UPDATE and National Dog Day

UPDATE: A bit stronger today, walking in the hallway of my building, making loops on the carpeted floor. Less peripheral neuropathy, too. I believe I will be able to return to work on Monday, part time, barring any unforeseen changes. Thinking this way and feeling this way is a real blessing.



It's National Dog Day, y'all. Here's my Daddy with two of his quail hunting dogs, Jack and Joe. He's not hunting them right then, he's walking them, training them. I believe this was taken in the mid-1960s. I love this photo a whole lot. Daddy hunted for many years with my Uncle J L. When they got a mess of quail, my Mama's mother, Mama Sudie, ended up cleaning and cooking them. I don't remember thinking that they tasted like all that, but the older folks liked to eat them--she fried them in her iron chicken-frying skillet on the gas stove in her kitchen.

UPDATE & Throwback Thursday. I took this photo on Friday, July 9, 2004, but that doesn't matter one bit because I'm using it today to show you my little Mama and me at the Bijou Cafe, eating our last meal in Portland on our first visit here to be with my sons. Now, she's gone, they're still here, I'm here, and the three of us are going to my chemotherapy appointment this afternoon.

If not for this woman, I'd be so scared at what I'm going to find out at 2:30 p.m. today.

As it is, knowing the smarts, the strength, and the determination housed in this sweetheart's little body all of her years--and because I am her daughter--I realize that I will come through the chemotherapy consultation  prepared to face what is next, not nearly as scared as I might have been.

My Mama (and my Daddy) taught my brother Howard and me to prepare ourselves mentally for what might be in our future, to rely on the love and support of our family, to see ourselves being successful, or, at the very least, coming out OK on the other side. My parents were not saints; they were hard-working people, trying to raise us the best that they could, by example in home life, work life, extended family life. Howard and I often speak about how we lucked out astronomically with the two of them as our Mama and Daddy. We'll tell that to anyone who will listen, smiling and feeling in awe as we speak, filled with great memories, loaded with impressions of strength and fortitude. Nowadays since he's still in Mississippi and I'm in Oregon, we talk on the phone very often, and I can see in my mind's eye the tilt of his head, the slight smile, the soft shrug of his shoulders, and the glow in his eyes when we're talking about Mama and Daddy, the blessings that they are our parents.

Because my husband LeRoy died when Lamont was seven and Leland was four, my Mama and Daddy and Howard played a huge role in helping to raise those two little boys into the men that they are today, not discounting one single iota of the influence of their Daddy's genes. He was the same kind of person as my parents. Able to see the humor and creativity and love in the people that the world sent our way, able to use inner strength and determination to get through what the world sent our way.

Lamont and Leland will be beside me at 2:30 p.m. today. There in spirit: Mama, Daddy, and LeRoy.

I love that I got to use one of Mama's favorite words in this post today, iota. She, who didn't get past the 9th grade, somehow discovered that iota fit perfectly when one wanted to discuss and extremely small amount. Thank you, Mama.

Busy Sidewalk, No. 2

I took this photo on Saturday, March 15, at 12:14 p.m. The daddy and the stroller captured my attention. Bye the time I got the camera up to take a photo from at least a block away, he'd turned to look over his shoulder. The photo looks north on NE 16th towards the intersection with NE Sandy Blvd. The cream-colored building behind the daddy with the double-stroller holding two sleeping babies is on the southeast corner of the intersection. I cannot tell what he has turned to look at or for. None of the people in the distance are paying him any mind. Everyone's happy to be out in the sunshine in mid-March!

Thankful for Thanksgiving Day and family memories.

These images are scans of small, much older photographs. The quality is slim, but the love is deep.



Thankful for having had these fine women as part of my life. Except for me, they're now all gone from here, to a place where I shall join them at some point in the I hope distant future. Left to right, front row, Ma (my Daddy's mother), Mama (my mother), Mama Sudie (Mama's mother). Back row, Aunt Baker (Daddy's sister), and me.

 

Also thankful for my dearly departed husband LeRoy and our two sons, Lamont and Leland.

 

Thankful for my Daddy, seen here with Lamont.

 

And my Mama, seen here with Leland.

Seen on the street, February 16, 2013, No. 6

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Sweet scene, this daddy and his two children patiently waiting for the MAX Green Line--I'm on the Yellow Line, so I know they didn't want it, or they would have been standing up as we approached. The rain stopped, the sun came out, a chill remained.

Pretty in pink, at the Race for the Cure

On this particular sunny Sunday, September 16, 2012, I saw lots of pink. Here's the cutest pink I managed to photograph. While walking with Daddy and being out of the stroller held the little girl's attention at first, the sound of approaching Mommy brought her up short, made her turn and walk straight into her mother's arms.