Dear Reader

Should I buy ice-cream …

Or is it still too cold to savor the frozen, creamy treat? At the supermarket today I stood for a few seconds in front of the freezer and decided “No. Not yet!”

And my mind slipped back to 60 years or so – was it really that long ago? Seems like yesterday that I could hear those sounds we loved! The clip clop clip clop of the horse’s hoofs and the cling clang of the bell that heralded the ice cream man on his weekly visit!

Thanks to my cousin Daphne for sourcing this photo for me. He must have kept the ice cream frozen with ice – certainly there was no generator on board! And I wonder how many times he’d have to go back to the factory to replenish supplies – or did it take him all afternoon to off load his wares to us and all the other very appreciative ice cream lovers?

I don’t remember if we had to beg to be allowed an ice cream. I suspect there were times when we didn’t get one. But those times are not at all in my memories. I see us still – all us kids from Weetwood Street, friends and cousins, running into the street, excitedly waiting our turn to be served.

Have-a-Hearts – the chocolate coated vanilla ice cream shaped like a heart on a stick – were a favourite with me. As were the Two-in-Ones – same vanilla ice cream, this time frozen on two sticks and dipped in chocolate coating. Heaven to me as I broke them apart, creating two ice creams for the price of one! These treats are the ones I remember the most.

As I look at this horse drawn cart all those memories come flooding back and I can almost feel how good that first bite tasted! It was the highlight of the weekend for us.

How simple those times were, and what a slower pace our lives had then. I try to recapture that pace now – slowing my breathing down and quietening my thoughts when I feel the pressure of deadlines and the urgency of things that have to be done. I’m amazed that I’m actually caught up in the busyness of modern life because I’m retired from full time work and those sorts of pressures! There are no young children at home. No schedules to keep track of except my own self imposed ones. No places I have to be at, except those I choose.

And if I can still feel the pressure of this busyness, how much more pressures do others whose lives are more complicated feel? Today, as our modern “Mr Whippy” type ice cream van drives around our suburban streets with ice cream treats for the neighbour children, I hope these families are able to take a moment in time to slow their busy lives down and share an ice-cream break with each other.

Whatever are your life demands, I hope you can also take time to breathe, relax, and slow the pace of life a little to create a memory that in a few decades time will bring back a time when life was good. Then we’ll be reminiscing about the memories of that far away time which is ‘today’ and claiming how doubly good those days were. Just as I’m doing now!

Ice cream is rarely on my menu these days, but remembering will always be a treat!

What memories do you reminisce about?

I’d love to know if this post has triggered some nostalgic moments for you. Hit reply and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

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Phoebe Wilby’s Novel – Storms

I’m excited to share that my daughter, Phoebe, has turned her memoir into a novel about our travels around Australia in 1974 from the perspective of an 8 year-old. It’s available for pre-order in Kindle format, and will be available from 16 September this year (Phoebe’s birthday!)
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The blurb on Amazon for Storms includes:

Eight-year-old Annie Ryan and her siblings are promised a trampoline for Christmas, but receive a Kingswood, a caravan, and a trip around Australia instead.

Leaving their home in Brisbane, Australia, at the height of the 1974 floods during intense cyclonic weather, the Ryans set off on their epic journey, traveling ahead of the storms everywhere they go.
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But storms of the heart are more difficult to navigate, and Annie faces more tragedy and heartache in this one year than a young girl should in a lifetime.

Award-winning author, Phoebe Wilby, was raised in Australia. She has lived in several countries and considers herself a ‘citizen of the world’.
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Storms is her debut novel, following two short story collections and a memoir.

Check out her book on any Amazon site.

​This is the Amazon site I use

Till next time, may you be well and your life full of the joy of reading.

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Love
Stephanie

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My thoughts for Living Life in 2024 and beyond:

“Write it on my heart that every day is
the best day of the year”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Remember that sometimes not getting
what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck”
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Dalai Lama

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave [person] is not [the one] who does not feel afraid, but [the one] who conquers that fear.”

Nelson Mandela

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