Memories – Page 7 – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2023, life, Memories, thoughts, Writing

Daylight Saving Time Yea or Nay?

Posted on November 1, 2023 by nancyb422

Growing up I loved when the clocks moved forward an hour! This was before they started messing with when it happened. Every year it was the last Sunday in April and with my birthday being the 22nd, it was a pretty good bet it would happen on the morning of our family party.

Our relatives, including 4 close in age cousins, would come over for food and cake and us kids would play in the yard all afternoon. My dad would bring out the motor scooter with side car (on loan from his brother) and take everyone on rides around the neighborhood. It felt like the day stretched on forever!

Falling back an hour usually coincided with Halloween back in the 70s so it would be nice and dark early when Halloween rolled around. We’d get out around 5pm and by back by 9pm to sort our candy and make trades. My sisters and I went to a catholic elementary school so we’d have the next day off because of All Saints Day. It was one of the few perks of going to our school!

I came to realize very quickly that babies do not recognize Daylight Saving time! Dogs too. They are going to keep on their regular sleep, eat, poop time regardless of what the clock says!

As the years have gone by, I realize I don’t do well with the time change at all! I’m going to bed at 9 when it’s really 10 and then getting up at 5:20 – which my husband reminds me “it was 6:20” – and I feel exhausted! Or because “it’s really only 8 but the clock says 9!”, I’ll stay up for an extra hour and again, exhausted!

Arizona and Hawaii have it right – they just don’t participate. Good for them! Who do I need to talk to here in Connecticut? I think we should be a little oasis of common sense!

How to do you feel about the time change?

2023, life, Memories, Travel

Hiking in the Lake George Region

Posted on October 14, 2023October 14, 2023 by nancyb422

My husband and I spent a week in Lake George in August. We brought our boat and stayed in a 1950s type resort about a mile or 2 north of downtown Lake George.

Our second hike of the week was at the Cook Mountain Preserve out of Ticonderoga.

We (I) always make a point to find someplace to hike because I really love to hike. But we (I) always manage to get lost! This trip was no exception because we got sort of lost finding the trailhead! First we drove to the “destination” but it was far past the trailhead. So we backtracked and you couldn’t really see the trailhead from that direction so we turned around again! We found it on the third try.

I made sure we signed the book and the time we started out just in case we disappeared on the trail! The trailhead had a map posted as well as maps to take with you (done, still managed to get lost).

The trail started out fairly flat but once it started on the Ridges Trail it was fairly steep – 680 feet over a 1/2 mile – then more gradually to the views. We had our hiking poles and I’m glad we did! The trails were clear so there wasn’t much climbing over and under.

We got to the Lake George view and were a little disappointed! I thought we’d have more of a view and I had to really walk around to find a good view. We sat for a bit and had a snack and then moved on to the Vermont view.

I spotted the flag on top of the mountain and remembered a trip to Fort Ticonderoga we took on the motorcycle. We never went to Mount Independence but I know we saw it from the Fort. This was definitely the better view.

We were pretty tired by the time we were done and stopped at this general store for lunch which was delicious! The owners were really nice too!

Overall, a great day in the Lake George Region.

2023, family, Holidays, life, Memories, Writing

Carrying On Traditions

Posted on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 by nancyb422

How do you celebrate holidays?

Christmas with Grammy 1966 (me in the red/gray sweater, my twin in yellow, my older sister in the back with the scrunched up grin)

When someone says “Holidays”, I automatically think of Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. The Big Three!

Ever since I was born, Christmas and Easter were primarily celebrated with my mother’s side of the family. There was a rotation of where it would be held. I think up until 1967, it was held at the family home where my grandmother and oldest aunt lived. This picture was from our last Christmas with her and it includes me, my 2 sisters, and my second wave of cousins.

Thanksgiving was a low key holiday for us because there was usually a high school football game to go to! My relatives would be off with their “other side of the family” for the holiday.

