Relative: Grandma West

I wrote this poem a few years ago as I remembered the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of Grandma West's house in Orofino, Idaho.

 

The Table in the Sunroom

The rays from the evening sun glowed on the hollyhocks;

the windows of the sunroom framed Grandma’s tall gladiolus .

Dad wiped his reddened face,

the pitcher of ice tea sweating under the stifling heat.

Steam rose from the bowl of garden fresh beans --  

we  climbed to the back of the table

wedged between the Singer sewing machine and the old Kelvinator,

squeezed in the six chairs.

 

Corn on the cob was always in season.

 The kernels small and golden.

Grandma cut her kernels delicately off the cob,

I begged for the knife so I could do the same.

In a voice that even the neighbors could hear, Mom announced,

“You have good, strong teeth…

just eat it off the cob.”

 

Next a plate of tomato slices

followed by cooked beets and fried pork chops.

I lifted my legs as bare skin stuck to the chair,

while my brother was kicking my foot,

my baby sister’s damp hair stuck to her head.

 

From my seat I couldn’t gaze at Grandma’s garden

 or watch the bees buzz around the roses,

but I took in the slow table conversation

as I tried to cut up my tomato:

 Canning cherries, and Norm and growing cucumbers,

Konkleville, Canada Hill and cousin John came up.

Is that fire still burning out at Yellow Dog?

What is on special at the Glenwood Market?

 

Dad took his paper napkin and wiped his face again,

And told Grandma this was the best corn he had ever had.

Her eyes lit up as she rose from the table

And thank goodness headed to the old chest freezer.

Vanilla ice cream from the Orofino Creamery would be

passed around last.

The sun slipped behind the crabapple tree,

The shadows cooled the sunroom.

That cold vanilla ice cream was the best I had ever had.

by Christy Woolum

My Leap into Photography

I have been doing that dreaded task of sorting digital photos on the computer. When the project begins I always ask myself why I didn't label better, sort sooner, back up on discs more often, and safe so many images of the same subject. It is what it is. This was an early photo above at French Rock on Lake Roosevelt.

The upside of doing this task is to revisit the history of my digital photo files. I always loved taking photos with my old 35mm. I don't know how I afforded the film and developing. Then there were all those double pictures that sounded like a good idea at the time.

When I got my first digital camera I just started pointing and shooting. As a beginning photographer I spent more time examining what I liked about pictures rather than reading how-to books. I just kept taking lots of photos. Above is an early bouquet picture.

What I love about digital photos is how technology creates a timeline of your life events. With film cameras and photos they needed to go into an album or were sorted into photo boxes. The digital format is already done. Dates are there, order is established. In April of 2007 Everett create the room we now call Annie's room.

I think I have taken more photos of flowers than anything else. Flowers are always around me so that makes sense. Only two people live in my house so I don't get to experiment as much with people. I love photographing my students, but also want to protect their privacy. 

Events are remembered, trips documented, hikes recorded, a view from the porch framed. I love traveling through my photography timeline. 

My Leap into Photography

I have been doing that dreaded task of sorting digital photos on the computer. When the project begins I always ask myself why I didn't label better, sort sooner, back up on discs more often, and safe so many images of the same subject. It is what it is. This was an early photo above at French Rock on Lake Roosevelt.

The upside of doing this task is to revisit the history of my digital photo files. I always loved taking photos with my old 35mm. I don't know how I afforded the film and developing. Then there were all those double pictures that sounded like a good idea at the time.

When I got my first digital camera I just started pointing and shooting. As a beginning photographer I spent more time examining what I liked about pictures rather than reading how-to books. I just kept taking lots of photos. Above is an early bouquet picture.

What I love about digital photos is how technology creates a timeline of your life events. With film cameras and photos they needed to go into an album or were sorted into photo boxes. The digital format is already done. Dates are there, order is established. In April of 2007 Everett create the room we now call Annie's room.

I think I have taken more photos of flowers than anything else. Flowers are always around me so that makes sense. Only two people live in my house so I don't get to experiment as much with people. I love photographing my students, but also want to protect their privacy. 

Events are remembered, trips documented, hikes recorded, a view from the porch framed. I love traveling through my photography timeline. 

Relatives : "A Letter From Home"

A Letter From Home

She sends me news of blue jays, frost, Of stars and now the harvest moon That rides above the stricken hills. Lightly, she speaks of cold, of pain, And lists what is already lost. Here where my life seems hard and slow, I read of glowing melons piled Beside the door, and baskets filled With fennel, rosemary and dill, While all she could not gather in Or hid in leaves, grow black and falls. Here where my life seems hard and strange, I read her wild excitement when Stars climb, frost comes, and blue jays sing. The broken year will make no change Upon her wise and whirling heart; - She knows how people always plan To live their lives, and never do. She will not tell me if she cries. I touch the crosses by her name; I fold the pages as I rise, And tip the envelope, from which Drift scraps of borage, woodbine, rue. Mary Oliver

Relatives: "The Kittens"

 

Even though Grayson and Junebug aren't kittens anymore we often call them that because they are still the youngest of the group. By observing these photos it may be difficult to tell they are relatives, but they have sibling rivalry  every once in a while.

They also love to pose together or by themselves.

Relatives: "He is My Cousin"

I teach in a community that has families that have lived there for many generations. We are a small school so I could have between 12 and 20 kids in a grade level each September, depending on the year and who has moved or returned. Many of the families are related.

My students all seem to be related to someone else in middle school. It makes that middle school crush/ we're going out/we are in a relationship (on FB)  much smaller on the drama scale compared to what I have experienced teaching in a larger school. I just heard a student today say, "Ooooooo... I don't want to "go out" with him. He's my cousin." Many are second, third, or fourth cousins but it doesn't matter. A relative is a relative. When students begin the whole family tree-this is how we are related explanation, I get lost. 

It is difficult to have a prom at our school if students are going to bring dates. Acually many of them just go as a group or bring someone from "across the river".  I never think Valentine's Day is as exciting, and often the cousins tend to respond to each other as siblings when things get wound up in the hallway.

Again, as I stated in my post yesterday, this is all hard for me to understand because I was surrounded by aunties, cousins, uncles, and third cousins in the community I grew up in. I guess it is all relative.