Friday family photo--reunion at the Pines

If you know my family, you'll know who these people are. And if you don't, well, you probably don't care. L to R: Gene, Joyce, Janet, Stan and Lois.

Monday Memories

October is National Roller Skating Month! Take the family skating. When I was a young girl, there was a roller rink across from the White Pines State Park, about 7 miles south of our town, near Dixon, Illinois. There is still a rink at that location, but I don't know if it is the same building. The rules certainly look the same. The floor was made of terrazzo, there was an audience seating area, a place to check out skates if you didn't own them, a changing area with nice murals of the area, and a snack bar. I'm not sure when it was built but I remember that my mother used to take us there on Saturday afternoons when I was in grade school, and if she would fall down, all of us would rush over and help her up.

White Pines Rink in early 50s

Borrowed from the rink site
On Sunday afternoons, someone would beg a parent (often my father who didn't seem to mind even though he drove a truck 6 days a week) to drive a carload to the rink. When I was a freshman in high school I dated a senior from Polo, Illinois, called "The Cisco Kid" by my schoolmates because he wore a leather fringed jacket and cowboy boots. He was a wonderful, graceful skater, so in order to keep up, I had to learn too. My skating days outlasted the relationship.

There was a short, plump woman who played the organ. The sides of the rink rolled up in sections like garage doors and the gravel drive way was slopped allowing people in their cars and watch the skaters. Sometimes in the summer you might look out in the dark and see a disgruntled boy in a car, and the ex-girlfriend was skating with someone else. Oh, it was very exciting! In the winter, the rink was all closed up, so you skated in extremely dusty conditions, and when you got home, your hair was gray!

The rink manager would announce certain "skates," and the really good skaters would show their skills--a waltz, or backward skate, or ladies choice, or a progressive skate, where you skated in a large circle and the men moved forward to a new partner. I don't remember the name of the owner, but for awhile in the 1970s my cousin Ron owned it.

First I used my mother's skates, then she gave me my own pair in a fancy blue case for Christmas one year. I think I kept them for over 40 years, and probably donated them when we move here. Skating isn't like riding a bicycle, I discovered. It's a skill that must be used or you forget how to balance. If I were to get on skates today, it would be the same as the very first time--but the bones are not quite as flexible. The last time I was on roller skates was probably in college.

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My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Ma, Viamarie, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Debbie, Lazy Daisy, Lady Bug, Janene, Michelle, Anna, ChelleY. Jen, Melli Becki, Paul, Friday's Child, Irish Church Lady,Cozy Reader

National Roller Skating Month
roller rinks
1950s