Do You Remember?

Farm, complete with chickens, work horses, milk cows, barns, coops...on the edge of our hometown...photo taken from our yard.  

Do you remember...
When winter seemed colder and snowier than nowadays?
When you lived in town but a farm like this one was across the street?
When a farm still might use work horses and a wood stove?  
When snow like this meant sledding, ice skating, snow forts?
When winter meant playing outside no matter how cold and snowy it was?

8 comments:

  1. I do remember those days. I do enjoy the modern conveniences of today though.

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  2. What a wonderful posting, Sue; you've posed some poignant questions.

    My husband and I live in the same house in which he grew up; we have neighbors on both sides of our property who live on what was, in Steve's memory, pastureland and corn fields a few decades ago. Since I have lived here, even I have memories of new homes now built on what was once farm land. As I write this, still more land outlying our community is for sale for residential and industrial development.

    I don't know if past times were necessarily better, but it seems like things moved a little slower then--no internet or cell phones to speed up delivery of information with the pressing of a button. Even our personal relationships are affected in countless way by technology--Facebook and other social networking venues. I could write a book about that aspect alone.

    Seems to me the past offers a poignant means of gauging the quality of our lives today--what have we sacrificed, what have we gained for all those sacrifices (privacy being one), and are we individually and societally happier now than we were back then?

    I'll be 60 years old next year. In my lifetime I've seen monumental leaps forward in technology in general, space exploration has revealed remarkable things, medical technology influences our quality of life in both good and not-so-good ways, advances and declines in the quality of education affect our young peoples' access to success, and that list goes on and on.

    Something to consider: when was the last time you were amongst family members/friends and there were those busily texting away on their cell phones, or who allowed--without excusing themselves--calls on their cell phones to interrupt conversations?

    There was a time, once upon a time, when that was considered bad manners.

    I don't know if the past was better, but it seems we had more time back then to take time to think with discernment, to feel genuine emotions, to reflect, and to simply live in one moment without a lot of distractions.



    Man...maybe that WAS a better time...

    Thank you for some powerful food for thought, Sue. Again, I am so happy I found your and Myrna's blog. You're doin' good.

    8 )

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  3. My apologies for rambling on your dime, Sue; you got me thinking and I'm a writer--a volatile combination these days.

    I'm looking forward to those recipes!

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  4. I'm back, Myrna and Sue...

    I just discovered that you've posted a link on your blog to mine...thank you so very much; what a kind thing to do.

    I apprciate it, and you.

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  5. Memories of cold winters and diggin out snow caves. I'd rather have the memories and enjoy the modern day today.

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  6. I remember seeing an old man using two mules plowing a vacant lot near where I lived in Abilene TX. I ran inside our house and breathlessly told my Dad to come see such an oddity (it was the late 1950's). He just scoffed and said it was no big deal to go see. You see he had been a plow boy back in the 1930's and had done more than his fair share of following two mules and a plow than he cared to think about.

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