Five Lessons from a 60 Year Old Journal
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ต.ค. 2024
- Today I have a flip through of a very special travel diary. It is over 60 years old and belongs to my husband who made it when he was 21 years old and traveling from France to India. This was no fancy cruise or whatnot - he had almost no money and in my opinion even less sense as he and two friends crossed the deserts of Iran and Pakistan with a jalopy of a jeep and a can of water.
He also had a notebook and in it he created a log of the journey. Today I am going to go through a few of the pages, read some excerpts, look at some entries, and along the way use these to point out things that we can learn about working in our own journals and diaries today:
• You do not need fancy supplies. Use what you got.
• Add the ordinary. Do not overlook the everyday.
• There is no need to overthink the content. Just get it down in a sentence or two or notes.
• Ask others to add to your pages - words, sketches, doodles.
• Don't worry about if or how you can draw. Add other visual elements for a visual hybrid.
• Bonus tip: know that this will help you see things differently, a great gift.
If you'd like to see my online class How to Make and Keep an Illustrated Journal: The Book of You ($32), click here:
kelly-s-school...
Please leave me a question or feedback in the comments below and PLEASE subscribe to my TH-cam channel and turn on the notifications for more journal arts videos.
If you'd like to see my online class How to Make and Keep an Illustrated Journal: The Book of You ($32), click here:
kelly-s-school-b1d1.thinkific.com/courses/the-book-of-you-making-and-keeping-a-visual-diary
I love this video; thank you so much. I love the “messy,” spontaneous freedom of the journal. It feels somehow more alive and less static than a carefully curated and thought-out record might do. Actually, that’s not true; I’m just justifying my own chaotic, stream-of-consciousness approach to writing. You have beautifully demonstrated that we can create wonderful, tactile and visually exciting work without even worrying about art. You have inspired me not to separate my writing from my visual memory keeping. I’m excited to plunge in now.
Hello there, Ruth, and thanks for touching base. Journals can be so many things and so many incarnations. It's funny that this one turned out so well as my husband never kept another one before or after this one. 🤔As for combining, it is how I started out making my own visual diaries before I could draw anything, not even a stick-figure cat, but I could glue with the best of them and added bibs and bobs in between the written elements. Keep me posted on how your new hybrid journal-keeping turns out! Kelly
Wow!! This is so amazing in so many ways! Such a meticulous journal written by your husband before you met him, for finally delving into it and for coming up with valuable lessons on how and why to keep a journal! As I write this comment, I am VERY close to finishing my Illustrated Journal - My Book of Me (from your course!) Volume 1!! And yes, when I complete Volume 1, I will be on to Volume 2. Of course, I reserve the right to take one of my many unfinished journals and turn it into Volume 2 😁😁
This is so cool.
Why thank you. It is quite the treasure especially as my husband never kept another diary before or after. 😺
what a charming video, thank you for sharing.
Why thank you. I can tell you that my husband is beyond delighted that his 21-year-old self is having a day. 😺
Kelly, thank you and your husband for sharing such a wonderful diary and an important part of his personal history! I would like to remind everyone to include their name, the date and location at the beginning of their diaries/journals, and to label photos with pertinent information. This is so key for enabling future generations to know what they are looking at.
Hi there, Dee, and thanks for this. You are quite right. I keep diaries like crazy and once in awhile I find one I forgot to date and while I can make a fair guess it drives me bonkers. It would be hopeless for anyone (grandkids someday???) to try to sort it out. Thanks for comparing notes!
Love this so much!!!
Thank you, Seraphi. That is truly nice to hear. 🌷🌻🌼
hi, thank you so much for sharing this journal. It is a mazing and what a keepsake of past adventures, things we did when we were young and stupid.... such fun. thank you, a journal does not have to be complicated.
Hi Lynn. You are quite right, they can be basic and simple. Goodness knows my husband never kept another diary before or after this one so even the everyday stuff are fascinating clues.
Fascinating thank you
Thank you, so. This is truly nice to hear, Su. I will tell Gabriel and he will also be so pleased. Kelly
What a fantastic treasure you have!!!!!!!
Hi Betty. And the husband isn't so bad, either. 😺
Kelly, this was a very special one. So great to get of glimpse of a young guy's informal journal written 60 years ago and to see how resilient he was after experiencing crisis after crisis. My favorite part was how Babs is still going barefoot after her shoe fell out of the car. LOL.
