Beards and a birthday

 

Bearded Iris "Grape Expectations." from the internet

Each of these dots is a galaxy! No reason to post, but I just liked it!

All three of my sons have beards. Today is the birthday of Marty, my oldest.

For Russ,' (his next younger brother's) wedding 25 years ago (I know - WHAT!!) Marty was the only one with a furry chin.

Marty at a few weeks old! I've always been told babies can't really smile at that age, but I'll take this one any day of the week!

A few years later, we enjoyed a nice dinner in St. Petersburg FL.

Marty really likes to use good knives...here he's working on a piece of beef.

And a couple of years ago I visited Marty and his wife, Barbara, for Christmas. Here they receive the pottery I made. Now I don't have it in my house, and who knows where they might stash it (or smash it!) But it's their problem now.

I am not sending any more pottery to my relatives - they've all said as much!

25 years later, Russ has his own white whiskers, here pictured with his lovely wife Michelle and oldest daughter, Audrey.

Here's youngest son, Tai, with his wife, Kendra. Not dated. 

Marty's son, William, seems to have joined the bearded relations, here pictured with his mother, Cinnamon.

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I hope Marty has a very happy birthday. Sending lots of love his way!

Today's quote:

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” - Marc Chagall And some Chagall art: Woman and Bird,Marc Chagall on ceramic tile, 1951 ------- "It's the birthday of author Ian Fleming, born in London in 1908. His family enjoyed wealth and social standing; his father Valentine was a Member of Parliament and when he died in World War I, Winston Churchill wrote his obituary. All doors were open to young Ian, and he worked as a foreign journalist, a banker, a stockbroker, a high-ranking officer and assistant to the director of British naval intelligence, and foreign manager of London's Sunday Times before he took up the career, and the character, that would make him famous. Casino Royale (1953) was the first of his many "James Bond" novels, which featured the playboy spy — code name "007" — and a host of fast cars, nifty gadgets, and hot women."(Writer's Almanac 2014) Fleming died Aug 12, 1964, when my son Marty was 2-1/2 months old. It wasn't for many years before he (Marty) saw the 007 movies, but his mom and dad enjoyed them as soon as they came out. So glad none of my sons became spies!

Having a good time together!

 Many years ago!

Atlantic City NJ, 1919

Friendship and fun times 1910.

And maybe they weren't having such fun...

Portrait of women from Guadeloupe at Ellis Island, circa 1910. NY Public Library digital collections

"African American girls posing in Atlantic City 1955" and I'm guessing they were on  a different section of beach than the ones with white people.

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Sharing with my friends, few and far between, or near and newly met...with the old photos of sepia tones!

Sepia Saturday this week:

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Today's good news:

Today, [Mar 13] U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that federal agencies must immediately offer thousands of probationary workers purged from the government in the early weeks of Trump’s administration their jobs back. Mass firings from the Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs departments did not follow the law, Alsup said.

The government declined to make witnesses available to the court although Alsup had ordered the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management to appear today. Alsup told lawyers from the Justice Department that he believed they were hiding how the firings had taken place and who was responsible. “You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth…. I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.… I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth.”

Tonight, U.S. District Judge James Bredar ordered the administration to reinstate thousands of probationary workers in the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the General Service Administration, and the Small Business Administration.

Bredar said it was “likely” that “the Government has engaged in an illegal scheme spanning broad swaths of the federal workforce.” The government claimed it did not have to give advance notice of the firings because it had dismissed the probationary workers for “performance” or other individual reasons. "On the record before the Court, this isn’t true,” Bredar said. “There were no individualized assessments of employees. They were all just fired. Collectively.”

Thanks Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From and American March 14, 2025 

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Also on March 13 from Boston MA:

In a 12-1 vote the Boston City Council approved a resolution making the city a sanctuary for transgender, gender diverse people and all LGBTQ+ people.

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And on March 16

A report released on this day in 2021 confirmed that Putin had authorized efforts to help get Trump get reelected in 2020.

And today is...

· Freedom of Information Day

· Black Press Day

· Lips Appreciation Day

· National Quilting Day

· National Panda Day

· National Artichoke Day

· Everything You Do is Right Day

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Family album:

Having a good time together!

Having a selfie, all lined up, with son, Russ on l, myself, 3 granddaughters, Caroline, Audrey and Kate. All taken by Michelle, my daughter-in-law in front, in Black Mountain 2022. We had a very short visit as they were on their way to Florida, where there were also freezing temperatures on the beach there, unfortunately.

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Today's art:

Marc Chagall "Lune rousse au Cap d'Antibes,"  oil, pastel, and watercolor on paper 1969

Artist birthday

Happy Birthday to artist Marc Chagall, born in Vitebsk, Russia (1887). He was one of nine kids in a family of modest means; his father worked for a salt herring factory, and his mother ran a shop. He wanted to be an artist, and he moved to St. Petersburg, where he failed his first entrance exams but eventually was accepted to art school. It was in Paris, surrounded by other artists, that he really began to develop his style. Though he was homesick and could not speak French, he later said, "My art needed Paris like a tree needs water." Chagall is known for bright and complex colors, and his fantastical images from Russian-Jewish folklore and his childhood: ghosts, livestock, weddings, fiddlers, scenes of his village Vitebsk, a couple floating in the sky, and fish.

Sorry, forgot to give you the source:

 Garrison Keilor's newsletter at http://info.americanpublicmediagroup.org/LP=56

Paintings from Wikipedia