Saturday 20 June 2020

Memories.

This postcard came through my letter box this morning.   Thank you so much Rachel.   What memories it brought back.   It is a postcard of an old L N E R Railway picture - they were up on the walls of the old railway carriages when we went on our annual week's holiday to Skeggie when we were kids.   Or sometimes it would even be to Cromer - and once to Hunstanton.   Always to Boarding Houses  - bed and breakfast and then out of the house by ten oclock, regardless of the weather, and don't come back until half past six to get washed and changed for the evening meal.  Your sandals would be full of sand and you would have to take them off outside and shake them well onto the garden so as not to tread the sand inside.
Memories.

And reading this morning in Ronald Blythe's 'Word from Wormingford' about Marsh Marigolds - my dear farmer's and my favourite flower.   Water blobs we called them when we were children.  The farmer would come in for breakfast one morning - after putting the cows in the pasture after milking - and say 'the water blobs are out on the beck' and together, after breakfast we would go down to look at the first blooms.  Said to have been brought over with the Vikings - they never failed to disappoint.   Today is the farmer's birthday.   He  would have been seventy seven today.  Memories.

Friends P and D motored over today for a picnic on the patio keeping our distances.   We made our own sandwiches and I made a communal coffee.   They stayed for three hours and then set off for home and their Zoom dinner party this evening with friends of D's from his school days.  The memories they must share become more and more precious as they get older.

I sat in the garden with them in the (mostly) warm sunshine.   We chatted, we laughed and P and I, friends for almost fifty years - and I don't remember us ever having a cross word - reminisced about places like Stokesay Castle which we visited regularly when we lived in the Midlands.  And it brought back memories of going there with M, my first husband and the father of my son D.   We were married for thirty nine years and  I have so many happy memories of our years together.  And it all made this horrible Lockdown seem not so bad after all   How lucky I have been to have had two very happy marriages - one of thirty nine years and a second of twenty three years and so many happy memories to look back on.

23 comments:

Sal said...


Lovely memories!
I’m a lover of the old railways posters and indeed all things connected with the railway.
My grandad was a train driver for the GWR (in the days of steam); he would often take
me to watch the trains on his day off.

We’ve just built a pond and have, of course, made sure that we included Marsh Marigolds.

I hope you are well..I’m trying to get back to blogging as I once did a lot of it!

Sal 😁

Sue in Suffolk said...

What a lovely day full of happy memories.

JayCee said...

What a lovely way to spend the day.
We have marsh marigolds flowering each year in our pond. The spring flowering of the marsh marigold was seen as a good omen in Manx folklore apparently.

Rachel Phillips said...

I am so pleased you like the card Weave. I was looking to see what to send you yesterday and suddenly I saw this one and it had to be the one. I knew you would like it. It arrived very quickly. You have had a lovely day. xx

VC said...

Happy memories are very precious. My first marriage was not so happy but I have 2 lovely children (now grown up) who are the joy of my life. My second marriage has been very happy indeed. You have indeed been very fortunate to have two such long and happy marriages and to be able to remember your farmer fondly on his special day today.

Ellen D. said...

I love when you share your sweet memories with us. You did a great job describing your trips to the beach - shaking the sand out of your sandals! I can just picture the fun you had. You have been so lucky to have 2 happy marriages and it is so nice to hear about them! Thanks so much and happy birthday to your farmer!

Bonnie said...

What a perfect card Rachel has sent you! It sounds like you've had an enjoyable day visiting with good friends. I hope your evening is pleasant as well.

hart said...

Sounds like a lovely time with our friends.I like the beach memories as well.

Heather said...

I love those railway posters. They always bring back memories of train journeys in my youth which were always exciting as the only other available mode of transport was bus or bike. Your lunch with friends today sounds so enjoyable. Things like that cheer the day up, don't they? I can't wait to be able to greet my family properly again. Missing a good hug.

Tom Stephenson said...

Oh, the old holidays. Lovely.

John Going Gently said...

Lovely
Facebook keeps sending me photos of very old posts
One of them recently showed the prof and I together
I didn't get upset at all!

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

Memories are such a blessing!

George said...

What great memories you have, Pat, and that's a result of a life well-lived. And, need I say, you are still living life well!

Ms. said...

Solstice Salutations. How I wish I were with my country friends today. May you have a sweet evening.

Bea said...

Sounds like a wonderful visit with dear friends. x

Chris said...

Sounds like a lovely day and wonderful memories.

Joanne Noragon said...

A wonderful visit with blessed friends. As for covid, this too will pass.

Granny Sue said...

I do miss friends--we live so far out it's not easy to come visiting here, and we don't go out now. Your day sounds perfect.

My birthday is tomorrow. I shall think of your farmer, who shares the birth date of our state of West Virginia.

Cro Magnon said...

I can remember staring at those wonderful pictures on the trains. I seem to remember there were four to each carriage, and I would become totally absorbed both by the locations and the art work. The one above is a beauty.

thelma said...

Happy solstice day, holidays by the seaside a very evocative postcard. Getting old is not such a bad thing when there are rich memories to remember. X

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you dear blog friends.

Anonymous said...

you mentioned Stokesay Castle. My Grandmother worked there sometime around 1910 to 1915. Supposely she lived in the Gate house and my mother and uncle would visit and play at the Castle. Wish I could find out how true this was, Mom often talked of it. Barb

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