What a wonderful piece! At, 71, I have moved 30 times, excluding college moves but I still have such a strong sense of home. It remains a lovely and poignant memory that I carry with me. Thank you for bringing my home to the forefront again !
Gosh, Susan - that's a lot of moves, but how wonderful that your strong sense of home has remained undiluted. I feel very fortunate that my parents still live in that house, and that I live so close.
I remember this one. And I remember asking, "When do you open the box?" Also, here's an update on our garlic attempt: utter failure! Back to square one with our garlic! Happy to see this old gold glitter again, Rebecca.
LOL, Mark! Thank you so much! Darn it, I'm so sorry about your garlic. Mind you, if things had gone the opposite way, and you'd ended up with a glut, you'd be making garlic-flavoured EVERYTHING right now....! 🤣
There used to be a quiz programme called Take your pick, in which winners had to choose between taking the money or opening the box. I think Rebecca could resurrect that in the parental home.
Rebecca, we must meet some day! Well, that sounds quite pushy. Of course you get a vote. But...we'd have so much to talk about! 😊 I've been toying with how to rework and publish a piece I wrote back in the early 2000s about my parents' home (not at all a smallholding, but still filled with love and memories). And you know about my farming days. This brings it all to life, and provides a beautiful window into you and your world at the same time. I'm SO GLAD they stayed!
Oh, what lovely things to say, Elizabeth! Thank you! Isn't it great how Substack brings like-minded people together in this way? Your piece about your own parents' home filled with love and memories sounds wonderful - I do hope you'll publish it on Chicken Scratch! 😊
The sweetest! You are the extreme opposite of homeless! You are richly and abundantly homed! But please, in the future, do not wear purple socks with your red slippers. I mean, really.
What a delightful newsletter!! Thank you for sharing it!! And I got new slippers recently too!! Mine are grey. I especially enjoy wearing my blue-green socks with them. 😁😘💚🧦
I'm glad you reposted this. I hadn't seen it. It's so refreshing to read a post that celebrates the simple things like home, slippers, goats and most importantly, family.
I quite like red and purple together, Rebecca, as I do blue and green, it's the concept of slippers I have never quite grasped...my feet get incredibly cold and so apart from summertime, I always wear chunky boots indoors... I love that home is so grounding for you, it was delightful to get a glimpse of it all! For me, home is perhaps moments shared and the impact of a piece of art rather than a specific place.
Thanks, Mya! I do too, actually! 🔴🟣 And because my slippers are what I wear all the time at home I don't ever think about what else I'm wearing that does or doesn't co-ordinate!
I'm not sure I'd be comfy in chunky boots all day long, but I'm absolutely on board with wearing some kind of footwear in the house all of the time. We were brought up wearing slippers - what if there was glass or dirt or a dropped pin or something on the floor? I'm not dressed without something on my feet!
Home is everything - and I agree that moments shared and the impact of positive experiences can mean home just as much as bricks and mortar can. 😊
Thank you so much, Susi! They're not Stegmanns (although I'm going to look those up RIGHT NOW!) - they're Haflingers. This is my fourth pair, and they're ever so comfortable. I like the very thick sole because my heels feel tired and sore if I'm on my feet all day with thin-soled footwear on.
Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, shipping to the US is pretty expensive so I’ll have to stick with something I can get here. I like a supportive sole as well!
I have never seen any slippers quite like those. I’m so glad they’re comfy. I’d be worried that the backs of my heels would get cold! Mine are always fully encompassing, cosy and warm. Treasured items of clothing no matter what colour!
And yes, Home is oh so special. I adore where I’ve ended up, with a cream picket fence and a garden all round. They knocked down our family’s childhood home decades ago and replaced it with apartments!! Though old Mrs Stoddard’s house on the corner is still there. We never forget those special, early days do we?
I hope your goats lived a long and happy life and didn’t end up in the mincer. Grin. Ah the memories...
Thanks so much Rebecca. Another delightful read. Happy sigh. 🤗🤗😘😘🌼🌼🌻🌻
Thanks, Beth! They're very comfy - they do look quite open at the back, but my feet do feel loosely held all the way round. I always wear socks, so perhaps that why I don't really notice.
I love that old Mrs Stoddard's house on the corner is still there! Mum took me to the house where she grew up when we were in the area for a family funeral when I was fifteen. We parked at the side of the road, and Mum was pointing at the window of what had been her bedroom. To my astonishment she suddenly opened the car door and rushed up to a very elderly lady who'd just appeared to do some weeding in the flowerbed just outside the low boundary wall of the house next door.
'Mrs Brewer?' she asked. 'Do you know who I am?' She sat on the wall and looked at the lady.
'Yes!' came the immediate answer. 'You're J! And you used to sit on my wall JUST like that to talk to me!'
