I've got to learn to keep quiet! But since I haven't, I'm going to share a story. Last night my daughter was watching something on tv and she commented it was dangerous that the kids in the show were throwing things at each other. I laughed and told her my friends and I used to throw spears at each other. She nearly choked and said something about it being uncivilized. So I explained.
They weren't exactly spears. One fall my friends and I discovered really tall, reed-like weeds that had grown perfectly straight, rigid, and strong (they'd dried out after the first frost). One of us (doesn't matter who ;P) pulled one of the weeds and realized its root formed sort of an arrowhead and that it was perfectly weighted for throwing. Soon we were all armed with our "spears" and for the next month or so we battled each other whenever we had time to play. If you were outside, you had to carry a few spears with you because you never knew when someone might ambush you. You could be walking down the road or the train tracks and just out of the blue you'd see a spear flying towards you--if you were lucky. If you weren't lucky, you felt it before seeing it. They weren't sharp, but did carry a nice pop. Also, we quickly learned the importance of retrieving thrown spears (your's and your opponent's) so we wouldn't be left defenseless.
I guess that wasn't the most civilized activity, but we were 11 and it was fun--and it was much safer than our slingshot battles.
I'm thinking my next story needs to be one that shines a more favorable light on my youth. I'm drawing a blank, but it probably won't be about my shillelagh--even though St. Patrick's Day IS right around the corner. =)
That is awesome, and no I don't think this was uncivilized activity...it's just guys being guys. Ric no worries about the hat comment earlier this week. I realize that not every look I put on my blog everyone will like, it's just what fashion is...some love it some hate it! Have a great evening and I'm interested to year about the next shillelagh
ReplyDeleteLOL throwing "spears" sounds quite fun and exciting!
ReplyDelete<33 Rena
That's not uncivilized at all! We didn't have all these gadgety things when we were younger. Heck, I used to amuse myself by using a branch and poking these little bugs that would roll up into balls. Your spear one sounds like more fun though!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the concern about the red lipsticks. I'll keep an eye out when I'm looking to purchase them. I just read that some companies (not US ones) put mercury in their lotions! Crazy right?
Ah, the uncivilization of youth! :P
ReplyDeleteHow uncouth! :P (Actually it sounds pretty fun...lol)
ReplyDeleteI love this story! Reminds me of my childhood. We didn't have spears but there our street had a lot of vacant lots with tall weeds and stuff and we would play in them. :P
ReplyDeleteayayayay...this reminds me of my uncivilized memories...did i say many? many uncivilized memories...X_X~! but its still FUN
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe it when I read this post. My kids used to play a similar game with ferns. They called it "Fern Wars", and the object of the game was to whip your opponent with the fern. There's nothing new under the sun... :-)
ReplyDeletehahah this reminds me of when I was a kid and there was a classroom whose door was right across from mine, and we used to throw pencils at each other. Also not the safest thing to do lol
ReplyDeleteI would love to see how this spear-like plant look like. It sure sounds like I could make do with such an interesting toy to carry around in case that nasty kid ambushes me.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your stories! they're always so amusing. Once in high school I had a pencil case thrown at my face. (This would make a good blog post.) The person thought I was looking at them, but I was actually engaging in conversation with my friend in the other aisle. Whoops.
ReplyDeletehehhe..I or we had also done that might not exactly the same but yeah from plant also when I was a kid! it was fun though:)
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