Nostalgic moments can arise inexplicably, leaving you wondering why this particular scene drew you back into a foggy pool of nostalgic associations.
An old truck,
parked on a Seattle street on a cold winter day –
the electric wires overhead, the blue sky and soft clouds,
the wet pavement and
luminous light merge,
evoking a familiar but inchoate feeling.
A recognition,
re-seeing.
———-
Road trips evoke nostalgia, and also the familiar roads
traveled dozens of times from home to work and back again,
their curves and hills
lodged in my muscles
like a dance.
A fall rain shower washes out the details, and
the well-traveled path transports me
to a vaguely nostalgic place.
A place located in my mind and outside it –
here and now, time expands
through being
in a particular place.
A foggy window on a winter morning
is the softly translucent backdrop
for buds promising spring. Suddenly
I’m nostalgic for everything green and
warm and
pushing past barriers – the whole gestalt of
springs past and future,
is evoked by tiny, frail buds
holding their own against
winter’s stubborn grays.
Through the car window,
glowing in evening light, a bouquet
of summer:
Queen Ann’s Lace, White Sweet Clover, Honeysuckle…
their fragrance, their familiar names,
gathered again
from roadside waste places that I’ve memorized
over the years…
A petal
falls
onto an old book.
Oozing nostalgia, it’s sepia pages provide
a pleasurable half
hour
on a summer
afternoon.
I might sit here to read,
but
this nostalgia is borrowed.
I took the picture at an estate sale in a Connecticut seaside town..
White
cotton curtains
floating
on a summer breeze;
the window screen
has
a small tear or two.
Flowers hide.
Another window screen,
another home – this screen
catching early spring raindrops.
As a child I gazed out windows,
shifting
my focus back and forth
between the details
of tiny screen grids –
and the big, beckoning outdoors,
far
beyond.
A nostalgia of rainy roads:
always
the movement, the shimmering movement across space,
and through time,
until the membranes separating locations and times are thoroughly soaked
and dissolved
into nostalgia.
***
Take a look at this week’s Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge, overflowing with nostalgia.
bluebrightly 
Excellent!
LikeLike
Thank you, Ken!
LikeLike
Brilliant.
LikeLike
Thank you Hanno!
LikeLike
All so beautifully woven together… Blessings~
LikeLike
I’m glad you stopped by because it prompted me to visit your blog, and I enjoyed it so much!
LikeLike
This post must have taken so much time — wonderful array of images that remind us how the little details can bring back memories and cause us to reflect.
LikeLike
Thank you Kat. I do take some time choosing photos and refining the words. And I really enjoy the challenge of that. It’s even more gratifying when people make thoughtful comments like yours.
LikeLike
Evocative – full of atmosphere, inviting the viewer to complement your images with his/her memories
LikeLike
Thanks Louis – that’s an interesting idea, that a viewer’s memories can come up through the photos. Nice!
LikeLike
The words and images fit in together beautifully. One never knows what feelings certain scenes evoke….
LikeLike
Thank you! I appreciate hearing from you, a lover of words and images who puts them together so well.
LikeLike
Your superb photos are such exquisite and gentle soothers to the emotions of nostalgia, which as you say, always strike us unawares. I adore your second shot, which for me bears the nostalgia of wondering what was ahead . . . .
LikeLike
OK, I’m blushing now, Patti. I always enjoy hearing your take on things!
LikeLike
Each one more and more evocative. Amazing!
LikeLike
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgic | To Mother Earth, with Love
Beautiful pictures.
LikeLike
Thank you very much.
LikeLike
I particularly like that first photo.
LikeLike
Thank you – I pulled over and jumped out of the car for that one, and it was worth it. It’s so hard to do that sometimes. Well, most times!
LikeLike
I agree, but I’m glad you did 🙂
LikeLike
Many lovely choices! Love the chairs.
LikeLike
Thanks Tina, I appreciate your comments, I always do!
LikeLike
I really enjoyed this. It was so quiet and peaceful and made me nostalgic for my own memories. Would you mind if I pinned it on Pinterest? It helps me find things like this later when I want to read them again.
Nancy
LikeLike
I appreciate your comments very much! Pinning it is flattering, but I would hope it’s not just pinning the photos without the attribution?
LikeLike
A pin would show the photo and the URL of your website. Since you don’t have a Pinterest button on your blog, I would put into the comment box that this was repinned with permission. If you would like me to put more into the comment box, I’d be happy to do so. Here’s an example of a pin from my own blog:
I certainly don’t have to pin it, but I did enjoy it very much. But once it’s out there, it could be repinned by anyone. Some people don’t mind and others mind very much.
Keep in mind that I have my own body of work, so I certainly don’t need or want to take credit for yours. Here’s another pin from a fellow blogger that I pinned (so you can see how it works). She has a Pinterest button on her own blog, so I don’t need to ask for permission to do it.
Let me know and thanks for visiting my own blog!
Nancy
LikeLike
Sorry I’ve taken days to reply – have been too busy with work – but go ahead. I appreciate the effort you went to to explain this. Other people whose blogs I follow have complained about this sort of thing, so I was being cautious. I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
LikeLike
Here it is – thanks! Sorry to have pestered you, but I really really liked that truck picture.
LikeLike
Oh you did again. You have made me positively nostalgic. With the absense of particulars each and every photo can speak to us all. I could weave a tale to go with each image. And the rain drop window, oh how that conjured up a memory. Leave it to you to think of taking a photo through a rain dropped window. Love it!
LikeLike
You’re too nice! Thank you!
LikeLike
Beautiful pictures, atmosphere, step by step you take us to the road of your poetry…thank you
LikeLike
Thank you so much – I feel it’s like that – that’s what I try to do – so I’m very happy to hear your comment.
LikeLike
Lovely combination! You have created a great atmosphere, well done.
LikeLike
Thank you for visiting!
LikeLike
Yes, indeed, there was a bit of poetry in your images and words, Lynn…such a pleasurable read this morning…thank you for taking us/me with you on your reminiscences into those other times…..
LikeLike
It’s a pleasure Scott – thank you for being here.
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
what a soul-nourishing combination of words and images…love this
LikeLike
Thank you for saying so – I really appreciate it!
LikeLike
The past as a paradise it’s probably lost but his nostalgia is eternal.. through images, photos, memories. I really like the message behind the images and the words.
LikeLike
True, the past is lost but nostalgia survives – thanks you for your thoughts Mala!
LikeLike
they’re all so dreamy! you truly have an amazing gift! z
LikeLike
hi Lynn, you’ve composed a wonderful nostalgic upload: I like your intro very much, both visual (the old car – flashback to my own childhood too) – and the poetic words: “An old truck, parked on a Seattle street on a cold winter day – the electric wires overhead, …”
P.S.: thank you for your kind comments, especially to the ballad of RUNNING BEAR: some nostalgic feelings coming up, isn’t it?
LikeLike
Yes, crazy! Thanks Frizz!
LikeLike
wonderful, beautiful photos with so much atmosphere, a joy to look at
LikeLike
Thank you so much!
LikeLike
Mmmmm. I really liked this post lots.
LikeLike
Thanks Paul – I appreciate hearing your thoughts. It may be that part of what you capture so well, and so often, is also in that not exactly here- not exactly there space, so this resonates. That’s what I’m thinking anyway.
LikeLike
An ecellent post Lynn. I like every picture and the words here.
LikeLike
Thanks very much – I enjoyed putting this together.
LikeLike