Sepia Saturday #168 My Most Unforgettable Character

Remember the articles in the old Reader's Digest Magazines "My Most Unforgettable Character". Well today I'm going to introduce you to mine. He's my brother-in-law, Joao.

Here he is looking very Marcello Mastrioni-ish

Joao was married to my ex-husband's sister. I met him in the 1960s when he was working for the U.S. State Department. His job was to squire around important Brazilians who were visiting the U.S. Since he spoke perfect English and knew the country pretty well, this was the perfect job for him.  Everytime he came to Los Angeles, he would visit my husband and I. This is before he married Elba, my sister-in-law.

But since he was from Brasil, he was always being lured back. The U.S. was just too big for him. He eventually moved back to Rio and became a journalist (and married Elba).  He used to send me really funny letters and photos from his travels.

Here he is interviewing General Westmoreland (that's Joao pushing the microphone forward while he's rolling his eyes). This was taken sometime in the 60s. It was a little before our involvement in the Vietnam war. I'm sure he was being interviewed about the US involvement there, which was being denied at the time. Thus Joao's added comment.

Here he is on a plane interviewing Robert McNamara. It was probably about the same subject - is the U.S. involved or not?

I visited Rio and stayed with him and Elba in 1970. Janice Joplin was in town and Joao interviewed her. We met her and her young Brazilian boyfriend at a carnival party that she had just been kicked out of because no one knew who she was. They thought she was just some disgusting hippie and at that time in Brasil, hippies were persona non grata. She was not happy.

(This was from an article I found on google)
In an interview to TRIP, photographer Ricky and singer Serguei, two of her Brazilian hosts, reveal the glory and embarrassment of one of the greatest singers of all time, whose stay in Brazil went almost unnoticed. She made an obscure performance at a Copacabana hellhole, was kicked out of a hotel and almost arrested at the beach, incidents that caused her to declare to Rolling Stone magazine, after her return: "If you have long hair they'll toss you out and never let you back in again. Cops rape people, set dogs on guys' balls. The best were some nights when I sang with friends at a whorehouse ".

I could go on and on about my most unforgettable character, but I'm trying to keep this short. Joao is still in Rio and still having an interesting life. I'm so fortunate to have had him in my life.
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For other stories about meetings with important people click on Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #167 My Own Pond

The theme for this Saturday is all about ponds or lakes or bodies of water. I looked through all my old photos and only came up with one that fit the theme:

Here they are, two gentlemen taking it easy on their boat with the pond to the left. I have no idea who they are or where the pond is since the photo wasn't marked. But they sure look happy and relaxed. And this is what ponds are for. They're supposed to be relaxing. Which reminded me of a pond in my neighborhood.

It's a wetlands habitat right in the heart of Fallbrook, Calif. where I live. About two miles from my house. So I take my dog for walks there three or four times a week.

Now I'd like to take you for a walk there. This is where you enter

Los Jilgueros Preserve was a gift to Fallbrook by the family of Pamela Van Der Linden (side note: she was the mother-in-law of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz!) in 1990. The preserve encompasses 46 acres. The trail is just a 1.5 mile loop, with a pond at the far end. The preserve also includes some projects by the Native Plant and Wildflower Team.

As you walk along the path there are various points of interest like old rusty farm equipment

You cross a bridge

Then walk a little ways and through the trees and a pretty pond is revealed

Stay there long enough and you'll see lots of ducks. Sometimes I see egrets there, but unfortunately not for this photo session. But it's fun to watch the ducks fly in for a landing and then swim and dive trying to find their dinner.

On the walk back you'll think you're in Disneyland because here is what I call The Mickey Mouse Graveyard.

The walk takes only about 30 minutes, then you're at the parking lot. It's a little bit of exercise and a nice relaxing time at the pond.  Not too many people in Fallbrook know about it even though it's right in the middle of the village. So it's very secluded and quiet. Hope you've enjoyed the walk and the view of the pond.

Walk, dive or swim to other pond stories by clicking here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #165 The More the Merrier

This is our latest prompt photo for Sepia Saturday. Wow, what a tiny little family this is. Mother, Father and only one child. It made me think of some photos in our archives, of families with a few more members.

Now this is what I'd call a normal size family. Mother, Father and 5 children. How perfect.

This family was probably trying for a dozen, but only got 10.  What a tired mother and father. And the children don't look too happy either. Except for the boy second row, left. I'll bet he went on to lots of success. Although, it's been scientifically proven that the oldest child in a family usually has the highest IQ. The oldest boy has a suit on and looks like he could have a high IQ, but his happy brother looks a lot more self assured.

This family believes in "cheaper by the dozen". And I think having this many children killed off the mother. She's not anywhere in sight. And the father looks as if he's reaching for his gun and saying, "I'm coming Elizabeth!"

Polls have been done asking people how many children they'd like to have. The average seems to be 2.5. Don't ask me how you get 1/2 of a child. And an article I read said that the trend currently is for larger families - of say 3 children. Huh? You call that large?

When I see families of the size of the one above, I always wonder how they possibly could feed that many kids. Especially if you don't have much money. It seems as if KFC and Kraft Foods have the answer:

And if they can't afford these super sized items, they might try this, the perfect solution for large families.



No problem. Whether 2.5 or 11 kids, they're not going to go hungry.

Check out other family photos whether big or small here:  Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday #164 Turtle Vs. Duck

Our prompt photo this week shows a soldier and his pet turtle. When I was growing up, I didn't have a pet turtle. But my sister, Barbara did. She had one of those little turtles that you win at the county fair.

