In 2010 I kept a diary for the whole year. I wrote it in A5 hardback notebooks and took regular photographs. I took the four books down from the book shelf earlier this morning - looking for inspiration for today's post.
Going back thirteen years was a bitter/sweet affair. Yes I agree that it is "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" but reading of all the things we did when I was only 78, and of all the folk I mention who have either died or faded from my memory and all the things the farmer and I did together, was a pleasurable but often difficult to read journey.
I can't put on the photographs - my computer skills don't include doing so - but here is a typical September few days:
Sept 9th. We went yesterday D,K and I to the Annual Art Exhibition in Ripon Cathedral. When I arrived home there was an e mail from W inviting me to go to Thorpe Perrow gardens with her tomorrow. So of course I said yes and so at 11am this morning she collected me.
There is a splendid bog garden with nicely placed rotting tree trunks covered in moss and lichen - lovely mix of the dark 'mossy' green and the grey/green of the lichen. The lake is pretty - swans, various ducks and a couple of coots lazily enjoying it. Autumn colours are beginning to show - the Acer grove is just coming to its full glory, some leaves were falling from both Ash and Silver Birch.
After a good hour and a half's walk around we went into the cafe and had a bacon roll and a coffee. When I arrive home G has taken Tess round the fields.
Next morning five of us meet as usual in The Golden Lion for coffee. I find that the chap behind the bar knows George Szirtes the poet whose poems in The Poetry Bus I liked so much.
On arriving home Tess and I walk to Forty Acre wood - much bird life in the hedges where the berries are red and look inviting. I hope they leave plenty for winter.
Arrive home to learn that my farmer has borrowed Mike S's Huge muck spreader and tomorrow is to be called 'Giant Muck-Spreading Day'. Curiously I rather like the smell. Good thing that I do - because it will fill the air whether I like it or not.
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18 comments:
Hi Pat, I really enjoyed this post. When you write of farming it always reminds me of our years on the farm in Indiana. Thank you for the comment about the poet. I have never heard of him so I have been reading some of his poems. So far, my favorite is Like a Black Bird. Do you have a favorite? Jackie
Even at 78 you were more active than most! I can imagine how it felt to read back over the years. I started this blog 16 years ago, and am amazed sometimes to read those early posts.
I'm surprised that haven't kept diaries more consistently, I have diaries for almost every year going back to 1964, two years after I left school.
My partner and I have just finished a day wandering all over Dartmoor in warm and sunny weather.
What a wonderful post and I know it's bittersweet as you miss the people mentioned and dear little Tess.
Did you come across any photos you'd like to have enlarged and framed now?
Hugs!
A good post of a good day.
It is difficult to keep on writing AND blogging....
"When I was only 78...". Weave, you are setting a tremendous example. I'm sure you'll reach for that diary a great deal now.
It does make a difference if you marry someone ten years younger - as I did.
I am misreading things a lot these days, and have to go back and check. Your 'various ducks' became viscous ducks which would have upset the serenity of Thorpe Perrow Gardens somewhat.
Do you revisit your earlier blogs beginning 2008? As a long time follower of yours, there are lovely memories.- Pam.
I kept a diary for almost 10 years when our daughter was still at school. She was diagnosed with ME and had to give up her studies. In the 10th year of the diary I was browsing through it one day and realised that it was a depressing record of her struggles and stopped writing it all down. I haven't kept one since though I love rereading any holiday diaries. I have to write in a holiday diary each evening before it all becomes a blur and I can't recall everything. I keep one now just to note any appointments and help me remember what day of the week it is!
Like Veg Artist, the words that caught me were "only 78". What a truly full life you have led. It certainly would be bittersweet to look back. I am glad you share those memories with us.
I also did a journal for a few years. It's funny how one little sentence can bring back the whole day.
I love when you share memories like this!
I was 78 only two years ago, and not so active as you. It's good to reread the past, though.
Your September day long ago sounds ideal. This is a great memory of a day filled with friends, a loving husband and the joys of a farmland surrounding.
I've never kept a diary, but a good friend of mine always did. He had hundreds of books filled with his (huge) writings; his wife despaired. His writing was never less than an inch tall.
I used to keep books for words and poetry that struck my fancy, but in one of those clearing session got rid of them.
A giant muck spreading day - love it
Thanks everyone.
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