Thursday, February 24, 2005
A Real Good Vacation
1
First day of school
Mrs. Mikoski
Tryin’ to get t’ know us,
Fill the time.
(No reading groups yet.)
Oh, no!
Here it comes.
“And, Kathy, tell us what you did over the summer.”
Got nothin’ to say.
Don’t think anyone wants to hear
How I played outside all day.
2
Not when others had visited relatives
In exotic, far away places:
Like New York,
Iowa,
Cincinnati.
Oh, I visited my relatives.
Had two sets of grand parents,
Nine uncles and aunts,
There were eleven of us cousins.
Twelve if you count my Uncle Gene
Born to my grandmother
After her other kids were all grown and giving birth to us.
All those relatives!
And we all lived within five miles of each other
In Baltimore County.
I mean it was a big deal
When my aunt
Moved from Towson...
All the way to...
Catonsville
OK, so the beltway hadn’t been built yet.
Still didn’t leave me with anything to say on the first day of school.
3
Don’t think anyone wants to hear
How I played outside all day.
Half the class had been to Ocean City,
Or summer camp.
Others gone to Hershey Park,
Brought back pet alligators from Florida,
Seen the Liberty Bell,
Me?
Well
I had gone to visit my aunt in Catonsville.
Could I say that?
4
Not that the summers weren’t fun.
They were times of playin’ kickball
And 3 Flies In
With my brothers,
Reading Golden Book stories to my little sisters.
Little Engine That Could
Pokey Little Puppy
Stayin’ in the lines in coloring books,
Delving into “My Summer Weekly Reader”
And books from Towson Library.
Hopscotch,
Paper dolls,
And jump rope ad infinitum
With boy crazy Donna.
Secret clubs.
5
Explored the woods
A ravine,
A tick infested field,
Picked forget-me-nots
And blackberries,
Sucked the nectar from scads o’ honeysuckle
Emerged victorious,
Though badly stained,
From ink berry battles.
(A lot less painful than the acorn battles of autumn.)
6
Done some cross stitch embroidery with Nana Wilke,
Took beginners swimming lessons.
(Got a Red Cross card to prove I passed.)
Sunday doughnuts at Nana Scarpulla’s
After church
All us cousins crowded in Uncle Gene’s room.
Barbecues at our house
Or at Aunt Lucy’s
7
I had dug holes
Made mud balls,
Sucked on blades of grass
Learned to balance
On a 2-wheeler
With a broken chain
By repeatedly walking it up the hill to Cromwell Bridge Road
Then coasting back down.
I’d tried to light a fire with a magnifying glass.
Smoke, but no blaze.
(Guess I just wasn’t patient enough.)
Hurt my knees jumpin’ off the swings,
Helped organize the neighborhood kids for a talent show.
Endless rehearsals.
Charged the parents a quarter for tickets.
Thursday night in the Saunders’ basement.
Performed in cousin dramas for the parents and grandparents
At no charge
8
I had set the table,
Made my bed,
Sprinkled the laundry,
Ironed the handkerchiefs,
Folded the towels,
Husked the corn,
Made red JELL-O,
Dipped chicken pieces in egg
Then shook’m in a big ol’ bag of flour
So Mom could fry’m up crispy.
Seen blue crabs kickin’’
Dropped in the big black pot.
Steamed alive and seasoned with Old Bay.
Dumped out red, hot, and dee-licious
On tables spread with last night’s Baltimore Sun.
9
Went grocery shopping with Mom
Tasted a grape or two on the sly.
Got my bangs cut
Trekked downtown to the eye doctor
A visit to the dentist
Who cleaned our teeth
Then handed us prescriptions for ice-cream cones.
Back to school shopping of couse
New shoes
Dresses
And lunch on the top floor of Hutzler’s department store.
Club sandwich
And fancy desert
Of Jell-O cut into cubes
And served in tall parfait glasses
With whipped cream and a cherry.
Went out with my father
to pick out a turquoise birthstone ring.
(December)
Got that at Hutzler’s too.
10
Played continue on paper a lot
You know,
That game where each person writes a sentence
And you pass it on.
And the brothers in the family
Ruin every story
‘Cause they think it’s funny
To make every sentence be about pee and poop.
11
Card games:
Go Fish,
Old Maid,
War,
And Crazy Eights.
Board games:
Sorry,
Candyland,
Clue,
Checkers,
Scrabble,
12
Evenings
The whole neighborhood gang
Playin Hide and Seek,
Red Light, Green Light,
Swingin’ Statues,
Giant Steps,
And a game our baby sitter had made up
Called “Block.”
(l’ ll explain it after the poem, if anyone’s really interested.)
13
“ And Kathy, your turn, tell us what you did over the summer.”
“Um...
“Well...
“I went to visit my aunt in Catonsville.”
Silence
Except for Mrs. Mikoski
Pretendin’ I ‘d just said somethin’ terrific.
Lookin’ back now
I’d had a real good vacation.
How’s a fourth grader ‘sposed to know what’s worth tellin’ ?
But, hey, I just told you.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
How to play “Block”
Requirements: 2 or more players
a patio with rows and columns of 4 foot square cement blocks. with the exception that some of the blocks
are gardens
Object: Gently knock other players off balance and be the last one standing
Flow of the game: Players move around from place to place. When encountering another player they hold right hands and attempt to push or pull the other player off balance.
Rules: You are out if:
you have more then one foot in one block.
you step in a block already occupied by someone else.
you step on the wood between blocks.
you step in a garden block or off the edge of the patio.
