Friday Favourites: Spring in the Schoolyard

 

 We're in a lovely pattern of sunshine with a bit of breeze alternating with a cloudy day and rarely, a bit of rain at night. I'll take it! The weekend ahead is supposed to be even warmer - a bit of a heat wave according to the forecasters. 

Everything is responding to these glorious days - trees, flowers (the wisteria wafts over the garden when I work outside), and the plants in my greenhouse. Nights continue to be cool, so I cover the dahlia and tomato plants with a light cloth, and in the daytime I open the greenhouse door or the heat becomes suffocating. 

There has been a grand uptick in the variety of birds visiting my garden recently. I have only seen a Varied Thrush occasionally, usually in winter. They have a trilling song that is lovely to hear. 

Late one afternoon I saw a flash of yellow settle on a branch in the birch tree. Goldfinches are native here, but I have never seen one in my garden. He stayed for the longest time, flitting between the feeder and the birch tree while Tim and I watched him. What a treat!

I've been thinking about Springs in my childhood, and of all the outside games we used to play once winter had passed. Recess times at school were always too short for us. 

Hopscotch, Skipping Rope, Balls and Jacks, and Bouncing Balls kept us occupied before school, during recess, and after school. The bouncing balls were about the size of a tennis ball, but much softer. I was trying to remember the songs we sang as we bounced, without much luck. However, even while I was asleep my brain kept working and I awoke at 4:22 (thanks, Brain) to remember

"One, Two, Three, O'Leary

Four, Five, Six, O'Leary

Seven, Eight, Nine, O'Leary

Ten O'Leary ..." 

and I couldn't remember the ending. So I looked it up and discovered several endings, none of which rang a bell with me. I also learned this:

"Aleerie is a very old (Scots) word that means holding your leg crooked.

You bounce the ball three times, then bounce the ball under it when you

come to the word "Aleerie."

I wonder if what we sang was closer to "aleerie" than "O'Leary." And I also wonder how it came about that I, living in far off Canada, came to sing and play this rhyme as a young girl. 

This Bald Eagle nest is not in my garden, but highly visible from my youngest daughter's property. Lately, there is always one eagle on the nest and we suspect that soon we will see fluffy eaglet heads peeking over the top of the nest. 

When I walk through the school grounds I notice chalked Hopscotch boxes on the hard surfaces. They look exactly like the ones I used to draw with my friends, with chalk, or with a stick in the dirt, as needs be. Occasionally, I'll still hop through the boxes. 

Skipping was immensely popular. There were shorter ropes for individual skipping, but it was much more fun to have a long rope turned by two people while others jumped in and out according to the various rhymes we sang. One was 

I had a little puppy

His name was Tiny Tim

I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim

He drank all the water, he ate all the soap

The next thing you know, he had a bubble in his throat.

In came the doctor (a friend jumped in)

In came the nurse (another friend jumped in)

In came the lady with the alligator purse (and another)

Out went the doctor

Out went the nurse

Out went the lady with the alligator purse.

And everyone jumped out in the same order they jumped in. Then there was Double Dutch skipping which was trickier with two turning ropes to avoid. And Chinese skipping which involved a stretchy band fastened around two people's legs, and a complicated variety of jumping in and out of the bands. What fun we had!

One day when I was six or seven, I came home from somewhere with a set of jacks and a ball. I had no idea what to do with them. My mother's eyes lit up and she plopped herself down on the kitchen floor and proceeded to show my sister and I how to play jacks. It was a good activity to play alone or with friends. 

There is sometimes a great outcry about the lack of play among the younger generation, but from what I observe on our street, in the school yards, and of my own grandchildren, imaginative and active play is alive and well. 

For Tim's birthday a month ago, one of the gifts he received was 70 cookies, provided by our three children. One of them calculated that each should bake 23 and one third cookies, so they did. Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies, and Chocolate Cherry Cookies were stored in the freezer and pulled out as needed. I haven't had to bake for the month. However, we had guests this week, and the cookies are now gone, so I baked Apricot Almond Bars, but used Cherry Raspberry Jam in place of the Apricot Jam. They are good with any kind of jam. 

This weekend we will be planting an acre of blueberry and raspberry plants at our daughter and son-in-law's property. They are putting in a U-pick farm. It will take a few years before it gets going. Fortunately, there is a large crew coming to help plant. Tim's been over there this week getting the rows ready. I'll be in charge of the little girls. The weather is predicted to be beautiful. 

Wishing you a most lovely weekend.