My father (84) and his sister, my Auntie Vi (90), were never close and haven't seen each other in ... twenty-plus years.
But Vi has been on a road trip with a niece (not me, obviously) and they stopped in on my father yesterday. My cousin sent me proof, below, right.
They are from a family of ten children; below, left, is their mother (25 years old) and her three oldest children (r.i.p.).
Genes really work, eh?
Now that I'm sewing, maybe I will try stitching the pattern on my grandmother's dress, which I've always admired. She was an accomplished seamstress; I imagine she made it herself.
I always say my Sicilian side reminds me of artichokes:
tough survivors, with tender hearts, if you can get past their outer leather & spikes.
My mother, on the other hand, was like a hot house flower that wilted with any change in conditions.
I'm glad that I have some of her sensitivity but plenty tough skin too.
Like a . . . baby rhino!
Time for a Baby Rhino of the Day:
orphaned baby white rhino, Gertjie, trying to copy his best friend’s behaviour, goat Lammie, by hopping & skipping around like a lamb. [more info at Green Planet]
But Vi has been on a road trip with a niece (not me, obviously) and they stopped in on my father yesterday. My cousin sent me proof, below, right.
They are from a family of ten children; below, left, is their mother (25 years old) and her three oldest children (r.i.p.).
Now that I'm sewing, maybe I will try stitching the pattern on my grandmother's dress, which I've always admired. She was an accomplished seamstress; I imagine she made it herself.
I always say my Sicilian side reminds me of artichokes:
tough survivors, with tender hearts, if you can get past their outer leather & spikes.
My mother, on the other hand, was like a hot house flower that wilted with any change in conditions.
I'm glad that I have some of her sensitivity but plenty tough skin too.
Like a . . . baby rhino!
Time for a Baby Rhino of the Day:
orphaned baby white rhino, Gertjie, trying to copy his best friend’s behaviour, goat Lammie, by hopping & skipping around like a lamb. [more info at Green Planet]
3 comments:
That is so...precious, for lack of a less cliche word. But, well, it is!
Well, a friend will always give it a go, and the other friend will always appreciate the effort.
How dour the figures of the older photo look, especially compared to the more recent siblings. Hard lives, then.
CROW: The rhino & the goat, or the father & sister. :)
(Both, to me.)
ZHOEN: Yes, my poor grandmother, it's a grim list alright:
childhood immigrant from Sicily (to Milwaukee), 4th-grade education in the US, married against her wishes at 17; no money, an unloving husband, and four kids by the age of twenty-five...
NOT a happy life, though it improved considerably! after WWII, and she lived fairly happily, I think, as a widow for almost thirty years.
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