Pollock Family Reunion: Everywhere You Look, a Pollock -- With a Smile.

 

Pollocks, Pollocks, Pollocks. They were everywhere at the Pollock family reunion at my sister Ruby Pollock's lakeside cottage in Oxford, Mass. Nobody went hungry. What you see above were just the appetizers! Ruby had been prepping for days--making giant meatballs and sauce, her special potato salad, garlic bread, yummy brownies, and so much more! Even more food was brought by her Pollock family guests. There were oohs and ahs from Pollocks seeing the lake view for the first time. Ruby, the hostess with the mostest, is shown above. But I have to tell you that Ruby is also a slave driver.  For three days, she had me, ME, George Francis Pollock the Third, working nonstop cleaning up after Hurricane Irene. Of course I asked for money, but she said, "Work!"

I ended up working for food.  Don't believe me? Well, here's the evidence: a  photo of me working, with my cardboard sign around my neck. Can you believe it, me, the patriarch of the Pollock family, the most important person at the reunion being treated like some commoner? It gets worse. While all the other Pollocks were having a grand old time, I was reduced to going around with my cardboard sign with a cup in my hand asking for money. Reading the sign literally, most  Pollocks offered me food, ignoring my money cup. A few put some money in my cup -- but not enough to let me quit working for food.

 I had never seen so many Pollocks in one place.  Look under a big rock--out crawls a Pollock.  Try to get away from them behind a big tree--a Pollock is hiding there. Here is a group photo of Pollocks, with me in the middle holding up Aunt Lillian. When I picked her up, the rest of the family gasped. Admittedly, I have been diagnosed with LPWD (Lifting Pollock Women Disease), but I don't see a thing wrong with it. Look at that smile on Aunt Lillian's face!

Boy, did these Pollocks bring their appetites!  Here's Joe, left, shamelessly filling his face. Below Walter is doing the same, without apology.





The Pollocks all brought a healthy
 competitive instinct -- with the
 camera, for example. Here's Vic
 shooting me while I shoot him.
Gail has her camera, too, and took
some of the best photos shown here.
Thank you, Gail, for sending the CD!

                                                         

Here Christine videotapes me while I photograph her. You get the idea. It's a creativity war!

                                                             

                                Craig kept the food coming. With

                                all the non-stop grilling, he barely

                                had time to go fishing, below.

                  
                  



Glen showed off his buggy and promptly got stuck.

But Glen more than made up for it by recovering the paddle boat
that Irene had washed over the dam.  Now Karina and Cam can
enjoy the boat once again -- as you can see.

                                                   
                                       Pollocks having a good time.

                                                     

                                  Finally, relaxing in a beautiful setting

P.S. I just realized there are no photos of my wonderful wife, Barbara.  While the rest of us Pollocks were out eating, chatting, and having fun, she -- as usual, the responsible adult of the two of us -- was mostly working in the kitchen and helping Ruby. It's who she is and one reason I love her so much. She is also very much a Pollock. So let me end with a photo of Barbara and me at the grave of my father, George F. Pollock II -- from whence we all came, along with his 15 siblings.

For an earlier story of this visit to my father's grave and how it came about, click here.

Finally, there is my novel, "State Kid: Hero of Literacy," which is based on the real-life experiences of Reggie, Victor, Ruby, Marion, and me growing up in foster homes: 

State Kid

Hero of Literacy

He was a foster child. He ran away from abuse. He went to juvenile prison. He soon ran the place.  He went up from there. And he did it his way.

Through the Power of


the written word.

George Pollock

NOTE: I am an E-book publishing partner with Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Google. I now have five E-books out. Here they are with links. "State Kid: Hero of Literacy" is fiction based on the real-life experiences of Reggie, Victor, Ruby, Marion, and me growing up in foster homes. It is the work closest to my heart.   "Last Laughs," is the true story of how the five of us found our way in life and each other. "Killers: Surprises in a Maximum Security Prison," is the story of my being locked up for 23 hours with killers in a maximum security prison.  "Schlep" describes my six-point plan for living to age 120 (hey, reach high -- who knows?) The latest, "I, Cadaver" is about my postmortem adventures and mischief in the anatomy lab at UMass Medical School.