STAPE SCOOP

This picture was taken when I was around 35. Can you tell who is who? Des was around 6 or 7 Heather 4 or 5.
All three families had gone to the mountains together. We had four wheeled up to the top of a mountain around Fairplay. The three of us were enjoying the view together.

Don't you love it?

I found this poem the other day I thought you might enjoy, I did....

THE PHOTOGRAPH
For my great-aunt, Agnes McCurdy Crafton (1888-1982)

In the photograph
the family has gathered
under the largest magnolia tree.

As I recall, some of them were leaving
(a second cousin and his wife and son)
and the rest of us have come out to
the driveway to say good-bye.

As I recall it was mid-morning,
My father is still in his bathrobe,
having slept late.
He is smiling but anxious to return
to his cup of coffee.

My mother and aunt are dressed for
a day of shopping in town.
My mother looks hurried and
wants to get on with it.

My brother, is standing towards the back,
conspicuously tall,
is barefoot and not wearing a shirt.
I believe he was planning to spend
the day sailing,
He is looking towards the Bay.

My oldest cousin, recently married,
is standing with her arm around her husband.
The other cousins are laughing
as though something has just been said.

I am standing next to them
with my arms folded across my chest
not knowing what else to do with them.
I am smiling at the camera
ready for it to click.

In the center of the group
is my great aunt.
She is too thin and is leaning
on the arm of my uncle.

We have all gathered around her
but, by her face, she is not aware of it.
Her smile has the gentle look of unknowing.

At her feet is an enormous shadow
where all our individual shadows have blended.
It has taken the strange shape of an animal,
a beast with many heads and wings and feet.

From the photograph, there is no way
of knowing which direction the animal
is moving--or if it is moving at all
or if it has stopped for a moment to graze.

The shadow of my brother's head
is the animal's ear.
My uncle's shadow, slightly to the side,
is a long snout, foraging in the air
for the scent of enemies.

My second cousin and his wife
are part of a large wing that
the animal has folded back and under him.

My mother and father
are kind of antler.
My cousins and I are part of his head.

And my great aunt---
her shadow has disappeared altogether
somewhere near the center
in the heart of the beast.

--Laura Gilpin

Yes...Us aunts have a special place in the family , and I'm thankful.

Happy Mother's Day Des and Heather....You are special and I love you.
A.Karen