International Nesties
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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
The Landscape of Home
I've read something like eight books by Eva Ibbotson in the past six weeks. They are beautiful.
One of the themes she returns to is the idea that children fall in love with the landscape around them: 'There is a saying that the landscape in which a child spends the first seven years of its life will leave a mark it cannot escape.'
Do you think about this sort of thing? What landscape, if any, made its mark on you?
Re: The Landscape of Home
I sure wouldn't be surprised. I'm from southern New Hampshire, a region marked by forest and small mountains.
I'm now living on the northern coast of Spain, which looks like this:
It's about as close to "home" as I can get. I cannot stand the landscape south of the Picos de Europa chain. It's far too dry for me.
I find myself longing for nature a lot when I'm here. I grew up in the Midwest, with cornfields across the street and forest surrounding my house. When I was little, I used to spend hours in the woods, just looking at things, making paths, building forts, telling stories. It's one of the things I find hardest about London--that the proximity to nature isn't there.
Although I tend to associate my childhood more with forest than fields, this picture from Mt Jeez is about 1/4 mile from where I grew up:
http://foliage.org/ohio/mansfield-ohio-2009-fall-foliage-travel-and-tourism-info/.
I'm sure this landscape will always be with me, but if I could live anywhere, I'd live closer to the mountains--which I associate with being at peace and taking trips with my dad.
A lot of this - the forest was closer to a good friend's house, but the cornfields - definitely. In Germany I often miss the wide open space that I grew up with. Even though it's only a 10-minute walk to the fields, I feel kind of cramped.
What a fascinating concept, I never thought about it... I guess the landscape of home is always there in some subconscious way for me. The way I perceive other urban surroundings is "influenced" by the unspoken presence of Rome in the background. This is the view from Villa Balestra, a hilltop public park in my neighbourhood, where my parents used to take me for a stroll, play dates or simply a breath of fresh air.
Claire Messud, another novelist, also says that most novelists' creative ideas come from things that made an impression on them before the age of 8.
Anyway, yes, I buy into this idea of landscapes, as a regular person and as a writer. I am a die-hard urbanite and wide open spaces are lovely once in a while to me, but long-term make me feel oddly claustrophobic. I could never live somewhere where I couldn't see or hear another person around for miles. This is a point of contention between me and DH, who had a very different upbringing and played in his huge backyard by himself most of the time. He is much more comfortable, and happy, doing things like hiking and camping on his own, and starts to feel like he needs to escape when he spends too many weeks straight in a city.
I wonder how this applies to someone who moved a lot growing up. The only thing I can think of from that time of my life that still applies is that I like to move a lot.
However, I think the one constant I had growing up is the vicinity to military bases. I do think there's a bit of comfort when I'm at a military base, even if it's one I've never been to before. I actually lurk on Military Nesties sometimes. I feel at home with all those acronyms! But, it's odd because there's also a bit of sadness in me when I go to a military base and part of that is why I would never want to be in the military lifestyle as an adult.
I'm terrified of landscapes similar to what I grew up with, Midwest America,open corn fields. It makes me think of the giant tornadoes I've seen moving across these open spaces. Maybe I just have an irrational fear of tornadoes.
I do like the "landscape" of the street I grew up on, lots of leafy trees and shades, a creek running in front of the houses. Even now, I find comfort in areas that are very shady and leafy with large trees, creeks, etc.
Ditto!
I definitely agree with this. The site of a red barn and farm field can bring such peace and nostalgia for me.
Also the smells. Every once in awhile, the air will be humid enough and fresh enough here that I get a whiff of home. It's lovely.
2012 Reading Challenge