MOTHERS: new one and baby at Abby's; Elder mother and daughter who is also a mother at Metro Cafe - Happy Mother's Day, all

I walked to Abby's for breakfast this morning and was surprised to find Shelly there with her new baby boy, Colten. I hadn't seen Shelly since I left for Arizona-India and she went on maternity leave.

Baby and mom posed, as Amber looked on. Abby was not in. Perhaps she took Saturday morning to sleep in for once. Remember, Abby not only runs her own restaurant, but she is a mom, too - and a grandma. So she should sleep in now and then.

Shelly was taking orders, cooking, busing tables and mothering - all at once. And the omelette she fixed me was pretty damn good.

So please, if you should happen to see Shelly today, say "Happy Mother's Day" to her.

Colten, in line with dessert.

At the usual time, I headed to Metro Cafe for my afternoon coffee break. I had planned to ride my bike, but it was raining and I did not want to get my camera wet, so I drove. When I arrived, I found Carmen there with both her mom and dad. I had seen them all together at the ice rink, but never in Metro Cafe. So, naturally, we had to a do a Metro portrait.

Before we did, Carmen gussied her mom up a bit.

So here she is, Carmen with her dad and mom, Tony and Eva Villasenor, originally from a small village in Mexico. They did not move to Anchorage until Carmen was ten. Her early life was spent barefoot on dirt floors. They had no cameras and so Carmen has only one photo from her early childhood in Mexico.

So say happy "Mother's Day" to Eva today - should you happen to see her.

Oh, and don't forget to say "Happy Mother's Day," to Carmen. She's a mother, too, you know - Carmen and Branson, the six-year old hockey star and a bit of a young ruffian, all around. Young ruffians need good mothers and Branson's got one.

Probably, you won't see any of these mothers today - but I'll bet you will see other mothers, perhaps even your own.

So, please, say "Happy Mother's Day" to them, too.

Happy Mother's Day, all you mothers out there. It's a tough job you have, but most mothers are pretty tough and we sure do need you.

Damn dog comes running my way

I was out walking today when this damn dog suddenly came running my way.

This damn dog didn't stop to say, "hi."

No. This damn dog just ran on by.

Damn dog. He could have said, "hi."

I can't believe I'm seeing green; blue and orange train wreck at the window; poet tells me of the generation that grew up not reading comic books

I really can't believe it...

...yet there you have it...

Green!

I zipped into town tonight, grabbed Margie and zipped right back home. Just before we left Anchorage, Jobe caused a train wreck in the window.

Today, I had my at least-once weekly breakfast at Abby's, the breakfast Arlene picks up for me in exchange for shooting the December wedding of her daughter, Aurora. 

You will notice that Allie, the poet and advanced student who, at the age of 16, graduated from high school with high honors, is no longer a blonde, but a red head - a bright red head. If there is a ever a slow moment when I am at Abby's and Allie is there, she will tell me a story or two or three or four about being a teenager in today's world.

Today, she told me about going to Blockbuster all winter long to check out and watch movies, but now that the darkness is gone and we are definitely into the season of light, she doesn't check out so many movies anymore, because who wants to sit or lie around in the living room watching movies when it's light outside?

So I asked if she had seen The Avengers, because to watch a movie in the darkness of a theatre rather than a sun-lit living room is quite a different thing. Yes, she said, in 3D and she had loved it. Fun movie. She asked if I had seen it. I told her how Margie and I tried on Sunday, but got shut out because it was sold out. I told her we will try again. She said we would enjoy it.

I told her I was sure we would, but I also said I doubted that any comic book movie could ever surpass or even equal the experiences I had reading comic books as a kid growing up. It was absolute Magic. "My generation didn't read comic books," she told me. Instead, she explained, they grew up watching movies and reading Harry Potter - but not comic books.

Allie very recently turned 17. She was very pleased. She got to go to an "R" rated movie. She told me which one, but I can't remember. It wasn't that bad, she said, but still... a bit surprising...

