18 August 2010

a house with a Swing iii

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I always equate summers with childhood -as a child I never remember being hot. For me the SWING is synonymous with Summer, Family and Memory.

My mother wrote & recited this poem to me growing up, &; we would swing:

“By grasping twin ropes in eager small hands & standing tall on my toes,
I came down with a flop on the old wooden board, & directed my efforts, to Slow to & Froes.
The leaves overhead rustled, as I pulled at the helm of my ship.
I gave them the eye as I took to the sky, promising half turns and dips!
Up Up & Away, touching the sky, feet high above the stone wall.
The swing in the tree was a space ship to me as I traveled to Rome & Bombay.
No time can erase my excursions in space and my childhood’s glorious days.”
















I will always live in a house with a swing.






photographs by  1st image Holly Biggs, others by Andrew Ciscel  do not use without permission.

read about the Minister's Treehouse here

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5 comments:

  1. This house is amazing! From a story book!

    I remember a few things about swings:

    1. Playing in the park in Teaneck, NJ on them when I was a child. We would draw a large rectangle under swings, 3 swings next to each other. I would sit in one, Andy in another, and Donnie (or anyone who wanted to play)in one. And then we played this game where we would throw a stick (Maybe a knife a few times!) into our "neighbor's" rectangle and while swinging back and forth you had to reach down, pick it up, and throw it into another player's box. Obliviously, the closer you could throw the stick to the edge the better!

    2. Pushing my daughter back-in-forth on a swing in Weehawken, NJ where we owned a brownstone. Oh, how time flies! She is getting married June 25, 2011 to a wonderful guy.

    3. Upon moving to Northampton, MA we put up a swing set for Danielle, our daughter, and our son, Daryl, to play on. It turned out to be rather rickety--learning this after spending hours and hours with my dad and my uncle screwing in what seemed at the time thousands of screws. And cementing it into the earth! Weeks later, we took it down, and erected a new one :)

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  2. My family has some vivid swing memories as the post evidences. Falls, accidents, breaks-mostly with only damage to pride and laughter. I hope all children have the benefit of a swing set at some point and adults a swing. And time does fly- as if in a swing, congrats to your daughter upcoming marriage next summer. pgt

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  3. It is just heavenly. How extraordinary to know places like this exist.

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  4. I broke my jaw when i was 4 by flying out of a swing onto pavement. Jaws wired shut for 6 weeks. The experience didn't halt my love for swings ...although I think it did give me a slight eating disorder. I can never get enough! 6 weeks of blender food was horrible.

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  5. Jill-you are a real swinger with that story-you must have earned your wings that day and a daredevil to go back to it.


    Anon-I agree, it is places like this that I can believe.

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