Sonny’s is set to reopen next week. Chris and Sonny will be the people swanning about wearing suntans and relaxed expressions. I will be the pale creature tottering in the door at daybreak, gazing hopefully at the case where the cinnamon rolls reside in season. Show me a story and I’ll share my cinnamon roll with you. Wait, wait – don’t I mean tell me a story? Not exactly.
I place a high value on stories. My mother used to tell me tales of Flornoy while she brushed the tangles out of my long hair and braided it into a Swedish crown. Flornoy, it seems, was the wretched elf responsible for making the tangles and for a great deal of other mischief. My grandmother bounced me on her knee and sang Rida, rida ranka and another song about the boy who worked and worked and couldn’t pull up the carrot. (This was considered a hilarious tale. The Swedish sense of humor is subtle.)
My dad read me the comics from the newspaper. I listened to radio stories with my grandfather. Then I learned to read. That is sort of like saying “then the spaceship landed and I stepped out onto a new planet.” Then we moved to town and I discovered movies. More stories and more ways to tell them.
Then I found out that we told true—or mostly true—stories about real people and called it history. Then I learned about telling stories in poetry. And then, rather late in life, I discovered the storytelling power of the visual arts.
Now I tell stories about people in Torch Lake Township and Antrim County, and about Miss Sadie and the Cowboy . . . and I feel as if I might never run out of stories, which is why I feel rich.
I digress. It’s what I do. Here’s the point.
Scott Thomas has issued another playful assignment for photographers and would-be photographers. This one runs through Sunday, March 1, and asks for a story told in a single photo. You can read more about it on Scott’s site: Assignment #2 – Storytelling. I’m going to play, and once more invite the Torch Lake Views Irregulars to post entries here. First I gotta read the manual for my point-‘n’-shoot Canon. I’ll show you whatever I come up with, if you’ll show me yours. And I’ll share my cinnamon roll with you.
Torch Lake Views 
giiid
March 2, 2009
I love to read about historical issues, and when I saw you mentioned the old children song – rida ranka, (in Danish it is Ride ranke) I thought it must be what you might call a hit, because we still sing it for the small children, though the singing isn´t the most important in this little game. It´s the riding that counts, as you probably know. (dandle a child, says the wordbook)
As the little child/baby are trying to find its balance on the imaginary horse, we encourage it to keep its back straight (RANK) and ride in a nice way. There are many different texts, depending on who are singing, but the Rida ranka part is the same.
Exercises for babies to live music!
Gerry
March 2, 2009
One of my best experiences was to watch my grandmother bounce my toddler on her knees and sing this song. He was delighted, she was delighted, I was in tears (joyful ones, I assure you!)
Birgitte, would you happen to know a children’s song about a man who was trying to pull up a carrot? That’s the one I’d dearly love to find.
Thank you so much for the lovely response.
Scott Thomas Photography
March 2, 2009
I love cinnamon rolls. Sonny’s sounds like my kind of place.
Gerry
March 2, 2009
Sonny’s is definitely your kind of place. If you ever tire of western New York, you can just trundle on across the lakes to Torch Lake Township. We’ll treat you right.
giiid
March 3, 2009
I´ll start searching. In the meanwhile, you can have this one which both is Swedish, and mentioning carrots – here translated by google translater:
Chickens Feet and carrots
and neck of a swan!
He who kiss girls
he has an ugly habit!
I was born in England
and you were born in Skåne (in Sweden)
will you be my little man
I will be your wife.
In Danish:
Hønsefødder og gulerødder
og halsen af en svane!
Den som kysser pigerne,
har har en hæslig vane!
Jeg er født i Engeland
og du er født i Skåne
vil du være min lille mand,
så vil jeg være din kone.
Gerry
March 3, 2009
Thank you Birgitte – this is priceless. I often wonder if there’s more to “nonsense rhymes” than appears on the surface, but I think I’ll just let this one be!