Word for the Day - Comfort or Play

Hi @Owlunar, that scene you painted in words of that childhood incident with carsickness, the bull, your dad roaring back at it (and keeping it up), your mum telling you to hurry up vomiting, your grandma's unexpected comment on it all - hilarious! Thanks for the genuine out-loud laugh.

When I was about three or four and we were living on the cattle station, I used to sometimes follow my dad around as he did various jobs that were part of his work as station hand. He was a tall bloke with a long stride so I don't know how I could possibly have ever kept up, but this is a true memory.

Anyway one day as I was running behind him, he cut through a little paddock on his way somewhere, and I followed him in. There was a cow and a calf in there and I went to pat the calf. At that point the protective mum-cow started chasing me round and round in a little circle. She wasn't going fast or even being very threatening probably, but being so little and that cow so bloody huge, I was sprinting round and round for dear life! I called out to Dad in my panic. He turned and saw what was happening and, I guess couldn't help himself, he just laughed out loud at the sight! I reckon the cow must have given up pretty quickly on chasing such a puny creature as me. But that memory has stayed in my mind all these years! I wasn't very keen on cows for a long time after that!

@outlander, here's a list of possible words:

sky
places
relaxation
holidays
TV
love
friendship
animals
food
dancing
singing
shopping
sounds
weather
hair
books
clothes
school
time

Take your pick!

@outlander Might get a little off topic or even hard to do, but maybe put up a picture and see what reactions/feelings it invokes. Lots of people looking at the same picture can uncover a lot of different interpretations. Could be

interesting ❤️❤️

@outlander. It’s kind of like when a writer describes a room with green curtains and blue walls. Some people interpret it to mean the writer was wistful for the days of his youth spent frolicking in the ocean (blue walls) while his tormented soul was deluded by depression (green curtains) - when in actual fact the writer was simply just describing a blue room with green curtains 🤣🤣

A simple picture could be rewarded with a lot of interesting commemts, emotions, or memories.

@Mazarita

Thanks for sharing Maz - it's really a great soul experience when someone picks up the humour when I write - and in retrospect that whole scene was really funny - and add to it my sibs - both younger than me - daring to mock with sound effects etc - they would not have dared to do that if I was on both feet. Actually even at the time I decided to ignore them,

Your story is touching - and my father had long strides too and I had to really move myself to keep up with him - and in my mind's eye seeing a little girl running around in a circle - round and round - is provocative- almost like a cartoon

I like cows - there is a warm, comforting feeling about them but I admit - I enjoy the fence between me and them too - I grew up visiting the children on the small farms north of the city when Dad was about his business - I loved the animals - esp the little white baby lambs with their little tails wriggling around when they nursed

Great memories - your Dad laughing though - that must be a good memory - I love thinking about my Dad laughing too -

Dec

I really like that idea of sometimes putting up images instead of words and asking us to write down the first thing they make us think of, @Razzle.

What we've come up with tonight with the words should keep us going for a while hopefully, @outlander.

@Owlunar, it was a cartoonish kind of scene, that one I described. And yes, now that I'm not being chased by a cow, it's a good memory. And, I have come to like cows now too.

Little lambs are so lovable. I remember seeing a newborn lamb struggle to its feet for the first time when I was about the same age as my story. That was on the cattle station too. Actually it was a sheep and cattle station, a massive one. We lived in a little worker's cottage riddled with white ants. It only had three rooms, all small. Mum was the station cook and dad the station hand. He also was involved in breaking in horses. I was the only child there and did a lot of roaming around on my own, in and out of rooms of the homestead, as well as outside, mostly barefoot. I remember the burrs! I have vivid and fond memories of that time.

Dad had a sometimes wicked sense of humour that I always seemed to 'get'. He was great fun and I loved him enormously, though he was also dark and destructive at other times. He died in 2003. I love him just as much now, and still feel him around when I think of him.