Flashback Friday - A Plethora

Do you remember the concept of being blood brothers or blood sisters? This was very big when I was in grade school. In our inexperienced collection of ways to show particular loyalty and affection towards a friend, this was about the biggest thing you could do. You would cut your finger or prick it with a pin until you got it bleeding pretty good, and then you’d put it together with your friend’s bleeding finger. The idea was for their blood to flow into you and yours into them – bonding you forever as best friends.

A pretty revolting practice when you think about it, and something that I am sure would be immediately and urgently halted if kids were caught doing this today. But 30 years ago, hepatitis was unheard of and HIV wasn’t around, the disease bouquet we know now hadn't yet germinated ... We rode around without bicycle helmets and played with clackers and lawn jarts, too …

The seventies trifecta of concussions and bodily injury ... Good times …

I had 3 blood sisters. I don’t know what happened to any of them. So much for that.

I don’t know what made me think of that the other day. But there it was, and it triggered a lot of other long lost memories as well.

Remember when you used to hold dandelions under each other’s chins to see if you like butter or not? What kind of nonsense was that? Years later I learned in art class that this is merely a phenomenon called reflective color. Light rays absorb into an object, and those colors of the spectrum that you see and identifty to the item are the ones which are bounced back off the object. If you hold an object (such as, a dandelion) close enough to another surface (such as, a chin), you can often see the color reflected on to that as well. Hence, reflective color.

I know you’re thrilled. I’m just saying.

Regardless, according to our chins, we all liked butter back then - whether we did or not. And we never had any doubts about this highly scientific test.

There was also the dreaded sidewalk stamps. In my neighborhood, the contractor who poured the sidewalks placed a company stamp in the edge of every third or fourth scoreline or so. It was common knowledge that if you stepped on any of the squares with the stamp in it, you’d smell like fish for the rest of the day. Why fish, I don’t know. But it was a universal law.

After a while my brain started going to musical memories. Remember this guy, to the right? His name was Timer. Every Saturday morning between cartoon shows, he’d remind us that if our ten gallon hat feels five gallons flat and we seem a little weak in the knees, we could remedy that condition with a hunk of cheese. (“Look! A wagon wheel!”) He also showed us how easy it was to make sunshine on a stick by putting orange juice in an ice tray, covering it with cellophane, and carefully poking toothpicks through it. Freeze it for a few hours, and voila! A completely pain in the butt way to handle a popcicle. (My folks bought flat toothpicks, which always broke – leaving us with trying to eat the orange ice cube out of a cup and splintering up the roof of our mouths with the broken toothpick. That didn’t stop us from doing this little project a hundred times, though).

Of course, the king of all viewing when I was a kid was Schoolhouse Rock. How great were those things? We were learning grammar and history and science and government structure without even knowing it. And that stuff stuck, didn’t it? How many times have you sung, “I’m just a Bill,” and at least one other person chimes in with, “and I’m sittin’ here on Capital Hill!”?

Man I loved those. There were SO MANY classics! ...

Innnnnn-terjections show excitement or emotion ….

Conjunction Junction, what’s your function ….

3 - 6 - 9 - 12 - 15 - 18 - 21 - 24 - 27 – 30 (football players with jerseys numbered as such crashing through the wall)

Wee the peeeeeee-pulllle, in order to form a more perfect uuunion …

Mother Necessity, where would we be? ….

He was a hairy bear, he was a scary bear …

Lolly Lolly Lolly get your adverbs here …

So everyone knows I get some pretty serious selective OCD, especially with music. Once a song’s in my head it stays in there for hours, even days, and makes me batty. Thought I’d share the sensation with you :). You know you’re going to be singing these songs all day now! If you have trouble remembering some of the lyrics, visit the Schoolhouse Rock Lyrics site, here.

Ah, memories!

If I don’t post again for a while, I wish you all a Happy and Blessed Easter. And if you get any Pop Rocks in your Easter basket, don’t drink any Coke or Pepsi with them. That’s what killed Mikey, you know.