Category Archives: Memories

Licorice

Posted on February 20, 2016 by John Swinburn

For as long as I can remember, I have appreciated almost all flavors. Everything was good, in the right context. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or savory (AKA umami), it was all good. Everything but licorice. Licorice and its allies were, … Continue reading →

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Analysis

Posted on February 18, 2016 by John Swinburn

As a child, I wasn’t beaten or relentlessly berated and made to feel inadequate but maybe I should have been. Perhaps such jarring experiences would have triggered whatever it is in the human brain that creates indelible recollections of the arc of … Continue reading →

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Old Newspaper Clippings

Posted on September 19, 2015 by John Swinburn

Old newspaper clippings, even those clipped by someone else for reasons unrelated to one’s own experiences, can trigger memories. Well, memories may be the wrong word. Longings may better describe it, though even that’s not quite right. It’s more like … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Just Thinking, Memories | 2 Comments

Recollections of Writing

Posted on August 17, 2015 by John Swinburn

I spent the better part of the day yesterday reading posts from an old blog I had been able to restore from a backup file. Either I’d forgotten I’d created the backup or had tried to restore it unsuccessfully in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories, Politics, Rant, Writing | 2 Comments

Copper Dime

Posted on August 7, 2015 by John Swinburn

I don’t know what prompted me to do it. What motivates a ten-year-old boy to invest time and energy into something which, in hindsight, was such a ludicrously bad return on investment? I suppose it’s the same motivation that provides … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories | 2 Comments

Vacation Coming to a Close

Posted on August 4, 2015 by John Swinburn

So many things left unseen, undone, unexperienced. That’s how vacations go, isn’t it? The energy required to see all the sights, go to all the places on the list of “must sees,” and explore all the places heretofore unseen is … Continue reading →

Posted in Dreams, Memories, Time, Travel | Leave a comment

Allowing In All Recollections

Posted on June 8, 2015 by John Swinburn

The conversation stirred recollections. Maybe. But were they real? I spoke of old memories, memories I don’t trust. Did I really visit several strip clubs while I was in high school and in the first years of college, or were … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories, Philosophy, Wisdom | 1 Comment

Fragments or Figments

Posted on May 25, 2015 by John Swinburn

They seem to be fragments. Tiny pieces that seem, initially, to have no relation to one another. But, given the right triggers, slivers of recollection from years ago combine to become coherent memories. Finally, after years languishing deep in the recesses … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Memories | 2 Comments

Walking Alone

Posted on April 14, 2015 by John Swinburn

I started college in June, 1972 right after graduating from high school in May. I completed my undergraduate degree in December, 1975.  During the three and one-half years from start to finish, I made a lot of trips home to … Continue reading →

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Memories of the Border

Posted on February 22, 2015 by John Swinburn

Memories of my childhood are rare.  For reasons unknown to me, much of the stuff of my childhood seems to have simply vanished from my brain.  I do have memories, but it’s quite possible the majority of those few are not … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories, Mexico | 2 Comments

Evocative Seafood Stew

Posted on January 22, 2015 by John Swinburn

My wife made the most fabulous seafood stew for dinner a couple of nights ago. It included chunks of cod, sea scallops, and shrimp in a perfectly spiced tomato base.  As we were having dinner, I commented that the stew brought up … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Memories, Nature | 2 Comments

Big Jim: Loss of a Good Man

Posted on December 27, 2014 by John Swinburn

This post will mean something only to one person, my good friend who is an occasional reader.    That is fine; it’s written entirely for him and his family.  My friend, I was so very sorry to learn of your father’s death. … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, Friendship, Memories | Leave a comment

Finding Its Footing

Posted on December 10, 2014 by John Swinburn

Last night, I read a post I’d written not so long ago, on September 19, 2013.  The post was a recitation of items I’d written down on 3×5 notepads some time earlier; I wrote the post as a reminder to myself to … Continue reading →

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Losing Track of Time

Posted on November 12, 2014 by John Swinburn

Alone in a room filled with music, I lose track of time.  Not just minutes and hours, but years.  Decades intermingle like friends from high school, together briefly after lifetimes apart, trying desperately to tell all the important news lost … Continue reading →

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Empty Stretch of Sand

Posted on October 24, 2014 by John Swinburn

I remember a time when I was young and fragile and inexperienced in the world.  It was winter in south Texas, a time when the wind was constant and cold.  I walked alone along the emptiness of Padre Island, feeling kinship with the … Continue reading →

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Recollections of a Broken Spirit

Posted on August 2, 2014 by John Swinburn

Several years ago, not long after I started the business that I finally abandoned for a sabbatical/ retirement, a guy I knew from a professional association to which I belonged contacted me.  He called me as part of his networking efforts … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories, Philosophy, Religion, Secular morality | 1 Comment

Spinal Tap

Posted on July 30, 2014 by John Swinburn

I was in junior high school at the time, but I remember most of the events surrounding the episode almost as if they happened yesterday. I had spent most of the day before at a friend’s home, a condo on … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Memories | 3 Comments

Dad’s Birthday

Posted on July 18, 2014 by John Swinburn

Another year’s gone by since my Dad’s last birthday.  When I look in the mirror, I see traces of him.  There’s more resemblance than I thought there was when I was younger. He was a bigger man than I am, taller … Continue reading →

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Daisy in Chains

Posted on June 9, 2014 by John Swinburn

It came out of nowhere.  I was sitting in Janine’s study, chatting with her about making an exchange at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  We had purchased a shower caddy last week and discovered it was too long; hanging from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories, Technology | 2 Comments

Experience

Posted on June 7, 2014 by John Swinburn

I just read a piece on yesterday’s NPR Morning Edition website about John Waters’ new book, Carsick, which chronicles his experiences hitchhiking from his home in Baltimore to his apartment in San Francisco.  That is the sort of experience I’d like to have, … Continue reading →

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Memory Triggers

Posted on April 8, 2014 by John Swinburn

It nags at me, not every day, but frequently enough to make me wonder what it is that causes me to dwell on it. I know what triggers it.  It’s reading about or hearing someone talk about a memory of … Continue reading →

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Old Burglary

Posted on March 22, 2014 by John Swinburn

I listened to an interview yesterday with a criminologist/psychologist who expressed mixed feelings about the death penalty.  During the interview, he mentioned that he once was stabbed in the neck during a burglary while he lived in Turkey. A burglar … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories | 3 Comments

The Fight

Posted on March 2, 2014 by John Swinburn

I went to first grade at Menger Elementary School in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was my first exposure to life outside the home, by myself, with no parents or siblings there to keep me from harm. There’s very little I … Continue reading →

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Mimi

Posted on February 19, 2014 by John Swinburn

Today is the fourth anniversary of the death of my sister, Mary Eleanor, who her brothers and sister and nieces and nephews and many of her friends called Melnor or Mimi.  I suppose I always will  miss her; it’s only natural. … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, Love, Memories | 6 Comments

Happy Birthday, Mom

Posted on September 28, 2013 by John Swinburn

Here it is again.  It came so quickly; could it possibly be a year since I last gave my mom flowers in remembrance of her birthday?  Yes, today would have been my mom’s birthday. And again I pause to remember … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Memories | 5 Comments