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Thursday, May 6, 2021

Ollie Ollie Um-Come-Free

That's how we used to call it: "Ollie, Ollie, um-come-free," but I have heard others say they called "Ollie, Ollie, All Come Free" or "Ollie, Ollie, In-Come-Free." Hide and seek was popular among the kids of our block and the next block over to the west, but we didn't play with the kids from the next block over to the east. Strange, but there were lines of demarcation and we didn't think much about them or cross them. The "Ollie" call was what we shouted to let everyone know to stop hiding and come back out for the "One Potato, Two Potato" count to decide what game to play or who was first or something. When it was a huge crowd of children, we would hold out one fist as the potato. When it was less kids, we held out two fists. 

My little memories of the past amuse me sometimes, and depress me, other times. But there is a blog, and I think he may have a Facebook page as well, that is just astounding to me. For those who love "primitives," it is really a must if you want to really explore the past, especially the colonial past. But this blog is written by a "living historian" who immerses himself in the past. Please stop by his blog if you love history or colonial times or primitives. It is a treat to read and look at, too. Each post could be a chapter or a couple of chapters in a book! Passion for the Past blog.

I took some pictures on my errands this past week. I keep my cheap little phone at the ready and sometimes I have to really force myself to stop or backtrack to get a photo. But with these flowers, sometimes if you come back the next day, the flower is wilted or even gone, or the light is too harsh. So I try to stop and snap a photo if it seems safe to do so. 

I hope you enjoy these blooms! TGIF! Today is First Friday for those of us Catholic, and I am excited to be able to be annointed today in the Sacrament of the Sick. I find it helps me better accept being ill, even if it doesn't alleviate the symptoms. But I hope this Friday finds you "in the pink" as they said in the olde days! 

red prickly pear flower
Red prickly pear blooms
orange cactus flowers
Unusual cactus
ice plant with magenta blooms
Magenta-bloomed Ice Plant
purple weed with bee
Honeybee visiting a pretty wildflower along an irrigation ditch
iris purple and gold
Iris along irrigation ditch
peony white and pink beautiful
A peony in the desert!
pomegranite blossoms
Pomegranate. I can just taste them!
weeping mulberry twisted trunks
Weeping Mulberry. I love the twisty branches!
pecan tassels blossoms
Pecan in bloom. See irrigation water in background?
close up incredible orange cactus blooms

Cactus blooms say, "Have a beautiful day!"

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly


18 comments :

  1. Such beautiful flowers!
    Nice to see these flowers we don’t have here.at the moment there is hardly no flowers in the garden due to very cold weather!
    We should have the peonies and wisterias, but only few small flowers.
    I wish you a good weekend.
    I am glad you liked the churches.

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  2. such lovely flowers. We are 34 this morning things are having a hard time waking up from the winter. our call was all in come free. Lots of childhood memories for sure with the neighbor kids.
    Cathy

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  3. I seem to have missed out on those games. there were only two boys on my block and me. We did all boy things. I even had a boy's bike. I guess that's why I've always been sort of a tomboy myself.

    Sorry to read you are ill. I am not sure how I missed that. You have some gorgeous flowers and plants to cheer you up, though. Where I used to live on the MO/KS line, there were lots of pecan farms. I've never seen any other places, so was glad you shared the ones in your area.

    Hope by the time you read this, you are feeling better and have been anointed.

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  4. I heard it as Ollie Ollie Oxen Free. And as part of a game, not to call us in. How that game was played doesn't come to mind though. It's hard to believe that cactus have such beautiful flowers.

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  5. the flowers are gorgeous and you and your cell phone did a great job of capturing them for us. I do love that twisted tree. I love trees and this is a beauty.

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  6. I am not Catholic but I do wear a St Benedict medal at all times. It does keep illness at bay. All the blooms are lovely. The peony (my grandmother's favorite) is especially striking.

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  7. Ours was Ollie, Ollie in free! Hadn't thought about that in decades.
    I was raised Catholic, but am not familiar with First Friday.
    I am simply amazed at the plants that bloom in the desert. Just beautiful! I never would have guessed iris or peony could survive there.

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  8. I think we said "ollie ollie ox in free" or "oxen", whatever that meant, lol. I love the tree with the twisty branches! I was watching Kate from The Last Homely House on YouTube as she tied knots in the branches of her willows. They get so weird looking as they get older. I love that sort of weirdness, lol. Praying for your health!

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  9. I had no idea peony could grow in the desert. I love learning more about where you live, it is so different to my Northern Wisconsin.

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  10. Growing up on a farm with no near neighbours I only got to play games at school and we were more or less forced to play baseball. I remember once my best friend and I got to been teenagers we refused to play and the poor nuns didn't know what to do with us. They were not used to rebels.
    I can't get over the lovely blooms that grow on cactus. And that Peony is the exact one I have with the white and bit of red blooms.

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  11. These are such pretty blooms, Holly. That last one of the cactus bloom is so unusual. I smiled at the pomegranate because every Christmas I put a pomegranate in Nel's stocking, as she loves them. I enjoy hearing stories from your childhood, and I remember playing hide and seek too. So many fun games back in the day.....and simple ones that just put a smile on our face. Happy Mother's Day, and I'm sending you an e-mail right now.

    ~Sheri

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  12. Oh I already follow his blog. He is from Michigan here And does a lot of re-enactments at Greenfield Village where Bob and I like to go to. He is a great historian! Janice

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  13. We used to say Ollie Ollie oxen free, or something like that. I never knew what it meant except it was time to all come in from hiding. WE loved playing games like that. Happy childhood memories on the playground at school mostly. I didn't live in a neighborhood of kids. I was a country girl. I love your photos. Aren't the cactus blooms just amazing? Ours here are mostly just all yellow ones, but I love to see them. Sadly, we can't grow peonies here in Florida. I wish we could. I love them so. I am sorry to hear you are ill, and I will be praying for you to feel better. God is able! Exodus 15:26 tells us that God said "I am the Lord that healeth thee." Amen!! I hope you have a blessed and beautiful Mother's day weekend.

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  14. Desert flowers are definitely in a class by themselves! How beautiful!

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  15. Wow! And a gorgeous peony it is!
    I am a follower of that blog and certainly do enjoy it. I love history - real history and the wonderful tidbits of knowledge that come about from little tools and such that were everyday objects way back when.
    Oh, and we used to put one foot in the circle. A fist is a better potato - silly kids.

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  16. Your flower photos are just wonderful! Our peonies haven't bloomed here yet. I look forward to them every year. :)

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  17. We said Ollie Ollie oxen free!
    Beautiful blooms. Love them all, but the red cactus is a treasure

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  18. That weeping mulberry has got itself into a knot.

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