Way Back Wednesday

This week's picture is of my Godparents, Jo-An and Hammy Hamilton. The Hamiltons were childhood friends of my  mother and Mrs. Hamilton even went to college with my mom. We visited them whenever we went to visit Ging Ging, and once, long after Ging Ging had passed away Rob and I traveled to South Weymouth where the Hamiltons had an art store (it may have been a framing store -- but I remember lots of art around). Mr. Hamilton gave me some advice on decorating by telling me that I should get a large projector and put a picture of a cow on my wall and trace it. Viola -- instant wall art! He was kind of crazy as I remember and I was very sad when he passed away several years ago, even though we didn't see them that often. Mrs. Hamilton was and is every bit a best friend to my mom. In fact, she made the ride from Massachusetts to New York to pay her final respects to my mom last March. It was great to see her, but heartbreaking under the circumstances.
Here they are in happier times -- this is my parent's surprise 25th anniversary party held at Peter Pratt's Inn in Yorktown (I love surprises and so whenever possible I like parties to be a surprise, even if OTHER people don't like them so much...!!!)  You can also see Aunt Brenda in this photo off to the right. Aunt Brenda was (and is) the kind of cool aunt that every teen-age girl wants to have. You can see in the picture that she was very cool with her funky mod jewelry and 'fro! (See Aunt Brenda, it was only a matter of time before you made it to WBW!!)
The Inn is still there, still operated by the same family (although it is now the son who runs the The 25th anniversary was also attended by Uncle Al and Aunt Mary as well as local family friends the Ports and my dad's college friends the Ackers. Oh and all my siblings were there, too!
I have no idea what we got them for a gift, but I do remember having friends from all stages of their lives write letters and send photos that we put into a scrapbook to give them.
The 25th anniversary was lots of fun, especially since when all was said and done, I'm thinking that my dad probably paid for the dinner...

Tomorrow

Hannah's going to be in a beauty/talent pageant in a few weeks and we've been working on her talent presentation. 

This video is not her best effort (although it's pretty darn good!) and in the pageant she'll be singing with a karaoke version of the song but right now we're trying to work with a hand-held microphone. It's not Rob's best effort either and the look she gives the camera when he makes his second mistake is priceless and very "Hannah" so I thought I'd share (with both Rob and Hannah's permission)"...

Way Back Wednesday

I don't know much about this picture except that it might be my ticket to meet Anderson Cooper. Why? Because the woman in the center of the photo is Thelma Vanderbilt, of THE Vanderbilts, of which Anderson Cooper is also a relation.
Now, according to my dad, Thelma was a distant relative of the Vanderbilts, but she was also a dear friend of my grandmother who is on the right. So it's like we're practically related, too.
I don't know who the guy is or who owns the plane. I thought that maybe it was Howard Hughes, but a google search for photos shows that Hughes parted his hair on the other side. Also he was probably only about 10 when this photo was taken.
But even though this picture is not going to get me to meet my dear cousin-by-friendship Anderson, I think it's also just a cool photo isn't it? It really shows a moment of time when people were carefree and had the luxury of sitting around on the wing of an airplane with your company's coming hat and have someone take their photo.

Way Back Wednesday

This picture is interesting to me for several reasons. First, anyone who knows me, has seen this expression. Obviously I began perfecting it in my rebellious teen years. Also this picture shows why I much prefer to be TAKING the photos, not starring in them (seriously, what is UP with my hair???) 

Mostly though, I love this picture because it includes my Great Aunt Marian, Ging Ging's sister. It was always fun when Aunt Marian was around. I'm pretty sure that we were sitting at the table at Ging Ging's apartment getting ready to eat tuna sandwiches and then watch one of Aunt Marian's "stories" on television. She was a CBS watcher, but we would sit and watch with her, even though at the time we pretty much watched NBC soaps at home. 

It was always fun to go to Ging Ging's apartment. It was right on the "square" in S. Weymouth, so we were allowed to wander around by ourselves. We could easily get to the movies,the 5 and dime, the drug store, the music store, the library and -- my favorite -- the bakery. There was also a park right behind the apartment building that you could see from Ging Ging's balcony and in the summer they had free programs where we made all sorts of things with gimp and telephone wires.

Overheard

I think my children are very funny. Usually when they are trying to be serious. But sometimes they are really just funny. Here's a sampling:

Heard in the car:
Hannah -- Mom, I have a very important question.
Me -- Okay (bracing myself...) what is it?
Hannah -- How can I marry Jayden if I don't even know where his house is?

