Not to be confused with mythological Styx, this river runs down off of a very large rock on the back side of Rocky Hill near Canco Road. In the summer, with all the vegetation it's a lot harder to see the rock outcroppings. It's the easier to make out in winter, but then again it's the most hazardous traversing the stone top. Remember recess? How did you fill that time? What did you do? Back at St. Joseph's School, we had recess at 10 in the morning and then again right after lunch. I can pretty much guarantee you that, unlike most of the girls, we boys didn't stick around in groups and 'talk'. Over the years, we traded and flipped our baseball cards, played tackle red rover in the winter (til the nuns forbid it), rubbed bottle caps on the stone stairs til they fell apart, played baseball and basketball, and built little houses at the base of large trees, using tiny sticks and stones. The forerunners of the fairy houses of today? When I saw these 'rivers of sticks', it was recess again. When we heard the big brass bell ring, it was time to line up and head back to the 'rock pile' and class work. How did you fill your recess time?
Monday, July 18, 2011
River Sticks
Not to be confused with mythological Styx, this river runs down off of a very large rock on the back side of Rocky Hill near Canco Road. In the summer, with all the vegetation it's a lot harder to see the rock outcroppings. It's the easier to make out in winter, but then again it's the most hazardous traversing the stone top. Remember recess? How did you fill that time? What did you do? Back at St. Joseph's School, we had recess at 10 in the morning and then again right after lunch. I can pretty much guarantee you that, unlike most of the girls, we boys didn't stick around in groups and 'talk'. Over the years, we traded and flipped our baseball cards, played tackle red rover in the winter (til the nuns forbid it), rubbed bottle caps on the stone stairs til they fell apart, played baseball and basketball, and built little houses at the base of large trees, using tiny sticks and stones. The forerunners of the fairy houses of today? When I saw these 'rivers of sticks', it was recess again. When we heard the big brass bell ring, it was time to line up and head back to the 'rock pile' and class work. How did you fill your recess time?
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hopscotch. love this shot and the geological history in implies.
ReplyDeleteWhat an unusual shot!
ReplyDeleteRecess? We didn't just sit around and talk...jump rope and hopscotch, too.
We stuck around in groups and talked.
ReplyDeleteWhen it rained and recess was inside, I danced with Larry Pisceglia.
Double-dutch and soccer while flipping my hair over my shoulder :D
ReplyDeleteah quand on est enfant, a la recréation, les échanges de cartes Paninis des joueurs de football, c’était des marchandages sans fin ;))
ReplyDeleteSparking boot studs, marbles, cigarette card flipping.
ReplyDeleteLove this photo, brattcat, and love being reminded of recess! We played on 'the bars' - - climbing, hanging, spinning. I never heard of your bottle cap past-time . . .what was that about??
ReplyDeleteOops, I called you brattcat! Sorry, Birdman.
ReplyDeleteI attended an Episcopal school and we usually just played on the monkey bars or swings, but one of my best memories is of a mulberry tree that hung over the fence and when it was loaded with berries, we would come in from recess with purple mouths!
ReplyDeleteWe took bottle caps and rubbed them fanatically on the stone steps, till the words Pepsi or Coke disappeared. Then we rubbed some more till the cap broke apart leaving only a piece of metal the size of a quarter. It took us days and with all the friction, it got HOT! Strange? Hey we were kids!
ReplyDeleteSC-- That's funny! Brattcat? Birdman? We're often confused. Must be the hair... hahahaha
ReplyDeleteThe River Sticks, ha, I love it!
ReplyDeleteBoys have all the fun. Can you believe? In my grade school we had two playgrounds and for recess they segregated the boys from the girls. And the boys got the one with all the swings and stuff to play on. And this was Chicago PUBLIC Schools.
Wait - re: Elenka's breakfast . . .it sounds rather like your lunch mentioned the other (gull) day. . .
ReplyDeleteAnd the bottle cap ventures: all I can say is, "Your witness. . .!"
Gosh I don't remember, it WAS three hundred years ago haha!
ReplyDeleteNature always makes a great photo subject.
ReplyDeleteI love the colors. Such beauty in the details.
ReplyDeleteTrying to escape the watchful eye of the nuns. At least until my parents saw the light and transferred my sister and me to public schools. Then I just played on the swings and slides.
ReplyDeleteI loved "double-jump" jumprope and hopscotch... I remember something like 4-square, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat memories!
Bises,
Genie
PS - Kickball!
Very cool, nice shot.
ReplyDeleteIt was all about the merry-go-round, the swings, monkey bars, double-Dutch, AND kickball!
ReplyDeleteSimilary, we played red rover, Hill Dale (a version of red rover), four square, tether ball, baseball (yep, included us girls). Fun times!
ReplyDeleteWe played dodge ball, skipped rope, baseball, ball against the wall games etc until the nuns came out with the big bell and made us go back inside!
ReplyDelete... it's been such a long time. BUT, I do remember one recess running home because rumour had it that I was on the schoolyard bully's hit list that morning! :S
ReplyDeleteHave a happy Monday!
Played rugby.
ReplyDeleteAnd talked.
:-)
trails of time
ReplyDeletesuper photo...interesting progression of thoughts...
ReplyDeleteIn grade school, I chased and (sort of) beat up boys who were always pulling the ribbons in my hair. Tash of Palos Verdes Daily Photo
Jump rope,jacks, dodge ball, tag, hop scotch...and talked. :))
ReplyDeleteMostly playing with football (soccer) cards, a rage then, or exchanging them.
ReplyDeleteI'm having some figure-ground problems with the picture. Are you using "River Sticks" as both a metaphor and a pun, or is there actually water flowing in the crevices?
ReplyDeleteIt's odd, but I have no memory or recess at all. Must not have been much fun.
I stayed inside and studied, Birdman.
ReplyDeleteI did many years of growing up in Minot, North Dakota, while my dad was in the Air Force. We had recess 3 times/day no matter the weather or temperature! We played on gigantic tractor tires, played king of the mountain on huge snow drifts, and sometimes played chase. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough, I don't remember recess at the American nuns school I went to in Helsinki up to grade 6. But in grade 7, in Vancouver, BC, I played a lot of tetherball; once got into a scrap like a boxing match surrounded by a circle of onlookers (hated that, but as the outsider I was pushed into it); and once I joined a group on the golf course right next door who decided to play hookie and I learned it was not a good idea to follow the crowd. :-D I used to play a lot in places like your River Sticks.
ReplyDeleteWe also have a Rocky Hill in our "neighborhood" (out here in the middle of nowhere it hardly qualifies as a neighborhood but I don't know what other word to use!)
ReplyDeleteRecess was monkey bars, hopscotch with the perfectly weighted chain as the marker, yo-yos, marbles, and chasing boys. Interestingly, there were "seasons" for yo-yos and marbles. Somehow we just "knew" when they started.
ReplyDelete