TBT: That Day in Boston 1978

We moved to Thailand with two sons and were expected to be there for two years. However, in that time we adopted a little three year old little girl, or should I say we started the adoption process. Many obstacles came up including a coup over the weekend after we received permission from the Thai government to adopt her. Over that weekend the government changed and so decisions made  by Friday's government were no long valid on Monday. Start the process again... We extended our stay in Bangkok by a 3rd year to, god willing, hope the process would be resolved. My husband also considered putting her in the diplomatic pouch to get her out of the country!

But she received a Thai passport eventually and legally became our child on the 4th of July! This photo was taken when we arrived in the US with our little 'foreigner' and her brothers. She would be naturalized in less than two months. But that's another story!

TBT: Leaving Bangkok 1978

It was a late night flight from Bangkok to Rome, on our way back to the United States.  One of us was not very happy about it and was not even wearing his jasmine lei. I had forgotten that mine and my husband's included the colors of the Thai flag. I wonder if this is still a custom in Thailand.

As with many images taken back in the years of film, it didn't occur to us to take more. It also didn't occur to us to take a photo of our maid Somchit who was taking this photo or possibly it was her husband Payot. They were both so very good to us during our 3 years in Thailand but the photos we have are few. Constantly carrying a 35mm camera was not easy or normal either. What a convenience an iPhone is now!

One other tidbit about this flight was that we stopped in Tehran on our way and I recall saying I hoped I never had to live in this hot dusty country. Little did I know I'd be living there a couple of months later.

TBT: The Non-Knitter circa 1978

My mother was a superb knitter as well as a seamstress. My grandmother could crochet anything as well as sew. I, however, had little interest in knitting or crocheting as I foolishly considered them old fashioned pursuits.  Now, of course, I wish I could do either.  I did learn to sew and used to do a lot of it. Then I lived where I had dressmakers so...that skill fell by the wayside.

It appears my 5 year old daughter was following in my foolish footsteps as I recall she paid no attention to the instructions her Grandma was trying to give her. It was not a good session.

Now, I have my needles, I have my yarn and yet I still don't know how to knit! Ah, we all have to learn the hard way it seems! But being happy with grey/white hair I don't have to worry about those roots like my mother did.

Throwback Thursday: Tehran 1978

Another slide from November 1978 Iran. Here my son is 6 and my daughter is 5. She was still often unsure of where we were after only two years out of the orphanage and a move from Thailand to the US and then to Iran.  I loved that pine linen press from England as it had served me well as wonderful storage for all sorts of kitchen items.  It made it back to the US in 1979 but was later stolen by a tenant. I often wonder if I will see it in some antique store.

At this time in Tehran, despite what was a start to a revolution, we were naively in the process of moving our children from the large American school to the smaller British school but instead were evacuated a month later.  Yes, those were interesting times.

TBT The Day the Banks Burned

Tehran  November 1978

Flashback Friday

My kitchen in Tehran, 1978 or early 79. The children and I had already been evacuated and my then husband took these polaroids of all the rooms for probable insurance purposes. It was a big kitchen, as was the whole apartment, and we had just stocked the fridge and got a full tank of 'gaz' for the stove. How about that classic avocado green! I loved that pine linen press that we bought in England, ditto some original bentwood chairs round the oak kitchen table.

While our household goods did get shipped back to the US, despite the Iranian Revolution, many of these things were stolen by US renters of our home in the states. Funny twist of fate, eh?

Flashback Friday

1978 - Immigration at Boston, Massachusetts. The end of a long path for my Thai daughter.

Flashback Friday

This is a shot taken by my mother in April 1978 and I will guess it was in Hawaii or the Caribbean. I wasn't there and she is no longer alive...so a beach in 1978 it will have to remain.

Flashback Friday

My two younger chicks...summer of 1978 'preparing' to move to Iran.

Little did we know...