Sunday Skyping with Rosie

It was another frustrating day with Skype.  I only got 3 pictures so here they are.  Rosie was very silly today.  She said "Hi Gromma!" (though she has some trouble with the 'Gr' sound) -- oh, how very sweet is my granddaughter.

The Summer of 1966

These are the last of the slides from the 60's.  All were taken at Cossayuna Lake in July 1966.  I have posted most of these before for particular occasions or events, but as they are the last of the vintage slides I feel they should be displayed again.

Mom looking happy and beautiful.

Dad and a great catch.  I love the pile of inner tubes.

Mom always loved to read.  I wish I could tell what book she had.

Dad and Mom -- happier times.

The next three are of me -- before, during and after my haircut.

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

I had problems taking photos again so I missed a lot of great pictures.  But I got 3 words worth a 1,000 pictures.  

Rosie said 'I love you' and my heart melted.

Waving goodbye!

Gromma loves you too, Rosemary Jane.

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie, the living Kewpie Doll.

We had some Skyping issues today, and Gus, Meara and Rosie are having a brunch party this morning.  So we had lots of fun Skyping but not a lot of opportunity to take pictures.   Still, the ones I have are (as always) adorable.

Here is Rosie's new way for playing peek-a-boo.  She used Gus to hide behind and kept pushing him back & forth,

            to pop-up on one side ...    

 ... and then the other. 

Rosie showed me some of the things she has been learning at the babysitter's.  Here she is playing Ring Around the Rosie -- too cute. Right after this she sang the A-B-C song which made for many smiles when we all applauded loudly after the final '... tell me what you think of me' line.

Reel 6 and Reel 2 and Rocky

My intention this morning was to post a few more of the slides from Reel 6.  The next slides in date sequence were taken in May 1966.  There are 3 slides labeled 'Foundation Construction for the South Mall Project'.  Many people still call the long finished project the South Mall, but now it is more commonly known by its official name, the NYS Empire State Plaza.  As soon as I saw the photos I decided to hit Google for some background information.  The first place I tried was Wikipedia and I read this :
The plaza was the idea of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who was inspired to create the new government complex after Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands visited Albany for a celebration of the area's Dutch history. Riding with the princess through a section of the city known colloquially as the Gut, Rockefeller was embarrassed and said later, "there's no question that the city did not look as I think the Princess thought it was going to." 
This lead me to the Reel 2 slides where I knew I would find a photo of this very occasion.  Here are the princess in the backseat and Governor Rockefeller waving from the front (9 September 1959).

So the slides I have of the construction site were taken 7 years later.  During those 7 years "The area to be thus, no pun intended, gutted, was a rectangle comprising 29 entire blocks and parts of 11 more, home to an estimated 7,000 people lived, along with one police station, three churches, two public schools, and 350 small businesses."  This last quote came from an essay titled "The Making of the Empire State Plaza" which is sub-titled more irreverently "Rocky's Last Erection".  This is a long and very thorough history of this project.  If you're interested you can find it here http://www.lofaber.com/albany/essaymaking.html  This site also provided this photo of the neighborhood before it was gutted.

To say the least, this has always been a controversial project.  When not referred to by its original or its official name, it is often called Rocky's Folly.  Here is a newspaper column written in 1975 http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19751017&id=E6NPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9QUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1829,3403719.  The columnist was writing about Rocky's Folly in relation to something Nelson Rockefeller was doing while Vice President under Gerald Ford.  

OK, now that I have bored even the most inveterate followers of Albany history, here are the 3 slides from May 1966 that started it all.

(taken from South Hawk Street)

(also taken from South Hawk)

(taken from High Street)

And this is a photo of the plaza today.

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie was wide awake and ready to Skype today.

She tried very hard to touch me so the computer had to be on the move (though not always one step ahead of her).

So to distract her, we played peek-a-boo ...

 

which made us all giggle.

  

She then made her Dad disappear ...

and then there were more giggles ...

and kisses.

Then Rosie decided to enhance her already stylish outfit with a pair of very fancy boots sent from Texas.

Nice feet!

Gromma loves you all!!!

New Year Skyping with Rosie

Meara is working today but Gus has a little more vacation before he goes back to school.  So he and Rosie and I Skyped.  I really wish I could include sound with these pictures because Rosie just chattered on and on.  She has learned so many new words, which she interspersed with the chattering.  Basically it sounded like 'chatter-cat-chatter-chatter-foot-chatter-chatter-happy-chatter-chatter-chatter-mommy-chatter ....." and this was all said with great feeling and animation.

Rosie greeted me with a wave.

Gus told me about the baby elephant they just saw at the Portland Zoo.  She gets the giggles when he makes the elephant sound.  

With Gus' hair buzzed and Rosie's just growing in, there's no hiding the resemblance.

 

Another new tooth on the way.

"That's my Dad!"

    Goodbye for now Sweet Rosie!