Life in progress

Tag Archives: memories


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JusJoJan24 the 28th – Families

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt comes to us courtesy of Kim. Check out her blog here!

Some family members you can happily live with, some not so much.

But I don’t think you’ll disagree that there are some family members none of us want to live with: the members of the rodent family.

True story that happened many years ago:

I walked into my kitchen one morning in time to see a mouse run under my stove. I shrieked, not because I’m afraid of mice, but because it startled me. I immediately got down on my hands and knees to look for the little critter, but there was no sign of it. I pulled out the drawer under the stove—nothing. It had disappeared.

But there were droppings. Lots of droppings.

I had someone pull the stove out from the wall to see if there was a hole it could have gotten through, but nothing was obvious. The next step was to take the side panels off the stove. Sure enough, there were more droppings in the insulation between the outside and inside walls of my oven. They’d built a nest. In my stove.

So I sold the house.

…

…

Okay, the family of mice might not have been the entire reason I sold the house, but I never cooked in the oven again—I didn’t want to bake the little buggers alive!—and the oven stayed in the house when I moved.

I did leave a note for the new owners.

It went something like:

The stove is yours, but not yours alone …

This reminiscing post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thank you so much again, Kim, for the prompt!


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One-Liner Wednesday – Nostalgia

Working on a client’s horsey-type book is making me nostalgic for horsey-type stuff.

Photo: Me on my horse, Shadow. He looks black in the picture but he was really mostly very dark brown. He had a white star on his forehead that was shaped like a half-moon, a white snip on his nose, and one white sock. The photo was taken in the mid-eighties. He was mine until the early nineties.

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

Available now! Click the image!


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#JusJoJan the 7th – Just the tempest

Back when I was in my late twenties, I lived in an apartment and supported myself by working in various offices for an agency.

I remember my agency called me late one afternoon and asked me to be at a new job first thing the next morning, as they needed someone desperately.

But when I woke up the next morning, I was so sick, I couldn’t even get out of bed to call them to tell them I couldn’t make it.

They didn’t call me again—I’d been effectively fired for not showing up on the first day.

Making me the tempest temp there ever was.

*ba-dum-tss!*

***

This corny but true post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Liz! Check out Liz’s post here! Click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2022/01/07/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-7th-2022/ It’s fun!


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#SoCS – Silence

That silence you encounter when the power goes out

The kind that makes you realize all of a sudden that you’ve been listening to the fridge

To the light bulbs burning

To countless currents flowing through wires

And then it begins–

The tinnitus.

The silence is deafening.

I think my favourite sound in the world, other than the laughter of my children, is the wind blowing through leaves out in the country where the occurrence of traffic is rare.

Or the sound of snow falling on a breezeless night, again, out in the middle of nowhere. On horseback.

In one of those moments when you think to yourself I’ll never forget this, and sure enough, thirty years later you still haven’t forgotten. And you still believe you never will.

If I had to choose, I think I’d pick silence over noise, pretty much any day.

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other awesome posts in the comment section, and join in the fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/05/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-1-19/


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TV memories – #SoCS & #JusJoJan Jot #19

Let me start by saying I rarely watch TV anymore. I remember the first black and white we had–probably not my parents’ first one, but the first one I remember. It was a floor model, on four legs, and there was a circular plastic hard film through which you could see what station the TV was on. I couldn’t leave it alone. It was just so much fun to poke, until I broke it and my mum got mad at me.

We got our first colour TV in the 70s. It was amazeballs. You couldn’t tear me away from it.

But one of the things most etched into my mind from back then was cuddling up to my dad on the chesterfield while we watched either “Bewitched” or “M*A*S*H.” We both loved “M*A*S*H”–never missed an episode. All I can really remember about “Bewitched” as it relates to my dad is saying “Soool Saks!” every time we saw the screenwriter’s name in the credits. No idea why we did it. I’ve never been able to forget good ol’ Sol Saks. Even though I had no idea what he looked like until I Googled him five minutes ago.

