Autograph books were a big thing in grammer school. All of the kids had them but mainly girls. Some of the sayings that were written in mine were: Yours till I D K! My heart (a drawing of a heart) pants (a drawing)4 U! And my all time favorite was Yours till the ocean wears pants to keep its bottom dry!
School games were: Pile on Lumber, Hop-scotch, Tag, Red Rover and Drop the hankerchief. Jumping rope was very popular along with Double Dutch using 2 ropes and then we had singing games that went along with the jumping.
At home on Trenton Avenue, we played games outdoors until it got dark. The street was full of kids and Berger's house next door was our meeting place. Catherine Berger was our natural leader. She was about six years older than me. We played Lay-Low Sheepie, Kick the Can, Wire ball, Step ball and some of the ones from school. Among our other activites at home were climbing trees, building a tree house, trying to ride Berger's cow, going to the matinee on Saturday and playing marbles. In the evening with our parents, we would listen to the many shows on the radio, play anagrams (beginning of Scrabble), Checkers and Chinese Checkers. A lot of times, Mom and Daddy would join us. On New Year's Eve, we would go over to Berger's house and have a party. We would also write down a wish for the coming year and Cass would keep them until the following year and of course, we would open them, laugh and repeat it for the next year.
What are the games you played in grammer school and other places? Any favorite memories?
Psychodelic Cypress Knees
7 years ago
11 comments:
I was the hop scotch queen! I was never good at baseball (which is what all the other kids played) so I was never picked for teams--like until there are two of us left. LOL It did not take long of that for me to look elsewhere. I found several girls who were also not playing ball and we created the most awesome hop scotch board in the world...or at least, in Seymour, Texas. No doubt, that is where I got my great balance and the ability to hop backward without looking.
I also had an autograph book, though I have no idea what happened to it. I do still have my first diary, which I got when I was about 10 or so. I was in 5th grade. I kept it for years, and have an entry about how we were on our way to Austin to see our mom who was in a school there for a month for her new job as a "public welfare worker" and found out Kennedy had been assassinated.
I would like to see you hop backwards maybe the next time I see you?
You got it! I think we are on for the hop scotch tournament, revisited. I suspect we both would be a lot slower at it these days. LOL
I remember playing hopscotch as well, though I don't think I could qualify as a champion. LOL Also jumping rope, marbles, pick up sticks, and when we were older, board games like CandyLand and Chutes and Ladders. Also having contests at Grandpop's such as who could shuck corn the fastest or sweep out the garage first. In Germany, we listened to a lot of the old radio shows on Armed Forces Radio because we didn't have TV for awhile and then when we did get it, it was only on for certain hours and not easily understood. I do remember seeing American shows like "Bonanza" dubbed into German. Funny to see "Hoss" speaking another language with his mouth moving funny. In fact, I think we used to turn down the sound and try to read their lips since they were actually speaking English. ha We also had autograph books though I don't think I have any of mine any more. And when we got to high school in NJ, we had "slam books," which were typically spiral notebooks with one person's name on each page--passed around from person to person and everyone wrote something about the individual who was named on that page. A perfect opportunity for misunderstandings and hurt feelings. :)
Oh yeah, we played step ball on Grandmom and Grandpop's front steps, and tag and hide and seek of course. I remember catching fireflies in jars at Gmom's and Gpop's when we were visiting.
I loved games when I was a kid! On the school playground we played hopscotch, 4 Square and Tether ball. In Germany, we used to play "cowboys and Indians" or "Army" out on the soccer field. Hide and Seek was another along with a lot of card games from Spades to Old Maids, WAR, and Spit- and remember "Murder!"? It wasn't a card game- it was a game played in the dark where one person was the "murderer" and everyone else had to discover who the murderer was before becoming a victim. There were also the teenager games at parties like Spin the Bottle and Seven Minutes in Heaven...whoohoo... I was always into sports- loved softball, kickball and basketball- and learned field hockey at Northern. I never liked Monopoly, but I did like Scrabble and Bingo and Memory...You should see Slam Books today, Jane! They are 10 times meaner than what our friends had. I didn't like them then, and I really don't like them now. My favorite entry in an autograph book was from Billy Shea who wrote: "Down by the river carved in a rock; three little words, 'Forget me not.'" Why I remember that after all of these years, I have no idea! I have a diary somewhere- there's an entry in it that talks about a time my friends and I played with the OUJIA (I know that's spelled wrong!) Board and it said I'd marry ROBERT and have 8 kids! That was when we lived in NJ.
OH- and SPOONS!!!
What about "2 cool 2 be 4 gotten" ? LOL Or the variations such as "2 sweet" or "2 nice..." I can't think of any really clever ones any more.
I still have my 9th and 10th grade diaries. They are pretty funny for the most part.
Your OUIJA board predictions are pretty spooky.
Thank you for reminding me how to spell OUIJA!! I could have looked it up, but I didn't feel like it, and it was definitely bugging me! It's pretty bad for an English/grammar teacher not to know how to spell... :) And weird because I used to be able to spell everything. Maybe it's all these years in middle school working with kids who spell "remeber" for remember. After awhile, it's hard to remeber (haha) what is correct.
You sure brought back memories of good times. I remember Murder too. What was 7 minutes in Heaven? There was another one too where you hid in a closet with a boy but can't "remeber" I'll have to ask around. Haha!
I don't know who Abigail is but when I signed in - I became her!
Yeah, that was 7 Minutes in Heaven- I don't remember how you got "picked." It was some random thing and then you went in the closet and made out for 7 mins. I regularly got the guy I didn't want to spend time in the closet with, so we'd just talk and then pretend we'd had a great time in there so as to save face- or at least so HE could save face. haha.
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