Childhood memory haibun for d’Verse- Haibun monday #28
Joanne and Alyson Abel had a goat. It lived on a messy piece of land adjoining their house which was probably actually their garden. Our garden was similar- a messy piece of land over a footbridge and formed part of a field. It never got mowed it wasn’t that kind of grass. I caught endless fish in a bucket using old stockings and coathangers and always put them back.
I lived and played outdoors in the summer and I don’t remember the rain, I borrowed other people’s distant sheds and turned them into “ganghuts” or dens in Doubledeckers style. I would track the rivers back to streams and back to source and wash stones in the summer sun. I ate gooseberries from the bushes near the Goyt (not it’s real name) which was a dammed swimming hole behind the school which all the children were forbidden to use- but we all did and no-one died, floating in inner tubes late into the day until we heard the din of the mothers cooking dinner and shouting for their off-spring.
Summer glow in heart
Friendships echo through the blue
Childhood re-kindled.
Images
Water School from the fields
Isle of Man Mill. Courtesy of Wikimedia- Photo by Robert Wade 2011. (My mum worked there as a seamstress)
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I so much love the atmosphere in this… it simply tastes sunshine… lovely (and blessed be the released fish)
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We used to float down the river on inner tubes. It was great fun!
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Love the way the memory is sporadic, darts about and yet paints a cohesive picture. Very atmospheric
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I love this memory, you have created excellent images which I can relate to….so well done..
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It was so much fun going outdoors and getting messy ~ I love your fishing and tubing adventures ~ Thanks for joining us ~
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Very interesting memories, the fact that you remembered them goes to show they were important to you. Have a nice day.
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I have never tracked a river back to its source but it is something I have thought would be nice to do.
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I invariably came home very wet…usually fell in a deep bit at some point…my mother despaired…
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Those are magical childhood memories, real sense of adventure and exploration – which, sadly, I don’t think our children will ever have. You really have an eye for the relevant detail!
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Marvelous!
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Yes, I like the detail in this; it makes me want to live it all over again with you.;
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I love the spirit of adventure in your haibun and you paint a very vivid image in the haiku itself as well :o)
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This sounds like such a carefree childhood full of freedom to explore, but also blessed with the safety of nurture (mothers cooking and calling their offspring back for dinner). Sigh 🙂
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Oh~ this is so lovely. I could taste the landscape! Such a lovely depiction of a childhood.
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Sounds so free! Love it.
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Wonderfully descriptive and echo’s of my own upbringing in the North of England. Loved the Doubledeckers 😉
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