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A Farm of My Own:  Screen Doors and the sounds of nostalgia  |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
 Posted - May 21 2007 : 08:35:20 AM
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I was just reading the Princess 'Mater blog yesterday and read the post about her beautiful screen door. Princess 'Mater wrote about what the sound of the screen door slamming means to her and as I was reading the blog it made me think about what a screen door means to me.
I remember having a nanny/babysitter when I was little that had a screen door on her house. It was the old fashioned wooden kind like Princess 'Maters. When you opened it, the tight metal spring on it would make this fantastic "screeawch!" sound and if you weren't careful how you closed it, the wooden frame of the door would slam into the wooden frame on the house. For some reason the sound of the screen door reminds me of summer, of running out the door to go play in the green grass or play in her garden, digging in the dirt.
So my question is this: What sounds make you nostalgic? What sight or sound really transports you back to a younger more carefree time? Or do you have something that gives you a borrowed nostalgic feeling? As in, you might never have experienced it, but seeing this item makes you wish you had lived or experienced something. For example, seeing the pin-curl hair do's and TV shows like the original Lassie makes me nostalgic for the 1950's era, even though I never lived through it.
Alee
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2007 : 09:06:42 AM
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Well, I have to say that a screen door was a requirement in our home. It is on our front door. We had to buy a salvaged one, something with a little life to it.
Gladys Taber's books- I read them since I was 10 and I still have them all. They remind me so much how I want to live, I am getting there!!!
Anything from the 50's- prints, that beautiful turquoise blue (I have A LOT of that in my home), aprons, I have my Nanna's small cookbook and though the American Heart Association would have a fit, I cook with it alot. And oh yes, pincurls..Nanna used to pincurl her hair every 3 days. I remember her pink, yellow and white make up bag she kept her pinning stuff in.
I wear houseshoes out and about just like my Papa and I have a road bike like he used to have too. I also own green pants, like he used to wear all the time. I also grow purple irises just like him.
The funny thing is, they died when I was 12-13, but they had the most impact on my life. |
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MariaAZ
True Blue Farmgirl
203 Posts
Phoenix
AZ
203 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2007 : 09:32:33 AM
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This will sound funny... but being under a bonnet dryer takes me back to a very specific point in time when I was reading Alice in Wonderland as a child. I don't know where the memory came from, but it is distinctly from my childhood.
Big band music transports me back to my youth as well. Although my older brother loved his '70's rock music, and I have memories of the music drifting faintly through the walls at night when he played his records, I adored the big band music my folks listened to. Dad and I used to play "name that singer" all the time. I liked to think I was pretty good, but deep down inside I think Dad let me win. My offbeat musical interests really helped in junior high music class, where the instructor used to have us play "name that tune" and he happened to be a big band fan. Needless to say, I usually won :)
Visit my blog at www.craftyfool.net |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2007 : 10:38:35 AM
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What great memories ladies! I love big band music, though I don't really remember hearing it a lot growing up. However I do remember lazy weekends watching Shakespeare movies on the TV with my parents.
Alee |
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Vintage Redhead
True Blue Farmgirl
233 Posts
Kaylyn
Saint Charles
IL
USA
233 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2007 : 11:26:31 AM
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This is a *really* odd sound.
Back in the '70s, my dad's parents lived in Bloomington, Illinois and we would travel to visit them.
Grandma Butler had an "icebox" [that's what you called the fridge/freezer unit back then - an "icebox!"] that had a heavy chrome handle. We had to pull it toward us 'lever-style' to pry the seal to release the door which was a tremendous sucking sound. Then close to close the door, we had to give it a good push to make it click back into place, lest the seal not take and cold air escape. Even in the '70s, it was probably 20 years old or more. Grandma had a way of keeping things as long as they worked. And back then, things were built to last. It may not be energy efficient, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that somewhere today, that icebox is still running.
I remember - even from my kid memories - that it wasn't like my parent's easy-peasy fridge. No, that icebox actually took work to open and close. You even had to make your own ice cubes!!!  Every now and then I'll hear a similar sound and it will bring back that memory of the icebox. I can't remember the manufacturer - only where it stood in grandma's kitchen, that it was white, the sounds that it made (opening, closing, compressor), and that it was heavy...I means as in "having substance" heavy.
Funny I should think of it today. My 5-year old "High Efficiency" fridge stopped working late last week and everything inside has had to be pitched. So much for things being "...built to last..." any more. ~ Kaylyn
~ Kaylyn ~ (Living in Suburbia with a FARMGIRL Heart!)
