tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post6949584787680323450..comments2024-03-27T16:19:53.023+00:00Comments on Friko's World: Permutations on Lamps and The People Who Owned Them - (V) Frikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04277167831642088694noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-39347052252066050112014-12-09T05:54:48.704+00:002014-12-09T05:54:48.704+00:00Your closing musings are such a privilege to read,...Your closing musings are such a privilege to read, as they give us insight into how the writing process affected you. Small solace here, but your closing thought--"I know that rarely do two people remember their joint past in quite the same way but I would love to be able to argue about it. I have lots of unanswered questions and no one left to ask, much less answer them" has been the Jocelynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03227519811818290510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-11743355295812550392014-12-08T18:59:29.914+00:002014-12-08T18:59:29.914+00:00You are such a writer, Friko. It runs deep in you,...You are such a writer, Friko. It runs deep in you, and I am glad to be one who benefits.<br /><br />=)Susan Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16049586085703324088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-22949174082872443662014-12-06T23:53:45.105+00:002014-12-06T23:53:45.105+00:00I come from a root family of denial and secrets an...I come from a root family of denial and secrets and now and again the pain overwhelms me but the more I write about it the more this pain gets diluted and transformed. I hope I make sense, but this little girl would have been very much drawn to your little girl. Seems like my eccentric friends from those days are still with me, though some are in disrepair. And my precious sibs and I've Wisewebwomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15281689872840844191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-38372235795468837142014-12-05T18:19:19.254+00:002014-12-05T18:19:19.254+00:00I come from one of those happy families. As a chi...I come from one of those happy families. As a child, teenager and even as a young adult I assumed my experience was common but as I have grown older I have realised that the intelligent, supportive, adventurous warmth we grew up in is quite unusual. I still have very good relationships with my siblings, although my brother's stroke has profoundly altered his life and all his relationships.Elizabeth Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-76871691847977374032014-12-04T02:27:50.464+00:002014-12-04T02:27:50.464+00:00I struggle with how to write about painful childho...I struggle with how to write about painful childhood memories - I'm not always sure I want to dredge them back up.Secret Agent Womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07564690116156754219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-70106641095130643722014-12-03T04:04:39.612+00:002014-12-03T04:04:39.612+00:00You were brave to write about those painful memori...You were brave to write about those painful memories. Your writings were painful to read, but now I understand the woman who writes such brilliant posts a little better. <br /><br />My mother, at 98, is alive and well. She helps me connect the dots of the present to the past. I've not always agreed with her. I often am upset by her, but I am fortunate to have her. The WWII years were Sally Wesselyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06470453773515491625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-57421577933342317452014-12-02T15:18:55.486+00:002014-12-02T15:18:55.486+00:00Elephant's Child, your answer resonates with m...Elephant's Child, your answer resonates with me, though not regarding my siblings (they are a fair bit younger so some of our memories don't overlap, aren't shared). However, my mother will bend the past to breaking point. It's - and has been for a long time - the one bone of contention for me in an otherwise loving relationship with my mother. Instead of just saying "yes, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-45413944447791912502014-12-01T03:03:33.341+00:002014-12-01T03:03:33.341+00:00My two siblings and I view our childhood through v...My two siblings and I view our childhood through very different colored lenses. I, of course, am the one who sees with the clear lens. The others are variations. I am also the eldest and therefore the bossiest. Sigh. Siblings are a joy and a torment all in one. But I'm glad for them both. <br />Your experiences are unique to you and your situation, but I felt some of the "not fitting in&Lorriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03653026442945027184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-57482787091118274472014-11-30T21:19:18.471+00:002014-11-30T21:19:18.471+00:00Siblings and families can be a very mixed blessing...Siblings and families can be a very mixed blessing, Friko, but at least there is the possibility of connection and continuity which is so much harder for the only child. My sisters and I often have markedly different memories of events, places and people and aren't always very good at compromising. <br /><br />Thank you for this thought=provoking series of posts.Perpetuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214396019726161983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-73188475145685960992014-11-30T16:08:49.637+00:002014-11-30T16:08:49.637+00:00It is said that when you share a burden you cut it...It is said that when you share a burden you cut it in half. Hopefully, sharing this burdensome past with your readers dissected it into many tiny particles, invisible to all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-35369010105448817202014-11-30T11:50:10.215+00:002014-11-30T11:50:10.215+00:00I've just had a long sit-down and read your &q...I've just had a long sit-down and read your "perambulations" from beginning to afterword, Friko. Thank you for all the lamps you've lit in the telling, hard as it must have been for you, and for giving me a deeper appreciation of the family I do have, warts and all. When we rattle the drums of war, we never think of the real toll and aftermath. Penny O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14665025558373015362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-90006923385628921272014-11-30T10:57:50.666+00:002014-11-30T10:57:50.666+00:00Painful memories Friko, and so well expressed! I ...Painful memories Friko, and so well expressed! I have a sister, but she was one of my chief tormentors in childhood and getting away from her was my prime motivation for leaving home as soon as I could, never mind my father... I still keep her at arms length - families are difficult. <br /><br />Did you, like me, look longingly at uncurtained, lighted windows, glimpsed tantalizingly on dark Catherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01588437065757203375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-81014099131278785382014-11-30T08:25:31.977+00:002014-11-30T08:25:31.977+00:00"I envy the continuity and the ties..."
