Hull Gull

For a while - when I was just a little boy - my Grandmother came to live with us.

Little Mama. My Mother's Mother. Ruby Abernathy Browning.

She would keep the house and watch me and my brother, Danny, while our Mom was at work at Kroger. She worked very hard all day long, put up with me and Danny, and half the neighborhood kids, and would have supper ready for everybody at night when Mom got home.

I know that I did not realize or appreciate all that she did. What a wonder she was!

As she cleaned house and prepared meals during the day she would always sing the old hymns. I can still hear her quavering but clear voice singing "Brethren We Have Met to Worship."

Often she would entertain us with games that we had never heard of - one of them was called Hull Gull.

At least two people to play. One has a pile of dried beans, peas, marbles, coins, or some other such small thing. The first player secretly picks up a desired and random number of beans while the second player covers their eyes.

Player 1: Open your eyes!

Player 1: Hull Gull!

Player 2: Hand Full!

Player 1:  How Many?

Player 2 would then guess how many beans were being held in Player 1's hands.

If they guess correctly - they win!

No prize - or bean swapping.- just the fun of a guessing game.

We would play forever! 

More fun than watching TV or playing video games.

She taught me how to make shapes, and figures, and puzzles by weaving a circle of string between my hands - held in magical webs and ladders by my fingers.

She made a button Zoom-Zoom for me. A large button threaded on a loop of string. You would hold the ends of the looped string between your hands with the button hanging in the middle. Swing the button around in a circle with the string to wind it in a spiral.  When you pulled your hands apart the button would spin.  The weight of the button would make it wind and rewind as you pulled on it. Every pull produced a Zooming sound.

And don't get me started about a June Bug on a string.

Cruel to the poor Bug?  Naw, that Bug never had so much fun!