Phalaenopsis, phalaenopsis…pretty flower, pretty flower… (to the tune of Frère Jacques) — Lucy’s song after visiting the orchid farm
We’ve had a pretty mild summer, a few hot days here and there. On the hot ones we head out of town…to the foggy city or to the cool beach. Here are some snaps from our summer so far, mostly beach pics. Stay tuned for part 2…
Here’s #7 in an ongoing series of compilations showing how the kid has grown over the past half year.
Here are the previous pics. Click on a pic to view the original post. A super-duper size compilation of all 42 months is available here.
Photo Panning Test from Mike C on Vimeo.
My family posting miscellaneous memories (hopefully there will be more of these to come)…
From Mom (Gma Vita)
(after reading some letters from my dad when he was stationed overseas in the 1960s)Still reading family letters, these are my own to your Dad….
June, 1967: Mike loves to go barefoot outdoors. He says, “I want to go with my toes…instead of barefoot.”
May, 1967: Trish (Patty) is starting to scratch us when mad. Poor Mike gets it most. One day he had his shirt off and she really let him have it. He cried but was so mad that he started kicking and shaking her up. Cindy and I had to pull them apart. And that’s not the first time either.
One night there was a tornado warning. We all went to the basement. We brought blankets and paper and pens to write Dad. Sam brought water (he thinks just like your Dad.)
Sam was also in in charge of the film projector. Pat just loves to see herself!
Sam, do you remember getting a check from your paper route in Ft. Huachuka? You couldn’t wait to cash it so you could buy records and paperbacks. I’m glad you all love to read.
Last thing, I remember the TV was going bad—only 1 channel and even that wasn’t clear. Especially when it got “hot”. We’d have to turn it on and off to get that one channel to work.
From Cindy:
Hi Mom and all, I am looking forward to new chapters of the letters between us and Dad. What a great journal you have Mom, your email brought back many memories…I remember the scaaaary tornadoes, it was just like in the Wizard of Oz, we could hear it outside. I remember the basement, it was damp and scary if one had to go down there alone, but our laundry was down there.
As for the letters; Dad always told me that I had to write him about everything thing that each person in our family was doing, because he wanted to feel like he was there.
Of course I always added my 2 cents, like how I felt about what they were doing. I remember when Dad came home on leave for one month, in the middle of his year away. Mike was a little older and remembered Dad more than Patty, she was so scared of this “stranger” who wanted to hold her.
She just cried and cried every time he picked her up. I also remember when dad sent home yards and yards of Orange silk fabric and you made us all matching dresses, we have pictures of it. Mike and Sam missed out on this event of course. Nina and Debbie had dresses too… I’m pretty sure. By the way, Nina visited us while we were in Kansas, remember mom?
From Mike:
Thanks for the info, Cindy. It’s great getting a better glimpse of how things were back then. I have vague memories about basements, tornado warnings, fireflies, tortoises on the street, horned toads, etc., but they’re more like quick, scattered snapshots of the different areas/states we lived in during the 60’s. The recollections that you, Mom, and everyone else provide really help me get a better sense of that time.
From Sam:
I always laugh about the places we traveled to. The Army seemed to enjoy sending us off to assignments with extreme contrasts in climate. For example, we moved from…
Panama (on the equator and sea level) to Arizona (Mountains and high desert, about 5,000 feet above sea level). We went to the beaches almost every day. Dad had access to private military beaches outside of Panama City. We could catch lots of red snappers (fish), see huge turtles, blow-up fish (a fish that puffed up after being caught) and sting rays. Also, once in a while the sea would experience a red algae bloom, turn bright red and kill all the fish in the area. the fish would wash up on the beach, and Mom and Dad wouldn’t let us touch them.
Arizona to Kansas (high mountains to the Plains States) Arizona was hot and dry. It had beautiful scenery. We used to call one section of the mountains the Kennedy mountain. If you looked at it, from the south, it had JFK’s profile. Today, that area is named JFK for that same likeness. Funny how we noticed it, years before others. We also went to Nogales Mexico, while living here. I will never forget the poverty of Nogales, although young, I still remember the look of starvation on the people.
