Balafon performance in the streets of Conakry, Guinea. ©1963 Emile Snyder Among the unique documents that have floated my way over the years was a manilla folder full of gorgeous black and white photographs my father took in the Ivory Coast, which was developed there, and some of them might have also been […]
Putting Together My Father’s Research With The Photos: West Africa 1963-64 Read More »
This is one of my favorite photo's of Eva, bundling the garlic. One can almost smell it coming through the screen. Happy birthday to the Garlic Queen-slash-birthday pig! Hope you guys are able to take time out from farming long enough to eat something decadent and delicious.
Here's another one of those mysterious family photographs — this one of my maternal grandmother (the one in the back-left squinting from the smoke of her cigarette) sitting at a small table in an even smaller kitchen with a group of really elegant women friends and a whole lot of bottles of
How They Drank in the 40s Read More »
This post is for my cousin François, who has been visiting the blog to see what photos of our families are appearing — and happily identifying those I don't know. I love these three photos for how the people are grouped, smiling, and staring back at the photographer. I am not sure who everyone is,
The Mystery of Family Photos Read More »
Moon, come down andcome alone. I have to tell you allabout Akechi’s wife. — Bashō My husband and I will celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary this coming June. I think of all that passion at the beginning, rocking back and forth between joy and fear that it might suddenly prove
Basho’s Reflection On Marriage: Akechi’s Wife Read More »
"Hail, heavenly ladder by which God came down; hail, bridge leading from earth to heaven." Agathistos Hymn, Greek –6th century. It is a challenge to be born on a day so charged with potential and even more so to me, who was the first baby of that year in my city when I was born.
A New Year, My Birthday, and the Solemnity of Mary Read More »
Since I now live surrounded by mountains that I love and climb frequently — I am re-posting 2 posts about my young teenage adventures climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It has taken many years to get off the prairie and the desert to return to the mountains, but to be in the Front Range of
That Was Some Big Climb: Kilimanjaro in the 60s Read More »
Tucson's very old inner city neighborhood, The Barrio Viejo, has some of the best murals painted by residents over many years on the exterior of the houses. When my daughter and future husband were in town a number of years back, they took these wonderful photos of one of my favorite houses. I learned recently
Barrio Viejo: The Blue Mural Read More »
This is a lovely piece of animation from Russian animator Ekaterinburg Natacha Černyšovo who studied animation in France. It is so charming and delightful. It has been a few years since I first saw this little video, and in between my first posting and now re-posting, I have become a grandmother, which has made this film
The Return: Beautiful New Animation Read More »
I had one of those remarkable encounters while reading Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, who was describing in almost identical words an idea I had explored years ago in a poem. It is an ambiguous moment in motherhood, knitting power and love in a fierce and consuming way. It's awful really, selfish as it expresses a desire
The Hungry Mother: Kate Atkinson and Baba Yaga Read More »