They hadn't seen each other for DECADES - it was a magical moment.
And LOL - no, the goats didn't end up in the mincer! At least, not OUR mincer... they never did come home. 😕
One of the biggest surprises when I retired is how much more frequent my slipper purchases have become. A pair used to last me for years, but now I wear them most of the time and have to buy new ones almost every year!
What a joyous story! I wish I could feel the same way about my home. I lived hundreds of miles from my hometown now. Every time I go there, so much has changed, erasing my childhood. Such is life in America as compared to England, I suppose. The last visit, we didn't even drive past my childhood home. I've said goodbye forever. Your story about the buyers traipsing through struck a note, too. We stuck around while people looked at our funky "hobbit house" years ago. When we bought the one we're in now, the realtor told the seller to leave while we were there. I guess it was just an understood thing, because he didn't protest. After our experience in the hobbit house, though, I understood why that was kind for him. We loved it. It was perfect. But how rude of people to tell you how they would "improve" your home.
Thank you, Sue! 😊 It's funny, I've got a bit of a thing about not going back to places. I have no desire to hang out in any old 'haunts' of my youth, or even go back to whole towns where I used to live. I've kind of put old places into locked-away compartments, if that makes sense! I think if my parents didn't still live there I would really struggle to even drive past the house I grew up in.
I guess we're all very particular about our home environment - or indeed potential home environment. I agree that those people had been rude - and what a great catalyst for that decision to stay! 🤣
It appears you have a well-honed capacity to detach from places that no longer effect your life. Rather than hold on for nostalgia's sake and whatever value that may bring, it seems to me a person needs to let go as time goes on and move forward without regret. The memories will always be there and perhaps change as the perspective of events focuses on the meanings. Nostalgia, though, can become a trap, like a hand grabbing your ankle from the grave.
These are such great words, Sue! I've been thinking about this kind of thing a lot - I don't find it easy to maintain relationships with places and people, and have always thought that to be a little odd. I love what you've said about perspective, and the 'trap' of nostalgia. 😘
You touched a cord with this piece. Hubby and I have moved many times over the years. I would nest but not completely. There would always be one room without furniture, or it became a hyphenate room. Office-guest-storage. We are hoping to move yet again to be closer to our kids in Boston.
You must open that suitcase and report back. It could be a time capsule. Even if it’s the junk drawer from 1976!
Thank you so much! And yes, there's always one 'outlying' area that will end up as the place for stuff, or the room that doesn't quite have a single identity!
This is wonderful! Such a beautiful story, and liberally sprinkled with humor 🤣 Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I had a home that was home in that way as children, but we have found it now as adults. After several moves, when we arrived on our little Maine homestead with our young family, it was very strongly home, and has remained so :) I think and hope (so far so good) that our kids will know the joy of having a home they hold in their hearts, too!
You're very kind, Sydney - thank you so much. 😊 I love that your homestead became - and still remains - 'very strongly home'. That's absolutely beautiful. 🏡
I loved this post and was so engrossed in it while waiting for a flight at the Dallas-Ft Worth airport, that I almost missed my gate change/connection! 😂 Home is a center point and cornerstone for so many, the solid foundation for expectations and a base for courage as one forges ahead with one's life, regardless of the size of challenges and opportunities. Slippers, fuzzy socks, a roaring fire, the smell of coffee and favorite foods (especially around Christmas), can immediately feel like home. Home is definitely where the heart is. Blessed is that tie that binds.
I laughed out loud several times. I love the ‘revisions’ in your writing.
My mom has new slippers permanently on her Christmas list. They are a must for all of us.
Your story is a delight. Thank you for sharing it with us. 💕
LOL - thank you so much, Linda!
New slippers are WONDERFUL - a treat for the feet. A new pair under the Christmas list is always going to be exactly right!
What a wonderful piece! At, 71, I have moved 30 times, excluding college moves but I still have such a strong sense of home. It remains a lovely and poignant memory that I carry with me. Thank you for bringing my home to the forefront again !
Gosh, Susan - that's a lot of moves, but how wonderful that your strong sense of home has remained undiluted. I feel very fortunate that my parents still live in that house, and that I live so close.
Thank you for leaving such a lovely comment. 😊
I remember this one. And I remember asking, "When do you open the box?" Also, here's an update on our garlic attempt: utter failure! Back to square one with our garlic! Happy to see this old gold glitter again, Rebecca.
LOL, Mark! Thank you so much! Darn it, I'm so sorry about your garlic. Mind you, if things had gone the opposite way, and you'd ended up with a glut, you'd be making garlic-flavoured EVERYTHING right now....! 🤣
🧄
There used to be a quiz programme called Take your pick, in which winners had to choose between taking the money or opening the box. I think Rebecca could resurrect that in the parental home.
