tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post2137059196714375757..comments2024-03-28T09:03:53.875-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: My Heart Place Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-38911169464479026882018-07-11T07:03:03.529-04:002018-07-11T07:03:03.529-04:00Love Block Island - we used to vacation there when...Love Block Island - we used to vacation there when I was a kid!Jenn McKinlayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-12277101683681424282018-07-11T07:01:12.660-04:002018-07-11T07:01:12.660-04:00I love this! Perfection.I love this! Perfection.Jenn McKinlayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-2011176356559028792018-07-11T06:57:50.664-04:002018-07-11T06:57:50.664-04:00Thank you so much, Dawn. You’re lovely to be so ki...Thank you so much, Dawn. You’re lovely to be so kind.Jenn McKinlayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-75981947717658810892018-07-11T06:55:17.361-04:002018-07-11T06:55:17.361-04:00So sorry I haven’t been able to reply - my paradis...So sorry I haven’t been able to reply - my paradise is also a cell phone sink hole so my posts don’t show up for days if at all! Chocolate cake baked in an orange rind on the grill: https://www.chowhound.com/recipes/chocolate-cake-baked-in-an-orange-31071/ampJenn McKinlayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-46360630053698588382018-07-08T23:05:15.939-04:002018-07-08T23:05:15.939-04:00Sand. Sand is always my happy place. And I have tw...Sand. Sand is always my happy place. And I have two in particular. The public beach in West Haven (CT). A long paved path along the shore, a bit set apart from the beach. My favorite part of that is that you can see so many people walking along--and all the different languages!--at least a dozen on any given stroll! Ah! The nation of immigrants, all at the beach. The second heart place is Block Island, RI. Sand again. Peaceful. Fried clam bellies. Best food ever. Can't wait until September when I can spend almost a month there. Until then, WH and those grilled, split hot dogs. And the sand.Melaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17946905881136839301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-67778481386273594832018-07-08T18:13:38.192-04:002018-07-08T18:13:38.192-04:00Lou Tannen taught my brother, who was about eight ...Lou Tannen taught my brother, who was about eight years old, a trick and gave it to him. My brother thought he died and went to Heaven!<br /><br />I'll have to look on line for a catalog.<br /><br />DebRo Deb Romanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01650858888197217258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-69368164838847193202018-07-08T17:30:36.770-04:002018-07-08T17:30:36.770-04:00Not sure how I missed this post! My childhood summ...Not sure how I missed this post! My childhood summer happy place was camping in Sequoia National Park in California. We ran free, we made treasure maps and treasure hunts, we swam in snow melt streams, and at night we laid on our backs and looked more stars than you could even imagine possible. My kids did not grow up with camping in Sequoia because we were here in New England, but one of my greatest joys was taking them to Sequoia about 10 years ago and showing them my happy place (I know they had their own growing up).Edith Maxwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388006370860482509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-83762233546890313252018-07-08T17:22:16.371-04:002018-07-08T17:22:16.371-04:00Thanks for those wonderful memories, Jenn, old and...Thanks for those wonderful memories, Jenn, old and new.<br /><br />My heart place as a kid was the old family cottage on Lake Simcoe, north of Toronto. Heavenly, summery, cousinly, grandparently bliss. And then it was sold....:^((<br /><br />But happily, I have a new one, equally a family historic site: my partner's family. So I got to click into his childhood bliss place, on a lake near Haliburton, Ontario, and the cycle continues. Ahhh.... Now we're the grandparents, and the kids and nieces and nephews are the cousins.Susan Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17163152026039153248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-32964695043232380102018-07-08T17:04:52.227-04:002018-07-08T17:04:52.227-04:00For many reasons I didn't experience the idyll...For many reasons I didn't experience the idyllic childhood that so many describe, but my children and their children have certainly made up for it and then some! My happy place is the ocean, whether we are there with the family or with just the two of us. Restful and soul restoring. We store a small (really cozy) trailer at Pismo Beach, here in California, everything we need right there when we go.....we just bring food and fresh linens and our clothes....and we are settled in our little slice of heaven. Walks on the beach, shell collecting, famous Pismo Beach clam chowder, fires in the evening, barbeques,reading and swimming.....that old saying holds true...."It's never too late to have a happy childhood".Helen Nordsethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02722564768816791372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-36809625761938437422018-07-08T16:37:20.098-04:002018-07-08T16:37:20.098-04:00Yes. I would drool over