I cuddled up with my dad on the couch right up until the week he died. Ah, but we laughed a lot. That’s the most important memory of all.

This post is part of Just Jot it January and Stream of Consciousness Saturday! If you’d like to take part or read the posts by the other participants, click the following link: https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/18/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-19th/

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/


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Memento – #JusJoJan Jot #7

Mementos come in all shapes and sizes, don’t they?

In fact, some of them don’t come in physical form at all. Some are memories, whether shared or intensely personal. Some are music …

I am so insanely happy that Bohemian Rhapsody won at the Golden Globes last night. From the 70s when I first heard the song on the radio, to buying the album (which I still have, so I suppose I do have a memento) and listening to it in my parents’ basement over and over again, all the way to Wayne’s World and the new era of the song, it’s been part of my life almost since my age hit double digits.

I had the immense pleasure of singing “Love of My Life” not once, but twice, to Brian May’s accompaniment at concerts, and though I never saw Freddie, he was there in spirit, I’m sure.

My true mementos are my memories of this. And I’m so glad that the world hasn’t forgotten either.

The movie is amazing, even though they took a few liberties with the timelines for artistic purposes. That Brian and Roger have approved it is good enough for me. If you haven’t seen it, do. If you can, see it at the theatre. It’s well worth the money.

Rami Malek’s acceptance speech last night brought a tear to my eye. Watch it here.

Our prompt, “memento,” was brought to us by Tara. Thanks, Tara! You can find her Just Jot it January post here: https://daisysmileyface.com/2019/01/07/memento-and-more/

If you’d like to join us in Just Jot it January, it’s not too late! Click the following link to find all the participants’ post links in the comments and write your own. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/07/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-7th/


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 7th – Indelible

I don’t remember if it was in response to a comment or just his general opinion, but I once wrote a letter to the husband of a friend, explaining why I had tattoos. This was years ago now, so I also can’t recall what, exactly, was in the letter, but apparently the writing of it made an indelible impression on me.

I can, however, tell you what made me get my tattoos. My first was a rose on my ankle, which reminded me of my father. Roses were his favourite flower. The dragon on my chest is close to an image I was obsessed with as a young teen. I drew it everywhere. My butterfly on the back of my neck was for the emergence of my life as a mother. I’ve had two more since I wrote the letter, but those three are the ones I have the most connection with. The memories that required me to have an indelible mark placed upon me, so that I’d never forget.

Strangely, I find my tattoos comforting. They are a guarantee that as long as I can still see, I’ll know that I had a life worth writing the story of on my skin.

This rather introspective post was brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “indelible,” provided by Ruth! Thank you so much, Ruth! You can find Ruth’s JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#SoCS – Meme + Memory

Sitting at the dinner table yesterday with my 22-year-old son, I mentioned the spider meme ( https://lindaghill.com/2016/10/12/one-liner-wednesday-i-thought-we-were-roommates/ ) I came across months ago that I found very funny, and he laughed at me. When I asked why, he said I was too old to be saying words like “meme.” So today I decided to look up the origin of the word.

Turns out it was first coined by Richard Dawkins in his book, “The Selfish Gene” in 1976, but he shortened it from the Ancient Greek word, mimeme, meaning “imitated thing.” (Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins#Fathering_the_meme ) HA! I can now say to my son. Though if I’m too old to say the word, how old does that make me? Still feeling a little weird about that.

Getting older is weird though. We have memories which give us the wisdom not to repeat our mistakes (with any luck) and yet our memory, or our capacity to remember, decreases with the shrinking of our brains. As much as I don’t like this, it’s inevitable. I either accept it or I fight it – fighting it takes so much more energy.