Hi Helene, the part about this young gal being shoeless for a few days as just this random detail almost made me snort out my tea. But I guess if one was young and in the desert and money was tight, you might not just be able to go to the local shop and buy new ones. And at that age maybe they didn't care! 😺
Thank you for sharing this with us. I wish I had kept a journal. I had started one as a teenager and after my father had read it and I got in trouble for confessing something in the journal that I had done, I never kept a journal again. Regret it mightily.
Oh dear, Cheryl, how terrible. Maybe try again? Your book will be in safer hands, now.
This is such a great treasure. I was born in 1963. This really should be turned into a movie. I felt every bit of what he was going through. Thank you so much for sharing. If this journal was published I would purchase it. It’s a world of stories all it’s own. Secret travel treasures. Love it. ❤
Hi there, Carolyn. A movie, eh? I collect old diaries and they can be crazy addictive, even when the entries are mainly about the weather. I've sometimes wondered about why insights into others' minds on paper are more intriguing than the ones they speak to us. 🤔
what a precious keepsake! thank you for sharing this treasure with us
Thanks bunches! It is my real pleasure. 🌷🌻🌼
Thanks, Kelly for sharing Gabriel's diary of his amazing adventure! Twenty years ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to spend 6 months aboard a friend's 45 foot catamaran, and we sailed the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. Our friend was a seasoned Captain, but we had no sailing experience. I kept a journal onboard, and it brings me great pleasure to pull it out and re-visit that adventure. I like the addition of other people's contributions in Gab's diary. Something I've not done before, but now plan to do, when keeping my now recurrent traveler's notebook on future trips. Cheers from NE Florida!
Well hello there, Brenda. I keep illustrated travel diaries and notebooks like religion. And like your sailing journal, the way it captures memories is even more visceral and personal than a photography. Also, Gab is tickled that his 21 year-old self is having a day. 😺
What an interesting look back. I wonder about doing this because I'm 74 now. I'm retired , stay home and spend most time in my art room, reading or occ visit for a lunch with a girl friend as I'm not very mobile due to a hip problem . I think of and old box of pictures I have and maybe I should just pull some out and write a little about them instead.
Do it. I'm 82 and can only get around with a walker and I am thoroughly enjoying reconnecting with the 21 year old me who had these adventures in India. Now ideas for other journals keep popping into my head. I'm going to have to hang around for several more decades to get all this work done. 😊
@@wendyharford3301 Well said, Wendy. If we are still here then let's get the good stuff down on paper. Did you see that Iris Apfel died last month at a VERY spry 102? Just think of how much there can be to give between 82 and this. Go get 'em. Kelly
Hi Theresa. We live in a great time to be getting older as 74 ain't nothing. (Gab is testament to that : 82 and still working, traveling, and playing.😺) Maybe keep a diary of thoughts and questions as only one who has gotten to know life's neighbourhood can. If you can make it around the old box of pictures even better. Please keep me posted!
This comes from an 18year old but get yourself a nice notebook and a little caravan. Traveling is key
A friend of mine and me made a diary for the camp kids of how our days went, including weather and food options for the main meals. Since this was work practice for us two, this diary was included into our papers we handed in. Our teacher was not impressed by that and told us, it was repetitive and "unimaginative"to report such mundanities.
I just looked at it again almost 20 years later, and those critiqued repetitions helped to remember the days and the kids better. Since they took turns helping us prepare the meals, it painted a picture, what our days looked like as a whole, not only the daytrips.
Thanks for this, Nick. It made me smile. What's wrong with repetition, anyway? What a fun treasure you must have there.
@@BookandPaperArts it is a treasure, and the kids are all grown a d we lost contact with them, over time. I still wonder, what has happened to them in the decades, but as a childcare provider for Kinderdorf kids, it is almost impossible to stay in touch with them as the "group mom", let alone as the resident doing a six week apprenticeship with them and then our school went on. It was between year 2 and 3 of a 4 year program.
I would add to the lessons - don't worry about trying to make it look pretty. Time will do that for you. Enjoyed this very much! Thank you.
Hi Gael, thanks for comparing notes and what a good note that is. Yes, time will give us creamy yellow pages and patina, we just have to wait for it!
This is so great! Thank you very much for showing and your husband for letting you! 😁 I have never been much tempted for writing about, well, anything myself, but now I am.
