"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Addresses and Locations

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the week is:    

Addresses and Locations

The Brief:

• Are there addresses and locations from your childhood you can recall?
• Can you remember your next door neighbours?
• Their name
• What they looked like
• What car they drove (if any)
• Addresses of family and friends
• Describe the houses
• Shops
• Clubs
• Do you have any pictures - houses, street signs etc

Locations:
I can recall most of the places I've lived which is quite a few since my mother - for some unknown reason - loves to move about every 3-5 years. She always gives great excuses, but its a pattern that I'm not sure why she got into as everyone else in her family stays at locations for years.
We've stayed in the following places:

• Newburgh
• Walden
• Maybrook
• Montgomery
• Lyon Mountain

Neighbours:
I do still remember some neighbours. These are:

• The trailer park - I used to go and talk to another little girl in one of the houses behind and another who visited her grandparents who lived next our trailer. 
• South Montgomery Street, Walden - I still talk to one of the families that lived first in front and then behind the places we rented 
• Capron Street, Walden - the sister/brother who lived across the street
• Next to Jim Brady's/White Rabbit Inn in Montgomery (going towards Walden) - I still talk to a few of the people I hung out there with
• And the other places, I didn't really get to know the neighbours - usually because we didn't speak to each other.

Picture Recall:

Some pictures I do have of where we lived and others are at my mothers in photo albums. I will put a few of the pictures up that I do have. Further, I've been looking up our old houses in Google Earth and then taking a "snapshot" of the buildings now if I could. As there are many addresses, I will pick only some to do.

 

Birth - late 1970s - Newburgh (that's me with the puppies)

Same house taken from Google Earth 2013

1970s. We stayed here (bottom) when my mother left my father for a short time

1970s. We then stayed on Walnut Street (the weird shaped building was the elementary school) for a bit

1970s. We then moved to get a bigger place when my sister came to visit (above the agency)

1980s. This was the trailer park. We lived in the most back corner with the loop - away from everyone.

1980s. We then moved into the this lane (middle of page) We stayed at the 3rd house (with tree) and then moved to the top house

About 1988. The house we lived at in Lyon Mountain. We rented the back and my sister rented the front.

1988-191This changed ALOT. When we lived here, by Jim Brady's, it was a duplex with 2 steps leading up into the house. We lived closest to the telephone pole.

1989-1991 lived on first level (my car is in the front!)

1991-1997 we lived on the top part (the yellow boards with fire escape)

Hope you liked the picture list.


  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.  

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Your Home Town

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the week is:    

Your Home Town

The Brief:
We all have one, perhaps it is where we were born, perhaps it where we lived for that special time in our lives, or perhaps it is where we now live.

• Wherever it is, why not tell us about it.
• Explain where it is, don't forget we are across the world!
• What is it that makes your "place" special?
• Do you feel a nice comfy emotional connection?

This is a tricky topic for me as I've lived in many towns growing up. I guess the best way to describe my "home town" would be to say the Hudson Valley in New York in the United States as this place. This is because my mother and I moved every few years from place to place all around in that area. On the map below, this would be the region denoted by the number 8.

Taken from Wikipedia

As a timeline, I have lived all around this region:
1972-1976 - Lived in Newburgh, New York
 

From Wikipedia

Newburgh was where my family lived when I was born. They owned a house not far from Stewart Airport (was Stewart Air Force base) due to my father being US Navy (and later retired from). This way my mother could still get to a military base for the PX or grocery store, the doctor's and some of the other things people had access to back then. However, by the time I left home, the PX was no longer as they demolished it to make it a car park for the upcoming airport, the doctor had been taken and shifted to West Point due to budget and many of the other extras were no longer given.

1976-1986 - Various addresses around Walden, New York

From Wikipedia

Walden is where my eldest sister lived when my mother left my father. Its a small little town where, if you live in town, everything is walkable. Its a quaint little town, but I have to admit over the last 20 years its changed and not for the better. There are many people living on government payments in sections and some of the houses have not been kept up in certain sections. This is actually sad because this used to be a great little town where everyone knew everyone else.

1987-1989 - Lyon Mountain New York (this would be region 5 on the map above)

From Wikipedia

Once my oldest sister moved from Walden, she moved up to Lyon Mountain which is towards the Canadian border with her daughters. We did move up near her, but my mother could not find a good and stable paying job, so we had to move back around the area we lived in previously. 

1989-1997 - Maybrook, New York

From Wikipedia

Maybrook NY was where we lived when I finished high school and went to college. We did moved a few times within the town. Again this is another tiny town only about 15 minutes from Walden New York. It was close enough to the town but not in it.

Special & Emotional connection

I think these areas were the special places because I spent my growing up years here. For the most part, it was stable as the areas we moved around to kept me in the same school district and this meant I had the same friends over the years.

Even now, we go back to the US to visit and we go to these areas so I can catch up with friends in the area. I don't believe there are many people who can say they've had the same friends for over 35 years!

My friends from school at our last reunion

  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.    

The Book of Me, Written by You - on Snow

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the week is:    

Snow

The Brief:

Do you live in area where you routinely have snow?
How old were you when you first saw snow?
Do you remember it?
Did you make snowmen?
Throw Snowballs?
Sledge Rides ?
What is the image that first came to mind when you read snow?
What does snow feel like, smell like ?
How do you see snow ?

