“Recess and lunch are the best.”
Today is absolutely beautiful. The breeze is slight, the sun is strong and the temperature is in the 60’s. I think Gracie and I might be taking a ride later. I have a few errands to do then off we’ll go with no destination in mind, a ride just for the fun of it.
Every now and then we’d skip part of the way to school. There was a sense of exhilaration, of joy, when we’d skip. First we’d hop on one foot then we’d hop on the other and we’d keep hopping until we were so tired we had to stop. Skipping wasn’t as fast as running but it was faster than walking and was more fun. Learning to skip looked easy but it wasn’t. My feet seemed to get tangled in the hopping, and I’d lose the rhythm. Finally after many starts and stops I got my feet to work and I was finally a skipper.
Jumping rope was another one of those get your rhythm and your feet working together. We used to jump rope at recess. It was a single rope as none of us knew about double Dutch. We had rhymes we said while jumping. They helped us keep the cadence, the rhythm. I was okay at the slow jumping but once we hit the fast jumping, pepper, I was doomed. I always ended up being the rope swinger.
Probably around the sixth grade we stopped jump roping. We were on the second floor of the school and felt older. We thought jump roping was for kids. During recess we’d just stand around in small groups of friends and talk. Boys started to be a conversational item. We were still too young for dating but we were poring the foundation (sorry-that was the only analogy I could come up with). We’d decide who among the boys in our class was the cutest. We never talked about the nicest or the smartest. It was always the cutest.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: beautiful day, jumping rope, recess, Shopping, skipping, sunny, taking a ride, talking abut boys, warm day
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
November 3, 2015 at 1:00 pm
I think it has been cloudy all day here but it was nice outside around 50F. It drizzled some when I drove home though.
I loved skipping and often did it where ever I went, as You say it wasn’t as fast as running but it took less energy and I could go on for a long time.
We continued with jumping rope until the seventh grade when we changed school. I remember all the different varieties we would jump, one was called two fried eggs 🙂 🙂 I have no idea how that name came up but I know my mother did that one too 🙂
Very few were good enough for the double dutch though so we rarely did that.
Have fun when Your friends come!
Christer.
November 3, 2015 at 3:50 pm
Christer,
It is still beautiful here and has been shirt-sleeve warm all day. Gracie and I were out for a while and did a few errands.
Skipping also took a lot of energy even more than running I think.
I forget all the rhymes there were so many. They were so rhythmic they helped me jump longer than without them.
Thanks!!
Have a good evening!
November 3, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Skipping was fun. First Sesame Street generation, we learned this American kind of rope jumping with 2 swingers from TV. The rubber band game (Chinese jump rope?) was very popular.
Enjoy the sun and have fun today and with your friends!
November 3, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Birgit,
I never learned double Dutch because it wasn’t around when I was a kid. I doubt I’d be any good at it.
It was a great day being out. The rest of the week too is supposed to be lovely.
November 3, 2015 at 4:33 pm
“Poring the foundation” is similar to “scoping the beefcake”?
Cheers
November 3, 2015 at 7:03 pm
minicapt,
It is except we wouldn’t have known the word beefcake.
November 3, 2015 at 9:41 pm
Hi Kat,
Skipping is definitely a rhythm thing. Once you get it, you’ve got. Like riding a bike.
My cousin and I had a sideways leg thing we used to do instead of skipping. It was faster than skipping but slower than running. We called it Coast to Coast. I have no idea why. It was like an exercise that football players do to improve footwork or something.
We didn’t have Double Dutch when I was in school but we did have the Chinese rubber band game. A lot of us spent a lot of time scrounging rubber bands from everywhere in order to string together enough to make the “rope”. I think it had some rhymes to go along with it like most jump rope games did.
I think we were still jumping rope in the 6th grade. We were all in one big building and there was no status granted for being on one floor or the other. As long as you weren’t in the basement, you were okay. 🙂
Today was beautiful. Almost like summer. Yesterday was too. Rocky, Piki Dog and I went to the lake or hung around outside in the yard. Well, they hung around and I pitched walnuts and leaves. Today a flock of turkeys joined us in the back yard. They kept their distance but didn’t seem bothered. The dogs ignored them after a bit of barking. It was nice.
Enjoy the evening.
November 3, 2015 at 9:57 pm
Hi Caryn,
I really loved to skip once I figured out how to do it. Skipping seemed to cover so much territory n a few skips. I can’t picture you Coast to Coast.
There was no official upstairs-downstairs status, but we just felt older being upstairs. By the 6th grade I was playing CYO basketball, and we tried to get our turns at the baskets in the school yard. They denied our requests saying girls shouldn’t be playing basketball.
It was also beautiful here. Gracie and I went out for a while. I was on the deck. Luckily I kept one chair uncovered so I sat there taking in the day.
Have a great day tomorrow!
November 4, 2015 at 8:34 pm
It’s kind of like in this video except we didn’t go back and forth. We just kept going in the same direction. And we didn’t have those elastic band things either. 🙂
November 4, 2015 at 10:00 pm
Caryn,
It doesn’t seem you’d get much distance any way you do it. It also seems a bit exhausting.
November 5, 2015 at 12:54 pm
If you do it fast, with a wider stance, you can cover a fair piece of ground and the rebound factor saves energy. Like sideways kangaroos. 🙂
November 5, 2015 at 3:41 pm
I figure I’ll try it when no-one is looking!