When I was two, my dad worked for the San Francisco Chronicle. It was during the time when the sugar cubes that contained the polio vaccine were being doled out. I guess he must have known the photographer because I got to have all my fame out of the way before I even knew what was happening.
A bad photo, overexposed, but I like the context. At 16, I was in the graveyard of my Scottish ancestors in Struan, Scotland. I have roots in the Robertson clan. The pants are Dittos (Mark, remember Dittos?) I can't believe how corny they look.
This was during the summer that my dad took me to Europe for two months while my brother was living in London. This is my brother and me in Paris. You'll notice I had on the same clothes as in the earlier picture. That's because I only brought two shirts and one pair of pants. I was trying to travel light. I did buy an amazing dress when I was in Italy. Wouldn't you?
At 19, I had a friend who was a photographer hobbiest. He wanted to practice and asked me to model for him one day. This is at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
By the age of 29, I had two kids. Here I am with James at his music recital, and you can see Chris behind me sitting on his dad's lap.
By the age of 34, I was divorced and going to college at Sonoma State. Here I am with my kids at the beach on the Sonoma County coast in sunny California.
At 36 I finally graduated from college with a degree in music (ahem, Summa cum Laude and 'with distinction'). Moi with a brain? Who knew?
Here I am singing with some really quite awesome musicians in my friend Gatmo's basement studio. Two of the men are playing Waterphones. The man to the left of me (in the picture its left, but actually its my right), Richard Waters, invented that instrument. I miss playing with them, :-( . Have not yet found a waterphone consortium since moving to North Carolina.
With Marlow and Oli a couple of years ago in front of my old house in California. I had just returned from my cantor gig at the local Catholic church.
I was going to post a picture with me and my kids in North Carolina in front of the Biltmore house, but gosh darned if that picture was taken with James' camera, not mine, so I don't have it.
So Aniket, how was that?
35 comments:
Well, I sure love your pics! You're a beautiful woman, Cat. And your kids are beautiful, too. Your life is very interesting.
I'm glad you gave the explanation about the polio vaccine. I always thought you were eating a lemon...LOL! Those are adorable!!! Thanks for sharing. I love to look at pictures, and yours brought a smile to my face this morning.
Thats a beautiful post...Got to see you in so many different stages. You are so adorable in the first snap...you are beautiful, cathy. I like the model shot best apart from the kid one and the graduation one, where u are all smiles and the one with ur kids:)
Cathy, when u are not busy do drop by to say hi as there's a haiku waiting for ur approval (as I was telling l'girl, the haikubug has stung me too:))
Wow, this was a neat post! Thanks for letting us get to know you better! You have such a beaming quality in all of your pictures!
These are great, Cat. (And now I have to be grateful to Aniket for soemthing. You know how I hate that. ;) )
You are as beautiful as all that you create. And there is such a light shining out of you. A special spot none of the pain could really get to, not in a forever kind of way.
Thanks for sharing so much with us. :)
your life in pictures... thank you for the glimpse. a 'summa cum laude with distinction' you say, how cool you are!
aww cat... so cute, what happened? :O lol j/k ;)
wowie... nice trip down memory lane... loved it
check my funny page sometime..
chriz
God, i wonder if i dare post such a reflection....
great memories?
My favorite is the cemetery photo! (Go figure.)
That was a great retrospective. A treat to see.
Wow!!!!!!!
A pic Marlow!!!!
He is gorgeous!!!!
Okay, was just kiddin'! :D
First things first... You were saying something Jennifer? Couldn't hear you? :D (SCORE!!!) :D
Aherm, now to you Cat.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you So much for these. I never knew you'd be this generous. It was great to see your life's journey.
Loved you the most when you were two. Almost equally but in a totally diff. sense when you were 19 (have to thank your friend for that :D )
You look much more poised and genuinely happy when you were 29. James and Chris are adorable. :)
Just look at the smile of the 36 yr old. lol :D
Many would be eying your brother too. :)
Oh and almost forgot. Dittoz are freaking hilarious. Can't believe you guyz actually wore them. ROFL!!!
Thanks once again for sharing these. :)
Very nice indeed Cat....
The two year old pic is adorable ... and yes.. oh yes.. I remember Ditto's.
That pic is my favorite....for reasons I won't discuss here.
Shine on you Crazy Diamond.
I enjoyed your life in pictures... so many memories must have come to you going through the pics... an yes, I remember just too well those pants :)
Well, you stopped me feeling like you're my Aunt Nan....the one picture of you makes you look like her...
I like it you're a musician and a singer. I have had to give it up now but my last gig was a post college chorale up at the local community college where they sing in Estonian. They periodically do this in Estonia at a major gig called Laulupidu. I loved it. But I am no longer stable enough to sing with them. My health takes my voice.
Hi Julie! Thanks!! I forgot to mention to everyone that the newspaper clipping is my Facebook profile pic. :-)
Hi Deepa, your Haiku is gorgeous, as is the artwork. Thank you so much, those two pics are my favorites too.
Cori-Aw what a sweet thing to say! Thank you. :-)
Jennifer-I may have had a lot of painful things happen, but I'm actually a pretty positive person who likes to look on the bright side of pretty much everything possible. As I like to say, why wallow in pain? There is so much joy to be had.
