Over the river and through the woods, literally, to
Great-Grandma Lois’ house we go! My husband’s mother’s, mother, Lois (Jeppson
Hatch) Wells lives in a cabin in the mountains. From the main highway, you
cross an ancient, wooden, rickety bridge (with only room for one car at a time)
and no guardrails. Each time we cross, I half expect this is the time it will
finally give way to the river below. A dirt road with sharp switchbacks leads
to the cabin that the Hatch’s built in the 70s. The familiar flamingo pink
trimmed balcony brings a smile to your face and stirs memories of summers past.
Everyone loves Grandma’s house. Removed from technology with
only one (corded) white telephone to reach the outside world, you can literally
breathe deeper. Life moves just a little slower and there’s more time for
conversations and memory sharing. Last summer we had the chance to stay at the
cabin for several days as family gathered to celebrate Lois’ 90th
birthday party.
During this visit I realized that while Lois was quite
healthy and active for her age, she was slowing down. She has stories to tell
and memories to share that I want my kids to remember. Using my iPhone we
recorded several impromptu interviews and cherished the stories. We also
explored her bookshelves upon bookshelves lined with old picture albums. She
has hundreds of pictures from years past, most of them being non-archival,
sticky albums. You know the ones that we all used until we realized it’s a
black hole that slowly disintegrates your precious memories.
Since I hadn’t planned on doing anything more than
celebrating with family, I hadn’t thought to bring my Flip Pal with me. No
matter, I thought. I’ve got a great digital SLR … I’ll capture the pictures
with my camera. Ummmmm, easier said than done. I tried three different
locations and numerous angles but was never completely satisfied with the
glare, distortion, blur, etc. (If you have ever tried to take pictures of
pictures in albums, you’ll know exactly what I mean.) I even tried to jimmy-rig
my tripod to make it work. I ended up with a few “okay” pictures, but nothing
that was nearly as good as the original. I’m almost too embarrassed to post the
proof!
Oh yes, there are more. I really wanted some decent
shots!
Learn from my failures, don’t do it the hard way!
Just a few weeks ago we spent a day with Lois on the way to
Washington for a family vacation. This time I came prepared with my trusty Flip
Pal. Much to the delight of my mother, AKA DearMYRTLE, I couldn’t wait
to grab some albums and try it out.. My mom snapped these pictures while I
happily scanned. I loved that I could easily sit and chat with the family while
scanning away. I didn’t need to worry about lighting or even devoting my
attention to capturing the pictures.
 |
| I love that my children were "into" it and wanted to hear more! |
The best part? The look on Lois’ face as she watched me use
this mysterious gadget. Remember, technology has not touched this cabin in the
woods. The one computer that was purchased for her years ago sits untouched
upstairs covered by a towel. (I think it has Windows 95 on it!) It is only used
once a year to write a family Christmas letter. I explained to her that the
Flip Pal is a scanner that uses batteries to operate. The touch of a button and
about 5 seconds is all that it takes to get a beautiful scan. And the Flip-Pal
software intuitively “stitches” scans together so I could easily scan whole
pages of her albums. She shook her head in amazement at this world that we live
in. While she mostly scoffs at technology and the “waste of time” it is and how
impersonal it is, she actually said, “Well, isn’t that is a great little tool!”
So next time you head to Grandma’s make sure to pack your
Flip Pal as you never know when it will come in handy. After all, Great-grandma
Lois approves!
Carrie Keele
(a.k.a. "
DearMYRTLE's daughter)
