Twirling memories

Blame it on Mary, but I’m here with no clue what to write tonight and she wondered if we knew any majorettes and, well… I thought of this pic from a million years ago of my mom on a rooftop in Jersey City. She’s holding a baton, but in the funny way that my mind and eyes play tricks on me, I see a little falcon on her fist if I look too quickly. Do you see that?

😉

Anyway… my mom was a twirler and my dad played the trumpet. Both of my brothers tried to play the trumpet growing up. Brian was pretty good, I think, but then I remember a story about Kevin smashing his trumpet on the dresser at some point in frustration at the klunkers. German temper, you know.

Me, being the only girl and having the responsibility to take after my mom… I tried to be a twirler. I was little and uncoordinated. The farthest that went was the Halloween costume my mom sewed for me one year – rust colored velvety stuff with the golden braids across the chest and the little skirt – just like in this pic – only my legs weren’t nearly as nice then. And there was no hat or cool boots. I remember practices in the school gym – trying to twirl, dropping the darn thing over and over, banging myself in the head with it – you get the idea. Not good! There was also a stint in marching band in high school that found me as uncoordinated with a clarinet as I was with a baton.

Clearly, I missed out on the coordinated and musical genes.

😉

13 thoughts on “Twirling memories”

  1. I’m with you Laura. I could not twirl that thing if my life depended upon it, though every girl coveted being the twirler queen. It was as if my arms were too short and close to my body. Sigh…. but I could just as easily bruise myself to pieces with the Clackers. Consolation prize. LOL!

  2. Your Mom was definitely a more sophisticated majorette than I… That’s a great photo of her and it does look like a bird perched on her hand!

    Laura, when twirling, it all about loose fingertips and a little wrist action. The baton rolls around your fingers – not your hand.

  3. Fantastic picture! I never did much baton twirling. But, I did twirl tall flags in High School. I was a “Banner” girl with the band but when we did field shows, we had to twirl flags. It was REALLY hard for me — I’m 5’3″ and a TALL flag didn’t work as well for me as it did for 5’8″ friends! Still, the outfits were cute! 🙂

  4. I, too, thought it was a falcon at first…and I’m thinking, “Whaaa…..?”

    What a babe all decked out! Not being a twirler myself, I have no clue as the degree of coordination needed, but I’m always impressed when they throw those things REAL high in the air and then catch them. Yowzer.

  5. She looks proudly defiant – especially for that era. Cute girl and a trim outfit. Don’t have a clue about twirling, unless it’s spaghetti on a fork. I can juggle a bit, however – especially around the end of the month…

  6. I thought that was a falcon too! It’s a beautiful image. I too wanted to twirl. My parents bought me a baton, and I tried and tried.

  7. You might not have gotten the twirling genes from your mom, but you can sure tell where you got your looks. At first, I thought the photo was of you–never mind the black and white.
    As for twirling–well, as I grew up overseas, they have no such thing there as twirling batons. I thought it quite strange when I came back to the US for high school. My great envy was that I didn’t play a band instrument (having been a piano student myself).

  8. I see the falcon also. What an attractive woman. I was in a marching band sponsored by the local vfw when I was a kid. Always out of step. That carried on into my miltary days. 🙂

  9. Jayne: Thanks for that… reminded me of another toy I had as a kid. Not sure what it was called, but it was this thing (shaped like a fruit, I think) on the end of a coil that you’d put around one ankle and then spin it around your legs and hop on one foot. Remember that? Lots of tumbles with that thing!

    Mary: Next bird trip bring along your baton along with the bins and you can teach me your secrets, okay? I’d always wanted to be able to toss the baton up in the air and spin around to catch it.

    😉

    NCMountainWoman: Yep, but hers was reddish. I can’t imagine the furor that must’ve made.

    😉

    Ruthie: Makes my nose hurt just thinking of it.

    😉

    Liza: I wanted to be one of those girls! The frumpy band outfit just couldn’t compare.

    TaraD: Yeah… beyond my imagination how anyone could do that.

    Dr. Know: I’m even very good at that sort of twirling and need a spoon.

    😉

    FloridaCracker: Nice to see you! You got the smart biology gene tho.

    Robin Andrea: Yeah.. I love these pics on rooftops – part of city life, I guess.

    KGMom: Funny… my brother’s daughter is the walking picture of me (poor thing!) but she has my mom’s red hair.

    Piano… sigh. I took lessons, but they haven’t amounted to much yet!

    Rabbit’s Guy: LOL!

    Dave: Still marching to your own drummer then?

    😉

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