Thank you, Centi. He likes it and besides, let's face it, this 21 year-old guy isn't really him, is it? You should definitely write about yourself - you will thank yourself later. 😺
this was fantastic !! tks for sharing...just splendid on every level...what a treasure
Enjoyed hearing your story about this journal, thanks for sharing
Thanks for touching base. It is truly nice to hear.
Such a treasure, thank you for sharing.❤
Wow, did this ever make me see journals differently! Thank you for this.
Thank you, Julie. I was hoping it would. Journals can be a powerful tool for memory and growing, too, and I like to preach it as much as I can. This just gave me a different format. Have a creative week!
I love this, I wish more people would document their life for future generations. I have done some of this on our day trips. My mom did some too.
Hi Chris and you are so right. It's one of the things I preach over and over is - imagine if you had even simple notes or stories of day trips from our grandmothers or other older relative and the insights this would give into their real, everyday lives. Amazing that you have some of your mom's. Keep on making those notes and diaries! Kelly
Wow! Thank you to Gabe for letting you share this with us. What a little treasure. And thank you, Kelly for drawing lessons from it for us. This was really awesome.
Hi Lois, thanks for touching base. Gab is tickled and it is quite something that his journal should have come to me in the end, that journal guru gal. 😺😺📖📖
I'm going to be turning 70 years old in June. When I was 16 years old I wrote in my diary the first day I started working as a nurses aide in a hospital. I then went on and became a registered nurse after graduating from high school. I worked as a registered nurse for 46 years. It amazes me to see that little entry in my diary not knowing what my future as a nurse was going to be. That journal of your husbands is priceless.
Hi Juanette. You are so right! That one little line of foreshadowing of your entire working life must look as though it is waiting for something or someone to find it. I recently found some old calendars of mine with simple scribbled movie names and books titles and little else and even that brought back vivid memories.
I just discovered you and this is my 3rd video in a binge watch. From the 1st video on tea bag art which i have followed for years (see comments in that video), the last video on Japanese naive art which I immediately sent to my son, who is a 20 yr old pen and ink artist with a love of Japanese artistic culture, I got the sense that we were kindred spirits! Now I see this video and it brings back so many memories for me as a European exchange student at age 16. Plus, I was born in '62. The kicker is that my sons name us Gabriel! I have definitely got the shivers now!
Hello! My apologies for the late reply to your thoughtful message - I am on holiday in France and the internet here hates me. Ahem. Welcome Mara! I know what you mean - sometimes I see a tutorial or piece or journal and feel this rapport right off. I suppose it helps that I bounce around my different paper and ink interests. I used to focus more narrowly on what I thought would "succeed" but earlier this year I decided to try making only what I am curious about and it is a blast. Thanks for stopping by and checking in and I look forward to comparing notes now that you've found the channel. 🌻🌼🌷Kelly
Wow incredible!! This is why I write besides it being therapy. This is exactly what my journal looks like and I always feel it’s boring. This inspired me to keep going. You’re so sweet when talking about Babs. And the detail of her walking barefoot cos she lost a shoe was crazy! Thanks a bunch for sharing!!
Hiya. Boring? I seriously doubt that and I truly hope that this video helps you to see it in a different way, for all of its texture and detail. Also, I know what you mean about therapy. I also keep a written diary EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE because I can't think unless it is on paper. Thanks for stopping by to compare notes! Kelly
This has been such a magical experience, Kelly. Thanks for sharing with us these beautiful lessons 😍
Hi there, Virgina. My husband is happy that his 21 year old self is having a day! I hope you have a creative weekend. 🌷🌼🌻Kelly
Thanks for a delightful trip down memory lane. Reminded me of the movie ‘Around the World in 80 days’.
Sue, what a great comparison! Although I did try to read that book recently and it weirdly stalls early on. Unlike Gab's story!
This was very interesting! Thank you Gabriel and Kelly for sharing this wonderful story/adventure! Enjoyed this very much. 💙💚💙
Hi Barry. Gab is quite tickled that his journal is getting so much fuss especially as he is not the creative "type" (or so he thinks).
This was delightful. It's a record not just of a specific time and place but also of a specific time of life (you don't think of dangers like malaria in your early 20s!). 😁Please thank your husband for allowing you to share it with us.
