2000-10-31 - 18:12 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

October 31, 2000

Wishin' Fishin'

Seems like this stuff comes up like a dozen grains of rice boiling in a quart of water ? Memories - his-story.

I remember once somewhere around 1956 when I was taking our scout troop camping overnight I slipped a flasher in the bedroom overhead light socket. Figuring that this would keep Heather and the kids puzzled for a bit. When I got home the next evening, after the hugs all around Heather remarked about the strange goings on with the light in the bedroom. I told her I would check it pretty soon and poured a cup of coffee and sat down. As soon as Heather got busy with the kids I slipped into the bedroom unscrewed the light bulb, the flasher dropped into my palm, then I screwed the light bulb back in, went to the wall switch flipped the switch a few times and then left the light on, went into the front room remarking, "Gee, I can't find anything wrong with it." I had thoughts of doing it in another room but decided that would not be the wisest thing to do. Later on, down the line after a few months I showed Heather what I had scandalously perpetrated, and told her that I wanted her to be interested in things and on her toes while I was gone overnight. Even yet when she thinks of it she chews on me a bit more for that trick.

Again thinking back to my early days, I remember ice skating on the City Park lakes which had been scraped clear a goodly amount to make great open air skating rinks. Washington Park lake had a two story building at the south end of the main lake, used in the winter as a warming house and I seem to remember there was a concession of some kind there. There is a building at the west end of City Park Lake too and I imagine there was a concession open there too. The city forces kept the ice clear for the whole freezin' season. People made great use of the ice skating then.

At the West end of City Park Lake are two more things, both of which our kids got to enjoy before they fell into disuse, a bandshell at the edge of the lake where there were different bands which played in the summer evenings and the other was a miracle of thought, artistry and engineering -- out in the lake a bit is a gigantic, mostly underwater fountain with many nozzles, and the associated piping and valving to allow a man in the second story of the building to easily control the whole thing, the fountain would assume various shapes as the valving was manipulated and attained somewhat astonishing heights. Included in that wonderful fountain were lights that had a system of changing colors that also were controlled from that same room. What a great display was the colored fountain at night.

Many an evening Heather and I would take the kids over to listen to the music and the fountain making its "splash" a liquid background for the musical sounds and watch the pretty fountain. There was a grassy bank at one corner near the fountain where kids would roll down, return and roll down over and over. If my memory is not playing tricks there was a wagon there (a once horse drawn relic, forerunner of the "Roach Coaches" of today where soda pop, popcorn and candy could be bought to nibble on.

Down at that end of the lake near the band shell there were paddle boats and rowboats for rent in the daytime. Also before my kids time there was a fairly large motored boat which would load passengers and slowly make a circuit of the lake.

Also in the park is the Museum of Natural History (greatly enlarged now)

A zoo (now brought from lions, polar bears, seals and of course the monkey cages and the monkey island to up a huge complex).

Near the zoo was a large playground with all the playground equipment of the day which had a covered spot that shaded the summer arts and crafts program led and sparkplugged by adults. My memory says that the muni softball teams played at the northeast corner of the park. Then there was a Lily pond near 17th Avenue, a beautiful well tended thing which is just a plain old pond now.

I live in my imagination those things and those days before there was such a hooligan and gang problem. But evenings around the lake are long gone, fountain disused, too risky for bands in the evenings and the kids usually are out of the park by dark. Different now.

Kick The Can and Red Rover games being played around the arc lights on the neighborhood corners under the arc lights at night.

There used to be a big stadium at Denver University where we would watch the DU football team play in the fall and where the set piece Fourth Of July fireworks were put on, I think they went on until DU gave up football and tore the stadium down.

Where used to be streetcars (trams) now are busses and light rail and there is a "No fare" shuttle traveling from lower down town to the upper end.

Barbers here do not shave people here any more - AIDS.

People overall are about the same as usual but the city and metro area have swelled and the whole face of it has changed

------HAPPY HALLOWEEN folks.------

Another time I will perhaps again go Wishin' Fishin' . . . . . . .

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