My Cause: http://nickspavilion.blogspot.com/
My Life: http://vintageredhead.blogspot.com |
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Kathie
True Blue Farmgirl
2436 Posts
Kathie
Thonotosassa
Florida
USA
2436 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2007 : 11:52:23 AM
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I loved when i was a kid laying out in the yard under a shade tree & listening to the neighbors in their yards.. severals yards away you could hear them.. coming in & out of their houses..( Screen doors slamming of course..) & ALWAYS someone shouting from inside.. "Don't let that door slam!" which it always would of course.. i could hear a dog bark from off in the distance.. someone else pulling in their drive way getting home from work.. kids running down the drive to see their dads getting who had just gotten home.. i could hear my brother & his friends racing their bicycles in front of our house.. i loved hearing the sounds of a lawn mower off in the distance.. & the smell of fresh cut grass..
My Mom bought our 1st real house in a neighbor hood that was built out in the middle of no where.. it was surrounded by corn fields.. soybeans.. & a train track.. with a creek & wheat fields further down.. we were so isolatated for YEARS out there.. no progress ever cought up with this "neighborhood of tomorrow" bad planning on someone's part.. but looking back.. very good for us that all grew up togethere there!!
Can you imagine.. "Farm Kids" really.. out in the country.. sourrounded by farms.. in a neighborhood? It probably was the best thing that could have ever happened to us..! As Kids.. !
In a World Where you Can Be Anything, Be Yourself.. |
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mommom
True Blue Farmgirl
854 Posts
Susan
Lancaster
Pennsylvania
USA
854 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2007 : 3:45:42 PM
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| When my doors are open and the screens are in them I can hear the Amish kids next door (across the field) squeeling and laughing because they're all jumping on the trampoline we gave them! They have so much fun on that thing! I can't see them, but just hearing them laugh melts my heart. Susan |
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blueroses
True Blue Farmgirl
1323 Posts
Debbie
in the Pandhandle of
Idaho
USA
1323 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2007 : 09:18:57 AM
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Well, okay, I don't know if I can explain this properly but in my grandma's house she still had a lot of pull-chains to turn on the lights when I was a little girl and I loved the sound they made. It always made me feel safe, loved and happy when I was at her house and the sounds of the chains switching the lights on and off (it's still in my head) brings back happy memories.
"You cannot find peace...by avoiding life."
Virginia Woolfe |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2007 : 6:06:49 PM
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Does anyone else love the sound and smell of a forced air furnace? Something about the click and whoosh of the thermostat clicking over and the air coming on makes me feel safe and comfortable. And early in the season you get that burnt dusty smell too. I am not sure why but I love that sound and smell! I also love the cool, crisp fall evenings which is when we would first be using our furnace so I guess it all goes hand in hand!
Alee |
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junkjunkie
True Blue Farmgirl
1306 Posts
Judy
Lawrenceville
NJ
USA
1306 Posts |
Posted - May 23 2007 : 08:19:23 AM
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| We had oil heat, so you would hear the radiators knocking and banging when the furnace kicked in. It was an eerie sound, especially when you're a child with a wild imagination. It sounded like someone was moving somewhere in the house..or someone was trying to break in. The boogeyman! My father had an old non-powered push lawn mower at one time and the gentle sounds of the blades, along with the smell of fresh cut grass brings me back. Eventually he got a powered one...even the sound of mowers is conforting. I like to hear children playing outside during the summertime. That was my neighborhood back then when there was no such thing as electronic games. I don't hear that sound too often, now. |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - May 23 2007 : 10:24:46 AM
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We have screen doors on both the front door (wood one) and kitchen door (yucky old aluminum one gettting replaced soon) and I love the sounds of summer..kids running in and out slamming the screen door and tracking water from the slip and slide across the kitchen floor.
I love the sound of the lawn mower too..another summer sound. And bacon sizzling in a pan always makes me think of my grandma..who made bacon nearly every morning at breakfast.
Another sound I have come to love as a part of summer here is my elderly neighbor across the street, who sits outside and plays his guitar and sings in the evenings. He even yodels! I love it.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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UrbanChick
True Blue Farmgirl
331 Posts
Ayako
Atlanta
GA
USA
331 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2007 : 03:20:54 AM
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The smell of oranges. I know it sounds odd, but we used to have orange trees in our yard and one was right next to my bedroom window. I remember picking them in the middle of the night to eat and putting the peels on the floor when I was a kid. My mom used to get so mad at us.
