Saturday, March 27, 2010

Saturday ramblings

Isn't this a lucky girl? Wesley with her Uncle Scott and her dad at the Jolly Roger on Okracoke Island. Wes has really great uncles, as I did. My uncle Charlie passed away too soon, from a broken heart given to him by a cheating wife that he loved dearly. Charlie was a great influence on my life with art. He was a great artist, self taught, painted with oils. He lived with my grandmother for a very long time and when we would come to visit my grandmother there was a chance his easel was set up in the bedroom with a painting in progress. I am lucky enough to have a painting he did of my grandmother's house and a painting he did of me and Wesley on the beach. Anyway, this rambling came about because of a photo on Peter's blog of a railroad track. It brought back memories of the train that passed by my grandmother's house and then I started thinking of how fortunate I was to have had a place like that when I was a child, then I started looking at pictures of Wesley when she was younger and thinking how lucky she has been with an absolutely charmed childhood. It's funny how a photo or a song or a smell can evoke memories of childhood and send you into a state of melancholy so quickly. What sparks a childhood memory for you? For me, it's things like blue Ford pickup trucks like the one my dad drove, a Hank Williams song, the smell of the ocean, sand in my bed, homemade tomato soup, the smell of an oil burning heater, the sound of a train whistle, so many things.......
I have a bisque kiln going today, it is a lovely Carolina blue day today, I'm watching this great cooking program on UNC's public television station called Cooking with History and the neighbor's chickens are on my back porch eating my cat's food. Bliss! This is what happens when you have a manual bisque kiln you have to babysit :)

7 comments:

cindy shake said...

You may have to babysit your bisque kiln but you are a such a lucky ducky with your AWESOME RAKU KILN -I'm sooo jealous :o)

Sorry about your Uncle. Though the several lines in your Blog post would be a great country-western song...

Hollis Engley said...

Nice little ramble you just took through your growing-up years, Tracey. Funny how certain things set that off. For me, it's going back to Martha's Vineyard. This time of year, the ferry comes into Vineyard Haven, the town I grew up in. The church, the stores, the houses, the streets, and many of the people are still there. In spite of the changes over all the years, it's still like being dropped back into my childhood.

Tracey Broome said...

Cindy, that's funny, my life had country music for a soundtrack for a long time! Hollis, I remember visiting the Cape Cod area in the 80's - what a magical place, I'm sure if you moved away lots of things would spark memories of that area and you would miss it terribly!

Anonymous said...

hi tracey, for me it's the smell of lilacs. when i catch a whiff, i am in my grandmother's backyard which was also our backyard as we lived in the other side of a duplex. my grandfather was an old sicilian guy with a rose garden and i used to watch him sneak cigarettes behind the pear tree so my grandma wouldn't see him. i did like the shot of the train tracks on peter's blog. i spent much of my youth on railroad tracks... getting in trouble. lovely reminiscing

Tracey Broome said...

Jim: I know that smell! What a great memory!!

Peter said...

Lovely Saturday ramble Tracey,
it was sad about your Uncle. So much light and shade in this life.. His paintings that you have must be very special. Goodness, I had no idea what that photo of train tracks would spark off! Your "rambling" started me off thinking of childhood too. It is funny how visual childhood memories are. I half see something (always in colour) as the memory comes up, and then I put a name to it!

I spent my childhood in England. My maternal grandmother had a lovely, I guess old fashioned, kitchen, and she was always baking when we visited, sponge cakes, Swiss rolls, butterfly cakes, all with jam and cream. Granny was short and round, bless her, and always seemed to have a smear of cream on her nose when she was cooking. She was a sunny, happy granny, the sort you would want to hug. When she rocked herself to sleep in her rocking chair, she sang songs that she remembered from the Music Hall. She used to chase wasps around the kitchen with a carving knife! Ahh, the memories!

Tracey Broome said...

Peter, what a great story! Aren't grandmothers the best? I can just picture yours in my mind. I only hope I can be a memory making grandmother one of these days!! Thanks for sharing yours with us!