that catalog every year. I...Yes. I would drool over that catalog every year. I think it was $25 and there was a new one every year. Last time I checked there was still a Tannen's but I bet the catalog has gone on-line.David Squireshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17144607647071920674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-28634109171874024452018-07-08T14:41:53.503-04:002018-07-08T14:41:53.503-04:00I don't have a current heart place. I hope to ...I don't have a current heart place. I hope to find it in the next couple of years and move there. My grandparents' ranch in Hamilton County, Texas was my happy place as a child. We roamed around getting into mischief. Attacking wasps nests with cane poles, hunting for fossils, hunting for arrowheads, riding the donkey, gathering eggs with Grandma, poking around the barn, hunting armadillos, riding out to the pasture in the back of Grandpa's pickup to feed the goats, fishing at the tank . . . lord, we had a good time!Pat Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12732230586783432052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-3653341068512337212018-07-08T14:40:37.429-04:002018-07-08T14:40:37.429-04:00Jenn, my childhood mirrored yours, scooting out th...Jenn, my childhood mirrored yours, scooting out the door after breakfast and running the neighborhood with neighborhood friends until suppertime. I do think we had lunch somewhere, either we kids separated and ran back home for lunch, or one of the moms fed an extra kid or two or three. Of course, there were those lovely mudpies my friend Phoebe and I made. It was always obvious that I had made mudpies that day when I returned home later with the ends of my pigtails caked with mud. My next-door-friend Jimmy and I would sometimes fix a picnic lunch to take with us when exploring the wooded area behind the houses. Then other times we all joined in for hopscotch or jax or bike games (cops and robbers mainly). Oh, when it was getting close to dark, we all loved to play "Red Light, Green Light, Have You Seen a Ghost Tonight." In the winter we were out playing in the snow and sledding. A truly dream childhood. <br /><br />And, since my hometown was small (and my father in real estate), we pretty much all knew who each other was, and going to school with the same friends until we graduated from high school formed strong friendships and bonds. I drifted away from these bonds and friends when I got married after college and moved to the western part of the state, away from my beloved Maysville (Kentucky). So the business of being married, working, having and raising children followed. Of course, there was family I went back to see in Maysville, and I always enjoyed that. But, until my high school class 40th reunion in 2012, I didn't realize just how much I missed my old friends, some who had scattered and some who still lived there. We bonded all over again, and we started spending some time together. My hometown became my heart place again. It's where I feel my youngest, probably because of memories, and most carefree. It's where I am Kathy Lou, free of any other titles or responsibilities. It's where a bite of transparent pie can fill my whole being with contentment. It's a picturesque little town on the Ohio River, birth place and heart place of Rosemary Clooney. It's home.Kathy Reelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004247271452356577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-22853250595275402012018-07-08T14:13:47.690-04:002018-07-08T14:13:47.690-04:00Reading about your heart place made me feel happy,...Reading about your heart place made me feel happy, Jenn! Thank you! I love that your boys are having an experience similar to your own. My heart place is probably near or in water, where it's quiet except for the sound the surf and the tide. I've been to Fiji a couple of times, and it's so gorgeous--and so removed from my everyday life--that it feels like a true escape that energizes me.Ingrid Thofthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04063912686011336076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-30544866438739359392018-07-08T14:02:22.567-04:002018-07-08T14:02:22.567-04:00My dad loved magic tricks and took three of us to ...My dad loved magic tricks and took three of us to Lou Tannen's one afternoon, after school! Didn't he have a catalogue that was like a hardcover book? I read it from cover to cover, trying to decide if I could afford to buy anything from it.<br /><br />DebRo Deb Romanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01650858888197217258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-41000479732822087272018-07-08T13:28:27.712-04:002018-07-08T13:28:27.712-04:00Alona Bay, Ontario. My grandmother had a cabin th...Alona Bay, Ontario. My grandmother had a cabin there. No electricty. Running water only when the generator/pump was working to pump water up from Lake Superior to fill the tanks that gravity fed the plumbing in the cabin. My uncle sold it after she died. I've gone back up once since then. I need to go again. It fills my being and rejuvinates a battered soul.Raehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04345171555973259235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-7728628983849254082018-07-08T13:27:51.176-04:002018-07-08T13:27:51.176-04:00Rockettes. sorry.Rockettes. sorry.David Squireshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17144607647071920674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-5552012222509470762018-07-08T13:24:33.881-04:002018-07-08T13:24:33.881-04:00Loved this essay, Jenn. What glorious times for yo...Loved this essay, Jenn. What glorious times for you and your boys. And I am so envious of your gorgeous cool weather!!!