Memory Doodles - A Child's Imagination

Hello again!

I'm so sorry to have missed my Saturday post - blame the migraine fairy! Ugh!  Belated Beltane  blessings to any fellow pagan types out there...it's officially summer! And we have a new Royal princess to welcome the sunshine, which is a nice thing.

For today's Sunday post I thought I'd share a few more of my memory doodles with you, so without further ado, here we go!

I was feeling a little sad that I'd had to dispose of a lot of my baby toys when I moved home. I mean - it WAS necessary...we can't keep EVERYTHING, right? I DO have some precious things that you'd have to pry out of my cold, dead hands of course, but sometimes emotions can over-balance the sentimentality scales. So I decided to doodle a collection of some of my favourite remembered baby toys.....from left to right -

There's Gloria,the very first doll my mum made for me and gave me on my first birthday, which I remember very clearly. Mum didn't believe me when I said that I remembered the day until I described my 'party' in minute detail! (Don't ask me what I did last Friday, though! Accursed memory...) My Grandpa named her 'Gloria' and I remember being righteously pissed off but didn't have any words to say that I wanted another name! (In all honesty I'd probably have called her 'Anna'....I called most dolls 'Anna'....no idea why).  There's my little wind-up 'Blue Bird of Hoppiness' which mum bought for Christmas after I saw it and liked it in a shop earlier that year. I was terrified of clockwork as a toddler so she leapt at the chance to divert and disperse my fears.  There's 'Owlie', who was filled with jingly bells and clanged mightily when he rocked, then 'Baby Beans', a bright pink baby doll filled with tiny plastic beans, hence her name. Teddy Edward was a fabulous and much loved gift bear - from my Grandparents I think - and had a handsome blue bow. The dingly bell was a pull apart puzzle, and then there's 'Mmfff' the duck.  I named him when I was about 9 months old so 'Mmfff' was a good as that one was gonna get. I still have Edward and Mmfff!

Mum started having driving lessons when I was about 18 months old, so that she could get a better job with the advertising agency she worked for, who gave her a car to in which to learn. The instructor (who 17 years later taught ME to drive), called to pick her up every week and off they'd go with mum chattering animatedly as always. I'd watch her from the window (we lived with my grandparents) and would CRY to beat the band. I was convinced - with absolutely no good reason whatsoever - that the poor driving instructor was my daddy and was afraid he's take my mum away for good. I was a complete weirdo as a kid! Logic not my forte!

My mum encouraged me to read from a very early age. We didn't have a lot of books, but the ones we had were SO precious and I would gaze at the pages, fascinated, and loved when she or my Grandma would read them to me. As soon as I learned to read for myself, I'd hide away in my room and travel through the books to magical lands and would be oblivious to the 'real' world around me.

A couple of times a month we'd go to the bookshop. It was quite a long bus journey to get there and a proper day out as we'd then go to the beach and have a full, fun day. In the bookshop, mum would take me to the children's book section which was filled with all manner of wondrous and beautiful books and we'd look through them carefully so that I'd know what to ask the fairies for on my birthday.

I LOVED the magical worlds of fantasy, the talking animals, princesses and fairies.....howEVER - right next to the kid's section was the HORROR section! (yeah, I know, go figure....It was still the same when I went to work there when I was 16!)  And OOOOOOOOO I loved the monsters!! Mum would despair as I'd swing on my kiddy harness, desperate to get to the werewolves! THEY WERE SO FLUFFY! As I grew older my love of monsters and scary stuff was fed by the cool movies - Universal Studios and RKO ones - that were repeated endelessly on tv. Monsters = cool. Fact.

When I was three years old, my Grandpa helped mum get a little council flat. Other that my nan's house, which was the best place in the world ever, this was the happiest place we lived in. When I was four, she the fairies made me a multi-coloured ballgown with a gold bodice and with a matching tiara and little wings. 'The fairies' were very inventive and talented! Although I was never much of a 'dress-up' child, I wore that thing TO DEATH! Mum would put records of polkas and waltzes on her big old turntable and we'd dance around the room until it felt like we were flying. Wouldn't life be the best thing ever if we felt that free all the time?

My mum and uncle had both been 'dress-up' kids - aside from the ballgown I really didn't do that at all. BUT - that's because IN MY HEAD I totally saw myself as whatever character I wanted to be. I wasn't hugely good at being 'girlie' - I had dolls but they kind of sat on a shelf and looked nice. Well...apart from my Barbie. I accidentally set fire to her an had to extinguish her in the loo! Poor thing. I PROMISE it was [mostly] an accident.

I LOVED old tv shows and movies. I'd watch as much as I was allowed - Zorro, Flash Gordon, Tarzan, King Of The Rocket Men, King Kong, King Solomon's Mines... I was totally captivated by these heroic dramas and would rush out to my Grandpa's workshop and hammer-up a wooden sword or a 'ray-gun' (which would mysteriously disappear as soon as I went to bed) then play in the garden, battling evil villains, robot men and whole armies, triumphing every time. I didn't need a costume - after all, I WAS Zorro...I WAS Flash Gordon! And not ONCE did I ever want to be a princess - they needed rescuing and the frocks were hugely impractical for climbing or fighting! I was never good at being a traditional girl, but I was a kick-ass hero!

Imagination - where would we be without it? I'm glad my life was filled with monsters, talking animals, trolls and fairy folk. It would have been a whole lot more dull without them!

Have you tried drawing your life yet? Have you doodled a memory? I'd love to know - and I'd recommend having a go! I bet you'll have fun. AND now, as I've rambled away QUITE enough for one day, I'll bid you a very fond farewell and send you some summer sunshine to brighten your day. Love and hugs from Shroo :) xxx