First day of school
Mrs. Mikoski
Tryin’ to get t’ know us,
Fill the time.
(No reading groups yet.)
Oh, no!
Here it comes.
“And, Kathy, tell us what you did over the summer.”
Got nothin’ to say.
Don’t think anyone wants to hear
How I played outside all day.
2
Not when others had visited relatives
In exotic, far away places:
Like New York,
Iowa,
Cincinnati.
Oh, I visited my relatives.
Had two sets of grand parents,
Nine uncles and aunts,
There were eleven of us cousins.
Twelve if you count my Uncle Gene
Born to my grandmother
After her other kids were all grown and giving birth to us.
All those relatives!
And we all lived within five miles of each other
In Baltimore County.
I mean it was a big deal
When my aunt
Moved from Towson...
All the way to...
Catonsville
OK, so the beltway hadn’t been built yet.
Still didn’t leave me with anything to say on the first day of school.
3
Don’t think anyone wants to hear
How I played outside all day.
Half the class had been to Ocean City,
Or summer camp.
Others gone to Hershey Park,
Brought back pet alligators from Florida,
Seen the Liberty Bell,
Me?
Well
I had gone to visit my aunt in Catonsville.
Could I say that?
4
Not that the summers weren’t fun.
They were times of playin’ kickball
And 3 Flies In
With my brothers,
Reading Golden Book stories to my little sisters.
Little Engine That Could
Pokey Little Puppy
Stayin’ in the lines in coloring books,
Delving into “My Summer Weekly Reader”
And books from Towson Library.
Hopscotch,
Paper dolls,
And jump rope ad infinitum
With boy crazy Donna.
Secret clubs.
5
Explored the woods
A ravine,
A tick infested field,
Picked forget-me-nots
And blackberries,
Sucked the nectar from scads o’ honeysuckle
Emerged victorious,
Though badly stained,
From ink berry battles.
(A lot less painful than the acorn battles of autumn.)
6
Done some cross stitch embroidery with Nana Wilke,
Took beginners swimming lessons.
(Got a Red Cross card to prove I passed.)
Sunday doughnuts at Nana Scarpulla’s
After church
All us cousins crowded in Uncle Gene’s room.
Barbecues at our house
Or at Aunt Lucy’s
7
I had dug holes
Made mud balls,
Sucked on blades of grass
Learned to balance
On a 2-wheeler
With a broken chain
By repeatedly walking it up the hill to Cromwell Bridge Road
Then coasting back down.
I’d tried to light a fire with a magnifying glass.
Smoke, but no blaze.
(Guess I just wasn’t patient enough.)
Hurt my knees jumpin’ off the swings,
Helped organize the neighborhood kids for a talent show.
Endless rehearsals.
Charged the parents a quarter for tickets.
Thursday night in the Saunders’ basement.
Performed in cousin dramas for the parents and grandparents
At no charge
8
I had set the table,
Made my bed,
Sprinkled the laundry,
Ironed the handkerchiefs,
Folded the towels,
Husked the corn,
Made red JELL-O,
Dipped chicken pieces in egg
Then shook’m in a big ol’ bag of flour
So Mom could fry’m up crispy.
Seen blue crabs kickin’’
Dropped in the big black pot.
Steamed alive and seasoned with Old Bay.
Dumped out red, hot, and dee-licious
On tables spread with last night’s Baltimore Sun.
9
Went grocery shopping with Mom
Tasted a grape or two on the sly.
Got my bangs cut
Trekked downtown to the eye doctor
A visit to the dentist
Who cleaned our teeth
Then handed us prescriptions for ice-cream cones.
Back to school shopping of couse
New shoes
Dresses
And lunch on the top floor of Hutzler’s department store.
Club sandwich
And fancy desert
Of Jell-O cut into cubes
And served in tall parfait glasses
With whipped cream and a cherry.
Went out with my father
to pick out a turquoise birthstone ring.
(December)
Got that at Hutzler’s too.
10
Played continue on paper a lot
You know,
That game where each person writes a sentence
And you pass it on.
And the brothers in the family
Ruin every story
‘Cause they think it’s funny
To make every sentence be about pee and poop.
11
Card games:
Go Fish,
Old Maid,
War,
And Crazy Eights.
Board games:
Sorry,
Candyland,
Clue,
Checkers,
Scrabble,
12
Evenings
The whole neighborhood gang
Playin Hide and Seek,
Red Light, Green Light,
Swingin’ Statues,
Giant Steps,
And a game our baby sitter had made up
Called “Block.”
(l’ ll explain it after the poem, if anyone’s really interested.)
13
“ And Kathy, your turn, tell us what you did over the summer.”
“Um...
“Well...
“I went to visit my aunt in Catonsville.”
Silence
Except for Mrs. Mikoski
Pretendin’ I ‘d just said somethin’ terrific.
Lookin’ back now
I’d had a real good vacation.
How’s a fourth grader ‘sposed to know what’s worth tellin’ ?
But, hey, I just told you.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
How to play “Block”
Requirements: 2 or more players
a patio with rows and columns of 4 foot square cement blocks. with the exception that some of the blocks
are gardens
Object: Gently knock other players off balance and be the last one standing
Flow of the game: Players move around from place to place. When encountering another player they hold right hands and attempt to push or pull the other player off balance.
Rules: You are out if:
you have more then one foot in one block.
you step in a block already occupied by someone else.
you step on the wood between blocks.
you step in a garden block or off the edge of the patio.
