"A grownup is a child with layers on." - Woody Harrelson
Peeling back the layers.
If the weather was the least bit tolerable, I'd be out in the yard for at least a big chunk of the day. I did do other things besides trying to fly off the well tank and riding my bike. I loved to get in the deep, shady San Augustine grass and find pill bugs. I loved how they'd curl up into a complete ball! I'd put them in a pocket, I'd throw them. I'd see how many I could get balled up at one time. I also like to walk around in the sand in the driveway and look for ant lions. Their little funnel in the sand made a fun place to push an ant into, or to toss a twig or spring of grass. Sometimes I was mean and poked a stick in the center and twirled it round and round.
Occasionally, I'd go through the house and announce to Mama I was bored. If she wasn't too busy, she'd come out and we'd made a hop scotch board in the dirt and play a game or two. In the evening, when Daddy came home, if I were outside anywhere, he'd chase me one full circle around the house, then go inside, sit in his lazy boy and say "Poor tired, Daddy! Needs someone to pull his big ol' boots off." And I'd unlace his leather work boots, rare back and "pull" them off. I think mostly it was Daddy pushing with the other foot that did the trick.
I also loved to swing. I had a swingset, but if I swang very high or fast it tried to tip up. In a huge old oak tree, behind the garage, Daddy threw a thick rope up and looped it over a huge limb. He made me a swing! A swing I could swing higher than high on!
In the late summer evenings, I'd sometimes lay out on the shady side of the house, watching the clouds, chewing on a piece of grass, smelling Mama's supper simmering and slipping out through the open windows. I'd hear the clanking dishes in the sink. Hear Daddy say something to Mama or to our little Susie dog. And life just felt so rich! So full! So cozy and perfect!What were some of your favorite outdoor activities? Did you play with insects? What is one of the warmest, life is right memories you have?
Thanks for sharing with me!
Barbara
I guess me and the neighborhood kids fall into the mean category. We did play with bugs, although the bugs sure didn't feel played with afterward! We made glowy bracelets out of the lights off the tail end of the lightning bugs. I didn't feel bad about it back then, but I sure do now!
ReplyDeleteOther than making those bracelets, we loved to play hide-and-seek, ride out bikes, not get yelled at by our cranky neighbor lady, and swing on our swing set.
The only "life is right" moment that comes immediately to mind for me at the moment was when Daddy came home after being snowbound in Oklahoma for six weeks. He was a trucker back then and he missed Christmas that year. That was the first time he had ever missed our Christmas (that I know of). I was very happy to have my daddy back home.
Thanks for sharing such sweet memories with us, Barbara. :) Have a blessed night!
I never broke apart a lightening bug, but I am probably guilty of leaving them in a jar with slits cut in the lid for too long. It thrills me to know that a few others have really enjoyed this series. Thank you for always sharing!
DeleteI don't know that I ever put them in a jar. It was too much fun wearing them (bad me!) I think this was a great series. Thank you for sharing, too, and you're welcome. :)
DeleteHave a blessed night!
I like to be outside as much as possible. Bugs bother me more as a grown up than a kid.
ReplyDeleteI'm not scared of any bugs, but I don't go out of my way to associate with them anymore.
DeleteNothing like playing outside. I had the luxury of living in a community where there were around a good 25 kids. And we had a fabulous childhood.
ReplyDeleteSeena
#AtoZChallenge - Y is for Yoga
What a cool childhood!
DeleteI never played with insects. Mostly we just rode our bikes. At times we'd play tag or just chase each other but I was always leery of that. I stubbed my tow on the cement far too many times. That really hurts. Playing games like stick-ball occurred, but only if there were enough of us to find the local school to find a place wide enough to play. Playing at home meant running the risk of breaking one of the house windows from either side of the street, breaking a car window from either side of the street, or getting hit by a car. I always used to wonder where everyone was going during the day. Shouldn't they all be at work?
ReplyDeleteShame on those adults for not vacating the streets for you! LOL Seems kids find a way to have fun no matter where they are.
DeleteI used to invent my own stories playing in our big field behind the house. We had two old-style wagons that served as anything. A house, a submarine, an airplane, you name it.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I told my mother I was bored she'd suggest I clean my room.
Sounds like you had all the fodder you needed for epic tales! Don't you just hate when moms twist things like that? ;)
DeleteYes we played with insects. And worms. And garter snakes. We loved to tear the tails off lightening bugs and wear it stuck to our finger...an instant diamond ring. My kids and grandkids liked to play with pill bugs too...we call them roly polys here!
ReplyDeleteYes, we called them that many times, too. I still love lightening bugs, but only just to watch them. They are like the prettiest all natural Christmas lights!
DeleteWe call them roly polys, too. :)
DeletePaula, I wonder what gave us the idea to rip off their tails to make jewelry? I made bracelets and rings and earrings, too. Those poor bugs. I sure hope they don't get to put a vote in on judgement day. If so, we're sunk. :)
Favorite outdoor activities? Oh no. I hated the outdoors. I would have rather been inside reading a book. But no. The babysitter insisted we remain outside during the day. I hated that babysitter.
ReplyDeletePoor little Liz! There is nothing wrong with reading. It's quiet, keeps you occupied, expands your mind. Seems she could of at least let you sit in the shade and read outdoors.
DeleteGrowing up on a farm, we played outside all the time. We would catch those hairy caterpillars, lightning bugs, and grasshoppers. We played with pill bugs also. We had some huge ant hills on the farm with some mean ants that lived in them. Their bites really hurt. My sisters and I would lie around outside and watch the clouds turn into shapes as they moved on the currents.
ReplyDeleteEverything was done outside. We had to share a blue bicycle and once in a while, Daddy would let us ride his big brown bicycle. My sisters and I made mud pies in the summers, played in the cotton and corn patches and a few times every summer we'd get together with our cousins to play baseball in the cow pasture. That activity could be a messy business, if you know what I mean.
We'd line up to wait for the bathroom after filling up on watermelon in the summer. With seven kids the line was long and we'd try to make each other laugh to see who would pee in their pants first. We had a lot of fun times. I don't know if there was anything that stood out as a warm and fuzzy, perfect moment.
I wrote about a lot of this stuff in a previous A to Z Challenge.
I'm enjoying all your stories.
Sunni
Sounds like good times together as kids! Thanks for sharing these memories here.
Deletelots of time in our yard. No fences in our neighborhood in PA - just running, cartwheels, baseball, etc. If you announced you were bored - Mom pointed out weeds to pull, and you had to get a bucket. I was never "bored". Always a book to read sitting out in the yard!
ReplyDeletePulling weeds?!?! I'd have never been bored either!
DeleteI love your childhood memories! Thinking back to my own childhood, I was outdoors a lot, no matter what the weather. In the rain, I would go jump in all the puddles! If the sun was shining, I loved swinging too. We had a tire swing at the first house I remember living in -- which also had a HUGE yard, that I could get lost in. Later on, we had a swing set in the back yard, and I do remember it threatening to pull out of the ground when we swung too high up... but my dad was an engineer, so I trust that he had it bolted down pretty good. ;D
ReplyDeleteOh, puddle jumping was the best! I taught both of my children to puddle jump, then wondered why when I had to rinse out their muddy clothes. LOL
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