Playground Memories

When I began reading the comments on my Playground Memories post below I got a wonderful surprise. My post had been chosen as Post of the Day over at David's Authorblog! I'm honored and humbled at his mention.Thank you David and a great big thank you as well to all who left gracious comments.

The teacher part of me is always fascinated by the little country schools I come upon in my travels around the countryside. The one above was in a grove of huge old trees. It was shady and cool. Rather than tear it down this one had been turned into a community center. Notice the red pump in the front. I can imagine on a hot day a teacher pumping away and the kids bent over drinking straight from the pump.

The slide was under a tree out of the sunlight. I can remember almost getting burned many times sliding in the hot sun. Come recess time you did not want to be the first one down the slide! When I was in the third grade we had a slide at least twice as high as this one. A classmate decided when he got to the top he was going to slide down the support pole to the ground. I happened to be down at the bottom. When he slid down he caught my dress with his foot and ripped it around the empire waist. Mrs. Goad stapled my dress together for the rest of the day.

I never did like Jeff!

Ah, the playground merry-go-round. The one piece of playground equipment that promised to trip you up and send you flying. This was the one activity I shyed away from during my childhood. It was always spinning round and round loaded with kids. When I look back to those days it's a wonder more kids weren't hurt. Surprisingly I only remember one child breaking an arm on our playground.

There was only one of these spring toys in the yard. The rest probably rusted away. You could get those things going back and forth so fast you could go flying off the front and planting your face in the ground if you weren't careful.

Swings - the one favorite piece of playground equipment everyone wanted to play on and there was never enough for everybody. They don't make this kind anymore. They're said to be too dangerous. Well, maybe so, but I can still remember swinging in the breeze and dreaming of what I wanted to be when I grew up and the voice of my best friend taunting me, "I bet I can swing higher than you."

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"Show Me" - Something Relaxing

Robert (Thoughts of a Father) has had an ongoing photo project this week he has called "Show Me." So far we have photographed our mailboxs, our kitchens, our front doors, sentimental objects and favorite views in our home. Today's challenge is to show something that we find relaxing.

In my mind there is nothing more relaxing than to curl up with a good book. One of my favorite places is out on the swing underneath the gazebo. Do you remember how much fun it was as a child to go to the playground and swing as high as you could? I have always loved that feeling. When we moved in this house I knew that a swing was what I wanted in the gazebo. This week we had a day where the temps hovered around seventy and in the late afternoon a cool breeze made it seem so much closer to fall. I love those days and I'm yearning for more of them to come quickly. There is nothing as relaxing as sitting in my gazebo swinging backwards and forwards imaging that far off place my book is taking me to. Even without a book I find relaxation looking out at my own little corner of the world that surrounds me and gives me peace.

Here's hoping you find peace and relaxation in your corner of the world today.

It's All About The Frog - Yeah, Right!

It's Tuesday and time for a Ruby Tuesday post. Maybe this image is all about the frog; but you'll soon see the next two are maybe not so much about the little red frog. This little guy is on the mobile above Ms. Lily's jungle themed swing.

Her deep brown eyes follow the mobile round and round above her head. Her hands and feet move in constant motion to the music.

Lily, look at Grammy! Sorry Grammy, the toucan has my attention at the moment.

Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Mary/The Teach over at Work Of The Poet. Each Tuesday we post a photo that has red in it. It can be a little bit of red or a lot of red. To see other participants posting red photos today click on the Ruby Tuesday icon at the top of my post. Tell Mary Carletta sent you.