Store Your Happy Memories Here:

[Croix]

Dear All~

What this place is for:
This thread is a tool, a resource, and also I guess a dash of entertainment.

I’ve found that when life is grim that sometimes thoughts of past happiness can create a chink of light in the grey overwhelming press of down. They can help occupy the mind with lighter reflections.

With that in view I invite people to set down a brief passage describing some happy event they look back to with fondness and peace.

They - and others too - can then return to it when they feel the need to glean a little warmth.

It is not a place for gloomy or dire tales, those can go elsewhere.

What to do:
Just set out, as simply as you like, your recollection of some past experience that means something good to you, something you enjoyed, something from safe times.

It can be, like my story below, anything – from an account of visiting grandparents to simply cooking and eating a melted-cheese sandwich in a favorite kitchen – you get to choose.

How to do it:
Write. Write enough so someone else can feel the mood, know what happened, find the goodness. (stop at 2,500 characters please!)

Grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation are not compulsory, just write as you can – the only important thing is the content - not literary merit. Short or long - it does not matter.


I hope you enjoy, contribute and find a little distraction here when you need it.

Croix

[Clues_Of_Blue]

Hi all,

Small and recent memory for me. A quiet moment in my day, around 5am, before work. I had my birds with me, and a live stream on YouTube of a remote reef somewhere with fish swimming around as a peaceful augmentation to the stillness and the quiet of the early morning. My back was hurting and I had a little time before I had to leave, so I decided to do some bridging exercises the physio gave me for back pain. They are done by lying down with my knees up and my hands flat beside me, and lifting my backside up for a few seconds before settling back down. As I did this for twenty or so repetitions, Sir Pecks (my firstborn birdie) made himself comfy on my stomach and had a ride. He seemed to be having a great time, cute little guy.

Blue.

[Croix]

Dear Blue~

Thank you for that, Sir Pecks is a lovable character and it is a fitting way to get your mind on something to enjoy. I hope you back felt better too.

I too have memories of birds, but different. I remember as a lad the crows coming in at dusk into the oak trees outside my bedroom window, calling to each other and rustling until settled.

Raucous to some, but to me a signal all was right in the world as it went dark.

Croix

[Doolhof]

Hello Everyone,

Speaking of birds and pet ones, we had chooks as children and ducks. My sister had a pet chook she would dress up in dolls clothes and take to the shops in a dolls pram or with a string tied to one leg.

Our drake used to play chasey with is in the garden. He would also came inside the doggie door early in the morning and quack at us if we have not been out early enough to feed him.

We had some chooks here and I really enjoyed their company in the garden. One used to hide under a bush when it was time to go back to their yard. Another would just stand quietly waiting for me to dig up the bugs for her instead of her scratching herself.

Cheers all from Dools

[ecomama]

Awww that's so cute your sister dressed her pet chook up and put her in a pram! LOL!

Pets are such great company.

It's Christmas Day and I woke before dawn... just enjoying the FIRST Christmas morning in a long time that I haven't been shaken awake by excited children.

My cat was the first "person" lol to give me a HUGE Long cuddle this morning!
And he's not quite a cuddly cat, so he knew.

Then our rescue poodle came out all "prancy dancy" lol bec he's had a bath, been to the groomers lately AND seen the vet.
I KNOW he's thinking "Yah I'm being treated like a REAL poodle now guys, ABOUT TIME!"

He's so excited that ALL the kids are home, I could hear him bed hopping during the night, he's prancing remember? LOL.

Fed the chickens already, they were having a sleep in for once!

LOVE MY PETS. I can't imagine a time I won't have a pet or 5 or more.

Hope you have a great day at work today Dools and that the LUNCH IS AWESOME!

Merry Christmas wonderful lady.

Merry Christmas to everyone!
Love EM

[Doolhof]

Hi EM,

Thanks for the Christmas wishes. Love the story about your poodle!

Merry Christmas to you too.

Cheers from Dools.

[Croix]

Dear Dools and EM~

Thank you for your memories, they are cheerful distractions in their own right, but also remind me, when talking of chooks and Christmas

(I apologize if I've mentioned this before, put it down to the lengthy distance from my birth-date:)

We had a Christmas nativity scene in our house, not surprising as it was the rectory and my father the vicar. A large and realistic portrayal the stable complete with the babe in the manger surrounded by parents, a donkey and other animals and three gentlemen from elsewhere bearing gifts.