<br /><br />I guess at the moment my happy place is, like Hank's, my own back yard. At least in the mornings! By early afternoon the sun has sneaked around to the south west and then the back is off-limits until sunset.<br /><br />But my truest of heart-happy places is England. When I was younger it was all about the countryside and villages. But over the years I've fallen madly in love with London, and being anywhere in the city just makes my heart lift.Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-70995911935815652962018-07-08T13:12:20.542-04:002018-07-08T13:12:20.542-04:00I sheepishly have to admit that my happy-place is ...I sheepishly have to admit that my happy-place is right where I am now. Since I was ten years old I wanted not much more than a keyboard for typing (connected to a computer so I would not have to re-type everything when the edits were done). I remember when the first mini-computers became available to businesses; they ran about $40,000. And they did a lot less than my current laptop. I also remember being about 10 and lusting over an ad in some periodical for a Panasonic reel-to-reel four-track tape recorder. It cost four hundred dollars. At ten years old, that was an impossible sum of money. Now with my mobile phone and Spotify and an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker, I can listen to any whim of music that I care to with no end, on-demand. My parents did buy us a piano that I wanted. I think they found a used upright for about $100. I've taken lessons my whole life. However, when I was almost 30, it was rumored that Stevie Wonder had purchased a digital keyboard synthesizer. I realize now, he might have gotten his for free, but the cost for the rest of us plebes would be about $20,000. Now, at 64, I own two acoustic pianos, sitting right next to me and a Yamaha electric piano which I purchased from a friend for $500. If I hook it up with a microphone to my laptop it will double as a synthesizer.<br /><br />We also ran free starting at the age of seven. We lived in the projects in Rockaway, Queens, New York. There was always a "gang" us doing something outdoors. When I got to be about ten my parents allowed me to go "into the city" with friends. The city was Manhattan. I remember visiting Lou Tannen's Magic Shop. Lou or his brother would dazzle us with feats of sleight-of-hand. If you wanted to know how the trick was done, you had to buy it. I saved my allowance. After that, we would go and get a steak at Tad's Steakhouse. Then it was off to Radio City Hall for the Rockets and a movie. Then we would take the long subway ride home. To Rockaway was a double fare so for twenty or thirty cents we'd make it back in time for dinner. <br /><br />In recent years, when my father was alive I'd make the trek from Bucks County Pensylvania to see him in the Bronx. I would always make a little time to just "breathe in" Manhattan. Although these days, if you sneeze there, it costs you a dollar. I don't really miss living there. Bucks County is pretty peaceful and I am certainly a man of peace. However, I miss visiting, which I suppose can be corrected.<br />David Squireshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17144607647071920674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-72580778009319631882018-07-08T12:41:52.549-04:002018-07-08T12:41:52.549-04:00I grew up in Billings, Montana. I've been to s...I grew up in Billings, Montana. I've been to some other places, visiting mostly. I'm still in Billings, Montana. I'll pass on to the next phase from here. PK the Bookeemonsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03478996122841311684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-52584315352514235272018-07-08T11:30:50.531-04:002018-07-08T11:30:50.531-04:00Growing up, my happy place was my maternal grandpa...Growing up, my happy place was my maternal grandparents' home. They had a tiny house on a tiny lot, but to my siblings and me, it was a huge paradise, as we lived in an apartment complex. Grandma had been trained as a teacher, and had all sorts of kids' books and magazines, and educational toys as well. We could draw, color in coloring books, create whatever we wanted out of clay, use water colors. We could take her entire pantry apart, bring everything out to the living room and play "Store". We also played School. And oh, yes, she also had comic books! Outdoors, we could climb trees, pick berries and cherries and apples. There were swings, a wading pool, a picnic table. They lived near the beach. Sometimes we would take a walk down to the beach with Grandpa, eating nonpareil candy with him on the way. He always had a bag in his pocket. As adults, when we've been in our hometown, usually for a funeral, we've driven over to see their old house and what seemed to us like acres and acres of property when we were kids. It's actually a very tiny lot, barely large enough for their house, which was a tiny bungalow that they built after all their kids were grown and married. And if the cousins were around, the fun was magnified!