52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Spring

Week 14. Spring. What was spring like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc. Thank you to Amy over at We Tree for sponsoring this event.


Looking down into the woods.

When I was in elementary school during the 50's a group of us spent most of the daylight hours playing in the woods behind our houses on Washington Drive from spring through fall.  The woods was our playground.....a fantasy world...a place to learn about and respect nature.  It was our kingdom and we were the rulers.

I think we all anxiously awaited spring when we could get back down our playground after the winter hiatus. The woods was a valley directly behind our street with a shallow creek winding its way from end to end.

My best gal pal and I would pack up enough food and beverages for the day and head down the path.  We had a "secret" camp along the creek way up stream and about a half mile from our houses.  The day would be spent wading in the creek looking for little critters, wandering around picking wildflowers, cooking our lunch over a fire in the hand dug fire pit, reading and just having FUN.  It was a time of self entertainment--no computer games, no cell phones, no iPods.  Granted there was TV, but that was for after dinner.

There was a small hill on the way to our camp that was filled with violets in the spring.  I can remember we would collect baskets full of them, make small bouquets tied with ribbon and sell them door to door on our street.  We were enterprising ;-)

If we weren't in the woods, we were out on our bikes...the old balloon tire two wheelers.  Both my friend and I got them for Christmas in 1955 and we decided that annually we would paint them.  One year they were black and gold for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers, one year pink and blue!  We would drive all over the area where we lived on those bikes.

The warmer weather brought everyone out and as soon as the daylight hours began and the days grew longer, a large group of us would spend the evenings playing "kick the can" out on the street.  Oh the hiding places we had for that game.  I imagine that some of the parents weren't too happy with us as I know we destroyed some landscaping hiding inside shrubs and climbing into tree.

Such fond memories of a time past....a treasured childhood.

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