Family then and now.

Uncles on Madrid St. 

In preparation for a move that we are now not making, I had recently begun the Great Sorting of Things that were to go to either the charity shop or friends/family. While emptying out a large oak wardrobe (still) promised to my cousin, I found an old family photo album. Among the black and white pictures, I spied this shot of two of my uncles from the mid-1940s. What I really dig about this snapshot is the sort of Rockwellesque quality about it. And, also, who puts a car seat in a lil' red wagon? Uncle Jim was certainly cruising in style. :)

Four generations in the back yard. The Excelsior, SF. 

The above photo is a family shot circa 1959. My dad is the the young man on the far left. I had heard from my mother that dad had been very self-conscious about his weight when he was a young man. He had only begun to shed the extra weight around the time he met my mom in the late 60s. Dad's three brothers were all bean poles (note the slim guy second from right), so I can sort of see why he would have felt a bit like an odd man out.

Just as I had last year, I spent Turkey Day with my siblings and their mother, B., a woman from whom the sibs had been estranged for many years. They are now in regular contact with their mother and all seems to be going fairly well with that relationship. I remember meeting B. when I was little. She'd occasionally come by the house to pick up my brother and sister to take them on outings. I find her nice, if a bit ramble-y. One doesn't so much have a conversation with B. as just let her talk and be agreeable. Both this year and last year B. referred to my father's widow by my mother's name. I gently corrected her on that score. What I also found interesting is that B. used a nickname for my mother that she herself neither uses nor wishes other people to use. -like calling an acquaintance named Dorothy 'Dolly' before having first ascertained if that were OK.

Thanksgiving dinner was nice. We crammed around grandpa's (above holding my cousin up by his arms) old dining table for turkey with all the trimmings. My sister made great grandma Bea's (third from the left) stuffing recipe. The pumpkin pie my husband and I baked turned out well to boot. Contraband tonka bean in the pumpkin mix did the trick as did the super flaky pie crust.

Anyway, may all of you who celebrate have had a lovely Thanksgiving!