WEEKLY WORDPRESS PHOTO CHALLENGE | NOSTALGIA | THE DAILY POST
I am not as nostalgic about the past as most people. I had a difficult and often unpleasant growing up and it’s hard to put aside the unhappy child to find happy memories. They get tangled.
It is in the autumn where whatever good memories exist continue to live. That perpetual autumn I can sometimes smell in the air this time of year. It is probably why I love this season. Fall signals the return to school and what passed for “normal” in my world.
I was a New Yorker. I’m sure it was cooler there 50 plus years ago than it is today. Especially in the fall.
And, I loved school. I know this was not a popular point of view in the kid world, but I loved it. Home kind of sucked. School was better. Orderly. I had assignments. Things to learn. Teachers didn’t beat students and there were very few moments of sheer terror to cope with. Unlike home. In generating fear, schoolyard bullies were amateurs compared to my father.
The thing I remember best and most fondly were the sound of the leaves crunching under my squeaky new leather shoes. The shoes always gave me blisters, no matter what salesmen in stores told my mother about the perfect fit. I don’t know why she believed them when they told her the shoes fit, but never believed me when I told her they hurt.
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Categories: #Photography, Autumn, Childhood, Seasons
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I used to hate the darn shoe saleslady. She’d measure my feet, dig out a pair of hard-soled shoes that she decided were the right size, and tell my mother they were perfect. No one ever thought to ask me, all I was told was that I would break them in eventually. Usually took most of the school year. And on top of that, they were saddle shoes! And I had to polish them! But other than that, I loved fall – and I still do. I love the crispness in the air, the crunchy leaves and the colors. I regret that I don’t have more time to go out and take photos, but life does tend to get in the way.
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Yup, yup, yup, right down to the saddle shoes and I outgrew them before they even softened a little bit. I have never understood why it was so easy to assume I didn’t know if my feet hurt or not, but mom always believed the shoe salesman … who was on commission. For selling shoes. To mothers, like her. Go figure, right?
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Your photos are very like your memories: bittersweet, beautiful in some ways, sad in others.
janet
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I should have said that the fall leaves in your photos are bittersweet. They’re both beautiful and sad, the latter at the passing of summer.
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That’s okay. Both are true. Bittersweet is a very apt description. Thank you 🙂
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I miss the smell of burning leaves. They don’t let us do that anymore.
The best we have, Marilyn, is now.
Lesli
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No they don’t let us do that here, either, but considering how terribly dry it has been, that’s probably just as well. I remember the bonfires with pleasure, but I also remember a couple of serious fires that resulted from those burning leaf piles. Burned down half our woods one memorable autumn.
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Probably not a good idea to do that any more.
Leslie
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I can almost smell autumn and hear the crunch of the leaves underfoot. Great piece of photography.
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Thanks. It’s pretty easy ’cause that’s the deck behind my kitchen 🙂
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Those are lovely fall photos and I’m glad you find comfort in this time of year. I’m sorry you had to grow up like that and I hope the years as an adult have been kind to you.
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Life has been interesting. Good and bad, but that is what life is for everyone. I don’t know anyone who has had a picture perfect childhood or adulthood. Some were better than mine, some worse. At some point, we all have to stop blaming the past and move on. What happened is what happened. I kind of like who I ended up being, but I’m not nostalgic, even though nostalgia is all the rage.
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Your pics were great and your words added beauty to them!!….
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Love the photo of just the leaves. Very Fall-ish! 🙂
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That’s the annual fall of ten gazillion oak leaves. I don’t know what’s going to happen this year since the oaks were all defoliated in June and though they grew new leaves, they aren’t full size. I don’t have any idea what autumn will look like this year. Right now, it looks like a lot of rain falling. And the dogs are moping.
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Great photos and yes, Autumn is a nostalgic time of the year. At last the stress of Summer is going, and we can take it easy and watch the peace returning to the land. I was in New York in Autumn, probably the best time to be there.
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Absolutely the best time to be there. When I lived in Israel, I always tried to get back to the States in October.
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Thoughtful post!
I think we’re being inundated with nostalgia. It’s ironic I say that because I like old movies and (some) old TV shows. However, the plethora of “remember the good old days” stuff we’re getting on social media, oldies TV stations, feature stories, reunion shows, etc. is really a bit much.
I enjoyed a decent childhood and have fond memories. No “Leave It To Beaver” just a relatively normal childhood.
So many folks are doing the revisionist thing, I wonder about their grasp on reality.
Okay, I’m ready for another episode of “Tombstone Territory”.
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I think a lot of people suffer from “rose-colored lens” syndrome. I wish I did. It would be great to remember a world that never was.
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Wonderful shots — I can almost hear those leaves crunch under my feet!
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It’s a great sound, though I’m finding that the huge amount of oak leaves we get in the fall actually are as slippery as ice. Less crunching of leaves, more crunching of bones … OUCH.
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Oh, dear — I wasn’t aware of that effect (never having lived in deciduous-tree country!). Do be careful as you enjoy the falling of the leaves!
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