yooperprof

Posts tagged with "family"

Half a century

Monday, 28. December 2009, 03:21:31

parties, family

Brother Dan turned 50 yesterday, and we had a celebration (and a cake) at a local establishment. Way to go, bro!

2 comments

Family History: newspaper clipping from 1937

Wednesday, 2. December 2009, 03:25:08

newspapers, family, history

My Dad in 1937! I found this newspaper clipping in an old photo album. It's from the "Nassau Daily Review" (Long Island, New York) of Janaury 27, 1937. Caption reads: "Robert D., nine year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel D., is pointing to cracks in the wall of the upstairs wall of his home, Merrick Road, Merrick, which were caused by the sound vibration of aerial photographic "bombs" sent down from an army plane last night. Mr. and Mrs. D. recently had their home redecorated, but now the walls of several rooms, upstairs and down, show cracks from the explosion. A baseboard was broken in one room and a ceiling damaged in the kitchen."

3 comments

All in the Family

Sunday, 25. October 2009, 19:44:09

family

The house in Prairie Village where my family lived between 1973 and 1991. Unfortunately no one was home yesterday afternoon - my Dad wanted to go inside to check how the place is looking there days, and we all wanted to take a look at the back yard.

Growing nephews Ryan and Zack

Three generations

Father and sons

7 comments

All About My Mother

Monday, 14. September 2009, 00:17:28

marathons, family

My mother finished her 95th marathon last weekend. She ran the "Heart of America" marathon in Columbia, MO., which is purported to be an unusually difficult race because of its hilly course as well as its timing - Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad last weekend in mid-Missouri; the midwest has generally had a pleasantly mild summer.

The photo appeared in the local paper there, the "Columbia Missourian." According to their sports' reporter, "the 50th Annual Heart of America marathon held Monday is considered one of the most difficult in the United States because of the heat and the grade of hills. Most competitive runners avoid it because of its potential impact on their national standings."

You may notice an injury on my mom's knee. She told me that she had a fall in mile two, but was able to pick herself and continue without flinching. And unlike certain tennis players, my mother never resorts to vulgarisms, even during the stress of competition!

9 comments

Mom of the Antarctic

Thursday, 19. March 2009, 04:13:57

family, poetry, Antarctica

Just a couple of photos that my mother sent up from way down under. It sure looks barren.

Claire Beynon is a New Zealand-based artist and poet. Here's a poem she wrote called "Flag Taunt", from her 2007 collection "Thin Ice: Poems From Antarctica":

Flag Taunt

Get on with it
wind
show us no mercy
wind
set us a-quiver
wind
red
wind
yellow
wind
green and black
wind
white on white
wind

Its okay
wind
theres no one here but her
wind
and us
wind
no one else watching
wind
save light
wind
and ice.

Send a thrill
wind
through our spines
wind
listen when we laugh
wind
lean bodies leaning
wind

Show us
wind
your best and worst intentions
wind
nothing you do
wind
can undo us
wind

Get on with it
wind

http://www.clairebeynon.co.nz/

8 comments

Seven Continents

Thursday, 12. March 2009, 19:26:36

family, travel

Yesterday I received an interesting email/mobile text from my mother.

She was writing from aboard a Russian research/travel ship in the middle of the Drake Passage, between the Cape Horn and the northern edge of the Antarctic Peninsula.

She just wanted me to know that she had successfully completed the Antarctica Marathon, run on the island of St. George, one of the South Shetland Islands, and considered to be part of the continent.

In doing so, she has completed a significant life-goal and now joins a rather select group of individuals who have run a marathon on each of the seven continents.
http://www.sevencontinentsclub.com/

I'm very proud of her!

Incidentally, St. George Island is home to a number of research stations operated by several of the nations which have "protectorate" status, but matters relating to human affairs on Antarctica are closely monitored by the international community which insists that no tourists be allowed to stay overnight. Apparently, it is permissible for cruise ships to drop their passengers on Antarctica for short day time tours, but the only overnight accomodation is for certified "researchers". I think I read that last year Antarctica recieved 37,000 day visitors - and some people feel as if that was too many.

7 comments

Dire Straits?

Saturday, 31. January 2009, 20:36:15

family, economics

The economic news is not good. A headline in the "Financial Times" this week predicted the worst global economic downturn since World War II. And inside the FT, a Cassandra-like columnist made a compelling argument that "the West's luck has run out":

"Prepare for a wrenching, unstoppable redistribution of wealth - and I'm not talking about domestic taxes. For too long it has been more profitable in the west to finance consumption rather than production. That cannot continue. I am afraid that the west's credibility has run out. This vast reordering of our economic system has only just begun. We shall have to cancel all the self-indulgence of endless welfare spending and cultivate rather more of a work ethic and a sense of self-sufficiency. Expectatations must be modified and attitudes altered profoundly. Expect years of negligible growth, permanent high unemployment, declining property prices, higher taxes, crumbling currencies and falling living standards."

Cheers, mate!

Meanwhile, I think I'll go back to working on my family scrapbook. It's a nice, inexpensive, low-tech, low energy hobby. Here's a photo of my Dad and Joe DiMaggio, taken at the New York Yankees spring training camp in St. Petersburg, FL in 1939:

2 comments

Pieces of Time

Thursday, 8. January 2009, 05:00:57

photos, family

I'm back in Iron Harbor, resuming my peripatetic existence. Social life. Antique shopping. Brewing tea. Reading the biographies of minor Royalties. Some teaching. And shoveling a lot of snow, too, right now.

Another activity upon my return has been sorting through and organizing several boxes of family photographs. (I'm the family historian, wouldn't you know it.) My Virgo-ish desire for organization is at work, making plans for a geneological website, albums dedicated to particular individuals and places, and restoration and enlargement of the pictures that set off the most reverberations.

My grandfather Walter and his parents, Jake and Emma - the photo dates from 1888 and was taken at a studio in Boonville, Indiana.

My grandmother Lola - aged 5, in 1907. I'm not sure right now where the picture was taken: either in the old country, in Pesaro Italy, or in the new world, in New York, shortly after her transatlantic journey. I'll have to check my Ellis Island papers and remind myself of the precise dates of her passage.

2 comments

Bottle Party

Monday, 29. December 2008, 17:46:16

family, red wine

We had a wine tasting Saturday night to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday. (She's better known as Ryan's mother.) She's the last of the siblings to reach this particular milestone, and so I wrapped five bottles of different "Syrah" or "Shiraz" wines in aluminum foil for our truly unbiased evaluation. (I alone knew the true identities of our mystery contestants.) It's fun to hear what different opinions people can have of the same wine. What one person tastes as cough syrup, another might perceive to be silk! You may discern nutmeg and honey, while I may only sense smelly socks and vinegar. In our group of 7 tasters, 4 people preferred the Ravenswood 2006 Vintner's Blend Petite Sirah, while 2 picked the 2006 Funky Llama Shiraz from Argentina, and one sole tongue savored the 2006 "Climbing" Shiraz from Australia. "Chacun a son gout," more or less!