Dad's Birthday - February 7th

Time got away from me these last couple days. Paul is visiting this week and his daughter, Lauren, flew in from Atlanta for the weekend before starting a new job. Then, of course, the Super Bowl intervened - Who Dat! What a great game. Then today I spent much of my time researching the the history of air traffic control in the Navy. It's very interesting - and I'm sure at some stage you'll be exposed to some of what I've learned. Anyway, I remembered Dad's birthday last night, but too late to put out a post. So, without further ado. . .

 

 This picture of Granddad with Paul's daughter, Lauren, was taken over the Christmas holidays in 1970. Paul was recently back from Vietnam, and I had just gotten home from Adak. Lauren was eight months old, and the first grandchild. She really had it good with eight aunts and uncles and no cousins to share them with.

This one of Granddad and David was taken here in Austin, but I'm not sure whether it was at our house on Howerington Circle or the one on Marsh Drive. I'll take a stab at it and say Christmas, 1983, on Marsh Drive.

Ditto this one of Granddad and Lisa. Again, no guarantees on which house or holiday. We can only do what we can do.

This one of Granddad and Nicolette is certainly at Inks Lake State Park, and I'll take a guess that Nicolette, born in November 1982, is about one year old. That means the picture was probably taken in September or October 1983 or the following May 1984. Your choice.

And this last one of Daniel and his grandfather was taken at Dad's home in Grand Prairie. But the time is only another guess. If Daniel's six months old, it's Christmas 1983, but if he's 18 months old, it's Christmas 1984. You decide.

Christmas Dinner

We had a relatively quiet Christmas dinner at Karen's and Richard's last night. Lisa was home from Dallas and  assumed the mantle of Chef to Richard's sous chef. (Earlier in the day, Lisa played Richard's saucier.) In any event, the meal was typically wonderful. I often wonder if there's a Tulk that can't cook. . . but I suppose that it's really just as important that there are Parkers around to appreciate Tulk cooking.

After dinner Ben, the hiking boot in the lower left corner, Daniel, with the laptop, and Stephen, with the pensive look, discussed General Heinz Guderian (2nd Panzer Group, Operation Barbarossa) while Natalie watched the Pixar film "Up". In the background, Mother and Richard are probably discussing the surfeit of desserts in on the kitchen table. Please note Karen's exceedingly fine effort at Christmas decoration.

While Daniel elucidated on Guderian, Stephen was coming to the conclusion that Daniel's beard and hat combination suggested an exuberant reveller AWOL from a U-boat Christmas party. The photographer heartily concurred.

This shot, in the kitchen, shows said reveller with his Führer - oooops! Father - sampling several of the desserts available.

Maureen was with us too. I caught her here taking a breath while she washed the dinner dishes, scrubbed the kitchen floor, polished the silver, reorganized the refrigerator, etc. It occurs to me I ought to invite her to dinner at my house. . .

Eventually, we got Maureen to sit down while we worked on the dessert table. Of course, when we were finished with that, we pretty much just wanted to stretch out and ponder the relative merits of buttermilk pie, chocolate pie, and pumpkin delight. The Ecstacy of Socks, below, says it all.

Siblings III

I'll guess this one was taken in the early '80s, say 1983. (After that, my hair and beard started going gray in a big way.) It shows me with two of my sisters, Cathie and Ellen in the dining room at Mom's house. I don't know who took the picture, but I like it. (I have a small framed copy of it on my desk.) That's a lot of hair; "Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair. . ."


This one, of Daniel and Lisa, was taken in Karen and Richard's kitchen over Labor Day weekend 2004. This was about the time I was getting fed up with driving back and forth between Atlanta and Texas (either Austin or Grand Prairie) four or five times a year.


The picture above shows Natalie and Ben in the foyer of Ellen and Stan's house in San Antonio in 2008. Ben was within a month of graduation, and he brought Natalie down after her swim practice. We had gone down for a pre-party party on Saturday, then reconvened in Austin the next day at Karen's to celebrate Mother's Day. After resting on Monday, Mom and I drove out to San Angelo to visit Kim and Robert.