as you probably know, i've been experimenting. trying to find what types of things jog mom's memory. several of you have come through with some great *triggers.*
Aunt Sandy and Uncle John brought her this old family portrait the other day. ( for you cyber friends, they're in the left side of the photo.)
mom loves looking at it. she can usually identify at least 1/2 of the people. sometimes most of them even.
the first time she saw it she noticed the sconce and the painting on the wall. those same 2 items now hang on her walls in her little apartment. she said, "i guess this was taken right here."
mom's 41 years old in this picture. more than half of her lifetime ago. mom's lived in her apartment for 3 months. "no, ma'am, that's Hassie's house." some days i think her observation was funny. some days, not so much. today i just figure it is what it is.
that's her mom, Hassie, in the center.
the baby, my cousin John, is now a 45 year old man. back then he was called "Stan." so it confused the heck out of her when i identified him as "John," the name he's gone by most of his adult life.
she's forgotten that little confusing slip of mine now, but still isn't sure who it is. by any name.
my little brother didn't come along for another 2 or 3 years. he was called "John" growing up. now his moniker is "Luke."
are you confused yet? is it any wonder mom is? hahaha.
some of my *memory experiments* have dealt with involuntary memory. some with voluntary. i've been keeping notes. if i ever get around to it i'll blog more about that later. don't hold your breath, though...
the photo above was spliced together and cleaned up by my friend, Dann Walsh from 2 scans i made of the original and emailed to him.(it was too large to fit in my scanner.) after the jump i'll include some more info on that if anyone's interested.
the next 2 are what i emailed dann. i don't know if you can see all the cracks, tears, blemishes and all...maybe if you click on 'em?
(immediately above you can see what he sent back.)
and then he sent the smooth one below. it came with a note attached:
(i had t' "lestoil" (less toil? hardly!) the friggin' walls... then mud an' re-paint 'em... i sent the drapes to the dry cleaners... i rented a rug doctor for the carpeting (what in the cornbread hell did uncle chester spill on it?)... and... wft, doesn't anyone in the whole fam-dam-ily own a lint brush?!
aw. poor Dann....
[hey dann, the lint and grime thang is most likely all the crap collected on my scanner. it's taken me years to get that look. and you want me to get a bottle of windex, or what? ... oh, & sorry about the pubic hair.]
the guy's a maniac. he kept sending me new and improved versions.
"grayscale, toned, natural aging, bmp files, discs, how-to tutorials..."
i won't post 'em all here, but dann, if you're ever in the neighborhood there'll be a chicken fried steak and a six pack of lone star waitin' for you.
to the rest of y'all, check out his blog. if it's not one of the best lookin' you've ever seen, i'll...well... i'll just assume yer blind.
psst... Nance, if you see this...may i just say, "that's some nice leg crossin' there."
10 comments:
So what were you called when you were growing up?
Your friend is very talented with the splicing and dicing.
i was ricky.
but don't you dare. my older sisters are the only ones allowed.
ahahahahaha.
rick,
i'm gonna take you up on the chicken fried steak and beer... and beer... and beer!
(one o' these days!)
i love ya, brother!
oh, and... thank YOU!
dann
i don't know what you're thanking me for. you did all the dirty work.
i lovvvve this. the totally retouched one is now my desktop background.
i wonder if we have anything like this that included my generation. of course, hassie wouldn't be in it.
we do. i'll see if i can find it.
so i don't get it. why switch names so differently? like if he's john now, why not call him johnny then? so please do tell, what was your name then?
gina,
cousin stan's full name is john stanley. his dad is called john. why did he change from stan to john later? i dunno.
brother luke's real name is john douglas. in high school he and a friend renamed themselves duke and luke. there's some off the wall *reason* for that, too, but i don't remember it.
ricky
That's good splic'n.
I wanted to be flint but it only happened in Internet land. It was also an off the wall reason and I'm trying to forget it.
since you're "trying to forget it", i just changed your name in my links.
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