This may just be my favorite photograph of all time. Left to right we have: My sister Christy, my Granny, my cousin Jackie and myself.
Flapping in the breeze? 3 pairs of my Granny's underpants (or as we called 'em, drawers).
We are all on the incredibly unsafe swing set that was in Granny's side yard. That see-saw thingy that Christy and Granny are on? Nearly claimed the last digit of my left pinkie finger. The swings? There's no stinkin' plastic tubing around those links, nosirree. You had to be careful and not let them pinch the hide off of you. It must be fairly new in this picture because all of the plastic caps are still on the ends of the tubing...that was not the case in later years when the sharp, rusty ends were just tetanus looking for a place to happen (plus wasps hid all up in there.) Also?, if Jackie and I got to swinging together, we could get the frame's legs to tilt off the ground. We turned the whole kit and caboodle over more than a few times.
There is so much I love about this picture and the memories it evokes.
Granny's in her curlers...which means this was probably taken on a Saturday since she was "setting" her hair for church on Sunday.
There's not a shoe in sight...for any of us. Back in the day, between May and September I had to be forced into footwear of any kind.
And of course the clothesline in the back...many, many times we'd be playing away and a cloud would come up...then we knew to race into the house for a clothes basket to get the laundry in before it got rained on. Granny didn't use the dryer in the summer...it had to get pretty darn rainy for days for her not to use the clothesline. My favorite thing was when she did the sheets...we'd run up and down between the hung sheets shrieking like banshees...careful not to TOUCH the sheets and get them dirty.
It's too bad the picture isn't wider or you'd be able to see the trash burning barrel that would have been just a bit further to the left and well behind us. Basically a 55 gallon drum that we burned the household trash in...all of the scraps were thrown out for the possums, anything that wouldn't stink was burned in the burning barrel. I remember keeping the milk jugs back so that once the fire got going good, you could hold them up over the fire and watch them melt. There's really no telling what sorts of fumes I inhaled.
(Funny story: Once when Christy was in her early 20s, she was visiting a friend's apartment in Atlanta. They had dinner and the friend went to go pick up some ice cream for dessert while Christy cleaned up the kitchen. The apartment was on the second floor and had a balcony. The friend comes back, goes upstairs to the apartment and asks Christy why was there spaghetti in the bushes downstairs...Christy told them that she threw the scraps out. Apparently, not something you do "in the city.")
Love this! Thanks for sharing!! :D
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DeleteAwesome picture! I think my mom had the same clothespin basket, and we had a very similar swing set. We didn't burn our trash (because we lived in the city), but we did have a compost pile for the woodchucks, skunks, squirrels, and whatever other critters found the scraps. I also remember having to run for the laundry basket when it clouded up! And always, always barefoot. Thanks for the memory boost!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! Hope it brought a smile. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteHello! Found my way here from "You'll get through this" by The Bloggess. Your photo and description of the swing set brings back my own vivid childhood memories (we had either the same one or one very similar to it). I also remember swinging to the point of the frame legs lifting and thudding back into the ground. A few years later, after we had moved and the swing set was left behind (which I would've outgrown by then anyway), my dad built a swing set for me. Good memories!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nostalgia trip!
Thanks for coming by! Jenny is awesome and gives so many people so much hope!
DeleteWe must be of a similar age...I think play set safety standards changed after my youth...it's a wonder that there aren't more of us maimed! But you know, I wouldn't have given anything for the hours I spent on that deathtrap!
I'm so glad you decided to visit my blog...please come on back any ole time!
From this to the most mature person in any room you're in, from about 16 on... :-)
ReplyDeleteBeing "more mature" was cooler at 16 than it is at 46. :)
DeleteLove it! It brings back memories of my youth in Ohio. We had no shoes all summer and an equally dangerous swing set. Mom used the dryer all the time but we would clothespin blankets to the lines and make forts. Those were the good old days.
ReplyDeleteMy cousin had a very similar swingset that we must have spent years of time on, and probably six years after she got that one, we got one that had the fancy plastic tubing on the swing chains.
ReplyDeleteI remember going barefoot until I stepped on two separate bees two summers in a row, and I wasn't eager to do it again the next.
My mom and grandmas all used dryers, but we mostly lived in suburbs. I only knew one family whose clothesline I had seen and I was jealous of it (turns out my mom was, too).
Most of my grandparents had a burn pile or barrel. I've never operated one myself, but one year we all learned that you don't leave one unattended, even if you think it's done (or to light it farther away from the house), when my grandpa went to a cousin's recital and a flying ember set the roof on fire. Luckily someone was home to notice and the fire station wasn't far. Sheesh!
Granny set the entire side yard on fire one year. Grass in Alabama in late August goes up in a flash, I will tell you!
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