Paisley Ann Home

Self-portrait Ashley#2

Imagine..you are at your brother's baby shower...totally bored by present # 373...the same pink onesie you saw back at #129...then there is the discussion about where you can return it etc. etc. Oh yes.dont forget the gift receipt is in the bag...and so 3.5 hrs. later me and Aunt Jan ( the "N" who swooped in when I was little and introduced me to finger paints and cross stitch and rainfalls in hawaii) go into the back of the house and start trading clothes (amazing that after all these years and the muscle atrophy I suffered from not training so hard in soccer I was finally able to fit in her clothes) so now I am jumping on the bed as my heart is racing with the excitement of the freedom I now felt. Freedom to be alone with another person who spoke my language, who understood my creed, who just wanted to giggle. "Janny sit down I have to take a picture of you right...there!!!!" Ironic because there is a picture on the dresser of me in a California Angels uniform posing with a bat for "picture day", sporting the same little bob that my mom insisted I wear for the first 12 yrs. of my life..making me almost indistiguishable from the boys... Of course, Janny had to comment for the 45th time, "I love that picture of you." I thought to myself, maybe someday I will love that picture of me too...but if you say it again.......I snapped the shot of her in the green chair next to the green lamp. she hated the picture and i hated her cheesy grin,so we switched places..I wore her dress....mind you I was wearing a black pixie skirt and a grey baby-t..it would have never worked with the warm tones.. I liked wearing her dress even though it went aginst all I ever believed about authenticity, me wearing someone else's clothes for a photo. The mere cat fact that the sleeves were reminiscent of my quilting bee days was all the justification I needed to stay in that dress...the three layers of translucent tie dyed silk...oh how delightful. SNAP. One of my favorite photos of all time was born in a house that I thought was beyond its glory days. So now you know the story, more than you wanted to know.