Since the time I was seven, I was a Girl Scout. First a Brownie, then a “Junior,” and then briefly a “Cadette.” While the rest of the world was in tune with the Beatles, the civil rights movement, and walking on the moon, my world tuned in to pigtails, kick-the-can, and collecting as many badges as I possibly could. One memorable Girl Scout experience was Day Camp, the all-important pre-requisite to the two-week-long and faraway summer camp — which would have to wait a year or two. Mom dropped me off at the nearby Day Camp, where I’d skip away from my everyday cares into Girl-Scout-o-rama with my ditty bag and my sit-upon.
The ditty bag was a mesh bag with a drawstring top that held my mess kit, my aluminum collapsible cup with the Girl Scout insignia on the lid, and my toothbrush that came apart in two pieces with the brush part fitting into the lid. After lunch you could put your dirty mess kit dishes and the collapsible cup in the mesh bag and swish them in the soapy water that was hot from being over the fire, then swish them in the cooler rinse water, then hang them from a tree branch to dry. I don’t remember what I did with the toothbrush during dishwashing and drying time.
According to the Girl Scout Handbook (1959), when you sit down to relax while hiking you should “always put your sweater or “sit-upon” under you. A sit-upon is a piece of waterproof material (oil-cloth is good) about eighteen inches square.” Well, our Day Camp leaders must have been over-achievers because the sit-upons we made consisted of a large magazine (Life was a good choice) sandwiched between a double size piece of oil cloth which was folded in half, then lashed together with heavy yarn, in and out through pre-punched holes a half-inch or so in from the edges on the three open sides.
Brilliant invention, the sit-upon. A light-weight portable seat to keep your own seat clean and dry. I can’t tell you how often over the many years since I was seven that I’ve wished I had one of those contraptions.
The ditty bag was a mesh bag with a drawstring top that held my mess kit, my aluminum collapsible cup with the Girl Scout insignia on the lid, and my toothbrush that came apart in two pieces with the brush part fitting into the lid. After lunch you could put your dirty mess kit dishes and the collapsible cup in the mesh bag and swish them in the soapy water that was hot from being over the fire, then swish them in the cooler rinse water, then hang them from a tree branch to dry. I don’t remember what I did with the toothbrush during dishwashing and drying time.
According to the Girl Scout Handbook (1959), when you sit down to relax while hiking you should “always put your sweater or “sit-upon” under you. A sit-upon is a piece of waterproof material (oil-cloth is good) about eighteen inches square.” Well, our Day Camp leaders must have been over-achievers because the sit-upons we made consisted of a large magazine (Life was a good choice) sandwiched between a double size piece of oil cloth which was folded in half, then lashed together with heavy yarn, in and out through pre-punched holes a half-inch or so in from the edges on the three open sides.
Brilliant invention, the sit-upon. A light-weight portable seat to keep your own seat clean and dry. I can’t tell you how often over the many years since I was seven that I’ve wished I had one of those contraptions.
Now, what does all this have to do with Abode? Our sit-upons are on sale this week! EVERY chair in the store is 50% off — yup, you read that right, every chair is HALF OFF. Two chairs for the price of one. One for you, one for a friend. One for breakfast, one for dinner. His and hers. Mine and yours. Desk and kitchen. Sewing and writing. Reading and relaxing.
So come take a look at our sit-upons. Better hurry though, before they all skip out the door two-by-two. . . .
So come take a look at our sit-upons. Better hurry though, before they all skip out the door two-by-two. . . .
2 comments:
Although I was never a Girl Scout, my daughters, Emily and Heather were. I remember they had specially made "sit-upon" made of a vinyl covered pad.
Cut post, Miriam.
I was a Camp Fire Girl and had a sit-upon exactly as you memtioned. We whipstitched the oilcloth cover over the magazines!
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