Tag Archives: memories

5 January 2012

Taste Memory

By Nicki

We all have memories. The question is what triggers those memories. Yesterday, I had a taste memory. I have talked frequently about growing up with my grandmother. Holidays were busy times, as they are for most families. Yet, my grandmother would always bake.

I made the recipe for sugar rollout cookies this week (see my dilemma regarding the cookie dough). I had not made these cookies in over 20 years. I got to the point where no chill cookie dough was definitely a better option than dough that had to be made, then refrigerated, and then rolled out and cut and baked. Time is a commodity and I was making the most of mine.

I did finally roll out the sugar cookie dough and once they were baked, I was the first to have one. This is not because my children are not cookie monsters but because I was the only one at home while I baked. The taste, the slight almond, the texture – it all took me back to that kitchen on Liberty Street. I was a young girl or a teenager – I was always up for cookies – and my grandmother was the baker. The cookies were delicious. I didn’t put sprinkles on them or icing, something my grandmother did on occasion. I just baked the cookies.

I hope, that 30-40 years in the future, my children bake this recipe and have a memory about coming home to these cookies on the table. Taking a bite of today’s bounty definitely took me back in time and had me looking forward to the future.

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

20 November 2010

Today

By Nicki

Today is the first day of deer hunting in the southern region of NY if using a firearm.  Bow season started about a month ago.  How do I know? Am I currently bundling up and heading out to a tree stand?  Not that I have not done so in the past, but no, I am getting myself geared up for a 12 mile run.  I awoke today to the sound, not of my neighbor having target practice – a loud close shooting noise – but of a distant shot that told me someone was hunting in the area and has seen a deer.  I decided if it was light enough to be hunting already, it was time to drag myself out of bed.

 

Ah, have I stirred an interest in me hunting?  Once.  I went hunting once.  I did it for the guy I was dating.  We went to college in a very rural area of the Adirondacks.  We were both majoring in forestry and had taken wildlife management classes.  We knew the reasons for hunting and controlling the population of deer.  I was not convinced that hunting was my thing but Glenn asked if I would go hunting with him.  He had a rifle at school and his parents would bring an additional one up when visiting for me to use.  I just had to take a hunter safety course to be able to get my permit.

 

First, at 20, I was by far the oldest person in the hunter safety class.  It was filled with 12 year olds and maybe a couple actual teenagers.  The course itself was easy.  There was a written test.  Then, there was the shooting.  I was handed a .22 and told to shoot the 9×12 paper that was probably 50 feet away.  All the little kids had done it.  Some right in the center, some off to the edge.  I sighted and shot.  Oops! I missed the paper.  I was given three shots where everyone else got one.  I think I heard the instructor muttering something about the deer being safe.

 

The story of that first and only hunting trip will hold for another morning that I am woken by shots.

 

Do you hunt? Does your significant other?  Do you eat game such as venison?

3 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

15 May 2010

Mem’ries

By Nicki

This is a small piece on the theme memory for the Five for Ten Challenge at Momalom.com.

I always hear Barbra Streisand singing when I think about memories.

Mem’ries,
Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were

There are so many of these misty water-colored memories in my mind.  Blurred like water colors to paper.  No clear lines.  No clear figures.  Just water-colored scenes.

Those things we remember, those water-colored scenes.  Do we choose which ones come to us or does our mind know what to show us?  Do we remember only the good and never the bad?

When you think of your memories, of your childhood, of your teen years, what is it that comes to you first?  Do you remember people or places first?  Do you think that you wish you could change a memory or do you accept what has become your past?

6 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

1 May 2010

Kentucky Derby Day

By Nicki

Oh, the memories!  First, let it be known I have never had a Mint Julep.  I am

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

not even sure what is one other than mint.  I know it is an alcoholic drink but that’s it.  So at 6:24 pm ET I will be raising a pint of beer as the three year olds make the two minute run around the track at Churchill Downs.

I do want to say that I have memories of Kentucky Derby Saturday, though.  In college, the travel and tourism majors would go to work the Derby.  They would come back and taunt us forestry majors with the fun and learning that went on at Churchill Downs.

Then, there are the memories of my father’s neighbor.  Down the street from my father’s home is where a transvestite lives.  He is a strange man, having nothing to do with his cross dressing.  But, he would always don a wonderful hat and women’s suit for Derby day and sit on the porch having a mint julep.

Then, there is the memory of my son, my baby who was just 14 last year on Derby Day.  A good friend had his parents throw him a surprise 16th birthday party.  Since it was Derby Day, the birthday boy’s dad went down to OTB and bought a $2 ticket on each horse and repeated until he had enough for each kid at the party.  Each child drew a horse out of a hat and some lucky child went home a winner.

