Games we played as Kids...

Growing up in the early part of the 1900's was such a simple time of life. No, we didn't have a pile of Nintendo's or other T.V. games or things that most kids of today think they have to have! We played games!! Tag, Kick the Can, Hopscotch, Hide and Seek, Jump Rope,etc. How many of you older readers remember those games? Those were the "outdoor" games and of course, what boy didn't have a pocketful of Marbles to play Marbles with his friends? We had real fun, running, yelling,and of course once in awhile ("you cheated! You watched where I was hiding!" ) or some other accusation. But it was all in fun and we could in the summer months get out of the house after supper (as it was called in those days, dinner now!) and we would play till dark! There were so many places to hide when playing Hide and Seek!!! The houses weren't practically touching each other! We had big yards! I myself loved to Jump Rope! I know you, that is, many of you know how to Jump Rope! And you could get pretty fancy at it, like trying to jump over two ropes almost weaving! Another game I liked was Hop-scotch. This you drew a bunch of squares in a certain form and then you had to have a stone or something that was "yours" and you could not hop into any square that your partner/partners were occupying and if you made it all the way to the end of the hop-scotch figure without of course not stepping on any lines and hoping all the way, you could then move your game piece, (rock or whatever), up snother square. I can't remember all there was to it now but we could play a game of hop-scotch for hours. Tag or Hide and seek, Kick the can, Run, Sheep Run were played by getting all the kids in the neighborhood involved. We looked forward to our games in the Summer evenings. Usually our parents would be sitting on a "front porch" (Heaven forbid,these days!) but some of the other parents would gather with your parents and I guess maybe they were there to referee to make sure (all was fair in love and war!) In the winter we played checkers, chess, if you were more advanced, Dominoes,and there was all kinds of card games, "Old Maid", Go Fish", "Rummy", "Hearts" etc. They went on and on!!!! Such a simple, easy way to live and have fun! And it didn't cost a pile of money! When I think or read about some of the games the kids of today "have to have", I just shudder!!!! And most of the games are just sitting infront of a game board on T.V. or on a couch,etc. No wonder today that they are becoming "couch potatoes!" Hope you enjoy this! I'm not against having fun, but come on guys! Why put your bucks in all that stuff???

A few....

Just read your blog Steve, and what a great day you must have had or rather evening!!!!! I have been to a few of those myself with the big Mexican families and years ago there were those kind of families! Sorry to say a lot of them, Mexican families, have seemed to "bit the dust", as so many American Catholic families have. I, too, enjoyed "Mercy Sunday here by myself and the great EWTN! I watched from about 1:30 on Sunday, had a bite to eat and then watched the Devotions until 11:P.M. I said so many chaplets, that pretty soon I forgot to count!!! What a great Sunday! The only thing that could have made it better was for a few more of the family to attend, but that's what you get when you have a large family and get really, really old! The family is scattered from here to there! Wish I could have had Lily and Alicia and Lorenzo there! I got my reward with Lily yesterday though! She was asleep when Alicia came over to take me to the Dr. and she slept quite awhile after we were there! My appt. was late getting started so she did wake up, ate and then started to smile at me and it was so great!!!! Thank God that I still have some family nearby!! I started to feel a little guilty about keeping Alicia out so long but she was so kind to me and of course when I got through with my appt. the baby had fallen asleep again and slept right through the ride home!!!! Just about in time for her next bottle, Alicia said. Getting back to the kind of a time that you had Steve, Sunday night, I feel good just thinking about it too. How was the food???

Sorry!!!!!

