friends' wedding, Larry. 1987

I didn't like the size of this Polaroid film. I got it right before the Kid was born. He wasn't even a month old here! Little Boo. And the Teenager! Ahmazing! This was a test shot for a Christmas card with the kids. 1993.

Ok, now that this has taken WAY too LONG to write, I have to get back to my photo sorting! Geesh. I am out of practice here!           

Labels: Brother John, California, Dad, Dogs, Family, Hub, Kid, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Teenager

End-of-Summer Soirée

How seriously Seersucker fabulous.

We were happy to see the fundraiser was successful for the O'More College of Design's student scholarship fund. 

I didn't know there was going to be a silent auction. DANGER! Yes, we bid on some rare bourbon for the "teenager" who is now 26! I also bid on an Manuel skirt for my niece. About a size 1. ha. People must have thought, "Ah, hun, you don't think that will fit you, now do you? Bless your heart." I haven't heard back, so I probably won nothing. Which is probably a good thing!

G&G sponsored! (No, I did not bid on this, thank you very much!)

 Hub bidding on a cigar holder. Just what every Southern gent needs, right?

Robert Hicks--host, Southern author ("The widow of the South") and bourbon extraordinaire--offered his new Battlefield Bourbon. Yum. (not) You know I'm a vodka gal. Oooooh, which reminds me, there's a new local vodka on the block! Lookie, Sarah!!

As the evening wore on, Mr. Hicks arrived with his sidekick, awwwww. And .... dinner, drinking and dancing commenced!

My cutie pie.

I need to find these Seersucker chocolates. I didn't even taste them! Wait. WHA??? What is wrong with ME?

The school is housed in an old Victorian mansion which I had to tour on my own. I LOVE!

I had my hair pulled together by someone else. I wish I could do THIS! Damnit. I could get used to this primping stuff! HAHAHA. No, not really.

Ok, can we move on into the fall now so I don't have to pull my hair up? Please?

Genes

This is one of the oldest pictures we have of our mom. Isn't she precious? 

I've been absent from here, I know--same ol' song and dance. I have been, however, absolutely enthralled in our family genealogies since the New Year. We took a trip in the early spring to Atlanta; and we ended up going to my mom's home town, not too far west of Atlanta. I was on a mission to find some family members in the old town cemetery. (We found only a few. ugh.) And now, I'm totally hooked. I've found a lot of new information since I first began this journey. It was 1985. No computers. Only libraries. Can you imagine? Of course, I wasn't able to find a whole lot way back then.  I did, amazingly, have enough sense to ask my Aunt Mary to write down all she knew of the Bailey family. And she did. Her papers have given us endless clues.

This is the kid, probably about the same age my mom was in her photo. He was so much like her. Look at that face. Same sweet grin. Sniffle. Now he's grown. But he's doing great away at college!

And then we move to the hub's family. His mom is Italian and second-generation American. His father is Ukrainian and first-generation American. I can't tell you how much information I have found online for both sides. Finding a lot of the ship manifests when they migrated to New York has been absolutely amazing. Then, I began going through old family photos on the hub's side. I had brought this picture back from NY last fall after helping the SIL go through the parents' things. No one knew who it was. I think it looks more of the Italian side. But there are a few who could also pass as Ukies. 

And, speaking of Ukies, the hub and teenager are in New York to celebrate Ukrainian Easter this weekend. I gave the hub a copy of this photo so he can ask his mom if she knows who it is. I know she will. She is sharp as a tack!

I have always so LOVED old studio shots. No one ever looks happy. Notice the three back drops? Poor feller on the right is too tall for two of them! Awkward. I think those two boys on the ends are WAY too tall to be Ukies. But "momma" in the back, she don't look too happy. Perhaps the first son did not marry first. That is what happened at the hub's mother and father's wedding. The Ukrainian momma wasn't too happy about the whole thing since he was the youngest son--the oldest had not married yet. And it is told that she let it be known she was none-too-happy. Now those, my friend, are some strong, old-world customs. Kinda harsh, don't you think?

Oh well. Now I'm wishing I were in New York with the family. But, then again, I am kinda enjoying the peacefulness of the house.

Будьмо

Labels: Aunt Mary, Family, Georgia, Hub, Kid, Mom, Teenager, Ukrainian Easter

As If It Were Yesterday

Thanksgiving 2012

 We were a few short this year, but the table was still filled with lotsa love and delicious food!

The teenager took my place as head sous chef. Definitely not complaining! I so enjoyed being the extra, extra help. Jim enjoyed showing the teenager the ropes. It was all good.

Three days' worth of prepping and cooking makes the difference in a meal. Having three sets of hands makes a difference in a kitchen! Since I wasn't head sous chef, I kept the prep area stocked with what was needed and clean as a whistle! It was a well-oiled machine, that kitchen was. We could have pulled off a TV program in there, I swear--that is, if it weren't for the language at times. We got pretty goofy. It sounded as if we were back in the hood. HA!

Our dessert this year was from Garden & Gun. My brother and I both subscribe to the magazine; and when the fall issues arrived, we called each other and said "Check out the dessert recipes -- FOR THANKSGIVING!" We decided on the Pumpkin Bread Pudding. A lot of steps, a lot of time; but it was worth it--IF you have three sets of hands in the kitchen!!! *Note: Could replace the cranberry sauce with a caramel sauce. Just saying.

