2005-05-25
Swinging In The Breeze
All I�m going to say is that there are some really fucked up people in Dland. LOL I get scared sometimes peeking into the diaries (minds) of others. It�s disturbing. Although I suppose just as many people look at my boring life and wonder how I even manage to survive!! LOL I have stumbled across quite a few diaries lately that I wish I hadn�t. Scary, scary people. LOL
ANYway, since my entry yesterday, I have been visited by so many childhood memories it�s not even funny! LOL I was thinking about Catholic school and remembering how I used to walk to school and home every day through Sw@n Lake Park. It was a beautiful park with a band shell that had concerts in the summer, a kiddy pool, and a beautiful historic building that used to be a spring house. I remember there used to be a much bigger pool there, but for some reason or another they had to take it out. I don�t for the life of me remember why except that I know a kid or two drowned there.
I also thought about the ponds that were in the middle of the park. There were two ponds with three bridges going over each end plus one in the middle. I learned to ice skate on that pond and I would skate every winter dreaming of being a beautifully costumed skater.
At the south end of the pond was this giant drain that was grated off. I remember one summer walking to school with David K@chelski and telling him that the devil lived down there. The kid was so scared that he ran the rest of the way to school and by the time I got to school I was sooooo in trouble (this was Catholic school remember?).
After you made it through the park, there was a street with houses facing the park. There was a path between two houses that all the kids took and these beautiful lilac bushes were in the back yards where the path cut through. I remember one time picking some for my 2nd grade teacher. I also remember getting to school and freaking out because aphids from the lilacs were crawling all over me! Not fun.
I also remember walking (or waddling) through the park in my snow suit in the dead of winter. Yes, I still had to walk to school in both wind and rain, in both sleet and snow. My parents both worked, so I was on my own since about first grade when it came to getting myself to school. ANYway, it was NOT wise to walk in the snowpants unless you were sure to use the bathroom first. It�s a long walk when you have to waddle through snow and slippery ice. I remember not making it several times because I forgot to go to the bathroom first.
I remember summer nights sitting in the porch swing with my mother. We would listen to the concerts playing in the band shell. I can see her sitting there, I can see myself next to her. Just enjoying the cool summer evenings and swinging in the breeze.
We had a fabulous big porch and I loved that porch swing. On rainy days when there was no one to play with, I would take my portable record player and listen to the Turtles �So H@ppy Together� and swing on that swing and smell the rain. My mom went to garage sales a lot, so I had tons of 45�s and 33 LPs that I could listen to. They were all SO not my generation of music, but I learned to sing along with all kinds of things. One of my favorites as a youngster was The Singing Nun! LOL Yes, I fancied becoming a nun at one time when I found out about the free education opportunities and that I could learn to be a music teacher like Sister Philomene.
Oh Lordy Lord what started as one childhood memory is just flooding me now. Sister Philomene was the music teacher and the organist at church. She was old when I was in school and I�m sure she�s long gone now. We used to call her Sister Fillherpants or Sister Fullofmean because she was just so cranky. I remember that when she would get mad at us, you were really in trouble if you sat in the front row. Sister Philomene would spit blood when she was mad. It was not a pretty sight.
I was cleaning out my office and came across some old newspaper clippings of me when I was in second grade. LOL I will have to scan it and post it.
I suppose that�s enough reminiscing for one day. I�m still thinking of that porch swing and sitting with my mother in the cool evening Wisconsin summers. I miss my mother. I miss my porch swing.
kellbelle at 10:58 a.m.
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