The Line

Category: Childhood Memories | Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:35 pm

When we were growing up the line was our favorite playground. It was nothing more than a deep ditch with trees and shrubs left to grow up which divided the cattle pastures. I can never imagine letting my kids play in a place like that, but we lived there. Boring you say, not in the least. Everyday was an adventure. Our favorite way to pass the time was swinging on vines. We were Tarzans and Janes, just did't have a Cheetah. You had to find a strong sturdy vine and cut it at the base of the tree. Of course, one of us always had to be the guinea pig to see if it would hold us. Then you would grab hold and propel yourself off the ditch bank and wrap your legs around the vine. If you were lucky the vine held and you didn't go tumbling into the blackberry brambles which filled the ditch. Later we got very creative and pinched some of Dad's nails and a hammer and nailed a board across the vine where you could stradle it and someone would push you. My sister and I decided to swing from the vine together, one of us on each side of the cross piece. It broke halfway across the ditch and we couldn't keep our grip and down we went. By the time we climbed out of the ditch we were all scratched up and itchy. We were just lucky there wasn't a snake down there. There was also a type of tree which had these little nubby projections growing off of it kinda in layers. We would break those off the tree and spend hours building pretend villages and forts and play with my brother's army men in them. We were only allowed to go the the first line when we were little, but when we got older we could venture across the pasture to the second line. For some unknown reason we didn't find it nearly exciting as we thought it would be and rarely ventured back. I think the boys went just to get away from the girls. I will have to post more line adventures later, time to come back to reality and get ready for work.

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pondlady wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:58 pm:

Sharon, your childhood memories are precious. And today, kids have to sit in front of television sets or playstations. They do not learn to play.

toni wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:29 pm:

We had a Cheetah.
There was a little general store next door to where we lived when I was in the 3rd and 4th grades. The sisters across the street and I used to play Tarzan and Jane between the store and the shrubs, trees and 'stuff' growing next to it...I was always Jane cause I was afraid of heights and wouldn't climb the trees, the older sister was Tarzan and her little sister was Cheetah.

devonpete wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:50 pm:

I remember a 'secret' dell in the woods which was a small but long abandoned quarry. Some bushes had grown in a sort of circle with ivy covering them, providing an inner 'cave'. We (two other kids and me) would sit in there living a Robinson Crusoe or Robin Hood adventure, but in the end the relentless midges saw us off.

Gardenstew wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:49 pm:

I remember climbing many a tree and having pine cone fights. The trees are a great source of endless entertainment for a bunch of grubby, playful kids. I'm glad my childhood took place in a world that wasn't 'too' media savvy (i.e. no Internet).

glendann wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:09 pm:

I had a play house down on the creek and had many many large grape vines to play on
and back then the hanging moss was just beautiful.I would have friends spend the night sometimes and we would go there but mostly it was just me.I had no neighbors so it was just me and my animals.I had fun anyway.

zuzu's petals wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:55 pm:

Marvelous childhood memories, Sharon and everyone.

I often feel that today's youngsters are being cheated.

wannabe wrote on Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:06 pm:

Dooley and I grew up with "a bunch' of cousins living in the area. There was about 18 kids when we got together. On the farm we dug holes in the sand and that was our house or whatever. We spent all day digging it and then had to fill it in before going home. Wannabe

dooley wrote on Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:24 am:

Wannabe forgot to say that once we didn't fill it in and a truck backed into it. Our uncle had to pull it out with his tractor. Dooley

aloes wrote on Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:47 am:

What a lovely childhood. That is what I wish every child to have in the place of computer games.

cajunbelle wrote on Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:26 pm:

Some of my fondest memories of the girls while they were growing up were our walks in the woods and the swamps.

With Regina we had to play He-Man, daddy of course being He-Man, Regina, She-Ra, and mommy got to be Cringer, the scared green tiger who of course turned into Battle Cat if things got rough.