Sunday 6 June 2021

Memories

 Memories  -again Thelma has stirred up memories as she looks through old photographs.   For our trips abroad  David and I kept albums of photographs and every day I mean to get one out and begin to look through them because once I have gone there will really be no point in anyone keeping them because they will mean nothing to anyone else.   I appear in only a few because I was the photographer but they do bring back so many lovely memories of our trips around the World and I am not ever likely to go anywhere again - in fact I have no desire to go anywhere again.   But I so often recall places we have been and people we have met (our friends in the Netherlands who we met in Norway and have seen so many times since for example).   My first husband once bought me a little plaque with a picture of a girl sitting at a piano playing and a quote underneath which said 'A moment enjoyed is never wasted' - very true.

When I put my table place mats away this morning I put the box on top of a studio portrait of me aged five = a child - it was taken eighty four years ago - I can remember it being taken and I can remember the turquoise woollen dress I was wearing.  Photos are also things that stir up memories which float up like cream to the top of your coffee - they may not always be accurate but I don't think it really matters.   I am sure when I look through our holiday photos I may remember the wrong place, or the wrong holiday - but it will stir up happy memories all the same.

And that brings me to another question (I am in questionable mood  this week).   I saw a short film on television about life on an island of 1500 inhabitants in the Outer Hebrides - only 300 had had Covid.   Some of the older islanders had never left the island and had no desire whatsoever to do so.   Would their life be any less rich than ours?  Charging all over the place, wandering about in foreign places,  ancient and historic sites, meeting people from different countries - it all dies with us. Perhaps it is just up to us to make the best of whatever life has given us (or if life gives you lemons make lemon curd) and benefit from it and pass that benefit on to one another.

Are you a traveller or are you a home bird?



31 comments:

CharlotteP said...

I am more of a home bird - though I enjoy getting right out into the countryside to walk with my dog, Turbo. My husband was a Dave, too, and a very keen photographer; he encouraged me, and we both carried cameras an our walks and holidays. He made a photobook every year, and it's lovely looking through them and reliving the lovely happy memories...tinged with sadness, as you will understand only too well.

vic said...

I call myself a homebody but others insist that I surely must be a stick-in-the-mud which I think has a very negative connotation. I think the desire to roam or stay at home is very dependent on your personality type. What is wonderful and exciting for you might be overwhelming and anxious-making for me and vice-versa. To each his own.

Yellow Shoes said...

I always wanted to travel and have been to many interesting countries. Communist and post communist countries have fascinated me - that feeling of being in a country where rules are fundamentally different to home. Quite happy in my 70s to stay home and enjoy my house and family.

JayCee said...

I have visited many interesting places and enjoyed seeing other lives, cultures and exotic scenes, however, I am now quite content to stay right here and enjoy my own little corner of the world.

Margie from Toronto said...

I am very content at home but admit that I do like to travel. I am lucky to have been to a number of interesting places around the world and look forward to going again - but not for a couple of years. Canada is a huge country and I still haven't explored many spots here so I will take the opportunity to do this for the near future.

As for photos - I've been sorting through the Archives at my office (I work for a church) and once everyone is vaccinated I hope to invite many of our older members to come in to go through a number of our photos and to help identify people and events. It is important that we do this now and I think it will be enjoyable for them as well.

Enjoy your day.

Traveller said...

Think my name says it all. I have lived and worked on four continents and six countries. I used to travel a lot for work - a trans Atlantic flight every four weeks or so. Having said that have quite enjoyed the last 14 months or so of staying pretty close to hone.

I still see travel in my future but am also quite happy with the memories

Jennyff said...

I’ve lived in 9 different houses, in many different places and travelled a lot. My brother never moved more than a few miles from where we were born and raised, he didn’t go abroad until he was 60. We are both content with our lives and the experiences we’ve had.

The Feminine Energy said...

I am much like the island dwellers you speak of, my friend. I've never been abroad and have no desire to do so now. I haven't had a vacation in 30 years or so. I don't even like going to the grocery store & was ordering my groceries for curbside pickup long before the virus came into being. When the grandchildren come over to spend the night (haven't for 18 months), I like to take them to the only bookstore left in our area, which is about 25 miles away. We browse and make our choices... then we usually have a hamburger somewhere before coming home. That's as close as I ever get to "going out of town". We have 2 acres of land that I love to garden so I very much enjoy getting out of the house... just not off my property... at least not too often. :-) My life feels very full and rich... and I'm living in the way I wish. I suppose you could call me a semi-hermit or semi-recluse and I wear the badge proudly. ~Andrea xoxoxo

Derek Faulkner said...

I am by nature a home bird, a Cancerian, give me a shell and I'll happily live in it. I did spend a 20 yr. spell between 30 and 50 yrs when I had my annual two weeks abroad each year but that was merely to satisfy my obsession with laying on beaches sunbathing, I rarely did sight-seeing, hated looking at buildings, etc.. Nowadays, with sunbathing no longer an obsession, this country meets my needs as far as holidays go.
The current panic concerning "must get abroad whatever happens" fascinates me, people can surely survive without spending two weeks abroad, can't they.