It was a most excellent scene and was lit be a bulb in the stable roof.

I remember getting into trouble as I'd placed a small piece of brown mud strategically under the donkey's tail.

We also kept cooks, and for no reason anyone could fathom once layed eggs right then in the middle of winter, a most unusual event.

As the hen house was not the warmest place we took the eggs and brought them inside, putting them in box on a towel and then took the lamp from the nativity scene and used it to warm the box.

Back then lamp bulbs were in short supply.

Amazingly it worked, almost all the eggs hatched and brought forth chicks which had to be fed and cleaned (I was too young to be entrusted with these chores).

A complete success, if unexplained. The nativity scene was reduced to daylight only . By Easter they were chickens and had been acquainted with the hen house for some time

Croix

[Doolhof]

Hi Croix and Hi to All,

Such a lovely memory of the nativity and the chook laying eggs out of season. I'm sure there are lots of funny stories about children acting out the Nativity play. I am sure You Tube has some funny moments as well.

I have some new happy memories to hold on to from this Christmas.

Mum was able to come and join us. Unlike so many people I celebrated Christmas with family.

A friend dropped of a gift of a plant at my work place, which really made me smile and feel full of joy when I arrived at work Christmas Day.

Some of the people gave me lovely Christmas Greetings as they came in the door and one of the staff came and sat with me at lunch time which I greatly appreciated.

On the way home from family last night we drove around and looked at some Christmas lights.

Lots of happy memories for Christmas!

Cheers all from Dools

[Paw Prints]

Hi all,

One of my earliest memories that I treasure... a baking hot Australian summer where the air shimmers near the ground with the heat... a country house all made by hand cut timbers... daub in the gaps in the walls between the planks... timber shingles on the roof... a single tap in the kitchen the water gravity fed from a raised water tank... a large stone fireplace taking up most of one wall in the kitchen with a wood fire stove alight despite the summer heat... no electricity it's dark & cool inside... the only light through a small window above the tap... an underground cellar (reached through trap door) to keep things cool... a large family size table with an assortment of wooden chairs filling the centre space... a green plaid sofa against one wall... stuffed with horse hairs that poke through the shiny & slippery cloth to poke into little legs...

Even though I was very young I understood we were visiting family... that there were rules of behaviour for visitors grown ups & children alike... we had come a long way to get to this house... occupied by an old man who was a stranger to me... I can still remember after the saying hello my sister & I were settled on the couch & my amazement when mum went to the tap, filled the kettle & put it on the fire as though she was at home in this strange kitchen...

The old man was small & wizened... bent over with bandy legs... he had a pipe clamped in his mouth... with a continuous wreath of smoke around his head... despite the heat he wore a home knitted dun coloured cardigan over the braces holding his trousers up... I was very wary of him... but with his quiet, gentle scottish burr he won me over with his offer to show me his buggy for going into town... my clearest memory isn't his overall appearance... it's of the smell of pipe smoke emanating from the sleeve of his cardigan... the feel of his hand as he took mine in his... his hand smooth like polished wood.. joints swollen on fingers of skin & bones...as he gently held my hand I had a sense of safety... security... & complete trust as we wandered across the yard to his big shed & the wonders within.

It was the only time I remember visiting... perhaps I had been taken there as a baby I don't know... it was the last visit to that house... the old man passed later that year.

My only memory of my grandpa & much treasured.

Paws

[Croix]

Dear Paw Prints~

You have conjured up a most vivid and gentle tale from your past. One with love.

Your grandpa must have been lovey, and had the empathy and love to show what must have been an awkward kid a thing of interest.

It's not a bad legacy to leave behind, that impression he made on you.

It's funny the things that register in your mind, I vividly remember my Tide (Welsh grandfather) plucking pigeons for the pot and showing me how to do it. Then the smell of them roasting.

Croix.

[clown_of_mine]

my dog is under 2 kg and today we met a dog same weight range and it was hilarious best day ever my dog is lonely for dog love and dog stuff so hopefully they ring us soon