..."I envy the continuity and the ties..."<br />Me too. We moved around so much when I was little, we changed states and towns, then when we arrived in Port Pirie, we still kept moving. I'd lived in 18 places by the time I was seventeen. At 18 I married a soldier and the moving began again, so my own children also lost that continuity, with the result that my older son now keeps movingRiverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14794655013673748992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-81287482921110869212014-11-30T04:25:08.160+00:002014-11-30T04:25:08.160+00:00Your story was so interesting and many of us know ...Your story was so interesting and many of us know of your pain. We are all wounded people and no one in life gets by without taking some punshes. Having siblings can ease ones burdens, but I have found friends can do the same and often without judgement. We get through the tough times and move forward, but the scars remain. I just don't look at them anymore. <br /><br />Your story was so iStarting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06032033918798053005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-3502442889658951182014-11-29T19:53:27.515+00:002014-11-29T19:53:27.515+00:00May I just say thank you for all these posts (I ha...May I just say thank you for all these posts (I haven't commented on all of them, but I have read them).. They're vital in keeping alive our human memory. Even if you have edited some of yoru experiences out and that's understandable, you have given us a powerful insight into your life.<br /><br />Greetings from London.A Cuban In Londonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16423293358605007539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-85055038617230136742014-11-29T17:57:21.948+00:002014-11-29T17:57:21.948+00:00I can understand that disconnected feeling. It mak...I can understand that disconnected feeling. It makes you the keeper of the past.. at least for the parts which remain in your memory. You did a beautiful job of presenting that here.Hilaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787493532006658679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-16703388429194797072014-11-29T16:40:51.630+00:002014-11-29T16:40:51.630+00:00I can feel the loneliness in this post. I have li...I can feel the loneliness in this post. I have living brothers and sisters who live far away, but we try to get in touch every other year or so. Some conservative, some moderate and some liberal. We all seem to get along and avoid what we disagree about. I have distant friends, but no one close here where I now live, so I sometimes feel a loss of gal-talk and stuff to do. Hubby and I have a Taborhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15257045780724471840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-5701238538777376712014-11-29T16:05:21.042+00:002014-11-29T16:05:21.042+00:00That entire series of events altered your path...l...That entire series of events altered your path...led you to a new school and meeting a variety of new people you would never have met had it not happened. I believe we are meant to be whoever we are and the circumstances and events are there to form us. Some of us are just not meant to be close to our birth families--even if we had siblings--even if we had wished it was different. I constantlyRitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02043285884495492598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-88839689719215780122014-11-29T14:40:09.776+00:002014-11-29T14:40:09.776+00:00it is good for us to revisit these memories though...it is good for us to revisit these memories though, no matter the rough edges...sometimes it gives us perspective we did not have in the moment as well.....i rather like the soft light of a lamp...i can relate though to keeping your head down growingup...i learned that quite well....Brian Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722940075884718007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-59486371922760040422014-11-29T13:38:48.527+00:002014-11-29T13:38:48.527+00:00And I too felt your stories in my heart, Friko. I ...And I too felt your stories in my heart, Friko. I realize, when I read this last one, how fortunate I am to have my sister who is two years younger than me. When we talk, we often reminisce about our younger years, and it amazes me, always, that we remember them so differently. She is an introvert, like you, and I am an extrovert. I've learned that because of growing up with her, I gravitate DJanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152183871573797791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-68612773906232960162014-11-29T11:33:29.285+00:002014-11-29T11:33:29.285+00:00Dear Friko - As I read your story, I am thinking o...Dear Friko - As I read your story, I am thinking of you today, many years later and look at what you have done. I know how it feels to disappoint parents and remember being awkward and oh so shy in school. I was smart, knew the answers but too shy to talk. The straw on the camels back came when the teacher placed a dummy hat on my head and sat me in a corner. I came home defeated and crying and LilliStJohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06771499579700164919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-13795135513864565622014-11-29T11:27:28.357+00:002014-11-29T11:27:28.357+00:00I was rather lucky as I lived in a part of Bonn in...I was rather lucky as I lived in a part of Bonn in which the government had built buildings for the employees. <br />The worst for me was starting a new life in Brussels being German ! Gattinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06636525277807715146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-42677030291826421962014-11-29T08:17:29.307+00:002014-11-29T08:17:29.307+00:00Hi Friko - I'm very lucky in many ways and I&#...Hi Friko - I'm very lucky in many ways and I'm so grateful I haven't been through the hardships you've experienced - and your lamps ... which shone a light on different areas of your life, and continue to do so today. I too reflect back and have tried as best I can to rationalise many things and satisfy my queries that way - perhaps slightly easier for me ... but there are Hilary Melton-Butcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17596532480645510678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-39856386837130506632014-11-29T07:37:57.757+00:002014-11-29T07:37:57.757+00:00I count myself among those lucky people you refer ...I count myself among those lucky people you refer to in your last paragraph, Friko, and I am fully aware of how lucky I am, having my parents, my sister and some of my old class mates live close by, all in the same town where I was born and - after short stints in other places - grew up in.<br />Staying here and not going away was my own choice, just as going away was your own choice back then Librarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05704656564078750607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294026230680025155.post-50424128298843346432014-11-29T07:20:56.086+00:002014-11-29T07:20:56.086+00:00Your eloquent memories speak to me; Your ruminatio...Your eloquent memories speak to me; Your ruminations speak FOR me too!<br /><br /><br /><br />ALOHA from Honolulu<br /><a href="http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">ComfortSpiral</a><br /> =^..^= Cloudiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05853753108637831069noreply@blogger.com