Early Summer Memories

June in the afternoon.

About a million years ago, this would have been one of the first official days of Summer Vacation from school.

No more pencils, no more books.....except that one year I went to Summer School in an effort to learn math and graduate into the next grade.  I didn't really learn anything unfortunately....as usual the class room was overcrowded, and besides-how's a kid gonna learn anything with all the other kids right outside the window having fun?  Didn't seem like the way to do it, at any rate.

We also had something we called "Making School," where we learned to braid lariats, draw, make potholders and other hand crafts. I used to love going to that, 'til I got too old.  But even then, they let me in for an extra year or so because I was so short they thought I was younger.

See, shortness does have benefits, too.

June back east was a hot, sunny time....sun suits and swimming pools; and as I got older riding my bike 'til I got lost then finding my way home.

For tonight, I'm lost in memories....so Fifty Five Is the New Early Summer Memories, I got a million of 'em.

Satisfied

What's your favorite Fifty Five?  A car? A year? A number?
Is it a favorite address from days of yore that carries the double-nickles through your memory?
To folks reading this blog, Fifty-Five must seem like a lot of different things to me, and you're right.
It seems to change almost daily for me...depending on experiences, inspirations or memory triggers.

So what about today? What's it all about?


Well, I could go on about the news, plenty of material there.  But no.  I'd rather not.  We all know what's going on, we've heard everybody's opinion about it-from the head of the country to the guy pushing the broom.  I'd rather not.

             Meditiation on Potential  by rcw

 For today, for right now, I am going to play that game I call the Trick Of Time.  I'm sending my mind back to more innocent    times to pull forth a memory....a bit of sanity in a world gone mad.

It's summer....sticky, hot, east coast....suburban Philadelphia sticky hot.  I am about ten years old standing next to my hand-me-down bike; a blue and white Schwinn Girl's Bike with 26" tires.
I'm only about 4'5" at the time, but that's okay...the bike has been adapted best as possible for my stature and the rest is all in the finesse.

Anyway, I am standing near the gas station wall at the bottom of our back alley...waiting....it is almost time.  Little by little, others come to join me. We stand in little groups....some talking quietly, others continuing a game of "Fee Fi Foe, Shoot." Some of the younguns are getting impatient, their older siblings tell them to shut up...it's too hot to argue. 


Then, just as we're thinking all hope is lost, we hear it....the tinkling bells, the unmistakable sound of the Ice Cream Man! I smile and watch as the little white truck is besieged by every kid in the neighborhood...you'd think the Beatles were in town!

I survey the brightly colored menu selection of treats offered; cones, popsickles, fudgesickles, sidewalk sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, dixie cups...which to choose? I finally decide on the ice cream sandwich, make my purchase and pedal away to my favorite perch up on the hill next to the rail road trestle...and there I sit, eating my ice cream sandwich....happily satisfied.

For today, Fifty Five is all about the simple things in life.....about being happily and thankfully satisfied.

Lunar Landings and Woodstock

 Red Blue Planet   by rcy

We like to keep an open mind about most things. Jack and I watch a great deal of news and try to balance the interpretations between the Sacred Three (ABC, NBC, CBS), The Left (MSNBC, CNN) and The Right (FOXNews)....we even throw in NPR just round everybody out.

Now, you'd think with all this news we'd know what's going on in the world...but we don't.  There's just too much information, too many interpretations...too much noise.  I am going to instigate a "No News Day" once a week so we can get away from it for a while and make some news of our own!

One reason for this move is something I heard today on the Glen Beck show.  I know, I know...some folk think he's Satan incarnate....others that he's the Savior on Wheels.  As for me?  I find some things he says interesting and some things he says are ridiculous.

Today he compared the Moon landing with Woodstock....intimidating that anyone who went to Woodstock or considered themselves part of that generation had "no values, no morals, no rules."
There was more to it than that...much more!

There were 500,000 people at that festival, all there in peace.  The people at that event were just as American as the folks watching the lunar landing three weeks previous.  Many of them were just as mesmerized as their crew-cut, white t-shirted contemporaries seeing those footprints on the surface of the moon that first time.

It took a great deal of courage to do the things we did in the '60s, and if we blew off a little steam at Woodstock, so be it! But remember, there were no homicides, robberies, rapes or violent rages....there were births, music, art and camaraderie.  There was a message....bring our soldiers home.

If Mr. Beck wanted to produce a condemnation of the Hippie movement, he could still have selected the Summer of 1969...that was the year of the Manson Family murders.  Now THAT's a good example of bad juju!

