Swings and Swingsets

Hey! It's a sunny day, and I'm thinking of summer things, and something most of us remember as our first vehicle: a swing! What could be better than flying high in the air, then feeling that uncontrollable let-down, only to be up again, in no time! Little did we know, then, what an analogy of life we were living in our play time!

The swing to the left is at my friend's cabin, "up north" in Minnesota. It's just like the one that my Grandpa made. That was one of my favorite things about going to his farm....as a little kid, I just fit right in there, and there were always plenty of cousins around to push. (Though sometimes, a bit too severely!)

We had a swingset in our backyard. The kind that had a glider on it, and one leg that always jumped a bit if you swung too high. Plastic seats, with a design that followed you (on the back of your legs) for the rest of the day! Occasionally, I'll see a rusted out one in someone's backyard, now considered a "safety hazard", because it's metal and had bolts. Now that I think about it, I did once require stitches because of a bolt in playground equipment. I'm sure I'm stronger for it.


The beautiful swingset with Lake Michigan behind it is in Holland, Michigan. It reminds me of the one at the park in the town I lived in as a kid, in Minnesota. My girlfriends and I still went there to "swing and chat", up until a couple of years ago, when they replaced it with something smaller and less fun. Kids just don't know what they're missing. Height is everything, in a swingset! And a worn patch of dirt, or sand, is necessary....not asphalt. What a view of the lake!

I used to pretend I was flying to a different destination, each time I got on a swing. Go figure. Now I do! But I'm more inclined to be swinging on more mundane swings, these days....like the porch swing. I'll take what I can get. (I think CasaTini could use one of those tall, double swingsets, though....don't you?)

Have a "swingin' weekend"!