THURSDAY POTPOURRI: SPRING DAYS, PAST & PRESENT…

Good morning, and welcome to some visual images of life and family.  Today I’ll be featuring my great-niece Margaret…and a few others.

Emily and Margaret are showing off their Spring festivities:

Now take a look at our little flower…among the flowers:

Another glimpse of Margaret:

Now let’s step back in time…to a similar spring day, Circa 1982, when Emily was a baby.  She is not visible in this photo, but her older sister is on the far right.  Others include my niece Amy, left; my daughter Heather, middle front; my younger brother and his youngest son, in the back:

Back to the present, Fiona is showing off another new look:

Her cousin Aubrey, with her brothers, at Alec’s graduation from U.C. Berkeley:

Let’s take another look way back in late 1997, although we have moved beyond spring:  Fiona and Aubrey at play in my guesthouse in the foothills.  I was looking for a photo of that futon earlier, and stumbled upon it among some images I had scanned.  It has shown up in numerous houses of mine over the years, but after its time with the rough-housing kids who lived in the guesthouse, the frame broke. Sigh.

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Keeping up with the various branches of the family is an ongoing process.  How I love the role Facebook plays!

What does your Thursday look like?  What weekend plans are about to unfold?

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FRIDAY POTPOURRI: PAST & PRESENT…FAMILY & OBSESSIONS…

This week (and last) have brought a mix of new library books, recent downloads, and NetGalley and Vine Review reads.  (Above:  The New Neighbors, by Simon Lelic, purchased on April 10).

I like the feeling of making some progress toward acquiring books that I didn’t buy, while also enjoying the bliss of a new release book “whispering” toward Pippa, my Kindle.

So far I have borrowed five books from the library’s Overdrive System…and read four of them.  I just received A Nantucket Wedding, by Nancy Thayer.

Wedding bells are ringing, a family is reunited, and new love is blooming—for better or worse—in this captivating novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Island House and Secrets in Summer.

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This weekend, I plan to start reading some of my new and older downloads…and also spend some time with my granddaughter Fiona.  We have tentative plans for dinner and movie watching.   I love her new look (below); her hair is growing out, and it looks good on her, IMO.  I am even getting used to all the piercings.  LOL.  My daughter has a lot of tattoos, so these girls are definitely expressing themselves.

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Here is my daughter, some of her tattoos showing, with David, on their honeymoon trip to Europe.

 

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She has changed a lot since the days when she was a pre-teen.  Here is a shot of her in the townhouse, Circa 1980s.  Those were the days of flipped hair and jeans tucked into socks.  Back then, she was already preparing for her hair styling career.  (Note:  on the left, see my desk with a landline style that one doesn’t see anymore.  Nor do we usually see landlines).

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I still have a few landlines, though: Below, the Minnie Mouse phone is on display in my office.

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This designer pay phone (which works!) was one I purchased while living in that townhouse.   I also have a Winnie the Pooh designer phone that is resting on a shelf above my office nook…for the day I might want to bring him down.

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So now you know some of my secrets…I love designer phones; I enjoy photos from the past; and I am also in the moment with my family and love showing them off a bit.

What are you sharing today?

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SATURDAY POTPOURRI: SPOTLIGHTING FAMILY

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Welcome to our regular feature, Saturday Snapshot, our opportunity to showcase photos we or friends and family have captured.  The event is now hosted by West Metro Mommy.

Today’s photos will showcase family moments….

 

Here is Fiona, my 17-year-old granddaughter, who loves clearing out her closet and finding things to wear that she had forgotten about:

 

 

november - fiona clearing the closet

 

Here is a shot of some very cuddly children:  Fiona’s nephew and nieces, Maddix, Lilly, and Bella:

 

 

november Maddix, Lilly, & Bella

 

And here is another set of offspring:  two of Fiona’s nephews and a niece, Lexi, Logan, and Lane:

 

 

lane with lexi and logan

 

Now let’s head to Berlin, where my eldest son, Craig, the photographer, is impersonating someone familiar to us, who also happens to love donuts: (Dunkin Berliner is one of Craig’s blogs).

 

 

Dunkin Berliner blogger

 

Now let’s take a look back several years, when Craig was visiting some of our family in LA.  Some of you may recall photos of the Three A’s over the years:  Alec, Aubrey, and Aaron.

Here they are, disguised as monkeys, tumbling over Craig.  He calls this photo “A Barrel of Monkeys.”

 

 

Craig & A Barrel of Monkeys

 

And while we’re looking back, here is a photo I found while clearing out an old trunk; it is my daughter Heather, at age fourteen.  I love this one!

 

 

heather at age fourteen

 

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That’s my Saturday, with the spotlight shining on the present and the past.  What are you sharing today?

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