Day 14: Eyes

Do flowers have eyes?  These peeped up at me yesterday when I was walking back from downtown.  People set out pansies this time of year to bloom over the winter.  The first winter I was here, I was blown away by being able to see FLOWERS BLOOMING in the cold and snow.  These look like eyes to me....little bright eyes, straight on, no blinking.  "Here we are!!"  Love 'em.

Day 13: Me and 13 Objects.

This was not an easy challenge, but late in the day, I found just the thing:  My dad's American Legion cap from Gilbert C. Grafton Post #2 in Fargo, ND.  There are 12 little brass-colored tin attachments and one cap = 13 objects.  He got the attachments for his efforts in enrolling new members from 1955 through 1961.

The little figures represent special awards. Starting at the left, the little tin artillery gun says he was  "Gleason Gunner" for membership in 1958. Next to that, the little ship's wheel, "Burke Bo'sun" in 1961. The cloth patch names him a "Go Getter."  Next, "Moore Missileer" in 1959. At the very right end, he was awarded the "1960 Membership Spur."

It's hard for me to think of my dad as active in any sort of club, but he certainly was--after we had all left home (I was the last to depart, in 1954).  The only time in my childhood years when he was never home when he wasn't working was on Saturday. (Occasionally, after Gene left home, he bowled during the week for his NW Bell Telephone league, and he'd take me along and park me at the bar with a bottle of 7Up.)  Early Saturday morning, he'd be off hunting or fishing. He provided most of the meat we ate during the war years.  My mom's baked chicken was a treat. On Sunday, he went to church, and after a big Sunday dinner, he'd read the newspaper, then turn on the opera on the radio, lie down on the sofa in the living room, spread the newspapers over himself, and take a nap.

When I was about 10, we got our lake cottage, and he added golfing to his activities.  He was an athlete all his life.  I have a little trophy he won from the N.W.B.T. Golf Club in 1932.  It even has his name on it:  F. T. Dwyer.

My first day in first grade, we got to buy savings stamps for the war effort.  I plopped my quarter down with great pride, but when they asked me my father's name, I was stumped! (Hey, I was 5 years old!)  "Um....I dunno...(much thought)..I know! It starts with F!  Fryer!!"  He always signed his letters, "Your loving father, F. T. Dwyer."

Day 12 Sunset.....

Sunset today 4:47p, est.....not quite this late, but almost.....

taken from the metro platform that's but 4 minutes from my house....lots higher up, though.  

The Inner Object: Seeing Kandinsky

The Inner Object: Seeing Kandinsky

Day 11: Something blue...

Today's challenge is "Something blue."  The sky is gray, so I stayed inside and took a photo of the photo on my kitchen wall.  The event was Jo's birthday party at the Tombs in, hmm...2001? The three BLUE shirts look nice and are nicely arranged.  Not everybody at the table is deaf, but everyone communicates in ASL.  

Who are they, and where are they from?  Starting with the guy on the left in the blue checked shirt:  Dennis? from Ireland, Mary from Iowa, Jo from Ireland, M.E. from DC, ?? from DC, Sophie from Belgium, Susanna from Italy, Radka from Romania, and Patrick from DC.  I don't know who took the original photo--maybe one of the accommodating waitstaff at the Tombs?  Sorry I can't remember all the names better.  Susanna may be Rosanna.  

Day 10: Childhood Memories

Childhood memories, photographic.  I don't have anything left from my childhood except this little 2.5"x 2.5" book of 16 photos that my mother gave me a few years before she died.   I used to have a note to Santa that I wrote in the first grade or so--had it for many years, in fact, but that's gone. It read, in part, "Dear Santa, I have been a jood girl." (As IF....)  The little black doll I'm holding in the Omaha picture is gone, too. It was a present from Sister Mary Mark, my dad's oldest sister, who was a nun.  I had maybe three dolls when I was growing up, and they're all gone to doll heaven. I can't say I liked playing with dolls, although my mother always handed one to me for photos.

The picture on the left is of me in front of our big house in Omaha, my birthplace (and excuse me while I smile....It always tickles me that I was born in the middle of nowhere.)  The photo must have been taken when I was about 18 months, just before we all took off to live in Fargo.  My dad and the older boys took Pal, dad's black labrador hunting dog, in the car and drove up, stopping at Mom's brother Henry's farm in Canby, MN.  Mom, Paul, Gene, and I took the bus, I think. (Or maybe Paul went in the car, too.) There isn't a train running north & south between Omaha and Fargo.

The photo on the right is the first picture in the little book that I remember being taken.  It may have been around my birthday (snow on the ground).  I'm wearing a new green woolly blanket-material snowsuit that my mother made.  (This garment later went to my oldest niece, Susan, who came along just 10 years later.)  My nose was VERY COLD that afternoon when my mother hauled me out in front of the house (our first one in Fargo) and had me pose.  I am holding a little rubber Porky Pig, which I'm surprised didn't shatter in the cold.  I was glad to go back in the house when the photo session was over.

Day 9: Someone You Love

I didn't take this today, but this is a picture of two of the people I love best on the planet:  Erda (l.) and Cathy (r.).  Erda, if this can be believed, is even older than I am.  We've known each other since Hector was a pup.  She still lives in Iowa City, and she's still a magnificent gardener, though she's cutting back a bit.  Cathy and I have been co-workers and trouble-makers for going on 14 years!  Both of these women are intelligent, warm, fun, funny--gifts from the gods.  The picture is from Erda's most recent visit to DC last year.  Thanks, you guys, for being my friends.  I love you.