Gifts We Really Need As Opposed To Those We Don’t Like an IPAD

November 12, 2010 By

I had the Apple salesperson take my photo with the IPAD.  I then emailed it to my great nieces and nephews.  “Here I am just lookin’, not buyin’.”

The 8 year-old said with wisdom, “This does not surprise me that Pappy is in that Apple store!”

The 10 year old, named after my late brother, is coming to visit tomorrow to spend the night and to read the new book in his favorite series, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”.  I bought the book on the day it was released, November 9th, and I’ve just made up his bed, put the stuffed animals all around, and stood the book up next to the new Dog Pillow Pet.  He’ll be thrilled.

I’m thrilled he still wants to come visit.  He’s worried that I’m getting rid of cable.  I told him we’d watch Netflix movies on my laptop.  I just put up an easel with nice paper.  Maybe he’ll paint me something.  He’s good at drawing.  I stink at it.  But, this is a read weekend: He’s going to read his book and I’ll read mine.(“Freedom”, Jonathan Franzen)  We’ll make heath bar crunch cookies.  I’ll say it’s for him that I’m making them.  Bacon Pizza.  The boy never met a piece of bacon that didn’t call him by name.

We’ll go to see “Megaminds” on Sunday and then end at a restaurant that has delicious fried haddock.  Haddock is his favorite.

His mother said he was really looking forward to coming.

Honestly?

Isn’t this a far better gift than an Ipad?

Yes, of course, it is.

But, if he arrived at my door, say… suitcase in hand, smile on his face… with an Ipad for Pappy in his other hand?

Snap out of it, Pappy. Snap. Out. Of. It.

You have everything you need when the doorbell rings.

©Pat Coakley 2010

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

**Select photographs from this blog and my wider archive

Print Friendly
Filed Under: Apple Mania, CHILDREN Tagged With: , , ,

Twirling

May 22, 2010 By

EVERYONE!  Gather ’round like we did last summer.

O, that’s right, Chubby Checker not withstanding- we didn’t gather ’round that summer, did we?

If only I had known that at 65 years of age I’d look like Andy Warhol–I might have lived my life a bit differently.

First, I’d have accepted the stranger’s invitation to waltz in the cafe at Victoria Station in London in 1974.  He was dancing by himself, people, in the middle of the U shaped cafe to the piped in music.  All of us seated on the round tables were trying to pretend we didn’t see him until he waltzed over to my table and extended his hand like Fred Astaire and my head started spinning like Linda Blair in “The Exorcist”.

Even if he was out on a day pass, what harm could I have possibly done to myself by dancing with him?  I was getting on my train back to Germany in minutes. He was going to be twirling by himself forever.

But, no, I just wordlessly shook my head and looked at my table top as if it was one of The Dead Sea Scrolls.

Now, here on this beautiful spring day as I look at my containers and anticipate the cascading heliotrope and the smell of vanilla, I realize that 35 plus years later that I also twirl alone.

I can’t waltz anymore but I still twirl from time to time.

Here’s a video-twirl, Pappy style.

Miss Mary Comes to Visit.

©Pat Coakley 2010

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

**Select photographs from this blog and my wider archive can be purchased at www.patcoakley.com

Print Friendly
Filed Under: Aging, CHILDREN, Nostalgia, Photography, Photography for Shut Ins, PORTRAITS, self-portrait Tagged With: , , , ,

IPAD. IDraw. Speeding Tickets IHaHa.

April 8, 2010 By

I’ve been away to DC to see my niece and her family and I played a game called, “Zingo” (like Bingo except with graphics of animals and household objects) and occasionally won it.   I would yell out “Zingo” as lustily as any self-respecting church-hall Bingo-playing retiree.

I’ve been back for days doin’ stuff.

If need be I now know how to train a dragon should one appear on my lawn although I’ll tell you straight up– gardening in 3D glasses is a handicap.

I got stopped for speeding on my way to the dragon training session, going 32 in a 20 mph zone.  No one in my family will believe it.  Pappy speeding?

I can see their eyes rolling now.  They’ll think I’m making it up.

My nephew once told me I should drive with my emergency lights flashing to warn drivers that I am disabled.

I ended up getting a “Warning” on paper and a stoic verbal warning by the policeman, “Slow Down”.

After picking up my grand nephew to go to the movie, I told him the story and he’s laughing ,saying, “It takes you 45 minutes to drive us to your house and it takes my Dad, 30 minutes.”

