TERRY
As I write it is 8:30 and Terry is in the middle of the Naples paper. She had a good night sleep and seems to be in good spirits this morning. She said she was not hungry an hour ago BUT she is on her second helping of peanuts! We are good for the day I think.
It is Saturday so I will not have tennis today or tomorrow. I think it is good for me to rest a couple of days but I assure you that the way I play tennis is NOT the kind of tennis one might think about. Yes, some of the guys are good but still playing doubles means that you are NOT running all the time. Yikes, yesterday I took a tumble on the court. I took a minute to get up but was not hurt. Well when one does that your pride is somewhat wounded but that is all! We had a terrific match but went down to defeat 9-7. Rich and I had a huge lead and let it slip away but I would say this. It is always fun to win but I would rather lose a match like that than play a match and win 6-0. We are promised a rematch next week so that should be fun.
Here we are in the middle of January or should I say a bit towards the end. But the thought is January was a month that stands out in my mind as I grew up. There were basketball games. There were girls! In the early years there was sliding down the bank just beyond the out house. There was skating on the lake in skates that were hand me downs, hand me downs and hand me downs! There was walking to Wood Lake school bundled up. So how did some of these things play out?
- Well perhaps as much as anything basketball comes to mind. It was in January that we walked from Cayuga School to the hall on MAIN street in Cayuga. As a 7th grader it was my introduction to team basketball. Up to that time my BB was on the dirt near the light pole by the barn and in the hay barn throwing a rubber ball into a 5 gallon can nailed up on the wall, 10 feet up at that. As 7th grader I had NO idea of BB rules. What the heck, you could not stand in the lane! AND you had to dribble all the time. AND if you stopped you had to pass! Once you crossed the center line you could not go back! All and more came into play as this awkward 7th grader, who was the tallest on the team, learned or kind of learned how to play team BB. Then it was onward to HS and the many January memories of bus trips, wins and losses and good company too!!! I made sure I had fun rides back to school after the game during both my junior and senior years. As time has passed I am not so sure those were the results of good judgement but I do say it was fun! I should always mention later coaching the 7 & 8th graders at the School for the Deaf and being the interpreter and scorer at games where Steve Blehm averaged 35 points per game as a senior. Basketball, many memories for sure.
- On the farm we did not have any hills so to speak. We did have kind of a down hill just beyond the out house so that was our sledding place. I am sure it was all of 20 feet from the pasture fence to the creek bottom. So with buckle up overshoes, a winter cap with the ear flaps UP and maybe 3 layers of clothes from California we had fun sledding. January was usually the best month for that.
- Then in 1st-3rd grade there were usually January walks to Wood Lake School. I remember it was seldom that Dad would start the car and give rides. Again that darn Mom insisted ear laps DOWN but as soon as we got to the down hill on the road the ear laps went up! Why, I really do not know but for some strange reason I needed to feel more free and open!
- We would always hope for a winter storm so we could stay home from school. I do not know how often that happened but I do know there were some times. So what do kids do when they have a "free" away from school? Well as one might know there were NO electric devices to play with so the day in January became a "day of fun" with
- Tourning Card games
- Lincoln Logs and electric sets
- Marbles and empty 3006 shells
- Table tennis on the kitchen table WITH round corners.
- Milking time in the dark during January when the lantern was hung on the nail in the back wall and one would see the beady cat eyes looking for squirts of milk!
- Of course puzzles were always in play from 500 piece ones to 2000 piece ones. Much much later in life the 18,000 piece puzzle that Travis brought was worked on for a long time but then put away before much of it was put together.
- Then there was the very large black board that was just a sheet of slate. We could often get Mom to do a drawing on it and then with it on the floor we would cover the chalk lines with kernels of corn.
- I would be remiss if I did not mention lying in bed upstairs where there was NO finished ceiling in our bedroom. On those cold cold winter nights one could be in bed and see the frost covered nails that held the shingles down. In that setting one could practice and practice until perfect rings would be made as you blew out breathe. Dave and I probably could have been world champs at that!
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