“Oh, my sweet Saturday, I have been waiting for you for six long days.”
The air is thick with moisture. The clouds hang low. Nothing is moving, not a single leaf or the smallest branch. My room is dark. It may not be, but it feels cooler that way. The dogs had their tongues hanging after an outside jaunt. It is 79°, close to the predicted high of 80°. Tonight it will fall to 68°, sleeping weather.
Saturdays were the best days of the week when I was a kid. The mornings were for watching TV, all the kid’s shows and cartoons. I’d risk blindness and eat my Rice Krispies while sitting on the floor close to the front of the TV. Back then, in the 50’s, our TV was in a piece of furniture. It sat in a cabinet with doors hiding the screen, the small screen. The TV was in the corner of the living room where it could be seen no matter where you sat.
After breakfast I’d either walk or ride my bike around town. I never had a destination in mind. I didn’t need to be anywhere. I loved my town. I loved the horse barn, the rag man’s house with the leaning porch and the barn beside it filled with newspapers. I loved to sit on the benches in the green next to the town hall and greet the firemen sitting in front of the station just up the street. The square was filled with stores. On Saturdays cars filled all the parking spaces while people shopped the stores. In the cooler months the movie theater, right in the middle of the square, had matinees, a movie and cartoons, so my afternoons were filled.
At night, we’d have the usual New England Saturday supper of beans, hot dogs and brown bread. We’d have our baths then watch TV before bed. Westerns were big back then. Our bedtime hour was always a little bit later on Saturday nights. I used to read until I was forced to turn out the light.
Sunday was my least favorite day. I had to go to mass. I couldn’t wander after church, but I didn’t mind so much as we always had a big Sunday dinner, the best part of the day. I loved the mashed potatoes with gravy filling the space I’d made in the middle on the top of the mound of mashed. I still eat mashed potatoes that way. Roast beef was my favorite, but a roast chicken was a close second. Corn or peas were my favorite vegetables. Carrots were my least favorite. Dessert was usually cookies if any were left.
My dance card is empty for a couple of days. I’m glad for that. I am totally in sloth mode.
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July 8, 2023 at 7:13 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was mostly cloudy and hot. Hot is relatively comfortable depending on the humidity. Today was a less comfortable 97°.
Saturdays, when I was kid, began with watching kids shows on TV. My favorite was Sky King. Although, I enjoyed shows like, Wild Bill Hickok, and the Lone Ranger.
Often we would go out to eat diner on Saturday or Sunday night. We either did Chinese or Italian. There were very few Chinese restaurants in Dallas Texas in the 1950s. All the waitresses were not Asian and reminded me of the waitress character, Flow, from the TV show, “Alice”. 🙂
Sunday mornings, my father bowled in a bowling league and I accompanied him and I got to play the many pinball machines while he bowled.
I agree with you that Saturday was the best day of the week. Sundays in the 1950s was much different than today because of the, “Blue Laws”, which forced most businesses to close on Sunday.
July 8, 2023 at 7:59 pm
Hi Bob,
The humidity remains. It will stay around the next couple of days. The only saving grace has been the cooler nights.
The Chinese restaurant in my town was excellent. They used to go to Chinatown in Boston and bring their waiters to the restaurant. There were no Caucasians who worked there. Sadly the restaurant just close after years and years. No one in the family wanted to take it over.
Everyone I knew had the same Saturday supper as we did. I think brown bread isn’t as popular as it used to be, but I think beans and franks are still in.
Sunday was church. My father was an usher at the early mass. They were the ones who passed the basket for the collection. He always gave us a dime to put in the basket.
It took a long while before the Blue Laws were no longer in effect here. That started slowly with large stores opened on Sunday afternoons before Christmas. I’m sorry for that. I think it should be as it was when we were young.
July 8, 2023 at 10:21 pm
Kay
My Saturday’s when I was 11 or 12 were very similar, except thatSat mornings I had to collect money from customers on my paper route. Bicycling came after that.
I’ve previously sent you links to Xmas carols translated into indigenous languages by the colonizing Franciscan brothers. Today it continues, with pop music:
https://www.openculture.com/2023/07/hear-the-beatles-blackbird-sung-in-the-indigenous-mikmaq-language.html.
And Bob: my brother and sister were older than me when SkyKing was broadcast. I watched with them ,but at+/-20 minute point, I couldn’t stand the rise in dramatic tension, and i’d Hide behind the couch!
July 8, 2023 at 10:34 pm
J,
The song was beautifully sung. What amazed me was how the singer was able to keep the tune while singing all the syllables of her language. I tried to keep up with the phonetic lyrics but failed.
I was gone all day Saturday. I’d usually pack a lunch so I didn’t have to go home from wherever I was.
I really liked Sky King because the plane was such a different character of sorts.
Bon and I are the same age so I didn’t have to hide.