Tag: family

Gratitude

I came to Starbucks today to establish an internet connection. I had in mind to write about gratitude. The reason being, I am inundated with stuff. I had to get the tumbler, in my ignition, replaced. It took two days and a rental car. I have had to work on getting a permit, for a building on my property. I’ve never liked bureaucracy, however, through this process, I actually have made some friends. Good things happen when you least expect it.

Having said that, I want to share with you, that right when I was getting out of my car, I received a text. My granddaughter has graduated. She didn’t graduate with her class. She had to do summer school. She’s always had to do summer school. I’ve been suspicious that she does this, because she likes to be at school.

My gratitude morphed into happiness.

I come from a long line of drop-outs. My mother was a succesful, business woman. However, she only went to the ninth grade. I don’t know what I was thinking when I quit. So, I certainly don’t know what my daughter was thinking of when she quit.

Today, I’m a believer in education.

And today I am so happy.

My granddaughter graduated from a real High School.

I heard it once said, “you can go to school for the rest of your life, but graduating from high school is a one time thing.”

YOU GO GIRL! YOU ROCK~CONGRATULATIONS!

I Shoot People Too ~7

Imagine all the people

Then imagine all of their imaginations.

I had this idea rattling around in my head, since I wrote last. I kept remembering being on trips with my parents. I would be in the backseat of the car, heading down a state road and passing all the people. I would wonder, who are they and where are they going? What do they do? What do they think? What goes on in their lives?

I’ve always enjoyed traveling and people watching. Rarely do I feel the need to talk to anyone. It might destroy my image of them. Just imagine, all the thoughts people have in their heads, as you’re passing them in the street. That’s a lot of words and ideas. Delusional snapshots of life, firing through everyone’s brains. And you’re left in your own silent, talkie, until you decide to say something.

And I did.





In the sea of people~

See the beautiful.

I Shoot People Too ~ 6

This set of ten portraits makes a total of sixty. Today’s cover shot is my brother; the one and only. My siblings consist of one brother and three sisters. He is the second oldest. After my mother had her first two offspring, she said she had achieved her quota. That concerned the responsibilities of children and school. According to him, it was after the firstborn. We have our varied perspectives on life in general, and our histories together.

I have come to believe that the devil IS in the details. When I use to share with my friend, stories about my family, he said, “That sounds like a Pat Conroy novel”.  So, I read Pat Conroy. The father in the Prince of Tides was a mild mannered, southern gentleman compared to our Dad. Our family life took it’s toll on my brother, as it did all of us, in our own ways.

At one time, I adored my brother. In 1968, he had a green Road Runner. He took me to my first concert, The Allman Brothers at Jacksonville Beach. We went 110 miles an hour on I-10. I was use to fast cars. I  can remember my him driving a white station wagon of my father’s. He would practicing spinning it around to go in the other direction. He would pick up speed, hit the brakes and turn the wheel.  Those were the days, full of danger.

I always drove his motorcycles, including his Harley Low Rider. Women didn’t ride back then. I once heard him tell someone, “If it’s got wheels, she can drive it!” That was a proud moment for me. I always wanted to please him.

Here and there, he let me be his pool shooting partner. He’s always been a gambler. After work one Friday, he took me to shoot dice out behind Ardsley’s Liquor Store on Beaver St. It was by default really. I just happened to be in the car. It was probably dangerous, but back then, without danger I wouldn’t have known how to act.

68′ was quite a year for me. I was twelve. I can remember looking in the mirror and teaching myself to cuss. I got pretty good at it. I was trying to survive; but I was still the Catholic School girl that wouldn’t walk on the grass.

It was a year that my life soared in a direction that had been a long time coming. It would have been really weird, if it had been any other way. There was no one there to save me. I was on my own.

The wild and crazy stories seem endless if I start telling them.

Here are some more people


I see people~beautiful!

I Shoot People Too ~ 4

This is my fourth set, of ten portraits. I started this photos series to help me get through my last days here in Florida. I will be going back to Costa Rica soon. I still have work ~ tying up loose ends, and then I will be CR bound. I can’t wait really. I try not to let myself feel the enthusiasm. I try to be here when I’m here, and not even think about there.

I went to a party last night at Tiger Point Marina on Amelia Island. What a scenic spot on the planet. The setting was perfect. The band and the people would have made great subjects. I took my camera, but wasn’t feeling it. I was reminded of just how much I don’t know about photography. There was a professional there and I got to ask questions. When I woke up this morning I knew I should have asked more.

