This is another reminiscence from my summer at Narrowsburg, NY (see last March 21). Late in the summer, I took another counselor on a date on our day off. We walked into Narrowsburg and admired the considerable suspension bridge across the river. What really fascinated me about this brdge was the field next to it, about the size of a football field. It was surrounded by a high mesh fence, except for an opening about fifteen feet wide. You could easily walk in and run around on this field.
But you shouldn't, because it was completely carpeted in poison ivy. I pointed this out to my date, and she said, "Really! I've never gotten poison ivy, I believe I'm immune." And before I could explain that you can lose your immunity at any time, she kicked off her sandals and ran barefoot all over that field for nearly five minutes.
In case you're wondering, I'm very good at identifying PI. If I say it's poison ivy, it IS poison ivy. And no, she didn't get a rash. Amazing.
Showing posts with label narrowsburg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label narrowsburg. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Rock and Roll and Squares:
I was a camp counselor for the first time in the summer of 1959, near the town of Narrowsburg, NY. This is a Northwestern NY town, and it was rather rustic in those days. On counselor’s-nights-out, we would flock to the nearest bar to drink beer (okay over age 18), talk, and fool around.
We also watched the young locals (many of them about our ages), and they watched us. We absolutely did not mix, with one exception: a counselor-in-training aged fifteen, a svelte, friendly girl, who seemed to have torrid dates with every local who owned a car.
From time to time a local would drop coins into the excellent juke box, and they would dance four or five lindy-hops. Then, after refueling their beers, they would drop a few more coins and form up two squares. There was a good caller, the juke-box had plenty of square-dance music, and I found their square dancing entrancing. They never attempted anything tricky, no allemande rights or duck-and-dives, for example, but there was a bounce in their step that made the square dancing look an awful lot like the lindies. I especially remember the promenade step. It was so much like a casual rock step as to proclaim that square dancing was not the old way, but the still-cool way.
I’ve never visited a Narrowsburg bar since that summer, but I wonder how many more years passed before square dances were utterly forgotten there. Two or three years, I suspect.
We also watched the young locals (many of them about our ages), and they watched us. We absolutely did not mix, with one exception: a counselor-in-training aged fifteen, a svelte, friendly girl, who seemed to have torrid dates with every local who owned a car.
From time to time a local would drop coins into the excellent juke box, and they would dance four or five lindy-hops. Then, after refueling their beers, they would drop a few more coins and form up two squares. There was a good caller, the juke-box had plenty of square-dance music, and I found their square dancing entrancing. They never attempted anything tricky, no allemande rights or duck-and-dives, for example, but there was a bounce in their step that made the square dancing look an awful lot like the lindies. I especially remember the promenade step. It was so much like a casual rock step as to proclaim that square dancing was not the old way, but the still-cool way.
I’ve never visited a Narrowsburg bar since that summer, but I wonder how many more years passed before square dances were utterly forgotten there. Two or three years, I suspect.
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