Tag Archives: kevin

The Fruit Basket

Family, Musings, Photographs, , , ,

Christmastime 1969 my family was given a fruit basket as a gift. It’s possible it was the first fruit basket we ever received because we took at least three photos of it.

In the above photo, Kevin, Mom, and I sit beneath the Christmas tree with the Fruit Basket in front of us. We’re all dressed up, so we must have been heading out to a relative’s soon — so it could be either Christmas eve or Christmas day.

This is a perfect photo to show off my mom’s creative endeavors. Mom’s painting of the African American woman was based on an image she saw in a magazine. It hung in the living room for a long time. I have it now, along with another, similar-sized painting of an Asian man with a rickshaw.

To the right, and below the painting is another craft mom made. It is a candle holder made out of several terracotta pots, partially spray painted black, then shellacked.

Also in this picture could be the only proof that mom made stained glass windows out of tissue paper and tape. I think mom wanted curtains over the windows and dad did not. Dad got fed up with the tissue paper stained glass and took a razor to them. After that she put black tape on the windows to represent segments of a stained glass window. I think Dad took a razor to that too. They eventually got wooden shutters to put on the inside for privacy.

In these two photographs Dad looks sad, angry, or depressed. Kevin looks mischievous.

Dad rarely smiled for photographs, but usually had a smile in his eyes, but in this case I don’t see any of that. I wonder what happened to make him so sad. It could simply be that he didn’t want to pose with the fruit basket but mom wanted him to so he was being passive-aggressive about it.

The first photo shows the curved shelf I remember well from the kitchen. I can see mom’s recipe box. on the second shelf.

I do have memories of the (or a) fruit basket and I think they might have gotten it from Dad’s workplace — this might have been the year he began working for Reber’s Appliance. I don’t know, however, why so many weird photos were taken of it.

My Letter to Kevin from Chetek

Life, Memories, Writing, , ,

While other parents sent their kids to sleep-away camp, mine sent me to my grandparent’s house in Wisconsin. I think I got the better deal.

I would have been 15 and Kevin would have been around 9 when I wrote this.

June 18, 1972

Dear Kevin,

Hi, I told you I would write. How is my bed? I have to open my bed every day (night really). How are the gerbils? Did they have babies yet?

I have not caught any fish yet. Grandma caught four good ones one night and forgot to clean them so they died. Then she caught three that she cleaned right away. (ICK!) I am learning to fish, slowly but surely. It has been too cold to fish though.

Ginny and Jack are coming up today and Jack will be fishing most of the time I bet.

How are you and Billy getting along lately? Is he giving you trouble?

I saw a movie a couple of nights ago. It was called Toy Tiger. It was about a little boy who made up stories about his father (who he never had). Timmy said that his father was a great explorer. This big bully didn’t believe Timmie so he kept teasing him. Timmie found a guy and told the kids that he was his father. It all ended up happy.

We had spinach the other day and I put vinegar on it and ate it! (I nearly puked though)

You should have been up here last Monday. Four trees fell over/down by the dock. Grandma and I were sitting looking out of the window and all of a sudden we heard a loud crack (we thought it was thunder. Then Grandma looked out and said “Holy Cow, look at that, the tree was struck by lightning!” We all looked and a bunch of trees were lying down with the ground sticking up 3½ feet.

Kevin, will you mind if I write in cursive? I’m getting tired of writing like this.

I also wrote a letter to Chad — give it to him (go to his house) and have his mother read it to him. Does he wonder where I am? Or has he forgotten about me?

Oh — ask mom to send my white shorts with the buttons up with Uncle Dick or someone — even the Pasholks if they see you. O.K.?

Is it nice and warm in Elgin? It’s freezing up here. I can hardly get any tan.

I can’t think of anything else to write so I will write more later.

I will have to go pretty soon because we are going to eat. I will try to finish this page though. I will write later (next week or so).

Have you seen Cindy Jordon around? She isn’t in Maine. To be honest I wish I was home but I am having an okay time up here.

Do you sleep with Cinder? If so does she keep you awake? You will have to write and tell me all about everything. Are you taking swimming lessons? All I do is sit around — it’s kind of boring.

Well, I miss you and don’t forget to give Chad his letter. Maybe he will let you read it.

Love, as always,
Dona

Love to all!

PS Write!
PPS Okay?

A gift

Birds, People, Things, ,

In 2000 when I graduated from George Washington University with a Master’s degree my mom, and her two sisters pooled their money and bought me a Lenox mug that featured an illustration of a cedar waxwing (by artist Catherine McClung), my favorite bird and my online persona on several forums. I knew that they’d spent a fair amount on it because Mom cautioned me that it should probably not be used.

I heeded her warning and didn’t use the mug for several years but in April 2013 I decided to start using it, a decision I documented on Facebook:


Fast forward to a little over a month ago during our kitchen renovation, when, while washing dishes in the basement, Dean accidentally knocked the mug to the cement floor where it broke in several pieces. I heard it, I knew what it was and my heart momentarily froze and when he showed me what happened, I replied, “Don’t worry about it. It was bound to happen sometime. I got lots of years out of it.” And strangely, that was how I really felt.

Of course I documented it on Facebook.

The responses were heartwarming and several friends tried to help me find a replacement, at least one even offering to buy me one.

I could not find the exact mug and felt that buying one would be cheating. Part of its appeal was because it was from three special people in my life who were no longer with us.

Two days after the mug was broken my brother commented with a photo of the mug and later said it was an early Christmas gift to me in memory of Mom. It turned out that he found a set of four Lenox bird mugs online and bought them for me.

Screenshot of FB conversation. Kevin: Mom is excited all over again, she made me do it. Love you. Me: Where did you find this? Kevin: I have my sources. It's actually a set of 4. An early Xmas present in memory of mom. Dad is represented too with the blue bird. Me: I am speechless!

I got them a week or so later and put them in my China cabinet. I’ll use them someday, but not right now.

Kevin buying them for me was such a surprise, but when I think of it, not that much of a surprise. He’s always been a kind and thoughtful person. I’m lucky he’s my brother.