{ a few photos } chapters one through six

{ a few photos }
chapters one
through six
The night before Patti was born.
March 31, 1961, Spa, Belgium.
The night before my ninetieth.
October 26, 2010, White Rock,
British Columbia, Canada.
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{ www.patlorange.com }
england With my sister Hazel. She’s about two months old in this photo;
I’m six. • Studio portratit of Signalman Lorange taken in the cataclysmic
autumn of 1939, sometime between when he volunteered and when his
regiment sailed for Britain. • With Alex in late 1940, a month or so after
we met. • Relaxing at Effingham Farm in Copthorne, after we’d married.
Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Lorange on September 27, 1941. A gust of wind sent
my bridal veil soaring skyward — “like some kind of divine intervention
occurred.” A favourite snapshot by one of Alex’s comrades-in-arms.
canada At Montreal’s Mount Royal lookout, during the war. • I wish I
had a better print of this great photo. It was taken in Montreal in 1945, very
shortly after Alex got back from the war. As I say in Chapter Two, about
meeting him at the railway station upon his return,
Oh, my, it was good to see him. Oh, goodness, we had the best hug ever.
What a blessing, to see him returned safe and sound.
mexico This 1948 image is out of sequence — we arrived in Mexico in
1947 (see overleaf) — but I like these two photos facing each other. Taken in
Teotihuacán. The maguey cactus (background above), also known as the
agave americana and the century plant, is the source of tequila.
Alex’s colleagues teased him
about the number of photos
that he took — and showed — of the boys. “If you look at
them quickly it’s like watching
movies of them growing up,”
one of them said.
Gerrard Alexander
born November 3, 1947.
Kirkwood Scott
born April 18, 1949.
mexico opposite Muy embarazada — very pregnant. A couple of weeks
before Gerry was born. • Bath time for Ger. He’s about seven months old
here. • Standing up! All three kids had pale blond curls as toddlers. • First
photo of Kirky. He’s a day old here. • Lunchtime for Kirk. At the Papagayo
Hotel in Cuernavaca. this page The boys with Herminia. • With Daddy.
• Little naked plumbers. • A favourite photo of Gerry and me.
venezuela Kirky seeing the ocean for the first time. • In a Caracas park.
• My dad and the boys (barely visisble) at the boys’ first school, the original
Caracas British School, which was established in an old hacienda.
We used to haul sand back from the beach, in a big tub in the trunk of the
Hudson (parked here in front of the Calle Madrid apartment), for the boys’
sandbox. • Much of Venezuela is dense tropical
rain forest. When my parents visited in late 1954,
Dad was totally fascinated by the impenetrable,
teeming, deep-green jungle. Here he is by the
roadside with Mother and the boys. • At a friend’s
birthday party. It was one of Gerry’s second-year
teachers who noticed his nearsightedness.
Kirk eyes an out-ofuniform Cathedral
School classmate.
• The Cub Scout
troop Habana Uno,
before they got their
uniforms. Gerry
second from left,
middle row; Kirk
second from left,
front row.
cuba At beautiful Varadero Beach, where the sand is almost as fine and
white as talcum powder. • Part of the panoramic vista from the enormous
sixth-floor terrace. Gerry keeping an eye out for cattle rustlers! I made
them each one of these three-tone, fancy-button, western rodeo–style shirts.
Two little boys, two
little papaya trees.
Cooling off with
the hose on a hot
Havana afternoon.
Patricia Alexandra
born April 1, 1961.
belgium On the way there the boys and I spent several weeks with my
parents in England, while Alex started work in Liège. He soon ferried over
in the Mercedes. Here Dad and I pose with it. • In the woods around Spa.
• With Mother and Dad in the front garden of La Courtille, summer 1958.
Kirk and Gerry see Patti for the first time. She’s thirty minutes old here.
Alex had left the maternité, driven up the hill to fetch them to meet their
sister. Then he took this photo, then the three of them went out for breakfast.
“J’ai une fille!” he exclaimed, to anyone who’d listen — “I have a daughter!”
belgium And now there were five of us. “ La petite,” as the boys called
her, was a sweet baby with an easy disposition. As I say in Chapter Six,
She was totally, completely adored by her parents and siblings, and she
thrived and blossomed and radiated love.
In the nursery at four months. • In the book nook at seven months. • In the
bath at thirteen months. • And other treasured memories of her babyhood.
right Second birthday.
belgium Autumn 1962. Halcyon days. I’m about to turn forty-two here.
Alex is forty-seven, Ger almost fifteen, Kirk thirteen, Patti eighteen months.
The five Loranges hit the slopes — in my imagination. Part of the card we
sent out, Christmas 1962, our last overseas. Artwork by yours truly.