Blog
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Happy Father's Day
Here's a random photo of my Dad, for Father's Day. I still miss him, and wish I could be visiting him and Mom today, maybe grilling some burgers.
Labels: family
Sunday, October 14, 2012
almost done
I just got back from my parents' old house in Whiting. I threw out three bags full of stuff, and carted away four plastic tubs full of random stuff, three of which came home with me and one of which has been dropped off at my storage unit in Bridgewater. The house is now as empty as I hope it needs to be. The closing, as far as I know, is still scheduled for Wednesday. I think I still need to make one more trip to Whiting, to drop off my keys and some paperwork at the Cedar Glen Lakes office, but I don't think I'll need to go back to the house again. It feels weird, after having it on the market for two years, to finally be (almost) done with it.
Labels: family
Thursday, August 09, 2012
Happy Birthday Dad
Today would have been my Dad's 81st birthday. Here's a nice photo of him, wearing an interesting hat, having a little drink, posing in front of his tomato plants.
Labels: family
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Happy Birthday Patrick
Today would have been my brother Pat's 39th birthday. Here's a nice photo of him, from long ago.
Labels: family
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Mom & Pat
I just finished uploading some more of Dad's old photos. The ones I uploaded today were scanned in by ScanCafe back in December 2010. Here's a nice photo of Mom & Pat, from Pat's graduation from TCNJ. I still have one more DVD from ScanCafe to copy to my computer & upload, then I think I'm finally done with this project that I started back in early 2010. (Of course, the next project is to digitize the old Buxton family home movies I found in the attic when I was cleaning it out.)
Mom passed away on Feb 1 2010, and Pat passed away on Feb 2 2004, so I spent some time thinking of them both this past week.
Mom passed away on Feb 1 2010, and Pat passed away on Feb 2 2004, so I spent some time thinking of them both this past week.
Labels: family
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
last photos
When my Dad passed away, he still had a roll of film in his old 35mm camera. I wanted to finish off the roll, get it developed, and see what his last few photos were, but I kept putting it off. Since I'm having an estate sale this weekend, I decided it was time to finally finish the roll and send it off, so I could include the camera in the estate sale. I sent the roll off to Snapfish for processing. (It's been many years since I've had a roll of film developed. Snapfish has a mail-in service that's pretty cheap, so I decided to try them.)
I just got an e-mail back from them with a link to the photos. (I guess I'll get the negatives and prints back in the mail soon.) Sadly, his last few photos weren't that interesting. It looks like he'd just taken a couple of snapshots from the front porch after a snowfall, probably in early 09. (The timestamp on the photos says Feb 06, but they can't be that old. I don't think he had the date set correctly on the camera.) I was hoping I'd have a couple of final photos of Mom and Dad on that roll, but alas, no.
All the photos came out looking a lot more purple than they should. I'm guessing that's because the film was so old? Or maybe just a bad job of processing?
I just got an e-mail back from them with a link to the photos. (I guess I'll get the negatives and prints back in the mail soon.) Sadly, his last few photos weren't that interesting. It looks like he'd just taken a couple of snapshots from the front porch after a snowfall, probably in early 09. (The timestamp on the photos says Feb 06, but they can't be that old. I don't think he had the date set correctly on the camera.) I was hoping I'd have a couple of final photos of Mom and Dad on that roll, but alas, no.
All the photos came out looking a lot more purple than they should. I'm guessing that's because the film was so old? Or maybe just a bad job of processing?
Labels: family
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Patrick
Today would have been my brother Pat's 38th birthday. I was thinking about him a bit today, so I thought I'd post a photo.
Labels: family
Saturday, May 14, 2011
many things
Lots of things going on right now, and I just feel like I should dump them all into a blog post. This isn't necessarily going to be an interesting or useful post for anyone but me, but I feel like I need to write it.
- My brother Mike is in the hospital with pneumonia. I haven't been able to talk to him yet, so I'm not sure how bad it is. (I'm in NJ and he's in GA, and I haven't been able to reach him on the phone.)
