Life of Wry

…. vintage 2001.

On this rainy day in Davis, on the first day of non-daylight savings.. I wondered what I’d blog about. Certainly not the effort of finding a customized hammock cover, nor the time spent on the phone with the Southwest Airline folks trying to track down my account number, nor the unsuccessful-so-far effort to find the owner of a Chinese passport I found on the streets of Davis this past week.. nor any of the numerous rabbit holes I fell into in between those tedious tasks.

I decided to journey back into the photo archives (my favorite thing to do) and choose a few from the earliest Halloween for which I have digital photos. When I got to 2001, I enjoyed looking at a few more from the immediate weeks surrounding Halloween and selected this bunch… they tell a little story of Peter that Fall, when he was 3 1/2.

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This is a Frame family heirloom.. a costume made by Peter’s great grandma, Vovo, and multigenerationally worn by various members of the family..

This is Jim sewing the costume Peter preferred wearing that year, a lion suit! (If you look closely, you can see Peter watching/interacting with something on my computer). This was back in the day when I only had one file cabinet (I now have four). But most notably: Jim’s sewing P’s costume, and he’s doing it on his mom’s sewing machine. I married a multi-talented guy.

The finished product: a sweet lion and a lion suit seamster:

And a couple more…

With Vicki at a Halloween party we had for Peter and his friends…

(Peter was not the only lion!) Pictured: not sure, Morgan, Sabrina, Jocelyn, Rowan, Chenoa and Peter.

Let’s see… then there was the pumpkin patch (Impossible Acres), which we evidently visited that year with Uncle Chad (who knows his way around horses) and Aunt Teri!

Looks like we’re celebrating a birthday.. but for the life of me, I can’t think of whose it would be, and can’t figure out who the fellow on the right is… (maybe Chad’s dad?). But I love the pic of Peter with his Aunt Teri and that beautiful German chocolate cake! Wondering who made it. Hope it was me.

Then we have a visit to the Wild Animal park that was down the road that may or may not exist anymore. Looks like we went with Duff and Chenoa. That elephant did some remarkable tricks! I like that they allowed children to feel the skin.

Up close to a swimming, diving tiger! Peter’s 3-year old self is dwarfed in size…

This was also the Keith era.. when the Kulicks (Gail and Bob) lived next door and had a kiddo exactly the same age.. what a lucky turn of events that was (Bob was a grad student and they lived next door for two years, which resulted in countless playdates!). Keith and Peter each had mini Tiggers (which I’d forgotten) .. Peter’s beloved “Little T,” an enduring member of our family, still (these days encased in glass and sitting on the piano!).

A view of our backyard, much like today’s, minus the bridge…(in fact, as I type this, I’m sitting in the “west wing” — 12 feet of extended house — where the porch used to be, looking at the deck that replaced that bridge).

This photo also shows up in that month-long 2001 window… and I like it. Obvious what’s going on here. Not sure what inspired the photo.. except that it’s pretty cute, no? Maybe it was the pedicure?

And I’ll wrap with a couple at the park… because park visits were a huge part of our lives during this era.

Hope it was a soft landing! (Peter was not a cryer.. he took his lumps in stride, almost always getting right back up and doing it again.)