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This week, Amy has suggested that we Keep Walking for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I feel that I have as many thoughts about walking as I do photographs to illustrate the theme, so I decided to combine the two for this challenge, on a blog that I use mostly when I have more to write about. I obviously can’t claim credit for all the pictures as I appear in some of them.
To begin with, our family never owned a car. We relied on public transportation and our own two feet to get us from place to place. Up until the age of 7 I lived in London and every Sunday morning, my father would take me for long walks, usually to places of historical interest including local cemeteries. The memory of those walks has stayed with me because they were always so interesting and because it permitted me to see the happier, more relaxed side of my father. He was a very private person and didn’t have an awful lot of patience at home but he loved walking and sometimes he would sing while we were going along. I particularly remember a song called ‘Mollie Malone,’ which, at 5 years of age, I found rather sinister and most intriguing.
Of course, I did a lot of walking with my mother too, mostly back and forth to school and also to the local parks, but sometimes we would hop on a bus or tube train and go further afield to walk around Regent’s Park Zoo or The British Museum. We also did a lot of walking when we visited her parents who lived in Kent, strolling for miles along country lanes, picking wildflowers and listening to the birds singing.
Summer holidays at the seaside usually involved quite a bit of walking either along the prom (where the brass band played tiddly-om-pom-pom) or crunching over the shingle beaches with the seagulls screeching overhead, sometimes walking down the Leas Cliff path to the next town along the coast. When I think of all the walking I did when I was a child, it makes me laugh now to hear the kids today complain about having to walk around the block.
When we moved out of London, Dad and I no longer went for our Sunday walks. He was a cockney born and bred and he missed the city and without those walks we seemed to grow further apart. The only walk that I clearly remember taking with him in those days was not a particularly happy one. My mother had persuaded him to take me to Whipsnade Zoo for the day and we had missed our bus. The next one wasn’t due for at least another hour and there was no way he was going to wait that long so he bluntly informed me that if I still wanted to go, we’d have to walk. I wasn’t too perturbed by the idea but after a 7-mile slog, mostly uphill, I wasn’t quite so chipper. Add to that all the walking that we did in the zoo, and I was thankful that we were able to catch the bus back home.
Later, after we had moved to the USA, my mother became my constant walking companion, joining me in jaunts around various trails at parks, nature centers and gardens, sometimes accompanied by the youngest of my three girls.
Some of my longest walks over the past few years have been with this daughter and her husband. Together we have spent countless hours touring the streets of Chicago or hiking mountain trails in Utah but the most memorable walk was the shortest, when my husband and I walked her down the aisle on her wedding day.
Nowadays I walk mostly alone, enjoying the peaceful solitude and recalling earlier rambles, grateful to have had the opportunity to share those walks with loved ones.
lily said:
Lovely post 🙂
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you, Lily!
Tina Schell said:
Oh my Sue, I can understand why you wanted to use this one for the week’s challenge. I absolutely loved the story and the images from long ago. You’re so right, our memories of loved ones are the most important thing we have. You’re fortunate to have had those years of walking with both of your parents. Your daughter is absolutely beautiful. She reminds me of the young Mia Farrow in the movie The Great Gatsby and that is quite a compliment! Thanks so much for sharing this one with us.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Many thanks, Tina! I’ve always enjoyed walking, one of my favorite forms of exercise, combined with photography which is probably my favorite hobby.
Anne Sandler said:
Sue, what wonderful memories and photos you have of your family in your early years. And your daughter is beautiful. I hope you’re still collecting wonderful memories and enjoying your walks. I also like walking alone, with my dog. It gives me time to think and relax. Take care.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you, Anne. I still enjoy walking, especially when I’m looking for something to photograph.
I. J. Khanewala said:
You put together a wonderful album around your memories. I like walking, but I’m a city person, a bit like your father
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you! I always loved walking in the city, both in London and Chicago, but since COVID arrived I’ve taken to less crowded pathways.
Leya said:
A great story of walking, and a beautiful end. Your daughter looks fantastic – I agree with Tina – Mia Farrow.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you, Ann-Christine!
JohnRH said:
Superb memories. Beautiful bride!
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Many thanks, John!
Marsha said:
Lovely memories. I love the way you brought them all up to the present. Your daughter is gorgeous. I agree with some of the other analysis – Mia Farrow – in her youth.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you so much, Marsha!
Marsha said:
You are welcome! 🙂
Amy said:
A beautiful walking memories. Thank you for sharing these precious photos and memories with us. Very moving to see you walking with your parents when you were a young girl and continue walking with mom and your daughters. Your daughter is beautiful and elegant.
I apologize being late here, I missed seeing your link.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you, Amy! That’s ok, I don’t very often use this blog site so I think a lot of people missed it.
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Prior... said:
love the family vibe and truly such BEAUTY here – 🙂
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Many thanks, Yvette!
Prior... said:
🙂
lletty said:
Thank goodness I spotted the link to this site. A memorable post with wonderful family photos from long ago to the bridal photo of your beautiful daughter and all superbly linked by walking. This post deserves a wider audience as it is so heart warming and brings home how important it is in life to create simple magic memories.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
So glad you found me here, Marianne! I don’t use this site very often so most things that I put on here get missed. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Heyjude said:
What a lovely post. So good to have all those childhood memories. I don’t remember either of my parents being particularly keen on walking.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you so much! I feel like the automobile has much to answer for. I’m sure if we’d had one, we wouldn’t have done half so much walking but, as it was, necessity turned into a lifelong enjoyment.
Heyjude said:
We didn’t have a car when I was very small, my dad used to have a child seat at the front of his bike in which I rode around the countryside!
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Sounds like a great way to travel!
Kathie Chicoine said:
What a lovely post and photos.
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Many thanks, Kathie!
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kagould17 said:
Thanks for the link to this post. Definitely a history of walking. We are so lucky that we can still walk in places both exciting and mundane, scenic and boring. Putting one foot in front of the other takes you places that you did not think you would ever go and makes for a healthy mind and body. Happy Friday. Allan
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you so much for reading this and for your comment, Allan.
Ashley said:
Hi Sue, this is a lovely post with some great photos! Thank you for sharing them with us! Walking is the best exercise for my mobility. I recently hurt my lower back (an old issue) and besides some physio exercises, I find that walking is a great help.
I was born in the city of Armagh just across the road from the old cathedral there! At the age of 21, I moved to London to work in SW8 living in Putney, then at Barnes, and eventually moved to St. Albans. In London and the South East, we walked around many parks and gardens, big houses and so much wonderful countryside; rambling was quite the thing then but now back in NI the freedom to roam is not the same. Most land here is in private hands. There are some lovely walks here, of course, some of our favourites being a couple of sections of a disused canal. 👨🦯
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you for taking the time to read this, Ashley. When I first joined WordPress it was mostly for the writing, but I’ve become rather lazy over the years and turned more to the photography side of blogging. I do still enjoy writing, though, when I can get my brain to concentrate for long enough. Your comment was very interesting and I agree, there were so many wonderful places to walk. But like everything else, things change and not always for the better. I was always sorry that I never got to visit Ireland when I lived so near. My great-grandmother was born in Kilkenny Castle and my father’s grandparents were from Cork.
Ashley said:
I know very little about the south of Ireland but just this morning I had a letter from a friend in Bantry, County Cork! 🙋♂️
BeckyB said:
wonderful photos, and love your family history. Thanks for sharing xx
Sue (Mac's Girl) said:
Thank you so much for visiting, Becky!
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