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2007-04-25 @ 10:29 a.m. I was looking through some of my picture files this morning, and realized there’s a couple of old pictures I’ve been going to post and write about for some time. But as things go, Ole has kept me pretty busy lately, so I really haven’t had much time to put a lot of thought into my Dland entries. Ole and the Grand Doggers just took off for a day of errand running in town, so I can peacefully sit at the computer and put my thoughts in order. That is, of course, if I can keep the “guilts” from overtaking my brain due to the fact that it’s so beautiful outside and my plan today was to wash windows – (did I really say that? Wash Windows? My brain must be mush.) Anyway, when I was a little girl going to that two-room school that I’ve written about previously (I would link the entry if I could get into Dland at this time) - - - Change of thought here for just a minute – is ANYBODY else having problems with Dland other than me? I’ve been having a terrible time over the last several days. It takes forever to load on my computer, and it’s just the Dland site. All other sites load slick as snot with the exception of Dland. It took almost ten minutes for my last entry to post, and then it posted TWICE! Anyway – back at the ranch – when I was little and going to that two-room school I’ve written about previously, we had this wonderful teacher named Mrs. Broberg whose mission in life was to see that all us Country Kids got the same opportunities as the Town Kids. This was certainly not the Mrs. Olson who used to slap our hands or our shins with a ruler and make us sit in a dark, windowless room with the door closed as punishment. No, Mrs. Broberg was a super teacher and a lady that us Country Kids gathered together with on an annual basis until she died about fifteen years ago. One of the things that she organized for the little girls (sexist back in those days) was dance lessons. She located a young woman who taught dance and was willing to come out to our little town and teach several classes of varying ages. So for 25 cents a week all us little girls spent an hour learning tap, ballet, jazz, etc., and then put on a performance in the spring before school was out.  Here’s our first tap dance recital. That’s me, 5th from the right of the picture. If it looks like there was no coordination in the dance steps, you’re probably right – there wasn’t. But we had fun anyway and thought we were hot stuff. We each had to have shorts and a halter top the same color that each of our mothers made. Mine was kind of a dusty green. And we had to have tap shoes with the big cleats on the toes and the heels. I remember trying to practice my steps at home on the linoleum kitchen floor (no vinyl back in those days) and the cleats would leave black marks on the floor. My Mother would get so upset because they were difficult to scrub off, so my Dad brought home a piece of Masonite about 3 x 3 and I practiced tapping on that. I could never dance like Ginger Rogers, but I sure had fun making a lot of noise. The next year our recital consisted of a Hawaiian hula dance!! Right down to the grass skirts and Hawaiian leis, again which our mothers had to make. The skirts were made out of some kind of raffia that had to be soaked in water overnight before it could be worked because it was so brittle it would break otherwise. I still have it packed away in a box somewhere. Lovely Daughter used to play with it as a little girl. The leis were made out of crepe paper, which turned your fingers colored before that task was completed. And then we had to wear a pair undies that matched the leis. Imagine in today’s society – putting your daughter on stage with a bare chest, only a bit of a crepe paper leis covering her, and little girl’s undies – not shorts. Oh, the things we did back then all in innocence and no one thought the worse of it. Shows where today’s society has come, doesn’t’ it. Anyway, here’s a picture of the hula dancers – that’s me – 4th from the right of the picture this time. Really flippin’ the hips there – makin’ that Hawaiian leis fly!!  Sorry these pictures aren’t real clear. They’re pretty old and had started to darken quite a bit. Even with the photo editing software that I have sometimes there’s only so much you can do. So there you have another peak into my very boring history. On another note, one of my readers told me she really enjoys all the old pictures, but wants to see what Ole and I look like together – now – today – Well, I don’t have anything taken right now – today – but how about last winter? Will that do? This is the picture that was put into the church directory – hope it’s not TOO scary!!  Okay – I gotta hit those windows now – the guilts are setting in!! The Latest: Country Kids Dance Lessons - 2007-04-25 Okay, Here's my RANT - 2007-04-24 Ole's Birthday Pictures (FINALLY) - 2007-04-22 What bug bit me? - 2007-04-19 I can hardly wiggle! - 2007-04-18
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