Bobbing Along

A Lifetime of Stories: collected, painted, shared.

Tag: Dad

History: My Father’s Story

Parents don’t live forever. As we watch them age, we begin to realize all that will be lost when they are gone. I treasure their stories and am compelled to share them in print. Myth or history, all the tales I had heard since childhood could not be left to my memory alone. With some urging, my […]

Well, What Do You Know!

BOBBINGALONG is still here! WE ARE BACK! Not that we went anywhere, really. Well, there was that trip abroad last summer. I still am not completely comfortable eating inside a crowded restaurant, but “join us in Spain and Italy?” Hell, YES! There were also a few trips to visit grandchildren though a lot of our “together […]

A Prayer

My father was often called upon to speak at events–dinners and meetings and such. I was aware of this mostly because after he finished writing he would wander around the house muttering words until they were committed to his memory. Also, unless she was also attending the event, and if Dad’s commitment included dinner, Mom […]

Eulogy for my Father

E. Burl Randolph April 16, 1920-January 27, 2018   The walls of my studio are peppered with notes—all sorts of quotations from different writers and thinkers and people whose words I admire. This collection of thoughts began years ago, long before computers and their overwhelming access to information. I remember being in our local library […]

Conversations with my Father

I don’t go home to visit my father very often. I’m not particularly proud of this but I  have to be satisfied with whatever time my life allows. Our days are ridiculously busy—a fact that, quite frankly, surprises me. I suppose the explanation for this is fairly simple: I just cannot pack into each day the amount of “stuff” I […]

Where Words Fail

Our visit was brief, just a day or so. Each time we appeared at his apartment door, he was surprised to see us. It was not until we mentioned having been there the day before or even earlier in the same day, did he remember. He is confused, angry, frustrated and very, very sad. Our […]

Catching Up!

Hello! So here’s the thing: I’ve been busy! Busy working in the studio…on things like this: And this: Busy with the Peanut, whom we kept while her parents took time off for a few well-deserved days of rest and relaxation. They gave us a few very specific rules before they left. Rules such as “NO […]

Mendel and all that…

I grew up with five siblings. Given that my mother had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and my father had lighter brown hair and blue eyes, it was endlessly fascinating to me that my siblings and I varied so greatly in our coloring. Of the six, one has very blond hair and blue […]

Snippets

Hey! How are ya’? Good, good. Me? Busy, busy. Back to work in the theatre. This time, I’m heading up costumes for the community production of “Into the Woods.” Yep. Costumes. No, I really don’t like to sew. Or, I would if’n I could count on the sewing machine to work without needing a filled […]

Know

Know this: That he wasn’t always frail. Nor was he always broken, unsteady, unkempt, unclean, unclear.   Know this: That there was another man before the man he became. Before the man who was brutal and demeaning, angry and resentful, demanding, and impossible to please.   Before the hateful words, the rages, the beatings, the […]