Friday, December 19, 2008

coming around third, sliding into home...

and then, while I am there:

-drawing of the mom's bowl that dad glued back together
-rubbings of the pie safe and the upright piano
-find and collect old unsent letters and postcards
-find pictures of entire family (which include all 4 grandparents)
-interview family members
-try to take one picture with all 6 cats and dog
-gather trolls for troll-king drawing
-find the apology letter dad sent from UU church
-find things with stains
-take pictures of ink stains on dad's sweatshirt
-picture of Mr. Popaduik?
-picture of Baba-Gee and Didi-Ma?
-find old journals
-find old books for project: The Super Joke Book, Ferdinand, Watership Down, How a Baby is Born, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Masaii Mara, Diary of Anne Frank, I, Rigoberta Menchu, Dear God, It's Me Margaret, Just So Stories, Edward Doty book, Anatomies...
-go to Pastimes, Ithaca Bakery, Farmers Market, Ludgates, Wegmans
-gather small plastic animals (ask Dennis first)
-check out old family shoes in the garage
-find baseball mit
-get hair cut at Chez Rachetta
-find and connect with Rebekka, Hannah, Rachel, Lauretta, Seth, Lauren, Zachary, Ms Gergely
-walk out to lighthouse, Stewart Park, Cascadilla Boathouse, train tracks
-get sample of forsythia bush
-take pictures of dad's college blanket
-draw mom's rock pick
-start sorting with mom in basement
-watch old family movies
-watch Holiday Inn
-get family recipes (Fig pudding, Mimi's chili, mom's tortilla & cookies, etc...)
-photocopy dad's picture of the giant harp
-the box of mica?
-the tape recording of the sit-in?
-dont forget this! Mimi's handbag!
-interview Papa
-visit Grammy in Center Moriches
-hug parents frequently
-drive around with brothers, get pizza, talk about parents


These pictures are from past homes-- the top one I took of Will when he was about 4 and I was about 9 when we lived in the small green and white house at 10 Grant Avenue, the bottom one is from the tri-color duplex at 520 East Main Street. Today when I was looking at the second picture I saw, for the first time, my father's college blanket hanging off the back of a chair in the background, which was weird because I had just included its discovery in the very long list above. My grandmother, on one of her visits when I was in highschool, rearranged my bedroom without asking and I got very upset with her when I came home. My father didn't know what to do, sympathizing with my feelings but also recognizing that my grandmother was 'just trying to help.' Then he founf that she had put this blanket into the goodwill pile, and all hell broke loose. Total Baldwin family meltdown. Words (not nice ones) were thrown and my grandparents went to a hotel, refusing to let my father drive them to the airport (they were leaving the next day). The funny thing about this part of the story is that they took our car. I dont know how, but somehow we pulled through that one and everyone still loved everyone else. The real point of the story is that you don't mess my fathers plaid wool blanket from college, yet another sacred vessel of Baldwin history.

No comments: