easter at the kemps!

So it was a veritable mini-family reunion, as we had representatives of 3 / 4 of the branches of the Kemp clan at Jimmy & Susan Kemp's house this past Sunday for Easter.  Jacqui Kemp, Claire & I headed over to dinner with Jimmy, Susan, the 4 boys, Jack & Joanne.  

It was wonderful!  We got a tour of the playroom (which, incidentally, we are all jealous of), played with some Lego and Brio, and headed outside, armed with bubbles, mini basketballs, and some baseball equipment.

Here's Jacqui & Tommy:

Here's Claire pitching to the intrepid batsman...action shot!

Meanwhile, Susan showed Marco & Jonah how to make resurrection rolls -- marshmallows (Jesus) dipped in butter (anointing oil) then cinnamon-sugar (spices) then wrapped in roll-dough (tomb), which, when baked, the marshmallow disappears!   It was fun to watch, and the rolls disappeared just as quickly as the marshmallows!

Dinner itself was delicious too, and after-dinner consisted of watching Tommy look incredibly pleased with himself while he sat on the couch, and Jacqui's announcement that she was interning at the DNC!  

Shock, horror! -- only kidding, of course.  It sounds fantastic!  We're excited too, since she's seeing everything from the inside during an election year.   

All in all, lots of fun, especially since we had 2 Hummels for the price of 1 -- Claire being in town for her spring break! 

Hope everyone else had a lovely Easter & hope to see you soon!

give us a half-hour in your town...

So Mom and I are in San Francisco for the (extended) week-end. I have a wedding (not mine, don't worry) to attend, and since I would be in the same state, Mom decided to drive up. Hooray!

Since we are in the city where the lovely Amanda resides, we were set to visit her. Of course, this is the day she is leaving, and had a half-hour between her last class and catching a bus to the airport... In the spirit of Tom Kemp, who, I believe would make an effort to visit one were he in the same time zone, we attempted some kind of rendezvous. Again: half-hour.

After managing 2 separate bus routes, we were slightly waylaid by a man on the street who saw us admiring a Victorian home and invited us to come inside and look at the renovation he had recently completed (no, really). After almost making an offer, we got a phone call from Amanda and managed to meet up on campus!

Not to be deterred, we decided to milk all the time that we had, and proceeded to walk her to the bus stop, and realized that it was the same route we needed to get back to our hotel! A mildly harrowing bus ride followed (see below!) but resulted in us reaching our destination, which was occasion for the photograph to the right.


We then sent her on her way -- and retreated to the hotel: success!

Earlier, too, we had stopped at the monument to Cervantes in Golden Gate Park, which we thought was a fitting tribute to Gramps. Here's me with my arm around Sancho Panza & Don Quixote.

To dream the impossible dream...

Judith wins the Rob Hummel Christmas Collection award!

Judith Nolan has officially won the "Rob Hummel Christmas Collection Award," given annually to whoever listens to all or part of the Rob Hummel Christmas Collection for the longest period of time.  Since Judith is still listening as of March 4th, she is the clear champ.  I'm not sure what the prize is.  I'll leave that up to Rob.  Maybe it's first dibs on Volume 8...

Congratulations, Judith!  

From New York City to Santa Monica....

Jake Boritt came to Santa Monica to do some work on the dvd of "From Budapest to Gettysburg" so some of us gathered at El Cholo in Santa Monica for some mighty yummy enchiladas.  We got to hear updates on the film's progress and Jake got to hear suggestions for raising more funding and for getting into the Academy race.  We also learned about Jon's new job and what it's like working in a sea of Democrats.  Maddie worked on her ballet sticker book, and Thomas slept, while Gina and I got caught up.  Next time we'll make sure Matt Kemp has the correct schedule of events - we missed you, Matt!  

This was our first time meeting Thomas and he is perfection...  See for yourself.

(click on photos to enlarge.)

Lovebirds...

Rob has been editing the old 16 mm home movies we found in dad's attic, trying to figure out what goes before or after what.  Not an easy task!  I'm going through and printing out some stills, so that I can begin the process of putting names to faces.  There are so many wonderful moments in it all, but some of my favorites are of Paul and Frances as newly in love.  I'm putting three movie stills up on the Thomasville blog so you all can enjoy them as we have!   Notice that Paul doesn't have a wedding ring on.  We think we see that Frances may have an engagement ring on.  That would date the movie footage to around 1926, which is definitely some of the earliest 16 mm home movies ever shot, since that's just a year or two after Kodak first started making that type of film available to the consumer.  Wow!

Christmas in Laguna 2007

The Tom Kemp Sr kids and grandkids were (miraculously!) all together on a gorgeous Christmas day. Had a rousing game of Apples to Apples, a wonderful dinner, and enjoyed opening presents in the shade of our new artificial Christmas tree. Does it get any better than that? (Click on photo to enlarge.)

PRK Sr. Album B now available for your viewing pleasure

A future Congressman and HUD Secretary?

This is the last of the three PRK Sr photo albums has been scanned and uploaded.  It's a short one and seems to take place in the mid-30's or so.  It includes ice cream cones, puppies, Mickey Mouse balloons, helmets, neighborhood kids with a toy rifle, and a rather severe unidentifiable woman (at least to me) with a fur collared coat.  The baby in the stroller, chair, and crib is Jack.  Some of these you've seen before, but some you haven't.  Enjoy!  (And don't forget to see the final scans from Album AA mentioned my post from yesterday.) 

Click here for the link to PRK Sr Album B.

More photos from the PRK Sr album AA

I've added about 100 photos to the PRK Sr photo album AA.  They're in the same order as in the album, and they are definitely pre-Frances (i.e. there are plenty of PRK Sr girlfriends).  Lots of people I don't recognize so I'd love to know if anyone can identify some of these folks.  But, again, the photos are really fun.  I think that's PRK Sr dressed as a chinaman with his girlfriend...  My favorite is Elva in the car with the grandkids sitting on the running board.   

The new photos start about halfway through the AA album.  You can see that I've started to take out the sepia tones in the later photos, as I think it makes them easier to see.

Click here to link to PRK Sr. Album AA.

A new PRK Sr. album!

I've begun to scan another Paul R. Kemp Sr. album. It appears to be older than the previous album. I'm not sure who everyone is, but there are some amazing photos. I would love it if anyone wants to add comments to the individual pictures (within Picasa Web Albums). I've included all the photos in order. I think it starts off with lots of shots of one of his girlfriends. And it ends with some truly wonderful pictures of PRK Sr. in his Navy uniform goofing around with his friends. With plenty of great clothes and hats in between. I love seeing Elva with sunglasses! At least three of the photos are studio photos in front of a background. See if you can figure out which are "fake" (one is pretty obvious!).

Here's the link to the new photos: Click here for PRK Sr. Album "AA" only

Ready for comments!

In order to help document the who, what, where, why of the scanned photos, it would be great if any of you would like to add comments. You need a (free) Picasa Web account which is easy to sign up for by providing a login email address and password. Then when you're looking at a photo, click in the "Add a comment" box and... well... add a comment. The comments can't be edited, but you can delete yours and re-do it if you need to change something. Paul has already begun adding his comments. Thanks, Paul! I will add more scanned photos as soon as I get back from Providence and Alexandria. -Anne

Paul R. Kemp Sr. Photo Album - now complete

The entire Paul R Kemp Sr Photo Album "A" is now scanned and uploaded. There are 165 photos in that album. The photos I added today will be at the end (since I want to keep them in the right order). There are two more albums that will be scanned later.

Here's the link: Click here for PRK Sr. Album "A" only

Hope it's clear that there are now THREE DIFFERENT PHOTO LINKS, so be sure to follow them all. The first, "Kemp Family Photo Scans," is the eclectic batch of loose photos that were all in one box in dad's attic, a box which I'm sure hadn't been opened in 30 years. In that group, new photos are added at the beginning. The second is the "Camp Radford" photos. And the third is "Paul R Kemp Sr Album A" which is only photos from one album. All three links are listed in the left sidebar.

Paul R. Kemp Sr. Photo Album - Part One

Today's treat is Part One of the Paul R. Kemp Sr. Photo Album "A." The photos are from a photo album of the late 1910's and early 1920's and show him as a young man driving, camping, swimming, picnicing with friends, including old girlfriends, I think. It starts off with a road trip with a friend. Some of the photos will be only of PRK Sr.'s friends. But many of them are of him. You'll love the clothes, the cars, the situations. Whoever figures out what the tent city is for, wins a prize. (I think it might have to do with the construction of California Hwy 1.) I've scanned all the photos in order, so you'll get the full flavor of his album. It's truly amazing and I guarantee you'll be surprised. (Note: This is a separate link than the Kemp Family Photo Scan link.)

Here's the link: Click here for PRK Sr. Album "A" only
(Note from 8/18/07 - this link now shows the entire completed album, not just the first part. It is the same as the link above.)

Today's Photos

Here's the latest batch. More of kids with hats (Paula's favorite), a photo of Elva being interviewed by a very enthusiastic man (anyone know what that was for?), and teepees! Enjoy. And don't forget to follow the Camp Radford link in yesterday's post.

Here's the link: Click here for Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans

Camp Radford Photos

I've loaded up four photos of Camp Radford. They're dated 1941, 1942, and two different times in August 1944.

Just follow the CAMP RADFORD photo link (at end of this post) and then click on the first photo. When it enlarges, you'll see a little magnifying glass above it (mine is above right). Click on it and the photo will be large enough to look for familiar faces. It takes a while for it to resolve. Then your cursor will look like a hand (or arrows) and if you hold down your mouse button and move it, you'll be able to slide around the photo easily. To go to the next photo, you can click on the right arrow above the photo.

Here's the link: Click here for Camp Radford Photos only

fun at Crescent Bay and Magic Kingdom

you may enjoy some photos from Sunday at the Tom Kemp family's Laguna home and Monday at Disneyland.

k-logger.blogspot.com

Busy weekend....

Not blogging today (i.e. no new photos) as Rob and I are off to two funerals and a bar mitzvah. Monday, I'll be back to scanning... -Anne

I'm a scanning machine....

More photos, including Joanne in an amazing hat. And also a special love note from Paul Kemp to "Muriel." I think it must be Uncle Paul. Am I right?

Here's the link: Click here for Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans

Photos Du Jour

Again, most of the photos are not in any order. And there are a few people I can't identify. At the end, however, is a series of awesome hairdo's - mostly of Paul, with one of my dad in there too. I suspect a lot of Brillcream was involved...

I LOVE this photo on the boat. Grandma even has a sailor suit on! How cute is that?

Here's the link: Click here for Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans

Even more photos!

Included is a hand-made Mother's Day card from Jack complete with drawing of flowers. Who knew? And a letter from Tommy dated 1939 from Topanga Canyon in Santa Monica where he enquires about the new baby and suggests a name.

You know the phrase, "All roads lead to Rome"? Well, all these scanned photo links that I'm putting into the recent posts all lead to the same place. So you don't need to try them all out. Is it making sense now? I hope so!

Here's the link: Click here for Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans

Photo Update

New photos for today! The current plan is to keep adding the newest scanned photos at the front end of the slideshow, and the older scans will be at the end. If anyone wants to type in the "Comments" box to identify the people, places, dates of the photos, it would be greatly appreciated by the blogmistress.... Currently, nothing is in any particular order. Just the random order of Grandpa's box.... Just click on the Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans link in the left sidebar to see the latest. (i.e. if you click on the photo on the right, it will get larger, but it won't take you anywhere. You'll need to use the link on the left. Sorry for all these redundant explanations, but we Kemps aren't necessarily known for being good at following directions!) If you can't figure it out, you can click on the link at the end of this post. But remember - the link in the left sidebar will always be there for you. I'll help you this time, but don't get too used to it! Love, Anne
Click here for Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans

Kemp Family Photo Album

I am scanning a few photos a day and putting them up on Picasa for your viewing pleasure. Just click on the link in the left sidebar, called Latest Kemp Family Photo Scans. It will take you to the Picasa website, and you can click on either "Slideshow" or on the first picture in the lineup. Then you can go through the pictures by clicking on the right arrow. Anyway, stay tuned for more photos in days to come. (If you click on any of the post photos, they'll get bigger, but to see the whole shebang, you need to follow the link in the sidebar.... on the left side of this page.)

Jack's Birthday Poem to Paul

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POEM FROM LIL BRO JACK.

PAUL R KEMP, HE'S OUR MAN, HE CAN DO IT AS NO ONE ELSE CAN!


PAUL WAS NAMED FOR A GREAT MAN, SO JR'S. GREAT NAME WILL FOREVER STAND!


PRK'S LOVE OF MUSIC AND BOOKS INSPIRED US ALL, PARTICULARLY ME, AS A
RESULT I IDOLIZED PAUL!


PAUL'S HUMOR AND INTELLIGENCE ARE SOMETHING TO SEE, AS THE KEMP BROTHERS BETTER STROVE TO BE!


TOM AND PAUL WERE LIKE ONE TO THE END, NOW THAT WE FOUR ARE BUT THREE,
THANKS TO TOM, WE ARE BETTER MEN!


NOW SHAKESPEARE AND WILSON HAVE BEEN OPENED TO US, WE GROW CLOSER
TOGETHER WITH MUCH LESS FUSS!


OUR LOVE FOR PAUL AND NANCY SERVES TO REMIND US ALL, HOW BLESSED OUR
LIVES ARE, FOR BEING SONS OF FRANCES AND PAUL!


SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BRO AND THANKS FOR THE LESSONS, I'M IN YOUR DEBT
JR. FOR ALL THE LEARNING SESSIONS!

Our own Pat Boone....

Nancy recently took Pat Boone out to dinner and Pat mentioned how much she missed dad, and how much she missed the family. Nancy thought that it would be great to find a way for all of us to stay in touch with her, so I'm posting her address and phone number here:

Pat Boone
5200 Irvine Bl. #315
Irvine CA 92620-2057

(714) 544-7198

I love this photo of Pat and the boys. It was taken at Julianna's wedding, and Pat has it prominently and proudly displayed in her living room.







I'm also including a photo from 1998 of Pat with Emily, along with our friend, Bram, who passed away last year. I don't remember Bram meeting Pat, but somehow it makes me happy to see people from different parts of my life placed together.

Love, Anne

My friend, Paul White

A front page article appeared today in the Los Angeles Daily News. It's about Dantae Livingston, a gang member who has renounced his gang ties and is finally on a track toward finishing high school and hopes to be going to college. After being kicked out of the last three high schools he's attended, he had the great fortune to be sent to West Valley Leadership Academy, a public county school run by my friend, Paul White.

Dantae joined a gang at age 12 after seeing his older brother gunned down by rival gang members. And when Paul offers to help Dantae leave the gang, Paul puts his own life on the line. A wonderful story of courage and commitment. Here's the link (be sure to watch the short video too): Click here to go to the article.

I recently went to a graduation at WVLA. It's a small school and each student has a separate graduation ceremony. The girl graduating had been addicted to crystal meth when her parents and brother called the police in desparation and had her arrested. That led, eventually, to her being enrolled in WVLA where she dropped her addiction, received straight A's, enrolled in college classes, and is the top seller at a local retail store.



When Paul's book was being printed, he was looking for endorsements so I asked Jack if he would consider reading it and writing something up for the jacket. I am so thankful that he did, and the book is now published. Here's the link to Amazon:
Click here to go to the Amazon link.

Road Trip! Day 10 - The Voyage Home

Well, we travel home today leaving Yosemite behind. We had a great time.

I have a memory seared in my mind from my youth and my sisters know this well. If anyone mentions the last name O'Meara - all of us immediately think of Mike & Thelma O'Meara of Bakersfield and their kids Shauna, Brenna, Erin & Patrick. Mike & Thelma were stationed at Fort Ord with Mom & Dad where they were inseparable. Mrs. O'Meara, Thelma, tells the story that Mom & Dad took care of her when Mike was deployed overseas. They have been good friends ever since.

We visited them when I was younger than Andrew and it was a visit we all remember well. They had a motorized "surry" that we rode in and were allowed to drive. We drove that thing all over their huge yard. We also rode their horses - bareback as I recall - with the help of their kids. They also had cows and many other animals.

Halfway between Yosemite and Laguna Beach is Bakersfield so we arranged a visit with Mrs. O'Meara. We pulled up to find Mrs. O'Meara waiting for us - Mr. O'Meara passed on 10 years ago. We visited for a while and then she walked us back behind the pool and there was the surry (minus the fringe)! It was all ready for Andy to drive. It fired right up and off he went. He had a ball.

We were joined by Brenna and her daughter Nora - we all went to lunch and had a grand time. We came back and, of course, Andy had to drive some more. He also spent a great deal of time with their dog, Ginger.

After a 2 1/2 hour visit, we hit the road again and we are now home. The O'Meara's will be in Laguna a week from Monday for the Pageant of the Masters and invite all who are around to breakfast at the cottage on Monday the 23rd at 9:00 am. Thelma, Shauna, Brenna & Patrick will be there with spouses.

Awesome Dinner with Afghani Friends

Emily and I went to Nazhla and Hameed Karzai's home in Maryland. As Nazhla is eight months pregnant, I tried to get her to consider the possibility of ordering take-out, but in the wonderful tradition of Afghani hospitality, she insisted on cooking and welcomed us as family. Em and I are not sure we've ever eaten as well as we did there, and Emily had an entire shopping bag full of leftovers to take home. Em didn't think her fridge was big enough to handle it all.




We got to see little Sameel who is now almost two years old. If you remember, the very first posting on this blog is of Dad holding Sameel in Laguna, pointing out where Sameel was going to learn to skimboard...

Nazhla talked about how when they first arrived in this country, her family couldn't figure out why they were continually visited by dad. Who was this man? They couldn't figure out why he took an interest in them, without even knowing who they are or whether they were good people. She said that moving to a new country, you feel like you've lost your individuality in the eyes of those around you, and that you're labeled, "immigrant." When she met dad, she felt like there was hope for them. Here was a man who was seeing who they really were, seeing past the label. Her family felt like dad saw them as his family, and for that they are all deeply grateful beyond words. We told them how that relationship was as important to dad as it was to them, and how happy we are to continue in it.

We heard about Hameed's older brother who was in medical school in Czechoslovakia, while the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan. All Afghani students were supposed to act supportive of the Taliban, but Hameed's brother refused. One night, one of his professors came to him and said that he (Hameed's brother) would be arrested the next morning, so he'd better leave right away. His brother escaped to Germany and did not see his family for at least ten years. Hameed was seven at the time, and so when he finally saw his brother, his brother said that the two of them were going to take a two week trip and get to know each other as adults. That trip turned out to be the cement for a deep friendship between brothers that is truly an inspiration. His brother had to repeat medical school in Germany and has lived there ever since. He claims he is way-overqualified to be a doctor since he had to go through med school two times.

When Hameed came to America, he took a job at WalMart and was handed a mop and asked to clean the floor. He thought to himself that in Afghanistan, their family wasn't rich, but they had servants, and mopping is a job for servants, not him. As he thought about it further, he said he began thinking about the life of those servants, and saw how difficult it must have been. And how he was really no different from them. It was the "mop moment" where he realized that we are all equal partners in one large community of humanity and that no one is higher or above anyone else. This "mop moment" forever changed his view of himself, America, and the world.

Nazhla said she had a similar moment when she came to America and got a job selling shoes. The first time someone told her she had to put shoes on a stranger's feet, she thought that this was not something that she should have to do. But her thinking changed and she found that same sense of equality that Hameed did.

(Hameed's cousin is Hamid Karzai, the current President of Afghanistan.)

It was a wonderful way to spend an evening, particularly right before attending the documentary on Gabor. And right before dad's favorite holiday, the 4th of July. To spend time with those who have come to this country to find freedom. A rare privilege.

Road Trip! Day 9

I know what you are thinking...when will this trip be over! Well, we go home tomorrow. Back to Laguna Beach - back to the real world.

We took it kind of easy today. Andy and I went horseback riding. Andy's horse was named "Also" which, I guess, means that they are running out of names. Mine was "Icon." A pretty dusty trail but good fun through the woods and across a couple of streams.

Spent the afternoon in the pool with various kids playing every game that they could conjure.

Tonight was a western bar-b-que on the hotel property. Chicken, carne asada and Mahi-Mahi - all of which, I am sure, cowboys ate around their own campfire. We panned for gold and finished up with S'mores - topped it off nicely.

Road Trip! Day 8

We leave our lovely B&B and head for Yosemite. We had a ball there - swimming, ping-pong, darts and great food. Andy was sad that he did not get to see the pet (sic) snake nicknamed Fred but did get to play with the cat, Princess.

After a quick stop in Columbia, a little gold mining town with people in historical garb, we headed for Yosemite. Once inside, we headed for the Ahwanee Hotel to have lunch. Located in the valley, this beautiful old hotel has housed presidents & royalty. The restaurant was open to the patio which allowed squirrels to come into the restaurant which Andy loved.

We drove around a bit and headed for the lodge, Tenaya Lodge -a great spot for kids. In the evening, we went on a "flashlight" hike. About a 1 mile hike in the woods by flashlight. Good fun.

Road Trip! Day 7

Gold Country! The other big theme in the 4th grade was the gold rush. The first stop was the James Marshall State Park - the spot where the first gold was discovered by, who else, James Marshall. He discovered a nugget while working in a lumber mill. We toured the park and museum before moving on to Sutter Creek Gold Mine. We began by panning for gold. Then we went underground into the mine. Very cool.

From there we traveled to the Black Chasm Cavern. This is a vertical cavern that not only has great stalactites and stalagmites but it also has rare helictite crystals, for which Black Chasm is famous. These crystals appear in only 5% of the caves in the US and this has the largest population of these crystals. Basically what happens is the water calcifies inside the rock and is pushed out forming these asymmetrical forms.

We pushed on to our B&B in Jackson. A wonderful Victorian Mansion in which we were the only guests in the house. One other couple were in the guest house. They directed us to a local restaurant in a brand new Tuscan Villa. Absolutely gorgeous and the food was pretty good.

Tomorrow, we are off to Yosemite.

Road Trip! Day 6

We are in Sacramento expecting blazing weather after a very cool coastal excursion. As we were walking to the Capitol, we were struck that it was not hot - 78 degrees or so - very nice. I met a guy in the pool last night from New Orleans - his house survived Katrina - right on Lake Pontchartrain - only 5 of 22 houses survived. He visited the capitol yesterday and actually met Arnold along with Sly Stallone and Bob Barker - I haven't seen such a diverse group since my picture with Dan Lundgren and Sonny Bono!

Outside, Andy was taken with the memorial to firefighters.

On to the train museum. What a delight - could not visit there without thinking of Grandpa Kemp and Great Uncle Jack. Andy is a chip off of the old block.

Tomorrow - Gold Country!

Road Trip! Day 5

First on our agenda is a trip to Alcatraz Island. What a great tour! A short boat ride out to the island drops you on the dock for a brief intro and then you are on your own until you get up to the cell house where you then get an audio tour - a very good audio tour.

From there we visited yet another Mission in San Francisco and then a quick trip through Golden Gate Park and on to the Golden Gate Bridge - good fun. After a quick trip to Muir Woods, we headed for some warmth in Sacramento. Unfortunately, Uncle Paul was not feeling well enough for us to visit so we headed to Sacramento a day early.

We met up at Ernesto's Mexican Restaurant (aka Enrique's) with Matt & Kendra for a great dinner - thanks PD for the recommendation. I took a picture with my phone but lost the picture - oops.

Capitol visit and Train Museum tomorrow.

Road Trip! Day 4

Awesome dinner at Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf last night - a nice walk from our hotel. This morning we grabbed a Cable Car and rode it to the Cable Car Museum and barn. What fun - Andy loved it.

Then we strolled down into Chinatown - what a different world. After lunch, we headed for Ghirardelli Square - the only other time that I have been there was with Anne just after she graduated from college on our drive from Humboldt to Laguna. I sure wish I had visited there before my eating habits were changed!

Off to the Hyde Street Pier to tour some ships. A tug boat, a car ferry and an old British cargo ship. While on the cargo ship, Andy noticed a man playing sea-faring music on a small, hand-held accordian - the kind that is octagonal shaped. He asked the tour guide that if a ship Captain was annoyed by the music (which apparently Andy was) could the Captain shoot him? Everyone's a critic!

We ended the day with a tour of the USS Pampanito - a WWII submarine. Way cool. Had another remarkable dinner at McCormick & something (not Schmick) with an unbelievable view at Ghirardelli Square.

Andy has been intrigued by the street performers. His favorite was a guy with two large branches. He pretended to be a bush and would jump out at people. Who doesn't love a good startle?