Hopscotch then and now
Seattle had proper blocks with unbroken pavement perfect for a game of hopscotch or a starting point for evening hide and seek. At one end of our block was an overgrown vacant lot with a huge tree that had fallen. Hours were spent down the block on that tree which often became a pirate ship rocking violently as we tried to shake each other off or holding spears made of twigs fighting off the invaders. Seattle is a city of hills and one was at another corner of our block where we would gather the wagons and race down the hill, careening into another vacant lot filled with blackberry bushes where we tunneled for hours eating ripe and unripe berries. When the street lights came on we went home; berry juice staining us from head to toe and knees were scraped raw from tumbling out of the little wagons. We lived without hand sanitizer or cute bandaids . We looked and smelled much like the wild Indians on the western shows on the tiny TV’s. Then we ...