I’m back down Shellharbour Village, sitting on the rocks watching the waves rolling in.

Ian’s at the fish & chip shop ordering our dinner; my treat after a day at work, the fish is delicious with its crispy crumb coating.

I love the beach – the sharp smell of the salty air, sounds of seagulls, waves crashing and children laughing.

I’m instantly transported back in time to childhood.

I grew up in the coastal, ship building town of Whyalla in South Australia. Some people say the best part of Whyalla is the road out. But as a child I wasn’t aware of this.

I had a happy child hood and teenage years there. I arrived with my parents, brother and sister in the late 60’s. We were part of the ‘ten pound Pom’ scheme. My poor father never recovered from the shock of the semi desert landscape after the green hills of bonnie Scotland.

Whyalla has a great beach. It’s known for it’s abundant Snapper and Whiting.

Mind you, you could get swallowed by the gigantic mounds of seaweed that used to gather on the foreshore. When I got my first car I would get trailer loads of the stuff as bedding for my horse. She loved the salty weed to sleep on but one night she ate most of it in one sitting and nearly gave herself colic, so I didn’t bother after that.

Anyway, getting back to the beach and the subject of memories.

 Isn’t it amazing how a sound or a smell can transport us back in time?                 As I sit on the Shellharbour beach that’s exactly what happens.

I’m again, a child of ten. I’m down the Whyalla beach with my parents and kid brother. It’s about 4pm, the tide’s out and we’re going crabbing!

I have a home made spear in my hot little hand and thongs (or flip flops) on my feet to protect them from the Razor Fish hiding on the sea floor. Razor fish are large shell fish that can cut your feet to shreds if you don’t wear shoes of some sort.

It’s quite a long walk to the ‘blue line’ as we used to call it. Through the shallows, across the sandbar and into the sea weed gardens, that from a distance, look like a blue line.

That’s where the Blue Swimmer Crabs live, hiding in the swirling seaweed.

We would be there for hours, wading around, catching the crabs and loading up the buckets. We would never take the brown females but return them to breed further.

Dad would keep his eye on the tide to make sure we didn’t get marooned and cut off because of the sand bar.

It was still quite warm at that time of the evening, the sun getting low, casting its amazing red, orange and gold shafts across the fading blue, cloudless sky. Just the warm, sea breeze blowing across our wet legs. They felt itchy because of the salt.

Come 8pm it’s time to head home.

Us kids would get showered and into our PJs ready for bed ‘cause there was ‘school in the morning’.

Meanwhile, Dad’s in the kitchen cooking up the crabs. Mum’s making a pineapple pie and cream.

We would all collect trays and sit in the lounge room to eat our crabs, pie and watch Walt Disney on the TV.

Happy memories!

Through the years many memories are gathered.

Not all of them are happy, some I wish I could erase.

But, that’s life, right?

What I have learned to do, though, is build as many happy ones as I can. This, I’ve found, is the best way to out weigh the unpleasant ones!

When I eat spaghetti, I’m transported to Venice where I ate the best pasta ever.

When I put on my leather jacket I’m instantly back in the leather shop near the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.

The smell of lemons takes me to Sorrento where we saw the largest lemons on earth!

Gather as many happy memories as you can - stop to smell the roses, make mental notes.

Create happy memories for your children.

My kids still remember the weekend excursions to local picnic spots, eating hot chips on bread in the rain. We didn’t have much money, $5 was all we had for a day out but they have happy memories and so do we.

Life goes so fast. I want to put as much of it as I can onto canvas and paper.

My painting – Kite Flying" – is from a childhood memory.

What memories do you have? Share them with others and build new ones for yourself.

Happy dreaming!

Ciao for now,

Liv
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