photo memories

Writing Prompt: Cleaning your room you find an old photograph. Pleasant memories awake.

  Do you ever get that feeling of needing to organize and clean a space in a room or a room in your home? Well that’s the feeling I got recently with my bedroom.

  In my bedroom I have two bookshelves, my dresser, a nightstand and under my bed I have two boxes. Between my bookshelves, nightstand and the two boxes under my bed that’s a lot to organize and go through. 

  I decided to start with my smaller bookshelf that has several magazine holders on it with folders of somewhat useless stuff. As I was going through the folders I came upon some old photographs of my childhood days which brought some good memories.

  The first photo I came across was of me on a horse. Growing up I tried a lot of different activities. Baseball, Karate, Swimming, Field Hockey Even Horse Riding lessons. The Horse Riding lessons lasted the longest. I wasn’t too bad at it. I could walk, trot, canter and I even did some jumping.  

  I remember the beautiful drive to and from my lessons especially during the Fall, Winter and Spring. In the Fall you could see all the leaves changing color which seems to be especially spectacular in the north east of the US where I was living. There was a little barn market that I would stop off at with my mom where we would get Apples, Apple Cider and Donuts. There are times now when I wish I could still ride but unfortunately riding lessons are expensive.

    The second photo I came across was of me with my Girl Scout Group. When I think about my Girl scout days I remember selling Girl scout Cookies in my neighborhood. The badge ceremonies we had. Most of all the camps we went to. Catching salamanders, singing songs and participating in scavenger hunts. One of my favorite camps was Camp Jewell. There were cabins with bathrooms and bunk beds. We still had our sleeping bags on the bunk beds of course. Camp Jewell had archery, candle making, leather craft making where I made a leash for my dog Maxine and of course there was canoeing.  

    The third photo was a picture of my dog Maxine and I. Maxine passed away 10 years ago. We got Maxine around Christmas in 1996. She was a present from Santa to my sisters and I. We had a weekly calendar of who’s turn it was to feed her each week. In the spring, summer and fall I would take Maxine on bike rides. Maxine was not a lover of fetching or the water like most dogs. If you threw a ball for her she would run after it but never caught on to the idea of bringing it back. She moved from Connecticut with my mom, sisters and I to Vancouver where we then lived with my Grandad. She and my Grandad became pretty good friends. He took her to his favorite park along the Fraser river which quickly became one of her favorite walks. I found that the SPCA had an event every year that I started to attend with Maxine called Paws For a Cause. A few years before she passed she had trouble with her pancreas. Luckily she pulled through for us. I went to the grocery store and would get roasted chicken and pull it and give her pulled chicken as she slowly started eating more. We started to make a cooked meal for her that consisted of ground beef, brown rice, carrots, broccoli and seaweed and we would mix it with her dry food. Towards the end Maxine would Sleep in my room with me.

  The fourth and last photo that I came across was one of me on my trip in Japan. In October 2017 I took a G Adventures tour of Southern Japan. We started in Tokyo where we checked out the fish market then moved over to Takyama and stayed in a hotel where we were able to get a sense of the culture and history of Japan. Our next Stop was Kanazawa where we checked out the Higashi Chaya District and checked out a tea ceremony. After Kanazawa we went to Hiroshima. In Hiroshima we took a trip to Miyajima Guchi island where we visited a famous Shrine and castle. The Deer there were not afraid of people and would come right up and eat out of your hand. In Hiroshima we checked out the site of the Atomic Bomb. It was all very surreal and emotional seeing the destruction it made. From Hiroshima we went to Kyoto where we saw the Bamboo forest, The Fushimi Inari Shrine and walked all around it. We saw the Golden Temple, the Gion District and Nijo Castle. I checked out the Kyoto Aquarium and watched a dolphin show. From Kyoto we then went to the Mount Fuji area. I walked all the way around Lake Kawaguchi which took most of the day but it was a beautiful day with beautiful views of Mount Fuji. From the Mount Fuji area we went back to Tokyo where we stayed near Ueno Station. What was my favorite part of the trip? It was the whole trip. It was a wonderful adventure where I had fun and learned new things. 

    Last Spring as I was going through some folders with Family Tree information I decided to update one of my Family trees. I have enjoyed the process of updating it and meeting new family members. I really enjoy hearing family stories and seeing pictures of Grandparents and Great Grandparents. After working on one family tree I decided to work on updating another family tree. I am still working on both family trees since it is a long ongoing project. There is something wonderful about finding new family members and learning family history.

   I would like to travel to Manitoba, Albany, NY, Ireland again at some point, Europe and Germany where my ancestors have all come from that I know of.  

  Where will my next travel adventure be? Not sure but definitely not anytime soon with Covid still being around. For now I will use the pictures that I have and come across in my cleaning and organizing of my home.