Happy Birthday, Mammaw.

 
Second photo: L-R: Mammaw, Aunt Jean, Great Grandma Ader S., Aunt Eva, Mom (the baby), Joe S. (I'm not sure which relation he was), and Aunt Betty

(all deceased except Aunt Eva, Aunt Betty, and my mom)

SIH (Self): Peaceful, Perfect

I love quiet.  As in, no chatter, not having to carry on a conversation, not having to decide what to say, just quiet.  My husband says I'm unsocial, and there are times when this particular introverted personality trait is more of a hindrance than a blessing, but it is true that I am a sucker for alone time. 

So much so, that if I were to describe a perfect and peaceful moment in time, I would set it away from the crowds.  It would be a mild day, maybe just cool enough to need a cozy  blanket.  I envision a covered porch with a gorgeous view, possibly even a log cabin tucked high up in the mountains in the middle of fall leaf season, with a comfortable, cushioned, wooden swing and a large glass of lemonade (or Dr. Pepper, if you want the complete truth) on an end table within arm's reach.   Fresh, warm brownies would be a nice effect, as would a warm gentle breeze and some soft and easy Norah Jones music floating from inside.  The finishing touch would be a book (of the romantical kind, of course), something you could disappear inside for hours...with occasional breaks to enjoy the view, another sip of lemonade (or Dr. Pepper), or to just pause and relax in the peace and quiet. 

My kind of moment.

 

Interestingly enough, after I wrote all that, I googled images of porch swing and found the above image, it was connected to a page advertising a cabin rental...ahem.  So...there it is...how much more perfect can it get?  All I'd need is for the season to be right, a couple of blankets and pillows, the good Doctor (Pepper), the brownies, cooperating weather, the music and a book.  *sigh*  I'm going to go to sleep now so that I can REALLY dream.  LOL.

More On Stories In Hand

A very brief summary of some of the things that have been talked about in the class.....with a few of my thoughts and notes intermingled.

"This class is really not about writing, or about scrap booking, but about the gathering process. About the remembering process. About collecting the experiences, big and small, that have shaped us and made us who we are. The stories worth telling."  -Jessica Sprague

The sections of the "story sparks" are broken down into three different sections: Roots, Family, and Self, with the Family section including a subsection for specific family members or pets.

Assignment 1 was from the Roots section.  Finished that assignment.

Assignment 2 was from the Family section.

Assignment 3 was from the Self section.

The challenge on each assignment is to read through the target section of sparks and jot down memories that pop up and then choose one of them and write the story in detail.  After you write the story, you're supposed to read over the following questions and then go back through and make any adjustments to the writing. 

• What year was this? How old was I?
• Where exactly were we, and what were we doing?
• Who else was there?
• What do I remember about how I felt? The mood in the air?
• What else (context) was going on in the world or in my family at the time?
• Why did we do this thing?
• What else can I remember about what my life was like at this time?
• What is the strongest single thing I can remember about this?

And the last thing is to refine, remove any un-necessary pieces of the story, and accessorize as needed. 

Now.  At the moment, I'm two assignments behind. 

None of the family sparks really jumped out at me because they are more about the right now and I talk about the right now all the time on this blog.  There were some on the dating and marriage that I could go back and pull some memories out, but it just isn't hittin' me right about now. 

The other thing is that there is supposed to be a surprise tomorrow and you need to have the Self assignment done.  So I should do it.  But I'm REALLY not into writing about myself at the moment because frankly I really don't want to delve into the answers to some of those questions about myself (for instance, right now, I don't really know how to answer the "why I think I was born into this world" question). 

And others I could answer, but I am not sure I have it in me to form my answer into a well written piece.  A great example of this one would be the "How long can you go without a bath or brushing your teeth? What are your ideas about cleanliness?" spark.  I could quite easily answer that, but to answer in a way that would be worth reading?  Not feeling it right now.

You know that whole "statute of limitations" thing?  I get the feeling that this may be why I feel more comfortable digging up memories from my childhood as opposed to talking about "What thought is constantly pressing for attention today?"  Because...well, it's been longer than ten years on most of my childhood memories, and anything I felt or said or did probably doesn't have the power to make my life miserable today.  How I feel today or what specifically is on my mind, on the other hand, could get me in heaps of trouble. 

But because I'm just ornery like that, I guess I'll start a new post and take a stab at one of the self questions anyways.  Back to the drawing board (or sparks pages) to try to find an easy, non-life-altering one.  LOL.

SIH - The Banana Seat Bike

When I was a kid, I loved riding bikes. Some of my favorite bike riding memories were on an old banana seat bike. I don't remember where it came from (except I don't think it was new when I got it) or the exact year I got it, but I do remember spending many hours on that seat.

One of my favorite parts was the "cycle appeal." I could and did pretend it was my Harley. And just like a motorcycle, when the need arose, you could find a passenger riding on the back half of that banana seat. It was much harder to lean into the curves when you had a friend on back, though.

Countless days you would find us riding around the circle, occasionally it would be me pretending to be a cop and chasing down the bad guys (aka: my brother), but more often than not, he was the cop and had a never ending supply of imaginary tickets to give me for speeding. (Little did I know how true to life THAT little bit of playacting would turn out...thank goodness, not lately though -- knock on wood.)

During the time I had this bike, we lived next door to my grandparents and the shared gravel drive made a loop past both houses. The drive, appropriately branded "the circle" by family members was fairly large (at least in my memory) and had bushes and trees in the middle that were perfect for trying to dodge those pretend cops. One of the bushes in particular, I remember, we used as a drive thru bank, pulling off the "road" (driveway) up to the bush on our bikes to "make a deposit" before pulling our bike back onto the "road."

I learned the skid on that bike, which was especially fun on gravel. If you leaned just right as you were coming to the part of the drive that had several layers of gravel on it, and slammed on that pedal brake, you could skid sideways and spray gravel for several yards before continuing on your way. And with a lot of practice, it was eventually accomplished without a wipe-out between the sideways skid and the continuing on your way. Another favorite maneuver was flying down the hill and jumping the gully in front of grandma's. Those smaller bikes were lighter and you could catch some major air with those babies.

I must have been somewhere between 7 and 8 when I first got that bike and I remember even after I "graduated" up to a grownup bike, I would still occasionally pull that rattletrap out for a ride. I don't know what ever happened to it after I finally outgrew it for good, but it will always remain a fond childhood memory.

Oh to be able to return to the days when life was all about playing, the speeding tickets were imaginary, and there was always sufficient (albeit imaginary) funds for withdrawals....

Stories In Hand

So I'm taking this free class at JessicaSprague.com and I'm having a blast...

Except, so far, I am procrastinating about actually WRITING down the stories that I've "sparked."

And I'm having a hard time using the handy dandy little binder we printed and put together because the binder rings I used when I put the binder together are too small.  And our stinky local Stuff-mart doesn't have a larger size. 

So.  I need to find some larger binder rings so that the book will actually OPEN instead of just looking pretty. And I need to get writing already.  I plan to use the blog for the writing, and just tag them for this class...I'm not sure how it's gonna go, or when I'm gonna get around to writing, but wish me luck. 

And if she ever offers this free class again, I highly recommend it!