This is what I looked like at 7 yrs old. When I lived on Sunset avenue next to 5 boys.
One spring my parents decided to put in a swimming pool. We had a HUGE backyard, one that had 3 terraces. The first, where the pool was going, was large and flat, then you went down about 8 steps to another flat area we had a badminton court, down a small slope you came to a fruit orchard. We had apricots, apples, peaches, plums, and oranges.It was a great backyard for a kid to grow up in. It was a magical place.
So one day the tractors came and started digging the hole in the ground for the pool, it was so noisey and exciting. Everytime they dug deep and picked up a load full of soil they would take it and dump it in the driveway. The smell of diesel was in the air.
My Mom Bette had a worried look on her face as the driveway began to fill up.
By 6 pm the driveway was a MOUNTAIN, seemed to be 40 feet tall! Every kid in the neighborhood drawn to it like a powerful magnet. We jumped, dove, tumbled and flew thru the mounds of fresh soil. I saw my Mom on the phone, the mountain was tall enough for me to see into the second story of the house. She had many a stressfull conversations late that day....something was going on.
When my Dad came home I knew something was wrong. He stood out in the back waving his arms at Mom. She had a sheepish grin on her face. As it turned out the company that dug the hole was not the one's that would haul away the mountain. The mountain stayed in our driveway for what seemed like years! This was a great soruce of anguish for Mom as she had not orchestrated the hauling away of this mess. The house always had dirt in it. We would play on the mountain, and end up bringing pounds of it inside. I had dirt in every orifice in my body. Then it rained a freak summer downpour! Could it get any better. Jeffrey, David and I created rivers of diversion, guiding out toy saiboats from the very top of the mountain. It was a glorious mountain.
Once the dirt was finally removed, the pool sat for weeks with just a little water in the bottom....home to musquitos and frogs. We used to fish in the murky waters, knowing that at any moment the catch of the day would come flapping out of the pond. Once the 30,000 gallons of water went into the new pool all was well with the world. It was the only pool on the block, and with that I was able to wield much power that summer.
They wouldn't let me play basketball next door? Guess what, their swimming rights were taken away! I being the only single girl on the block knew this was the power I needed to keep the 5 boys next door in line.
It worked well, and we had a great summer. That was the summer I basically turned into a fish. My hair turned green and I was at one with the world. I used to have to wear socks after awhile as days in the pool you ended up with bloody feet. My dog Suzy would drop her ball in the water for you to throw for her, and ended up with bloody feet also because of running on the decking. I remember my Mom always yelling, "that's enough for Suzy" once she would see the bloody footprints on the deck. Suzy was as much in heaven with that pool as every one of us that summer on Sunset avenue.
18 February 2009
7 yrs old
This is what I looked like at 7 yrs old. When I lived on Sunset avenue next to 5 boys.
One spring my parents decided to put in a swimming pool. We had a HUGE backyard, one that had 3 terraces. The first, where the pool was going, was large and flat, then you went down about 8 steps to another flat area we had a badminton court, down a small slope you came to a fruit orchard. We had apricots, apples, peaches, plums, and oranges.It was a great backyard for a kid to grow up in. It was a magical place.
So one day the tractors came and started digging the hole in the ground for the pool, it was so noisey and exciting. Everytime they dug deep and picked up a load full of soil they would take it and dump it in the driveway. The smell of diesel was in the air.
My Mom Bette had a worried look on her face as the driveway began to fill up.
By 6 pm the driveway was a MOUNTAIN, seemed to be 40 feet tall! Every kid in the neighborhood drawn to it like a powerful magnet. We jumped, dove, tumbled and flew thru the mounds of fresh soil. I saw my Mom on the phone, the mountain was tall enough for me to see into the second story of the house. She had many a stressfull conversations late that day....something was going on.
When my Dad came home I knew something was wrong. He stood out in the back waving his arms at Mom. She had a sheepish grin on her face. As it turned out the company that dug the hole was not the one's that would haul away the mountain. The mountain stayed in our driveway for what seemed like years! This was a great soruce of anguish for Mom as she had not orchestrated the hauling away of this mess. The house always had dirt in it. We would play on the mountain, and end up bringing pounds of it inside. I had dirt in every orifice in my body. Then it rained a freak summer downpour! Could it get any better. Jeffrey, David and I created rivers of diversion, guiding out toy saiboats from the very top of the mountain. It was a glorious mountain.
Once the dirt was finally removed, the pool sat for weeks with just a little water in the bottom....home to musquitos and frogs. We used to fish in the murky waters, knowing that at any moment the catch of the day would come flapping out of the pond. Once the 30,000 gallons of water went into the new pool all was well with the world. It was the only pool on the block, and with that I was able to wield much power that summer.
