Thursday, December 15, 2016

Childhood interests leading to present day writing

Are our interests during childhood the stepping stones, the seeds, for whatever we end up doing in adulthood?


What will Sinterklaas bring me?
Watching a TV program the other day about toys from the past- (a looking back at Christmas through toys), I remembered a photograph of me longingly looking at toys on display in a shop window.
I found it in a scrapbook my mother made for me, a very, very long time ago.

To my delight there were many drawings and pages of writing in there too: A drawing made on my first day at school, age 4;  Letters and drawings for Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (Saint Nicolas and Black Peter); Handmade birthday cards for my parents, and Mother's Day and Father's Day's Poems; Christmas and New Year's wishes.

The pages in this scrapbook which really made me sit up and think how my past shaped my present day life, were the pages from school notebooks.



Translation 
"This little girl is me.
I am big already.
In learn in school
We paste things.
I make a beautiful book
A book with images
I still make books,
with images...


Translation: left:Write a story by this image.
Right: There was a little girl who was very poor. She 
lived in a small hut, in a large forest. She lived there all alone, 
so she had to clean the house all by herself. As she was really poor, 
her clothes were not very nice. One day a really rich man passed 
by and said to the little girl. You get a new dress. This the little girl 
liked very much.
I still write stories based on images.
Forests.
Living in a small hut (lovely!) 
Not quite the reality, but a dream all the same.
Happy with a small gift.
Not sure about the rich man though...


Title: Het Vogeltje
This story was called Het Vogeltje
(The little bird)
Not my own story I am sure
but curious it survived for almost 50 years

Birds...
Little Birds...

I have spend the last 18 years writing about, 
and creating birds...

Thank goodness my writing has improved
from these Very First Written Letters

My first written 'words', aged 4

My more current writing and books
See HERE

2 comments:

Therese Doherty said...

This is gorgeous. I think we are shaped by our childhood more than we know, for good or ill. It's lovely that you've been able to continue on with your childhood fascinations.

Corina Duyn said...

Thank you Theresa, I must say that it came as a bit of a surprise to me that there were stories of birds and nature in the almost 50 year old scrapbook!