My mom came to visit a few months ago and for my birthday brought me a couple of the tiniest contact sheets that had been taken and developed back in 1977. Luckily, they were good enpough to scan and so I thought I'd share them here. In 1977, my parents still had another year or so of marriage. At four, I was somewhat oblivious to any issues and problems, but I noticed later that pictures of us all together as a family from this time are hard to come by. Pictured above is my mom's workspace. Front and center is the desk my grandfather built for her and through the little opening to the right, the brand new kitchen he'd built by hand. The photo is funny to me since my desk today pretty much has the same odd mix of items on it as well: a calculator, paintbrushes, taped up designs, funky artwork, piles of paper, etc. Apparently it's in my genes to be so "creatively messy" with my desk space.
Here's my dad with his awesome tooled leather visor, 60s glasses and sporty pencil mustache. Also like my mother, I used to take photos of him driving. He was always a happy driver, even in the worst of Hawaiian traffic. The radio was always turned to KCCN, the Hawaiian station or to the Oldies station and he would croon along.
Along with these of my dad and our house was a moment of time I'd almost forgotten. I was four years old and our dog Pua was giving birth. It was the first time I'd ever witnessed such an event and I was terribly fascinated. Pua was a pitbull mix and probably one of the smartest and sweetest dogs I've ever known. She would run free in the neighborhood which was common back in the 70s, even for a pitbull. We lived right above a neighborhood grocery store which was owned by Mr. Mau, an ancient looking Chinese man who had hair growing out of a large mole on his face. I'm not sure how she went unnoticed, but somehow Pua would come home with steaks and loaves of bread still in the package. My dad would always cook up the steaks for her, since at that point, they were full of teeth marks and dog slobber. One time Pua even came home with a woman's bra which just so happened to be my mother's size. My mom admitted it was so comfortable, it became one of her favorites and she'd worn it for years.
Pua had four pups that I can remember. My sister may write and correct me, but if I recall, there was a couple of brown ones, a black ones and one pure white one which we named Solomon. They were born in a box outside on the back porch right in front of the dryer. Pua and my mother would let me cram myself into the box with them all and of course, I manhandled all the pups as much as I was allowed to. Funny how these photos brought back the snippets of your memory, the texture and color of Pua's fur over her swollen belly, the smell of puppies and newspaper, the pull of a puppy tongue as it sucks on your finger...
When they were old enough, my mom took the puppies to the Animal Clinic in Waimalu to be checked over and given their shots. While she was waiting, in came a woman who was also carrying an equal sized box. There was some talk between them about "that Daddy dog" who was making his rounds in the neighborhood and low and behold, in the woman's box were a black, two brown and one all white pup. My mom told me they both paused and looked at one another wide eyed and then burst into laughter until they almost cried.