Reflections

American flag

We are proud to fly the American flag at our home (even if the HOA did require that we get architectural review board approval before hanging it). Despite everything that has and is going on here and around the world, I still love the country of my birth. I also love photographing reflections, so capturing multiple images of the flag on our car was a bonus for me.

Speaking of photographs, we just had four of our area photos placed on canvas for the screen porch. We wanted to have some blue on the walls to complement the new cushions we got for the furniture in there. Since the porch overlooks the lake, it made sense to go with some of our nature photography. I think these will work nicely. Now to get them hung!

nature photography

Imagery Shutterbugs Part 2

Last night our little photography group met to go over some of the photos we had taken on Saturday. We were short three people, so I'm not sure if they just couldn't make it or if they decided the workshop was not for them.

It was fun to see what captured the attention of the different photographers. In only one case did two of us have the exact same image. At the end of our session on Saturday I shot the blue sky and clouds through a window of the building we were meeting at. Another person saw me, looked up, and took the same shot. Unfortunately we both submitted them for review. But as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so no big deal.

After we went through all the photos we talked about places we would like to go as a group to take pictures. Several ideas were thrown out, and the workshop leader will now put together a calendar of events for the rest of the year.

Because these are not technical workshops, nor are the photo reviews meant to be critiques, I'll have to decide if I want to continue on with the group. There is a charge for each month, and if all we are going to do is take and look at pictures, I can certainly do that on my own for free. 

Here are a few of my favorites from Saturday morning.

photoshoot collage

Photographic Memory

Earlier this year the Webster Groves Public Library invited me to have a solo photography show in their art gallery during the month of December. I have participated in a half dozen shows over the past couple of years, but have never done one on my own. The thing is, with a solo show your work has to carry the load of the entire exhibit. Your piece is not one of many, but rather many pieces of you. But I felt like my work from Australia and New Zealand could stand on its own, so I agreed to exhibit.

As I had come home from my trip with slightly over 3,500 photos, it was rather daunting to narrow it down to the best. Normal shows at the library contain 20-25 pieces, but I chose to show the 34 pictures that I felt best represented the two countries I had visited. Next I had to determine what size to make the prints. They needed to be large enough to show the details, but not so large that it would limit how many photos I could hang. Originally I wanted all of them to be the same size, mounted only behind an 11"x14" glass frame with no mat or wood to detract from the pictures. However, nine of the photos would not fit in that format without cutting off pertinent items such as a kangaroo's tail, for example. So in the end, I had those nine printed 10"x20" and mounted on gatorboard. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned, but it worked. After I received all the prints back from the lab, I applied wire to the back of each per the library's hanging system requirement.

Jim was a godsend in helping me with my final photo selections, and providing input on the best way to display the pictures. He spent several hours with me on December 2nd hanging the show, and came up with an inventive method to level the photos when the hanging system at the library kept tilting all the images downward. I went back to the library on the 3rd to clean off any fingerprints and apply the photo labels to the wall. The show was ready to go!

Wednesday I got my hair cut, and my long time stylist, Charles, offered to have me come back on Friday so that he could style my hair for the reception at no charge. I took him up on his offer, and he would not even accept a tip from me.

The opening reception was held Friday night from 6-8. Jim and I got to the library at 5:30 to set up the tables. A surprise was awaiting, as the librarians said flowers had been delivered for me. Jim had handed me fresh flowers when he got home from work, so I knew they hadn't come from him. As it turned out, our Minnesota friends Kathy and Paul, who had joined us in New Zealand, sent a floral arrangement for the opening. How nice is that?

On one of the tables we put the wine, water, 7-Up, lemonade, ice and glasses. A second was for the cheese and sausage tray, along with a vegetable tray, crackers, grapes and a candy dish. The third was reserved for the amazing chocolate chip and cranberry white chip cookies that I had ordered from a friend. They were a huge hit, as I knew they would be!

reception tables

Through the course of the evening around 35 people came through the exhibit, including stylist Charles and three of his friends. A few were folks that I didn't know but who had read about it on the library's Facebook page or in the calendar section of the Webster-Kirkwood Times. Several neighbors, many friends and a few of my Women in Focus photography group stopped by. I was touched by how many of my pickleball ladies came as well. I was not able to take many pictures, so thanks go out to my friend Caren Libby for those below.

reception photos

Everyone complimented me on the quality of the photos as well as the way I had chosen to display them. And I even sold one that night! In the end, I'm glad I faced my insecurities and put my work out there. Sometimes you just have to get out of your own head.