My mother died when I was 27 and not yet married and my sisters were both married but no kids yet. Our first holiday without her was Easter of 1987, and my cousin hosted everyone. By Thanksgiving I had moved to California but I know without a doubt, my family back home continued the tradition of gathering, having a great meal, and exchanging presents. The following Christmas there were three babies so of course everyone gathered together. When we moved back to Connecticut in 1995, I was able to show my husband and son how my family celebrated growing up!

My house is our old family home and so it seems natural for us to host my mother’s side of the family. We do that every year in early December. My sister who lives in the same town always hosts Easter.

Thanksgiving has become the holiday that rotates between 3 different households!

2023, life, Memories, thoughts, Writing

Like a Piano with No Keys

Posted on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 by nancyb422

What would your life be like without music?

As far back as I can remember, there was music in my life. Whether from my parents’ big hi-fi that could play 45, 33, and 78 sized record, from my dad’s transistor radio sending out Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, or from the little portable record player that we had to put a penny on the arm so the records wouldn’t skip!

In my elementary school, we had music lessons with actual music books that we learned to read notes and sing from after being give our C from the nun’s pitch pipe. At church on Sunday, I loved to sing the hymns, following the notes on the page.

My love of music carried me through good times and bad times. It brought me to piano lessons at age 57 because the sound of a piano and watching someone play has always mesmerized me, it was always my favorite part of songs.

So a life without music at this stage in my life would be like a piano with no keys. Silent and sad.

2023, life, Memories, Writing

TeenyBopper Shows and More!

Posted on August 29, 2023August 29, 2023 by nancyb422

What TV shows did you watch as a kid?

In the mid 1960s through the early to mid 1970s, my sisters and I loved to watch, The Monkees, The Brady Bunch, Here Come the Brides, and The Partridge Family. All these shows had cute guys in them and we were Boy Crazy!

It’s weird to google and see the years that these shows aired. The Monkees was on from 1965 to 1968 when I was between 5 and 8 years old. We were crazy for Davy Jones. How odd to be mooning over this 20+ year old man when we were that age. Right?

We watched variety of other shows, never missing the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. We even watched Lawrence Welk and the Jackie Gleason show together as a family.

Obviously, we didn’t have the channels we have today (but I bet you still watch about 4 of them right?)! Channel 5 out of New York gave us I Love Lucy, and The Bowery Boys movies. And how could I forget the original Little Rascals!

That definitely brought back some memories!

2023, family, Memories

Painful Memories

Posted on August 27, 2023August 27, 2023 by nancyb422

Something that happened to my niece recently who lives two time zones away, brought up some emotions in me that have been long buried.

I moved from Connecticut to California in 1987 when I was 27 and five months after my mother died from brain cancer.

In November of 1989, on a Saturday afternoon, I had intense pain in my side and my husband rushed me to the local hospital. It was discovered I was pregnant but bleeding internally somewhere. After an inconclusive ultrasound, I had exploratory surgery and they found it was a ruptured cyst. They stopped the bleeding, said hello to my little fetus, and closed me back up.

All of this was long before the days of cell phones, zoom, FaceTime, social media. And three hours time difference from my family.

I remember my husband calling my father to tell him. I remember asking him to call my boss to tell her I wouldn’t be at work on Monday. I remember talking to my sisters from the hospital.

I don’t know if I wished for my mother at the time but resurrecting these memories, I wish I had her then, even from a distance like my niece has my sister now.

2023, friends, life, Memories, thoughts

Thoughts For Today

Posted on August 20, 2023August 20, 2023 by nancyb422

I am literally spending a day musing in the passenger seat riding on the back of this motorcycle!

A lot of thoughts. Some so refreshing and positive. Some reliving a memory from this date that changed lives forever.

I’ll share them all soon!

2023, Memories, Writing

What’s Your Name?

Posted on July 28, 2023July 28, 2023 by nancyb422

What’s the story behind your nickname?

I’ve had a couple of nicknames based on my last name but those were more teasing than actual nicknames.

