Polka Saturday

CL tuned in a Polka show the other day.  It must have been am radio.  It reminded me of being a kid at Gramma and Grappa's house, learning to polka in their kitchen.  I'm sure this is the same show Grappa used to listen to all those years ago.  No pictures from those days, but we do have pictures from the Wedding celebrations.

Grappa's Radio

Grappa had a huge old-time radio next to his chair in the kitchen.  The kind that had tubes that needed to warm up.  He always stayed seated in his chair, but smiled approvingly as Gramma Pickles taught me to dance.  Here we're dancing at the Wedding celebration in Pennsylvania.  Yes, Gramma made the trip to Pennsylvania!





As I recall, Gramma also taught me to Jitterbug in their kitchen.  Gramma used to do a lot of dancing back in the day.  And Grappa, who had a truckfor his milk route, gave her rides to town.   And the rest is history!

Polkas are happy music.  There has never been a sad polka written or played.  It just doesn't exist. Some of the polkas are sung in English, some in the languages of the "Old Country:" Bohemian, Polish, German.  Grappa could understand some of them, and he'd translate some of the words--always with a smile because the lyrics were usually about courting some young woman.


This picture is from the Wedding celebration in Antigo in June of 1999.   Gramma is dancing with Chriatian, and I am dancing with Grappa.  Mr. Bare's Dixieland Jazz Band is providing the dance music.