Personally, I didn't get to Woodstock...closest I got to it were the local rock festivals and Be-Ins... in 1973 my then-fiance and I went to a "Jesus Fest,"  a 3 day camp-out on a farm in Morgantown, PA.
It was kind of okay....lots of bibles, bible studies and baptisms....music on the big stage at night, mainly folk stuff but on Saturday Night they had some band that kept singing "Jesus Is Just Alright With Me,"
and "Spirit In the Sky."  Not much of a sex, drugs, rock & roll gig....we smuggled in some cannabis and smoked it in our tent.

One interesting thing happened on Saturday (Day 2) of the Fest...a storm picked up and, shades of Woodstock, the announcements came across the speakers sitting high on the towers "Everybody stay calm....here comes the rain..."  Then "Everybody get down off the towers, get down off the hills...funnel cloud!"  Whoa!

My fiance and I looked over and sure enough, coming down over the ridge was a decent sized funnel cloud, heading right for our Jesus Fest....making ready to touch down!  I gotta give that announcer stripes for the balls he was showing as he stayed at that microphone, making announcements and praying....he had us praying and clapping and hitting soda bottles with sticks (again, shades of Woodstock)....he had us raising our hands to the heavens and calling on all the powers that be to send that funnel cloud back to the Hell from whence it came.

And you know what?   The damned thing did just that!  It spun close enough to scare the Bejezus out of everybody, then turned around and spun back up over the hill and disappeared. For several moments everyone was quiet.....then all heck broke loose!  Hallelujahs, Yahoos, Amens and Ye Haws rose up from every corner of the Fest site.  It was really amazing.....really something.

Anyway, I am sensitive when it comes to just how much condemnation gets hurled on the Woodstock Generation....so sue me!  We didn't all end up wasted droids....we didn't curl up and die.  We helped change things for the better....civil rights, getting out of Vietnam, the Women's movement, the Environmental movement.

I know some of these movements are being condemned by the "Right."  They think what we did back then has led to the trouble we're having now.  I don't agree.  I believe the abuses of those in power brought us to where we are right now, and I also believe that we can work our way through these hard times if we start working together.

Just like we did with that funnel cloud back in 1973....it was a very dangerous situation, I'm not exaggerating at all!  But we remained calm, huddled together in the low depression in front of the stage with the rain and wind whipping around us....we stayed and stood firm, and didn't back down.   And I believe that our combined consciousness along with the energies of the Cosmos helped force that funnel cloud away.

I believe we can do that now.

6.1

Some of my blog entries, like this one, were hand written on sheets of paper as I was not near a computer at the time or was just too danged lazy to go through it all.  In fairness, anyone who may be reading these tomes on a consistent basis might notice that once in a while a seemingly "new" entry is placed within an old date line. Well, there you have it! I confess....I am not on the internet every waking moment. 

Rainbow Ridge by rcw

It's the beginning of June.  As a young kid it meant no more school....days of playing and sun suits, Lansdowne/Alden public swimming pool and lots of ice cream. We'd wake up fairly early and get our chores done, make sure it was okay with Mom-I'm sure she didn't mind us being out of her hair-put some air in bike tires and be off for the swimming hole!

It wasn't very deep, maybe two feet at the most, but in that East Coast humid heat it was heaven!  We'd meet up with friends along the way, the girls would gossip while the boys raced ahead.  "Don't forget to pick a spot UNDER the trees this time!" I'd shout to one of the fellas. They never did; we girls always had to find the perfect spot....we also brought the towels, Coppertone and snacks.  Once in a while one of our crew brought along a transistor radio and we'd all sing along while eating peanut butter sandwiches under a huge oak tree near the pool.

We were all too young to be serious about the boyfriend/girlfriend scenario at first but gradually, as swimsuits replaced sun suits and bodies matured, the boys didn't race ahead so much and the girls had more to gossip about.

So for today, Fifty Five is the new 6.1 as in June first...for swimming pool games and sun tan lotion memories.

If the People Lead .....Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is here;  marking the beginning of summer and begging us to recall the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for this country. No matter what your politics, what your point of view...the fact remains that these fallen troops and individuals gave their lives for something bigger than themselves, and bigger than us.

I was carving my adolescent teeth in the '60s; it was an intensely angry yet at the same time innocent era. We were very much part of what was going on;  peace marches, moratoriums, love-ins and flower power.
A psychedelic blend, to be sure!  I've waxed poetic about it before, and am sure each generation has it's version of the Good Old Days; the 60s were just a little wilder and with better drugs.

Most generations have had a war of some sort or another....one wonders if we will ever learn to live in peace, or in at least a form of placid tolerance.  I believe it is possible.

I already posted "Trick Of Time" a couple days ago, so instead I'm going to post "If The People Lead,"
which is how it should be...."If The People Lead, The Leaders Will Follow"

IF THE PEOPLE LEAD Boo Boo's Bargain Basement Band