Croquet Makes a Comeback

HAMMER GOLF!

We played this on the lawn all through my childhood. It's actually a cutthroat, backstabbing game of win at any cost, with mallets.
Next: BADMINTON-YES!!

And, if you freeze the "birdie" it can be really badminton

Like putting ice in snowballs

Played  Croquet all thru my childhood .. taught it to my kids ... Good for learning Gamesmanship, learning how to follow the Rules  ... developing Eye-Hand Coordination, and it is everso much more pleasant when played by Girls in Sun dresses, Big Floppy Hats, and Sandals ... other than those things, Miss Olivia is completely correct ... Croquet is one of the Games regularly played at the NAVAL Academy ....... Strategy/Positioning/Redirection/Screening .......
 
Anymore, I stick to Bocce, with the other Older Men, and besides, it leaves me one hand free to hold a Beverage, and during the Winter it can be played indoors ... more difficult than it looks ... like Croquet ...

As kids we played croquet, but -- like Jalopkin -- I was always more attracted to bocce.  I remember well that there were usually a group of old Italian guys playing bocce underneath the Broadway Junction elevated station (Brooklyn, NY).  No grass grew down there, and I couldn't understand the excited Italian comments, but it struck me that those 'old guys' were having a heck of a good time.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Junction_%28BMT_Canarsie_Line%29#BMT_Canarsie_Line_platforms . 

A photo of the Broadway Junction 'el' pretty much like it was 55 years ago (ground level is totally changed...) http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19210192

Here's weird:  I've gone from looking at pictures of Brooklyn, NY -- and reminiscing about bocce -- to reading a trail journal by a lady who solo-hiked the 485-mile Colorado Trail.  I wonder: wouldn't it be cool to play croquet in a bare area above tree-line at about 12,000 feet in the middle of a recognized 'wilderness area'.  I imagine any random through-hiker coming down the trail might do a double-take... right?

Images of Alice in Wonderland playing with the Queen of Hearts keep popping into my head, hedgehogs for ball and flamingoes for mallets.

As a parting gift 30 years ago, some soon to be ex-coworkers gave me a croquet set for my upcoming life in the country.

  
 
 
 
I had forgotten all of the terms used in the game....Sticky Wicket,hitting true etc.
 
 http://laplaza.org/~teddis/glossary.html
 
 
 
 

Miss   Blue:  Wasn't  it  Juice  Newton  that  made  a  hit  of  her  song  "Queen   of  Hearts?"  As  they  used  to  say  on  American  Bandstand  with  Dick  Clark:  "I  like  the  beat,  and  it's  easy  to  dance  to."

I prefer Gregg Allman's

  
 
 
 
 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d6Yv5tY5IE
 
 
 
Don't want the other cards to feel left out
 
 
 

I just sent an e-mail to my granddaughter to ask if she and her brother have ever played croquet with the set I gave them.
 
I haven't played since I was about 12 or 13, her age.
 
I remember it as fun but I don't think we were playing by the true rules.
 
It would be nice to go to CT where they live, set it up and try it again.

Hark, did someone mention hedgehogs? From the Vale of Levin Bowling Club to the Edinburgh Fringe...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8216991.stm

DOC NOLAN: Right you are, and the Wine flows copiously, while a parade of beautiful women, with arms like my legs,  always show up with Stromboli and Canoli, and sometimes a Giant Bowl of Carbonara ... One learns to eat, and Bowl in split shifts ... And those guys live to be a hundred ....... Must be something to it ...

Ivan makes a salient point...one of the best things about croquet is that it is of a deliberate enough pace that one may engage in it while dressed for tea. Anything I can do in a sundress, nice flats and a hat is a good thing...

And yet,if I had said that, you'd ALL have laughed

I think the men also look quite nice in their clean white croquet wear. Although, for the life of me, I can't form a mental image of my arms looking like Ivan's legs...or vice versa!

I have wonderful memories of our croquet set basically staying up all summer. Think about it- that was the time when you only stayed inside & watched tv if you were sick. We all lived outside. I loved setting up the wickets- I do think we played more for fun rather than following the rules. Makes me want to buy a croquet set. I always wonder what happened to all the cool stuff of my childhood- does someone else have it? Do they love it, do they take care of it? Off to Tupelo- hope all of you have a lovely & relaxing Sunday.
 
P.S. ROAD YACHT- I think you would look stunning in a white flowing tea dress... shave first though.

KINDLEE:  Are You a 50+ year old Italian ???  I grew up, the only Jew, in an Italian Neighborhood(You oughtta try good Matzoh Balls with Red Gravy ladled ove them !!!) ....... At least half of them, waking up after the nite of their 30th. Birthday, have gained sixty pounds while they slept-off the celebration of the nite before ... but they can all create culinary masterpieces ... And, thats really a good thing ... When I'm a kid, we usta follow girls around who smelled of Garlic ... we knew if ever we got home with them, we'd get something good to eat, one way or another ....... Like my Uncle Hymie usta say, "Its like dancing with fat Girls, once you learn where to grab, it ain't bad ..." ... and I have always leaned toward healthy Girls ........

