1.a. he had only been playing
b. they had played
2.a. he had drank
b. he had been drinking
3.a. she had not been looking
The images that might help to construct that felling of serenity and nostalgia might be "quiet hills","farms" and may be "rural setting". these ideas would give the reader the sensation that the narrator is remembering his past with nostalgia, it is a recall of what he saw, like a childhood memory which he is not able to go back to because he is an adult now. it seems that his memories are pleasant and he remembers with wistfulness.
Pretty sure that’s a rhyme