Hi one and all! I haven't been doing much for a few weeks since my fall! I reall took a good tumble but I am doing O.K. I think!!!! Will know more after I see the Dr. on Mon. This hasn't been a very good month for me! After I took my fall, things started going from bad to worse!!! I was doing what I thought was great for Lent and all and was getting ready to make all the Holy Week Services and wound up not even going to Mass on Easter!!!! I really feel lost! My friend, Rose, who I depend upon so much has been great, doing things for me as well as Barbara's girls and Teresa's Linda but yesterday after having brought me a lovely box of fresh strawberries, went home and decided to go to her Son's house for a few minutes. She has this little Chihuahua dog and he is quite a handful! She was trying to get him in the car and he broke away from her and tripped her and she fell and broke her left arm up near the shoulder!!! She made it to get up and called her son who took her to emergency and she called me about 7:00 and told me the bad news! She will be laid up for all of six to eight weeks!!! So she is going to stay over at her son's house for awhile and Lord know when she will be able to drive again!!! Funny, she told me just the other day that she was thinking about getting rid of her car and taking the Dial-A-Ride and I told her she would really be sorry and for her to drive as long as she could!!! Steve is taking me to Church tomorrow morning and Alicia is taking me to the Dr.'s on Monday! And from there on in I'm well just waiting to see what God has for her! And me!!! She doesn't drive me too much, but since she goes to Church every week she takes me and once in awhile she takes me to an appt. She picks up what few things I need grocery-wise between Sue's shopping day for me!!! But to look over there and see that there is so few people here anymore that I know!!! It's really scary!!!! Oh well, God's Will is what will be done!!! If I can make it to the Dr. appts, and have my food picked up, Steve or Alicia will see that I get to Church or one of the other friends I have here in town will do it! They told me at my Birthday Party that if I needed a ride anyplace just give them a call!I guess I'm feeling sorry for myself! Time to go in and Pray and ask God to take care of me like He Does and will continue to do so If only I can remember to put everything in His hands!!!!

Some childhood Memories!

Are you guys getting tired of these kind of blogs! I got a letter from my friend Thelma, ( my 8th grade teacher's daughter) today and she was telling me that after she and her daughter left my Birthday party, they went to Chico and then went up to Tri-Cities Wa. where another daughter lives and they, the two daughters and she really had a nice time visiting. But then she went into the Birthday Party and how she and her daughter really enjoyed the Mass before the party, and all the things that went on at the party and all! Then she was telling me about how her Father who used to cut hair for all the men and boys in Wawawai, when they were there. She said that the first year they were there, which would have put me in the 7th grade,her father would just come down to Wawawai on weekends because he was going to barber school up in Lewiston, Idaho, where they had come from that year! She said he told her in later years, that he just couldn't sit around all the time while Mrs. Earl was teaching. It wasn't that far to Lewiston either and it gave him something to do because he had retired from his job!!! So she said, in her letter, that she and her Mother that first year would walk up to our house and "visit" in the evenings! She said those were, in her opinion, the best days of her life! She said that they had just loved our family and then, when that first summer when the men in the area decided to fix up the basement of the school as living quarters with a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen, etc. that really made them feel close to the Community!!! Then she asked me if I remembered us taking our sandwiches at lunchtime in the Spring and going down to the creek and putting fresh watercress on them. She said it didn't matter if it was peanut butter or meat, we still ate the watercress and she said like I told you before, it was so good!!! And the beautiful flowers on the hillsides,etc. It brought so many memories to me today too! She said her daughter has talked her into getting computer lessons and then she can E-Mail me, she said. I remember, while sitting here, my brother Bob, who was in the first grade when we moved there!!! He always had to wear a white shirt, trousers and talked Mother into getting him a "bow-tie! He never went barefoot! Always had to have his shoes on!!! He was so darned cute when he was little! He was neat as could be and always had his hair combed, etc. Mrs. Earl and the other teachers over the few years we were there used to really get a kick out of him! He was always a "little gentleman!" And when I saw him at my party, he hasn't changed. He was always pretty quiet but could really be funny! He had a dry wit like my Father had! I could say something to him and without ever cracking a smile, come up with something that had me and him laughing our heads off!!! I saw that in him at the party too, in some of the quiet little "cracks" he would make, Oh no, not about anybody, but about something!! His kids will tell you that he is like that!!! I really hated to see him move away from here but he needed Doctoring and I was getting too "old" to cook like I used to for him! Hey Bob, I miss you and our quiet evenings here at the house! I am rambling on now so it's best I get to bed for now!!!