"Sometimes"

Across the fields of yesterday
He sometimes comes to me
A little lad just back from play
The lad I used to be.

- Thomas S. Jones, Jr. (1882 - ?)

Melissa recently recalled that she was eleven years old when our family last went "apple-pickin'." (Yep! That's "Half-Pint" below in a picture I made during that apple-pickin' adventure in 1992.) "Eleven!" I thought. My, how the years go by. Tempus Fugit, goes the refrain, although Mark Twain took issue with that observation. "Time does not fly," he insisted. "We fly. Time stays." Just like that, Clemens dealt a serious blow to the pearl we've romanticized for these many, many years!
"My step was swift and my heart was high" ("Lakefront Winter" - Al Giddons) when Melissa was eleven (sixteen years ago). Alas, "what shadows we are!" (Edmund Burke) Anyhow, the little lass in my daughter (at present a beautiful twenty-seven year young lady) was overcome with a hankerin' for to go apple pickin' and, well, what's a Dad to do? And so, last Sunday (September 21) Esther, Grace and I made the drive to Kuiper's Family Farm (Maple Park, IL) and there met up with Melissa and Steve. Apple-pickin' we will go!


Half-Pint had her heart set on Gala apples, but they'd been picked clean, and so the lot of us had to settle for Fujis. Not that it mattered much to me; I was along - as usual - for the picture-making opportunities, which, as it turned out, were plentiful. Life is good and worth the living!



Our party was missing good friends Dave and Ann-Marie, whose schedule did not allow for joining us on this fun outing. Too bad. So sad. However, I told Esther I would certainly be game to go back for a second go-around (hint.). I mean, there was a good number of excellent photo-ops en route to Kuiper's that I was unable to exploit due to time constraints. Weathered Barns. Rusty tractors. Lots of photogenic stuff! One such item I could not resist after our apple pickin' adventure had ended was this old Botanic Volkswagen (below), strategically parked in the front yard of some incredibly creative homeowner(s) house!


It's always a good time - making memories! And isn't picture-making grand? My brothers, sister and I can count the pictures taken in the days of our youth with our fingers, whereas my own children have been photographed hundreds of times, beginning - literally - the moment they were born! It was a simple task, therefore, finding "Li'l Melissa's" apple-pickin' picture (above) and offer my blog visitors the interesting then-and-now effect. "Across the fields of yesterday ... " Making memories. Do it. Every chance you get! You'll be glad you did.
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Images by Orlando: (* Click on images to enlarge)

1. Melissa as a child
2. ... and as a woman
3. Grace, Melissa and Steve prepare to begin their "Corn Maze" adventure
4. Melissa - frolicking through the apple orchard (Steve's not quite so animated, but, hey ...)
5. The Three Faces of Eve:Grace, Melissa and my Belle, Esther.("Did God really say ...?")
6. Esther and yours truly (Quick! Give me back my camera!)
7. Grace picks a winner!
8. Steve ponders his own selection. Hmmmm.
9. Juicy Fujis (Boy! I love my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens!)
10, 11, 12. The Botanic Volkswagen!

"Better than counting your years ...
is making your years count!"

After a twenty-eight year tenure (January, 1980 - August 28, 2008) as Signode/ ITW's maintenance supervisor, brother Hiram (above, with wife Maria) decided to call it a day and enjoy the fruits of his labor as he enters the winter of his years.

My brother has always loved to travel (Greece, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina and Hawaii are counted among his jaunts.) - and I have supposed that, good Lord willing and Jesus tarries, more travel for Hiram and Maria (also retired) in the not-too-distant future is in the offing .

Hiram also enjoys daily jogging and walks with Maria, fishing, playing the guitar, gardening, photography, feeding birds and the like. He's also an excellent cook.

In short, it would seem my older brother's varied interests will serve to make retirement anything but boring.




The Velezs held an intimate gathering, with brothers, sister, nephews and nieces enjoying fellowship, good food and refreshments in the "4133" backyard to help usher in Hiram's retirement in style. Our wish for Hiram and Maria is that it would please the Lord to grant them a good number of years ahead, during which they will be given to enjoy the abundant life which is promised those who love Him (I'm not here referring to abundance as the world has translated it, but, rather, in that manner that the spiritually discerning rightly understand "abundance" to be).























Top: Heidi, Jessie, Jennie, Luis (Don't ask me to smile! Don't! I don't Wanna!)
Next: Esther (my belle), Meralda ("I'm not 60 yet!"), Melissa ("Half-Pint")
Next: Melissa, Acacia (Casey)
Next: Steve and Half-Pint ("Melissa")
Next: Jennie (Almost in the family, but can Luis seal the deal???)
Next: Mike and Elsa (Elsita)
Next: Heidi and Peter (Iron Man)
Next: Hiram and Melissa ("Hey, where's 'Pa'?")
Next: Jessie, Jennie, Luis (Jumping Jehoshaphat, he's smiling!)
Next: Hiram (The Free Man) and Maria
Next: Steve, Heidi, Mike, Elsa, Esther, Robert Downey Jr.
Next: Maria (with the real love of her life!)
Last, but not least: Hermes and Meralda ("I tell ya, I'm not!")

All our best to Hiram and Maria!