SATURDAYS...................

"UNDERDOG IS HERE!!!!"

What a wonderful thing a Saturday can be. It can be a chance to rest, relax and recharge those used up batteries. A five-day work week can be tedious, I'm all in favor of getting it done in four! Or two! But I digress.

A Saturday can also be a stressful day. A day off? What's that? Instead of working a normal 8 or 9 hours, Saturday becomes a day to jam at least 14 hours of work into.

Sports and activities with the kids, which would be a Blog in itself.

Laundry.

Meal planning. Housework.

Pick up the groceries.

Try to schedule a visit with grandparents or friends.

Grass to cut or snow to move.

Throw a birthday party in there, and we're in over our heads!

And personal exercise? Great in theory.....

But oh..............to go back to a Saturday as a child, in all its innocence and bliss. Where would I begin?

Speaking from my own experience; well, let's face it, I can't speak from yours!

Saturdays were special. No school! But for me, I loved school, whether it was my first years at the one room school, or those years after, in larger more advanced schools. And again, some days I wonder how far we've really come.

Saturdays meant a different pace. Barefoot all day. Loose on the shore in all kinds of weather. Running through the fields to the cousin's houses to see what was up. If we were lucky Isabell might have cookies coming out of the oven to feed that big family. Running past Jackie Ducette's at top speed, to try and outrun his massive cross dog "Duke" and his equally cross geese.

And my favorite Saturday activity................television!

Now, even today, I make no apologies...........I watch an obscene amount of television. I love it. I have my favorite shows, like everybody else. I'm 66 years old, I can do what I like. And I like curling up on my favorite spot on my leather couch and getting lost in someone else's mess, real or imagined.

My cooking shows.

Baking shows, especially "The Great British Baking Show." My favorite series, and there are many.

Movies galore, oh my! Who needs to wait a week, or gasp!! a whole year for an episode or a season of TV. The Waltons or Little House on The Prairie come to mind. Not this chick. Like everyone else, I have become accustomed to episodic television, with many episodes of a program one after the other. I'd hate to count the binge watching I've done, it's like flipping the pages of a good book, you just can't stop! The Tudors, The Vikings, Breaking Bad, The Borgias, The Crown, I've watched them all.

But as a kid, Saturday morning TV was king. Momma kept us occupied with an old Black and White television, with snowy and terrible reception. You all know the kind I mean. And every now and then the picture would start to roll repeatedly, and she'd have to come in and hit the "verticle hold" button located somewhere on the back to make it stop. And then there was the occasional time she would have to deliver a good thump on the side of the TV set to try and make it clearer. (Or was it Darrell she was giving a cuff on the side of the head.....like old Dan Burke's boar. Every time you see him give him a kick in the arse, he's either getting into trouble or just getting out.) And anyhooooo, don't get me started on Momma chasing us up the stairs to crawl up on the bed and reach up and switch the old aerial that was hanging from a nail on the ceiling. We had two (2) channels in those days, same as everyone else, Channel 9 Halifax or Channel 13 Charlottetown. It all came down to the News really, for Momma to send us up to switch the aerial.

"Turn it towards Charlottetown!" she's shout from the foot of the stairs. That would bring in the news, if we hit the sweet spot and coaxed the aerial to stay still in mid swing. Whether switching the aerial really made much difference, I don't remember, but I remember the Saturday morning programming.

Atom Ant.

Bugs Bunny.

Woody Woodpecker.

Sunday was reserved for all things Walt Disney, but kid's cartoons belonged to Saturdays.

I can remember being curled up on the old couch, gnawing all day on a piece of that god-awful barley candy, glued to the cartoons. And no wonder we grew up with such good imaginations, since those old televisions cut in and out so much we had to make up the parts we missed.

And I clearly remember the very first time I saw a real "colored" TV set, it was at Albert Fogarty's the first time I baby-sat for them. And although it was probably a status symbol at the time, it was no better than our old black and white, just the snowy-ness was more red than gray.

As an adult, I look back and wonder, did we learn anything? As baby boomers, those born after the War, I think we learned a lot.

"Atom Ant" taught us that no matter how small we are, how insignificant, down deep inside of us we have to power to be strong and make a difference. Don't judge by appearances.

Same as "Underdog!"

"Bugs Bunny" taught us that no matter how many times we get hit by a train, fall off a cliff, or get split in two by Yosemite Sam, we can just get right back up and do it again.

And "Pepe LePew," don't get me started. Cartoons very often go right over kid's heads. He was an amorous little skunk with a wicked and ongoing crush on a cat, it just wasn't going to work, no matter how many times he laid a loving on her. It wasn't meant to be. But that taught us that even if we look "different" we're still the same inside.

Momma's personal favorite was "Foghorn Leghorn," Miss Prissy, and their barnyard antics.

Pretty innocent stuff, but if you scratched the surface, the cartoonists were bringing attention to the issues of the day.

"Woody Woodpecker" well, I don't know what Woody was trying to teach us, but we watched him anyway.

Does anyone remember "Midday Matinee?" I remember waiting impatiently to see what today's movie would be. Didn't have to stay up late for these shows, a different one each weekend, perfectly acceptable for kids and families. Old Westerns, re-runs of scary movies; more than once I would fall asleep as the show came to an end. Hey, I played hard! So I was tired after lunch, these day time specials were a real treat.

But, later on, as I grew up and had my own kids, cartoons changed. More sophisticated, modern. In my opinion, kids will always be kids. I guess The Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup, Sharon Lois & Bram, and Sesame Street said it all, what terrific programming. It was the best of times, in my opinion. Entertaining, yes, but plenty of learning was absorbed too.

And presently, they are shaking out Mr. Dressup and making a new documentary on his life. And we are just the right audience.

Many many mornings our kids knew exactly what time it was, and snuggled in just in time for their programs, and I didn't feel a bit guilty about it. I had the luxury of being a stay at home Mom when our four children were little, until they were all in school, and I never took it for granted. I loved it. There were very few days that we didn't spend time outside, all seasons. Walks in the woods, hikes on the shore, bike rides, snowshoeing, skating, we did it all. In the winter I even had the habit of hauling the baby (whichever one that was at the time) in the little wooden sleigh, and after the others had played and the baby was fast asleep, I would let that little one sleep a bit longer on the deck, in the fresh sunshine. The cold air never hurt them. After all that, it was a healthy snack time, and some TV, which gave me a chance to get a few chores done. I was also a very busy seamstress at the time, with a full work load, and a husband coming home for his lunch with us every day. It was wonderful.

And now on Saturday and indeed pretty well every day there is a dizzying array of kid's entertainment, if you can call it that, but I guess I am just looking at it through the lens of a nanny now, as cranky as can be. You name it, they can access it, and pronto. Even many a 2 year old can easily swipe their way through the choices. It's quite incredible.

At this stage of the game, even my grand kids have aged out of the cartoons, but I am forever familiar with the theme music from Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol and even Barney, that big odd weird purple dinosaur. Entertaining?

Maybe, but none of it wise.