Let's Talk Tents!!!!

From as far back as I can remember, tents have been there. All shapes, all sizes, in the craziest places, tents have been a part of some of my favorite memories.

There was the baby blanket over the knee hole of my Mom's desk. My babies and I fit in there just perfect! I could watch TV from there, especially Captain Kangaroo (the original one). What about the porch... when Mom would shake out the rugs and hang them over the porch rails to air, we (Marcia and I) would put a blanket across the top of them and hook it to the porch chairs. Aha! a great tent! We lived on 8th street in Manitowoc. It was one of the main ways for the high school kids to walk to school. Our porch tent was the perfect cover if we played spies. We would "spy" on the kids as they walked by. Sometimes we'd yell something like boo, believing we were scaring them. Some played along and said "What was that! Ohhh it must be a ghost!" or things like that. We thought we were so sneaky. On Hoyt Dr. we had bunk beds. Now that was just a tent waiting to happen. All it took was a blanket down the side and "voila", an instant tent!

On Appleton Ave. in Menomonee Falls we had clothes lines in the back yard. Mom was pregnant with Tammy or Candy, I can't be sure. We put up the swimming pool under the clothes lines. Then we hung sheets and blankets all around the pool. Being Mom was pregnant, she didn't really want to be seen in a bathing suit, but we convinced her to sit in the pool, in the tent, in her clothes so she could cool off in the summer heat. Man we were slick. She cooled off, we built the tent, and we all got to swim in a tent. How many people can say that?

Auntie Suzie loved to build tents when she watched the kids, nieces, or nephews. (It was my trademark.) The living room quickly became a mass of blankets over the furniture. We always set it up so you could be in the tent and watch TV. The kids usually took their naps in the tent! If the parents wouldn't catch us, we would have snacks like popcorn, juice, or apple bits while we laid in the tent watching cartoons. I loved watching the kids come up with how to add on more blankets to make the tents bigger. The bigger the better.

The biggest tent I ever made was in England. We built it in the backyard. Yep, the backyard!

It started out over the clotheslines, like when I was a kid. But hey, I grew up, so shouldn't the tent grow too? At first it was just our girls and the kids right next door. We added the swing set... we covered the whole thing with sheets and blankets. We made rooms inside of it!

When more kids from the neighborhood joined in, we even added bikes and wagons to make it huge. Then I got out the radio and we sang and danced inside and outside the tent. I'm adding a photo to this where the kids were outside a "part" of the tent singing and dancing to "Walk Like an Egyptian", a popular song at the time. That had to be the biggest tent I can remember. At the end we had our 2 girls, the next door neighbors 3, the other neighbors 2, another neighbors 2, and most of the parents involved. I'll never forget Dan's face when he came out the patio door and saw the backyard covered as a tent! I guess living with me he knew nothing was a surprise, it was just me...

It doesn't matter what size the tent is, or even where it is. It was time having fun with the kids and making great memories. Now admit it, you are remembering some tents from your past right now. I guess I was a pretty weird sister, mom, neighbor, aunt and now Zamma. Oh well...! I think Kenzie and I need to make a mini tent right now!

Frankie and Porky

Let me tell you about Frankie and Porky...

For some reason, which I don't remember, I was in the hospital with Marcia again. I know I was there getting my tonsils out, but I have no idea why Marcia was there. She was in the bed next to me, in the same room. It was Manitowoc Hospital, really old looking, with the metal beds and rails. I was so excited because Mom and Auntie Gen came to see us. I was so happy to see Auntie Gen that I sat up. But then my stomach felt sick and I pucked up blood all over my bed. I was scared when I saw all the blood, but then the nuns came and made me lay back down. They cleaned up the mess while I rested and Mom and Auntie Gen sat down. I guess the blood made them a little queasy because the nuns kept asking them if they were OK too.

After everything got all cleaned up, Mom and Auntie Gen gave Marcia a stuffed pink pig with a blue hat, and they gave me a stuffed monkey. He was brown with a yellow vest on and he held a banana. If you put the banana in his mouth he would hold it there because there was a hole cut out to let it fit in his mouth. We decided to name the pig Porky, after the cartoon character, and we named the monkey Frankie. I don't know why we picked that name, but it stuck. I know we still had Frankie when we moved to Menomonee Falls, years later. We even had him when w moved in to Appleton Avenue in the Falls.

I know we had a lot of tea parties with Frankie and Porky. We would eat cheerios on my grey and yellow tea set dishes. I even had grey plastic silverware with the tea set. We used to play "communion" with Starks candy. Even Frankie and Porky got communion. I know all you Catholics will remember this as you probably played the same thing as kids. Koolaid was our wine!

