Compartments

Ancient History

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…people like lists (vol. 15)

1. It’s sold out, but click here to see a genius mash-up print of Peanuts and Jaws. The panel where Snoopy is swimming by the boat kills me. If they make more prints, I’m getting one. UPDATE! He’s doing another run of prints and I ordered one.

2. The recession is hitting even the Tooth Fairy. I suppose she deserves it because she’s the most unreliable of the Wee Folk who clean houses, cobble shoes, and guard bridges. Taking teeth isn’t compelling enough to remember. Joel had 2 teeth pulled at the dentist yesterday and she forgot to visit last night. This is especially egregious because before his appointment, he told me he had “thousands of evidences” she wasn’t real. #1 is that she FORGETS. At least she is consistent. For his troubles, she visited this morning while he was otherwise occupied and left $5.

3. How do you like your ice cream? Soft serve? Sure. In a cone? Even better! How about over a bowl of ramen with hardboiled eggs? Here’s a slideshow of Outrageous Ice Cream Desserts.

4. This has been the summer of the sunset. Nearly every night, the west is awash in bold stripes and tumbling cloudy colors in pinks, reds, purples, oranges. It’s stunning and elating. Here are a few shots I’ve captured recently, unfiltered:

5. I’ve been snarking on Fall Fashion 2011. I thought I’d check out fashions from 1985, when I started high school. Oh, dear.

Great, grand, father

This is Jay. He was my mom’s mom’s dad. He lived in California and worked for the Los Angeles Times.

He was married to my clever, happy great-grandmother, Clara. They divorced and he married Berthe, a tiny French woman I towered over before I was out of elementary school. I’ve posted photos of Berthe looking very stylish.

Jay seems not-so-stylish, but loads of fun.

My great-grandfather, Jay Bice

Jay and Berthe lived in the same apartment building as William Frawley, who played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. Frawley was not a friendly man, I’m told.

I can’t decide if I remember meeting Grandpa Bice. He died when I was a young child, around age 4. When I picture him, I picture the photos of him holding me. Not him. Not the way he smelled or the sound of his laugh. It was beyond my ability.

Whenever I worry I take too many shots of the kids or sunsets or skylines, I think of my stack of old family photos. I thank the person who snapped them for slinging a camera around his neck, for loading the film, for having them developed.

Nothing is more optimistic than an old photo preserved forever. It means you expect someone to see it. You hope someone will love it. It’s like blowing a kiss into the future. It’s caught, pinched between two fingers, flipped over to see if there’s a date written on the back.

Squiiiissshh! He called me "Chickadee"

(October, 1971)

I still think about baby names

We have no plans for future children, although if I hear the phrase eight is enough one more time, I might have a ninth just to make it go away. There are no snazzy phrase pitfalls for having nine children, are there? Uh, oh.

Baseball team. Everywhere we go, we’ll be asked which one is the catcher. I’ll reply, “The one with the big thighs!” They’ll give me a knowing smile. And then I’ll pull my mask down and crouch.

Anyway, even though I will probably never name another baby, I still think about names.

Names like:

Sylvie
Rosalind
Amalia
Lila
Susannah
Arlo
Lewis
Oscar
Simon
Bruno

I could lock them away for the day grandchildren begin to appear like magic, years and years and years from now. But then, if I suggest these names, I’ll be in danger of being one of those grandmothers who must interject and interfere.

~~~~~

I was poking around on Nameberry and was surprised to see Beatrix and Archer are hot names for 2011. I was particularly amused by this assessment of Archer:

Nameberry’s Pamela Redmond Satran explained why literary names – and Archer in particular – had become so popular.
She said: ‘Archer, as in Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady and Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence, is perfect: It’s unusual, classic yet contemporary-feeling, and there’s no danger of anyone actually having read the books.’

The best part: THERE’S NO DANGER OF ANYONE ACTUALLY HAVING READ THE BOOKS.

I weep. I’ve read both books.

Also, I can confirm that our Archer is unusual, classic, and has a contemporary feel.

Wearing my shades and a Diego diaper on his head