I think I will look for a Croquet set and have a game in my own back yard..unless the dogs decide to partake.

Ivan - I was attempting to be funny. I've never been good at telling jokes...must be a problem with my delivery...

I fit into the 50+ category, but not the Italian. I'm mostly Swedish. I can bake up a mean batch of "pepparkakor" (gingersnaps), fry up some killer Swedish meatballs, and make a potent Lingonberry Schnapps!

I do love food, especially Italian. It all began long ago when my dad, who was a mail carrier, had an elderly Italian couple on his mail route. He would help them out, during his lunch hour, with various household chores and work in their vegetable garden. Mrs. Cleary would kindly repay him with food! I loved it when he'd come home lugging a huge pan of homemade lasagna, meatballs, ravioli, veal parmigiana, baked ziti...and then there were those delicioso filled cookies for dessert. I wish I had her recipes and know-how, though I'm quite sure I could never duplicate what she could so deftly create.

I'm not a bad cook, myself. I do have an Italian stuffed shells/manicotti recipe that never fails to please.

By-the-way...the tomato soup...perfection in a bowl! Much thanks!

As for heavy and hairy older Italian women, better not let Sophia Loren hear you say that! I wonder if she enjoys Bocce?

Pam

kindlee, i'd love to have a authentic recipe, being mostly swedish myself.  would you mind posting or a p.m. on the gingersnaps, please?

cuukoo1 - I would be very happy to share my recipe with you. The tradition is that eating gingersnaps will make a person good-natured. I've eaten a lot of them! I'll send it by mail, so I don't bore the rest of the Eyesters...

i'm 50+, and i have had many good gingersnaps, but none like i remember my grandmother making,  thank you very much.  one can see that, indeed, you've eaten many.   my husband, i'm sure, will thank you too!

Kindlee, I'd like that recipe as well please, if you don't mind. 

KINDLEE:  LOVE YOUR MENU SWEETIE !!!   And I particularly enjoy Ginger Snaps with a cup of Good, Hot Breakfast Tea ....... I also use Ginger Snaps to make the crust for my Key Lime Cheesecake, which always disappears quickly ....... Sophia never looked better than she did on the Cover of McCall's(I think) Magazine, she had not long before become a Mother for the first time, she was fat, fifty, and fabulous ....... If you follow a good Recipe, anyone can duplicate it, if it is understood that throwing a bunch of stuff into a pot and cuttin' the fire up to hades proportions, in order to get 'er done is NOT the way to go about it ... These Cooking Shows where people are COMPETING, and playing Beat the Clock make me crazy ...  It is not so much was goes into the pot as it is HOW, it goes into the pot ... in what order, at what heat level, and for how long before the next ingredient is gently introduced ... do we stir violently ??? Do we Whisk, gently ??? Do we Beat the Eggs or just bruise them ??? ... Each ingredient has its own flavor and/or Texture to contribute, and these things work together differently from every thing else ... Introduction of ingredients should be done slowly and in a way couched to get the most from each item, and let it all meld together gently, happily, till time for the Next ingredient ... When food is handled like Babies, it gets happy, and when it isn't rushed, it gives back marvelous aroma and tastes that awaken the Human Spirit, and remind us of God's own words, when He looked at every thing He had made and said, "It Is Good ..."  and we know He was right as we enjoy some morsel playing upon the palatum ... and our senses stir and drive us voraciously for more ... (suddenly realizing that everyone in the restaurant is staring at you, doesn't diminish the pleasure, it just tones one down a bit) Generally, those who love to eat, who don't count calories or waste time screwing around with ersatz crap(Margarine instead of Butter) make the best cooks ... but cooking is an Art, and anyone can learn to make beautiful creations, and then enjoy them, with the oooohs and ahhhhhs of those with who they share ....... Baking, on the other hand is a Science, and must be exact in every execution ... and THAT Miss Kindlee, is actually, work .......
 
I thought you were being very funny, and I am glad you enjoyed the Soup !!! A simple thing, but such a delight on a cool or windy day ... a few Crabcakes on the side aren't bad either ...
 
Sophia actually likes to go fishing, and she likes to play Croquet ....... Carlo, on the other hand, was a Bocce Player, and pretty good at it, I am told ...

WHAT ... WHAT ... WHAT, goes into the pot ..............

BERT:   Queen of Hearts was actually a song about the Gay Manager of a Fried Chicken joint in Murfreesboro , Tennessee .......