Thursday, June 10, 2010

View From My Bedroom Window


It was a large room with very high ceilings, or so they seemed from a child's eye view. There were two twin beds located in the room sitting side by side and I occupied one of them. The rest of the furnishings were rather sparse and plain.

I remember the windows the best. They were very long, or so they seemed from a child's eye view. The strangest thing about that window, were the curtains. They were made of plastic! Bright patterns of multi-colored flowers, usually. Looking back plastic curtains seem so strange but they were quite common at the time.

The view from the window wasn't much to see. Usually an alley followed by the house next door, maybe four feet away. You felt as if you could touch it, if you leaned out far enough.

In the summertime our windows were always open and thanks to the "shot-gun" design of our house, there was always a breeze blowing through. I never remember our house being hot. Of course we had huge window fans, usually placed in a back room, that drew in not only the wonderful breezes but the most delicious aromas of the city! Some may say this with sarcasm but not I! There was a seafood restaurant across the street and just down the way, a bakery. If the next door neighbor was fixing shrimp creole or red beans and rice, well, you certainly knew about it!

I loved the sounds from my window the best. Cars going by, people talking next door, the sound of music from across the street, and sirens blaring. All sounds of life and sounds of comfort to me. At night, the steady, soothing hum of the window fan would lull me into a deep, restful sleep.

That was my childhood bedroom.

