Fedoras afield

[hatophile]

Family memories are priceless.

 

[Lotsahats]

Love the mishpocha!

 

[Zombie_61]

Since the discussion has turned towards family for the moment I thought I'd post this photo, which was taken during our trip to the Chicago area last month:

The 82 people in the photo are all related to my wife either by blood or marriage (and, by extension, related to me I suppose), and several family members who attended had to leave before the photo was taken. Although there are no babies in the photo, on this day we discovered the ages of the family members present ranged from infancy to 93, and that there was at least one person present who represented every decade in between (i.e., infancy to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30, etc.); I'll leave it to wiser folks than I to figure out how many generations that encompasses. By the way, those yellow circles you see nearly everyone wearing are nametags.

 

[hatsRme]

Wow, Alex! Great photo of what looks like a great group. And, it's easy to spot you (but there were TWO brimmed lids in the shot, woo-ha)!

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Great photo.
That is one of a kind photo I'll never be able to take with my family.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Great photo of what looks like a great group...

I'm blessed that my wife's family is a bunch of really good people. They have their occasional disagreements and problems like every other family, but at their core they're decent, hard-working (and sometimes hard-playing) folks just trying to make their way through this life. And all of her "blood" relatives (i.e., not related by marriage) are full-blooded Italians, so they made sure we were well fed during our visit. :hungry:

...And, it's easy to spot you (but there were TWO brimmed lids in the shot, woo-ha)!

The "other" gent is the husband of one of my wife's cousins. The straw hat he wore that day looked used, but well cared for; unfortunately, with the hustle and bustle of the day I neglected to ask him about it.

...That is one of a kind photo I'll never be able to take with my family.

I can say the same thing of my family. I'm told I have a lot of relatives spread throughout the American midwest, but I've never met any of them. Of the relatives I know that live here on or near the west coast, you could probably fit them all on the same bus--a short bus--and most of them could use those white coats with the extra-long sleeves that reach around the back. :der: So while I was blessed to have joined my wife's family, she was cursed to have joined mine.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

I can say the same thing of my family. I'm told I have a lot of relatives spread throughout the American midwest, but I've never met any of them. Of the relatives I know that live here on or near the west coast, you could probably fit them all on the same bus--a short bus--and most of them could use those white coats with the extra-long sleeves that reach around the back. :der: So while I was blessed to have joined my wife's family, she was cursed to have joined mine.

It's not that, we are all in a 150 kilometers radius... they all came to Lisbon to visit the zoo, the aquarium, and other attractions and they can't take a 10 minute drive to visit me or my parents not even to say a hello.
Some years ago me and my sister tried to join all in my deceased grandparents farm, most didn't show up.
Even my closest relative I don't see him for a year or more... and he's like on the other side of Lisbon no more than 50 kilometers away! He doesn't visit my parents for 5 years...
My family doesn't like to socialize with each other...

 

[hatsRme]

Family dynamics can be crazy, Joao. Maybe proposing a photo with YOUR hats (one for all, just for the picture) on the guys?!
This is what I did at my house in November...


And of course... LOTS of FOOD can draw them in, too.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Hard to get that many people together...

 

[hatsRme]

You MUST FEED them...

 

[Joao Encarnado]

That is not the problem... they are all welcome and all been invited but no one shows up.
We visit them but they don't visit us. They have cars like I have, they came to Lisbon, they cross the highway that is less than 500 meters from my house but never ever showed up at our door.
We go to their city and visit them, that is the only way we know they are alive!!
When I see family portraits like those, I can only conclude my family is a weird one as they never gather like that.

 

[TheDane]

You MUST FEED them...

Charlie ...!!! lol

Joao : It's my impression, that those very big family reunions/gatherings is more of an American phenomenon - not so much a European one. My guess is, that it's origin lies in the immigrational (is that a word? ) nature/origin of the American people. Sticking together was very important in sometimes extremely tough environments - and the well-beeing of family members was not "nature-given" in such conditions, so staying in touch had special priority - though it was extremely difficult. This is only very few generations ago.

Americans and Europeans are so alike in many ways, but we have had quite different conditions, building our modern societies. It's my experience, that most of the times I wonder about American views on a specific subject, the differencies in views/opinions are explainable, if I dig down and seek in our histories.

 

[hatsRme]

And then sometimes, there is NO explanation or rationale to what we think or do! [huh]

Perry would call it idiopathic...

 

[TheDane]

Charlie, I'm trying to be polite here! Don't be an idiopath, please! lol

 

[hatsRme]

My mother always told me that people don't change. Once an idiopath, always... And they don't know why!

 

[TheDane]

Loving hats is just another good reason for coming back to this place. Thanks for being you, Charlie

 

[hatsRme]

Right back at you, Ole, thank you! I'm glad you're you, because who knows who else you could be? Or, to approximate Jackie Mason, what if you went to a psychiatrist to find out who you really are, then found out you were him (or her...). Could you send him a bill?

I'm glad most of us are here, afield. Back on topic!

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Joao : It's my impression, that those very big family reunions/gatherings is more of an American phenomenon - not so much a European one. My guess is, that it's origin lies in the immigrational (is that a word? ) nature/origin of the American people. Sticking together was very important in sometimes extremely tough environments - and the well-beeing of family members was not "nature-given" in such conditions, so staying in touch had special priority - though it was extremely difficult. This is only very few generations ago.

Americans and Europeans are so alike in many ways, but we have had quite different conditions, building our modern societies. It's my experience, that most of the times I wonder about American views on a specific subject, the differencies in views/opinions are explainable, if I dig down and seek in our histories.

No, no! Europeans do have this family gathering thing. A friend of mine have family in Algarve (more distant than my family is) and they gather all together and visit each other. When they asked me if my family did the same and I said no, they found it very weird.

 

[Crazy Dave]

I agree with Joao, it is probably not so much a European/American thing, but depends on the family. On my wife's side, there are a few gatherings every year where the whole family gets together, usually for birthdays. It is very important to them. On my side of the family...let's just say not so much...

 

[Joao Encarnado]

I agree with Joao, it is probably not so much a European/American thing, but depends on the family. On my wife's side, there are a few gatherings every year where the whole family gets together, usually for birthdays. It is very important to them. On my side of the family...let's just say not so much...

I got both of the "not so much"
My mother have two half-sisters. None of them phones to my mother, it's my mother that phones them and one of them keeps failing my mother's name calling her the name of the other sister!!
This is not normal.