Part 3 of 3. When I made the 1987 retrospective about our Pinata group, I also wrote lyrics to "My Favorite Things" for Jeri, Ned and Paul to record at the end of the tape. Listening to it 20 years later, I'm rather proud of it!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
20 years of pinatas
This is Part 2 of my 3-part series. Among the five families who all married in Berkeley in the 60s, we have 22 children. We began having yearly New Years Day parties, all of which included a pinata, when the kids were babies. The last party we had was at the 40th birthday party for five of the "kids." In 1987, I put together a video that celebrated the then 20-year history of these parties and this is an excerpt from that video.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Lifelong Friends
We are part of a very special group of friends, who all met in college back in the 1960s. We all married within 4 years of each other, among us we have 22 children.
We lived near each other when our kids were small and the kids all grew up as siblings to each other. Every year for many, many years, we got together each New Year's day to have a party.
In 1987, I took all the old 8 mm movies and the photos and some early videos and put it together into one big history of the group. It's much too long to post as one video, but I'm going to excerpt it in three sections.
This is Part 1, the weddings of all of us.
The sound for this is a recording taken at our wedding. The singer is the now-late Kari Windingstadt, who, along with the Newman Hall choir and string quartet, gave us the wonderful gift of performing special music for us.
We lived near each other when our kids were small and the kids all grew up as siblings to each other. Every year for many, many years, we got together each New Year's day to have a party.
In 1987, I took all the old 8 mm movies and the photos and some early videos and put it together into one big history of the group. It's much too long to post as one video, but I'm going to excerpt it in three sections.
This is Part 1, the weddings of all of us.
The sound for this is a recording taken at our wedding. The singer is the now-late Kari Windingstadt, who, along with the Newman Hall choir and string quartet, gave us the wonderful gift of performing special music for us.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Look Who's Back!
We were only babysitting overnight. It seemed like they'd doubled in size in the couple of days they'd been gone!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Thursday at the Nursing Home
My mother is doing so much better. We went with my cousin and her husand to spend the day with her. Such fun!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Touching the World
This video is to accompany my journal entry for Jan. 19, which is about the foreign students who lived with us for 10 years. This particular video shows Rafael, the leader of a group of students from Chile, who lived with us for 3 weeks, and the going-away party for his group and the families who hosted them.
Hosting foreign students was really a wonderful time for us. Over 10 years there were some 70 people from 14 different countries who came through our house for stays ranging from one night to 3 years.
We learned so much. Some were absolutely wonderful and are still friends; others were not so nice, but I would do the whole thing again in a heartbeat, if I still had kids living at home.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Goodbye to more puppies
The "Xmas Puppies" left today, to move to an interim foster home. It will be great for them, because there are children, age 6 and 9 in the house and they are right at the place where having someone to play with will be great. Before they left, I took a video of their last romp with Lizzie.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
More Musings
Spending so much time in the nursing home with my mother causes me to think more deeply.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Lockjaw!
My biggest problem with Dasher at the moment. I realize that when I made this video, I didn't have the use of my hands, so he would think that it was all a big game, but this goes on all. the. time. and those teeth are just razor sharp!
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
The missing video
I actually have a video to process for today but I'm just really too tired to do it tonight, so I'll work on it tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Hospital Thoughts
I recorded this after Ned and I visited my mother on the day when she was being so funny on her meds.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Flying High
Now that we know my mother is OK and just needs time to heal, it's time to make fun of her! Today was her first day on serious meds and she would be with it and then somewhere in lala land. Things really got funny when the nurse reminded her to use her breathing apparatus.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Locked out!
As it explains in the video, a friend was here overnight and she really didn't like Sheila and Lizzie's constant presence. In the morning, to keep peace, I locked them outside. It had been raining and the ground was damp and the air freezing. The dogs had never been locked outside before. This is what happened.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Friday, January 05, 2007
Puppy Play
Lessee. The puppies have been here almost exactly a month, so it's time for an update video to show how they've grown (and how they have grown!) and how they have matured. Also a soupçon showing how they are learning to fight with each other.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Year of the Dog
2006 was officially the "Year of the Dog." We did our best to make it so. This is a compilation of all the puppies we fostered in 2007.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Christmas House
This is a wonderful house in San Rafael, CA that used to decorate each year. This was taken pre-computers, and is from 1987.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
3 Weeks Old
The puppies are three+ weeks old now, have moved to the larger playpen and, today, started solid food. I can't believe how big they have become.
