Cathaleen Curtiss – » As I see it...

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car·ni·val: a season or festival of merrymaking
Synonyms: festival, fair, celebration, circus, fiesta, gala

It is officially autum, the leaves are turning and the cold rains are starting to fall. This seems like a perfect opportunity to pull together some of my favorite Carnival and Fair photos from the merrymaking of summer.

It is OK to have fun. It should be mandatory!

There is something about a carnival that makes most people smile, try as you might to put your nose in the air and think you are too good for this sort of fun. It is Americana, like apple pie and funnel cakes. It makes it OK to have fun, to be a child again.

I, for one can’t pass a carnival without wanting to stop. If the carnival has a Zipper set up on its midway, I will do my best to convince someone to ride it with me. Once on board, I will laugh until my stomach hurts. It brings back carefree memories of my childhood spent at county fairs and the joyful times I convinced my daughters to ride with me at the local carnival. I smile just looking at the ride now.

I love the lights, the sounds, the wide range of characters but mostly I love watching the rides.

There is something about a carnival that lets us forget our troubles just for a little bit. At the fair it is OK to laugh and scream, in fact it is celebrated!

As the winter months approach, remind yourself to smile. Let yourself feel joyful and celebrate fun. Remember the merrymaking of Summer.

Giving ourselves permission to laugh and smile is something we all need to do more often. Enjoy!

The sun rises over the farm and on an old granite bucket that hangs from the original farmhouse water pump.

 

A place called home.

We have all read countless sayings about home and probably have a favorite quote written in a book, tucked in a box or stitched in a wall decoration.

 

The farmhouse I grew up in. The dairy barn is across the road.

 

“–home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. “ —Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

The dairy barn in 2011 during hay season and in the winter of 1951. The tractor has changed but not the barn.

 

Most of you who read this know I grew up on a dairy farm.  It shaped who I am today.  It is the place I go home to.  It is the place when life is too fast or too mean, that I go to for peace.  It is the place I think of when I am joyful.  The sounds; the smells; the noise; the routine, always brings me back to the peaceful place of my childhood.   It is the place I always feel welcome, I am always at home.

The morning fog lifts as the sun rises on the farm road.
Putting up the hay on the land near “Freeman’s Barn” All the different barns are named after former owners some change with each generation some keep the name of its original builder. One of the tractors used on the farm and a slow moving vehicle sign on the back of a wagon.

 

Recently the family (for many reasons) chose to sell the dairy cows.  The farm is still a working farm just not a dairy farm.  I went home to visit just before the sale.  It was one last chance to see my brother and father milking cows in the barn.  A job my brother has done his entire life — up every morning by five a.m. and back again every night to milk the cows.  He knew every cow by name; he made adjustments for each one. He was a Dairy Farmer.  I loved going to the barn to watch the milking.

The cows enter the barn (top left photo) each one has her favorite stanchion to stand in and she finds it instinctively. My father (top right photo) walks along to grain and lock each cow in for milking. My brother takes a moment to cool off by the open window.

 

I will miss “milking time” when I visit the farm next time but it is my family that makes the farm HOME.  I am blessed to have grown up in such a magical place.  I am more blessed to have my family to go home to.

The cows are always curious. My dads chore boots. Some of the many barn kittens.
My father walks out to feed the calves. Each calf  has his own calf hutch and pasture area.
The Milking Parlor as it is called is white washed every so often. The stanchions are used to keep the cow in place as they are milked. As each cow finishes she is released and allowed to go back to the pasture.

 

I hope you enjoy the photos from my recent visits home. To my family, I love you all and thank you.  I hope you can finally sleep past 5 a.m.!

The sun has just risen about 6:15 am, as my father walks home to have breakfast.

 

I believe that life IS the journey.  The long road makes us wiser. The wrong turns make us stronger. The unexpected bumps bring us awareness.   It all blends to make any path the right road and the journey filled with memories.

There are many reasons to make journeys.  One particularly good reason is to visit our children, scattered far and wide.

This blog will be one of many highlighting our children and the fabulous places they have ended up.

As Ella prepares to go back for her final year of college, I am going to concentrate this update on our trip to visit her in Spain last fall.

It was especially fun for me, to see her so comfortable and at home in a foreign country. Showing us all the wonders she had found and grown to love about Spain and discovering new places together.

(if you go to the link, Life is a Journey under A Closer Look, Ella has supplied detailed captions.)

Que disfrutes!!

 

 

 

 

Stop and look up, you may be amazed.

Our Lady of Victory Basilica, Buffalo NY- Monroe County Office Building, Rochester NY-Erie County Botanical Gardens, Buffalo NY

 

Looking up…

It can mean so many different things.