🤣
Goats milk: yeuccccchhhh!!!
A delightful post, with very beautiful sentiments expressed at the end. A little too mushy for my taste, but delightful nonetheless.😎
It's funny - I'd been going to do some light editing of exactly that part, but left it exactly as it had been originally! Sorry about that! 🤣
But thank you. 😊
I haven't drunk goats' milk since we had our own - it's always far too goaty! 🐐🥛
quite. Well-expressed
Goat fudge is the most amazing thing ever.
Ooooooh, now that sounds jolly tempting - I'll keep my eyes peeled for some! 😊
'orrible
Yuks
Rebecca, we must meet some day! Well, that sounds quite pushy. Of course you get a vote. But...we'd have so much to talk about! 😊 I've been toying with how to rework and publish a piece I wrote back in the early 2000s about my parents' home (not at all a smallholding, but still filled with love and memories). And you know about my farming days. This brings it all to life, and provides a beautiful window into you and your world at the same time. I'm SO GLAD they stayed!
Oh, what lovely things to say, Elizabeth! Thank you! Isn't it great how Substack brings like-minded people together in this way? Your piece about your own parents' home filled with love and memories sounds wonderful - I do hope you'll publish it on Chicken Scratch! 😊
The sweetest! You are the extreme opposite of homeless! You are richly and abundantly homed! But please, in the future, do not wear purple socks with your red slippers. I mean, really.
Thank you so much! And you're so right - please accept my sincere apologies for such unacceptably outlandish colour choices. #mybad 🫣
🔴🟣
What a delightful newsletter!! Thank you for sharing it!! And I got new slippers recently too!! Mine are grey. I especially enjoy wearing my blue-green socks with them. 😁😘💚🧦
Clearly, Rebecca needs guidance on coordinating slippers with socks. Thank you for helping her to steer clear of outlandish combos.
Lol!!! And here I thought I was aiding and abetting 🤣🤣💚💚
Thank you so much - and that sounds like a great combination, Sue! Happiness is absolutely a pair of new slippers, isn't it? 😊
Absolutely!!!!!!
I'm glad you reposted this. I hadn't seen it. It's so refreshing to read a post that celebrates the simple things like home, slippers, goats and most importantly, family.
Thank you very much, Jim! 😊 Goats absolutely need celebrating - they're awesome creatures! 🐐 Family, too, is everything. I'm very lucky. ☺️
I quite like red and purple together, Rebecca, as I do blue and green, it's the concept of slippers I have never quite grasped...my feet get incredibly cold and so apart from summertime, I always wear chunky boots indoors... I love that home is so grounding for you, it was delightful to get a glimpse of it all! For me, home is perhaps moments shared and the impact of a piece of art rather than a specific place.
Thanks, Mya! I do too, actually! 🔴🟣 And because my slippers are what I wear all the time at home I don't ever think about what else I'm wearing that does or doesn't co-ordinate!
I'm not sure I'd be comfy in chunky boots all day long, but I'm absolutely on board with wearing some kind of footwear in the house all of the time. We were brought up wearing slippers - what if there was glass or dirt or a dropped pin or something on the floor? I'm not dressed without something on my feet!
Home is everything - and I agree that moments shared and the impact of positive experiences can mean home just as much as bricks and mortar can. 😊
Such a sweet story. Made me smile. I love the slippers. Are they Stegmans? I’ve been looking at them because I desperately need a new pair.
Thank you so much, Susi! They're not Stegmanns (although I'm going to look those up RIGHT NOW!) - they're Haflingers. This is my fourth pair, and they're ever so comfortable. I like the very thick sole because my heels feel tired and sore if I'm on my feet all day with thin-soled footwear on.
Mine are the Torben model: https://www.haflingershoes.co.uk/women
Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, shipping to the US is pretty expensive so I’ll have to stick with something I can get here. I like a supportive sole as well!
Sorry - my mistake - I posted the UK link instead of the US one! Try this: https://haflingerusa.com
😊
I have never seen any slippers quite like those. I’m so glad they’re comfy. I’d be worried that the backs of my heels would get cold! Mine are always fully encompassing, cosy and warm. Treasured items of clothing no matter what colour!
And yes, Home is oh so special. I adore where I’ve ended up, with a cream picket fence and a garden all round. They knocked down our family’s childhood home decades ago and replaced it with apartments!! Though old Mrs Stoddard’s house on the corner is still there. We never forget those special, early days do we?
I hope your goats lived a long and happy life and didn’t end up in the mincer. Grin. Ah the memories...