Tell me if you have ever been to Churchill Downs.  Do you watch the Kentucky Derby?  What about the rest of the Triple Crown – the Preakness Stakes in Maryland and the Belmont Stakes on Long Island?  Do you like, or have you ever had a, mint julep?

8 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

8 February 2010

Your Senses – Sight

By Nicki

The senses!  We have five and, generally, it is not until something jars one of them that we give them a second thought.  Yes, I run for the camera when I see something that I like the way it looks – people, storefronts, sunrises and sunsets.  Not everyone does, though.

Sight also draws up memories for me.  A few weeks ago I was driving down a street in a nearby city where I frequently go for work.  This city is close but still approximately 40 miles away so I generally get there once a week, occasionally more frequently.  Last week, for example, I will be there three days as I am going to hear a group play on Sunday evening and then two days for work.  This week I will be there for a class I am taking but not for work at all.  Next week, I am going to a TweetUp there.

Back to the sighting – pun intended.  I was driving down this street.  First I drove by a bar.  At one point in time, my guess would be it had been a hotel but now it seems to be just a bar and nothing spectacular.  The beer is good that they have on tap, always a plus in my book, and they have a pool table.  My memory flashed to a night at the end of September when I was there with a friend.  Just driving past made that night of pool come back to me.

We had spent a bit of time at a Mexican restaurant a couple of blocks away, having margaritas and nachos.  A torrential rain storm had caused me to get drenched out on the patio so we had gone into the bar.  Once the rain stopped, we had gone walking through a shopping area, long closed for the night but still with a few people walking through as we were.  We came to this other bar and went in to play pool.  Beware of playing pool with mobile phones in your pocket – not me, him.  He accidentally dialed someone and left a lengthy voicemail of us discussing geometry because, after all, what are bank shots but geometry proofs in real life?  Got that kids?  You will use geometry again some day.

As I continued on my way heading out of the city as I needed to get home for an activity, I hit the light red at the corner where I needed to turn.  Another memory came rushing back to me.  We had had margaritas and nachos another evening, right after he finished work and I did also.  He needed to catch the bus home so we were waiting where the bus would be stopping except we were a block or so from the actual stop.  We had stood there with some college kids.  They had asked us questions about the bus system which he could answer easily.  Then, his bus had come buzzing by.  He had to run to catch it up the block.  Just thinking about it now is making me smile.  The sight of him running after the bus in dress clothes from work with his brief case/bag is a memory I will always have.

I could go on and on as I have many memories that are triggered by seeing different things.  I still have memories of my son’s football team winning the state championship every time I drive past the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.  Most make me smile as I remember the sights I have seen in my life.  I saw a friend’s photos of some time in the Adirondacks which took me back to the years I lived there.

What memories do sights trigger for you?  Is it a place or a souvenir?  What about photographs?  Do they trigger memories for you?

16 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

30 January 2010

Your Senses – Smell

By Nicki

I have been doing some creative, or possibly not so creative writing involving memories and senses.  Your senses trigger so many things but one of the most important things they tend to trigger is memories.  I am going to, over the course of several days, post different memories triggered by one of our five senses.  These are creative writing pieces but most are based in fact.  Not sure what that makes them – personal essays?  Here is the first.

I folded up the towel he use to use when he was here today, knowing that he would never use it again.  My mind went back to the first time he used the towel, the smell of his hygiene products in my small bathroom, the sight of him getting dressed in my bedroom.  These are things that will live in my memory for a long time.  They will not be in my life again.

The memory of that scent, his scent drew me to another item in my home.  It was a shirt he had given me.  I was his support person for a large event in his life in October.  Two weeks later he had another event and I did not see this accomplishment.  We both have very busy lives.  The time we spent together was whittled out of those busy lives.  As he once paraphrased someone else, if we want to be with people, we MAKE the time.  Anyway, he gave me the shirt from that second event as he thought it was ugly.  Not only did I love the colors, I have memories of putting it on the first time.  I threw it on as a night shirt.  I immediately, the next day, asked what laundry detergent he used as the smell was wonderful.  It was not laundry detergent.  There is atradition to wear the shirt the day/night of the event.  He had showered and worn the shirt that half day and then given it to me.  The scent was him.

The scent of him.  Smell.  A sense we use only infrequently and when we talk, when we write, the sense of smell tends to be associated with food or with stenches.  In my mind, the sense of smell is associated with people.  It may be a stink, that smell after you finish exercising and really need a shower.  It may be a cleanness, that smell after you have showered and done nothing else – no body lotion, no hair products, just soap/gel.  It may be a scent, that smell of his cologne, that smell of his body lotion.

The sense of smell tends to be strong.  I have read a fact that people can recall a smell with 65% accuracy after a year where as visual recognition of a photo is only 50% after three months (http://www.senseofsmell.org).  Now I know why the memory of that scent has drawn me to write this morning.

