Pearl S. Buck home

While I was in PA, I visited the Pearl S.  Buck home. It's a lovely estate and the docent gave us a very thorough tour. 

Ms.  Buck won the  Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for The Good Earth.  She also won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature (1938) for "her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life  in China. And for her masterpieces - two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents."  

The grounds are gorgeous

She was renowned for her activism for women rights, and also her work on racial equality and mixed race adoptions.  

One faces the future with one's past  1942

Race prejudice is a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on -  What America Means to Me 1943

One cool side note - my mother, as a child, remembered Pearl S. Buck - a woman in a housedress, with a lot of kids running  about. My mother's family farmed in the area and sold produce to the estate. 

 

Oh George

 RIP George Crowther   July 1931 to May 9, 2024

Very hard to believe my dad is gone.  But at age 92 - it was a long life with a lot of friends and family that loved him.   I know you, in  blog world, followed his tale as I visited him through the years. 

He was the Best!

Memory...is the diary that we all carry about with us - Oscar Wilde

Good memories  for all of us - me, David, and Lori.  And thanks to David's wife, Cherie - she helped dad a lot. 

We did play "Over the Rainbow" at his graveside.  He loved all sorts of music,  but Judy Garland was a fave.   Maybe she's singing in a lounge above, and he has a front  row seat. 

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!   A time of  remembrance and a salute  to  those who died in war

and of course, a time to welcome summer pool season

 Fly the flag, enjoy picnics, but honor the fallen

And blood in torrents pour

In vain - always in vain

For war breeds war again 

        John Davidson "War Song"  1899

Finally Friday - Bathing Beauties

Blast from the past and my dad's art portfolio.  He  liked the  ladies 

Bathing beauties back in the day

It's getting hot enough here in Texas and it's Memorial Weekend - time for the pool to open

Have a safe and fun weekend
 

Whatever Wednesday - My Dad's Drawings

During house cleanout - we all reviewed my dad's portfolio.  He liked drawing the movie stars, back in high school days

Esther Williams

Veronica Lake

Betty Grable

 Gene Tierney ( I  think)

Happy Wednesday everyone

Monday Moments - Mom

When you clean out  your childhood home, the trickiest part is photo albums.  My sister  took home the stack to store for all of  us.  I snapped  a  few on my phone just for my own reference.

Here's my mom on the left, next to  baby brother Rick, and older sister Jane. Uncle Lee is  the eldest. 

And an oldie of my grandparents with Lee, Jane,  and my mom - the "baby" at the time. 

And older - Lee, my mom, the "baby" Rick, my grandmother, Jane, and my  grandfather

 And  Elmer on the farm. My grandfather looks like he's out of Grapes of  Wrath.   Stoic man. 

I remember  him as a kindly man in suspenders who'd walk me to the five and dime to  pick out candy.  

I'm a week late, but Happy Mother's Day to all.  My mom's been gone over thirty years. She is still remembered and missed. 

Finally Friday - The Black Box by Michael Connelly

You can  count on Michael Connelly  to  write  a  good detective  thriller. Harry Bosch is back in The Black Box and he's trying  to  solve a twenty year old murder.  

A Danish reporter, Anneke Jespersen,  is found shot in an alley during the LA riots.  Now Bosch is working on unsolved cases and this one has bothered him forever. A gun surfaces. It's tied to some other murders. All the players seem to be united from Desert Storm. But how is Anneke connected?

Bosch has to find the "black box" - the one piece of evidence that will bring justice and closure to her murder. 

You will keep turning  the pages and rooting for Bosch to  get the  bad guys. Whew!