Category: Helen Palmer Garcia

Holiday Empty Chairs

On By dancingpalmtreesIn Hattie Banks, Hattie Finney Banks, Helen Garcia, Helen James, Helen Palmer Garcia, Holiday Empty Chairs, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Thelma Palmer Varner, Uncategorized34 Comments

 

Their places at the Thanksgiving and Christmas tables have been empty in some cases for many years. Some say you have memories but you cannot speak with a memory and you cannot hug a memory. The tears last forever.

For the ones for which I have no photos I pour Libation and speak your name that your memory may never be forgotten. Wounds that will never heal. Tears that flow like a river into seas and oceans far from the distant shore.  Ase.

Delbert Callahan, Gladys Young, Linda James, Clarence and Mamie Finney and the list goes on of family and friends most taken from this earth way too soon meaning except for two all died in their 50s and 60s. Every year that I get older the more people my age who pass away. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be next and in what circumstances I will leave this earth.

Bernadine I still miss you so much. I carry your prayer card in my uniform every day. I still miss your smiling face and your laughter. However I know as much sorrow is in my heart your daughter and two sisters are hurting more than me and this year there will be no Christmas for your Loved ones.

bernadine-fitzgerald

 

 

Empty Chairs. Sorrow-filled hearts. Even though my parents have been gone close to twenty years I’ve never completely gotten over their loss and probably I never will. I still feel that ache Thanksgiving, Christmas and especially on Mother’s and Father’s Day which I don’t celebrate. When my parents passed away and I had to go through all their belongings and sort out things in their home one of the things I made sure went into the garbage was the Christmas tree and all the ornaments, even the ones dating back to the 50s and 60s because what sense would it make to have kept those things when the people who gave them meaning are gone? Of course now my space is the size of a postage stamp so I’m glad I tossed that Holiday junk. Since I never married nor had children it made no sense to carry on any type of holiday traditions. I make sure my brother Stephen has gifts and we go out on the town but I stopped decorating and sending Christmas cards long ago.

Fortunately this year I will be working on Christmas day and I am happy for the welcome distraction. My job will help me take my mind off what is a depressing holiday for me.

Mom & Dad
My Dad Edward G. Palmer
My Dad Edward G. Palmer
Mom Mable Palmer
Mable Elizabeth Palmer ~~ My Mom
My Grandfather William J. Palmer with some of his children in Mt. Morris aka Marcus Garvey Park
My Maternal Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks

Stylin’ Sibs and Family!!

On By dancingpalmtreesIn DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Helen Garcia, Helen Palmer Garcia, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Stephen, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Stylish | The Daily Post, Thelma Palmer Varner, Uncategorized8 Comments

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/stylish/#like-249669

DAILY PROMPT

Stylish

Stephen and I have been Stylin’ since we were babies.  I grew up as a Girly Girl. A real Clotheshorse especially when I was younger. I had more shoes in my closet than Imelda Marcos and after I moved into my own apartment the clothes bar in my closet broke under the weight of all my outfits!  LOL!! My Dad used to joke that I had to get dressed just to put out the garbage. I think that I took after my Aunt Thelma who had those same attributes and passed them along to me!!  LOL!!

I was never much on make-up (except lip stick otherwise I look like a blank slate), fake eyelashes or fake nails but since my job requires me to be on my feet for long hours bi-monthly pedicures are a must. I do get manicures but neat, short, clean with clear polish because I still must cook, clean the house and do dishes.  Of course hair care is a must!! As you can see from my photos I’ve had every hair style know to Black People from the 60s up to and including the present. Now I color my hair. I loathe gray hair. I do not look good in gray hair and let’s not advance my age more than it is already. Getting older should not include looking like a frump or a bag lady.  Yes, Vanity Thy Name is Woman!! LOL!!

My Mom Mable Elizabeth Palmer who was born in the small town of Davy, WV and raised in Dayton, Ohio also Loved to dress well. Her beauty and style are what captured the heart of my Dad Edward G. Palmer.