Note: As I put together my Return to India series, I continued to make my regular stops at Metro Cafe and Abby's and I shot quite a few pictures. Sometime within the next week, I will catch up with a major post, maybe even two, on both Metro and Abby's.

On the third anniversary of their wedding, an airplane flies overhead

Yesterday, May 9, I was out walking when this airplane flew overhead. After it disappeared, I checked the time in Bangalore, India. It was 2:40 AM, May 10. That meant it was already May 10 there - three years to the day that Soundarya Ravichandran married Anil Kumar and so became Soundarya Anil Kumar. I probably would not mention this now, but would acknowledge the date in silence here and by email, as Sujitha and I have already done, except for the fact that I just completed my Return to India series, centered around the wedding of Sujitha, of which these two were such an integral part even though they are no longer here - so I want to acknowledge the date.

Here they are, at the end of their wedding day - Soundarya and Anil on her parent's porch, at the threshold of what we all hoped would be a long and happy life together, being blessed by Bhanu, mother to Soundarya, Sujitha and Ganesh. Readers who followed the series will recognize Sujitha on the right. To the left is Amudha Chithi, sister in-law to Ravi, Soundarya and Sujitha's father, through his brother, Sridhar.

I prefer Pepsi, myself

This post makes me a bit sad. This post pushes the final entry of my India series off the front page of this blog. I guess what they say about life and time is true. Life moves on. Time does not stand still, it waits for no one.

Damnit.

And here am I, sitting here, blogging, feeling lazy and listening to Hank Williams: "On the day we met, I went astray. I started down that lone highway."

"You gonna change or I'm gonna leave..."

"This ain't right and that is wrong, you just keep nagging all the day long..."

"The way to keep a woman happy, make her do what's right is love her every morning, bawl her out at night..."

And not only that, "There's a tear in beer, 'cause I'm crying for you dear..."

"Praise the Lord, I saw the light..."

"Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly, that midnight train is whining low. I'm so lonesome I could cry...

"The moon just went behind the cloud to hide its face and cry..."

Damn! That guy was good!

I think I'll go drink a Pepsi now.

A breakfast Pepsi.

I jokes. It's midnight, but I'm not going to post this until breakfast time.

"Well there ain't no use of me working so hard, when I've got a woman in the bossman's yard. Yea, my bucket's got a hole in it, I can't buy no beer..."

"Why do we stay together, we always fuss and fight. You ain't never been known to be wrong and I ain't never been right..."

"I went down to the river to watch the fish swim by, got to the river so lonesome I wanted to die, Oh Lord, and then I jumped in the river but the doggone river was dry..."

Damn, that guy was good!

And here's some kids getting off a school bus:

"Why don't you love me like you used to do, how come you treat like a worn out shoe, my hair's still curly and my eyes are still blue..."

"Today I passed you on the street and my heart fell at your feet. I can't help it if I'm still in love with you..."

You got me chasing rabbits, walking on my hands and howling at the moon.... oooowwwooooo... There ain't a hounddog in this state that can hold a bone to me...."

"There's a tear in my beer because I'm crying for you dear... last night I walked the floor and the night before, you were on my lonely mind... I'm gonna keep drinking ''til I can't a move a toe, and then maybe my heart won't hurt me so..."

Damn. Playlist just ended.

Guess I'll switch to Jimmy Hendrix now:

"After all the jacks are in the boxes and the clowns have all gone to bed, you can hear happiness staggering on Down Street, footprints dressed in red.

"And the wind whispers 'Mary'....."

Damn!

That guy was good!

Can't go to bed now... not while Jimmy's singing and guitaring...

"Angel came down from heaven yesterday, she stayed just long enough to rescue me and she told me a story about the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea..."

"Somewhere a king has no wife and the wind, it cries...

'Mary'..."

Can't go to bed now. Not while Jimmy's guitaring and singing...

"and my angel she said unto me, today is the day for you to rise..."

"...acting funny, but I don't know why, 'scuze me while I kiss the sky! Purple haze...

...is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?"