Washington & Lincoln

Pictures are one of the joys of life, eh? And electronics increases the fun. Kristen likes middle-eastern and Mediterranean food that tends to be colorful, and sometimes when she and her friends are eating out in Atlanta she snaps a shot of her interesting plate, texts or emails it to me, and I see what she’s having before she takes the next bite. Or a picture of fall scenery as she walks across campus and I can enjoy it even as she’s walking through it.

George Washington would be amazed is my phrase for marveling at such.

Speaking of George, and pictures, recently Linda and I saw the movie Lincoln. It had pretty much one theme, the passage of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, and Steven Spielberg made it perhaps more fanciful than historical, but as a Bible student I'm used to that. Lincoln was far, far better than the last movie we saw, The Hobbit, which was loud but not Tolkien.

Pictures are a way of including loved ones in our experiences, sharing our lives with others.

In my bedroom is my one picture of Alfred. Smiling, he’s wearing a cap, one of those flat caps that used to be worn more than today, and he looks seventeen, or maybe about the time he turned eighteen in September 1917. With the cap one can’t tell exactly what he looked like, but with the cap and the smile the photo suggests something about his personality, which is more important. Having his picture means a lot to me. One of my treasures.

We have a picture of Linda’s father when he was about five years old, around 1910, a very pretty child with a page boy haircut, and he’s absolutely indistinguishable from Tass at the same age. When I first saw the picture years ago I asked Linda when the picture of Tassy was taken and she said, “That’s Pete!”

Hot tea in one of my mugs with a picture, another treasure.