Writing Task #4: Proust it!

I've been reading The Memoir Book by Patti Miller. Her chapter on memory has been greatly influenced by the Proust. Miller defines memory as either being ‘original’ or ‘remembered’. 


‘Remembered’ memory is simply your ability to recall events, ‘this is the extracted idea of the memory’ as it may feel as though you are ‘watching’ the events. Whereas ‘original’ memory is ‘the product of a sensory stimulus’ and you ‘relive the experience’ hence the heavy referencing to Proust.

So this week’s writing task is to find your own madeleines. Try and unlock some original memories by setting up some sensory cues – whether this means going for a slice of cake, sniffing out the spice rack, listening to music, touching silk or corduroy - anything that may trigger of some memories.

According to Miller, Proust said reverie was his favourite emotional state and the one he believed all good writing ought to induce. So allow yourself to slip into "a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream" and record all the words/memories associated with the sensory stimulus you have selected. 

The weekend that was so long ago

I’ve never been a fan of the abbreviation TGI Friday – but jeez I’m literally hollering it out today! Two public holidays has meant I’ve had to play catch up at work this week.

Whilst I’m still eating Easter eggs*, it feels like an age since Easter. I’ve been dreamily reminiscing about my trip away to the beach house. Including the fine wine, cheese, afternoon tea, girly chats over cider, beach walks, antique hunting, mint tea and Sunday markets.

A seaside cider

Fresh Mint tea

All the delicious beverages last weekend actually reminded me of some horrendously horrible drinks I had whilst on the road. In particular some truly nasty European wines. Now that may sound like an oxymoron. After all European wines have so many highfalutin connotations of decadence and moorish qualities; in fact the phrase la-di-da springs to mind. I can confidently say that we sampled few with any genteel standards. Then again we weren't so much doing Europe on a shoestring as doing it on a scrap of twine and a tent peg!

If there was a cheaper option we leap wholeheartedly at it. The wine we drank was out of plastic bottles. Which is sold in great quantities - why buy one liter when you can buy 2.5 liters for only a euro more? I am ninety percent positive what we were drinking was wine. The labels had green squiggles that resembled grapes, though the wine generally tasted less like fermented fruit and more like lighter fluid. It had to be diluted with a generous dash of soft drink otherwise it'll burn your taste buds and give you the most vivid nightmares. Still it was an absolute bargain basement price.

Whilst I’m poorer than I was in Europe, I’m pleased to be back in the land of cheap but highly drinkable vino. In fact I think after the hectic week I had a glass of wine would go down swimmingly!

Juice that packed a punch (carrot, apple, ginger, orange)

* This has nothing to do with portion control or slow eating – it’s more like an abundance of delicious egg shaped chocolate

Egg-xactly!

It’s almost Easter! It’s always a time of year that I associate with beautiful bovines and hardy agriculture, toasty scones and immaculate needlework. Easter in Sydney is when the gates of the Royal Easter Show are swung open – a bonanza of animals, art, craft and food, glorious food!

I don’t always attend (the entry fee is eyewateringly steep and the crowds are headache inducing) this year I’ll be missing out, as I’ll be down the coast next weekend with a bunch of friends.

So in an attempt to recreate the atmosphere of the Easter show, I started flicking through pictures of when I was in Ireland three years ago. I spent time visiting my family on their various farms around the South of Ireland.

It was a bitterly cold winter, you may remember countless airports across Europe shutting up stop for days on end. We actually got snowed for a week at our Grandparents farm in County Cork.

Just after the mammoth grocery shop for Christmas

We wake up to fields of snow and icy roads

We were expecting the entire extended family to arrive for christmas dinner, but given that we were snowed in, there was only about eight at Christmas dinner (we had cooked, chopped and baked for thirty odd people) so we feasted on suckling ham, mounds of mash, piles of peas and plump turkeys. So these pictures hold memories of peat fires, stuffed bellies, frozen toes and retro radio tunes.

At one point it got so cold we considered taking the hatching light from the chicken coop to heat up the back bedrooms of the house.

Ladies who lunch

In County Kerry