Ellen D. said...

I have had some wonderful trips but I am always happy to come home. I do not see many big trips in my future but I never know where life will take my grown children and I would travel to see them if I had to.

jinxxxygirl said...

I have traveled quite a bit in my 53 years Pat... and am so very thankful for it... However i'am a pretty much homebird now but i still jump at every chance to explore... Hugs! debs

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Sometimes it gets difficult to work out what are genuine memories and what only exist because of the pictures. I did a bit of travelling when I was younger but have no intention of ever boarding an aeroplane again.

Rachel Phillips said...

I am a home bird even if I like to see different places now and again, with reason, for me it is east, west home's best and I like to come home to my bed every night and dislike short breaks and nights away and strange beds. I know many people who have never travelled and their lives are as rich or richer than mine.

Sue in Suffolk said...

I've not been out of the country since 1977 and it doesn't bother me at all.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Ues Charlotte I do understamd indeed -but wouldn't have missed a minute of it for the world.

Bonnie said...

I am a home bird and have never been outside of the U.S. I love reading all your stories of your past including your travels. I guess I am an "armchair traveler". I have been away from blogs a couple of days and have just read your post from yesterday. I enjoyed it very much and left a comment. Like many of us, it hit close to home.

Librarian said...

I guess I ama bit of a mix, like many here; much as I enjoy seeing different places, I love my home and returning to it. I am also happy to return to the same places over and over again, to the point of them feeling like home, too. My three home places are my original home town where I was born and still live, O.K.‘s village and of course my beloved Yorkshire, especially Ripon.

Heather said...

Although I am interested in other countries and how their people live, at heart I am a home bird. The act of travelling is so exhausting. The furthest I would travel now is to Guernsey, which I have visited several times and I love it although I wonder if getting there and back would be too much.
I have hundreds of family photos, half of which still need sorting out. They do bring back such lovely memories of times past.

Debby said...
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Debby said...
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Minigranny said...

I have travelled a lot in the past. We lived in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain , Greece and America and have travelled widely over the years on holiday. As we have a house in Crete we normally travel there at least twice a year and must admit to missing it apart from the journey as flying these days is no longer fun - especially with hip which needs replacing!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you aall dear blog friends - you do make such interesting reading.

Anonymous said...

I am a bit of both - have travelled extensively overseas since by twenties , and am from a family who had no desire to travel whatsoever. Now in my late sixties I try to make my activities as close to home as possible.I would love to travel overseas again though, however experiences ten years ago showed airports and highways, traffic and tourist spots were becoming unbearably crowded and stressful. Maybe it's just me getting older too. I'm glad I travelled when I did, and could never understand that people of any age, were not itching to see the world. Pam, Aust.

Debby said...

I've always wanted to see the world, but I never had the opportunity. Children to raise, living to earn, etc. And now I'm about to hit retirement, and suddenly all those dreams are within reach. It's a very exciting time. But I have not been unhappy being a hermit these last few months. I'm not sure what I am, to be honest with you. but I think I'm about to find out.

AK Coldweather said...

I enjoy traveling internationally. Prior to COVID, I had a job that sent me on a couple of international trips each year. It was a perfect balance for me. On my last trip I spent enough time in Australia that driving on the left side of the road became normal and I had to remind myself when I was back in the U.S. to drive on the right! With the COVID restrictions in place for so long, I'm yearning to explore again and looking forward to using my passport. -A.K.

Cro Magnon said...

I'm certainly not a 'two weeks on a Spanish beach' person. I like extremes; Morocco is probably my favourite. But on the whole, I love where I live and enjoy every moment of it.

Sue said...

Although I have lived in many places around the UK I do consider myself a home-bird. Wherever I believe at the time is most definitely 'home' and only to be left for the really necessary things. Going abroad occasionally has been fun, but getting back is always the best feeling.

Bovey Belle said...

I have always wanted to travel, but finances have never allowed foreign holidays. Florence is as far as I've been (our eldest daughter paid for it, bless her). Now we can afford to travel abroad, my husband's ill-health and Covid have put the kybosh on it!

I get a lot of satisfaction from days out and exploring Wales and the Border counties, and discovering the history of this area, which enriches any journey.

Sol said...

Hey Pat, have you thought of donating your pictures to the Historic England archives? Contact them and see if you have anything they can keep for you. They would probably be interested in some, but definitely anything you have on farming. it is worth a try right...

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/photographs/

archive@HistoricEngland.org.uk

telephone number 01793 414600

The Weaver of Grass said...

Fascinating mixture here of home birds and those who like to fly the nest/ Hopefully such travel will be possible again one day. Thanks for joining in.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Photos certainly do stir up old memories!

I used to be very much a traveller, I've lived in Malawi and while there travelled a fair bit in southern Africa. I've also travelled a fair bit in Europe but it's now probably over 15 years since I left the UK, there's so much to see in this country! During COVID I've really enjoyed exploring the local cemeteries, which are real wildlife havens and which beforehand we'd rarely visited