After a few more minutes he said, “Pappy, you are going 32 mph again and it’s a 20 mph zone.  See the sign?”

OMG.  I AM a speedster after all.

We went into the Apple store before the movie and I pulled my grand nephew aside to give him a verbal warning, too.  “Tim, if you see Pappy pulling out her credit card to buy an IPAD, I want you to yell out as loud as you can, “YOU ALREADY HAVE THREE APPLE COMPUTERS, PAPPY!”

I cannot be trusted on the roads or in Apple stores.

Reason prevailed, but if I had the drawing bug like my grand nephew– this little new Apple gem would be in my bag right this very minute.

©Pat Coakley 2010

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

***Select photographs from this blog and from my wider archive can be purchased at www.patcoakley.com

Print Friendly
Filed Under: Apple Products, CHILDREN Tagged With: , , , , ,

Boston Monsoon

March 16, 2010 By

I spent two nights in Boston last weekend with my nine-year old grand-nephew and 12-year-old grand-niece.

Turns out it was an invitation to observe a historic combination of rain and wind that was endlessly fascinating viewed from the 35th floor and historically difficult to navigate on the street level.  No taxis at hotel queues.  Umbrellas thrown in each public trash can.  Shoes, socks, pants dripping on to marble floors leading to elevator banks.

One of my favorite moments was early, early one morning.  I was standing by the window and unbeknownst to me,  my grand-nephew had woken up and he came and stood next to me.  Wordlessly, we watched the swirl of rain painting the skyscrapers and the nearby Charles River and listened to the 40-mile and hour gusts meet our window and building with a high whining whistle.

Then, we woke up his sister, donned our hoods and traveled all around Boston underneath Boston on all the subway lines–orange line, red line, green line, silver line, blue line–in pursuit of the best hot chocolate in Boston.

©Pat Coakley 2010

PHOTOGRAPHY CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

**Photographs from this blog and from my wider archive can be purchased at www.patcoakley.com

Print Friendly
Filed Under: Boston, Boston Subways, CHILDHOOD, CHILDREN Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ninja Pappy

November 27, 2009 By

What I don’t have in cooking skills, I make up for in ninja skills.

Thankful to the gods for those who, despite reaching the age of reason,  love me crappy sticky buns and all.

 

©Pat Coakley 2009

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

Print Friendly
Filed Under: CHILDREN, Family Tagged With: , , , ,

LIVING IN THE MOMENT

October 25, 2009 By

missmary2s

I am her play buddy but.

She’s got to keep an eye on me cuz I might check my phone for messages to which she says, “Pappy, we are playing right?  You are helping me with my puzzles, right?”

Or, I might be taking her photograph.

Or daydreaming and looking out the library windows wondering if we’ll go to McDonalds or Islington Pizza for lunch.

She lives in the absolute moment and has an inner radar for my wanderings.

Is there a message I absolutely have to get?  No.

Do I have to daydream looking out the window about where I’ll take her next?  No.

Do I have to take her photograph?

Hell, yes.  It’s my way of living in the moment, Miss Mary.

©Pat Coakley 2009

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

Print Friendly
Filed Under: CHILDREN, Family Tagged With: , , , ,

At Play in the Waters of Childhood

August 6, 2009 By

batbeach

He is 7 years old and playing on the beach of my childhood.

I no longer swim in the surf,  unsure of myself in ways inconceivable fifty years ago, but the sight of my grand nephew at play in these waters was far more sweet than bitter in my viewfinder.

Yes, I envied him his supple knees and energy, but not his joy–for that (alleluia thank you jay-sus !) has not been tangled or twisted in the weeds of age.

In fact, in that department I might, just might,  have a thing or two to teach him about joy-finding before the sun goes down on the waters of Buzzards Bay and the bats begin their picnic on the beach.

(Plus, he was wearing the bathing suit I bought him for his birthday!  Yea!  Joy dance.  Sometimes Pappy is not the best picker outer of clothes for kids.)

©Pat Coakley 2009

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

Print Friendly
Filed Under: Aging, CHILDREN, Life, Nostalgia, Personal Tagged With: , , , , , ,

“Goodbye, Everything”

July 14, 2009 By

goodbyewater

She saw me swimming in the full tide from the living room window.  The sun was going down and she had her pajamas on.  When one is three years old, bedtime on a summer’s night often looks like daytime.