Having said that, I can fight it to some extent by continuing to learn and challenge myself. I wonder, often, if people who refuse to change their mindsets, form new opinions, or think they already know everything worth knowing lose their memories faster. I had an aunt who was very set in her ways. When she made a decision, she stuck with it no matter what. It might have been that she just hated making decisions so she got them over and done with as quickly as possible. But her decisions also were very predictable, because she never changed her preferences. She was stuck in a certain time, probably her childhood or early adulthood. I’m not sure I was born when she stopped trying new things. I always knew her as completely focused on the way things should be.

And, of course, the memories she shared never changed. The stories we all hear from our older family members are inevitably told as though they’ve never been told before. The polite thing to do is sound surprised, no matter how many times we’ve heard them. I wonder if people who are closed-minded have a narrower memory. Something my ever-learning mind will likely look into one day.

Now that I’ve veered totally off-course from my original intent for this post, I’ll have to go back and change the title. Coming up with titles for posts is hard, isn’t it?

socsbadge2016-17

Stream of Consciousness is for everyone! Click the link to see how you can join in today: https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-1216/

 


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Just Jot It January 11th – Effortless

I think about all the things I used to do effortlessly when I was younger and I wonder that I can’t anymore. I know you young ‘uns out there are saying, “We don’t want to hear about all your aches and pains, ya old coot!” I know. I remember thinking it myself. I also thought I’d never get to this stage. But here I am.

Gone are the days when I didn’t have to struggle to get up off a hardwood floor after sitting on it for ten minutes. Gone is the ability to sleep through the night without waking up with a sore hip; the ability to read things on the tv without glasses, and the ability to do the splits…

There’s a message in some of this for you kids out there. The message is, don’t stop. If you can do the splits now, or touch your toes without bending your knees, or run half a mile, or multiply large numbers in your head, keep it up! It’s when we stop because we no longer need to do it that we lose it. Age has little to do with some of the things I find difficult.

But you know what? It’s not all that bad. There are things I CAN do now that I couldn’t do before. Like write a story or a blog post, or even a novel and put it out there for the world to see without caring what anyone thinks. Or like effortlessly sing all the low notes that used to hurt my throat to even try. Hell, I can even sing in front of people now. It used to be that I wouldn’t sing in a house when I was on my own, unless I was singing to something playing on the stereo.

It’s not all bad, getting older. Then again. I’m not THAT old.

This “Effortless” prompt is brought to you by Dan Antion at No Facilities. If you don’t already follow him, please check out his blog!

JJJ 2016

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 11th post here!


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Just Jot It January 4th – Dachshund

Yes, my prompt for today is “Dachshund.” It’s the most challenging prompt so far – it may just end up being THE most challenging prompt for me. Thanks, Bee. 😉

I’ve lived with a few different breeds of dog in my life – my first dog was a black lab. We had him for only half a year because my parents kept saying he was “too big for the house.” As a five year old I could never figure out what that meant. The dog was much smaller than the house.

So the next time we got a dog it was a black miniature poodle. We named her Cindy. Cindy had seven pups – I wanted to keep them all but my parents would only let me keep one. Perhaps seven (or eight with Cindy) was equal to the size of the lab and would be “too big for the house.” Who knows?

My mom still had Cindy and the pup (her name was Gigi, because what else do you call a poodle?) when I moved out. I got married to my first husband and the first thing we did when we moved in together was bought George from the pound. Guess what kind of dog George was? Yes, a Saint Bernard. He was a fantastic dog. So well trained, he even knew sign language – we could make him lay down past shouting distance. Strangely enough, I never thought he was “too big for the house.”

George was the last dog I owned until I got Winston, just two weeks ago. He’s a beagle mix – the vet thinks he may have some basset hound in him. He’ll be ten weeks old tomorrow; even though he’s just a puppy he has quite the character already. The cats think he’s “too big for the house,” but we humans think he’s just right.

So what does this all have to do with Dachshunds? Only that I’ve never owned one.

The “Dachshund” prompt is brought to you by The Bee at Just Fooling Around With Bee. Please check out her blog!

JJJ 2016

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 4th post here!