Giving Thanks

This year we traveled to Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Normally we celebrate at home or in the D.C. area with the kids. For several reasons we decided to head north this year. The weather cooperated, with sunny, dry roads on the way up and back, and moderate temperatures. We had a wonderful time with great food, even better conversation and some rousing games of Five Crowns. And we were lucky enough to be able to participate in the annual Wolterman Christmas cookie decorating extravaganza. We missed seeing the kids, but fortunately they will be home for Christmas in a few weeks.

Thanksgiving 2017

Saturday Jim and I spent several hours setting up my photo exhibit at the Webster Groves Public Library. It is my first solo photography exhibit, and I titled it Koalas and Kiwis as all 34 photos are from our trip to Australia and New Zealand. Deciding with pictures to use was a challenge as I had over 3,000 to choose from! But I think I came up with a fair representation of what we saw. Friday is the opening reception at the library from 6-8 p.m., so I am planning what I want to serve at that. What I know for sure is that it will include wine as well as some of my friend's excellent chocolate chip cookies. The photos will remain up until December 30th.

photography show

On Sunday I once again photographed Santas on the Loose, a fun 5K run in Webster Groves sponsored by the Webster-Shrewsbury-Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce. The money raised goes to support the Crisis Nursery in St. Louis. The weather was outstanding, so the two hours I was there flew by.

Santas on the Loose

The weekend wrapped up last night with a Christmas program at my niece's church in south St. Louis county. There was singing, dancing, and more musical instruments than I could count. What an immense amount of talent that church has in its membership! It was good to catch up with my niece, her husband, and her mother-in-law before the season gets too crazy.

Twin Rivers Christmas Program

Shooting Good Times!

Missouri Botanical Garden

With the return of warmer temperatures, I have been able to get out and shoot some photographs. My forehead finally healed enough to let my bangs hang down and cover up my icky looking surgical sites. My first couple of trips were to the Missouri Botanical Garden, which is my all-time favorite place in St. Louis. This time of year things change so rapidly that I try to get there once a week.

On my first trip I went by myself as it was during the week. When I am out photographing, I really don't mind being by myself. It is nice to be able to take my time and not worry that I am holding someone else up. My second trip was with Jim, as we hurried to the garden to try to capture the snow that fell on a recent Sunday. Unfortunately the garden barely got any snow, so we mostly ended up with raindrop shots. Those can be pretty, too.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Last Friday my photographer friend Caren Libby invited me to go to the Missouri Mines State Historic Site in Park Hills, Missouri. A photography meet-up group had scheduled a visit there, and she took me as her guest. I had no idea that this place existed. The Missouri Mines State Historic Site was until 1972 an active lead mine. Missouri's lead belt once produced 80% of the nation's mined lead. The 8,244-acre tract of land was donated to the State of Missouri in 1975. The mine's former powerhouse has been turned into a museum that interprets the area's lead mining history. The decaying buildings are fascinating to photograph. I just wish the day had not been so gray as I think the photos would have been better with a more interesting sky. By the time we reached Kimmswick for a late lunch at the Blue Owl Restaurant, it was 10 degrees warmer with bright blue skies.

Missouri Mines State Park

On Saturday I was the volunteer photographer for Bunnies on the Loose, a 5K race put on by the Webster Groves/Shrewsbury/Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce. This was my first time at this event, and I had a blast. My niece was one of the runners, so I got to spend some time with her as well.

Bunnies on the Loose

Soon after I got home from the run Jim and I hopped in the car to make our way to Kampsville, IL, final resting place of the once-grand Goldenrod Showboat. We stopped for lunch in Grafton, which was a good thing as Kampsville is north of Hardin, IL. And in fact the boat is a few miles north of Kampsville. It was quite a trek!

circa 1946

Built in 1909 for $75,000, the Goldenrod was moved to the St. Louis riverfront in 1937. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967, and became a dinner theater in 1975. The City of St. Charles purchased the boat in 1989, and in 1991 it was moved to the St. Charles riverfront. Ten years later the city decided to sell the boat, and found no takers so the Goldenrod was moved to Kampsville. It has been deteriorating ever since. A non-profit group was formed to try to raise money for restoration, but they are finally throwing in the towel. On April 1, the boat will be sold for scrap.

