Curiosity! A free gift for a rich life.
“Curiosity” definitely needs some outdoor exercise.
We can go out! But only locally. Where to go?
“Curiosity” is my best ever gift. Suspect that my Mother gave it to me.
This is how: Each week as bedtime reading she read us a column, from the Daily Mail. I think it was by Bernard Wicksteed.
It’s title was “Its Fun Finding Out”. Do any of you remember that?
We had to have a go. No money, but whenever we could scrape
together a few pennies, we caught a bus, to anywhere, then got off, and explored.
Her phrase was “Lets see what’s interesting here”. And even in Industrial Yorkshire there was always something! An odd road name. Why? Old chapels, a weird gnarled tree…Then you hear a noisy factory..”What do they make there?” Mum always found out!
Sometimes we discovered a tiny beetle or a new flower hidden on wasteland.
And people! We asked questions, were told local stories, shown hidden ruins. Always came back with more questions to look up. Off to the library or our one encyclopedia.
Children are naturally curious arent they? But sometimes the freshness of it gets lost among the pressures of work, family and mortgages.
However, in retirement it is back, intrigued as ever, and with the time to use it.
One of the most popular areas for curiosity is family and local history. Many internet sources out there now. And always attics to empty. With grandmas photos and a great great Uncles letters from India it becomes a search project for the whole family.
One friend is creating a book of each parent’s family tree to pass down to grandchildren. Another has created a hanging tapestry with embroidered scenes from her family history based on tales she has discovered. Our Community club created an exhibition telling the stories of the streets and houses in our neighbourhood.
My delight is still to explore somewhere new. So on moving to Glasgow (Married a Scot at age 74) I had a whole new City to explore.
Out came the maps. Being from Yorkshire I love green spaces. To my surprise Glasgow turns out to be one of the of the greenest of Cities!
All these parks! Choose one and go. Take the phone camera and explore
“The Knees” arent up to much these days, the rust is a bit limiting. They tend to moan at having to do a mile or so. But they need a regular outing.
So the three of us “Curiosity, “The Knees” and Me set off to discover Glasgow, on foot. Of course, many complaints from “ The Knees” if “Curiosity” and I got too excited!
It was just magic. Felt 6 years old again! Such fun.
Soon realised that most parks have histories to discover. And special places like secret grottos. One in Glasgow has a petrified forest!
And the River Clyde itself has so many stories. Clydeside is where the Queen liners were built and Singers had their huge factory. Found a museum dedicated to those marvellous sewing machines. And another to the Clydeside Blitz. Wow!
Back home I wrote up what we had seen.
If you would like to follow our wanderings have a look at my blog : GrandmaWilliams.com
(Some typical ones listed below)
Then came lockdown! Time for a different kind of exploring.
Felt so lucky being able to use Google. You have the whole world there for you, dont you? Wickipedia, images, maps – just dip in and follow stuff up. Start off by asking any simple question and see where it gets you to!
Curiosity” definitely needs some outdoor exercise.
We can go out! But only locally. Where to go?
Now, back to our first trip after lockdown. It was to search for a mysterious distant wooded hillside. I had seen it from our balcony but couldnt find it on the map.
Turned out to be this:
An old cemetery, long avenues of beautiful mature trees and all those fascinating inscriptions!
The answer to the puzzle was that cemeteries are not coloured green on maps!
Curiosity is a magic gift for us all. And for free!
https://grandmawilliams.com/2019/10/23/finding-magic-on-a-walk-at-81
Magic Walks at 81 No 6. Mysterious Stones in Glasgow. Victoria Park.
The Joy of Curiosity at 83! Who built this 100ft monument? Why?
Curiosity about Clydebank : Cunard, Singers and the Blitz.
Magic Walk No.12: Small Loch Leads to Reflections…on Resurrection!
https://grandmawilliams.com/2017/10/29/magic-walks-at-80-would-you-believe-in-renfre