I chit chatted ~ which in a previous post, I mentioned I have a hard time doing. But I was in my element there. I’ve been on the island for a long time. I know it’s history. I’m bound to the island.

 ~ Everybody let’s party party – Everybody let’s party party~

When I look at this series of photos, I know that it’s sharing a moment. I also know that each person has a story. I never go into great length about anything in my posts. I want to share photos more than words.

But I will tell you, that these last days here with my family, are not easy. Nothing is ever easy with my family.

In 1958, my family lived on Carder Street, in a nondescript brick home in nondescript neighborhood. I would stand in the front yard, screaming ((JANE)). Sometimes she came out and sometimes she didn’t. I have no idea what she looked like. I can’t remember her at all. I can only remember the screaming and her mother telling me to stop doing that.

I wish I had my camera back then. My life would have been different. I would have been better.


Beautiful people ~ I see.

Happy Daddy~Happy Hui

 

Rooster and I are back at home; our place in the woods, that we call Camp Tobacco. It’s a homestead, that I share with my family. I’ve tried to create a  hui. A hui, is a bond in a family, that benefits its financial interests. I’m side stepping here, but this post is about family. I learned about hui~from my mother. Also, from reading the Michener novel Hawaii. It is the best book I’ve ever read in my life.

On the last leg of our Southeast Roadtrip, we stopped in Canton, GA and visited friends from Costa Rica. They are the owners of the Mono Congo, my favorite place in the country. When I first met Justin and Kym, they must have been all of thirty. They had two beautiful boys. They have always been a special family to be around. I enjoy watching Justin caring for and playing with his boys, which are now four. They are his OATS;  Adrian, Oakley, Tristen and Shea. They didn’t plan that~

Sweet!

Two Years Old

 Little Boys Are Natural Daredevils

Oakley

Mom

This is Adrian

While waiting on dinner, we got to sit around and chat. Check out the toys.

The next morning we went hiking at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. I’ve wanted to be in this spot since I was seventeen. I guess that makes it bucket list.

There are 472 steps, climbing to the top of the falls.

Then the hike was over and we had to say good-bye to the Happy Daddy and his beautiful family.

I am so blessed in my life today. On our trip, we visited three very different families and then returned to ours. In my life, I have benefited from my mother’s concept of hui. I don’t take it for granted. I would like to pass that on. Family is important and at its best, can care for one another in a healthy way. I put my best foot forward and place my feet by those that have what I want; like those that I visited, Justin and Kym, Jimmy and Whitney, Connie and the Man.

I want to thank all of my friends for the great trip, and the friends who followed along, you know who you are. And I want to express my thanks, for the help from my family, that made it possible.

Long Live the Happy Daddy~Long Live the Family Hui

Sorry – it was an award winning trip ~ LOL

Zero Chit-Chat Skills

I’ve stayed away from my blog, for a few days, because I’m all filled up with family. Have you ever been all filled up with family?

I’m full of Mama and Daddy, my oldest sister, my brother, my daughter and my oldest granddaughter is in there, and I never forget my grandmother. I feel like my grandmother’s life is my birthmark. She committed suicide, the year I was born. She was a war bride from Paris. The poor woman was lied to and brought from Paris to the backwoods of North Florida. Can you imagine?

My family is complicated, confusing and something, best not to think about.

This is why I stayed away; it’s all too dark and depressing. It’s crazy making.

I cannot say what I want to say.

AS THE PENDELUM SWINGS

I want to rescue

I have a fear of people

I have no chit-chat skills

I love too much

I have zero barriers from the world ~ then ~ I want to keep the world at bay.

Life becomes a swing

I can’t make chit-chat

This Guy

I took my granddaughter, to the Fernandina Beach, skate park yesterday and had the pleasant surprise of running into this guy. He’s high energy.

Skate photography – it’s different. However, photography is photography.

It’s all just another day in the neighborhood.

I left the park thinking, I’ve gotta get a fish eye!

Here’s two pics of my youngest granddaughter on a rip stick.

Mr. Rogers would approve.

Laughter

If one could live off of laughter
Today I would be rich
Enjoy it
In August of 2009, I was embroiled in a mediation, with my sisters, involving my mother’s estate. It was hard. It did emotional damage, but I got through it. There were changes made. Changes that keep changing.