Tranquil Tuesday....

Today I'm having some down time.

I'm actually going to disconnect from technology for a good portion of the day.

Instead, I'll get out my photo box and put together a Book of Memories for my husband for his birthday coming up soon.

The advent of digital photography has been a boon in so many ways. That instant gratification of a great photo beats the long wait for the prints to be returned from the lab that we Baby Boomers remember well.

But it also means that we don't sit down with the photo album or the photo box in our case, and reminisce about our good times. The photos remain protected and hidden in that souless thing we all use called The Computer. Or they're 'burned to disk'. Or on my iPhone. No-one actually LOOKS at their photos much any more.

This was brought home to me just the other night when my daughter got our old photos of a European holiday from about eight years ago. I've always been a keen amateur photographer, and this was probably the last time I used my old Canon Eos on a family trip. A digital camera was in my Christmas stocking the Christmas after, and I never looked back.

Well, she, and we, sat for a good hour and a half, laughing, groaning and giggling our way through what must have been a dozen old rolls of film printed out as glossy 6" x 4" photos.

"Oh there's me getting my face painted at EuroDisney...wasn't that funny...I couldn't understand a word the lady was saying..."

"Oh there's you and Dad outside the Orangerie in Kensington Gardens...remember that squirrel that came up to get some food...wasn't he sooooocuuuuuute...."

"Oh I remember that garden in France. Wasn't that the one where they only trim the hedges with scissors so that the new leaf buds don't get damaged???"

"Ohhhh...remember when we saw Sean Penn waiting to get on the Eurostar...wasn't he a cranky pants...?"

Well, you get the idea. Yes we had a ball. Both on the trip and reliving it. And an evening of revisiting our own past, rather than vicariously reliving someone elses life on TV was a truly tranquil experience.

I've just set up a tranquil corner in my home. It's just a table with a vase of greenery, boxes of photos, scissors and other implements, and old magazines and trimmings of gift wrap and ribbons. That's all we use when we're 'scrapbooking'...in the true sense of the word. No big spend-ups on fancy trims here. Our scrapbooks are real scrapbooks that will yellow and fade with age.

But the memories they create will remain fresh always.

What's on your Tray of Bliss today?