And that was all there was back there, because our proposed castle in the trees never materialized.

All that could stand from it was a frayed rope ladder, with a few rotting rods.



Fortunately for the two of us, there were many other great castles near our home.

The Playgrounds of Our Youth

No boy likes going to church, at least my brother and I did not. However, what we did enjoy was what sat slightly behind the church. A massive blue and orange play ground. As usual we were alone in our adventures there because the church had no other families with children with our age. 

We had the run of the place. 

My brother, never being one to let me have it easy, would play a series of pranks on me, taking advantage of my caring and fraternal nature. He would stand on top of the tallest part of the playground, and fall dramatically.Every time he fell dramatically I would go over to his lifeless body, fearing that, indeed, it was his last fall.

It was never his last fall.


Though we played on this playground in the mid and late 90's, it was an anomaly for us. It was the first wave of the modern "steel and plastic" playgrounds that now are the norm everywhere.

Back then it was novel, because my brother and I were more accustomed to this kind of castle:



These were the kinds of playgrounds I visited more often, especially in the summer, when my mother would take me and my brother to Eagle Lake.

The Eagle Lake playground was not as tall and grand as the one at church, but it had several accouterments that the other did not. It had the favorite of all children, the see saw. It also had a nice small tower (or shall we call it a turret?) 

But, what it really had that the other "castle" did not, was horses!

Every knight needs his steed, and this one had four, all facing each other, to lock you in an endless joust where the prize was who got to eat the last ice cream bar.



These pictures were taken within the last year, but don't think that these pieces of metal were not just as rusted a decade and a half ago when my brother and I occupied them.
In fact I think they may have been repainted in the interim. That is new rust! 

In the back of my elementary school there used to be a large wooden playground, along with some old tires stacked together, and a skin-melting metal slide.

It also had the best piece of equipment of all, it goes by many names, merry-go-round, spinner, roundabout, turner, but to me it was the face smasher.


The one at my playground, which alas I have no photo of, was in a worse state than the one above. It had no paint, and was missing the center plate. I once trapped my leg in there and ground it up into hot dog meat.

But I got better.

Now, of course, that old playground looks like this:

Sure it may have towers, it may have a little rock wall, it may have the hallmarks of a castle, but where is the spirit and imagination?

Well, it does look pretty nice, and maybe it's safer. But must they pave the old to build the new?

Now, of course, you see far more of the plastic and metal single structures than the old 1960's type metal face-breakers of my early childhood. But, if you are lucky, search the woods, search the back roads, search the old lakes, and you may find one of those ancient fortresses, a forgotten kingdom, a castle of yesteryear.