Maison

I got family in Ireland. And when I was 14 I was allowed to go visit them. They lived way out in the country and did things that were primitive by my standards. The reality was  they were simple farmers.

I had alot of fun and I experienced life in a way that was different from everything I knew. I guess I learned alot that summer, I learned the type of stuff they dont teach in school,stuff that on some subconscious level is far more useful than textbook learning.

Years later I got an email randomly from one of the cousins from the farm. I replied and asked where he was, as I was quite shocked. He replied he was in Ireland, and asked me why I was ask that of him, and I informed him I was unaware they had electricity in Ireland, let alone computers and Internet.

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One of the best places to go, in my opinion, is the zoo. I thought that way as a child and my thinking has not changed. Every city I visit I must see the zoo.

Of all of the places to go in the zoos, of course the best was the “petting zoo”. They let you pet animals obviously, some were quite exotic, like the snake. I am sure it was a simple grass snake or a corn snake, but to me I had touched a cobra!

They  had animals people could ride, camels, ponies, elephants.The elephant was of course the most amazing one, as I hadnt considered that elephants were hairy. Its much like a wire.

Of course then we got to pick a souvenir to take home, and my mother is still a fan of the gift shop to this day.

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Most kids enjoy unwrapping gifts, I was no exception.

I would be so excited at Christmas, my dad really went overboard on stuff like that. We weren’t spoiled but he would take out a loan from Christmas. It was always a good thing.

I would have to say as Christmas goes we had a better one than most people do. Of course I cannot be sure of that because  I only know my experiences.  But us kids all have find memories.

In my family we would celebrate with my mom’s side on Christmas Eve and my dad’s side on Christmas Day. I guess it seems like we had 2 Christmas’s that way.

Yeah, Christmas was good. We were quite lucky.

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being an energetic child, I was a big fan of parks and playgrounds. There was alot you could do there, they had swings and slides, and some had little ponds and trails.

I especially liked the parks with water, I would slowly walk around the water watching at all the proper angles hoping to see something from under the water, like a fish. It was exciting like a window into a new universe , which it certainly is. The ocean is the last frontier some say. But I was a small boy and this was a small pond. If we had old bread I might bring that along as well. These bread crumbs I would use to feed the ducks, I laughed when the baby ducks would swim in a line.

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Favorite childhood holiday? I would have to say what I enjoyed most was Halloween, specifically Trick or treating.

I mean free candy, thats a winner in and of itself, but being able to dress up in fun costumes is great. Some of the stuff my mother put me in when I was young was embarrassing, one year she dressed me up as a bunny, cute when you are two years old but I was 12. Not so cute then.

I can complain but I don’t recall Trick or Treating ever being a bad thing.

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School getting canceled is one of the best things when you are a child. Its like a free weekend. And because you are a child you don’t often have to shovel. You call your freidns over and explore the wondrous new world which is buried in snow!

You can build forts and snowmen, and snowball fights are the staple of the day. Hot cocoa and soup for the after adventures. And if its bad enough sometimes your friends must spend the night, and school is canceled again the next day.

The only way to top this  is if the snow day lands on a day before a large vacation, like the Christmas break. If you have an extreme snow, and say school is canceled for 3 days just before christam vacation well, thats like 20 days off of school! Whats more does any kid want?

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My idea was to go in order and recount my childhood in Maison, but after thinking about it, I think more often than not I would end up out of sequence, and so I instead plan to just list things off as they occur to me. This makes sense and is far easier in my opinion and since I want this to be a fun project, thats what I will do.

I wish there were people in my family alive to read this work once it was completed, all that is left now is my mother. Funny how that is, she was the only one there in the beginning, now all there years later shes all that remains. Life is ironic like that.

Its like a vast loop we go around and around in. Perhaps circle of life is a quite accurate description.

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I have a memory  of crossing the bridge over the river, and as I pass on the bridge I look down and there, beaneth the bridge are many very large turtles. Some surface just briefly and then return underwater. Others come onto things and enjoy the sun. Then some others appear to float, not submerged, and not surfaced. They are like living rocks, moving so slowly along, but you might think that you could hop across the river on their backs like a video game.

One of my favorite things to do was to lean over and endlessly watch these turtles, which I am sure frustrated my mother who had places to go. And I would occasionally drop  a pebble into the water to see the ripples form and the turtles reaction.

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