"Courage dosen't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying: I will try again tomorrow." |
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Peg Graham
True Blue Farmgirl
281 Posts
Peg
Chesapeake
Virginia
USA
281 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2007 : 05:35:56 AM
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smells
-lavender, reminds me of frolicking in a feild of them as a child when life was worry free.
-fireplaces in the winter air, reminds me of the snow storms in RI...loved being cooped up for a little bit.
sounds
-the Country Time Lemonaide commercials, the narrator just brings me back to childhood when Mom made homemade lemonaide and hung her freshly washed sheets on the line...ahhh...can you smell it all?
-birds, when there's no tv, no lawn mower, no cars, no noise....sit and listen to the peaceful bird songs...and I remember days when I was 'quiet with myself'.
sights
-homemade breads, reminds me of when Mom baked her own after grinding her own wheat...yum! peanut butter and honey on a slice of warm just baked bread...double yum!
-streams, lakes...reminds me of when I was a child and my folks took us to Buttermilk Falls to swim. The feel of the soft stones under my feet and the sounds of the water falling off the rocks...so peaceful. Also reminds me of when I tubed down the Snake River when I lived in Utah and a bunch of us Single Adults from church went on a trip to Jackson Hole. Good times!
miles of smiles~
Peg |
Edited by - Peg Graham on May 24 2007 6:17:03 PM |
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mkmomus
True Blue Farmgirl
248 Posts
Merle
Greensboro
NC
248 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2007 : 08:28:12 AM
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Judy,
We had one of those push lawnmowers as well. I LOVE that sound. There was a kind of swoosh. I love the smell of grass also. I love the smell of sauce on a summer Sunday (I'm 1/2 Italian) I would be outside and could smell that sauce. We lived in the city most of the time but my Grandmother had a farm so we spent time there too. The smell of a real barn always takes me back. My daughter takes riding lessons, but the barn only smell like a REAL barn sometimes. It did yesterday. We walked in and nobody was in there, they were all up at ring. There were only 2 horses in the barn (my 2 favorites) and there was that special light. The barn was dark but outside was bright and there was just a glow. It smelled just like I remember. I just closed my eyes and stood there. Even my daughter (14yo) became more peaceful. I forgot all my troubles and just relaxed. Ah - the good life! |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2007 : 7:47:57 PM
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ha! the 'whacking' sound of a fly swatter on a hot sultry day ... the whirr of a portable 'fan' during the dog days of summer too!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2007 : 7:49:20 PM
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the bell of the 'ice cream man' (good humor) .. the sight of his white truck and uniform .. and the gleeful shouts of all the nieghborhood kids asking their parents for a 'nickel' for a popsickle
!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2007 : 10:02:13 AM
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Would you believe, dead fish? I grew up on a river, and every once in awhile a big dead fish would wash into the seawall and stink. The gentle lapping sound of the river, the way it glitters in the afternoon sun and turns as smooth as glass at dawn, it was so beautiful. The boats and lawnmowers with their two cycle engines thrumming, and the sparrows in the barnyard, and the robins at day's end.
And Judy, I *so* understand! I was thinking the same thing this morning, when I walked into my own barn to do chores. There's nothing in the world that smells so good as the sweet smell of horse sweat! Add the squeak of a beloved old saddle and the hot sun on your neck, the thrumming of crickets as you ride among Queen Anne's lace and brown eyed Susans, and it's the closest thing to heaven on this side of the veil. |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2007 : 12:24:55 PM
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Kaylyn - my brother lives in Bloomington, IL. I had forgotten about the sound of the "ice box" door. That does bring back memories for me. We always called our refrigerator an ice box even when it wasn't one. Must be a mid-west thing -- I still slip and call it that every once in a while. My daughter looks at me like I've lost my mind.
I love laying across the bed on a warm summer day with a gentle breeze coming in the window; listening to the neighborhood sounds -- children playing, a lawn mower in the distance, the swish of a car passing on the street. Very comforting to me.
Visit my Etsy shop at http://therusticcottage.etsy.com
http://therusticcottage.blogspot.com/ |
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Huckelberrywine
True Blue Farmgirl
1607 Posts
Michelle
Rosalia
1607 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2007 : 3:49:31 PM
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I should know the name of the bird that does it, but it escapes me. He says "cheese-burger". I hear it and just giggle. Reminds me of summer camping trips in college when we used to go rafting, and that carefree time. Wouldn't trade now for then, but that silly bird song takes me right back. My daughter calls them cheese-burger birds now too.