What smells do you have in your memory bank?  Do they remind you of good times or not so good times?  Are they smells associated with people, events, holidays, food?

6 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

24 January 2010

Twenty-three Years Ago

By Nicki

Lately, I seem to be writing about anniversaries or birthdays.  Who knew so much went on at the beginning of the year?

Twenty-three years ago today, I was in labor.  It was a Saturday.  I can picture the snow on the ground, not freshly fallen but piles of it that I had shoveled from storms since Christmas.  You see, the twins turn 23 today.

The doctor had told me, regardless of a February due date, I would have those babies around Christmas.  The disability from week 26 on seemed to have worked as those two liked where they were and were not coming into the cold, harsh winter any sooner than necessary.

The day was not the quiet planned birth I had anticipated.  The day quickly filled with yelling.  The doctor was in surgery but wanted an ultrasound done.  One of the twins had been breech.  Was she still?  The nurse was screaming that taking me to radiology would guarantee I delivered babies in radiology.  Who knew I was that far along?  A portable x-ray and I was put out.  One twin still breech, the doctor was taking no chances and did an emergency c-section.

My first memory in recovery was the nurse telling me that Baby A was 7 pounds, 15 ounces and Baby B was 5 pounds, 11 ounces.  I told her, in a groggy state, those couldn’t be my babies.  I had twins.

The Twins (#2 and #3) Christmas 1987

Happy Birthday, #2 and #3!!!!!

20 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

2 January 2010

Poetry – The Memories

By Nicki

The Memories

The memories are there

In the back of my mind

Making me gasp

At a very strange time

The memories are there

As I climb in and out of bed

Of those final looks

Of those final words said

The memories are there

As I run on these roads

Of the support I once got

Of the support I once gave

The memories are there

Possibilities and plans

Of the future unspoken

Of a friendship that spans

The memories are there

Running ’round in my heart

Keeping me hopeful

For a fresh start

Just an aside, this poem has four stanzas but I am having formatting issues with WordPress.

4 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Poetry

30 December 2009

Christmas 2008

By Nicki

Here is my last entry for a few days in the Christmas memories.  To add a new entry will require finding photographs and scanning them to post.  I may try some written childhood memories as the Twelve Days of Christmas progress.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

29 December 2009

The End of a Decade

By Nicki

I was out on the road yesterday.  No, I am not a traveling salesman, though I have played that persona at one point in my life.  I was running, a dual purpose exercise in my life.  I can get the exercise I need plus thinking time.

Yesterday, the thoughts that were buzzing through my brain were all about the decade coming to a close.  I am finding this so hard to grasp.  It does not seem like it was ten years ago that we were all worried about Y2K.  It does not seem like it was ten years ago I was celebrating the new millennium chatting with friends on the computer using a variety of chat clients.  It does not seem like we have already gone through ten years where the first two digits of the year have been two and zero.

I read someone, somewhere saying they were not sure that the decade ended this year or next year.  That thought, even though news organizations and sports channels on television are positive it ends on December 31, 2009, has stuck with me until the Y2K bit hit me smack between the eyes on my rather chilly run yesterday.

It was December 31, 1999 that ended the last decade.  It was December 31, 1999 that ended the last millennium.  The new decade starts January 1, 2010.

As I was going through all the blogs I read, I came across Belinda Munoz’s “Close Out the Decade with Five Happy Things.” I strongly suggest reading this piece.  It has truly got me thinking about things that have happened in my life in the last ten years.

This past decade, the first of this new millennium has been a winner in my book.  Here are some reasons why – and I am stealing some of these from Belinda’s lists.

I have been living in the same location for the entire decade.  That may not sound like a big deal to some people.  Trust me, it is!  When my marriage first ended, it was hard to find a house to rent or an apartment that was large enough for me and six kids.  When I found this house for rent, I jumped on it!  Three days after signing the lease, I lost the job I had at the time but I found another.  This was all in the closing times of the 1990′s but for at least the last ten years, we have lived here!

In this decade that is ending, I have had five of my six children graduate from high school.  All five enrolled in college.  Two of the five have graduated from college.  It has been a decade to give thanks for the education my children receive and, in turn, that they share with me.

In this past decade, I have met some wonderful people.  Some of these people have been “virtual” acquaintances and friends, living in other parts of the country and the world.  Some of these people have become very close friends and confidantes in my real life.  I have also re-met several people and am sorry that I wasted some time not being with them.  We will not, on my end or theirs, let that happen again.

I have cultivated an artistic skill over most of the last decade.  I let this skill be pushed from my life this year but will drag it back in as I can in the upcoming decade.  I have also learned many a new skill dealing with web sites, search engines, and book publishing.  I so ready to put these skills to continued use as the new decade comes.

What have you done this decade?  What memories will you take forward with you into the new decade?

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

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