Goldenrod Showboat

The main reason I was interested in seeing the Goldenrod one last time is because back in 1979 or 1980 my family went to the dinner theater. We had purchased tickets for my mom and dad as a Christmas present, and since their anniversary was in January it seemed like a good way to celebrate. My brother Joe was in town for the holiday in addition to my folks, and my sister and brother-in-law had moved to St. Louis by this time. So the seven of us piled into my dad's Cadillac and drove downtown. The Goldenrod was moored on the St. Louis levy at that time, and it was icy and freezing cold that night. The boiler had gone out in the boat, so it wasn't much warmer inside. The area on the second floor where we ate wasn't too bad, but in the theater it was cold! We sat near the front in seats on the main floor, and you could feel the cold through your shoes. My sister remembers soaking her feet in a tub of warm water when she got home. We all kept our coats on during the performance.

Before the show began, there was music and the band director joked around with the audience. We had told them it was mom and dad's anniversary, so they put the spotlight on my mom and started singing, "The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be..." My mom had a wonderful sense of humor (fortunately), and she got the biggest kick out of that. I don't recall the name of the play, but it was one of the old melodramas where the audience was encouraged to boo and hiss at the villain and cheer on the hero and heroine. At one point in the performance one of the cute actresses came down the steps from the stage and got my brother to take him backstage. Now, you would have to know my brother, but he was extremely shy back then. We were all so shocked when he actually went with her and had a small part in the play! After the show we slip-slided our way back to the car, which was parked on the levy. After we all got in the car, the windows immediately fogged up, aggravating my dad who shouted at all of us to, "Stop breathing!" We knew better than to laugh, but really???

At any rate, seeing the Goldenrod took me back to a time when my family was able to get together and share some laughter. Now, like my parents, the Goldenrod will be put to rest and remain just a memory in the minds of those who loved it.

Mardi Gras St. Louis Style

Soulard

Despite living in St. Louis for thirty-seven years, I have never attended the Mardi Gras parade here. Once when our son was a toddler, my husband and I took him downtown to the St. Patrick's Day parade. Arriving early, we secured a nice spot where our little guy would be able to actually see the parade. Unfortunately arriving early also gave us all the opportunity to see folks puking up their green beer. As if that was't enough, some johny come latelys pushed and shoved their was to the curb, knocking my family right out of the way. That was it for us, and since then we stick to our lovely, local 4th of July parade. If there is ever any puking, I haven't seen it.

My photographer friend asked me if I wanted to go with her to the Mardi Gras parade this year to take photos. She explained that she goes down to the Soulard area early to photograph the people and all the other trappings that the event brings. As it promised to be a beautiful day, I agreed to go with her. She picked me up at 9:00 on Saturday, and we headed to the Shrewsbury MetroLink Station. The beauty of this station is that it is the beginning of the line. You can always be assured of a seat on the way to wherever you are headed. After several more stops, it was standing room only on the train. On the advice of Mardi Gras organizers we got off at the Civic Center stop, where for $6 you could purchase a round trip bus ticket and be dropped off near the parade route. I have to say, it was a great system. We had no wait time for a bus on either the way to or from the festivities.

The people watching was everything my friend assured me it would be, and it was fun to take pictures and observe human nature at its not always finest. We very quickly concluded that we were several decades older than the average party-goer, despite it being the morning. I could not believe how many times people (always young men) felt the need to talk (yell) at me about what I was photographing. "Why are you taking pictures of a door? You should be taking pictures of us!" This was always followed by them trying to photobomb my shot. And when I photographed a cat in a window? "Are you taking a picture of the pussy in the window? She's photographing pussy!" Oh yes, you're a clever one, aren't you? But really, how could I pass up this cat who looks like she is thinking, "What in the world are all these people doing here?"

Mardi Gras kitty

We wandered up and down the many streets that were closed for the occasion, and it was a great opportunity to study and photograph the incredible architecture in this historic part of St. Louis. Normally there are cars blocking the way, but on Saturday we only had to wait for the drunks to stumble on by. I'd like to say that they were few and far between, but that would be a lie. And despite the supposed crackdown on public urination (and the presence of 1,000 porta-potties), I still saw men peeing wherever they pleased. It was annoying yet sad at the same time. I wanted to take a video of these kids and send it to them when they are older (and sober).

St. Louis Blues float

We actually did see a little of the parade and I was amazed at the jostling that went on in the crowd, all in an effort to secure the $.10 strands of beads as they were thrown from the floats. As the music grew loader (and it was all about that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble...), and the crowds grew thicker (and more drunk), it was time for the seniors to head on back to the bus and find a more civilized place to have lunch.

