Sisters

Currently on opposite edges of the continental US

time machine-scode lake

He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.--Coleridge
On the road to the lake, I am searching for the real lake name and lat/lon. It was in Franklin County or Henry County. This back when hauling people in the pickup was legal. Back when American kids were skinny. Oh lost!

brothers

serious

looking serious at their uncle's request

family

Walked into town for a movie with Robin, The Blind Side. Some families you are born into, some you choose. Both are good.

Kodachrome slides. Top image, Warrenton Virginia, Lee's Ridge c.1963, photo by LtC Bill Emory of his children. Bottom image, our father, summer of 1968, by me, shot out of the bus window.

1922

pony

July 24, 1922

four months, fifteen pounds, seventeen months, twenty-eight pounds

Merry Christmas!

Hardings Wharf, Dividing Creek

site of former Piankitank Line ferry stop

Thanksgiving

with family

family

Gray visits Sophia's perch on the stairs.

family

my sister is in town, on the other side of the room drinking coffee. She said "day of rest is still up". Lets see what we can do about that...

Yeocomico River

Yeocomico River

monster light

2x2x2x11

Earlier in the week I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor. I helped my mother with this job when I was a child. She'd let me use a safety razor, to cut built up wax off the floor. So it was in the days before sheet goods.
This floor gets washed and waxed once a year. The only thing that builds up on it is red clay. No wax problem.
Today is 88th anniversary of my father's birth.
I miss him.
I will miss him forever.

first dog

Ricky is the first dog I remember. He lived through a lot of things. He was careful not to get left behind, loaded himself into the trunk of my dad's car, making a point.
This is one of my father's Kodachrome shots (desaturated 50%).

Poplar Grove

Poplar Grove

attic

Poplar Grove, archive space.

standing falling

in the front door. circle round. out the back. make time to talk to the people you love.

return

Uncle Bill died this weekend, a good man. Earth mourns, heaven celebrates.

blessed are the notetakers

In the midst of this overflow of generous sentiment, one country gentleman, an admirer no doubt, of both parties named, asked Mr. Webster what his estimate of Mr.J.Q.Adams was. It was like a wet blanket on the conversation. Mr. Webster threw himself back in his chair, and, as if speaking to himself without any reference to the question asked, said in his deep bass voice, "I hate a man who takes notes."- WHE

My high school English teacher painted me a picture emblazoned with the legend, "they don't hand out prizes for persistence." The English teacher's father, an English teacher, has a persistent student now running for president.

Today is the 65th birthday of another English teacher, pictured above (1976) and below (2002).

Everyday he writes the book.

If I were king, I would require, of everyone, leave a summation behind.
The conclusive epitaph.
A report to those who follow.
Stone tablet, novella, music-video, diary, the form is your choice. What did you do, what did you leave undone?
Everyone renders an account.
There would be vainglorious and delusional autobiography. There would be truth.
The words, the deeds, the love, the people, all go to dust.

Leave something that speaks.


Samuel Chase Coale writing the book

mamie and lana

Cousins' expressions are result of that often heard photographer request, "don't smile."

mamie

Saw the cousins this weekend. We made a plan. We are all moving to Mexico.

thanksgiving

dividing your heart

edith

April 1918

edith

Colonel Edith Mary Nesbitt Moss, Royal Army Medical Corps, surgeon. Edie was born at Stainfield, in Lincolnshire.

Waterfront

Near the mouth of the River Ouse. Adeline Virginia Stephen was in the water for eighteen days before the children found her.
"What is the meaning of life?... a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark." Va. Woolf

family

take me back, for a half hour, take me back

postmortem

Each soul departing with its own isolation,
Strangest of all strange companions,
And best.- D.H. Lawrence

mask

missing the beach

...and missing the person on the beach. Edith Mary Moss, born in Stainfield, Lincolnshire, 1889. On Vero, 1960.

1988

Life is rich with alliances.

POD4

My Mom gave me this life fifty thee years ago. She is my source and inspiration.

day of rest

Lorraine 2

Road to hell? Paved with good intentions.

Rescued Lorraine from the SPCA. Did everything right.

I asked the vet about the lifespan of Jack Russell terriers. It is hard losing dogs to mortality. They die way too soon. Wanted to be sure I was adopting a dog that could live a long time.

I said "how long do terriers live?"

She said "between 15 seconds and 15 years."

Texas

Emma and Helen crossed the Sabine River yesterday.

home alone

blackbird on the streets of Davetown, Dave's birthday today

Blackbird flew south this morning after 2 weeks of being my caretaker, shepherd and everything through rain, night, frost, fugues, depressive interludes.
I haven't been easy, but I have rested easy, I have been cared for. A curative visit appreciated beyond words.

Amsel flew towards the south this morning after 2 weeks of the Centres my employee, sheepdog and all by rains, harms, freezing, Fugues, of Zwischenspiele depressing. I was not simple, but I have simple, me interested was stopped. A curative visit estimated beyond the words (english to german to french to english again, courtesy babelfish, the poetic translation machine)

nuclear

defending her honor

Every Thanksgiving involves the extended family.
Photo opportunities abound.
It is a sweet time.


This is a photo from last year (4x5")