Wonderment? Tenderness? Disbelief?

[mallorys_camera]

Finished the Remunerative Project.

Thought: This place is a pigsty! I know—I’ll clean.

Cleaning my personal space is always a hit-and-miss operation for me. There are just so-o-oooo many rabbit holes.

I have thousands of scribbled-over slips of paper. I have to read them all, of course. Also, thousands of photographs. None of which are in any particular order. Because I actually prefer my photographs to be one big jumbled mess. Like my memories of the Cairo Museum, or the Hall of Gems at the Museum of Natural History (before they—ugh!—organized it and curated it.)

Jumbled messes are the best when it comes to summoning the spirits who dwell in the depths of the imagination.

###

Here’s one of me in my early 30s. Must have been at one of the bridal showers before my first wedding because I’m wearing all sorts of gift wrap on my head:



Another early 30s pic, but after I was married. I dimly recall the dinner party at which this was taken:



This is me in labor with Ichabod. My then-husband and Barbara Angell were my two birth coaches, but I kept kicking Bill out of the room:



Here are Ann, Joe, Dan and I posing on the Tenth Anniversary of the Ill-Fated Cross-Country Ski Trip. (We got lost in a blizzard for three days and had to be air-lifted out by helicopter.)

We had lied to the park ranger about having a tent. (You are not allowed to overnight in Yosemite backcountry without one.) So as soon as we were rescued, and it was ascertained that nobody’s frostbite was severe enough to require amputation, we made a solemn vow: As God is my witness, I will never go anywhere without a tent again!!!!!!!



Here are Alfred Lord Tennyson Vogel, my grandfather, and my insane Aunt Jane (full name: Jane Austin Vogel.)



He was in his mid-80s when that photo was taken. These days, he’s gone back to being in his 60s and lives in a subway mural beneath Times Square:





Here is Ichabod, aged about six. He still has that smile:



Here are Ichabod and Beau, waiting for the kindergarten bus:



Here are Ichabod and Beau prepared to be taken trick-or-treating by moi (those are Baby RTT’s legs on the right):



I did an awful lot of childcare for Beau! I didn’t mind. I liked Beau.

Clarion shot with Geoff Ryman. We were all very full of ourselves! Louise was the only one who went on to become moderately famous:



And finally, B and I shortly before the start of our 17-year, tri-state crime spree:



Four of the people in these photographs are now dead!

So, you know. Looking at these photographs gives me a feeling of [...]. (Fill in the blank with your favorite noun denoting pensive bemusement!)

Comments

[thisnewday]

WONDERFUL pictures! (I know, doesn't fulfill the [...] writing assignment, but it's all I've got, lol. Along with gratitude for the, I dunno, momentary distraction...)

[mallorys_camera]

Thanks! 😀

[gale_storm]

Great photos!!

[mallorys_camera]

Thanks. 😀