It was all good. (Except the first batch of whipped cream tasted a tad cheesy. I was afraid to say anything since Jim and the teenager had worked so hard. Then Jim brought it up the next day. We all had a great laugh over that!)

Jim looking oh-so-British. A fork AND a spoon? Must be gud!

 And then --dun dun dun-- we had time to play. Hit TMR on Black Friday. A quick snap out front.

I then took him over to Otis James where they hand make fabulous ties and hats out of scrumptious fabrics. Great shop!

  

 Brutha tipping his hat to the ladies. So propa! (JK, this was staged.)

 Love him!!

And I miss him.

Labels: Brother Jim, Family, Hub, Jacq, Kid, Nashville, Teenager, Thanksgiving

Holiday Craftin'

I finally finished one of the papier mache houses I purchased way back when. Finished? Well, I probably will add more to it. But for now? Good enough for government work.

The hub made it home from overseas on Wednesday. He had been gone for over three weeks! Oh, the plans I had, as I mentioned. None of which got done. C'est la vie!

Dreaming about Thanksgiving coming up! My brother and niece, Jacq, are coming down on Tuesday. And, the teenager arrives from DC on Monday. Yay!! The rest of the clan had plans, so it will be a smaller gathering this time. No worries. Jim and I will still be in the kitchen cooking up a feast. I simply cannot wait for them to get down. It's my favorite holiday--does it get any better than delicious food and wonderful family? 

Life is good, indeed.

Labels: Autumn, Brother Jim, Jacq, Teenager

i Heart

 A very sweet thank-you surprise, indeed.

Our nephew visited a few weeks' back; and we received the sweeetest thank you notes and drawings and chocolates and ivy and love and . . . .

He simply makes my heart swell.

I've just about lost my boys as they begin to fly the coop. Sniffle.

But they're never far. The teenager is here for a long weekend visit from DC. Needless to say, we've been figuring out ways to get ALL that yummy chocolate into our growing bellies.

It's been wonderful having him home with us. 

I have to admit, I miss the sound of rambunctious boys tearing through the house.

Miss ya, Big D. All the dinosaurs have been MIA since you left. It's too quiet. 

Labels: Ann, Daniel, Teenager

L O V E

Yay! The kid was home from university for the long weekend. So proud of that kid. He's adjusting so well to college life. Hmmmm, it's always the ones you worry about that surprise you the most. Am I right?

I've been delving into old photographs, organizing and trying to get the boys' baby books together. I have all of the teenager's photos sorted and ready to journal. I am obsessed with getting everything perfect in their books which hinders my progress, of course. A tad OCD, perhaps?

Let it go, Ro. 

Hop to it, gurl, and giterdone.

Labels: Kid, Teenager

My Baby

The kid begins college in less than a week. Where has the time gone?

Labels:  Kid, Teenager

When the Living's Easy

First, allow me to apologize for the span of my absence. When you're surrounded by such beauty, the last thing you want to be doing is sitting at the computer. Am I right?

We have been celebrating life and enjoying one another, friends and family alike. It has now quieted down for a bit until our next wave; so the hub and I are practicing as "empty nesters" for the first time. We're playing house once more.

The teenager was able to come down south for July 4th after his big move back to Washington, DC just after graduation. Such an exciting time for him. You remember getting out of school and looking for your "real" first job, your first apartment? I think back to that time as one of my favorite memories "growing up." Roughing it--apartment poor--for that first year or so. I wouldn't change a thing. Anyhoo, we're as proud as punch. He has a place on Capitol Hill and is actually looking into an internship up there. Well, it's up to his generation to get the ball rolling with some positive changes in this country. More power to him. I'm so proud. And then he goes and finds a job as a waiter on weekends at a restaurant around the corner from his apartment. Whaaa? The kid has never worked in a restaurant in all his short years. So proud. Did I say that already? He's hanging a lot with my brother Jim, which gives me great joy and also turns me green with ENVY! Miss my brutha. But he and Jacq are coming down soon. Yay!!! Love my Jacq--and my brother! Cannot wait.

 

The kid is SO enjoying being out of high school. Again, I remember that feeling SO well, as if it were yesterday. FREEDOM! He's been back and forth to Riverside, all adult like. My baby is growing up. Sniffle. Well good for him. Much like me, he doesn't open up to many people. All of a sudden, he has a great group of friends. That brings a smile to my face.

The hub is in heaven. His "office" is a great spot under the house where he conducts his business and does his studies most of the day. Can it get any better? He deserves it. He's worked hard during his career. Now, he is getting the respect he has always deserved. My hero. So proud of all my men.

Riverside is as lovely as ever. Such a happy house.  It exudes happiness and love. She has given a lot wonderful memories to so many folks over the years, especially our little unit. 

We have been enjoying friends visiting and spending time with our riversorry friends and neighbors who are here all year round. It doesn't take me long to get into riversorry mode, believe me.

Dean and Darlene took us for an early-morning "breakfast" cruise out to Weeks Bay Sunday. It was absolutely breathtaking. Besides having breakfast, we were on a mission to see dolphin. And we did! There was a pod of at least four very large adults and three or more youngins. The little ones would stick their tails straight out of the water and then spiral downwards. It was precious to watch--until a group of about five or six kayaks and canoes tried to get right up on them. Poor boo's.

Ahhhhhh summertime. Hope some wonderful summer memories are being made in your neck of the woods. 

Cheers!

Labels:  Alabama, Brother Jim, Darlene, Hub, Jacq, Kid, Riverside, Weeks Bay