Holiday Empty Chairs

On December 16, 2016 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.

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

Mom Mable Palmer

Mable Elizabeth Palmer ~~ My Mom

Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer -- Grandmother

My Grandfather William J. Palmer with some of his children in Mt. Morris aka Marcus Garvey Park

My Maternal Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks

Old Tyme Family Photos

On October 3, 2016October 3, 2016 By dancingpalmtreesIn Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Eva Gordon Palmer, Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer, Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer -- Grandmother, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Old Tyme Family Photos, Thelma Palmer Varner, Uncategorized, William Henry Halstead, William J. Palmer, William Junius Palmer, William Palmer19 Comments

William Henry Halstead Tombstone — William Henry Halstead Headstone ~ Sleepy Hollow

These are some some Old Tyme Family Photos mostly from my Dad’s side of the family some of which date back to just after the Civil War. The photos cover both the 19th and 20th Centuries.

This is a Tin Type photo of an unknown unnamed Ancestor

Grandfather William Palmer with 4 of his children 1923

My Grandmother Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer

My Dad Edward Gordon Palmer

My Aunt Thelma Palmer Varner

rosalie-palmer_william-palmers-sister — Rosalie Palmer My Grandfather’s Sister

Aunt Carrie ~~ George Gordon’s Sister

My Dad Edward G. Palmer

Fredrick H. Halstead_Sept. 6, 1898_Little’s Brother

My Maternal Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks

My Maternal Aunt Helen James

Henry Keyser

Mom Mable Palmer

Mom & Dad

Shout Out to fellow Photography Blogger Cee Neuner!!

https://ceenphotography.com/

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/10/03/share-your-world-2016-week-40/

Share Your World – 2016 Week 35

On August 29, 2016August 29, 2016 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.

List 2 things you have to be happy about?

My brother Stephen
My Cat Sylvester
A measure of health and strength
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.

DeBorah
Stephen
Edward
Mable
Thelma
Helen
William
Eva
Gladys
Clarence
Hattie
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.

Sense of Purpose

On June 3, 2016 By dancingpalmtreesIn American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Museum, Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Eva Gordon Palmer, Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer, Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer -- Grandmother, Gotham Museum of Art, Hattie Banks, Hattie Finney Banks, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Muses, Museum, purpose, The Brooklyn Museum, Third World - Sense of Purpose, Third World - Try Jah Love, Uncategorized

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/purpose/#like-247870

TheDailyPost

Jun 2, 2016

DAILY PROMPT

Purpose

No Matter What Other People Think or Say About Me, God Loves Me with a Sense of Purpose. The words of the enemy mean nothing to me only what God has to say about me. My writing and photography are my Passions and my Purpose. My brother Stephen is often my Muse.

My Raison D’être

Habakkuk 2:2-3

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Just Live by Faith

²Then the Lord answered me and said:

“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
³For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

Third World – Sense of Purpose

Third World – Try Jah Love

Black HerStory Month

On March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 By dancingpalmtreesIn Ancestor, Ancestors, Ancestral Memories, Ancestry, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Eva Gordon Palmer, Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer, Hattie Banks, Hattie Finney Banks, Helen Garcia, Helen James, Helen Palmer Garcia, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Maternal Heritage, Maternal lineage, Matriarchy, Thelma Palmer Varner5 Comments

In the USA March is Women’s History Month. Borrowing a phrase I heard used I Declare and Decree this Black HerStory Month. Twenty-Eight or in the case of this year 29 days is not enough to celebrate the achievements of African Americans nor do we often hear about the accomplishments or even acknowledge Black Women so I Proclaim March Black HerStory Month.

First Honors and Praises to the Our Black Family Matriarchs. Our Queens! From what I’ve been told I am very Blessed and Fortunate to have family photos from my Dad’s side dating back to the 19th century. My Paternal Grandmother Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer kept meticulous records recording the name of each ancestor on the back of the photos. The one Woman ancestor photo that does not have a name is a tintype and at some point the name either fell off or became detached.

I have only a few photos of my Maternal Women ancestors as my mother’s family did not have the money to either purchase cameras or pay to have their photos professionally taken. All have now gone onto to Glory and passed into eternity but even the 19th Century Queens who I did not get a chance to meet in person I carry not only their DNA but their strength, faith and fortitude to preserve in and over all circumstances. Ancestral Memories flow through my veins.