Saturday Snapshot: PaPa

I have a huge collection of family photos from both my family and Michael's. More from his, actually. His grandmother knew I was interested in genealogy, so when she died she left all her photos to me — and she had a bunch. I'm hoping to get them all organized and digitized this year, so I've been (slowly) going through all the albums and boxes, trying to put names to faces and figure out where each photo might have been taken. It's really difficult since our parents and grandparents have all passed on now. And our mothers wouldn't have been much help anyway — neither of them cared anything about family history. (Although my mom loved a bit of juicy family gossip as much as anyone, she always told me she thought it was "dangerous" delving too far into what happened in the past.)

But I'm determined to get it all sorted out someday. So I'll keep on scanning. Well, just as soon as we buy the new scanner — our old one doesn't really work with the new computer. Bummer.

Anyway, today's snap is from one of the batches I managed to scan before the system stopped cooperating. Since he was born in January (1896), I thought it would be appropriate to post this photo of my grandfather (my mother's father — "PaPa" to his grandkids) with my grandmother and my mother.

Mamma looks to be about a year old here, so this would have been taken around 1922, probably in San Antonio where they lived. She also looks like she's not too happy, but I imagine that frown is just from the sun in her eyes. Although she frequently used that same frown as an adult, and it could freeze you in your tracks.

PaPa was not a tall man — my grandmother was barely five feet tall and he looks to be about the same height here, although I think it looks like she's wearing high heels. In most of the photos I have of him, he's sitting down. A later photo, probably taken in the early 1940s, shows him and my grandmother with three of their four children — my mother is on the right, with her younger brother and baby sister beside her. There was another sister (the second child, after my mother), and I suspect she was the photographer for this one.

As I look at this snap, I'm realizing how much I'm starting to look like both my grandmother and my grandfather. Funny how genetics tends to creep up on a person, isn't it?

Well, happy Saturday, everyone! And now — back to my organizing.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda @ West Metro Mommy Reads.

To see more snaps or participate yourself, just head on over to her blog.

I Suck at Holidailies plus a Saturday Snap

OK, it's official now: I just can't handle Holidailies. I think this is the third year in a row that I've completely bombed out at trying to "regularly update" this blog during the Christmas season. I did have some pretty good excuses this year (two rounds of oral surgery, lots of pain meds which kept me comatose a good deal of the time), but still.... Three years in a row?

Actually, the whole month of December has been kind of weird around here. In addition to the fore-mentioned dental adventures, the weather here in central Texas just hasn't been very cooperative lately. Which is OK with me -- I love the sun and warmth and blue skies. But it did sort of keep me from getting into a festive, Christmas-y mood. It shouldn't really bother me that much, having grown up in San Antonio where Christmas Eve was usually 90-degrees and humid. When we'd gather at our grandparents' house for the family get-together, my grandmother would spend the entire evening yelling at people to "close the door and stop letting all the air conditioning out!"

But now the day has come and gone, I'm (sort of) on the mend (we won't discuss the reaction to the antibiotic at this time -- luckily for ya'll), and I think I'm finally getting into the spirit of the season. Also getting the urge to blog again. Maybe there's life after tooth-removal after all.

So I'm going to try to post to this blog a little more often during the rest of December. Maybe not daily (I think the hubby has planned a few out-and-abouts), but enough to keep me from feeling like such a slacker. Because I know you're all on the edge of your comfy chairs, waiting for my next bit of bloggy trivia.

Well, here's today's. On Christmas Eve, I generally try to take a photo of Michael and me together. Nothing formal -- just a snapshot of the two of us, for my own personal album. Usually with the tree or some of our toys. Neither of us is really great at posing, and even though we both love photography, we both also dislike having our own pictures taken. So it's usually a bit of a struggle. But this year it turned out to be pretty impossible. All of the photos were generally disastrous -- trouble with the lighting, camera timer doing strange stuff, but mostly because in every one of them I looked like I was being tortured. This was one of the worst of the lot, but at least I don't look like I'm ready to punch somebody.

