Tag Archives: Pennsy Pinkie
Another ball game. …
Another ball game. We took a pensy pinkie or a spaldeen and put it into a knee-high sock. Then we stood with our back against the wall, and arms and legs spread, grabbing the open end of the sock with the right hand if you were right handed, and reach over and bounce the ball between the left arm and leg and back across to the right side off the wall. You could bounce it between your legs too going up and down between the wall there and back up to the right of you. I think we did this to some kind of rhyme, but I really can’t recall. Perhaps we just counted.
Pensy Pinkies had a smoother…
On beach 79th street in…
Hi all you old timers, Just…
Hi all you old timers, Just Kidding. I’m a 22 year old student and bartender. Recently a customer of mine began talking about the old school yard games he used to play. In the conversation he asked me if I ever heard of a pensi pinky. Anyway, to make a long story short he asked if I could buy some off the internet. I said I would try, so if anyone knows where I met be able to order some on line please let me know at CAESAR934 [at] aol [dot] com. You might help bring a smile to an old mans face. Thank You
What is a pinky ball? How…
Every year or so since I…
Every year or so since I was 7, My aunt shipped as many of us as she could to relatives or summer camp. I’ve been through some interesting summer camps in my lifetime. I thought it cool to reminisce about parent-paid, state-funded, obligatory, or otherwise summer camp fiascos or great times spent away from your city. Because as you know,wherever you go, you take a little piece of Brooklyn with you. My very first summer camp experience was spending an entire summer (which started out as only two weeks) with a family of Quakers in Pennsylvania, through Fresh Air Fund. My mom became very ill and the family offered to keep me longer. I was the oldest of their children(two daughters) and had to do the more serious work. Being from Brooklyn, waking up at 5:00 in the morning to board a tractor with the father and cruise along much more than 75 acres of land, stopping along the way to milk cows, get eggs from their huge poultry farm, pick strawberrys for our excellent crepe and fresh milk with fresh honey breakfasts, was an amazing experience. I was in pain for the first few weeks. Although I could play any kid under the table, this was work, and it felt totally different. By all standards this family wasn’t poor land-wise. This was kind of like the “South Fork” of Quarker-owned land where all work was peformed through hand-labor. Many of their ways were exactly the same as my family’s. Like once, we were riding in the horse-drawn buggy and the little girl was nagging her mom trying to climb into the front seat, when her mom back-slapped her to the back. It reminded me of my grandmother and her nervous lightning speed back-slaps…. kind of made me feel right at home. We went to sunday school every day. Sang “Yes Jesus Loves Me” constantly, were very hard working and mindful of one another. I stuck out like a sore thumb, yet the kids hung with me and we had a great time. The family bought me my first brand new bike, and we all cried profusely when parting. That summer my mom and the young father of that family passed and we had each other to lean on. There’s so many summers to talk about, let’s start a summer camp discussion, let each other know what unsuspecting societies Brooklyn unleashed it’s children on, back “in the day”.
Does anyone out there remember…
Does anyone out there remember all the steps involved in a game called “Russian”???? We used to play it in Queens in the mid-60’s…..involves a “pinky” thrown again an apt.wall while doing a bunch of things in numerical order…. Also, I remember Chinese Handball too (and Saludgee…sp?)- also, in Queens in the mid-60’s played on the street against apt.retention walls….
Just want to say that after…
Just want to say that after remembering how I played as a kid and observing what kids do today I pulled the plug on my cable TV because my kids were possesed by it. They get enough of that garbage elsewhere, so I figure three or four days here every week they can just operate on “kid power”. It works. After the initial shock of “whatawegonnado!?” they now play ball, chase each other around, made a club house, a tree house, push each other around in a genuine 2X4-milk crate-baby carrage wheeled speed car, swing on ropes, beat the %#$ out of each other, play man-hunt, roller blade, throw the football, play basketball, ride bikes, catch with the “pinky” and more. It did’nt just happen!!! I found that todays kids have lost the art of being a kid. They had no real “kid skills” until I showed them. But I only had to show them “once” Then they just took off and showed other kids. They think for themselves now instead of having the video games set the rules. The best was when they were playing some pathetic type of war game and I said “Hey you pack of lameos thats not how you do it”. So I got a copy of “To Hell and Back” with Audie Murphy and the “Sands of Iwo Jima” with John Wayne and made em watch it. Afterwards I said “that’s how you do army and that’s why you do it – in the service of freedom and your fellow man. First questions were “did that really happen” and “was grampa one of those guys saving people?” Now army is one of their favorite games – yeah their kids – (7 & 10) playing “war” a killing game. But it beats that senseless killing stuff on todays TV and video games. In thier minds their liberating the neighborhood. They use beanbags, and pinkey balls to get the “bad guys” (rocks are against the Geneva Convention) The little guy is getting real good. I looked out the window one day to see him in his camo pajamas, helmet, ammo belt, etc, drop 8 feet out of a tree on top of his big brother and friends who were looking for him. An older couple in the neighborhood was passing by and were surprised and said “who do you think you are jumping out of that tree like that” He said “I’m Audie Murphy and these Nazi dogs are my prisoners” The old gentlman (a WWII veteran) said “well then..in that case, carry on soldier” It doesn’t get better any than that. One last thing – a kids favorite play thing is a parent, if only to get em started.