Hello Rainbow. Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, many diaries do this, become the unwitting repositories of times and places and witness to our days (even our stupid ones when we get malaria because we assume our 21-year-old selves are unbreakable.) 😺
A very special journal, thanks so much to your husband for being willing to share it and to you for putting such thought into how it shows us all those important lessons. There is a great life lesson too in the fact that their plans being literally run off into the ditch didn't mean an end to the project, just an appropriate adjustment to the goal and how to reach it. Life has a habit of doing exactly that and we can only have the best of it if we make the best of it, whatever comes along.
Hi Norma. Amen to all that you said. It is a hard thing to believe and act on but letting go of the result you thought was the right one is possibly the healthiest thing we can do in this messy world. In the here and now Gabriel is tickled pink that his 21 year-old self is having a day!
While I have been a journal maker (junk, vintage, shabby chic) I have never actually written in one; this video has inspired me to travel this road of documentation. One thing that I stew over in my brain would be it's ability to help me in my older years, in the event that I need reminders of my past. I found this video very inspiring. Thank you for your time in making this video.
Hi Lisa. I am a zealot about diaries, visual and written, not only for leaving clues but for understanding my day to day thoughts and desires and goals and stuff. This becomes even more important as we age and time grows shorter but also more focussed. For adding writing to visual journals, you can start with adding labels and maybe a sentence or two: "These are my blue shoes." and it will grow from there, I promise. Keep me posted on how it goes! Kelly
I have never been interested in this trend of creating journals. But having seen your husband's journal it clarifies the process for me. I think I'd like to do something similar now, something to leave for my family to read when I'm no longer around.
Thanks for getting in touch. I say loud and often that visual diaries are treasure for our families to come, possibly after we are gone. Wouldn't we all love to have a book by our grandmothers or others with their favourite shoes, meals, songs, maps of their neighbourhoods, and so on to tell us much more than a photo ever could. I hope you give it a try! Kelly
Very interesting! I love old journals. My mom kept them. I used to write copiously long letters to friends when I was in my 20's and had moved 2500 miles away. One friend kept the letters and gifted them to me 50 years later. They in themselves are a dairy of my life at the time. I now create visual dairies, as I have matured into a mixed media artist. I often wonder where they will end up after my daughter's have passed away, as they do not have children. They are quite lovely, so I do hope they stand the trails of time to peak someone's interest, or better yet, bring inspiration!
Thanks for this, Shere Lyn. There is no point in moaning that letters aren't coming back but we lost so much in that, no? And much of it the day to day. As for visual diaries, I'm in the same situation as my son has no interest but - I have made friends with some young book binders and may entrust them there. Or just wait for some stranger, like me, to find them in a box in a hundred years.
Awesome journal..I have the journal my great grandmother kept on the car trip from Beloit Michigan to California in 1917...quite a treasure..no special journal material it is a small Our Banner notebook..during the same trip my grandfather..her son wrote his version of the trip on lined notebook paper..also called it a "log" thanks for sharing your husband's journal...love your video's..always interesting and inspirational 😀
Thank you, Debbie, and wow, what a treasure you have there. I often encourage myself and anyone who will listen to consider what finding an account of entries into the everyday would be from a grandmother or other relative or friend from the past and you have just confirmed it: your great-grandmother's log and her son! I would love to see pages from those.
Wow, that is precious TFS. 😊 what a journey... 🙏🙏🙏 you wouldn’t do that now. A friend of mine did a trip in a combi van many years ago and broke down . Meeting to future husband the mechanic that got her car back on the road. She eventually went back to turkey and they were married . Recently she passed away and now I want to honour her by making her a journal
Hi Shondra. Please forgive my late reply and thank you for this gorgeous story. This kind of stuff makes you think. I think the idea of a journal about and for your memories of your friend is all kinds of a delightful idea. Keep me posted on how it turns out! Kelly
A wonderful record of a slice of your husband's life. I think the word is the sentence about getting the injection of quinine is "startled" - "...he was startled by an injection...." I have my great grandmother's handwritten recipe book from her home in far north Maine - it includes things like "Stove polish" (i.e. using paraffin to polish up your cast iron stove) including warning not to use the polish on a hot stove lest you set it on fire. There's also a wonderful recipe for "Rose Honey" which is just rose petals, clover flowers, sugar and water - then boiled until thickened and strained. A great family heirloom and written in an old composition book! Great video!
