Back-Blogging To March 2003

Back-Blogging... going back in time to post things that were left unshared; particularly to include images that were not digital, but have since been scanned.

This is my first-experimental attempt, testing whether or not I can fool Blogger into accepting my back-dated post.

::Shared January 31, 2016::Eunice with our hen, Gracie. This is from March 2, 2003. Eunice and Oscar, Grandma and Grandpa, lived with us in a rambling ranch style home. We moved there in 2001, when it was a bare two acres, and sadly neglected. But it was spacious, and full of promise, and we made it beautiful.

We added this retaining wall, a perfect spot for all of Eunice's potted geraniums.

Some of these subjects were covered in ChickenBlog, but my photo publishing options were limited, and a lot was left out. I will really enjoy going back in time, enhancing some posts, and making altogether new posts for old times. William has been scanning a lot of our photos from the pre-digital age, and I like the idea of adding them to the ChickenBlog archives... Back-Blogging our family memories.

Here are Max and Diego, and when I originally posted this I used small images. ChickenBlog felt shyer, more tentative back then. Max was four years old. Now he's a senior in high school. And Diego is a fond memory, a cat we will always miss.

No wonder we loved having picnics here! I'll have to add a "before" picture, so you can appreciate how we transformed this place. If you can, imagine nothing green or growing. No pool, no walls, no trees.

And looking east... snow in the local mountains, and all of the beautiful backcountry hills. The views from our Rancho home were stunning.

Above the retaining wall, up the slope, we planted a peppermint willow and rock roses. Geoff brought my bench up here, where I loved to sit, reflect, inhale the beautiful fragrances of growing things. This was a happy place.

I spy Nena, at the front door. Max blowing bubbles. We credit Max with choosing this home for us, and we still call that place The Horse House. Not for any horses we ever had, but the ones he spied when we were turned around. So many details! So many memories. It's what makes me very thankful that I ever blogged to begin with, because we have some of the details and memories to recall.

Here is just the sort of picture I never would have published back when I took it. What is it that makes some things feel too personal or silly, at the time, seem worth sharing, now? I am pretty sure Grandmother will be a bit chagrined about this... but I love it! I love her! She was eighty, and decided that she wanted a moment preserved for posterity: When she was eighty and a half years old and could still hold a strong pose. She said, "I want to remember that I could do this!"

These pictures are for you, Grandmother; these memories and happy recollections, too. I reflect on them, and on you, with gratitude for beautiful moments, for strength, and happiness. I remember you, and us, and views, and sensations, hopes, plans, messes, mishaps, and a lot of laughter. What gifts we have, and have had. God bless you~