Nadir's Masterpiece

This is a photograph that Nadir took of mom in either the late Seventies or early Eighties. He apparently still has this up on the wall of his studio. I would.

Apologies

All, I apologize again for the erratic writing. I am still very serious about this blog, but things have been a little challenging of late. I will resume writing tomorrow, I promise.

Interesting Times

Excuse me for the erratic writing on this blog--I am going through a patch of Interesting Times; yesterday I totaled my car and nearly kicked the bucket. I skidded on a patch of black ice in the interstate and spun around in traffic, hitting the guardrail twice at high speed. I am well, and nobody got hurt, but it was very close and the car is at the shop (the prognosis is not good).

After all the paperwork, I had to go home and take care of some important work. Today I am just extremely exhausted. Call it delayed reaction to shock.

There is a parallel to this situation I am having: mom once participated in a 14-car pile-up in which she had skidded on black ice also. Nobody was hurt in that one either. That butterfly seems quite attracted to mom and her progeny.

G'night.

Random Linda Picture

This photograph was almost certainly taken in Sudan in 1999. I have no idea who the people are, but I wish I did.

If you compare this photo to the one three posts down, taken in 2000, you will see that mom had already begun to lose weight.

A Question

Here's something new: Instead of writing this time, I'm going to ask a question. In part this is because I want to know who's paying attention, and in part because I am really interested in your opinions:

- If mom were here today, who would she vote for in the primaries?

To get you started, Sylvia already said Obama. I think so, too, bt not because she liked him--she didn't. I just think she disliked Hillary more.

So? Who do you think mom would have voted for?

Sylvia Some More

Sylvia, who has to be mom's most faithful friend, continues to write about mom and help me out on this blog with her stories and encouragement. Here's her latest:

Jake, the photographs you've been posting are wonderful.

I go to the blog daily, and am extremely moved by all of it.

I never drove with Linge on the highway. But when I visited her and drove myself, I found the North Carolina interstate completely terrifying. I cannot imagine how many near misses she must have had driving 35 mph when it felt to me as if everyone was driving at least 80.

When we lived in New York, she visited a friend at Wayne State in Ohio. She found a ride by responding to a ride share posting in the student union at Columbia. The driver turned out to be a crazy person. She said that as they drove, he kept slinking lower in his seat and mumbling things that she found frightening. They pulled off at a rest stop in Pennsylvania, and she went into the cafe which was nearly deserted. She started to cry. She approached a seemingly nice truck driver, tearfully explained her predicament, and asked if she could ride with him. He thought about it, and replied that she would probably be safer with the crazy guy. So she went back to the car, and told the driver in no uncertain terms that she was going to drive. The car was a stick shift, and she didn't know how to drive a stick shift. But she drove the rest of the way to Ohio, apparently in first gear, and when the driver complained she just told him to be quiet.

Keep up the great work.

Linda, Sarah and Farah

My wedding evening at my in-laws' home in Cairo, September, 2000. Farah, in case you didn't know, is my daughter (technically, she's my stepdaughter).



Incidentally, this is my 123rd post. I have been doing this for one third of a year so far!