Thanks so much Rebecca. Another delightful read. Happy sigh. 🤗🤗😘😘🌼🌼🌻🌻
Thanks, Beth! They're very comfy - they do look quite open at the back, but my feet do feel loosely held all the way round. I always wear socks, so perhaps that why I don't really notice.
I love that old Mrs Stoddard's house on the corner is still there! Mum took me to the house where she grew up when we were in the area for a family funeral when I was fifteen. We parked at the side of the road, and Mum was pointing at the window of what had been her bedroom. To my astonishment she suddenly opened the car door and rushed up to a very elderly lady who'd just appeared to do some weeding in the flowerbed just outside the low boundary wall of the house next door.
'Mrs Brewer?' she asked. 'Do you know who I am?' She sat on the wall and looked at the lady.
'Yes!' came the immediate answer. 'You're J! And you used to sit on my wall JUST like that to talk to me!'
They hadn't seen each other for DECADES - it was a magical moment.
And LOL - no, the goats didn't end up in the mincer! At least, not OUR mincer... they never did come home. 😕
The Perfect reply! I teared up a little. Happy, happy sigh. Those old memories are SO strong. Enjoy your week dear Rebecca.
😊
One of the biggest surprises when I retired is how much more frequent my slipper purchases have become. A pair used to last me for years, but now I wear them most of the time and have to buy new ones almost every year!
LOL - yes, they're a standing item on my Christmas list, Kerry! I'm still wearing the red ones, but I'm definitely in the market for a new pair! 😊
What a joyous story! I wish I could feel the same way about my home. I lived hundreds of miles from my hometown now. Every time I go there, so much has changed, erasing my childhood. Such is life in America as compared to England, I suppose. The last visit, we didn't even drive past my childhood home. I've said goodbye forever. Your story about the buyers traipsing through struck a note, too. We stuck around while people looked at our funky "hobbit house" years ago. When we bought the one we're in now, the realtor told the seller to leave while we were there. I guess it was just an understood thing, because he didn't protest. After our experience in the hobbit house, though, I understood why that was kind for him. We loved it. It was perfect. But how rude of people to tell you how they would "improve" your home.
Thank you, Sue! 😊 It's funny, I've got a bit of a thing about not going back to places. I have no desire to hang out in any old 'haunts' of my youth, or even go back to whole towns where I used to live. I've kind of put old places into locked-away compartments, if that makes sense! I think if my parents didn't still live there I would really struggle to even drive past the house I grew up in.
I guess we're all very particular about our home environment - or indeed potential home environment. I agree that those people had been rude - and what a great catalyst for that decision to stay! 🤣
It appears you have a well-honed capacity to detach from places that no longer effect your life. Rather than hold on for nostalgia's sake and whatever value that may bring, it seems to me a person needs to let go as time goes on and move forward without regret. The memories will always be there and perhaps change as the perspective of events focuses on the meanings. Nostalgia, though, can become a trap, like a hand grabbing your ankle from the grave.
These are such great words, Sue! I've been thinking about this kind of thing a lot - I don't find it easy to maintain relationships with places and people, and have always thought that to be a little odd. I love what you've said about perspective, and the 'trap' of nostalgia. 😘
You touched a cord with this piece. Hubby and I have moved many times over the years. I would nest but not completely. There would always be one room without furniture, or it became a hyphenate room. Office-guest-storage. We are hoping to move yet again to be closer to our kids in Boston.
You must open that suitcase and report back. It could be a time capsule. Even if it’s the junk drawer from 1976!
Yes. Open that box. There is a story in there, I am sure.
I think that's what we're afraid of, Sharron! 🤣
Thank you so much! And yes, there's always one 'outlying' area that will end up as the place for stuff, or the room that doesn't quite have a single identity!
I'll report back on the packing case....! 🤣
This is wonderful! Such a beautiful story, and liberally sprinkled with humor 🤣 Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I had a home that was home in that way as children, but we have found it now as adults. After several moves, when we arrived on our little Maine homestead with our young family, it was very strongly home, and has remained so :) I think and hope (so far so good) that our kids will know the joy of having a home they hold in their hearts, too!
You're very kind, Sydney - thank you so much. 😊 I love that your homestead became - and still remains - 'very strongly home'. That's absolutely beautiful. 🏡
I loved this post and was so engrossed in it while waiting for a flight at the Dallas-Ft Worth airport, that I almost missed my gate change/connection! 😂 Home is a center point and cornerstone for so many, the solid foundation for expectations and a base for courage as one forges ahead with one's life, regardless of the size of challenges and opportunities. Slippers, fuzzy socks, a roaring fire, the smell of coffee and favorite foods (especially around Christmas), can immediately feel like home. Home is definitely where the heart is. Blessed is that tie that binds.
Mary, what a really beautiful comment - thank you so much. 😘 Happy travels! ✈️