I’ve been gone for a while—but hello, I’m back.
366. Carousels and Tire Swings
I have always loved carousels—not so much as a child but as an adult—just something about the lights and the music and the spinning round and round. So wherever there is a carousel, there I am, riding a horse up and down.
When Donna, my oldest daughter, lived in Buffalo, on one of my visits we went to the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum in North Tonawanda. It opened in 1915 and still has two historic carousels to ride, one dating from 1916. We were the only visitors that day and got on the carousel. The man operating it, said, “Ready?” We said, “Sure.” And off we went—fast! I mean fast. I held on tightly and when we got off we commented on the speed. He said that’s how the carousel started, as an adult ride. It slowed down considerably when children started riding.
Another time we took two days in Binghamton, New York because they have SIX carousels and in the two days we rode all six—Donna, her two children, and me—happy as a lark.
And always the Ocean City carousel. Grandchildren rode (I think just to keep me happy and so I would have company). Last year I couldn’t get on the horse, so I rode side saddle—still good. This year, the year I was eighty, I couldn’t get up at all, so after some good tries and a boost from Donna, I sat in the chariot. Yuck!
Earlier in the summer I determined I would have a ride on my youngest daughter’s tire swing—and same result! I got up on it with the help of three or four other people but couldn’t hold myself upright. My son, David, said, “Mom, you’ve got to work on your upper body strength.”
So all summer I have—and guess what? David’s house has a tire swing too and this fall I got on and stayed on for a short while. Still have some work to do on strength but the goal is a carousel horse next summer in Ocean City!
