I remember.

I still do some childish, immature, fun things sometimes, and I'm going to do more this weekend. Whatever I'm supposed to do to fix the grown-up world for the next couple of days, somebody else will have to step up and do it for me. I'll be watching sunsets from mountaintops. :cheers2:

I hope everybody will get to do some of that this summer.

 

You have a way with words.

 

country pigeon = peace, love, and happy memories of a better time

city pigeon = rat with wings.

 

We have a lot of them here as well, nice soothing sound they make.:sunny:

 

Loved reading this thread.

Joel you took me to a nice place and good memories. Thank you.

 

Thank you Heather. And you others also. I think it's nice and perhaps important to back away from what this modern world has become--even if for just a while. I suppose that's why I endorse the foolishness of the orgiastic spending sprees on holidays---for the children. They need to believe that the world is a magical place. Until the realizations comes concerning the reality ---it's a blessing to see their little faces light up and feel comfortable and happy at being alive. More memories of childhood pleasantries----please------------Joel

 

The child is in all of us to recall having never left. The problems of adulthood come from discounting the wisdom of your youth as naive. Kindness is only as far away as your consideration of it's worthiness. Having and being are the same and no one can take that from you.

 

I remember that which should be forgotten, I've forgotten all that I should have remembered.

 

Evidently at some point you remember.

 

Children are naturally Zen. Then we unlearn that approach, and have to learn it again.

It's important for adults to be able to analyze things, but we need to be able to turn it off sometimes. Our minds and spirits need rest.

About the only thing I used to do that I can't do anymore is hang out at the old swimming hole near my grandparents' house. Swimsuits were optional, which might attract a little too much attention at my age.
:leaving:

I've discovered quite a few new simple pleasures in my adult years, including watching summer thunderstorms form and grow on the south face of Grandfather Mountain, and taking a walk late at night in the pretty little coastal village of Manteo, where you can literally take a nap in the middle of the main street after midnight. I love to hear the hollow ringing sound of ropes against the aluminum sailboat masts and look out across the black water to see the Bodie Island Lighthouse flash. I have the whole downtown to myself. No cars, no sounds of human activities.

Another thing that's become almost a family tradition for me and my husband is watching summer fireworks shows at the Snowshoe ski resort in West Virginia. I know a grassy spot on the steep mountainside where I can spread out a blanket and lie down to get a perfect viewing angle. Echoes of the sounds off the rocks are absolutely incredible! The place wasn't there when I was a kid. Nothing intellectual about hanging out there in the summer. It's just being in the moment. It's a magical place, especially when a thunderstorm passes through and leaves fog and mist in the valley below.

 

actually from infancy i remember analyzing everything. that's how i learned how to talk, and deliberately held back doing so coherently, because i saw the ability to communicate as a thing of power.

it was my parents who taught me, by their example, to deny reason.
for a while at least. until i realized we don't live in a universe that works that way.

my attraction to religion during early puberty because i saw so much harm being caused by ego.
but denying reason isn't the alternative to ego.

pseudo-reason as an excuse for ego is what gives reason its unearned negative reputation.

ego motivation is not the same thing as honest reasoning at all.

 

Good thread! When my daughter was a bit younger, I would come up with all sorts of stories to tell her. Sometimes I thought them out in advance, other times they would just come to me on the spot. I still do this but she doesn't believe me anymore and it's become more of a game that kind of amuses her. I remember one time I found a cool rock and told her it was a lost gem that people have been trying to find for decades. I gave it to her and I think she still has it. Another time I brought home a deer antler that I found in the timber. I told her the deer charged me and I was only able to defend myself by grabbing it's antler and pushing it past me.....which broke the antler off. It was pretty fun to see the look of wonder in her eyes as she visualized and processed these stories.

 

I have very fond, emotionally laden memories of our house in PA. where I grew up.
Spending countless hours sitting in my cherry tree (we had three cherry trees, one for each kid), stuffing my belly with fresh sweet cherries while watching the ants go about their business.
Where our house was you could see the Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, it was only about 5 miles away as the crow flies and every 4th of July friends would come over and we would set-up on this huge stack of hay bales and watch the fireworks they launched off of the boats.

Riding my brand new sled down the hill in the back and missing the opening in the wire frame that supported the blackberry and raspberry vines. Those suckers hurt when you get tangled up in them!

Making snow forts that would last all winter.
Getting a snowball iced over juuust right so that when it hit it stung like a mother but left no lasting harm.
Taking those long walks with my grandfather every morning around his stomping grounds in Wilkinsburg whenever I visited.
Getting the wooden spoon from grandma when I wasn't a good boy during those visits.


I certainly do miss all the fruit trees we had.

Sadly only if there is an app for an iPad or phone for it.

 

Every time I read this thread it is like coming home to a comfy spot. I like that!

 

I tested a theory with my kids that worked pretty well--for a while. You-all know how the kiddies are when they for example , take tools and lose them. I'd find them in the grass or some other place that kept me from finishing working on my car. So one time when doing something to fix a car---they were heading for my toolbox. I said--"Look out---that'll blow up!! So they jumped back and then found something else to do. We laughed about it when they found out that my toolbox wouldn't actually blow up. Probably the last time I ever told them something that wasn't true. A short time later I figured a more honest way would be to get them their own little tool belts and tools.

They were so cute ---always trying to tighten something or "fix" something. "I fixed it, dad." "Good boy," I would say. Both sons are really good with tools now.

 

I never want my own children, but it makes me happy when I see children really enjoying life. Especially now at Crater Lake when I get to see children get their first glimpse of one of the most beautiful places.

 

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full or wonder and excitement"

"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later year…the alienation from the sources of our strength.”

― Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder


Hotwater

 

Nice quote, hot water.

 

Rachael Carson had the unique gift of being both a scientist and a writer :2thumbsup:



Hotwater

 

I used to like to get up at dawn (during the winter) and take my dog to the park. Nobody else was there, so it was almost as if we were the only ones on the planet. The fresh fallen snow didn't even have any footprints in it, until we arrived on the scene. I was 10. It was a magical time. Awesome thread.

QP