“Pappy!!  Pappy’s swimming!”

I could hear my name and turned to the front of the house.  I waved at her.

A few minutes later out she came in her bathing suit of green polka dots. (Thank you, Mom!) She ran down to the beach and stopped at the water’s edge.  I came in and picked her up and out we went to the full tide.  She clung on to me like she was drowning, drops of salt water on her face, her teeth already chattering in the unseasonably cool summer night.  But, she was not afraid just excited.

We bobbed.  We twirled.  We fished for minnows with our hands.

The sun went down on us in spectacular fashion as we swirled in tidal waters so high they spilled over the beach wall and splashed over the dock landing.

We turned to watch the sun disappear in its orange sorbet way and her warm breath tickled my wet ear, as she said, “Goodbye, Sun!”

“Goodbye, Sun,” I said, too, my eyes now filling up with the ache of infinite sweetness, human and planetary.

I stood up in the water with her still in my arms and started walking toward the beach.

“Goodbye, dock!” She said in a loud voice.

“Goodbye, water!” I said in a louder voice.

She turned her head back to the water as I mounted the stone stairs to the house.

“Goodbye, Everything!” She purred.

I ask you.

What more in this complicated, infinite, sweet universe was left to say after that?

©Pat Coakley 2009

PHOTOGRAPHY CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

Print Friendly
Filed Under: CHILDREN, Family, Personal, Photography Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Picnic Gone Very Wrong (Anxiety 2.0 Series)

March 31, 2009 By

picnicgonewrong

It was her idea.  She wanted to go on a picnic with Pappy (moi) and her six year old sister after we went to the “Iberry”.  She is three and this was her first picnic.  And, maybe her last.

I call it the picnic that went wrong.

She ran around so much her heel skin rubbing against her Ugg boots got irritated and a patch of tender skin tore off.  She screamed, “I want my Mommie!”  Ok. Ok.  We’ll just take the boot off and walk back to the car with one barefoot.  Screams ensued and more eye and nose liquid than I thought possible in one small human being.

I offered to take off my shoe and sock, so the both of us could walk back to the car with one barefoot.

The six year old sister yells out, “Pappy, you’re not going to show that toe, are you?”

(I’ve got a bad toe, ok?   I ‘ve learned to keep it covered up around small children.)

“O, boy,”  I say.  “How about I put my sock on your sister’s foot while you look away toward the library and then I’ll put my foot back into my shoe, sockless, but covered up?”

Deal.  It even made the three year old laugh a bit putting on Pappy’s sock but the laughter didn’t last because she insisted on putting her foot back into the offending Ugg boot.

“I want my mommie!”

“Me, too, honeychile.  Me, too.”

We set off toward the car.  The three old limped like her leg had been amputated. The six year old ran far ahead so there was no chance she’d catch sight of my toe.

When we got home, their mother opened the door and the screams started.

My screams not theirs.

How do parents do it?

The next day I dropped something off at their house and the three year old said, “No more picnics, Pappy!”

Deal, sweet girl.

©Pat Coakley 2009

Print Friendly
Filed Under: ANXIETY 2.0, CHILDREN, Deep Thoughts, Family, FEAR THE SERIES, Humor, Life, Personal, Photography Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Future

March 17, 2009 By

goofball4x

What better way to talk about the future than to look into the face of it.

A friend of mine told me recently,  ” I’d rather look at photos of your grand nieces and nephews than any of your trucks.”

Ouch.  I love me (It’s St. Patrick’s Day)  trucks, too, and I have a few images that shall be a part of my new series, ” The Future” to shed some headlights on the road ahead.

But, for now, I have to agree.  In times like these, there is something about looking into the face of the young that is not just a passive experience.

It is not a snapshot; it IS an experience of this world as much as the sickening economic swoons and spirals, political partisanship, charts and polls, concrete pots of greed  and talking nattering heads.

Fear grips the adult mind and quietly, unheralded, the spigot of spontaneity closes to only occasional drips.  Kids faces and voices increases the pressure in this clogged pipeline and in a click of the shutter, a nanosecond really, you feel the spigot opening wider, the particles of joy flowing out.

So, I begin this series with the face of joy, a part of my future, too–as long as  I keep it in my viewfinder.

©Pat Coakley 2009

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

Print Friendly
Filed Under: CHILDREN, Creativity, Family, Personal, Photography, The Single Life Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts