i took a quick trip to albany this weekend to visit my mom and to attend my 35th high school reunion—i haven’t been to one of those in a very long time. our class meets up very informally every year at a golf club, which makes it very relaxed and easy-going (haha, that’s our generation in a nutshell, i think).
i arrived on thursday evening and after dinner we watched movies while i knitted on a secret project.
i have several going right now which i need to make progress on, so all i have with me are things i can’t show you. which does not make for the best blog fodder.
fortunately, my mom is much more entertaining; she’s got all sorts of projects going on. for instance her flowering plants which grow beautifully for her every year. even those old impatiens are plugging away
we thought it was the end of the line for them, after 50 years of propagating from the ancestors of the original plants. my mom’s cuttings were completely wiped out when some sort of blight or fungus took all of them down. fortunately a neighbor had been rooting them successfully a few houses down.
she also likes to bake a LOT. and since she isn’t going to eat it all, she looks for opportunities to make goodies for others. like irish soda bread that she “just threw together quick” for someone this morning.
we spent some time yesterday afternoon getting a start on sorting the boxes of family photos she has. we are so lucky to have had a family that loved the camera! they didn’t even own one, but they recorded many big events and fun daily moments throughout the last century.
i love this set of photos; these are my grandfather’s parents, who gave him these photos when he left italy in 1920 at age sixteen. on the backs are inscriptions in the hand of each parent
my grandpa only saw his parents once again before they died; he and my grandma took my mom across the ocean for a visit in 1932.
my parents’ wedding pictures are also among my favorites; these mid-century studio portraits are just exquisitely styled, shot, and printed in rich black and white.
there are a ton of snapshots too, from picnics, parties, graduations, and days at the beach. we have a lot to go through and lots of blurry, out of focus pictures can really be disposed of at this point. sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.
i won’t add the photo i took home from the reunion—it turned out a bit blurry. it was a small gathering—but then, we were a small class. and i was the only woman from our class to show up. but it was a fun evening and i’m really glad i attended; it turns out that several of us have taken up (or rediscovered) running in the last couple of years so we chatted about that, among other things. i think we should do a 5k together some time, haha. hopefully i’ll be able to get back here for future class gatherings as well.
tomorrow i head back home; i’ll be traveling all day again. but i do have some good news to leave you with—we have winners for the carol feller book giveaway.
the digital copy from carol will go to our friend judi
and i decided to also give away my print version of the book; this copy goes to jerriF
congratulations to the winners; i hope you both enjoy your new books. and many thanks to carol feller for making the giveaway possible!
19 thoughts on “picture perfect weekend”
How lucky you are to have such wonderful family keepsakes like those photos of your great-grandparents. And your mom in her wedding gown? Stunning! She looks like she should have graced the pages of a bridal magazine in that dress. Enjoy the rest of your visit.
I’ve been trying to make identifying notes on the back of family photos. Unfortunately, I no longer have any elders to ask for help, so it’s a bit like finding a Rosetta stone: I know one picture, so that must be him over here.
Do ask questions while you can!
Old family photographs are just wonderful. I have box loads that I have inherited. Even if I don’t know much about them, it’s fun to imagine what their lives must have been like. Your Mum looks very glamorous in her wedding photo. Beautiful!
Your mom in her wedding gown. Gosh, there aren’t even words for how beautiful that picture is. When my dad died, I downloaded the pictures from his phone, and took all the photos in his house. I spent a week scanning, editing, and putting all of them onto thumb drives for each sibling (and myself), plus I set up a digital frame for my grandma, so she has all the pictures of her grand and great grandkids. It’s exhausting, but I’m going to do that for my mom’s pictures too. No hurt feelings over who gets which picture, plus, if the original is damaged or lost, it’s still out there.
This post is such a visual treat!
What a blessing to be able to spend time with your mother! and friends! Safe travels.
Oh, I love the photos of your great grandparents; how your grandfather must have treasured them as a young man starting a new life in a strange country! My grandfather also came here from Italy in 1920 (he was 13). What courage it must have taken!
wow! Thank you for sharing these pictures and your family story. The letter is sooooo sweet.I was deeply moved when I read it especially all the love in the last two lines. Grazie!
Anne, what a special blog! I wanted to be able to enlarge the pictures to really study them….beautiful!
Such wonderful photos — especially your great-grandparents and the one of your mother as a beautiful bride, Treasure them all, and treasure your Mom!
It would be great to see your wedding photo next to your mom’s. Given what little I know about you and also given the times, I’m going to take a wild guess and wonder if maybe you did not wear a formal “bridal gown”???
Oh love the picture with the bridal gown, it’s just so gorgeous!
What a great post. From the previous comments, obvious that it strikes a chord with so many of us. The photos were absolutely wonderful, especially your mother. Reminds me of our family as well and also how great photography was back before the digital age. Very rich and warm tones. Recently went to my 50th high school reunion. We were all like spring chickens! It was a lot of fun. You have something to look forward to 15 years from now. Try to make the women show up. So sorry about your mother’s impatiens. I was warned this year at the garden center about the fungus and veered off towards vincas instead. Now about that Irish soda bread… do you have the recipe???
It sounds like a great trip! Do you know I’ve never been to a high school (or college) reunion? Hmmm… I love the family photos – that’s something I need to organize myself sometime.
wow! what wonderful family treasures. thank you for sharing these pictures with us. i love digging through old photos, too.
Yes your mom is just glowing in that photo. Very well done.
Oh Anne, how wonderful you have these pics to remember your family. Your mothers wedding picture is just gorgeous. My grandfather came “over on the boat” from Spain in 1919. He was 10 and we have just one of his family pictures from then. But lots more from just after. Love and treasure them.
Irish Soda Bread – now that brings back memories of my grandmother. She made it all the time. I have her recipe and should dig it up to make. It’s even in her handwriting. I have her knitting books and they are filled with her notes too.
What wonderful old pictures – so nice that they are so well preserved. What a nice walk down memory lane for you!
Thats one of the most beautiful wedding gowns I have ever seen!
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