The bottom line is that while I had a good time with my friend and love the photos that I took, I won't hurry back for this event. It appears that little has changed in the 30 years since I last attended a parade downtown. There is still too much drinking, puking, and shoving going on.

So, I Didn't Win the Lottery

Power Ball

For the past two weeks I have done something that I've never done before in my life - I purchased a couple of lottery tickets. The siren's call of first $800 million and then $1.4 billion was just too hard to resist. I had no thoughts of winning, which is a good thing since I didn't match any of the numbers. But it was fun to get a little caught up in Lotto Fever for a minute. I got a big kick out of this picture that was floating around Facebook, especially the part about looking in the mirror.

It was hard to be unhappy today, despite not becoming an overnight billionaire. The temperature was in the mid-sixties, so I knew I needed to get out of the house. I headed to my favorite place in St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Garden. I got a new camera for Christmas, so I wanted to take advantage of the weather and put it through its paces. (At least the ones I could figure out without trying to read a 300 page PDF of the manual on my phone.) It was a good exercise, because I could see which features I need to read up on. But overall, I am pleased with the camera and think it will be a lot of fun.

Missouri Botanical Garden

'Tis the Season

decorated mantle

The decorations are up, the Christmas cards are in the mail, and all of the presents have been purchased and wrapped, except for the ones that are still in transit from their various websites. I still need to clean the house, buy all the groceries and do my baking, but I am feeling pretty good about where I stand right now. Katie arrives late Friday night, and she and Jim are making an impromptu trip up to Iowa for a few days to see the grandparents. She has not been with them since her graduation in 2009, and she expressed a desire to go to Charles City. In the meantime, I will finish up things around here and meet Andy and Megan when they arrive on Sunday.

This week is packed with parties and dinner engagements, so I have a feeling time will fly by. The Women in Focus photography group had a party at the president's house. She requested that we each bring a 5x7 or 8x10 of one of our pictures in a plain envelope for a gift exchange. What a fun idea! I agonized over what photo to print as many of the women are extremely talented. I settled on an 8x10 of one of my butterfly photos because I figured that would appeal to anyone. It was taken in a cemetery in Louisville this summer. The lady who got it seemed to like it. The envelope I chose actually contained two 5x7 prints, representing the "Power" and "Light" signs that are etched into the old Union Electric building downtown along the north riverfront. It was fun to see all the pictures that people brought.

my picture 

interesting tree

Speaking of pictures, a friend called me up last Friday morning when the fog was as thick as pea soup and asked if I wanted to go shoot some photos at Bellefontaine Cemetery. Of course I said yes, and it was so odd because while there was a lot of fog on the way there, in the cemetery itself the fog was almost non-existent. The lighting was pretty moody, so I guess it was okay. I did find this tree to be very interesting, with its curly branches.

After we were done at the cemetery we grabbed some lunch at Crown Candy Kitchen. The line to get in was surprisingly short. I have never gotten seated so quickly there. Then my friend drove us to Wellston as there was an old trolley station that she thought I would enjoy seeing. Built around the turn of the century (I have seen 1901 and 1909 dates used), the Wellston Station must have been beautiful in its prime. It is in such disrepair that I doubt it could be saved at this point. What a shame!

Wellston Station

A Grave Situation

Sunset Memorial Park & Mausoleum

It is no secret that I like to take photographs in cemeteries. I love to look at the workmanship of the headstones, and find myself wondering about the people buried beneath them. Cemeteries are often so peaceful and quite beautiful. Did you know that cemeteries were the first public parks? As fewer people are choosing to be buried in the traditional fashion, cemeteries today are finding unique ways to bring visitors back through their gates. For example, Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis offers Beer Baron Tours, where a guided tour leads you to all the brewery heads who are buried in their cemetery.

As a genealogist, I am so appreciative of the volunteers who contribute photographs of cemeteries and headstones to the websites findagrave.com and billiongraves.com. I have been able to locate the gravesites of many of our relatives through them. So I don't know why it never occurred to me to volunteer to take photos at cemeteries in the St. Louis area. Visitors to the above-mentioned websites can put in requests, providing as much information as they have on the deceased, and volunteers can then "claim" the request. You then have two weeks to post the photos or list a problem if the stone cannot be located.

