October 18

"We're Related to Him, So We Have to Like Him," or "Laughing at the Photographer": Cousin Shirley, Mom, Me, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Myrtle (the latter, two of Dad's sisters).

We are all perched in the sturdy treehouse that Dad built, a signal part of all of our memories of the Kings Settlement home. The photographer -- the house builder -- was very precariously perched far out on a limb in order to capture this moment. But that was Dad's way: ignoring common sense whenever a new perspective, however trivial, could be obtained by going past the boundaries of reasonable self-preservation. That was maddening, Dad, but now that you're gone and beyond the potential devastation of gravity, I guess it's sort of charming.

Mom never liked it much, though. You can see it in her expression here, if you look closely.

Date: October, 1963
Location: Kings Settlement, New York
By: LH, oh you betcha.