<br /><br />For the past 27 years, my Happy Place has been Chincoteague Island in Virginia. Although I live a few blocks from Long Island Sound in CT, I love getting to visit Chincoteague and the wildlife refuge, and do some birdwatching. The Atlantic Ocean has a calming effect on me, and I don't tire of it. Walking through the town and going up and down the side streets to see home gardens is another source of relaxation.(Now I'm counting the days until we get back there!)<br /><br />DebRo Deb Romanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01650858888197217258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-26218596514828375182018-07-08T11:07:53.313-04:002018-07-08T11:07:53.313-04:00Jenn, what a fabulous image... Arriving jagged and...Jenn, what a fabulous image... Arriving jagged and being smoothed by the waves. That always happens to me at my sister in law's manor house in Cornwall. It's like stepping out of the world. Now I'm yearning for my own little cabin somewhere...Authorrhysbowen@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11844065473614874365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-77275984095141490032018-07-08T10:25:38.860-04:002018-07-08T10:25:38.860-04:00I recently found your books and I have fallen in ...I recently found your books and I have fallen in love with them. My job keeps me busy reading research papers and other biology related material most of the day. It is nice to unwind at night with one of your books!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16094920466568283145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-84100910271707052792018-07-08T09:56:20.245-04:002018-07-08T09:56:20.245-04:00Hmmm, I think my happiest childhood summer memory ...Hmmm, I think my happiest childhood summer memory revolves around fish. <br /><br />A couple of nights ago we had swordfish off the grill and a conversation about how much fish we eat, how much we love fish and how Julie rarely to never had fish growing up. Neither did I. Except in the summertime. <br /><br />It was always fish that my grandfather and uncle caught, bream and catfish and sun perch from Joe's pond. No idea who Joe was, but he also had a spring house where he stored ice all summer that he'd cut from the pond in the winter. Anyway, my memory of fish is always that it was fresh and rolled in cornmeal and fried. In the middle of Kansas, this is what was available, long before there was a plethora of fresh and frozen fish in the markets.<br /><br />My aunts also owned a beach house on the Gulf. When I was a little older, I went there in the summer and discovered the delights of salt water seafood: crabs, shrimp, oysters, red fish flounder, sea bass, all of it, caught that day, often by me. <br /><br />I envy all of you who grew up on the coast, right or left. If I never ate meat again, and this from a girl from Kansas who grew up eating corn-fed beef, I'd be content.<br /><br />I think we'll have fish for dinner tonight.Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14187856103924954287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-70659601045864416702018-07-08T09:29:27.886-04:002018-07-08T09:29:27.886-04:00Love this, Jenn--photos of the kids being kids, th...Love this, Jenn--photos of the kids being kids, the gorgeous scenery! Enjoy!!<br /><br />My heart place is now only a memory--my Thompson grandparents' farm in Kentucky. The huge wrap-around porch filled with rockers and porch swings (where my grandmother always had room for one more tucked against her side), the stone warmed by the morning sun and a chill still in the air, my grandpa's hounds lazing under the chairs; a creek across the lane, hillsides, eggs to gather, tables groaning with food set out on the porch to accommodate all the adults, the cousins, whoever. Featherbeds in the upstairs summer bedrooms; like Jenn and her brother and her hooligans, we ran wild there--always under the watchful eyes of a grandfather who seemed to know where you were at any given moment (especially when you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be--like the hillside pasture with his bull) and a grandmother who let you take your bruises and scrapes without smothering you with too much concern. We ran wild summers at home, too--but the farm was magical.Flora Churchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289148096894506235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-2541886494708254202018-07-08T09:28:10.751-04:002018-07-08T09:28:10.751-04:00Loved this bonus Sunday essay! I read somewhere t...Loved this bonus Sunday essay! I read somewhere that in our summer memories, we are always ten -- such a glorious time. I don't know if today's kids will have such nostalgia. Jenn -- yours are so lucky! One of my grandkids is spending the summer in community theater -- she is only ten, but she is now in a day camp ("Little Mermaid") and a performance ("Wizard of Oz") - after twelve hour days, she is floating on air. Her sister, seven, spent this week in an art studio -- discovered clay. They are happy, but certainly not running free outdoors. Which is what I did.Denise Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02790883493798517829noreply@blogger.com