Times Gone By

The first few years of my childhood, my mother dressed us in our finest for holidays; Easter being among the largest and the dressiest of those.  Our wardrobe was selected weeks before, set aside and then prepared the morning of, we were primped an preened until we glistened. 

Once perfection was achieved, a photo was snapped.  

Usually.   

Then we headed off to church and onward to our grandmother's for family time and some grand eats. 

While those rituals (or traditions) were suspended by the time I was ten (our lives had taken and decidedly drastic turn) they were revisited in my late teens, early adulthood.  My initial nuclear family was well fractured but there was still the extended; at least until my maternal grandmother died.  I am thankful to have had her with us for the earliest parts of my children's lives for their own experience a few of those grand gatherings and grand eats.  

Through the years the rituals / traditions took on different shapes; church waned, dressing up waned, toward a slow roll to present day; celebrations are not even on THE calendar day.  

Everyday we are able to come together is a celebration.  The one constant through the years has been grand eats no matter who's in the kitchen and a grand experience.  

I love hanging out with my son, the actor (and beyond) and my daughter, the chef (and beyond). 

Happy Spring!

Soon Ah Very Soon

A blast from the past. 

Once upon a time, responding to the one and done, the threes of me, and other types of memes what's your favorite this or that, what's the last television show you watched, if you were forced to eat the last thing you eat from now on, what would that be..etc., was the order of the day, these things were  are a popular method to build traffic for a web pages.  

All over social media now, there are admonishments and warnings about participating in such folly especially when you don't know the source for this is how hackers are able to cull information about the responders toward . . . well, hacking them, co-opting their identity to do...whatever.    

So, I do no longer participate.  

Fact is, my participation on social media (FB and IG) is pretty minimal these days.  There is a small group of former bloggers who are still on FB and a smattering of family members with whom I interact but otherwise I stick to the art groups where we share and support.  

My IG presence is nearly a 100% art sharing space as far as my input with few exceptions; like when I shared the news of Pete's death.  

Yes, our elder statesman Pete died earlier this year.  I wasn't in a place to share that here until now as this space, of the other internet spaces I occupy on-line are intensely personal despite it not being a private space.  He was my first pet as an adult and my very first cat (ever).  I miss him everyday and have found it difficult to navigate the space his absence has created.  

I'm sharing that as a way to say yes, the time has come for looking back and looking ahead.  

Soon, very soon, 2022 will be a reality. Many are marking their resolves for the coming year.  Many are adjusting or creating habits and the such. Many are looking to change lanes and switch courses.    

I am among the many.  

What that all will look like in the reality of the coming months is yet to be seen.  

Perhaps more conversation in tis regard is forthcoming in the coming weeks.  

It is nearly December; warm and toasty mittens, hot cocoa, cozy evenings.  

I hope you all have had a pleasant and peaceful holiday--whatever you call it, how you identify it, celebrate it.  Or even if you don't (didn't) I hope your Thursday was full of hope, peace, love, and comfort. 

May Peace Be With You.  

Flashbacks

My Grandma "Big Mama" (w/my kids) 

My Grandmother (w/my dad) 

My mom (with my daughter) 

As you may imagine, yesterday was a bitter to sweet kind of day.  I spent much of the day alone (well, the dog and cats were about, but you get my drift) and as often happens when I'm with myself my mind flashes to times, past and present, good and bad.

Through music, FB tributes, other blogs, my scrapbooks of notes and photos, I walked through our histories, my memories. I am because they were. I miss them, I love them. I am grateful to have been and to remain part of them and to have them with me, now and forevermore.

#MicroBlogMonday 

Baby, It's Cold

cold weather cat

Most days I want to cry all the time. When I do cry I feel guilty and ashamed. When I don't, I feel the same. Most days I want to cry all the time, especially when it is cold.

It is cold now.

Most days I want to cry all the time. When I do cry I pretend it is because of something sad I saw, read, or heard. I deliberately seek the sad for a reason, because I think I need a reason, beyond the reason that is my reason. Most days I want to cry all the time, especially when it is cold.

It is cold now.

Most days I want to cry all the time. Beyond not feeling festive, I want to cry out loud. You know that feeling. Your chest heaves, your throat swells...you've seen a cat getting ready to vomit...it looks, feels like that. All. The. Time. Most days I want to cry all the time, especially when it is cold.

It is cold now.

Most days, I don't feel like working. I don't feel like playing. I don't feel like writing. I don't feel like drawing. I don't even feel like reading. Reading is everything. Reading is life ....I don't feel like...yeah, life.
Most days I want to cry all the time. Especially when it is cold.

I'm not saying I want my life over, I'm saying I don't have the energy for something more than what is at present.  I'm saying, most days I feel like crying all the time and that this feeling (not to mention the actual crying) is preventing much of anything else. It isn't the feeling like crying, but the reason . . . plural.

I'm saying especially when it is cold. And it is cold. Now.

It IS still October! Yes?

Nothing new, Macy's announced a day or so ago that the Black Friday events will begin on Thanksgiving Day. This has become the trend in recent years for retailers. Thus, I'm wondering how much longer Black Friday</> will be so named. 

And if the Black Friday events begin to take over Thanksgiving Day in a wholesale manner, what then will become of Thanksgiving Day?  Will it too become black? Or gray? Or . . . ?

I'm not a shopper and have never ventured out on the Friday after Thanksgiving except as a hostage. Thus, Macy's, Casey's, Dancer's, or Prancer's being open ON Thanksgiving Day matters not to me except for what it says about the universal US that cares more about being out scrambling around some emporium trying to score 40% off some thiga-ma-what or hulla-bla-lube instead of the usual, lying in a drunken stupor of too much turkey and mashed taters.

The holiday shopping season is make it or break it for some retailers, I get it. And with the competition from the internet retailers growing by leaps and bounds, the brick and mortar stores feel forced to do whatever they can to get folks in the doors spending, the sooner the better.

Again, this is nothing new. For years now the December holidays have bled all over Halloween; long before the last costume or bag of candy s gone from store shelves are those same shelves being laden with all manner of glittered baubles. Happy Holidays!

Some of us, however, are reveling in all that is fall, the leaves, the air, the pumpkin infused . . . everything and sweaters.

Once day at a time. Savor the day that is . . today. Happy October 17, 2013.