She loved her turtle...and I was jealous. Why didn't I have a pet turtle? But that was soon remedied. I didn't actually get a pet turtle, but I did get a pet.

Remember when I wrote about our babysitter Ann? The one that I was a flower girl in her wedding? I was about 5 at the time. I got to wear a beautiful long dress with a big sash. It was my shining moment (until I asked the bride where the bathroom was right in the middle of the ceremony!). Barbara was jealous that I got to wear the pretty dress, so my mother had to make one for her too (can you tell there was a bit of sibling rivalry between us?).

Here we are on the big day ready to go to the church:

After the wedding Ann presented me with a gift (she probably purchased it before the wedding, before I asked about the bathroom!). And now I had my pet. It wasn't a turtle, it was a duck, it was none other than Donald Duck.

You can see Donald situated among some other favored toys. But Donald was my new pet. He was my favorite. And guess what? I still have him. He's about 66 years old now. But I still love him. He was my first pet after all.

Now I have a pet dog named Tootie. Tootie and Donald are a little jealous of each other, as most pets are. But they manage to coexist.

Here is 66 year old Donald:

He's aged pretty well. A few scratches of the paint, but still bright-eyed and happy.

He loves to drink from Tooties water dish:

and read books

He and Tootie like to look wistfully out the window

and explore the yard together

even take rides in the car

After a long day, Donald likes to be tucked in and ready for a good night's sleep. He is 66 after all.

Barbara's turtle died at a very early age. But I still have Donald. Who's the winner of this sibling rivalry?

Check out other turtle/soldier/pipe stories here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #163 Snow Job

On another Thursday afternoon (Tony's previous post), a meeting of the Southern California Chapter of Sepia Saturday bloggers met for their first annual awards ceremony.

The distinguished panel consisted of Sepians Nancy Javier, Barbara Finwall and Helen McHargue. 

Our gala event was held at Magee's Tavern and Pub in Fallbook, California.

Our award winners were all shamelessly Sepians. Thus, the Snow Job.

Here you see Nancy awarding "Best Blog" to Barbara of Banar Designs, Barbara awards
"Even Better Blog" to Nancy of Ladies of the Grove and Nancy awards "Supreme Blog" to Helen of Guacamole Gulch. We decided that the quality of our blogs deserved our own respect and admiration. 

As we drank our Bass Ale, we toasted Alan and Tony and thanked them for initiating Sepia Saturday awards and giving us an excuse to wile away a Thursday afternoon drinking and laughing.

We hope this will spur on more regional visits of other Sepians and look forward to their awards ceremonies.

For more snow stories see Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #162 Ai Weiwei and bicycles

Our theme for Sepia Saturday this week is bicycles. I've once again dipped into my box of Chinese photos and come up with these two photos that fit nicely.

This is a bicycle parking lot in Shanghai, China taken on our trip there in 1985.

It seemed as though everyone rode a bike then. (Maybe one of the bikers in this photo is a messenger.)  You didn't see many cars on the roads - mostly buses and taxis, but no personal cars. What Chinese could afford a car in those days?

Fast forward to 2012 and what do we see in China?

A massive U.S. style traffic jam.  The bicycles have certainly been replaced by smog producing cars. That's real progress!!



Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist/sculptor has added his two cents to the problem of too much progress. Here are two of his installations:

 

If you're not familiar with Weiwei, you might be interested in this trailer. The documentary about him is currently showing in theaters worldwide (but probably not in China!). He's currently under house arrest there because he's thought of being a dissident! 

Bike on down the road for more Sepia Saturday stories. 

Sepia Saturday #160 They're Good for Your Sex Life

This is our prompt photo for this week's Sepia Saturday. I've decided to focus on the oysters which are sold in the above pictured establishment.

I'm not sure what this glutton is eating - maybe a drumstick in one hand and an oyster on his fork. Maybe it's just a leaf of lettuce. But this is the type of gluttony you think of when thinking of oysters, so that's what I'm going to think it is.

I've never been one to love oysters. I think I've only had raw oysters twice in my life. I loved the lemon and the sauce, but the oysters - not so much. As Jonathan Swift said "He was a bold man that first eat an oyster."

There are a few interesting factoids about oysters. Did you know that our government in 1865 displaced the native Americans of Yaquina Bay, Oregon so that the non-native settlers could have better access to the oyster beds? There we go again!

This and other oyster facts are documented in The Oysterman a film produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Check it out if you want to know everything there is to know about the west coast oyster.

People started eating canned oysters during WWII because of meat rationing.

Thousands of gallons of frozen oysters were purchased by the U.S. military in WWII. I'm surprised there are any oysters left!

Now about the myth that oysters are an aphrodisiac. No good scientific study has ever proved this. But oysters are full of zinc and zinc supposedly controls progesterone levels. High progesterone levels equal a positive effect on the libido.  So...who knows for sure.

It seems every culture has some kind of food that is thought to be an aphrodisiac. On our trip to China, we were often told, "Eat your sea cucumbers, they're good for your sex life". Or "eat those ducks feet, they're good for your sex life." It seemed that just about everything we were served was good for your sex life. I snapped this photo of a shop window in China. It's true, just about anything in China is good for your sex life!

But the only good thing about oysters:

Take a shopping expedition for other retail stories by clicking Sepia Saturday