Total Fail: Attempting to Take the Annual Christmas Snap

And just one more tidbit. See that skirt? Red-and-green plaid, pleated, rayon-silk blend. I bought that item at Talbot's in downtown Washington DC around 1989. It's older than most of you are, Dear Readers! I've worn it on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (or sometimes both!) every year for the last 25 years. One of these days, I'm going to take it out of the closet, and it's just going to crumble into dusty bits and blow away in a poof. It'll give me something to write about for Holidailies!

Linking up with Saturday Snapshot, too. I know that's a terrible snap, so here's a better one. I call this one Michael, the Mail, and the Blue Skies of Christmas:

Christmas just the way I like it

Saturday Snapshot: Bastrop Fires

If you don't live in Texas, you might not know about the fires that have been raging in Bastrop County, just east of Austin this last week. Around 4600 acres have been burned, and nearly 50 "home-like structures" destroyed. So far, it hasn't been as bad as the 2011 fire which lasted two months and destroyed over a thousand homes -- and I guess that's something to be thankful for. But it's still been a terrible time for the folks who live over there. The fire was extensive enough to send smoke billowing into Austin earlier this week, and we could see it in the distance, even though we live pretty far west of the city. This was the view from our front porch on Wednesday afternoon:

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Those aren't ordinary clouds on the horizon -- it's smoke over Austin in the distance. And it hung around all evening:

The fire-fighters say they think the fires are about 40% under control now, but a lot of people are still displaced and wondering if they'll have homes to return to. And with the extra-dry conditions we're having this fall, more fires are still a possibility.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but -- pray for rain.

Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by Melinda @ West Metro Mommy Reads.

To see more snaps or participate yourself, just head on over to her blog.

Saturday Snapshot: Foxy Visitor

Since we moved out here to the sticks (sorry!) this semi-rural area, we've seen several foxes around our neighborhood. It's always a thrill to see them out running around, since mostly they stay hidden. But lately we've had one napping in our backyard patio area.

I guess it's a good place for a siesta -- very secluded, and this time of year we're not out in the garden as much as we would have been a few weeks ago. At least, not in the middle of the day.

He comes mostly in the late morning and afternoon. I suppose all the rest of the time he's out hunting.

He's really a gorgeous creature and lots of fun to watch. (From a distance and through a window, of course! Which is why the shots are all a little fuzzy.) He looks sort of like a terrier, but he's also very cat-like -- especially when he seems to be sleeping with his eyes just a teensy bit open.

I'm pretty sure he knows we're here, and occasionally he'll glance up at the window while we're watching him. But he's really very nonchalant about the whole business -- a pretty cool customer.

Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by Melinda @ West Metro Mommy Reads.

To see more snaps or participate yourself, just head on over to her blog.

Saturday Snapshot: Daddy Long Legs

With all the wet weather we've had this spring, the bug population around here has zoomed. I'm not a real insect enthusiast, but I do like taking photos of some of the more interesting critters, and this caught my eye yesterday. Now I know that technically spiders aren't really "bugs" (and the hubby tells me that daddy long legs aren't like other spiders -- more like ticks), but all these creepy-crawlies seem pretty much the same to me.

At first, I thought "Tarantula!"

We have several of these clumps (or clusters) of daddy long leg spiders (or do you call them granddaddy long legs?) under the eaves of our house. At first, it just looks like one big spider, but as you get closer, you realize it's a bunch of individuals making up a huge clot of thingies (sort of like the Borg in Star Trek).

Togetherness, spider-style

And every now and then, one spider will make a break for it and go it alone. I'm wondering if it comes back to the bunch after reconnoitering or if it's on its own for good.

Leaving the nest

Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by Melinda @ West Metro Mommy Reads.

To see more snaps or participate yourself, just head on over to her blog.

Cold Saturday

Today's snap is the view from my craft room window:

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Sorry about the blurriness -- the window isn't as clean as it might be. Tsk, tsk.

Bleak, isn't it? It's a view of our back patio/garden area, and it looks so sad with all the flowers and plants gone. And even though you can't really tell from this photo (there's a lot of evergreen out there), it's pretty icy this morning. Cold, cold, COLD.

I hate winter. Can you tell? January is typically our coldest month here in the Texas Hill Country, and every year I have a harder time getting through it. Of course, it's nothing compared to the winters we used to struggle through up in Northern Virginia. But I guess somehow when we moved back down here, I was expecting year-round summertime. Don't know why -- when we lived in Austin back in the late '60s/early '70s, we had some of the coldest, nastiest winters I've ever experienced, anywhere. So I should have been better prepared.

