The yet-to-be-revealed dessert choice that B made for Mother’s Day was carrot cake with cream cheese icing.
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This photo from almost eight years ago is three generations of mothers in my family, Nana and me with daughter E holding baby ABC, my first grandchild and Nana’s first great-gandchild.
This Mother’s Day is without Nana, who passed away in May 2019, and with E and ABC living in London, where Mother’s Day was celebrated a couple of months ago.
Here, B baked squash maple muffins for breakfast and is planning a special dinner, chicken and artichokes over artichoke ravioli with a yet-to-be-revealed-to me dessert. Daughter T is here with us, which is a blessing.
Still, if feels strange to not be with any of the other mothers in my family, except in spirit.
I am wearing a shirt that was my mother’s, a gift from our friend Angie, who passed away twenty years ago.
Mother’s Day began as a call for peace. (That post contains Julia Ward Howe’s original proclamation, still well worth reading in our current war-torn world.) Today, I wish peace to all, especially to all who have mothered others, whether still living or deceased.
Love and compassion bring peace.
A gazebo/bandstand in a park in my town.
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Growing up in rural New England, white Christmases were a given, but now, with climate change, they are a special treat here in the Northeast. Wherever you are and whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of year, I wish you peace, love, joy, and safety.
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We are finally able to go back to feeding the birds in our backyard, although putting out just seed and not suet in hopes of not attracting bears. (Photo is from a few years ago.)
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B took this in our backyard last month, just as the fog was lifting. I wanted to share some rays of sunshine with all of you.
The recipe for Election Cake (from Dylan Hollis’s Baking Yesteryear) that my daughter made in honor of the US Election Day yesterday is so old that it is uses yeast rather than baking powder or soda.
This delicious post is brought to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/11/06/one-liner-wednesday-road-trip/
Photo Credit: Andrea Eastman
Today is celebrated as Father’s Day in the United States. My dad, known here at Top of JC’s Mind as Paco, passed away in 2021. My spouse B, father to our daughters E and T, is visiting with extended family in Maine; T is with him but I wasn’t able to make the trip.
Because of all that, I wasn’t really planning to observe Father’s Day today but I got an email from my younger sister, asking if I had a hard copy of the photo above. Nana and Paco had this portrait taken at Eastman Studios in Binghamton, New York, after they retired here. I don’t have an exact date, but I’m guessing it was taken in the late 1980s-early ’90s.
I went upstairs to look for it in the two large bags of photo albums and framed pictures that we had taken home from Paco’s last apartment. The first album I picked up was one that my sister had put together for one his last Father’s Days.
Of course, this photo was part of the album.
I spent some time going through it. It begins with photos from Nana and Paco’s youth and their wedding in 1954. There are photos of my sisters and me growing up, our home, extended family, and travels. Later, there are photos of them with their grandchildren and finally photos of their great-granddaughters.
So, I did get to spend time with my dad today and see his smile – multiple times.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
Miss you.
My family is not that big on taking photographs all the time. I am particularly disinclined to selfies, so there are not a lot of close-ups of me.
As a poet, though, one often has to submit headshots to accompany poems and bios, so…
I was lucky that relatively early in my publishing experience I wrote a poem on a prompt from Silver Birch Press for their MY MANE MEMORIES series, which was about our hair. My poem was called “Crowning Glory.” We had to send a close-up photo of ourselves, illustrating the poem, so spouse B and I went into our backyard on a sunny day to show off my silver locks in the sunshine.
Since then, I’ve used this photo whenever I needed to submit a headshot. It’s appeared in a number of journals and is on the back cover of my chapbook, Hearts (Kelsay Books, 2023). It’s the photo that is used here at Top of JC’s Mind and on its Facebook page. When I don’t have a more relevant photo to go with a blog post on Instagram, I use this headshot.
At this point, this close-up is a bit out of date. After cataract surgery, I no longer wear glasses on a regular basis. Due to some dental issues that required using orthodontia to correct my bite, my smile looks a bit different. I have a few more smile wrinkles now.
I really should have a new close-up taken.
Still, I’m so attached to this one and have spread it around to so many places, I’m not quite ready to replace it.
Maybe, someday…
[I should have included that I use this photo on my new author site (joannecorey.com), too. I really have plastered it everywhere!]
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “close up/close-up.” Please join us for SoCS and/or Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/01/12/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2024-daily-prompt-jan-13th/
A new, celebratory sign erected near me!
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Joanne Corey 