The Trouble With Pictures

My life somtimes seems to be controlled by pictures. I'm forever taking them, and scrapbooking them. I have untold photo albums. I have boxes, ziploc bags and random drawers full of photos. It's a nightmare.

I was reminded of my love-hate relationship with pictures just this week. I want to scrap my grandparents' 40th wedding anniversary from back in '88. I knew I had a bunch of pictures, it was just a matter of finding them. Some were in my photo box, in the '80s bag. Others were inexplicably in the '91-'00 bag. A few others I tracked down in various other locations, and yet I knew I was still missing some pictures, including this one:

Seriously, I was losing sleep over this. My frustration knew no bounds. And where did I finally find the missing pictures? Tucked into a photo album with other random '80s pictures that I'd totally forgotten about. Grr.


Now that the matter of the anniversary party has been settled, I'm faced with another. A stack of pictures from 1987 that feature my brother, my mother and I in a park-like setting that has no name. Mom can't remember, nothing was jotted down. Come on! I tried Googling a park with a Buddah in it, like in this picture, but to no avail.


Still I slog on. I'll have to put in another call to my grandparents, who have been teasing me with their old pictures. They were going to bring them for me to have (albums, people, whole albums!) the last time they came to NY, but there wasn't room in the car. Say what?? And they keep telling me they'll go through them and send me some when they get a chance. Hello! Retirees! Nothing but time! Sigh.


And hey, if you have any pictures I might like, feel free to send them. I'll add them to one of my many piles or CDs or albums!

Family Flashback: Weenie Wagon

Oh, how I hated the weenie wagon! Why my mother got it into her head to get this is beyond me. But I was stuck working in it with her in the summer (1987), parked down by Stamford pool or Jamesway in Oneonta. It was just a small little trailer, and we'd be in it all day in the heat, with boiling weenies. Mom gave all the hot dog variations dog names, and we branched out to include candy as well.

I can remember panicking every time Mom left me alone in the wagon because I had a hard time making change (especially for the woman who bought a weenie and paid me with a 50 dollar bill). I remember hooking up with Deaf Jeff that summer when we were parked by the pool, and wishing I could hook up with some of the guys when we set up at Aunt Marge's auction barn. I remember running up to Grand Union to get chicken wings to share with Mom (hot dogs lost their luster after awhile).

Mostly I remember being relieved when Mom sold the weenie wagon. I never missed it!

Family Flashback: Norma

Eli is out of town, so this seems the perfect time to have a laugh at his expense. (These are the times I love being a big sister!)

Those of you who know my brother probably think of him as a strapping outdoorsman, father of four, and church-goer. What you may not know is that he once used to like to wear women's clothes (okay, okay....girl's clothes) and call himself Norma.

There was one trip to Aunt Margie's that involved lots of dressing up. Heather and I would write these little plays and give Eli one-word speaking parts in them. For the occasion, he put on some of Heather's clothes (including the shoes) and a wig that Aunt Marge happened to have around the house. Voila! Norma was born.

Eli doesn't like to talk about Norma these days. Too bad!! When Iwas at Aunt Margie's this past week I took the opportunity to scan in some pictures. And of course I had to bring back Norma with me. My favorite memory of Norma is the the three of us sitting around Heather's little table, having a tea party. Eli had his legs crossed and everything. Too funny!

Thanks for the great memory, Eli!

Summer of 1983

Let's take a trip in the Way Back machine, shall we? I've been wanting to scrap the family reunion we had back in '83, but had been holding off because the handful of pictures that I have from then are less than stellar. It's a wonder anyone even bothered!

But I finally just sat down, used the so-so pictures, and told the tale of our crazy family reunion where adult pranks ran wild! (At least that's how my mother remembers it. My only clear memory of that weekend is my cousin Jay peeing on a bee that then chased him back to our tent in the yard.)

Here's the LO I came up with. If you want to be able to read the journaling, check out this page in my ACOT gallery!