Saturday, April 30, 2011

What memories are made of....

Give me some grass string bailing twine and it is the thing of memories for me.

This is the old walnut tree down home...it has swung more children and provided more hours of entertainment than any store bought item ever could.

It is in poor health now, and covered with ivy. It seemed a giant when I was a kid...we almost always had 3 or 4 swings in it. We all played on them...played tag if you can believe that. All the grandchildren swung in that tree at one time or another. Any cousins that came swung in them. Or any other kid....you could swing as high as possible and never have to worry about a swing set turning over.

Of course, they were made of grass string...usually the first few feet around the tree limb was a piece of chain. And not just light-weight chain either. It was stuff that had weight to it....I don't remember how they were attached to the limb. Then we would double or triple the length of grass string, I think sometimes we braided it, and tied it to the end of the chain.

I do remember playing in one one time, by myself, and the chain came loose and hit me in the head. I do remember crying, but I don't remember if I told mom or dad.

Our seat was a length of board, with notches cut in each end....

Now when I am out, I cannot help but see trees and think what a great place to put swings, or a tree house. Some are just made for children...but swings in trees are very seldom seen these days. They are there in the corner of my mind though...just one of those thoughts that are a pleasant to think on.