Last night, I dreamt of the house where I grew up. A small home with a big yard on the outskirts of a city that has since expanded far beyond what I once knew. That house no longer exists, in its place now stands a block of flats. Yet, strangely, I often catch myself thinking it’s still there. When I search for some forgotten item from childhood, a book, a toy, a keepsake, my mind insists it must still be waiting in a cupboard or closet that disappeared long ago.
But I keep it alive in my mind.
The roses with their rich aroma in the front yard (so hard to find such fragrant roses nowadays), the beds of spearmint and other herbs along the side, the lemon trees that gave fruit all year, the tangerine trees with their juicy sweetness, the loquats I planted myself as a child and watched grow alongside me, and of course the apricot tree with the most delicious apricots I have ever eaten.
They all returned to me last night. In the dream I was walking through the garden, and everything looked intact, just as it did decades ago. I don’t clearly remember what happened, there was some kind of story, but it dissolved when I woke. What remained was the feeling, a quiet reassurance, a sense of safety and belonging. That space was built to protect and nourish me, and even though it’s gone, the memory still shelters me somehow.
Dreams have a way of bending time. For a few minutes after waking, I wasn’t sure if the house was truly gone or if I could still ride my bike down that yard and push open the familiar wooden door. It’s strange how strongly a place can live inside us, even when reality has erased it. Perhaps that’s what nostalgia really is, not just missing the past, but carrying its rooms and scents and seasons with you, wherever you go.
The photos I’m sharing today, though, have nothing to do with the dream. They were taken in a completely different moment, if you’ve seen my two previous posts, here and here, you already know the context. But somehow they feel right to accompany these thoughts. They are quiet pictures, with the same kind of stillness that memories hold.
And they are also my entry for the #monomad challenge.
The camera that I used is a Canon EOS 6D mark II with an EF 50mm f1.8 and an EF 100mm f2.8/L macro lens attached. I edited the photographs in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic.
All the pictures and the words are mine.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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