The photographs were hidden in clear sight. You never talked about them and I never asked. You pose in a floral printed dress of red and green, lipstick and earrings to match. The picture was taken from inside the room looking out, photographer bending slightly to capture an upward look through the patio door ofContinue reading “Alone. Away. Anon.”
Category Archives: Honeymoon Sweet
Smoke ’em if you got ’em
Warning: the content of this post might trigger urges to return to old habits or make you attempt to indulge for the first time. After scanning my parent’s photographs, I have been reviewing them regularly to evoke another memory and another story. On one of those time travels I could not help but notice theContinue reading “Smoke ’em if you got ’em”
If music be the food of love…
“Apollo, the god of music, had not very lavishly sprinkled musical talents within our family. Mother’s piano lessons were generally not a great success.” So said my Uncle Nico in his family history book, “Pa vertel eens” ( Dad tell me – in English) which I just recently translated. It chronicles life for the vanContinue reading “If music be the food of love…”
I hope your honeymoon lasts forever
My parents were married to each other twice, in the same month of the same year. Dutch Catholic practice meant a couple would start their life together first with a civil wedding followed by a religious ceremony a short time later. Both days are captured in my parent’s photo collection, each revealing in comparison andContinue reading “I hope your honeymoon lasts forever”
Borje Salming
The first winter in Belmont, Ontario would have been an eye opener for my parents in 1958. I expect they understood Canada was colder, the winters longer, and the snow more abundant; yet that inaugural snowy season was not exactly in line with what they would have imagined. Nevertheless, Mom and Dad adapted to theirContinue reading “Borje Salming”
What can we give them?
When my parents moved to Canada, they were the only ones who ventured more than a 100 kilometre radius away from Tilburg. With the exception of my missionary aunt and uncle who left for Africa, everyone else stayed in the city or established homes in nearby Waalwijk, or Goirle, or St. Michelsgestel. Uncle Herman wasContinue reading “What can we give them?”
Sisters
Several pages in a photo album dedicated to my mother and her siblings is populated with photographs of my Tante Lina from her time as a missionary nun in the Congo. Whereas my father would describe particular stories of my Uncle Kees related to his time in Uganda, I cannot recall anything similar about TanteContinue reading “Sisters”
All I’ve got is a photograph
One of my projects in retirement has been to digitize and organize our family collection of photographs. The idea arose after my Dad’s passing last year. Everyone in the family had gathered their favourite pictures for the screen display at the the funeral home, played on a loop for all the visitors. At the sameContinue reading “All I’ve got is a photograph”
Wonderings 