A tour through my “Old Pictures” folder

A few years ago my brother Michael amassed photos of our parents’ young lives as well as of our shared childhood.  He created CDs for my parents and siblings that year and gave them to us for Christmas. Although I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, I’ve come to covet this CD.

This might be totally yawn-producing for you, but hey – it’s today’s post.  Bear with me, enjoy, or click the X… it’s totally up to you!

 

This is my parents’ campsite from the early 50’s, before I was born.  Not sure if it was in Germany or America; I’d guess America. Look at the car!

This is my (ever so foxy, dontcha think?!) dad, playing the “Church and Steeple” finger game with my brother Michael.  Dad is now almost 81 and Michael is 57.

This is Mom blowing lederhosen-clad “Mickey-Michael’s” nose.  My parents and Michael immigrated to America in 1953 – probably shortly after this picture was taken, obviously in Germany.

My aunt Ulli and Mom, waxing (?) their skis in Seefeld, Germany in 1952.  Interesting skis… interesting car… interesting clothes!

This is my mom’s uncle, Willi Merkl, who died climbing in the Hamalayas in the early 30s.  There’s a street named after him in Traunstein, Bavaria, my mom’s hometown.

This is my dad at the age of five.  Looking at this picture, I just want to mommy him.  Now THAT is weird!

These are my parents’ wedding pictures, taken in July, 1952.  At their 50th wedding anniversary, my brother insisted on doing a toast about this day because, as he says, he “was there.”  Scandalous!

 

This is my maternal grandfather, Max.  He’s a damn good-looking Bavarian dude, isn’t he?!

And this is my paternal grandfather, Carl.  He was a German-Jewish banker.  More is written about him here.  It’s a fascinating story!

This is my dad arriving in America to begin a new life!

This is the house I grew up in, in Berkeley.  (Before it looked like the pictures in this post…)

This my mom graduating from Cal in 1968, amid massive riots and student activism.  It was a very different place in 2006 when Elisabeth graduated from Cal!

This is me with my three brothers, in about 1962.  (Yes, the same brothers as in this picture…

…taken last month!)

Here we are again, conserving water.

This picture of me must have been taken before I was 18 months old.  How do I know that?  Because I still had two thumbs on my right hand (look closely!).  One of those was removed when I was 18 months old – and yes, it still looks odd now and yes, I’m still self-conscious about it!

This is one of my favorite pictures of me as a little kid because I look really happy and because I’m with my mommy.

…as opposed to this one, in which I look kinda snooty and stuck-up!

Here’s the question: did I wear a dirdl dress voluntarily?  Or did Mom force me to wear it?  I don’t remember… so that must mean I wasn’t traumatized by it, right?

There’s another dirdl!  I must have been traumatized!

My mom loved this photo.  One year, about 10 years ago,  she even gave a copy of it to all her kids for Christmas!  Isn’t it odd that she’s the only one who looks really good in it?

Fast forward a few years…

…and a WHOOOOLE lot more… like 30 more.  Until after Mom died and Dad fell in love with Lou (whom I adore too) -- and we are still proud to call ourselves a family.

And really, it’s ALL happened in just a proverbial blink of an eye.

Sauerbraten, käsespätzle, rotkraut, Bananagrams, family, friends, and pets.

It was a fantabulous day!  We started cooking early.  The rotkraut is always my responsibility.

When it comes to making sauerbraten, Peter subscribes to my mom’s credo: “Das fuehlt man.” (One just feels it.)

This is Bear, Jack’s Bernese Mountain Dog.  (Jack is one of CJ’s co-workers.)  Would you believe she’s scared of men (except Jack, of course), but loves women?

 

The weather was perfect so we could finally be on the deck.  Yeah – spring is definitely here!  Finally!

Peter and Shannon. They’re a great couple, and very happy. They keep each other – and everyone around them – laughing!

Beer – of course!  This is, after all, a traditional German dinner!

Jack and Bear.  Look at those faces!

Kat’s pre-dinner Bananagram!

Peter and Tom – classy chefs.  (Not…)

Shannon and Kat try to rile Boo.  Nope, not happnin’!  The cat is MELLOW.