Heard in the family room
Me, as I am playing Angry Birds on the computer and the girls are watching -- You girls need to go to bed right now. I've got work to do.
Girls go to bed, but then Lizzie comes back downstairs to get a stuffed animal.
Me -- Go to bed, Lizzie, I'm trying to get some work done.
Lizzie -- your bird and pig work?

Heard in the car:
Me -- Is there anything you girls want to do in London?
Hannah -- I would like to meet the Queen.
Me -- She might be busy but we will go see her house
Hannah -- Then we should make sure we go when she is home.

Heard while doing homework:
Hannah -- I don't know why the boys all don't like me.
Lizzie -- They will like you a lot once they realize that you are a smoking hot girl

Also heard while doing homework:
Hannah -- I don't know why the girls don't all like me
Lizzie -- They already know you are a smoking hot girl and the boys are going to like you soon.

Heard while Lizzie was having a temper tantrum:
Lizzie -- You are a plump old jerk (and yes, she was punished once I finished chuckling!)

Heard while I was telling a particularly hysterical story:
Hannah -- Mom, you are hysterical
Me -- Thank you, Hannah!
Hannah -- What does hysterical mean?

And now for a completely off topic photo! This was taken on Tuesday, which was Rob's birthday. The girls made the cake (from a mix) almost entirely by themselves (I put it in the oven) and then frosted it. Those white things are marshmallow bunnies:

Way Back Wednesday

Well that week went by quickly, didn't it? And here we are taking another trip down memory lane. This time it's not exactly MY memory, but rather a photo from a bag of pictures my dad sent up to me via Terry who visited him a couple weeks ago. Lots of good stuff in there that I'll be sharing over the next few weeks, but I wanted to start with this one because, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT WALLPAPER??? Seriously, what were people thinking in the 1950s?

:)

Actually I like this photo because it means I can introduce you to my dad's mom, Alphonsine. When we talked to her, we called her Grandma, but when we talked about her it was always Grandma Garrity. I have no idea why, as my mom's mom was Ging Ging, so it wasn't like we were going to get the grandmas confused. That's her there on the left. My mom (looking VERY much like my sister Terry) is in the middle ad that handsome, almost smiling guy on the right is my dad.  I don't see a ring on my mom's hand so this picture was taken before 1956 but I have no idea where. The couch actually looks like a couch at Ging Ging's house, but it's unlikely it was taken there. 

And does anyone else think it's totally adorable that Mom and Dad are holding hands? Sweet.

Way Back Wednesday

It's Wednesday so get ready to take a trip back in time. Today our destination is 1961 where we discovered that not only was I a totally adorable 3-year-old, but also it's quite likely that I am related to royalty. For those who don't know, my mother's family has been here since the Mayflower. In fact, we are related to TWO passengers on the Mayflower. One, I think was a good guy and the other, I think was a horse thief or something. I'm sure Aunt Brenda can fill us in on the comments.

However, in this picture I'm sure it's clear that we are not just related to The Pilgrims, but also to Queen "We Are Not Amused" Victoria. Sure when we were kids we knew her as "Ma," our great-grandmother. In this picture Aunt Anonymous and I were visiting her for some celebration (although I have to say that AA and I were VERY well dressed little girls so it's possible this wasn't a celebration...). But if you look closely you'll see who "Ma" really was. 

This is Ma...

And this is Queen Victoria. 

See what I mean??

Well, I have to say that I noticed the resemblance the first time I ever saw a picture of the Queen, even though Ma died when I was in kindergarten and I only remember about three things about her.

1) She never walked anywhere. She always sat very regally and everyone waited on her.

2) She wore a lot of hats. Probably to hide her crown.

3) She got mad when she saw people hanging their laundry out on Sundays. (I have no idea what this has to do with being a Queen, but it's the third thing I remember about her...)

Oh, and I was kind of scared of her although I probably had no reason to be. 

Perhaps that's not enough to PROVE that my great-grandmother was Queen Victoria, and SURE, Queen Victoria died more than a half-century before the top photo was taken and PROBABLY I'm not really related to royalty, but a girl can dream, can't she? Oh, and I'll add that I have no idea who the little girl with the back to her camera is. She's too old to be Terry or our first cousin Mary Kay, but she might have been the grandchild of one of Ging-Ging's siblings.