Shadow-I know, I must say I'm proud of that achievement. Of course all my college buds have gone on to get PHds and stuff, but I am happy with what I did anyway. :-)
Laughingwolf-You made me laugh! That's why I love you!
Chronicwriter, Welcome and thanks! I will check out your blog for sure.
Paul-Mostly good. I dare you!
Jason-HA! I knew you would like that one when I posted it. Thanks for confirming my knowing. :-)
Kraxpelax-Welcome, I'll check it out!
Aniket-Yay! I'm glad you approve, since I did it for you. If I had a pair of Dittos left (they all turned to rags) I would mail them to you just for fun. ;-)
Mark-Giggle. Of course you do...
Pink Floyd is oozing out of my pores. Jeeze. Ya'd think we were teenagers in the 70's or something.
Fida- Another Ditto babe! Yay!
Christopher, I'm about on the other side of Earth from your Aunt Nan, LOL! I'm glad I shattered that illusion for you. Maybe it's time to change my avatar! :-)
Singing has been my light in many darknesses throughout life. I am so grateful that we humans have the capacity to do that very odd thing called singing which really makes humans a special kind of creature I think. I send you hugs of health and voice. I hope you'll make it back to the choir someday soon, for that sweet soul of yours.
what a gorgeous photo montage...your smile lights up the world!! :D
Cat~ Such wonderful photos! So good to see my soul sister up close & personal...very cool!
Your boys are adorable! I know they're older now and probably even more adorable :)
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself...
~ Calli
I love seeing you through the years. You're a beauty, but I guess you know that. I don't know your age, although I can make a pretty good guess from the sugar cubes and the clothing. I think I could be your not-too-much-older sister! So...that's why I "get" you, Cat!
Thanks for sharing!
PS - I hope you haven't started something here! I'm still keeping secrets (as in my blog), so if we start posting our pictures, people will know it really IS me. No can do.
Wow! I'm away from the blog world for a few days, and look what I missed!
Thanks for sharing, Cat!! You are beautiful (but I already knew that from your avatar as well as your writing.)
I'll get back to read your past posts tomorrow, I hope. Field trips, end of school year activities, oh my...
QDB- :-D Thank you!
Hi Calli-Thank you! I need to get the pics of my kids all grown up on there now. They are beauties, both of them. :-)
Karen-Thank you! I'm going to be 49 in September. Actually, Aniket and Aine, and even Jason, have been up to this before moi. But many have held out, so don't think of it as a challenge. (However, if you want to email me your picture so I get a better sense of you, I sure would love it! PS thanks for the chai!!, a big kiss to you!)
Aine, Thanks! I remember those days well!
Cat- this WAS a treat :)
all thanks to aniket...
you've lived such a full life, and its so much fun seeing it unfold through pictures.
i loved your graduation pic most. you look so poised and thrilled at the same time :)
thank you for sharing so much of yourself here!...hugs, jorc
I loved seeing the many faces of you, too, Cat. And I loved how your smile became more open and beaming as you got older. I can tell you became more comfortable in your skin...that grad photo is to die for!! So, so full of light and joy (you go, summa girl!). :)
That b/w photo in San Francisco is stunning, but I loved seeing you most with your kids. They certainly have a Mom to be proud of.
Thank you for sharing these. We only know each other in the present, but we can all feel closer to one another by sharing a glimpse into our pasts, too.
What a great photo album post. You are so lovely and your kids are beautiful. Thanks for sharing a little snippet of your life with us. I certainly enjoyed it!
LGL-Thanks! Yeah, I put on a big smile for that graduation picture. It was quite the feat for me, that one.
Jorc-:-) Big hugs back.
Sarah: I really appreciate that you saw that. We do open up from our cocoons as we age, returning from time to time to replenish as you well know. I feel so lucky that my kids and I relate as well as we do, that we are still close because as you already know, motherhood can be so full of confusion and doubt... Big hugs Sarah.
K. Thanks! And you're welcome. :-)
having just read "breathe", then taking this photo-journey - i am dumbstruck. except to say that you, cat - you kick ass - with astonishing grace. :)
Joaquin! Thanks so much, and if I kick ass, you rock hard. Your latest poem just floored me.
I love this! What a wonderful mini photo-bio. These little snippets are so tantalizing; they make me wonder about all the parts in between.
That was awesome, Cat!
It seems lame to just thank you for sharing these, but they are wonderful and it's hard to describe the wonderful feeling I had seeing you grow more and more beautiful with the passing years.
I love all the photos - the one with your brother seems to have something indeed very special in it.
Oh you are a looker Cat!!! This was wonderful. And a looker with a well-functioning brain I might add.;<)
Thanks for sharing this, wonderful!
Rachel, thanks! The parts in between, many ups and downs and many flat parts, yes...a lot of different looks, and not so nearly as glamorous as the ones I chose! LOL! Thanks!
Vesper, yeah my bro and I have a special friendship that is pretty rare. We spend most of our time being ridiculously silly and speaking our secret language we invented back in the 70s on that trip to Europe. I miss him all the way back there in California, and I'm going to kidnap him and force him to move out here. (I wish).
Geraldine (blush :-) Thank you so much!
Love your story! Its amazing how different we all are, and yet, how the same, which is why poetry works, I guess. Thanks so much.
These are some great looking pictures of a beautiful and talented woman.
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