Anyone keep an old fashioned journal?

[Nancy]

And I mean a journal...not a blog. I've been keeping one since my kids were little (now aged 28, 26 and 22). It's kind of neat to go back and read about what was normal back then. And my husband and I would be at different jobs, or in different states of getting jobs. The old journal I just read today (instead of cleaning my bedroom!) showed me making a clown cake and a cat cake for various birthdays. I didn't know that I could do that! I wonder how they turned out.

 

[crazyheart]

@Nancy. I have two friends who have kept
journals or diaries for years. It is too late for me, but I wish I had started one years ago. Besides ,for me, I just phone up my friend and she gives me the answer. Temp, how much snow fell and what happened that day.
lol

 

[Carolla]

I journal daily when I travel, but not at home. It is wonderful to read back through them ... I hope in my old age someone will read them to me and I'll smile & nod & laugh at the recollections

My mom kept a journal at the cottage - not with personal reflections - more an indication of the weather, activities of the day, who was visiting, what new birds were seen, when things were blooming etc. The kids used to leave pictorial entries when they were little - those are sweet to see.

 

[ChemGal]

I was keeping one about my health symptoms for a while. I'll start up again, including foods I think. Especially as I feel healthier, I think it will be easier to track some triggers and see if I actually get any symptoms from eggs other than welts when I'm pricked with them.

I've been thinking of doing a garden journal too. For now, I would just do a book & pen. If I get a smart phone that might change.

 

[Carolla]

Oh yes - you've reminded me @ChemGal - I have a garden journal Someone gave me a lovely book & I make a few notes in it. I have diagrams showing where my perennials are. This I've done in pencil, as I'm often adding & subtracting from it. And I have a big spreadsheet in my computer of all my plants - I developed this in preparation for being on the garden tour a few years ago - wanted to make sure I knew the names of all my little beauties

 

[Seeler]

I started keeping a journal on my first trip west, 2007, and have continued daily since then. I mention things like first snowfall, big storms, unusual temperatures (high or low). What I'm doing each day (laundry, grocery shopping, sitting a grandchild). Bowling scores. Health appointments (for both Seelerman and I). Sometimes I talk about worries (haven't heard from Seelerboy for awhile. Seelergirl sick again). Occasionally cute things the grandchildren say.
I get visitors to the house to sign it - their choice of just a few words or a half page. The same - when I go on a trip I get my host and/or the people I meet to sign. I have Marcus Borg, Greta Vosper, several WonderCafe folks.
Sometimes we refer back to it - when were we last to see your brother in Saint John?

Sometimes it seems a chore. I'll get a few days behind. It's surprising how hard it is to remember something I did just two days ago. But so far I've always been able to get caught up.

No deep thoughts. A friend at Writers' Group will write about nature, philosophical thoughts about life and death, changing seasons, the meaning of growing old, things in the news. Nothing like that for me. The first robin I see in the spring might get a mention - for him its a two page essay.

 

[Jaebius]

A few years back I was visiting my family's century farm in northern New Brunswick - when I came across a couple of diaries that had been owned by relatives. Looking at the books - with their faded - dusty - brown paper covers - and yellowed pages - I began to imagine what kind of secrets might be contained in them. Perhaps there was even some great romance - and/or century-old family secret that I could turn into a novel or movie.


Very slowly - I took the first diary - opened the cover - and began to read. All the diary contained was information like the names of people who had visited - with no details given -- shopping lists - bill payments - etc.

The diary was the same.

Major disappointment.

So I don't keep a diary. I keep most things to myself - posting some thoughts on here - and some on FB. That's enough.

 

[One Voice]

I have a paper book that started as the 'wedding notebook' (I'm sure there are many apps for that now) so has addresses, gift lists and to-do lists, plans for the renovations we did on the house, getting-ready-for-baby (Pt1 and Pt2)... all randomly spread throughout the book. Now I use it as a 'thought dump' book for ideas I'm trying to articulate, prayers, letters to people who should never see them in 'raw' form, experiences and observations I want to remember to refer to later, ideas, and quotes I want to keep somewhere. I'm not totally loyal to it, there's a file on most of the various devices I use that has stuff like that too; but there's something to physically writing things that I find pacifying sometimes.

 

[crazyheart]

One Voice. I remember the first funeral that I officiated at. A young woman - in her early 40s.
I spent the better part of 2 months talking and visiting with her. She had a book and we picked out hymns, comments about her kids and friend, scripture, what music she liked and on and on.

We all called it Heather's book. When she died and the family wondered about something they would go to Heather's book. It was the easiest funeral(to put together. Because everything was there. I wish all folk were well enough at the end to do this.