This is a playground on the edge of Bayside. At St. Joseph's Grammar School, we had nothing like this at recess, but we made do. We were left to our own devices. Back then, we were pretty creative. Yes, we had devices! Rubbing bottle caps on the school's back steps, constructing mini houses out of sticks and gum wrappers (early stages of what we know now as fairy houses? Good grief!), baseball, using a tennis ball and our fist for a bat, flipping baseball cards against the wall and trading them back and forth ("I'll trade you a Rocky Colovito for a Bob Cerv and a Tracy Stallard"), eating nickel candy, playing basketball against a wall with no basket just a spot to shoot for (we were kind of dumb), throwing balls into the air and catching them with or without our gloves, the Whip in the snow (til the nuns outlawed it), Tackle Red Rover in the snow (til the nuns outlawed it), the snowball firing squad (til the nuns outlawed it), Hopscotch, jumping rope, assorted games of tag and oh ya, just plain running back and forth to nowhere were some of the ways we attempted to fill our 20 minutes of recess back at St. Joes. It WAS a simple life. How about you?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Recess
This is a playground on the edge of Bayside. At St. Joseph's Grammar School, we had nothing like this at recess, but we made do. We were left to our own devices. Back then, we were pretty creative. Yes, we had devices! Rubbing bottle caps on the school's back steps, constructing mini houses out of sticks and gum wrappers (early stages of what we know now as fairy houses? Good grief!), baseball, using a tennis ball and our fist for a bat, flipping baseball cards against the wall and trading them back and forth ("I'll trade you a Rocky Colovito for a Bob Cerv and a Tracy Stallard"), eating nickel candy, playing basketball against a wall with no basket just a spot to shoot for (we were kind of dumb), throwing balls into the air and catching them with or without our gloves, the Whip in the snow (til the nuns outlawed it), Tackle Red Rover in the snow (til the nuns outlawed it), the snowball firing squad (til the nuns outlawed it), Hopscotch, jumping rope, assorted games of tag and oh ya, just plain running back and forth to nowhere were some of the ways we attempted to fill our 20 minutes of recess back at St. Joes. It WAS a simple life. How about you?
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LOL you make me laugh with the nuns. You boys had great fun it sounds like.
ReplyDeleteCan you believe, in my Chicago public school there was a playground on each side of the building and the boys got to have recess in the one with the apparatus. We girls just had an empty place with not even a bench. I think balls were not allowed, only jumpropes. It was kinda boring. And cold.
un petit coup de nostalgie ;)
ReplyDeleteyour memories are as colorful as this playground.
ReplyDeleteWonderful colours for a fount of colourful memories. Perhaps some of our global problems could be solved if we handed them over to creative kids!
ReplyDeleteFun memories. Recesses were pretty simple with me growing up too. (And, we had gravel under the swingsets, no soft foamy material.)
ReplyDeleteNice, colorful and FUN!!:)
ReplyDelete...including the text!:)
We had an asphalt play yard and we played football, softball, basketball, and all that. Lots of skinned knees and elbows and nobody worried about it.
ReplyDeleteI had some similar childhood experiences. We were very creative when it came to finding things to do. The nickel candy statement jogged a creat memory. My grandfather would walk us girls the two blocks to a tiny conner store for penny candy several times a week. We could get some tasty treats for less than five cents.
ReplyDeletegotta love those nuns...
ReplyDeletewe played kickball at almost every recess. and if we didn't want to join a team, we did the hand-clapping stuff on the school steps, or skipped rope.
oh, and slid down the outside stair railings - until the nuns outlawed it...
ReplyDeleteYou're so right Birdman, life did seem to be a whole lot simpler way back the!!
ReplyDeleteLiquid colors
ReplyDeleteThe color in this photo is scrumptious!
ReplyDeleteSounds like our school complete with the nuns keeping track of all the kids!
ReplyDeleteHello! I also agree with these comments...
ReplyDeleteThose nuns = no fun.
ReplyDeleteA week of relative close ups. Are you still iced over?
ReplyDeleteDamn nuns. I had Sisters of Mercy at Queen of Angels elementary school in NY. The school yard was miniscule and paved with concrete, too small for us to cause any trouble. So we did that stuff after dismissal. I have a dim memory of something like baking soda bombs in Coke bottles in the local park's handball courts.
ReplyDelete