Hi there. I like to use names but all I have to go on is Judas Goat Barbeque which sounds like a great name for a 1970's rock band. Anyway, dear JGB, that cook book sounds a treasure. Rose Honey! It's one of the reasons I cheerlead about keeping diaries and stuff - even the most seemingly mundane thing, such as stove polishing, is a fascinating look into the lives of our family or others and a time and way of life that you can't quite get in a book. Thanks for touching base! Kelly
So fascinating! What wonderful memories for your husband to relive.
Thank you, Vera. It is a lot to take in. So young. (And so dumb. I want to shake him, even now.😺) We read it together and he tells me stories.
What an absolute treasure! 😊❤
Why thank you, Penelope. I'll tell the husband!
A real treasure
Thanks bunches, Deb. Gab is tickled that his 21 year-old self is having a moment!
What a beautiful memory to have. The fact that he actually wrote something down in '63 is amazing, I wouldn't have had that forethought. It was fun to travel with him through the pages of his book.
Hi Jean. Thanks for touching base. The amazing thing is that he has never written down anything since then (hard for me to understand - I've kept a daily diary since age 8). He kept as a log and it grew and I'm so glad he did. It is endlessly fascinating stuff about nothing, as diaries often can be. 😺
Enjoyed this thoroughly
Thank you so, Melissa. 🌷🌻🌼
I loved this ~ thank you. How wonderful to have documented this epic journey at such a young age. I enjoyed your sharing this so much 💖
Hi Jade. Thanks for getting in touch. Showing this off and talking about it has been on my list of things to do for about four years. 🙄But I am so glad I did. It is quite the treasure. Sadly, Gab never made another while I work on a diary every darn day of my life. We have a mixed marriage. 😺Have a creative weekend! Kelly
Thrilled to find this video because I am currently working on a journal of my trip to India January through March 1963. My starting place was finding my Mom had kept all the letters I wrote home. I was 21 and part of a UN economic mission, so was in a much more sheltered place (based in Delhi) than your husband. Once I'm done building the journal I plan to read all the letters and add in any memories they bring up using journal cards.Thanks for sharing this wonderful diary. 😊
Wendy, what a fantastic project you have there. Journal cards! What a treasure your letters must be for many reasons. When I add pieces to my visual diaries such as letters or things that I want to be able to take out and peruse, I put them in pockets. Envelopes can make apt pockets but also, tuck spots made of other pieces. Keep me posted! Kelly
SO COOL!! Thank you for sharing this!! Tips are great too!!
Thanks, Vivienne. Gab is tickled silly that his younger self is having a day. Sadly he never made another journal! (Some of us don't have that problem.)😺
Wow, super interesting, Kelly. I thoroughly enjoyed Gabe's adventure. My husband keeps verrrrry thorough journals (including the price of petrol per litre per holiday per week per year per decade!) And don't get me started on his rainfall statistics! Not only that, I've also recently acquired some of my father-in-law's journals, which are even more in depth. Thanks to your video, I'm now really keen to get stuck into these right away! I may emerge sometime next year... 😅❤
Hello there, Sandra. Your message made me laugh out loud and almost spit out my tea. I would LOVE to see pages from your FIL's accounts. As to your hubby, maybe he is just onto something and you don't know it yet. Have a look at this:
publicdomainreview.org/essay/from-snowdrop-to-nightjar/
Let me know what you think. 🌷🌷🌻🌻🌼🌼
@@BookandPaperArts Wow, Marsham certainly was “a painful and accurate naturalist” 😂 All I can say is, thank goodness we only have two seasons where we live (dry and wet) because, if we had a Spring, my husband would be in his element with these tables. Thanks for the laugh first thing in the morning! 😂❤️
For the last minute of the video the journal is upside down, and not noticing that error as you recorded it goes to show how moved you were by it. Me too. So many memories of my crazy youth.
Upside down? Who, me? And thanks for the memories! 💞💞
What a treasure of a book…. So Cool.
Thanks for sharing this. It made me realize how much I wish I had documented my own travels as I don’t remember much of the smaller moments that would have been interesting today. I love journaling so I’ll have to do it from now on.
Hello there, Shay. It's never too late to start getting stuff down although from your page it seems you have a running head start. Annie Dillard wrote "How we spend our days is how we spend our life" and what she said. The everyday details are the telling ones. Keep me posted! Kelly
Amazing! What a treasure! Thank you
Wish i still had mine from my travels around the so.pacific….. hmmmm will have to search for those….
