Today, I thought you all might like to see a couple of photos of the location where I grew up. While I have lived all over the US and in England, this is the area of the world where I spent the longest time (9 years). The tulips are slowly going, but I liked the way the were set against the concrete block wall.
Yes, you have guessed it. I grew up on a farm. My parents still live there and still farm a bit. I love this old tree!
This is the view from the farm house front porch swing. We still sit there in beautiful weather. It is a lovely place for contemplation.
And this is the view from my childhood bedroom window! I spent many hours gazing out the window from the foot of my bed.So why is this so important? No matter what, I can't take my background away from me. I am very lucky to have had the experiences I have had to pull on for my creativity. I think we all are. This is part of that world. I see it very differently from many, but I still am grateful for this part of my life and grateful for having this place to return to now.
Do you have any special relationships with place in your life? I have many more places which are special to me, as you can imagine. But this is where I have been over the last few days, so it is also what is fresh in my mind.
Posts
12 comments:
I love this post--and yes, I have many special relationships with particular places. I live by the sea and spent most of my childhood here as well. I have one small beach that is my very favorite and it is where I went as a child, where I took my own young children and where I walk my dog almost every morning. I have told my family I would like my ashes to be scattered there. I have other special places, too, but that one is the very most special.
Hello Mary! Your place by the sea sounds so beautiful. This sounds as though it has been a life long experience. I have a place like this, too, not life long, but a place I adore in Montana. There are photos of it on this blog. I am sure I will share more photos later this year, too.
It is lovely to see you visiting me.
Kim, what a great place to grow up! The views are serene. It is a good view:)
Thanks for sharing your childhood views with us!
Have a dood day
Andrea
PS I have been busy setting up Miss Doodle's Blog in french today, and during the weekend my dear husband has been busy doing things to the computer:)
Now I feel glued to the screen and have to tear myself away from it.
Your green grass is doing my eyes good:)
Hi Andrea! Sometimes, I think we just need to step back a bit and reflect. We tend to push ourselves forward so much. My older parents remind me how important it is to take a breather.
Whoa! Setting up Miss Doodle in French! Wow! I am impressed. I know where I will go now to practice reading my French...how much fun will that be? Now, the writing it will be a different story!
I know what it is like to feel glued to the computer screen because you have not had the chance lately! I am that way, as well today...and probably tomorrow since I have another conversation this week! :)
Thanks, Andrea, for taking the time to comment here in English! :)
Kim
Wow,,,,and they say you can never go home again. Not true in your case! How special!
We moved around so much when I was little,,,,I think it would be so awesome to be able to return 'home'.
Is your parent's farm relatively close to where you live? It looks beautiful,,,,love those rolling hills. Looks like Missouri where I grew up. It is SO FLAT here!
Hello Kim,
It is nice to see where you grew up... It is a gorgeous place, a great environment to create.
Like you I draw from my childhood - as you have seen. Brittany is one of my favorite places but Venice (Italy) and French Polynesia are two other favorites for me.
Danielle :)
Hi Babs! We moved here when I was 9 years old. I left when I was 18 to go to college. Since then, there have been lots and lots of places where I have lived. At this point, yes, I can go home. There has been a lot of talk of tearing apart this farm country and building industrial sights along here. That makes me sick to think about. My parents are about a 2.5 hour drive from me, if I take the interstate. I haven't lived close to them in 25 years, so this is good. They are both well, but sometimes things come up where we need to be with them. I have 2 younger sisters (no brothers) who live just a few miles from them.
It is flat in Oklahoma! When we first moved there I was shocked at how I missed the hills and the mountains. I never thought I would and did. But it is very cool place to spend some time and for us to live there was quite a wonderful experience.
Thanks Babs!
Hi Danielle,
You know I am not aware of what comes out of me as a reference to this place where I spent so much time. It is special, to be sure, but I have not made the connection, yet, with my painting. I wonder why that might be? I don't know? Maybe I just need more time to do that. And maybe I am not sure how to connect it OR I am not ready to go there in my heart to see what comes out.
You are so good with it and I love your paintings from childhood! They always draw me into a fantasy world in my imagination. I love that! Your childhood seems so free. Living on a farm means a lot of work in the summer even for children. It isn't anything I would trade, but it was not all that imaginative, either. Only on Sundays could I spend some time doing that.
Thanks Danielle!
Hi Kim. Do you think that having such a long view from your bedroom window somehow made you move to so many far away places? It looks like a great place to just sit and contemplate.
Oh Daphne, I don't know. That may have been the case. For as long as I can remember, I have always had an urge to understand how other people lived. When I was little I had one of those puzzle maps of the US and of the world. I would put those together and wonder about what life would be like in that place or this place. When I was older, I read as often as I possibly could about things like that. I always wondered how other people processed their thoughts and came up with conclusions. I was (and am) very, very different from most of the people I knew growing up. I still wonder about all of those things, but the moving has helped me a lot to understand what I was craving. I didn't have a great deal of time, as a child, to contemplate visually in the daylight hours, but now that you mention it I bet the influence was there.
Thanks for the insight...I never know what I might learn on this blog!
Kim, these pictures are like pieces of heaven to me and I bet you have wonderful memories from growing up in such a gorgeous place. This may sound corny but those gorgeous mountains, foothills and green fields are to me, the most lovely places on this earth! I grew up in the country too and still love it and miss it a lot. Thanks for sharing this. That long black fence reminds me of those in Lexington, Kentucky.
Awe Lynette! I almost didn't show them here, but now I am so glad I did. I don't think it sounds corny at all to think something you see is like the "most lovely places on this earth"....Since you reminded me, it does look a lot like Kentucky's horse country. I never saw it that way. You know, Native Americans feel as though there is a place on this earth where the rhythms are in tune with one's heart beat...and that is the place where you feel most drawn. For me, I have found that to be true for me.
Thanks Lynette, I am glad you enjoyed these photos...it is different from your part of Virginia.
Post a Comment