Things to Remember

I have finally started hanging things on my new walls.  Today, appropriately, I came across this Mothers' Day gift from 5 year old Gus (and his wonderful teachers at Kenwood).  Now, twenty-eight years later, I am very happy to remember that he was once quite little and his hands were very small.

Happy Mother's Day to My Favorite Moms

Mom and me, July 1959

Meara and Rosie, June 2014

 Meara and Roland, February 2015

Happy Birthday Meara!

Happy Easter!

Roland is adorable.  But I can't stop thinking of ...  

... Ralphie from A Christmas Story.

More Gifts

Meara sent these wonderful pictures yesterday.  More perfect birthday gifts.

My favorite boys.

Lando posing on the beautiful quilt his grandma Mary Ann made.

Perfect!

My sweet baby boy sent me a birthday present which just arrived.  He managed to combine two of my favorite things in one perfect gift.  Giraffe bookends, now holding my favorite Jane Austen novels.  

Happy Father's Day Gus!

In no order whatsoever, here are some pictures of my sweet boy being Rosie's Dad. 

Happy Mother's Day to My Favorite Moms

Mom and me, July 1959

Meara and Rosie

2011

2012

2013

Happy Crossword Puzzling

Today is the 100th anniversary of the crossword puzzle.  

Happy Repeal Day!

Eighty years ago today Congress ratified the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.  This repealed the 18th Amendment (of 1919) which started prohibition.  So raise a glass of your choice and toast Repeal Day!

The latest cover for New Yorker magazine is awesome

Finally Some Good News

Happy Father's Day to Gus!

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun

I love giraffes.  So today's news made me smile -- twice.

There are several sites with a video.  This I think is the best  http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/22440347/2013/05/28/twin-giraffes-born-in-new-braunfels  If you'd rather not go to the video, here is the story (from same site).
 

A pair of twin reticulated giraffes, the only set of its kind living in the U.S., was born at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in New Braunfels.  The twin giraffes, Wasswa and Nakato, were delivered on May 10. Wasswa, a female calf, weighed 95 pounds and was 4.5 feet tall when she was born. Nakato, a male calf, weighed 125 pounds and was 5.5 feet tall when he was delivered.  "Both Wasswa and Nakato are thriving," said Tiffany Soechting, Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch animal specialist caring for the newborn giraffes.  Carol, the mother of the twins, is seven years old while their father, Marshall, is ten years old.

I especially love that Mom's name is Carol and Dad's is Marshall.  Here's Carol and her little girl -- too cute.

Mom Would Love It !!

Last October I got my hair cut for the first time in ... a lot of years.  At the time I wrote a post that included pictures of my hair through the ages.  (http://ddramblings.blogspot.com/2012/10/hair-today-gone-tomorrow.html) I noted that my Mom loved my hair short; she had a special love for the pixie cut.  I always liked my hair long and I kept it that way for most of my adult life.  Until last October when I got it cut to a length Mom would certainly have preferred, but she would have considered it only better than before. This past Friday I went in for a trim and came out with a cut Mom would love.  Here we are in 1959 when I was 6 -- with hair that made Mom happy.

I am so sorry that Mom is no longer with me to see my hair today.  Mom, this cut's for you.

        

Monsters Among Us

I am normally a bit of a news junkie.  But since yesterday I've avoided all news channels; I've averted my eyes from the front page of the morning paper.  It is simply too horrific, too devastating, too incomprehensible, too much to think about.  Someone killed the most innocent of victims in the most innocent of places ... there are no words.  And yet I can't keep this out of sight, out of mind.  It haunts me.  These children who lived just a split second of the lives they deserved, they need to be in our thoughts no matter how painful. Because to push away the terror of what happened would mean that one more time nothing gets done to stop this from happening again, and again.  I know this but I have no solutions.  Right now all I can do is to not forget.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

If you have been following the progression of my old family slides, you may have noticed that I have a somewhat tortured past when it comes to my hair.  For most of my early years my mother kept my hair short -- she favored the pixie cut but as long as it was short she was happy.

May 1959, Age 6

May 1960, Aged 7 (In my best future-game-show-hostess pose.)

April 1961, Aged 8

January 1962, My 9th Birthday (There must have been a temporary lapse in Mom's diligence to 'keep my hair out of my eyes'.)

July 1962, Aged 9&1/2 (Scalped for the summer.)

December 1962, Almost 10 (Scalped through the winter.)

September 1963, Aged 10&1/2 (The Ugly Perm.  Thanx, Mom.)

May 1964, Aged 11 (Very slowly recovering from the perm.)

June 1965, Aged 12 ( I think I did this to myself with curlers --no excuse except that it was the style)

July 1966, Aged 13 (Finally my hair is long which makes me wonder why I was about to get it cut.)

July 1966 (The next day, after the haircut -- at least it wasn't extreme.)

And from 1966 on my hair was long and straight for many, many years, as represented here, August 1972 when I was 19.

There were a few more haircuts when Gus was young.  Never too short or severe.  Except for one more horrible perm in 1985.  I can't believe I did it -- again my only excuse is that it was the style -- really, even men got perms in the 80's.  (I am so happy to say there are no digitalized photos of that perm; even if there were I would not admit to it.)  And then in 1993 I turned 40 with long, straight hair.  On my 40th birthday I was quietly sitting at my desk and one of the women I worked with approached me.  This was one of my least favorite co-workers (and I'm sure that feeling was reciprocated) so I knew I was not going to get a simple Happy Birthday greeting.  I didn't.  Instead she said "Thank God you're 40.  Now you'll have to get your hair cut because you are way too old to leave it long."  Needless to say I did not take her advice.  Other than some trims through the last 20 years, my hair has remained long and straight.  I just looked for some recent photos of my hair but it occurred to me that I have, for most photo-worthy opportunities in the last few years, worn my hair pulled back and up.  As in this photo with Rosie, taken this past August.

The best I could find is a photo from last October.  This was taken at my 40th high school reunion.  The photo was taken with other people at the reunion and I avoid posting pictures without permission so this is a cropped version.  My hair was long and I was at least 35 pounds heavier than I am this October -- (I am giving myself permission to be proud of that fact).

So if you're wondering what inspired me to write this history of my hair, it's because yesterday I got my hair cut ... for the first time in well over 20 years.  It's always been cut because my Mom had control or because I caved-in to trends.  But this time I got my hair cut just because I wanted to.  And it only took 59 years.