Last weekend I decided to claim a few graves at Sunset Memorial Park and Mausoleum, as well as one at Father Dickson Cemetery. For the graves at Sunset, I had the section numbers as well as the lot numbers for each of the requests, so I was not anticipating any problems with locating the stones. That was a grave assumption on my part. This cemetery has no other identifying markers within each section, so there was no way to know where grave 304 was located within Section 1, for example. Unfortunately the office was not open, despite the posted Saturday hours. Unless I wanted to walk the entire section looking at the names on each headstone, I realized that this would be a futile effort on a 90 plus degree day.

From there I headed on over to Father Dickson Cemetery in Sappington. This historic cemetery was opened in 1903 as a final resting place for African Americans. Due to segregation, African Americans were not allowed to be buried in any of the existing cemeteries in St. Louis. The cemetery represents 167 years of history, with the last burial taking place in the 1990s. After falling into disrepair, the cemetery is now cared for by a dedicated group of volunteers who are working to restore the 13-acre tract of land. Fortunately one of these volunteers was on-site when I arrived, as I did not know the section or grave number of the man I was researching. I had his birth and death dates (and knew that he had been murdered!), but not where he was buried. The volunteer provided me with a very interesting overview of the history of the cemetery, and then told me that he has the record book for the cemetery at his house. I later emailed him the information about the man I was searching for, and unfortunately I learned that there was no headstone for this individual. However, the volunteer did provide me with details such as the fact that the man had died in City Hospital #2, the date of burial and the exact location of the grave itself. As a genealogist, all the little bits of information help to paint a picture of your ancestor's lives. So at least I could pass all this along to his descendant even if I couldn't provide her with a photo of a headstone.

The moral of the story is to only accept assignments when the location of the burial plot is provided, and where the cemetery has a map so that I stand a fighting chance of being able to find the grave.

Women in Focus St. Louis

A friend had invited me to the second meeting of a new organization in town, Women in Focus St. Louis. The purpose of the group is to network with other female photographers, and to support and promote photographic arts. Women in Focus began in Atlanta. When one of their members, Tiffany Weigel, relocated to Chicago in 2014, she started a group there. As she now lives in St. Louis, she wanted to bring the idea here as well.

At first I was hesitant to attend a meeting, thinking that it was only for women who take photographs for a living. But then I thought, what the heck, they can always tell me not to come back if it isn't a good fit. Around 16 women attended the second meeting, which was in February, and the group is about half and half in terms of professionals versus serious enthusiasts. So it is a nice mixture of backgrounds.

Tiffany want us to go on field trips together as well as participate in "photo shows." Our first field trip was to the International Photography Hall of Fame in Grand Center. Who knew? I didn't realize St. Louis has such a museum. It relocated here from Oklahoma City nearly two years ago. While the Hall of Fame is rather small, the current exhibit of photos of St. Louis architecture was very interesting.

Our first show is taking place at Grafica Fine Art Gallery beginning with an opening reception on March 27th. We could each enter up to three photos, so I selected a nature shot of deer at Jefferson Barracks Cemetery, the band stand by the Muny in Forest Park, and a grittier photo of the graffiti wall downtown to display. I had shot the wall while taking senior pictures of my great-niece last summer. I didn't realize until I looked at the picture on my big monitor that the word "FU*K" was spray painted on the wall (minus the * but with the C.) I decided it would be safest to email the picture to the gallery owner to make sure she was okay with it. I mean, it is a graffiti wall after all, but I don't know how many children come through the gallery. Or other people who might be offended. She reviewed it, and said she is fine with it as is. I have the pictures printed but am waiting for the frames to arrive.

The qualification for having the show at this gallery is that we all must have the photos available for sale. This is a tough call as I have no clue what to put on the price tag. The gallery takes a 50% commission (standard practice), so obviously I have to keep that in mind in the price so I don't lose money on the printing and framing. Of course, I would like to make a little something as well. I don't have the final cost on framing yet, so I'll have to wait until I get that number. However it goes, I am thrilled to be part of the exhibit, and this group of talented women. I anticipate that I will learn a lot from them!

Speaking of photography, the March of Dimes asked if I would be willing to be one of the photographers for their March for Babies walk again this year. I volunteered for the first time last year, and I had so much fun taking pictures. I also talked to a lot of people and realized how challenging life has been for so many of the families. And yet progress has been made, and there was such a sense of hope in the crowd. So of course I said yes. I will pray for a day as beautiful as last year so that they will have a good turnout and raise lots of money.

2014 March for Babies

Putting Leaves on the Family Tree

Fall Maple tree

Since returning from my trip to Germany and Switzerland I have been spending a significant amount of time labeling my more than 2,000 photos and going through the various books, papers and DVDs provided to me by the wonderful hosts in my hometowns. I am so grateful that I sent emails home almost daily, documenting my adventures and including photos. Between the emails and my blog posts I have been able to identify most of the photos. Remembering the food in the photos would have been a big challenge without this help.