The video is on YouTube. 

I have covered this topic a bit when I posted in this series about My Favorite Season. I do love snow and winter which is a bit strange for most people. I love or used to love going for walks when its snowing out and everything is covered in it. Its very quiet and you can hear the crunching of it under your feet. Around the holidays, like Christmas, when you go for a walk, you walk by houses that have taken the time to decorate with lights and with the falling snow its so pretty. Then add to almost no traffic and the quiet its quite magical. As I used to walk around in the snow, while hearing the crunch of it under my feet and looking at all of the lights, from time to time you could see into people's homes at the joy, happiness and love that shines through from the families that you see. That being said, as much as the views that you can see, it can bring out - especially if you walk by yourself - is the feeling of being quite alone and loneliness of not having what you are seeing. Depending on what your view is, it can bring about of both happiness and loneliness at the same time. 

Growing up

I grew up in upstate New York (around Walden, Maybrook, and Newburgh areas) and I had snow from the time I was born onwards until I moved from NY in 1997. When I was growing up, we

One of my last winter's in NY before moving to Australia

would get slammed with major snow storms from November until sometimes April. I don't think there was one child that when they looked out the window in the mornings, and didn't wish for snow because if there was snow, you would turn the radio on to see if you had either a delay or a free day off from school. The radio stations would announce if there was a snow delay (of 1 or 2 hours) or if school was cancelled for the day. 

I remember those days when it was delayed, but snowing to the point where you were frozen and couldn't see, we lived on the outside of town and would walk from there into the school - on a good day it could taken you 30 minutes and during snowing and iciness it could take you over an hour. 

Visiting the US during winter

My husband in front of both Falls in 2010 when its snowing

I remember snow very well. It was almost 4 years ago when I wanted my husband to experience true snow for the first time and we planned our trip over there in January/February. The only time we really got snow was when we went to Niagara Falls and there was a tiny bit when we landed in Fort Worth Dallas airport which ended up being cancelled because of the snow (it was less than 6 inches but it was like 3 feet to them because they just don't have the stuff very often). We ended up spending the night sleeping in the airport. 

Canadian side of the Falls when it was snowing  in 2010.

 

We really didn't get much snow, but it got really cold for my husband. He did some driving and that was an experience he will never forget. He did go outside with my nieces and their children to play but there wasn't enough of it to really play in. 

 

 

Did I ever go sleigh riding? Throwing snowballs? Make Snowmen? 

The hill where we used to go (along with many others) when I was young

My mother didn't have a lot of money but what we did get was one sleigh a year if we were lucky. If not then I sat down on well compacted ground that people had already used and went down the hill in my jeans and jacket with gloves and hat. With ice, I would use my sneakers on ice to ice skate. It was cheap, free and fun. 

The pond and where the house is now used to be where we would sleigh ride in 1980s.

Growing up, I spent this time with my nieces and we would go sleigh riding and making snowmen together. These pictures (above) are both places we used to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving and Snow

My mother digging out the car in 2003

I grew up around snow and this includes driving in the stuff. I hated digging out the car, waiting while the car was warming up, and then if someone wasn't good at driving in it (or its one of the first snowfalls of the year) then you had to always watch out for other people. Its always the other people you had to watch out for because once you got on snow or ice and started to slip, you were just a passenger and couldn't control the car at all. That's a downside as well. Add that to what you had to walk around in (slush) when the snow started to melt and its a pain in the butt. However, for the beauty and magical feel of it, I still consider it well worth the trouble.

Memories of Snow

I remember one Christmas, my mother, her boyfriend, myself, my brother and sister in law went over to my father's for our presents. We all went in one car, to save everyone gas. Anyhow, we ended up leaving early, after we got tired waiting for my father, and the roads were getting bad with snow and ice. On our way home, we slowed down because we saw a snow plow that was at an intersection in front of us at the stop sign. We stopped about a car length behind it. Anyhow, as we were waiting for the snow plow to move, the driver put it in reverse and before we knew what was happening, they backed up right into our car. My mother's boyfriend and my brother got out and ran up to the driver yelling at him. The one thing that rang, and still rings, in my ears is that my sister in law was pregnant and my brother was very worried about her even though she was sitting in the backseat with us and at the other end of the car from where the plow hit. This is now we found out my sister in law was pregnant. Thankfully, the pregnancy went full term and my nephew Charles Jr was born. It was a bad and good memory wrapped up in one. 

Even today, if we were over in the US and it was snowing, I would take the time out to go for a walk and just walk around seeing the snow. It certainly is a magical time of the year.

Australia and Snow

Christmas Day 2006's hail storm

As of 1997, I don't really get to see snow any longer. Well, if we wanted to "go visit it" where they make it up on the higher elevations then we could do that, but its too much work for not enough of an award. We do get hail from time to time and my husband runs around excited at that. In a way, its very funny to watch him go nuts over some hail, but if it makes him happy then go for it. However, sometimes I still have problems dealing with not being able to do many of the things I've discussed here - driving, snowballs, sleigh riding, etc - because overall I do LOVE the snow. I'm seriously thinking about asking Santa to bring a snow making machine, so I can still have a white Christmas... I wonder if it would work...?

Check back next week for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.