I really remember being three!

My Mom swears I can't remember being three, but there are two events I remember as if it just happened!

The first was the day I thought my sister Marcia and I needed to have an M&Ms party. But I gave us aspirin. Now think about it... white aspirin in a brown medicine bottle really do look like yellow M&Ms. At three, you don't realize there should be more colors than just yellow. You see... CANDY!!! I remember the medicine cabinet was right by the bathroom window. I remember climbing up on the sink and standing with my feet in the sink. It was a piece of cake. The sink was designed to hold me perfect and keep me from tipping over! How cool! I almost tipped when I opened the medicine cabinet door because I didn't realize that ducking my head would make it much easier. I got the big brown bottle out of the cabinet. Aha... I had the treasure! Now to have a party!!!

After I climbed down I remember fighting with the bottle and getting the cap off. There were no child-proof caps then. It was way too easy! Being truthful, when I went to divide up the "M&MS" I didn't split them evenly. After all, I did the hard part of getting them down! So of course, for every one I gave Marcia on my little grey tea party plates, I got "a couple" for myself. Being a pig did not pay off.

I can remember my stomach really hurt and I was sooooo sleepy. The one memory that still makes me queasy to think about was the nuns at the hospital putting the ether mask over my face. Whew that stuff smelled horrible. It kept making me hear sirens and feeling my head spinning. I can still see Marcia on a table next to me as they put that mask thing on her face. I felt scared that they needed to get it off her face or she wouldn't be able to breathe. I remember stuff going in my mouth and then waking up with a sore throat. I don't remember going home, getting spanked or even eating yellow M&Ms for years. Every time I look at one now, I smell ether. OK, so I'm weird. Guess that's why once I met Dan, green M&Ms were my favorite. But then, that's a whole different memory...

The second thing about being three was a horrible memory. It starts with me going in my Mom's bedroom. It was sunny and the light was coming in the window. Mom was coming out of her closet. She was trying to put on her blouse and she was crying really hard. I didn't like seeing my Mom cry! I asked her what was wrong and she said Kelly Paul, my brother, wasn't waking up. I remember stepping on the side rail of the crib. It was down and I could step on it very easily. I reached over into Kelly Paul's crib and tried to pick him up and wake him up. That just made my Mom cry more. She had her blouse on and buttoned by then. She told me to get down and go get Marcia and go in the living room.

The next thing I remember there were firemen coming in the door by the chair in the living room. We never used that door very often. The firemen had on fire suits and were carrying an oxygen tank. I didn't know what it was for or even why they were there. They scared me because of the looks on their faces. I remember the people from upstairs coming downstairs and getting Marcia and me. They took us in their bedroom. The bed was big. We sat at the end of the bed while they tried to put on our socks and shoes. Marcia wouldn't sit still because she was crying. I remember hugging her and saying it's OK. I helped put on her socks. They were white with yellow flowers on them. Mine were white with blue flowers on them. I don't know why I remember the socks so clearly. I wanted to get dressed fast and look pretty for Mommy. I didn't want her to cry anymore.

I remember seeing my brother in his casket. He was laying there with his arm up and his leg bent. He had on a little blue suit with short pant legs on it. He looked like he was sleeping. I remember my Grandma Vetter crying really hard. I can still feel her hugging me and crying.

And that was three...

Understanding me...

So I've succumbed to the land of blogs...

The purpose of this blog began as a way to tell my granddaughters and children stories of my life that would help them understand who I am. The ironic thing is that it's made me really look into myself and see where I've been, where I am, and where I may be going. Those of you who know me realize that I can "go philosophical" on you in a moment. The important thing to remember is that I don't mean to tell you what to do. I'm naturally opinionated. As I grow older I try to keep my unsolicited opinions to myself. Know that I haven't been that way in the past.

I've so often been described as wearing my heart on my sleeve. You always know "where my head is at" and how I feel because I try hard to be honest with people. Far too often in my past, that attempt to be honest, that attempt to say "I care so much that I can't be anything but honest with you, even if it hurts" has gotten me in to big trouble. So already I've learned: Use your head, not your heart, and learn when to keep your big mouth shut. Sometimes I get it right, other times...

As you read this blog, whether it's daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever your little old heart desires, maybe you will learn enough about me to understand me better. As hard as I try to be truthful, I'm human. Know also that I am a Christian. I know He is my rock and my reason to go on. I turn to Him so often that I think I'm on speed dial with Him. He listens and still keeps me here to appreciate this life and all of you in it with me.

I will also probably ramble a lot. Go figure...me? So here we go... "Hold On!!!!"