And there's more cold, damp weather predicted for the rest of the weekend and into next week. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the red cedar and mold amping up my allergies and asthma. Bummer.

One question: Why am I not in Key West right now?

Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by Melinda @ West Metro Mommy Reads.

To see more snaps or participate yourself, just head on over to her blog.

Saturday Snapshot: Wild Life

I've been just sort of ignoring this blog for the last few months -- concentrating on my book blog when I have some extra time on my hands. But I don't want to let Joysweb die completely, so here I am again!

M and I recently moved back home to Texas, after living "up north" for the past twenty-some years (uh-oh! -- all our Virginia pals would hate hearing the Old Dominion referred to as "the North" -- sorry about that). And our situation is vastly different now -- we went from a highrise in the city to a large house in the Texas Hill Country. I've been experiencing quite a bit of culture shock, but also enjoying the wide open spaces -- and the array of critters that visit our yard everyday. So here's a sampling of some shots I've taken since moving in (click on photos to enlarge):

These two show up most evenings around dinner time. Of course, I think of them as Bambi and his Mom. Hope this Mom has better luck than Bambi's in the story.

Mr. Bunny is one of a pair of rabbits that come around very early in the mornings and nibble on what's left of the green grass in our yard. I think the drought is officially over now, but things are still really dry down here. He's not easy to see because he's pretty much the same color as the vegetation.

This guy shows up most evenings, too. He was a challenge to get a shot of -- at the slightest hint of movement, he speeds into the bushes or under a rock. Had to take this with my telephoto lens which makes him look formidable and distinctly dinosaur-ish. In reality, he's only a few inches long.


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Mom and Dad

I wrote this post several years ago for my family history blog, which I've mostly neglected ever since. But as the anniversary date has rolled around again, I figured I'd recycle it for Saturday Snapshot.

❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥

This would have been my parents' 70th wedding anniversary. I wanted to put up a photo in honor of the day, so I went searching through my albums. I knew I wouldn't find a wedding photo because there weren't any. My mom and dad were married in 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and just before my father enlisted in the Navy. It was a sudden decision, with the ceremony performed at the county courthouse – no fancy trappings or guests. And no commemorative photos.

But just finding a photograph of the two of them together was a challenge. Neither of them really liked having their picture taken, so they rarely sat for professional photographers. This shot is one of the earliest I found – taken in 1939 when they were high school sweethearts. They "went together" for a number of years before he popped the question. According to my mom's version of the romantic tale, he told her if she'd just get a job they could get married!

Well, she never got that job – her only ambition was to be a housewife and mother. And it took the uncertainty of a World War to push my father into action. They were happily married for fifteen years – until he died of heart failure a few months before his 37th birthday. My mother outlived him by forty-four years, and never remarried.

Yes, he was very tall – unfortunately, his height is something I didn't inherit. And although in this photo my mother looks like she's dressed herself from Salvation Army bins, she ordinarily had a much sharper fashion sense!

I miss them both.

❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Big Moon

It's been quite a while since I posted anything on this blog -- been neglecting it, poor thing. Lately, I've had all I can do just keeping up with my book blog, so this one has gone sort of dormant.

Boo-hoo, right?

Anyway, here are a couple of photos I took of the full moon we had earlier this month. I was amazed at how huge it looked and snapped a couple of fast shots, without using a tripod or anything, so not the best quality I'm afraid (click on the images to get a better look).


They tell me that the moon looks bigger when it's right at the horizon because you have buildings and other reference points to compare it to. But this one really looked enormous and a little scary.


Reminds me of the Bob Dylan lyric, "Don't the moon look good, Mama -- shining through the trees."

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Art Museum

One of my favorite ways to spend the day -- museum hopping in Washington DC. Actually, though, I love hanging out in museums just about anywhere.

National Gallery of Art, East Building exterior

And an interior view of the main lobby,
with the giant Alexander Calder mobile in the center.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Joy to the World

OK, the year is almost half a month old now, and I know everyone is sick to death of seeing Christmas photos. But I just had to put up one last one. This was a gift from my cousin MLB. Beautiful, isn't it? She does such gorgeous stitching. And it's very special because she made it herself and because it's my name!


