Many of you have asked where in the world I've been.

All I know is that after 7 plus years of blogging and a different lappy, which I don’t like, I seem to have lost my blogging fervor.

Someday, when you least expect it, I will post again.

For those of you still waiting I say thank you.

Meanwhile, I am rather prolific on twitter. Find me: @KeethaB
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The Eclectic Company - Waitin' on a New Adventure!!
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Monday, September 1, 2008

Stomping Grounds


Junior High.

High School.

First boyfriend.

Learning to drive (in the SNOW I might add)

For me, all these things happened in Wisconsin Rapids - - -


A pretty little city located on the banks of the Wisconsin River.

Please excuse me while I get all nostalgic and sappy. I am sitting in a hotel right in my beloved Rapids so I have every reason.

Truth be told, we went out to capture these photos yesterday afternoon and I was MUCH sappier then.


When, once upon a time, I LIVED here, this riverside park was a row of storefront buildings. This time they did the "take a paradise and put up a parking lot" thing in reverse. Isn't it lovely?


Lovely and a memorial to our Veterans.


Thank you all who have paid for MY freedom. I DO realize it is not free.


Funny how time changes things.


I remembered this part of town as being much bigger and much busier. Isn't it peaceful?


I'm sure the REAL name of this building is NOT "The White Flat Iron Building," but that is all I know to call it. Isn't it the coolest?

Later addendum: It's the Ahdawagam Building and I SHOULDN'T be surprised, that was also the name of our HS Yearbook!


Love the details on this doorway.


Here's where I start to get REALLY sappy. My High School - - - Lincoln High. I was only a little insignificant speck of a student among 2400 others - - - but I managed to carve out some fabulous memories.

Two musicals.

A supporting role in "Up the Down Staircase" and the lead in "His Wife the Midnight Trumpet Player."

Choir and Swing Choir. (We had the BEST EVER music department at good ole Lincoln and I kid you not one bit! I mean, we even sang Schubert's Mass in "G" for pity sake - - -IN LATIN no less) Thank you Coach Cleworth!

Campus Life

Ball Games

And oh so much more!!


Today Lincoln is a Junior High. More the pity - - - the new high school can't hold a candle to this one. Can't, I say, CAN'T.


Doesn't it just make you want to break right out in the "Pledge of Allegiance"????


Oh - - - and here I get the most teary-eyed of all. This WAS our home football field. I NEVER missed a home game - - - - except one. Only it wasn't just ANY old football game, it was the game with our ARCH RIVALS, Stevens Point. That battle was for the "Old River Jug" and THAT is BIG STUFF my friends.

But one year I had to miss it because I got grounded by my mom for leaving hair in my hairbrush that morning. Yes, you heard me right - - - hair in my hairbrush.


So while my sister got to see the WHOLE game live and in person, all I got to see was this score board through the fence for the last few minutes of the game while we waited in the car for the game to end so we could pick up sister Pam.

No - - - I'm not in the least bit bitter. Not in the least.



And this is a tree resting it's weary trunk on the surface of Lake Wazeecha, which leads me right into my next post - - - -

11 comments:

Keri said...

It's fun to see that scoreboard and be able to put pictures with that story. But I thought Grandpa felt bad for you and drove you to the school to see the scoreboard. So I had the story wrong in my head somehow!

groovyoldlady said...

i went to Jr High in Orlando and High School in Daytona. The nostalgia? It ain't there! Oh, I remember some of the teachers and classmates fondly, but the places themselves were nothing to get very excited about.

Your town, on the other hand, looks lovely. I'm glad you have such warm memories.

Wait...you got grounded for leaving hair in your hairbrush? Really? The NERVE of you! How could you have done such a horrid thing! Your mother must have had all manner of trouble with you. Sheesh!

Keetha Broyles said...

I know - - - I was a rebel at heart, wasn't I???? Truth be told - - - I NEVER cleaned that hairbrush out in the morning, I usually HID it in my drawer and cleaned it later - - - that time I FORGOT to HIDE it!!!

So, I guess I deserved the punishment!!

Char said...

Okay, your high school was bigger than my high school, but to balance things out, Wisconsin is ALMOST as beautiful as Michigan.

Keetha Broyles said...

Oh Char - - - - please don't cuss like that in my blog comments!!!!

;-)

nancygrayce said...

What a beautiful place to grow up! I love that building! If I had gotten grounded for leaving hair in my hairbrush, I guess I might have been saved from a lot of stuff! :) Lovely, lovely town.

Keetha Broyles said...

NancyGrayce, what a GREAT way to look at it. And it is true, I was saved from a lot of stuff. Too bad I never saw it that way when I was a teenager!!! :-)

Char said...

Okay, I'll clean up my language. No one can argue with the beauty.

Keetha Broyles said...

:-)

Char - - - I think it is part of human nature to think ONE'S OWN stomping grounds are the most beautiful.

So - - - on the basis of that, I'll admit that it is fine for you to think yours more beautiful than mine.

;-)

Char said...

Why, that's gracious of you.

Actually, Wisconsin and Michigan are very close in climate and foliage. Maybe it's a tie.

Nancy said...

Oh yes, the memories these pictures invoke. Pam & I were probably sitting together at that football game you missed. Rapids has changed so much, but your pictures capture the good things. Everytime I visit, I think I should run into people I know, but it happens only occasionally. Those were good years.