The one true nickname I’ve had since high school is JakTwin which eventually got shortened to Jak. My last name was Jakiela and I am a twin. My sister and I started out as JakTwin 1 and JakTwin 2, names given to us by friends.

It was shortened to Jak by a boyfriend who loved to give people nicknames. I accepted it and it was quickly adopted by my new group of friends through him. It was so often used that his father actually thought my first name was Jackie!

When I met my husband, it was with a friend from this group (that other boyfriend long gone) and since she called me Jak, so did the man who would become my husband. His friends still call me Jak after 36 years but now he usually calls me Nancy.

2022, Memories, Travel

Riding to Monet’s Garden

Posted on June 26, 2023June 26, 2023 by nancyb422

My husband and I took a Viking cruise with my sister and her husband in October of 2022. We started in Paris, cruised the Seine to Normandy and returned. It was really magical! We both agreed our favorite day was the round trip by bicycle to Monet’s garden.

We started the day in La Roche-Guyon and visited the town for 2 hours before taking off to Vernon and Monet’s Garden. It was delightful and I’ll share that excursion at another time!

We met our guide on the pier and everyone taking the bike ride was fitted for their appropriate bike and helmet. I applauded all the people that rode but some would have been better suited for the bus trip there. Not being mean, just truthful. We had a bike crash before we even got over the river. On the green in front of the pier there were monuments in recognition of the Allied troops liberating Vernon.

The ride was about 3-1/2 miles both ways! Luckily there are bike paths that we rode on. We did have to cross some streets and that was a little hairy! We stayed up close to the guide so we could ride freely and not fear crashing into the back of someone.

Once there, we stopped at the Elise Saints-Radegonde de Giverny (church) and we visited the burial site of Claude Monet and his family.

Then it was on to the grounds of Monet’s home. What a breathtaking sight! I had no idea what to expect and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The sun was shining and the flowers were all in bloom. The colors were so vivid, I don’t think it was possible to take a bad picture. I selected some of my favorites to share.

A sample of the flowers and boats in the water

I was just lost in the scenery. I wasn’t worried about losing my people, we were all doing the same thing!

We made our way to the house and the garden around it.

We had a half hour left before we needed to meet our group, so my husband and I sat and had a latte and a tart as a snack before our bike ride back! We took a different route back and we thankfully didn’t have to cross any streets.

We gathered at a park and our guide and her helper had cider and the absolutely most delicious macrons I’d ever tasted in my life. It was so difficult not to eat them all right there! After our treat, we rode back to the boat and said our goodbyes.

From there it was dinner and a walk around the top deck to take in the full moon and think about the bucket list day we enjoyed.

Full moon from the Viking Skaga, Vernon France

2023, family, Memories

What It Was to What It’s Become

Posted on May 6, 2023 by nancyb422

I can look out my family room window and almost remember this sight with the blanket on the lawn for us, the chicken coop foundation in the background, and the mother of all maple trees.

There was a kiddie pool in front of us where we had car tire-sized inner tubes (remember those black ones with the stem that would scratch you if you weren’t careful?!)

Clothes hanging on the line to the left, extending from the house to a dead tree. I’m not sure how the tree withstood the loads of laundry for so many years!

The driveway was gravel and every summer we toughened our feet up walking down it “ouch” -ing and “ooo” -ing all the way.

There was an apple tree with a swing where I received my first bee sting as I was swinging and swatting at the bothersome bee. THAT hurt!

The old chicken coop foundation was ground level and the sides gradually got higher as the ground dropped away. We would run around until we got to the back and walked very carefully around.

Against the back wall was Rhubarb that grew wild (as did asparagus in another part of the yard!). When it was ripe, we’d get a baggie of sugar, tear off a stalk, and scoop up the sugar. I guess that’s where I got hooked on sugar!

All of it’s gone now – the foundation replaced by a 2 story garage, the mother of a maple tree removed because of disease, the clothesline, and the pool.

The gravel became asphalt but is once again gravel as my husband has turned the space out the back door into his garden sanctuary and we’re spending more time in the space I spent growing up.