Saturday, December 10, 2005

To build an igloo...

In my daughter's Friday memory entry, she mentions the time I helped her and her brother build an igloo. 

In the comment section of that entry, my son says this:  "Man, I was just telling my buddy about those igloos. I swear that year we had one right out the back door...that thing did last a long time. For the most part, I'm enjoying "global warming", but it would be nice to have another igloo year too. Oh, and how the hell did mom figure out how to build igloo's anyhow?!"

Well believe it or not, I remember exactly how I learned to build an igloo.

I was about eight years old when someone gave me "The Bobbsey Twins" for Christmas.  Lord only knows how many times I read that book through!

In that book, there were two sets of twins:  Nan and Bert, the older set; and their young siblings, Freddie and Flossie.

The younger twins built a snow-house, with the help of Sam, the stableman.  It ends up collapsing on Freddie, burying him completely.  (You can read this HERE.)  Then they rebuilt the snow-house.

"After that the building of the snow house was started all over again. The pile of snow was packed down as hard as possible, and Nan made Flossie and Freddie do the outside work while she crept inside, and cut around the ceiling and the bay window just as the others wanted. It was great sport, and when the snow house was finished it was large enough and strong enough for all of them to enter with safety. 

 'Tonight I'll poah some water ober dat house,' said Sam. 'Dat will make de snow as hard as ice.' This was done, and the house remained in the garden until spring came."

I hope nobody finds the dialect here offensive, but that's how the book was written; after all, this was a long, long time ago. 

                                                               


 

 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember the bobbsey twins!  I also remember Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I loved them all.

Anonymous said...

such good memories you have brought back again.... Now I was always worried about the roof caving in... I made igloos with my kids but without roofs so they called them forts, :)  a good place for a snowball fight they said.... Thanks again, Sandra

Anonymous said...

The Bobbsey Twins!! Hadn't heard of them in ages. Good advice though. rich

Anonymous said...

OMG!  I remember them too! ..and the hardy boys!.. ugh I'm old! lol.. when i got just a little older i graduated to books by Zane Gray.. sigh...  wow... that sure brought back memories!

Anonymous said...

Oh I haven't built and igloo in years. That was fun! Thanks for the memory. : )
Angela

Anonymous said...

Wow!  This silly old coastal girl thought that only Eskimos built igloos.   LOL   That would be wonderful fun!  -  Barbara

Anonymous said...

haven't thought of the Bobbsey Twins in years but I read a lot of their books. We made snow forts here in Montana recently with my son; not igloos, but I think same concept.

betty

Anonymous said...

Wish I had some grandkids around to make an igloo.  One of these days.  Mrs. L

Anonymous said...

An igloo?  Who da thunk it??  You must have been the most awesome mom, Mosie!!  

I remember reading about the Bobsey Twins!  Geesh, I had forgotten about those books until you mentioned them!!

Jackie

Anonymous said...

Oh how cool.  I never read the bobsie twins but I'd heard of them.  Glad you got music in your journal....I thought...."where is that music coming from".  LOL.  Love it.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful memories.  Sounds like you are all a very close and loving family.  
It reminds me of the blizzard of '79.  After helping to shovel the walks my brothers and I started on the pile of snow in the front yard.  It must have been at least 4 feet high.  We dug an igloo into it.  Brrr, makes me cold to think about it.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.