My Mom Mable Elizabeth Palmer.

Mable Elizabeth Palmer ~~ My Mom

My Paternal Aunts Thelma Palmer Varner and Helen Palmer Garcia.

Aunt Thelma, yours truly, Aunt Helen HS Graduation 1977

 

Stylin’ Sibs plus Dad!!

 

Me and Dad
2002 MMC Grad
Me and an Army Friend
Me and the Borg at my old office job where I made more money and had a better life.
Church Lady Blue
Regal Blue Church Lady
#NoMakeup
Natural Beauty
DeBorah & Stephen 1961
Defiant precocious DeBorah
1961- A Very Good Year
MMC 2002 Graduation
Natural Beauty
Fifty-Sexy
Fifty-Sexy
Fifty Sultry Sexy
#NoMakeup
Me and My Birthday Cake
My Birthday Celebration
School Days
Little Me

 

 

 

The Black Twiggy Plus Funny Story

On By dancingpalmtreesIn Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Helen Garcia, Helen Palmer Garcia, Montreal, Canada 1970, Photographs, Photography, Stephen, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Twiggy Biography, Uncategorized4 Comments

 

 

When I was a child the other school kids used to make fun of me calling me the “Black Twiggy.”  As you can see from my childhood and young adult photos I was as thin as a rail. It was not until my 40s that I began to gain some much needed weight. Recently since my brother Stephen needed a food supplement I started back drinking Ensure. Tastes good and helps us not only maintain but to gain weight. Like Twiggy I too wanted to be a model but unlike her my dream of being a model did not come true except for mugging for the camera on this blog!!

Some of my photos Past & Present

Me and an Army Friend
Me and the Borg at my old office job where I made more money and had a better life.
2002 MMC Grad
2002 MMC Graduate
Me and Dad
School Days
Montreal 1970

 

Funny 1970 Montreal, Canada Family Vacation Story

Funny story regarding the 1970 Summer Montreal Trip with my Dad, Aunt Helen and brother Stephen. We went visit a home designed for dwarfs. Now in those days they were called midgets but the correct term in dwarf. The Lady Dwarf in the photo was born to Dwarf Parents. Her parents had constructed a house where everything was scaled down to their size. For me I was about 11 at the time it was like being a in Doll house. Of course being curious I wanted to know why she was so small. I had never seen a dwarf up until that time and I could not understand why an adult would be so little!!  My Dad sensed that I was about to ask an inappropriate question so he silenced me with a Look!!  Back then you did not ask about why certain people looked different or what made them that way. It was considered bad manners.

deborah_dad_family-34
Montreal 1970

Now A Days is different. One day years ago a dwarf lady was looking at one of the paintings in my gallery. There was a little girl about 3 or 4 years of age who spotted her and like me back then was surprised to see such a small adult. Believe me kids automatically know that dwarfs are not children. Any way kids being kids she hopped right over to stare at the dwarf lady who had her back to the child. The dwarf woman feeling eyes on her turned around and smiled. No words were exchanged. The little girl went back to her stroller and the dwarf woman went back to enjoying the paintings.  I suppose the Dwarf Lady was used to kids staring at her and that’s why she smiled.

Being taught good manners and to keep my mouth shut has helped me in my current job as a museum security guard.  I see all types of people with disabilities and even though I want to know what happened I do not ask. Actually we are not allowed to say anything evenly remotely rude or inappropriate. For example Monday a young woman with no arms or legs was in my gallery. Naturally seeing someone with such an extreme disability can catch you off guard but I treat them as I treat any other visitor with a smile and assistance if needed.

