The photographs are:
two of my mother at around 21 (she was voted 'most attractive' in her senior college class...and yes, it was unusual for a woman to go on to college at the time she did. She made a great role model in so many ways)
one of my mother and aunt when young (mother is the towhead)
one of my aunt at age sixteen, with an admirer on each side (yes, she was gorgeous, too)
one of the entire family, save my youngest uncle who hadn't been born yet. My great-grandparents are seated, along with a neighbor, who happened to be visiting. W. B. Dickson, my great-grandfather fought in the Civil War and met Anne, his wife, when he delivered a note written to her by his dying buddy, her brother, as promised, when the war was over. Much later, she told him that her brother had said in the letter that 'men would be scarce after the war and he would recommend W.B. Dickson as a fine man'. From what I've heard of him from my mother's stories, he was right. They were the parents of my grandmother, the attractive woman standing in the photo, who died of the Great Flu in 1919 when mother was 13. Her parents lived with them for years before that and remained with my grandfather, in his care, until he was killed five years later. I wish I'd met them.
All of the people in these photos are now dead, but not forgotten.
If you're a fan of short forms or haiga, you'll find some top dollar reading here. The other haiga is breathtaking and the poets well-chosen. If you're familiar with Catherine Mair's poetry, read that interview. She describes the haiku walk in Katikati, New Zealand, coincidentally the home of a long time NZ online friend of mine from Katikati. Even more coincidentally, my friend had sent photos of that walk just a few weeks earlier with shots of some of the haiku in stone there.
Below is a reduced image of one of the stones from that walk, taken by Sue Baker Wilson. You can get a glimpse of some NZ beauty in this shot.
Enjoy!
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