They wouldn't let me play basketball next door? Guess what, their swimming rights were taken away! I being the only single girl on the block knew this was the power I needed to keep the 5 boys next door in line.
It worked well, and we had a great summer. That was the summer I basically turned into a fish. My hair turned green and I was at one with the world. I used to have to wear socks after awhile as days in the pool you ended up with bloody feet. My dog Suzy would drop her ball in the water for you to throw for her, and ended up with bloody feet also because of running on the decking. I remember my Mom always yelling, "that's enough for Suzy" once she would see the bloody footprints on the deck. Suzy was as much in heaven with that pool as every one of us that summer on Sunset avenue.
17 February 2009
Frisbee with flattened frogs
I grew up living just up the hill from a swamp. Couple this with the 5 boys I lived next door to, and there is bound to be some great adventures.
I would get my red wagon, the rusty one with all of the duck tape on the left wheel, and trudge down the hill with Jeffrey and David. We'd dug under the fence, or walk right thru a large drain pipe. That drain pipe was like a grand entrance to an amazing world. Who the hell cared about which shoes you were wearing? We had swamp creatures to deal with, and you never knew if that creature, the 6 foot one, David told us about would pounce on us at any time. We were all always on alert reading to run screaming up the hill at any moment. This is what made us brave.
We'd take a gallon milk carton open the end to form a square box, and begin hunting for baby frogs. This always happened of course in the summer, when it was hot and smelly. Hey, this was a swamp! There were smells none of us recognized, I remember them even today. Have you ever seen a buch of frog eggs floating in a gelatenous bunch in murky water? It was gold. We knew there would be hundreds, thousands, or millions of babies nearby. We would load up maybe 4 milk cartons full of inch long baby frogs, put them in the red wagon, and head up the hill. Then we would proceed to blanket the neighborhood with the babies. Come August the concerts from our front and backyards were amazing! I'd go to sleep every night listening to all of my friends croaking their harmonies. Symphony's in the dark. By August the babies were HUGE, great fat mounds of slimey fatness. Always on the alert, we would stoop to find a big daddy under a freshly watered fern. I would lovingly hold them, my fear of warts never stronger than my love for feeling their fat silky tummies.
This is when one of the boys taught me how to hypnotize a frog. You grab it, flip it over and run a finger along it's belly the full length of it's body. It immediately goes into a hypnotique suspension. Sometimes they peed while in this state...it was a sheer joy and left us all screeching in delight.
At the end of the summer it was always so sad to see a squished frog in the road, flattened by a car we did the only thing we could, played dried up dead lattened frog frisbee.
I think kids need to play with frogs more now days. Discovering the wonders of nature gave me a deep respect for animals, and their amazing worlds. I can be found even today watching a mongoose documentary on channel 48 or whatever. It's really great to use technology and video games for dexterity, but what about looking into the eyes of a huge bullfrog.....we just might be missing something today so magical, so special, and so fantstic.....don't you think?
I have been painting again! and Zeitgeist!
So, I have been painting once again. It seems to come to me in spurts. It is so funny when I am away from the brushes and paint I completely put them out of my mind, then something happens. It could be a red leaf on a green tree, a frosty glass, a man with a pipe, Charlie's smirk. Something sets it off. I want always to be aware of those things that happen on any given day that remind us we are creative beings. I read 2 lines the other day for an art exhibit and immediately had a screen play in mind. If there were only a speeded up way to create the zillions of images we have in our minds. Well, in a way that is what photography is all about, isn't it? One's own way of seeing. It's done in an instant, permanently putting that vision on freeze. I wish sometimes that I could paint a painting by being hooked up to electrodes and bring the thoughts of the pic to canvas, push the button and it is art. But then no, the textural love, the physical moment... that I have for mixing the paint colors, being off, and working at it to get it just right. These are all parts of the joy of creating art. I feel sometimes, I MUST create art. It is a deep longing to transpose the vision or concept, or feeling into something tangible. I know the great masters over time know this drive, they worked thru such adversity at times. Look at the Nazi's coming into France and making off with masterpieces from many museums. The bombing of the great Buddha sculptures in Iraq was it? Why would someone even think about destroying art? Is it threatening in any way? Yes, I guess some art is. It is at times outspoken, demonstrative of the times, rebellious, and forward thinking. Which leads me to the film Zeitgeist. Please take the time to watch this amazing piece of work. It will shake up your brain, spin in on high, tumble it around, flip it out, flop it back, and it will never be the same! It is an exploration of what the consious society can do without the influence of money, politicians, and oh so much more. Everyone needs to see this monumental film and read a little about the movement. www.zeitgeistmovement.com It will leave you shaken, not stirred.
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