  1. To find information:  I will look it up online.
  2. To call on or visit: I will look up my friends in NYC.
  3. To become better or improve: Things are finally looking up.
  4. To admire or respect: Everyone looks up to my father.
  5. To gain attention: Look up here!

But for this post it means just this. Don’t forget to look up!

It was also a song “Things are Looking Up” by Ira and George Gershwin introduced in the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress

Morning clouds in West Virginia

The sunrise through morning clouds in West Virginia

Recently a friend, commented on one of my daily photo posts  “I like how you look up in your surroundings, so few of us do that enough…”

It made me reflect on how true that can be.  We get so busy going from point A to point B that we often forget to stop and look around, yet alone look up.

This is a reminder that we all need to take that time.  Stopping to look up at the ceiling in the subway station,  your bank while your rushing about or even the car sunroof while on your journey. OR be so brave as to stretch out on the nearest lawn and look at the clouds.  You will be pleasantly surprised at the beauty just overhead.

The tiled arches of the City Hall subway station in NYC

 

The Dome of the old Buffalo Savings Bank now the M&T bank

Cooper River Bridge, Charleston, SC

Hotel hallway arch in Rancho Mirage, CA
Stained glass from the cathedral reflects next to columns of the former mosque in La Mezquita. Cordoba, Spain
Watching the clouds go by on a summer day
Guggenheim, NYC – hotel in Segovia, Spain – Bal Harbor Mall, Miami Beach FL

 

We all do it.  We grow up, we move, we change, we become individuals and we make memories that we hope will last.

This last weekend Ella and I visited Hannah in the place she now calls home.  It certainly was not the same as when they were growing up, but for a few days the three of us hung out, laughed and went on little journeys much like we did when we all lived in one house.

Ella and Hannah on a Live Oak branch in Hampton Park, SC

 

These photos are from my belated Mothers Day gift, the gift of being together, laughing, exploring and appreciating the joy of having each other. Adding to our collective memory bank.

Hannah and Ella using the Christmas card lean pose

 

As we ventured out each day, I had a profound realization of the things we did together years ago are still visible in who we are today.  The occasions when I would say “hey! Let me get your photo here.”  They would immediately make the little girl poses they did so perfectly year after year in our Christmas photos.  There is no coaching needed it just happens, the heads tilt in, the smiles pop, the arms and legs take perfect positions and they lean against each other.  These moments happened so much that we laughed about it often.

Ella and Hannah with arms and legs positioned alike

 

They instinctively know when to ignore me when we are walking or doing something. Knowing that eventually I will stop taking photos and catch up with them. This has been going on their entire lives I am including a photo here from when they were little walking on the beach in Florida. (not taken on an iphone but it was copied on the iphone) Notice the similarities with the one taken this year.

Ella and Hannah, Casey Key, Forida 1993

 

Ella and Hannah, taking a walk on the beach 2011

 

Walking the beach on Tybee Island, Hannah single handedly rescued over 200 starfish all the while reciting the names of the birds and seashells and creatures we saw.  Declaring  “it is your fault I majored in biology.”  That it happened on the first family vacation when I let her miss a week of school. We went to the gulf coast of Florida.  I did not want her to think school was not important, even in kindergarten, so I researched the birds, fish, seashells and plants of Florida before going. While on vacation we collected things on the beach and talked about them, what they were, what they do, why they exist and I made her keep a journal and do experiments.   It was fun or so I thought. 18 years later she happily recalls all the names of the birds and shells on the beach.  Again, we laughed.  Joking at my push to make knowledge fun and important, well I guess, they were more laughing at how I behaved more like a strict teacher than a mom on vacation.

Making a difference for one Starfish

 

Starfish on Tybee Island Beach

 

Moon Jellyfish, Tybee Island Beach, GA

 

Ella has always been and is still the one that keeps things light.  As Hannah was starting to doubt her attempts to rescue the stranded Starfish, Ella stated perfectly “You made a difference in this ones life!”   She has always been quick witted, randomly saying things completely off topic that makes us all laugh, either on purpose or by mistake.  Many of her declarations have become staples in our life long conversations and memories.  Often it is her laughter that makes any occasion more memorable.  Ella sees the good in any situation.  These trips through out her childhood may have encouraged her independence and passion for travel and adventure. There was the time in Paris when Ella tried to trade Hannah and I for a cup of café au lait.  She certainly has added to our joy of traveling.  She keeps the serious side of Hannah and I carefree.

Trying to put out towels on a windy day, Sullivan Island, SC

 

I am fortunate to have adult daughters that I love to spend time with. I am thankful for the memories and phrases that make us laugh still.  Little things (both good and bad) we didn’t realize at the time would shape who we are now and give us the ties that bind.

“Some people would like B’s if they only got D’s” Ella age 5

Sisters sharing a moment like so many times before and so many more to come.

 

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