Rolf in Switzerland sent me a gedcom file of all of the Kubler names and dates he has found so far. (A gedcom file is basically a universal file format that allows you to share genealogical data between different genealogy software programs.) Theoretically, anyway. I was unable to get my software, Family Treemaker, to open the gedcom file, so I downloaded a free software program called Family Tree Builder. I think that is the software that Rolf was using, but I am not positive about that. With this free software I was able to open and import the file Rolf sent to me. The file contains 300 names, and probably more than 275 of those were new to me. The new names I then had to type into Family Treemaker so that all my tree would be in one place.

In placing all these new leaves on my family tree I was able to see the relationship between me and the cousins that I met while there. For example Josef and Susanne Kubler, who graciously had dinner with me twice while I was in Busserach, are my sixth cousins, once removed. How fun is that?

I am still working my way through the data provided to me in Insheim, Germany. I hope to finish up with that side of the family this weekend. Then I will concentrate on uploading my photos to shutterfly.com so that I can put together a book about my trip while the memories are still fresh. It will be a joy to relive the trip through my photo book.

Photographic Memory

Shutterfly photo books

This weekend I have been working on a couple of photo books. I love shutterfly.com because it is easy to upload photos and place them exactly as you want them within the book. I used to take my photos and put them into scrapbooks, but anyone who has done that knows it is expensive and time consuming. Once I found out about this online site, my scrap booking supplies were put away for the occasional craft project.

Our recent trips have all been the subject of photo books, so today I worked on the one from Montreal. I have to say it was not my favorite book to work on. The skies were so gray and dreary while we were there that I just feel like my photos are not worthy of a book. But I decided to put one together anyway, and I actually had enough pictures that I liked well enough to make it worthwhile. Unfortunately the memory card with Jim's photos on it is at his office, so the book will probably not get ordered this weekend.

I also have been working on a book documenting the history of our house. It is something I have had in the back of my mind for a while now, and I have been uploading pictures to the Shutterfly site as I have come across them. This weekend I did some serious uploading as I wanted to show the before and after photos as we have worked on the house. My gosh did we have a lot to tackle! When I look back now on all the wallpaper we had to remove, the floors that needed refinishing or replacing, the light fixtures, wall and floor tiles...wow! Good thing we were young and ambitious when we bought the house. Had House Hunters been around back then, we would not touched this house with a ten foot pole. LOL.

But looking at the old photos sure brought back a lot of memories. This is the only house our two children have ever known. A lot of laughter has echoed off the walls - more laughter than tears fortunately. The house is now 110 years old. What stories it could tell! I can only reveal some of them through the pages of my photo book.

It's All Relative

This weekend we are heading to Cincinnati with my sister and brother-in-law for a Crusham family reunion. This is my mom's side of the family, and only one brother and two sisters remain of the nine children grandma and grandpa had. Each time I go to a reunion it seems that there is one less person in the group pictures. And I always wonder what will happen to the reunions when the last three siblings pass on. It doesn't seem like our generation is all that interested in large family gatherings. My sister and I make the trek from St. Louis every time a reunion is held, but cousins who live there in town can't be bothered to stop in even for a brief period.

Speaking of pictures, one of the many boxes I inherited when my dad died contains old family photos. I am in the process of scanning them so that I can share them with my siblings and other interested relatives. I first divided the photos up by family and created a bag for each of my three siblings. They mostly contain photos of their own families that they shared with mom and dad throughout the years. That was the easy part. The stack of photos I knew we all might be interested in I decided to make digital rather than making prints the others might not even care to have around. Scanning is a slow and tedious process, particularly since I feel the need to clean most of the photos up with a photo editing program.

I am not quite sure what to do with the scanned pictures when I am done. There will be too many to email to my siblings, plus I want the photos somewhere that my cousins can access them if they want. My Picassa account, where I post photos from the Missouri Botanical Garden and other public venues, has nearly 200 photos in it. Once you hit 200 photos, you have to pay an annual fee. I have a Shutterfly account where I import photos that I want to reprint or put into photo books, but I'm not sure if others can access the account or if they have to join Shutterfly just to look at my photos. I also don't know if any of my photos could then be downloaded by my relatives. It sounds like I have some research to do, which will take more time. But as I said, it's all relative.