- My brother Pat's widow, who remarried a couple of years ago, just had a baby girl.
- I met with someone today to organize an estate sale, so I can finally empty out my parents' old home. It looks like we'll be doing it in about a month, so I really need to finish sorting through everything down there and make some final decisions about what I want to keep and what I want to get rid of.
- My allergies have been pretty bad over the last week or two. I went to the doctor yesterday, because I was starting to worry that it might be more than just allergies, but there's no sign that there's anything else wrong with me. So, now I've got a prescription for Nasonex, to go along with the over-the-counter Zyrtec that I've been taking. Hopefully, the combination of the two will help me out.
Labels: family
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Mom and Pat
Yesterday was the first anniversary of my Mother's passing, and today is the seventh anniversary of my brother Patrick's passing. Here's a picture of Pat, Mom, and me, down in Whiting.
Labels: family
Saturday, January 22, 2011
a minor milestone
I took care of a couple of estate-related tasks today, and I thought I'd write a short blog entry, since this represents a bit of a milestone, in terms of paperwork, if nothing else.
First, I wrote distribution checks to myself and my brother, out of my Dad's estate account. This pretty much closes out his estate. He passed away in September 2009, and I originally didn't even think I would need to get a lawyer involved in the estate, since all his assets would just pass to my Mom. Then, of course, things got complicated. When Mom passed away in February 2010, I just got all the paperwork together for both estates, and went to a law firm. They have been very helpful, and we've now got everything under control.
Second, I finally filled out, and sent in, the paperwork to put my parents' home on the market. I feel bad that it's taken me so long to do this. I meant to get it done over the summer, but somehow I just kept putting it off. With the first anniversary of my Mom's death coming up in just a few more days, I really have to buckle down and start dealing with this. The home is a very big loose end for me -- there's still a lot of stuff down there that I don't know what I want to do with.
First, I wrote distribution checks to myself and my brother, out of my Dad's estate account. This pretty much closes out his estate. He passed away in September 2009, and I originally didn't even think I would need to get a lawyer involved in the estate, since all his assets would just pass to my Mom. Then, of course, things got complicated. When Mom passed away in February 2010, I just got all the paperwork together for both estates, and went to a law firm. They have been very helpful, and we've now got everything under control.
Second, I finally filled out, and sent in, the paperwork to put my parents' home on the market. I feel bad that it's taken me so long to do this. I meant to get it done over the summer, but somehow I just kept putting it off. With the first anniversary of my Mom's death coming up in just a few more days, I really have to buckle down and start dealing with this. The home is a very big loose end for me -- there's still a lot of stuff down there that I don't know what I want to do with.
Labels: family
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Mom's Birthday
Today would have been my Mom's birthday. So here's a nice picture of her and a baby. I have to admit I'm not sure whose baby it is.
I see my talking Pee-Wee Herman doll in the background, so this would have been from Christmas 1987, plus or minus a year.
I see my talking Pee-Wee Herman doll in the background, so this would have been from Christmas 1987, plus or minus a year.
Labels: family
Sunday, September 26, 2010
my dad
Today is the one-year anniversary of my dad's death. I considered a few things I might do today to remember and honor him. In the end, I decided to stay home and watch the Giants game, since that's likely what he'd be doing today if he was still around.
I haven't been down to my parents' old house in a few weeks, and I really need to get down there are get some more stuff done, but I couldn't quite talk myself into going down there today.
I haven't been down to my parents' old house in a few weeks, and I really need to get down there are get some more stuff done, but I couldn't quite talk myself into going down there today.
Labels: family
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Dad and Mike
I just finished uploading the third set of photos that I had scanned in by ScanCafe. We're coming up on the first anniversary of Dad's passing. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year now. There weren't too many pictures of Dad in this bunch (he was usually the one taking these photos), but here's a nice one of Dad and Mike, at Mike's confirmation, outside the church.
Labels: family
Monday, August 09, 2010
Dad's birthday
Today would have been Dad's 79th birthday. Here's a nice photo of Dad, having a little nap, probably after eating a couple of burgers off the grill. He looks quite peaceful and content.