How about yours? What was the view from your window?




~~~Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort IICorn 1:3~~~~

Blessings of peace everyone and all that is good! Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed weekend that is coming up!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, the memories simple things can evoke.

My bed was directly under a window. I would lie there at night looking out at the stars, enjoying a cool summer night's breeze. I often think about that window for some reason.

Forsythia said...

I had more than one bedroom as a child, but I remember lying in bed at my grandparents' house hearing the sound of the electric fan and the Pittsburgh Pirates game on the radio downstairs.

http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/ said...

and my bedroom window looked out to our big backyard where we had orange, lemon, plum and peach trees growing. A small house, but a huge backyard which was all we cared about in those days. I do remember the windows being open for the breeze. In Texas, we never open the windows, it's either too hot or too cold most of the time!!

Susan said...

Mine was a small window looking out on the drive-way and then into the yard next door, because the house next door set way back on their lot. I had a double bed, a chest, a dress, a hamper and a small closet. I shared the bed with my sister, who was 12 years older than I until she moved away from home at ate 19, when I was 7. My neighborhood was quiet.

Stacey said...

Manure. Yep. A great big pile of manure. My Daddy was a mushroom farmer during my childhood and it seems it was always fill season. We had mushroom houses on either side of our house. You know what we did? My cousins and I would get out our toboggans and sled down the mountains of manure. It was the strangest feeling because it was so hot. The dump trucks would come in and dump it in huge piles and you could see the smoke rising from them. Definitely a huge difference from the snow pile my Daddy would make for us with his tractor whenever we'd get a good snow! I didn't smell it because I was so used to it. So, as a little girl I most definitely didn't smell like a bed of roses... I smelled like a bed of mushrooms! LOL

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your view. I feel like I was there with you looking out your window. And... I remember those plastic curtains! lol

My view was different. We lived in a little mobile home and I shared a small bedroom with my sister. The view out of our little 2 ft. by 2 ft. window was the trailer next door. But living right beside a large wooded area, the sounds at night were amazing! The crickets and frogs 'sang' a lullaby that was the sweetest I've ever heard. It made our little room in our little trailer seem so much bigger and more secluded. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine that I was out there in the vast woods singing with all the wonderful creatures.
Thanks for pulling up an old memory my friend and sister in Christ!
Hugs,
Deb

Pat said...

What an interesting post..I may have to borrow the subject one day for my own!
My bedroom held a double bed, dresser, desk, record player on top of the desk. One window looked out to the street because we lived on a corner, the other window looked out to the backyard and pool. It also had a very large closet. Mostly I remember it was always very clean...not by my hands, but my Mother was always cleaning! I also remember not liking my window near the sidewalk..I heard people waking by and it made me scared...I was a big chicken! That was one of several homes we lived in, but the one I was in the longest as a child.

LibbyLibbyLibbyLibbyLibby said...

Love the picture of the window. My view is of the lake. :)

Travis Cody said...

Lovely description!

Maxine said...

I loved reading this, Debra. And I love your perspective on it. No matter where home was, we would have good memories of some sort if we felt loved and protected.
I remember a very hot bedroom on the upstairs of our home in a small town. We had window fans to suck out the air, but in the hottest part of summer, it was difficult sleeping. In the winter it was cold upstairs and I piled my bed with warm blankets. That I preferred to the hot room. You see, for winter heating, we had one large open heat register from the basement furnace. This register was in the dining room area and did a good job of heating the downstairs, but not the upstairs.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. And yes, I remember plastic curtains.

Grayquill said...

That was an interesting view of the past - It reminded me of the song, 'If these Walls Could Talk'
I am glad you clarified the smells. I did not envision a bakery smell, which of course is the best!

Mimi said...

Hi Debra!!!!I am assuming you grew up in a large southern city,or a smaller one!!! sometime you must call me or I shall call you, just to hear your wonderful southern accent, nothing makes me feel better then to hear the sounds of a dear sweet southern belle!!!!And to me you are just that!!!!!
Let's see, out my window was the front yard, a large tree, actually 2 large trees were in the front yard.A half chain link fence circled our yard. I think my Parents put it up to stop traffic from crashing into the tree or our house, as the street ended in front of out house, imagine a T we were the top part with the long line ending in our driveway!!!!
I think at that time we had evaporative cooling, so windows were kept slightly opened, no sounds except maybe the garbage truck or a few neighbor kids playing outside!!!!When I was young maybe 10 or so a serial molester was getting young girls, so all windows and doors were locked from then on. My neighbor was the best cook and baked wonderful chocolate chop cookies and home made bread, so we could smell that!!!I was the dennis the menace of the neighborhood, always visiting and making friends!!!!Mrs. J, I still call her that and she still calls me SUSIE, my middle name is Sue and I went by Susie til I was 10 or so as Jamie was a boy name, and then I hit 10 and thought susie was a baby name!!!!
She still lives in the same house and I call and check up on her a few times a year.
I will have her phone number memorized til the day I die, we kept her number handy in case of an emergency!!!!
Thanks for letting me walk down memory lane, I love blogging as it keeps our memories alive and us recalling past things for ever!!!!
It is so much fun hearing about how others grew up!!!!!
If you want to send me your phone number or vice versa, e-mail me!!!!
Would love to chat one day!!!!
hugs,
jamie

Mimi said...

HI!!!
I forgot to tell you what was in my room...
2 twin beds shared a room with a sister, sometimes older and sometimes younger, we would switch off, and I Never had it alone, I do not know why????
a small dresser and a built in closet with built in drawers!!!Our room was purple at one time and yellow at one time, it did have drapes, I think long white ones.
The walls were decorated with posters of our crushes at the time, Beatles, Osmond Brothers, David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman!!!!
And my sisters and I all collected AVON Products, so our dresser was filled with wonderful scents from AVON!!!!!
Hugs,
jamie

Anonymous said...

Sweet memories and a great post! Let's see . . . the view from my window. Just a big tree. My fond bedroom window memories aren't from the view but what we did with my brothers when we all got sent to our rooms. We tied a string that went from the girls' window to the boys' window. We would tie an Easter basket to the string and write notes back and forth or share toys via the basket until we could be 'ungrounded' and allowed to talk again. I won't mention the added danger of the screens being removed and four kids hanging out their respective windows to communicate this way. But we found a way to get through our short punishments. Then we learnd how to make cardboard periscopes so we could see each other from our respective bedroom windows. Hardly a punishment to be sent to our rooms!

Trish said...

Thank you for stopping by. I am, so happy to have discovered your Blog and love looking back. I had a wonderful childhood...my parents were the best! I will be stopping by regularly!