Searching is good. We got lucky. This one was in his ex-wife's attic and when she cleared it out she found it and mailed it to us. (She's super-nice.) Happy hunting!
This was so interesting! Thank you for sharing with us.
HI there, Lynne. You are so welcome. It has been on my to-do list for about two years so - whew!
Kelly, first off, I want to thank your wonderful hubby for letting you share his life for all of us! With all the traveling that you've done over the past years, you both sound like two peas in a pod. I LOVED how you pointed out to us, the simple everyday things that we should think about including in our own journals. From the cost to fill up the car, to what you ate for dinner, what sort of clothing you were wearing, yada, yada. Gotta add that the photo of Gabe in the beginning of the book at the shooting range, really showed what a hunka, hunka he was in the day! It's funny, but it also sounds like for all of the young men, the biggest headache, was the old roadster that got them there in the first place!
It's rather crazy too, how in our youth, how gutsy we all were, and slowly with age, we let some of that wear thin. Or as we "mature" we just know better. Thanks again, I just loved reliving his trip, along with you Kelly.
Hi Lynn. Well, you certainly made Gab's day when he saw that he was referred to as hunka hunka. I guess he must have been but I just don't know that young guy so it's hard for me to see. I've tried not to wear too thin as I have aged but stuff does slow down all the same. Maybe just as well - I am less likely to rush off into one of those silly dangerous situations. 😺
Such amazing travels they experienced. Thank you for sharing your husband's story I enjoyed it and the way you advised on writing our own. I do have a journal I was required to write 1994, while taking my basics prior to nursing school. Ty!
And I bet that journal takes you right back, no? It can be a blessing and a curse but as for Gabriel, he was so young and had no idea what was coming at him in life and there is something poignant about that. Kelly
What a treasure! Thanks for sharing with us.
Kimberly, it is my real pleasure. 🌷🌷🌻🌻🌼🌼
Wow!!!! This was FANTASTIC! I'm glad I clicked on the video. "Thank you" to your husband, Gabe, for sharing his notebook, his past. I felt as though I was listening to a novel. I learned I need much, much more experiences! Thank you so much I really enjoyed this. So many rich ideas.
Hello and welcome, Daisy. I can thoroughly recommend more experiences but I also encourage us all to see our everyday life as the most important journey we take and to make these days into journal and diary pages, too. Keep me posted and let me know how that goes. 🌷🌻🌼Kelly
How wonderful! Thank you for sharing!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You are so kind, Denise. Thank you.
Thank you so much Kelly. It is so interesting to see this diary, as I have been on a similar journey over tge last few weeks. I re-read my diary from 1967 when I lived in Italy, along with the aerogrammes I wrote home to my family. It has been a lovely few weeks, and I have made a grunge book inspired to use old black and white photos after watching Jack Rave in the Collage summit with Drew Steinbeck.
Thank you again.
Diana
Oooh, I would love to see pages from this grunge book as and when. Sounds as thought plenty of mysterious and atmospheric image transfers may be on the way with those black and white photos. Reading notes from our young selves is always - interesting. 😺
Thank you so much, Kelly, for sharing this beautiful journal and the story behind it with us.
Why thank you, Chris. I'm so pleased it went over big. Funny where good stories come from unexpected, isn't it?
Kelly, this was fascinating and wonderful. Thank your husband for sharing this with all of us. What a treasure to have this memoir of a fantastic (and frightening) trip. I love that he has reconnected with the daughter of the couple from the US. Thank you for this and for the tips you gleaned from his journal of how to keep a journal. You are right about the mundane being fascinating when looking back years later, and writing it down (any and all of it) ensures you don't forget the details--things you may not realize you will want to know later. Loved this video. P.S. So glad Gabe survived malaria.
Thank you for this lovely message, Linda. Gab is tickled that his young self is having a moment! As for the seemingly mundane, I recently found a stash of old calendars I kept with simple, scribbled notes about movies I saw, books I read, my work schedule, etc., and bam, it brought the days back to me in a weirdly direct way. Those details are our lives as much and more than our adventures (but it isn't easy to always remember that)🤔.
Eh..Wow.. what a story and what a lesson also in....storytelling from your side!! , you made the whole trip a thriller !! 🤩✨
Why thank you, Gee. I was tempted to read more but had to balance adventure against reading word off of a page and hoping it holds the interest. Kind of like an old time radio play!