Kansas to Texas (not too much of a change) Kansas was the home of military wives during the war. Mom really kept the family together. She made us do things together, so we wouldn’t mope around with Dad being gone. Our family did well, we stuck together and Mom kept us on the right track.
Texas to Berkeley (major change here, Berkeley in the 60’s was a crazy place. so much different than Texas)
I also remember, working with Dad, while I was still in high school at his second job. Mom would always have supper ready so we could rush off to Capitol TV and Appliance. Dad was by far the best repairman at the store. He used the opportunities of the broken televisions, to teach me about electronics. I remember, when one of the other techs went on vacation, they brought all of his work over to us to repair. Dad, told them to take a look at the TVs first. I fixed about half of the sets my self. I left the tough ones for Dad. The whole shop was surprised that I was already doing the work of seasoned technicians. I have very fond memories of working with Dad in that dusty old shop, although the place didn’t even have a bathroom or water fountain and was run down, Dad and I made the best of it. Dad never complained, although now I realize Dad was probably working 65-70 hours a week to make ends meet.
In recap, I remember, how we all would work together to figure things out in the new area. We would share things we learned, so we could quickly blend in to the new culture. I still use those skills today. I quickly note different things, perspectives and ideas.
Music used:
Here’s #6 in an ongoing series of compilations showing how the kid has changed over the last six months.
Here are the previous pics. Click on a pic to view the original post. A super-duper size compilation of all 36 months is available here.
Here’s the fifth in an ongoing series where I put together a compilation picture showing how Lucy has changed over the last six months.
Here are the previous pics. Click on a pic to view the original post. A super-duper size compilation of all 30 months is here.
What a difference a few months make. The kid has really embraced her “learning how to talk” phase. She’s learning new words and phrases every day, her vocabulary changing, expanding at an incredible rate.
Because of this, I thought I’d jot down some of her favorite sayings. I find them very sweet. Unfortunately, these current “go to” phrases have very short lifespans. I’ve no doubt they’ll be discarded and replaced as the kid’s linguistic legerdemain continues to grow…
“Daddy, SIT…RIGHT THERE.”
(picture Lucy pointing at a very precise spot on the carpet, usually at the center of what looks like a doll convention.)
“Yay, Poo!”
(self-explanatory)
“Wubie, NO!”
(Poor Wubie, he doesn’t get away w/ nearly as much stuff w/ our new 2 year old beat cop around.)
“New Pants!”
(The other day I wore some new lounge pants I’d never worn before. As soon as Lucy saw ‘em, she shouted “New Pants!” pointed at my latest clearance rack find, and gave me a big smile, along w/ a knowing “I wear pants too!” look. I felt like the two of us were part of a special club.)
“My Knee!”
(This is Lucy repeating her mom’s favorite phrase. We all hear it on a daily basis, usually whenever mom tries to stand up. You know you’re in bad shape when Wubie the “Joint-Juice” Cat makes fun of you.)
Thanks to Auntie Laura for this post’s pic.
Every six months I try to put together a compilation pic showing how Lucy has changed over the previous half year. This is the fourth in the series, aka “#4, the hair and teeth cometh”.
It’s very strange; when I look at these pics it really hits me that this kid’s only been hanging around for 23 months. Sheesh, she wasn’t even around for the third season of Lost!” It seems like she’s been around forever (in a good way of course!)
Here are the previous pics. Click on a pic to view the original post. A super-duper size compilation of all 23 months is here.
Every six months or so, I put together a compilation pic showing how Lucy has changed over the previous half year. This is the third in the series.
The previous two pics:
Here’s a video showing the kid doing a bit of walking. It’s quite amazing how fast she’s now developing. I mean, it was just last month that the kid figured out how to stand without assistance (and that was only for a second or two!) Yep, the baby milestones are being hurdled at an increasingly rapid rate. Wow.
Since we’re nearing the end of the year, I thought I’d post another batch of photos to illustrate how the kid has grown and changed over the last twelve months.
The first six pics (Jan – Jun) were originally published in a post entitled, Oy, They Grow Up Fast from June 8th, 2007.