 

Our Florida vacation around 1986
First Dance with My Father
Defiant precocious DeBorah
MMC 2002 Graduation
1961- A Very Good Year
Deborah Ann Palmer U.S. Army 1977-1981
Little Me
Natural Beauty
#NoMakeup
#NoMakeup

 

 

Twiggy Biography

Share Your World – 2016 Week 35

On By dancingpalmtreesIn DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Hattie Banks, Hattie Finney Banks, Helen Garcia, Helen James, Helen Palmer Garcia, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Rufus & Chaka Khan - Once You Get Started, Rufus and Chaka Khan ~~ Tell Me Something Good, Share Your World – 2016 Week 35, Stephen, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Thelma Palmer Varner, Uncategorized11 Comments

 

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/08/29/share-your-world-2016-week-36/#like-19322

Share Your World – 2016 Week 35

With your answers, please remember we are in the SYW world which may not always match our reality.

041514 sywbanner

List 2 things you have to be happy about?

  1. My brother Stephen
  2. My Cat Sylvester
  3. A measure of health and strength
  4. My Blogging Family

As always I get carried away and can’t just list two!!

If you could take a photograph, paint a picture or write a story of any place in the world, what and where would it be?

Hawaii. It’s a place that I’ve yet to visit and is on my list of places to Travel when Retired.

Should children be seen and not heard?

Sounds like what my Dad used to say when we were kids, “That children should be seen and not heard!”  Ha! Ha! LOL!! Well that did not work as I was always bugging him. I think he used to say that as a joke. Daddy would come home from work and even though he was tired he would get down on the floor and play with us if we were awake and he always took us places on the weekends to give my Mom a break.

I never had children but when my young cousins were little kids I took them many places and enjoyed their company. Child care can be challenging but I enjoyed babysitting them. I encouraged them to speak up to talk with me. In my opinion communication with kids is vital. Even if you disagree with the child or they say something completely off well that gives the adult the opportunity to explain to them about plants, animals, people and life in general. Always listen to children. They have wonderful unfettered imaginations!

List at least five of your favorite first names.

  1. DeBorah
  2. Stephen
  3. Edward
  4. Mable
  5. Thelma
  6. Helen
  7. William
  8. Eva
  9. Gladys
  10. Clarence
  11. Hattie
  12. Veronica

Yup!! These are all Family Names!!  I know this list is more than five but once you get started!!

Family Photo_Collage (1)
Family Photo Collage

 

Rufus & Chaka Khan – Once You Get Started

 

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

  • Health
  • Well-being
  • A nice clean safe place to Love. I Love Brooklyn!!
  • My Cat Sylvester.
  • Wonderful co-workers with whom I laugh and joke with about the nuttiness on our job.

 

 

 

 

Childhood | The Daily Post

On By dancingpalmtreesIn DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Helen Garcia, Helen Palmer Garcia, Stephen, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Thelma Palmer Varner, Uncategorized, William J. Palmer, William Junius Palmer, William Palmer

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/childhood/#like-247901

DAILY PROMPT

Childhood

Photos of me, Stephen, my father Edward Gordon Palmer and my Aunts as children. I don’t have any pictures of my Mom Mable Elizabeth Palmer as a child because her family was too poor to afford a camera or have photos taken of them. I have included a picture of my childhood dresser which I’ve had since I was five years old. It came as part of a Vanity set but only this piece survives.

Also shown is a photographer of my paternal Grandfather William Junius Palmer with some of his children taken around 1923 in Mt. Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in Harlem. My Dad Edward Palmer is not in this photo because he was born in Feb. 1930. The little boy seated on my Grandfather’s lap who would have been my Uncle died of polio. My grandparents lost at least two boys to this disease. My Dad was the only boy to survive and he was nicknamed Precious.

The photo of my Dad Edward G. Palmer was done in around 1935 by famous Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee.   http://www.biography.com/people/james-van-der-zee-9515411

 

 

Baby Me & Lamby Pie
Me and Stephen 1961
Little Me
My Childhood Dresser I’ve had since age 5.
DeBorah had a Little Lamb
1961- A Very Good Year
Defiant precocious DeBorah
My Grandfather William J. Palmer with some of his children in Mt. Morris aka Marcus Garvey Park