It's nearly a year since he passed away, but it really doesn't seem like it's been that long. Happy birthday Dad, wherever you are.
It's nearly a year since he passed away, but it really doesn't seem like it's been that long. Happy birthday Dad, wherever you are.
Labels: family
Sunday, August 08, 2010
The old house
I hit a minor milestone with my parents' old house today. I have now completely emptied out the attic. There's nothing left up there except a whole bunch of dust, and probably a few rusty nails. And, since tomorrow is bulk pickup day, I got their old mattress and box spring out on the curb. And a bunch of other stuff, including two Christmas tress and (hopefully) the last box of my brother Pat's old clothes.
There's still quite a lot of stuff to go through, and quite a few things to think about selling, storing, or tossing. But I feel like I'm making progress.
I'm still working my way through all of the negatives I had scanned in by ScanCafe, by the way. Here are a couple of nice photos, one of Mom and one of Dad, both from a Christmas long ago.
There's still quite a lot of stuff to go through, and quite a few things to think about selling, storing, or tossing. But I feel like I'm making progress.
I'm still working my way through all of the negatives I had scanned in by ScanCafe, by the way. Here are a couple of nice photos, one of Mom and one of Dad, both from a Christmas long ago.
Labels: family
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Halloween 1976
I think this is from Halloween 1976. I would have been only 9, and so still at an age where making a cardboard Liberty Bell costume, and painting it red, white, and blue, would have seemed like a good idea.
I finally finished uploading all the slides I had scanned in by ScanCafe. There are a bunch of good ones in there. Some very nice photos from Japan, though some seem to have picked up some mold or something that couldn't be removed by their digital ICE.
I finally finished uploading all the slides I had scanned in by ScanCafe. There are a bunch of good ones in there. Some very nice photos from Japan, though some seem to have picked up some mold or something that couldn't be removed by their digital ICE.
Labels: family
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Dad's old slides
I just got my first batch of scans back from ScanCafe. I'm uploading about 2GB worth of images to Flickr right now. I think it's going to take a while. Here's a nice photo of me (in a Mets jacket) and my brother Mike (in a Yankees jacket).
Labels: family
Monday, May 17, 2010
Patrick
Friday, April 23, 2010
ScanCafe
I've sent off two big orders to ScanCafe recently. The first was a box of my Dad's old slides (about 600) and the second was a bunch of my Dad's old negatives (including both 35mm and medium format). I sent the second box in while they were having a 25% sale, which saved me a substantial amount of money, given how many negatives I had.
I've got one more box of negatives to scan. I was going to wait until ScanCafe had another sale, but I just got an e-mail from them saying that they're going to raise their prices in May. Of course, they don't say which prices or by how much. Hmm, now I'm not sure if I should wait or not. I also just figured out that they post their sales to Twitter at http://twitter.com/scancafedeals so I think maybe I'll just keep an eye on that and wait for the next 25% off sale. As long as they're not raising their prices by more than 25%, that would still be a good deal.
I've got one more box of negatives to scan. I was going to wait until ScanCafe had another sale, but I just got an e-mail from them saying that they're going to raise their prices in May. Of course, they don't say which prices or by how much. Hmm, now I'm not sure if I should wait or not. I also just figured out that they post their sales to Twitter at http://twitter.com/scancafedeals so I think maybe I'll just keep an eye on that and wait for the next 25% off sale. As long as they're not raising their prices by more than 25%, that would still be a good deal.
Labels: family
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Akira Kurosawa on TCM
100th Anniversary of Akira Kurosawa's Birth
Cool. Lots of Kurosawa on TCM this month. My dad was a big Kurosawa fan. If he was still around, I bet he would have called me tonight to tell me that Seven Samurai was on.
Cool. Lots of Kurosawa on TCM this month. My dad was a big Kurosawa fan. If he was still around, I bet he would have called me tonight to tell me that Seven Samurai was on.
© 2011 Andrew Huey