Friday, December 29, 2006
"Peti-"cure
It's time to get the puppies' nails clipped because they are clawing me to death when I feed them. I guess when you have a dog's nails done it's really a "peticure."
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
More Jammin'
This is another bit from the Christmas with my father, after he had tired out, the young folk took over and had their own jam session, with him as a delighted audience. Date: 1987
Monday, December 25, 2006
Deck the Halls
We actually decorated our tree on 12/23, but I'm just getting around to posting the video now.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
The Night Before Christmas
I debated about posting this, since it is so very dark, but since this IS the night before Christmas, as I post this, and since this is Walt, in 1987 (when all the kids were grown) reading the poem to them, I decided to go ahead and post it. Maybe more for archival purposes than anything else.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
DILO 12/22/06
Every season, Flickr has a DILO (Day in the Life Of), where photographers record their day and then post photos on Flickr. I did that, but I also turned the photos into a slide show.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Egg Nog Gala 1987
Starting in 1977, our kids put on a show every Christmas night for some 10+ years. This is a video I found from 1987, when the show had evolved from a mixture of skits and music to strictly music (I use the term loosely). I really miss those galas.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
The Best Christmas
I posted a version of this video in January, but it was taken with a videocamera pointed at the television and trying to record a video. Now I have ripped it from a DVD and not only is the quality better, but I've been able to improve the appearance (lightening it).
This was written to accompany this entry of my journal, where I explain that this was my father's last Christmas, several months before his death. The previous Christmas he had been so drunk that he couldn't remember his grandchildren's names. By the time of this video, he had been sober for several months.
He was a huge jazz fan and played a passingly good piano. Music was his passion and he felt that his grandchildren only liked rock 'n' roll, because they were teengagers. He had no idea how musical they were, now talented they were, how they shared his passion and how they could enjoy music with him.
This video builds as he realizes that he can actually "jam" with his grandchildren. I am just so happy that I had a video camera with me that night. It was one of very few happy memories I have of him.
He died a few months later. I don't remember seeing him again after Christmas, and we had a huge battle which left things terrible between us when he died. But I have this.
I have this.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Marie Makes a Pie
Marie, a high school girl from Mexico, was living with us in 1987 while she finished her senior year in high school here. In December she was still "settling in," but decided she wanted to learn how to make pumpkin pie--so naturally I recorded it.
What does Marie do now, nearly 20 years later? She runs an award-winning restaurant near Sacramento.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
10 Days
This entry was going to be longer, but the cord that connects my camera to the computer is on the fritz and I need to shop for a new one. In the meantime, here is a record of how the puppies are growing. Ten days old now.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Grooming
With Christmas coming, and many people going to meet Lizzie for the first time, I decided to take her in to be groomed--first time I've ever taken a dog to the groomer.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
The Best Stuffing Ever
This is a rerun of a video I posted last year, but Holidailies suggested an entry about a holiday recipe, and this is the my favorite.
Watch the video
For years, I've wanted to make sure to preserve my mother's turkey stuffing recipe. There were the years when her 2nd husband was alive, when she spent every holiday with his family, so I had to learn to make my own stuffing, and went through several permutations, but the last couple of Thanksgivings, we have been back at her house and she's made her own stuffing again. Funny thing is that, though it tastes every bit the way I remember it, I've come to like mine better.
Still, for the ages, here is what I felt for many years was "the best turkey stuffing ever" (I'm sure she's cut back on the butter in later years.... :) )
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Comcast Problems
This actually accompanies a journal entry, about my problems with Comcast. This was a very brief video clip that I made to prove to Comcast people how completely unwatchable our television has become.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Life with Lizzie
I decided to just film a few minutes of Lizzie's day. This is an exhausting dog, even if all you're doing is sitting there watching her!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Maple Leaf Rag
Back to the Jazz Choir. This is the Maple Leaf Rag, which the kids once performed on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans. (Unfortunately no video of that)
Friday, December 08, 2006
A Charlie Brown Christmas
This is a repeat video, but I pretty much covered my very favorite Christmas party last year and don't think I can improve on it. So, as we get ready to go off to it again, here is that report.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Fighters
Remember those teeny, toothless, barely mobile little lumps of fur that moved into our house five weeks ago? Look what they've become.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Fighters
Remember those teeny, toothless, barely mobile little lumps of fur that moved into our house five weeks ago? Look what they've become.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
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