Tuesday, June 21, 2022

A Nostalgic Artful Wednesday

 

Artist: Jeffrey T. Larson


This painting reminds me so much of my childhood! I was always finding hidey holes in which to take my books and provisions and while away summer afternoons lost in beautifully woven webs of stories.
 
The girl in the painting is relying on tall grass and flowers to hide her away from unwelcome interruptions (like pesky younger siblings or the dreaded chores). I had two favorite retreats: high up in an apple tree or deep within a thicket of forsythia and honeysuckle bushes. I had built-in snacks supplied by the first, and the second smelled (and looked) absolutely divine in the spring.
 
How about you? Did any of you have favorite warm weather places to read as a child? Please share!

16 comments:

  1. I love this one, Cathy! The flowers are beautiful, and it does remind me of finding places to curl up and read when I was young. A special place, a book, a cool drink - great summer combination!

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  2. This picture captures the essence of summer for me! I remember a few summers my sister and I built a tent out of sheets in the backyard. We would bring reclining lawn chairs inside. That was a favorite place to read, but so was a lawn chair anywhere in the yard.

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    1. Those folding lawn chairs with the webbing? I got so much reading done in those!

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  3. I used to love to while away summer hours reading. I didn't do it outside though. Fair skin - sunburn. I would lay across my bed and read as long as my Mom would allow. Usually not too long. There were always chores to do. LOL

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  4. Porches, usually. There were inviting trees by the creek behind our first house, where I learned to read, but we moved just as I was getting into longer books so I don't remember taking any outside there. I was more likely to sprawl on the porch glider with my book, while said 'pesky younger siblings ' were running around lawns. My mind, of course, was usually miles - and often decades or centuries - away.

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    1. I absolutely loved the porch swing on my grandparents' screened front porch. Got a lot of reading done there.

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  5. Lovely painting. Glad you could hide out and read, enjoying nature, too. I read in my room in Chicago or New York. Here I read up against a window which a beautiful big tree brushed its branches against.

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    1. I remember your mentioning that tree. I'm glad you have one there to enjoy.

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  6. I don't have the tree. I have my wall behind my bed and red brick opposite my window. A millionaire built a 7-floor penthouse apartment, blocking my sun, sky, stars, moon view. So I'm walled in here. And those pigeons are interesting; they are white with a few black streaks on their wings. Some interesting genetic pool of all the pigeons who hang out on my building or the roof opposite. But the racket they made when two were on the window sill. I think two males were vying for one little female who found a ledge on an extender from my a/c. I hope they're gone now, were interrupting my reading and TV and PP watching.

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    1. Sorry. Didn't notice the past tense with the tree.

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  7. Well, I see trees when I walk outside my front door. I have two plants in the living room which make up the greenery I see.

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    1. I see green and birds from every window here, and I'm still jonesing to go someplace like the Desert Botanical Garden. I don't think I'm cut out for life in someplace like NYC or LA. (I've been to LA a few times and was always delighted to leave.)

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  8. Well, if I lived near that Desert Botanical Garden, I would go there frequently, but with a hat and big sunglasses and a huge thermos of cold water or iced tea. The cacti and the critters are fun to look at.

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