dunewalking : 53 project week 30

Since Hurricane Irene blew through town last weekend, the weather has been breathtakingly beautiful -- blue skies, wispy clouds, and a touch of fall in the air at night.  I took to the dunes at Sandy Neck to clear my head, and did a little more wide angle shooting.  Marshes and dunes, cattails and cranberries, offroaders, kids, and dogs.  Here's how my day looked:

black velvet updated

Here are many generations of kids wearing the famous black velvet dress and suit that have been handed down from mother to daughters to cousins to friends and back again. Mom first wore the dress in the 1930s. The pictures below are:

• Me in 1962 or 3 at Halcyon Farm in Lakeville, MA -- with Mom looking very glamorous, playing the piano
• Hannah with Nick, also playing the piano, taken at Halcyon Farm in New York -- 1997 or 8
  
• Keowee and Micah MacNiel, Texas, 2002
• Livvy Holloway, 2006
• Harry and Maddy this @ Christmas, 2007
• Isabelle, Christmas 2013
  
  

 

If you have photos of your kids (or you) wearing these outfits, send them along and I'll post them here.

happy birthday

In a previous post I mentioned cousin Jon Loomis' new novel, and his brother Dana's move to Nevada. Well, here is a photo of us Loomis cousins, being "arranged" by our fathers for a nice photo in Grandma's Ruxton garden -- dated June 1961. Uncle Dana is clearly trying to force Jon and Sara to hold hands against their will. Young Dana is politely standing by, holding his little car. Dorothy has her squinty mad face on. And Dad is trying to keep me from escaping with a death-grip to my head. I guess the photographer gave up trying to wait for a better shot. "I'm taking the damned picture now!"

Dad's birthday is coming up on November 2nd. He would have been 78. The year before he died, he told me that he didn't care if Brud and I got married (we'd been living together for 6 years at that point) -- he just wanted more grandchildren. So for my birthday he gave me glow-in-the-dark sheets (I guess to get that baby-making action going), and a copy of Dr. Spock's Guide to Baby Care. Thanks to those sheets, Nick was born the year after Dad died, and I kept the Dr. Spock guide on my bedside table for instant consultation every time that poor child made so much as a peep. So, happy birthday, Dad, and thanks for your help in getting my family started.

Here's that favorite picture of Dad, Uncle Dana, and Aunt Esther -- brothers and sister / 3 monkeys -- circa 1989.