Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Tuesday, August 29, 2017 -- Mattie died 415 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2006. Mattie was four years old and my parents and I took him to San Diego. While there, we toured the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier, that is now a floating museum. Mattie was fascinated with the aircraft carrier and explored the ship, floor to floor. You can't tell here, but in the photo Mattie was holding a disposal camera. I got him one to take the photos he wanted to capture. After all seeing the world from Mattie's lens was much different from my own.


Quote of the day: Have patience with all things but first of all with yourself. ~ St. Francis de Sales

Today is my last day in Los Angeles. In my parent's living room has always hung this painting. This is a painting of me, if you can't tell! It was painted when I was about 10 or 11 years old. As my mom was a teacher and as such she knew many talented people. The art teacher at her school painted this portrait. I assure you this was NO easy task for me at a young age. This woman's studio was in her attic, which was freezing! I had to hold this pose for hours and I want to say in total this painting took months of posing and sitting still. At the time I did not appreciate it, but now looking at it, it is a wonderful and beautiful tribute to the innocence of childhood. Back when I had no idea about childhood cancer, much less cancer in general. Somehow a painting to me seems much more striking to reflect upon than a photograph! 

For the last two weeks I have seen NOTHING but sunshine. Totally unlike DC, which I call the grey city. I have never seen such intense clouds and grayness in comparison to any other city I have lived in. Today in Los Angeles it was over 100 degrees! When I open my parent's front door, this is what you see.... mountains and vegetation. Again a night and day difference from my citified life. But you get a feeling for the LA heat, when you look at the brown mountains devoid of vegetation! The greenery only exists in area that receive irrigation. 

This is a view of the mountains from my parent's backyard. It is a very peaceful setting and you rarely hear noise, despite the fact that within a five minute drive you are in the bustling city of Burbank. 

In their backyard is this persimmons
tree. The tree was planted by the previous owner, and if you have never seen this fruit before, it is orange when ripe and feels like a tomato to the touch. Yet they have a sweet, cinammony, taste but its really not like any other fruit. Some people compare it to a mango, but I think it is totally different.

Mattie was an outdoor kind of kid and when he visited my parents, he would spend time in this backyard as well as in their front yard. Mattie loved running after the little garden lizards that inhabit the property and at one time, my parents and the neighborhood had garden snails. When I tell you we used to do afternoon walks looking and counting snails, I am NOT kidding! If Mattie were lucky enough to find snail shells without a creature inside, he collected them and brought them back to my parent's house. He had quite an assortment at one time. Which was totally Mattie. He never came back from a walk empty handed, he always loved to collect something and bring it back! Believe it or not Mattie had collections from nature on two coasts.