Saturday, September 3, 2005
Well, let's see how this works.
Here's my favorite picture of my mother. It was taken in July of 1964. I was 12 and had just received my first camera, a Kodak Brownie. It wasn't close to my birthday so I have no idea why I received it but I know I didn't buy it, it was given to me by someone in my 
family. I instantly became a photo-bug. I took pictures of everything and everyone. I bothered people to pose and usually they did. My mother, though, was a busy woman. I remember pestering her on and off throughout the afternoon (I remember it was a school day) to pose. She put me off repeatedly. You'll notice to your right of my mother on the counter is a slab of meat that is probably thawed hamburger or minute steaks. I believe Mom was about to do something to it so it could be eaten for dinner. The picture is taken against the back wall of our huge kitchen at Quarters A-2, Old NCS, Guam. The area had been abandoned lock stock and housing by the Navy and commandeered by Civil Service to house their employees and families. The particular house we lived in was one half of a roomy duplex with a maids quarters in back of the garage which was converted into bedrooms for my older sister and me.
When Mom could no longer stand me she decided to pose to get me off her back. I love this picture, her stony stare, her implied commentary, "Now, will you please leave me alone?!?!"
The veneer has cracks in it: One across my mother's forehead and one across her dress at her thighs. I fooled around in Graphic Converter with the cracks but am not yet accomplished enough to fill them in so that they look natural. Consider the marks of age "atmosphere".
Our old printer conked out on me this morning. It was a freebie with this computer so the only surprise was that it lasted as long as it did. It's been giving me fits in the last six months by occasionally deciding to alternately refuse to recognize its drivers then refuse to recognize me as its administrator. Over the last three months I've been doing research here and there on a possible replacement. Although it quit at a most inopportune time this morning while I was attempting to print some stuff I needed to fax today it took me only a half hour to check out retail locations for the type and model I wanted. Lo and behold it happened to be on special at Costco below their regular sale price. Before noon I'd purchased it, had it up and running. The printer is an "office" model: A combo printer, copier, faxer and scanner. Once I'd finished what I'd set out to do this morning (although I still had to fax from Staples...I didn't have enough time to set up the printer, use it, then set up the fax before I needed to fax the document) I decided to hunt down "my favorite picture" of Mom and try out the scanner. It took me most of the day to locate the picture. Once I found it I was surprised at how battered it was but I figured this would be a good test for me. I think it turned out pretty well.
I reminded her of it at her breakfast, as I needed to explain to her why I would be buried in my bedroom for awhile. "Remember," I started, "when I got my first camera and I was taking pictures of everything and I was bugging you to pose for me..."
"Oh, yes." She gave me a look very much like the one in the picture. "I remember that one."
When I explained what I was going to do with it she was both flabbergasted and amused. She asked if I didn't think I could find a "better" one.
"I imagine," I said, "much more easily than it's going to be to locate that one, but, Mom, it's the only picture of you I have a clear memory of and it's my favorite of you. When you're dead and buried," I assured her, "that's the picture I'll comfort myself with." I could barely hide my grin.
That look again. "Some comfort, child," she said.
She agreed to allow me to post it but exacted a price. She has charged me with finding the school picture of me taken in the second grade and posting it. When you see the picture and hear the explanation of my curious expression you'll know why she considers it a fair trade. I spent about an hour looking for it this evening. I haven't located it yet but I'm sure my mother will keep after me until I do.
family. I instantly became a photo-bug. I took pictures of everything and everyone. I bothered people to pose and usually they did. My mother, though, was a busy woman. I remember pestering her on and off throughout the afternoon (I remember it was a school day) to pose. She put me off repeatedly. You'll notice to your right of my mother on the counter is a slab of meat that is probably thawed hamburger or minute steaks. I believe Mom was about to do something to it so it could be eaten for dinner. The picture is taken against the back wall of our huge kitchen at Quarters A-2, Old NCS, Guam. The area had been abandoned lock stock and housing by the Navy and commandeered by Civil Service to house their employees and families. The particular house we lived in was one half of a roomy duplex with a maids quarters in back of the garage which was converted into bedrooms for my older sister and me.When Mom could no longer stand me she decided to pose to get me off her back. I love this picture, her stony stare, her implied commentary, "Now, will you please leave me alone?!?!"
The veneer has cracks in it: One across my mother's forehead and one across her dress at her thighs. I fooled around in Graphic Converter with the cracks but am not yet accomplished enough to fill them in so that they look natural. Consider the marks of age "atmosphere".
Our old printer conked out on me this morning. It was a freebie with this computer so the only surprise was that it lasted as long as it did. It's been giving me fits in the last six months by occasionally deciding to alternately refuse to recognize its drivers then refuse to recognize me as its administrator. Over the last three months I've been doing research here and there on a possible replacement. Although it quit at a most inopportune time this morning while I was attempting to print some stuff I needed to fax today it took me only a half hour to check out retail locations for the type and model I wanted. Lo and behold it happened to be on special at Costco below their regular sale price. Before noon I'd purchased it, had it up and running. The printer is an "office" model: A combo printer, copier, faxer and scanner. Once I'd finished what I'd set out to do this morning (although I still had to fax from Staples...I didn't have enough time to set up the printer, use it, then set up the fax before I needed to fax the document) I decided to hunt down "my favorite picture" of Mom and try out the scanner. It took me most of the day to locate the picture. Once I found it I was surprised at how battered it was but I figured this would be a good test for me. I think it turned out pretty well.
I reminded her of it at her breakfast, as I needed to explain to her why I would be buried in my bedroom for awhile. "Remember," I started, "when I got my first camera and I was taking pictures of everything and I was bugging you to pose for me..."
"Oh, yes." She gave me a look very much like the one in the picture. "I remember that one."
When I explained what I was going to do with it she was both flabbergasted and amused. She asked if I didn't think I could find a "better" one.
"I imagine," I said, "much more easily than it's going to be to locate that one, but, Mom, it's the only picture of you I have a clear memory of and it's my favorite of you. When you're dead and buried," I assured her, "that's the picture I'll comfort myself with." I could barely hide my grin.
That look again. "Some comfort, child," she said.
She agreed to allow me to post it but exacted a price. She has charged me with finding the school picture of me taken in the second grade and posting it. When you see the picture and hear the explanation of my curious expression you'll know why she considers it a fair trade. I spent about an hour looking for it this evening. I haven't located it yet but I'm sure my mother will keep after me until I do.