This is amazing!! What a wonderful trip. He probably wouldn’t be able to make that trip today. For my daily journal I use a cheap composition notebook and include all kinds of receipts and pictures. Hoping my kids or grandkids will enjoy it someday.❤
Whoa, you got that right, Donna, with the state of the world and whatnot. Cheap notebooks are such great tools and I am convinced that one of the reasons is that they are cheap and that makes them less threatening and easier to just pour ourselves out into, with less of the inner critic. Keep on making those pages. Your kids and grandkids will indeed cherish this (or they are bonkers😺).
Such a treasure!!!!🥰🥰🥰
Thank you, Kimberly. It surprisingly is quite the treasure and I keep reading it over and over looking for clues.
Thank you Kelly for letting us listen into your husband’s adventure notes from so many years ago.
Modern day journal crafters recreate the yellow tape look🙂
We forget the simple details it’s true.
My spiral notebooks definitely remind of words other people have said to me.
Sometimes I want to toss the older ones because they take up space.
When I read, paper time capsules open 💚🖊️📚
Sabine, I really like the notion of paper time capsules. I recently found some old calendar pages with scribbled movie times and books read and even that brought back that time so dramatically. Yellow tape look, eh? Haven't seen that one but it makes me smile.
What a treasure that is! Loved that you shared it with us.
Thanks bunches, Katie. Gab has been asking me to talk about it for a couple of years and I am SO pleased it went over big. 😺
Awh Kelly, thank your hubbie for sharing his lovely journal. And you for sharing too. I agree, don't wait to create, use what you have.Youth....the things we are brave enough to explore...haha
Hi Roksanna. Believe me, Gab is tickled to be apart of the journal journey. It's the only diary he has ever kept but what a diary.
This was so fun! Please tell your husband thank you!
Yes, ma'am. Regina, he is completely tickled to be included in the journal journey.
Loved this! Very interesting and the writing just makes you think you’re there. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks bunches, Donna. I am delighted you liked it and Gab is, too.
This was so enjoyable. Indeed, also a sort of walk down memory lane. I have kept diaries all my (lengthening) life and the early ones were records of events and sometimes thoughts and reactions. I started in about 3rd grade (US) when my father, who encouraged me, gave me a Girl Scout Diary. I still have it and smile over my spellings, but really happy that I have the little book. I've written and tossed dozens of journals over the years, and don't regret the tossing. And yes, I still write everyday, text rich, mostly with fountain pen, but also digitally at times. A favorite pastime of mine is looking at journals that have been preserved and published. A most interesting diary, to be highly recommended, is the fascinating "Nella's Last's War (the Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49)," published by Slightly Foxed Editions No. 60. It's a great (brilliant) example of diary/journal keeping full of event observation and reaction. I am left thoughtful and excited by your video today, with its great example of an adventure on paper. Thank you very much!
Hello fellow fountain pen user. I am actually something of an ink addict and have way too much of the stuff. Your 3rd grade journal sounds a delight. Do you re-read diaries? I rarely do, they tend to be from a different life that has little to do with me and often I am doing such unwise stuff I want to clock the girl writing. I have also once tossed and likewise do not regret it. This could be a whole video itself (!) or group therapy session, at the very least. 😺
I just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed this very much! As always, you made me laugh a couple of times. Thanks for sharing this! And please say thanks to your husband.
What a wonderful walk through and especially of a young mans travel journal. I was imagining a young man writing in his trusty notebook, having adventures, asking others to stamp or write in it and making sure his notebook gets taken with him wherever he goes in his satchel or luggage. Grest hand writing too for a young man.
Great insights on keeping it simple, informal and 'Don't over think it'.
Thanks bunches! Your image of Gab as a hardy young man of the road with diary in hand made me smile. It seems to be the first and last diary he ever kept. Me, on the other hand, always have one in my luggage or satchel. It's like an extension of me. And you?
How much fun! I am sooo nosey
You and me both, Betsy. I collect old diaries and even mundane entries have me snooping. Thanks for touching base! Kelly
i subbed! thanks for the share! big ol hugz
Thanks you and welcome, Stephanie. I am so pleased you will be joining us for the journal-keeping ride. Kelly
What a great adventure!!! Thank you so much for bringing us along. God bless
Hi Julia. It is my - and Gab's - pleasure to have you along.
Truly a gem to keep! Thank you for sharing!❤️
Hi Jody. Thank you for touching base. Glad you liked it. 😺
so interesting and such a great memento!!
