Because I feel like I have nothing to say. It's ironic, I guess, since my entry from the twelfth was titled "Still There Are Words." I spoke too soon, I suppose.

I can't watch the images anymore. I want to, but it's too much. I'm sure I'm not the only one. After seeing the story of the two best friends, Paige and Ruth, on their way to California for another adventure, I maxed out. So I have to look at good things - pictures of people I love; photos from before. Life has never been so markedly "before" and "after," has it? At least not in my lifetime.

Some of them require only a caption, others a little story. And lord knows you can't go wrong starting off with a baby.

My nephew, the Little Peep -August 2001 (look at the feet on that boy!)

Miranda and Hannah - July 1999 (check out my Krazy Straw)

Mo at the OSU/Akron game - September 2001

Oh yeah, this is pretty much what we looked like during the entire game. Double-fisting with little Block O temporary tatts on our cheeks. We're classy. Go Bucks!

T in the Integra - 1993

I took this through the sunroof of my high school car - the big, blue Acura Integra. I just think T looks so cute, happy and young here. She was I guess, only 16. It's one of my favorite photos of her. The other is from Spain. I was standing on the second level of the pavilion in Gaudi's Parc Guell and she was coming up the stairs. I leaned over and snapped her picture as she looked up and flashed that smile, her hair pulled back in pigtails.

Mystery Drink! Summer 1999

Ah, Kahiki, how I miss thee. There used to be this great, kitschy Polynesian restaurant, untouched since the '50s, in east Columbus. In fact, my mom's sister and husband took she and my dad there on one of their first dates. This drink came out on fire and we all shared it. They tore the place down about two years ago, which is a damn, damn shame.

Page from my Junior year scrapbook

That's a self-portrait of Kimi and me, taken in the bedroom we shared in our junior year apartment. Our room was like a closet. I'm not kidding. We had bunkbeds and there were no windows. But we didn't care much - it was the Palace of Trouble. Freshman year the four of us, Kimi, Pony, Bridge and I, started this thing we roughly called "Quote Box!" Anytime one of us said something funny or memorable, we'd write it down and slip it into a sealed up shoebox. On the last night of freshman year our RA bought us Kroger brand vodka and wine coolers. We ceremoniously sat around in a circle, broke open the quote box and took turns reading them aloud one by one. We got ridiculously drunk, and that night is permanently ranked in the grand Top Ten Times I've Laughed Hardest list. (Bridge got so drunk, in fact, that Kimi and I wouldn't let her go out with us. Poor Pony stayed back at the dorm to take care of her. Bridge later ended up breaking into the dorm next door and I kissed some senior while standing on line at First Run. All around a night to [not] remember.) Our sophomore year we tried it again but it never took hold. Besides, Pony and I kept breaking into the box. By our third year, the method had morphed. Then, on the occasion of a quote-box worthy statement, I would write it down in my scrapbook, on the first two pages, where I'd affixed different photos of the four of us. The above is just a little segment. I still remember what all the inside jokes mean (although it took me awhile to remember the meaning behind "Louann"), and those pages make me laugh like a crazy woman.

My paternal Grandparents' marriage announcement
Toledo News-Bee July 1, 1936

The copy reads: Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Manns are announcing the marriage of their daughter, Jeanette Elizabeth to Dr. Robert Eugene ---, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. O. ---.

Dr. ---, who just completed a year's internship at Lucas County Hospital, was graduated from the Medical School of Ohio State University. He is a member of Phi Chi Fraternity. Dr. --- and his bride will go to Delta next week to establish their residence.

The bride was graduated from the Toledo Hospital School of Nursing. Since completing her training, she has been a member of the hospital nursing staff.

Several parties have been given in honor of Mrs. ---. Mrs. Glenn Manns, sister-in-law of the bride, was hostess at a shower, and Mrs. Kenneth E. Burkhalter, sister of the bride, entertained at a bridge party.

Okay, first of all, her maiden name was Manns. Correct in the copy, wrong in the headline. Ah, small town paper.

My Aunt Helen, my paternal grandmother's sister, died a few months ago. I was fortunate enough to be given several of her photo albums and this amazing scrapbook. I've been planning on doing an entry with it, but as it will be a lot of scanning and research etc., I haven't yet.

However, I love this picture of my grandmother. She's so beautiful! My grandparents eloped, hence no wedding announcement. I wish I knew the story - why they eloped, where they were married, all of it. But my grandfather is dead and beautiful, spunky, jazzy Jean has dementia and lives in a home.

She was my age in this photo - 25.

I love her.

The notify likes pictures. Pretty, pretty pictures.

[ previous ] [ index ] [ next ]