As I was visiting my daughter this week, I noticed my old black trunk nestled in the corner of her dining room. Topped with my grandson’s toy trucks parked in a neat row along one edge.
I had filled that trunk with bell bottoms and books to bring to college. To my first apartment. To my internship. Often covered with a cloth and used as a coffee table. A bench. A shelf.
It came with me to the home where I raised my children. Where it was stored in the basement for years.
I passed it down to my daughter when she went to college. And she has been using it ever since. Its lock is now loose. The key…probably long gone. Not really necessary anyway.
Inspired by the Dutch goes the Photo Challenge: Rectangles
One winter day, I was enjoying several hours visiting the “Ansel Adams in Our Time” exhibit at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Along with my husband and two dear friends.
Taking a break at the museum’s cafe…a hot cup of tea in hand…I looked up and was treated to…a ceiling view deserving of its own exhibit.
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Sculpture
During my visit to the Shelburne Museum (in Shelburne, Vermont) last month, I was blown away by the circus exhibit. Or rather…the entire building full of circus exhibits.
Upon entering the Circus Building, a large glassed-in area displays an entire three-ring circus of tiny hand carved wooden sculptures. The photographs below give just a hint at the genius and beauty of this vast work of art. I highly recommend viewing it in person.
The official description:
The Kirk Brothers Circus is a miniature three-ring circus, complete with an audience, comprised of more than 3,500 pieces. Edgar Kirk fashioned the figures over a period of forty years using only a treadle jigsaw and penknife.
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Hill
The hills in San Francisco are daunting…which we discovered during a vacation in 1979. Cable cars became our preferred method of getting around the city.
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Outdoors
Tree Farm 2008
Outdoors…
Where my family of 4 played, walked, explored, planted, vacationed and amassed countless memories.
We also discovered…it was the only place where you could carefully pick out a Christmas tree.
From many tree options.
And cut it down yourself.
For 28 years we piled into the car and drove the few miles to a local Christmas tree farm. Usually in early December. In later years, when the kids were in college, we went the weekend after Thanksgiving – so they could both participate.
It began with just my husband and me. Then with our daughter. Five years later our son completed the family group. His first visit, at age 4 weeks, was in a front pack I wore close to my chest.
Up and down the paths we’d search. The kids running ahead. Often in different directions (hence no photos from those years)…Here’s one! No, here’s one! Look I found it! What about THIS one?
We hunted for just the right tree. Tall, but not too tall. Wide, but not too wide. No big gaps (or gapes as they used to giggle) between the branches. We also learned to avoid the blue spruces with their prickly needles. Sometimes it took a while for nature to cooperate with our requirements. And often there was snow to tromp through…adding to the adventure and challenge.
We’d agree – finally – on the perfect (or near perfect) choice. Cut it down. Carefully tie it to the roof of the station wagon. And bring it home.
If we weren’t buying it that day, we attached a tag with our name written on it to the top branch. Nearer to December 25th, we’d return – with our handsaw. And hopefully remember where our tagged tree was!
Once our children stopped coming home for Thanksgiving to participate in the weekend tree tagging, this tradition came to its natural end in 2009 – our last family trip to the tree farm.
“Barbra: The Music, The Mem’ries, The Magic” Boston, MA
“The Three B’s”
Bette (Midler), Bonnie (Raitt) and Barbra (Streisand)
My concert bucket list…
For over 30 years.
Bette…check! Bonnie…check!
The last holdout?
Barbra.
I figured I’d never be able to check her off my list. Sigh.
Why?
She rarely, if ever, toured.
Tickets would be horrendously expensive and impossible to get.
August 16, 2016 changed all that…when I received an early Christmas/Birthday gift from my daughter, son and son-in-law. Thanks to my daughter’s herculean skills at navigating multiple internet browsers. To score tickets. The instant they went on sale.
Floor seats to a Barbra Streisand concert extravaganza in Boston. Complete with a light show beyond anything I had ever seen before. As cliché as it may sound, I was transported by the music, her one-of-a-kind voice, the showstopper after showstopper. Including my favorites – which was just about the entire set list – the super fan that I am.
Radiance on all levels.
One of my all time bucket list dreams finally came true.
One year ago, my daughter, son-in-law and 2 year old grandson came to visit. Grampa and I babysat for two days while his parents went to a wedding.
Perhaps babysat is not the most accurate term. Very little sitting took place.
A walking trail encircles our condo building. The builder never finished grading it properly…forcing us over-55s to step carefully along the uneven gravel surface.
However…the two year old dynamo in the Washington Nationals baseball cap had no trouble at all. With only one year of walking experience under his non-existent belt, he was fearless.
And fast.
Grampa, on the other hand, had to pick up the pace to keep up.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 