And now she's got me thinking about doing some needlepoint again after many years. So maybe I'll pull out one of those unfinished projects for the new year. Although, when it comes to needlework, I really am much better at photographing it!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Underneath the Christmas Tree

...with a group of Hallmark ornaments.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Yesterday's Holidailies Post:
The Great Christmas Show, Day One

Saturday Snapshot: Fright Night

This one is in honor of Halloween. And it really is a snapshot. I've posted it before, but it always gives me a chuckle. It's a snap of myself and my younger cousin back in 1950-something, getting ready for trick-or-treat night. I'm the one on my knees in a (believe it or not) cat costume, sharpening my claws on my cousin's five- or six-year-old body!


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: All Dolled Up for Tennis

I know it's a little late in the day for this (almost NOT Saturday anymore), but I've been watching the US Open on TV all day, and thought I'd put up a post about it. But since I'm basically a very lazy person, I decided just to post a couple of photos of one of my Ginny dolls in her vintage tennis outfit. Both doll and outfit date from the mid-1950s and were quite fashionable in their day -- which just shows how much dolls and tennis have changed.


Ginny is about 8 inches tall, and she'd probably have a better chance on the court if she could find some tiny tennies for her footsies instead of those mary janes!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Lost in the Mist

One of the wonderful things about living so close to Washington DC is the availability of all the great art you can see in its museums and galleries. We don't visit as often as we should, but I do love the National Gallery and always see something new and amazing when I'm there.

Here's a shot I took the last time we were at the Gallery -- an art lover deep in contemplation of a painting by Jackson Pollock. From 1950, its official designation is just Pollock, Number 1, but it's usually known as Lavender Mist. And the mist certainly had this young woman mesmerized.



Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Garden Figures

Here are a couple more photos from our beach week, earlier this month. Shots of the figures decorating the exterior of one of our favorite restaurants in Rehoboth Beach.
The mannequins are painted with gold metallic paint, and are lit with Christmas tree lights at night.
A little eerie. A little kitschy. But the food is great!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: Better Days

Sorry to start the day off on a negative note, but so far July is turning out to be just a bit of a disappointment for me. It started off with Roger Federer wiping out at Wimbledon -- well, I suppose that might actually have been at the end of June, but near enough. Then Anna Massey, one of my favorite actresses, died. Then there was the death of the space shuttle program. Still can't believe we're letting the space program dwindle this way. Of course, it's expensive -- and that reminds me of the economic problems the country is going through, another downer. Then at the dentist's office this week (another disturbing story, but believe me, you don't wanta hear it) I read a magazine article about the new robotic librarians -- no need for human librarians anymore, even in those antiquated libraries that actually contain real books. And now we have the shutdown of Borders, one of my favorite places to hang out (and yes, I did actually buy books there -- but I guess just not enough books). Very depressing. The times just seem to be out of joint, somehow.

So here's today's snapshot. Sorry about the quality -- I think my husband actually took it by mistake when he was testing a new camera a few years back. But I thought it would be appropriate for my mood today. It's a shot of yours truly, against a backdrop of shelves with real books on them, reading an actual newspaper. And it may not do anything for you, but it cheers me up more than I can say.


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: On the Road with Mickey and Minnie

Somewhere in Tennessee. October 2008.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

Saturday Snapshot: A Day at the Park

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

The Hubby and I are getting ready to spend the Fourth at Shenandoah National Park. Just driving over for a couple of days R&R, and hoping for good weather and not too much heat (those cabins aren't air conditioned). These are a couple of snaps from past visits, showing my little travel doll Kayla enjoying some of the Park's outdoor scenes.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Saturday Snapshot: On the Segway Trail

Haven't posted anything on Joysweb for a couple of weeks. Real life has been getting just a little too real lately. So I thought I'd jump back in with a Saturday Snapshot. This meme is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books, and as she says: "To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online."

I snapped this photo of a family of Segway riders on the Mall in Washington DC last month after a visit to the National Gallery. I tried to get a shot of them coming at me, but they nearly rolled right over me -- so I had to be satisfied with the rear view.

(Click on photo to enlarge.)