We make a difference. |
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junkjunkie
True Blue Farmgirl
1306 Posts
Judy
Lawrenceville
NJ
USA
1306 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 08:40:27 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by CabinCreek-Kentucky
the bell of the 'ice cream man' (good humor) .. the sight of his white truck and uniform .. and the gleeful shouts of all the nieghborhood kids asking their parents for a 'nickel' for a popsickle
!
Ah......yes, I remember that! I loved Creamcycles (still do!) and I remember there was a time that Good Humor had a popcycle that after you ate it, if you had a figural (or maybe animal) at the end of the stick, you got a free popcycle next time. Funny how I remember that.
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Kathie
True Blue Farmgirl
2436 Posts
Kathie
Thonotosassa
Florida
USA
2436 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 11:47:45 AM
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Michelle.. i amgoing to go crazy now Until i find the name of the Cheese Burger bird!
In a World Where you Can Be Anything, Be Yourself.. |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 6:49:46 PM
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I don't think I have ever paid attention to hearing a bird say "cheese-burger" but now you know I will be listening for it!
Alee |
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lamarguerite farm
True Blue Farmgirl
649 Posts
missy
Battle Ground
Wa
USA
649 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 8:14:34 PM
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The cheese burger bird reminded me of the "bob whites" that we would hear growing up in illinois. I'm not sure it that's what they're called, but that's the sound they made.
I definately love that screen door sound. I've been known to bring home random old, wooden screen doors. I had a huge old pink barn door in my living room for awhile and it spend some time on my front porch. When we built our green house, I had to build the door frame to fit an old wooden screen door that I bought and it has that great screech sound in the springs when you open and close it. It needs to be adjusted though, because its missing the slam sound when you let it close! haha
Love the smell of fresh cut grass and the smell of rain coming after it's been dry for days. Certain flowers are very nostalgic for me because my grandmother has always had flowers in her yard. I remember being fascinated with lily of the valley and and the pretty little fragrant flowers.
Blessings,
Missy
If you have a dream, even if you don't feel qualified to accomplish it, just try your hardest.-Maggie Jensen
http://18happyhens.blogspot.com
www.LaMargueriteFarm.com |
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JeannieC
Farmgirl in Training
46 Posts
Jeanne
Wylie
Texas
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 11:05:30 PM
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I love the sound of screen doors too! I want to replace our aluminum back door one with a good, old fashioned wooden screen door.
My grandparents used to have a summer bungalow in the Catskill Mountains (NY) when I was a kid. It was in the middle of this summer resort and had formerly been a farm house. The fields next to it were still there, including cement troughs for past farm animals. The porch was huge, with old wicker furniture on it. I spent many happy hours on the porch.
The kitchen was very large, and I loved the pantry, and the bathroom had one of those great claw-foot tubs. My grandfather used to fish (using corn meal as bait) and would bring home massive fish that he would put into the tub until he was ready to clean them.
My grandparents died in the middle 70s, so I haven't been there since..but I've heard that the bungalow is still there, but sadly might be torn down by the resort.
But I do have very happy memories there :-D
Speaking of the bird that says "Cheese-burger", there used to be this certain type of bird that used to be around our area when I was a child. It used to chirp "Nyuck nyuck nyuck", and my best friend said that it reminded her of the sound Curly would make, from the Three Stooges, LOL!
Hugs..
Jeannie
~ "Livin' Life by the Drop" ~ (stevie ray vaughan) |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2007 : 09:26:34 AM
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Jeannie- I wonder what type of bird that what! How funny! Your memories of the bungalow sound great. I love the description! I can just imagine going in to take a nice relaxing bath and seeing a huge fish swimming around! Ack! I wonder what your grandmother thought about that!
Alee |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2007 : 10:34:43 PM
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Bird songs really can do it for a girl, can't they?!? I remember when I was little, my mom would whistle for us when she wanted us - it was a sort of high-pitched "whee-whew," and when we moved houses one time (we moved quite a bit), there was a bird with virtually the same call! At first, we'd come running in only to hear that she didn't call us at all. We all now call those birds "mom-birds." Any other name just wouldn't seem right...
Could the "cheeseburger bird" be a whipporwhill (did I spell that right?!?!)?
XOXO, Libbie
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A Farm of My Own: Screen Doors and the sounds of nostalgia |
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Screen Doors and the sounds of nostalgia
