Tuesday's Two Cents: Old Memories

I've been thinking lately about images I remember from my childhood.....you know, the place I grew up. I think this is because I've been helping care for my mother since my Dad died four years ago.  She's in Assisted Living, and there's been times I've been thinking about the past.  I suppose this is natural due to the circumstances.  Anyway, I've enjoyed remembering some of the images and decided to share them on the blog today.

- an old green station wagon we called "the bomb"......it was parked in one corner of our driveway, my Dad used it to deliver newspapers on a rural route.  It was a real clunker, but perfect for the dirty job.

-living next door to a church.......it was a Baptist Church, I think.  On summer nights when they had services, their windows were open, and we could sit on our back porch stoop and watch inside. And listen to what was going on.  Sometimes it became quite noisy with singing and shouting.

- A row of daffodils blooming in the spring, alongside the garage.

-a pile of old bricks behind the garage, where I often saw daddylongleg spiders.  Since I was afraid of spiders, this is memorable.

-the neighbors' cherry tree next to their garage, with cherries to be picked from those branches that were low over our yard.

-my mother's old wringer washer.

-filling a large metal tub with water to dunk in on hot summer days.

-clothes outside on the line in the summer, and inside on a line in the basement in the winter.

-a scary coal furnace in the basement, with a coal storage room next to it, with a window through which coal was delivered into the storage room.

- the basement steps........I remember them because I had to wash them on Saturdays and I hated that job.

-the dining room table expanded and all set for holiday dinners.

-sharing a bedroom with my older sister, who I always felt had a far more interesting life than I did.  Of course she did........she was four years older than me!

-a small window in the garage attic that I wondered about all the time.

-bare spots for the bases for baseball games I played with my brother.

I can see how these images could be the inspiration for a small quilt I could call Memories.......a bit of a green car appearing from one edge of the quilt, a row of daffodils somewhere, ( or just yellow triangles if I wanted to do an abstract sort of piece), a row of shaped church windows, a tree limb with leaves and cherries hanging into the piece from the side.......the foreground could be a grassy type area, with some brick like shapes in a pile somewhere.   Maybe you can imagine your memories today as an inspiration for an art piece too...........inspiration as we know is everywhere!

 

 

Comments

[Annie Copeland]

This is a real keeper, Christine! It took me into my memories of my youth, and growing up in different homes where my parents moved, and the different experiences surrounding each of those houses and the things my parents were going through when we lived in them. You could easily be a professional writer, Christine. Your writing style is just fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing your good memories with us. Peace and many blessings, Annie

[gwen]

Your 'Old Memories' is interesting, Christine, made me think of a few of my own. Our path's are somewhat similar as I think of our dad's station wagon; a Country Squire with a wood-grain panel running downside the wagon, and 8 children (me being the oldest), the bare spots for baseball bases when the neighbor kids came to play, mom's wringer-washer (which I got my arm caught in when wringing out the clothes, and put the rollers in reverse to bring it back out again- I didn't know it could be popped open for just such a reason). But the clothes were ice-cold, and my arm, so it didnt' hurt. And....
Well, some good memories! Thanks for the inspiration.
Gwen