Before I get to the memories, just a couple of final Christmas thoughts.
When I was a kid mail order catalogs were heavy hitters especially for people who lived in rural areas and people who worked long hours or two jobs. Montgomery Ward and Spiegel's were the heavyweights of the day, although there were many others. In Montgomery Ward and Spiegel's catalogs you could purchase just about anything. Today cyberspace does the same thing basically for the same reason. It is much more convenient and easier to turn a page or move a mouse to find what you want.Not to mention the fact that you are eliminating the A-hole factor!
In another vein,why is it receiving a Christmas card the day after Christmas just does not feel the same? The majority of them say season's greetings or Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.But yet it still seems like yesterday's newspaper.
Getting back to memories of Ryal side.I'll start with the grammar school.I remember the scent of the building vividly a combination of pine scented sweeping compound for the wooden floors,freshly mixed batches of ink,chalk dust,wet boots,and mittens. A combination I am sure I will never smell again.
The bench in the hall outside of Mrs. Upton's office.As principle of the school Mrs. Upton was tiny in stature but a giant by all means.I would sit there on her bench waiting to be summoned. wondering if it was true that she some times rapped wayward students knuckles with a paper cutting ruler.I don't believe it ever happened, certainly not to me or any one that I knew. But she sure could put the fear of God into you with one of her scoldings.
She retired while we were still there and her replacement Mr. Battis(a.k.a, Mr Bastard)was not even remotely close to being in the same league as her. Shortly after her retirement, the city proudly renamed the school the "Winifred P. Upton School" in her honor!
I remember whistle britches,coon skin hats, polio and the pledge of allegiance.I remember holding in my hands a dime freshly coated with mercury (dumb), The line in the basement for cookies and milk,The inane jingle about the ice cream trucks "Handy Dandy brings us candy Jack and Jill brings us swill". Baseball cards and yo-yos
Word would get around that there would be a Duncan yo-yo champ at the Ryal side drug store after school. So of course all the boys made a bee line to the front of the store as soon as the final bell rang. The yo-yo champ was of course a high schooler or a college student hired to hype the yo-yos for the yo-yo company. He would amaze us with tricks like "walking the dog" or "rocking the cradle" and other maneuvers that I have long since forgot. It certainly worked, evert boy in the area had one or two yo-yos.
Also pitching baseball cards against the school wall or any wall for that matter was big. For a nickle you would get a big wad of pink sugar loaded bubble gum and about ten cards.What you would do with these cards is keep all of your favorite players for your collection and either trade your duplicates or challenge some one to a game of closest to the wall. With hopes that you would win some players cards you did not have. Some of the kids would wax their cards, the theory being that they could flip them right up to the wall,with out them floating and dieing half way there. The only problem with that, was they were no longer worth saving. The best thing to do with them after that was to attach them to the wheel of your bike and pretend the flapping noise was that of an engine running.
I also remember a make shift class room in what was either a small auditorium or library. It was partitioned off to make two class rooms. The room that I was in had a elevated area at one end.(maybe it was originally a stage) . One day the class had visitors to hear us put on a skit about pollution. The theme being "give a hoot don't pollute". Well I was sitting in the last row up against the wall, and being fidgety like all grammar school boys. I stuck a paper clip into a electrical wall outlet. Need less to say the jolt brought me right up out of my my chair. It also brought me a very red faced trip to Mrs, Upton's bench.
I remember Miss Erskine, pick up games of baseball and football in Parker Davis's pasture and games of screen-o at the Livingston ave play ground. I remember picking blueberries in the area to the rear of Sunset Drive and then selling them from door to door. I also recall doing the same with freshly dug dandelion greens.I also remember Nanny reaming me a new rectum for putting a garter snake in one of the bags of greens. I also remember over hearing her relating my misdeed to her daughter Peggin with much glee!
As I write more and more memories pop into my head. So I will save them for another day.
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