Everyone gets put to work.  Elisabeth and Jack are preparing strawberries for strawberry shortcake.  CJ is… um… supervising!

Tom and Elisabeth “constructing” the Käsespätzle.  OK, actually Tom is constructing and Elisabeth is tasting.  Do you really want to know how much butter and cheese (and onions) are in this stuff?!

CJ and Elisabeth – cute couple, n’est pas?

Aleks and Kat are ready to eat!  Where’s the foooood?

The whole gang – Aleks, Kat, CJ, Jack, Tom, Elisabeth, Peter, and Shannon.  Dig in!

I inhaled it.

…and, I’m ashamed to say, this to.

After dinner we played more Bananagrams.  Boo had to get in on the action, of course.  His tail was right in Tom’s playing space!

We would have spelled “catatonic,” but the letters fell off when he breathed.

Shannon’s in love.  Obviously, Boo’s in love too. 

I had visions of Boo getting his head caught in the pitcher and stopped this.  Does that mean I’m an overprotective cat lady?

It was a great day!  The weather was great, the company was great, and the food was great.  What more can I ask for?

Productivity Boo-ster

My boss and I have an on-going tug-of-war.  He prefers that I work in the office and I far prefer working at home. Because I have a fully equipped home office, because I no longer have kids at home, because I’m fanatically self-disciplined, and because I can forget about the commute, the hair-and-make-up routine, and the whole getting-dressed deal (and because I’m still moving so slowly), I can get faaaaar more work done at home. 

And, whereas the sounds of the company office tend to be ringy-dingy office equipment and chattering co-workers, the sounds of my office tend to be more of an incessant, productivity-enhancing puuurrrrrr.

I finally found something President Obama sucks at!

Love the man, but he really sucked at reading Where the Wild Things Are to a group of children!

He should have sat on the ground with the kids and read with much more intonation, inflection and personality. 

“His mother called him ‘WILD THING’… and Max said, ‘I’LL EAT YOU UP!’  So he was sent to bed without eating anything.”

Is it because I read this book to kids a million times, both as a pre-school teacher and as a parent, that I apparently have really high expectations? 

Because really, I don’t even think this guy did such a great job:

This dad, however, has the right idea, dontcha think?

How my broken (but slowly mending) ankle is like our broken (but slowly mending) economy

1. Both were incredibly painful at the moment of the snap -- and still ache now.
2. Both caused trauma and shock.
3. Both are still fragile and can’t withstand any sudden, unexpected impact.
4. In both cases, the recovery is much slower than most people realize.
5. In both cases, we’re very tentatively back on our feet, but just barely limping along.  Baby steps.
6. If we get cocky, believing we’re good to go, and try to race along as if nothing happened, we’ll be right back to square one.
7. Even on the first anniversary of the fall, it’ll be best to move with caution.
8. It’s hard to get out of the “fear that it will happen again” mind-set.
9. Support from friends and family have made both more bearable.
10. In both cases, we got screwed (screws).

Is that Bananagrams in your pocket?

We discovered a new game when we were visiting my word game-loving family in the Bay Area last week.  Bananagrams is a little like Scrabble, a little like Upwords, a little like the Sunday paper crossword puzzle, and a whole lot of fun! 

It can be played with a whole gathering of word game-loving people, like my extended (ages 5 to 75) family…

…or with just two people, as shown here by the game Tom and I played last night:

  And the great thing about it is that it’s so incredibly portable that you can just stash it in your pocket and play it anytime, anywhere. 

Unemployment Central

Tom’s pink slip “came true” late yesterday and his official last day at work is today. He’ll be going back to his original career field of Environmental Science and Engineering, but after 8 years out (as a digital environments artist), it might be hard to get back into the environmental arena. I am cautiously optimistic.

Elisabeth was laid off from her job at a Women’s Research Clinic last week. She’s been accepted into nursing school for the fall, but she’ll be putting herself through school this time (she already has a degree from Cal), so she still needs to work.

And Aleks, Kat and Peter all need both jobs and student loans if they are to finish college.

So yeah – I’m the only one of the six of us who is employed. A little pressure? Um, yeah -- just a tad.

In other words, I am frikkin’ terrified!