Picture This

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant-past, we took photos with cameras that required film. In order to see the pictures, we had to finish the roll of film, drop the film off at a developer, wait a few days and then pick them up before we could share them with others.

But we are an impatient bunch.

Camera stores and photo labs gave way to the drive up Foto-Mat. Next day prints became 1 hour photo. Grocery stores promised to process our film while we shopped.

We want to hurry up and get those pictures and show people and give people copies. Most of the time we are giving copies of the pictures to the people who are in the pictures. This is how my parents wound up with 48 pictures of themselves in frames all over their house. My mother is always on the left and my father is always on the right. And they always look good. When you look good, you want to have pictures of yourself around.

It is interesting to note that when I show my friends pictures of my family, someone always seem to look at mom and dad and say, “These are your parents?! Your mom is so pretty and your dad is very handsome!” They say this in a very surprised way that I find disconcerting. Why are they so shocked that this good looking couple has me for a child? What sort of gene pool do they think I crawled out of? They say it as if when I handed them a picture and said, “These are my parents,” that they should be looking at a Cyclops and Medusa.

Now, of course, everything seems to be digital. You don’t have to wait to finish a roll of film, you don’t have to wait to develop them, and you don’t have to develop them at all to share them. We upload, we download and we erase forever the pictures we do not like.

Still, this is does not seem to be fast enough.

When you take a picture with a digital camera, as soon as your flash goes off, your subjects are asking to see the photo in the preview screen of your camera. It’s like, “Oh yeah. There we are. Here. I’m wearing this and you’re wearing that and we’re standing right where we are right now. That’s definitely us!”

What exactly are we expecting to see?

We should all just gather around a mirror.

Do funny looking people do this?

You see, I wouldn’t know because like my cousin Denise said at a family party once, “Look around. Look at all our aunts and uncles and cousins. They are all good looking. I mean all of them. There’s not a bad looking person in this room!”

This must be why my mother is always organizing the photo ops at family functions. “First the immediate family!” she can be heard saying, “Now all the grandchildren!” Everyone groans, but my mother points out, “You complain now, but then you all want copies!”

Now shut up and say “cheese!”

It's My Bloggerversary!!

One late night a year ago, I stumbled upon Blogger and began this little site. I am so happy that I did. It's been so much fun sharing stories and my take on life with all of you. How nice it is to know that so many of you enjoy reading my stuff.

It's been good for me to get into the habit of writing - who is a writer if she doesn't write? Right?

I have to admit that in the beginning I thought I would run out of things to write about, but here I am a year later with so many stories left to tell.

I hope you will help me celebrate in a couple of ways...

First of all, if you haven't done so already, please subscribe. The form is on the right sidebar. It's pretty painless and will keep you from missing anything.

Secondly, I would love it if you picked 3 of your favorite pieces and posted them to comments with the month in which they appeared (or the link if you know how to do it). This will help any newbies find the best entries on the blog.

Third, please comment. This is also a relatively painless process. Blogger will not send you spam e-mails. Neither will I. You can even stay anonymous if you want. But just know that comments put a smile on my face. And I put a smile on yours, don't I?

And lastly, I started this blog with the tag line, "Log On. Read On. Laugh On. Pass It On." I hope you will do just that and recommend the site to a few friends.

I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to my husband Frank for being so great about my life (and his) being an open book. Thanks to my family and friends for all the encouragement and for providing me with so much material. And to you fair reader, who I may never meet, thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for making The Girl Out of Brooklyn a part of your day. And remember...

I write, you read. It's pretty simple.

And it's a beautiful thing!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Check out these fantastic photos of children's encounters with Santa.

You will either laugh or think I'm very cruel.