Thanks, Roz. I will let Gabriel know. He is so tickled by all this. 😺
Beautiful 🥰🙏🏼 thank you ❤️
It is my real pleasure, Veronica. Thank you for letting me know. 🌷🌷🌻🌻🌼🌼
Loved watching this Kelly ❤
Hello there, Penny. Thanks bunches. It's all about the fascinating source material. 😺
What a treasure❤
Thank you, Ninnian. It is truly nice to hear that. 🌷🌻🌼
This is awesome, thanks for sharing it!
Thanks bunches, Stacy. I'm glad it went over big. (So is Gab!) 😺
What a fantastic and inspiring video! Loved hearing about Gabe’s adventures! I really like your tips that you pulled from his journal! Also reading through the comments, helped me to see how I might be able to do more journaling myself as I am older, staying at home most of the time with a routine sort of life and don’t really feel as if there is much to put down into a journal.
Hey Susan. What happens as we stay at home, in our everyday lives, is the most important journey any of us take or do and you really will find that it can make for good stuff in your diary. I recently found some old calendars of mine with scribbled titles of movies I saw, books I read, drs' appointments, and so on, and it was surprisingly how dramatically it brought that time back to me. Keep me posted and let me know how the pages start turning out!
this was so interesting!!! i loved it!!! thank you to your husband for inspiring me to document my travels (whenever they may be) hugs, from Canada!
Hi Sara, I'll tell him - he'll be delighted. And yes, make pages and get your memories down in them. It doesn't have to be travels it can just be the everyday stuff, because after all that is our most meaningful journey that any of us take. Keep me posted!
Morning Kelly, Thank you for sharing this, what a wonderful diary. I have saved ephemera over the years from plays and different places, etc, and I’m unsure how to store/save them. I thought about making a collage with each year’s ephemera, but feel bad tearing things up. I want to do/create something that when I’m gone my kids can go back and revisit the things we’ve done and places we’ve visited instead of seeing a huge box of papers and trashing it all. What do you suggest?
Hi Joy, I am so glad you asked. If you go to the home page of my channel you will see that I have a playlist called Illustrated Journal. If you go there and request See Full Playlist (or something like that) you will find a boatload of videos about keeping your own diary. See if something there points you in the right direction. This one had quite a few comments about using up those papers stored in shoeboxes:
th-cam.com/video/dqaobu4_cXY/w-d-xo.html
As for things you don't want to glue down, I usually put them in pockets and if you check out a couple of the journal videos there you will find tons of ways to make pockets (my favourite is using an old envelope that a bill came in and that has the little cellophane window in the front. Keep me posted and let me know how it goes! Kelly
Is your course on altered board book still available?
Hi Shelley. I am very sorry to say that it is not at this time but thank you for asking. 🌷🌻🌼Kelly
Hiya Kelly & Gabriel I was laughing out loud about Gabriel Diary I to followed his footsteps I traveled many country’s for two years & have & still do have a Diary of my trip round Nepal & India. Pakistan cashmere Tho it’s all Gobble Goop written but still a treasure & still brings back many memories . I don’t know if Gabriel wound be or interest there on face book there a page on hippies 60 & 70 it’s interesting To see old photos & what people write about the journeys they maid . Any ways enshalla thanks for sharing . Peter Scotland xx cold & wet
hello! I just found your channel, I am a ephemera collector and multimedia artist, and I was just wondering where I can get your newsletter? Thanks
Yellow and welcome! The old newsletter is no more but I am launching a new one in the next two weeks so please stay tuned for more info as I will be talking about it here on TH-cam when it goes live. Thank you so much for asking about it. Kelly
@@BookandPaperArts thanks for your swift reply! Looking forward to it
Toast 😊
Well I’m confused. What are people writing in their travel journals if not these everyday details? I always record weather, the money i’ve spent, what we ate, where we walked, etc.
Yes, you are quite right. The thing is so many people don't write in journals at all and are not sure how to begin which is why I offered some everyday ideas. 🌷🌼🌻
0:48 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂❤❤
🌷🌷🌻🌻🌼🌼😺😺
12 july entry you didn't know what 2/-each ment it's for2 shillings each equivalent of about 20 cents in pounds shillings and pence pre decimal currency
Thank you, Yvonne. I've lived here over 20 years but still don't know much about the Old Money. 😺