Matt, thank you for putting up apple's picture.

My aunt fought breast and colon cancer for two years. Apple and so many of you were so supportive with thoughts and prayers for my aunt and me.

I am reminded of the strength and grace with which apple fought and it helps me keep everything in perspective.

Just up, but I don't see it as a you tube, just on her FB page.

Wonderful video tribute to Mary, full of photos, done by her brother.

https://www.facebook.com/photo...57011&type=2&theater

A very nice job, with well-chosen photos which combine to portray Mary through the ages - baby, oldest sis of that formidable brood, cheerleader, wife, young mother of her own babies, as they grow around her, also cancer patient (but neither survivor NOR victim, her hair at ever-changing lengths!)

And FWIW there is no lovelier photo of Mary than the one with that goldish scarf wrapped around what looks to be an almost bald scalp - but HOW beautiful she does look, all the same!

Artiste - mom, framed by her children. My, how photogenic that little girl is - beginning with that traditional pose taken immediately after birth. Her adoring gaze is fixed on her newly met mother ("So THAT'S who she is!").

Last memorably, there's that radiant photo of Mary grinning joyfully - impish smile embracing the viewer (all of us, as if we were individually, her whole focus). It's perfect. I'm referring to the one we now have atop the WTF page. LL, you show her essence, reaching out to the viewer, in the eternal present - as if that audience (all of us, taken one at a time), were her absolute focus. This is as good as it gets in portraiture, impossible to have been improved on.

You are to be thanked for this spectacular image, multi-dimensional! I think of it as the quintessential Mary through all the changes of time. Particularly (since you took it), it stands to me for her embrace-of-internet-friends. Whatever your history as photographer, this marvel is worth it all.

Illness - with its ups and downs - might otherwise have interfered with our ability to recall her vitality. Thanks to your skillful capture of that intrinsic radiance, we have her for all of time. What good fortune for all of us, family and friends, that you did succeed in memorializing that joyful, ever-living spirit. No wonder Phil's camera lingers on it the longest.

It occurs to me that my cranky post at the end of page five, now deleted, that included, at one point, a reference to someone else close to me with a just happened breast cancer diagnosis, might have left a few of you wondering if I was referring to Kathy.

I was not! Thankfully.

jf

Missed your post, JF, but sorry to hear about your friend/relative.

LL wrote me that she herself did not take the skillful photo of apple which has been greeting us all when we log in, recently. Certainly that unknown photog deserves individual recognition, but LL is also entitled to all our gratitude for locating it among many others on photo-bucket.

Otherwise, it would not now be cheering us all above. And that goes for her family too, who also adopted in in their homemade video.

LL, thank you.

Jack,

It has been a comfort to see Mary as part of us when we sign in.

I'd like to share a painting that Mary did, as our final farewell.

Tagged by Mary:

"mary in heaven" (2009 post)

quote:

Originally posted by LL:
It has been a comfort to see Mary as part of us when we sign in.

I'd like to share a painting that Mary did, as our final farewell.

Tagged by Mary:

"mary in heaven" (2009 post)

That was Mary's title for the picture?

YES

I don't remember seeing that before. That's really beautiful.

quote:

Originally posted by LL:
YES

LL you have really been standing out as Mary's "ghost writer" - certainly, her image rep anyhow - and I much appreciate it. I sense how much Mary meant to you personally - how much her loss has affected you (I hadn't known before). Your sharing your special knowledge of her has enriched me - and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Only someone as aware of her as you are/have been, could have accomplished this - maintain her presence, especially visually. It seems because of your familiarity, you were able (also willing!), to zero in on the most meaningful photos and now this unique image.

This is just to say I've noticed and appreciated this special contribution. It's made her loss - personal and collective - less painful. Your "Mary material" has been a real support - including your own experience, shared and felt.

Thank you! And once more, condolences. Realizing your role in this, leads me to sense anew your personal loss – certainly, among the greatest. So glad you have been able and willing to help commemorate her, from the wealth of your own memory

Those of you who know Chris Aher on FB--if you haven't seen it (posts go by quickly over there)--he has posted a piece of music he has composed for Mary. It's gorgeous. Look for it, it's worth it.

Also on TNCR..I posted the link in the other pinned thread, titled Apple update.