1) You remember candy cigarettes.
2) Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.
3) Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles.
4) Blackjack chewing gum.
5) Home milk delivery in glass bottles.
6) You had a party phone line.
7) Watched black and white newsreels before the movie.
8) Owned a pair of P.F. Flyers.
9) Had a telephone number with a word prefix...Drexel-5505.
10)Collected S&H Green Stamps.

Dang Chatty...I remember almost ALL of them. Course I didn't need the list to validate my OLDness...all I had to do was try and get up out of a chair....ouch!

JJ

Thank you so much Chatty for reminding me how OLD I am. One of the stories in Carosel Kisses is about how I helped my grandmother stick the green stamps in the little books. However, I did NOT own a pair of PF flyers. I remember them, but I wouldn't be seen in the same sneakers my brothers would wear. I don't think I had a phone number like that either. Like Butterfield 8 ? We just tied two cans on a string and talked real loud.

Had them all! My PF Flyers were my favorite. I always took my big brothers old ones when he needed bigger ones. My mother hated it when I wore them, so naturally I wore them all the time.

I remember most of them...does anyone else remember when you only had to dial (and I mean actually dialing, not pushing buttons!!) 4 numbers to call someone in your own exchange?
I spent my first 7 years in the Bronx and I remember a guy with a cart, who used to sharpen knives and scissors. There was also another guy with a cart, who used to walk up and down the block, selling fresh fruits and vegetables. I used to be able to walk to the corner store (which was a block away), when I was 5 (!!) and buy Winston's for my dad at .25 a pack!!

Oh my, memories! I remember going to the corner drugstore, and buying the monthly magazine "Highlights". I think that's what it was called. I loved that magazine. I also loved "Lulu " comics. Anyone remember "Archie, Betty and Veronica". I used to devour that junk.
Unbelievable.

Jackie, in our neighborhood a guy comes by twice a year to sharpen knives and even lawnmowers. It does have a nostalgic flair.

Yup, everything rings a bell. We didn't have a corner store on our street, but we had one close enough to walk to. I was so disappointed the day it closed. Chain stores just aren't the same.

Oh, just think! The things we have seen: Corner stores, Woolworths' with the table displays of goods, dial phones, 3 channels on TV, carbon paper,manual typewriters, slide rules, stockings with garter belts, feminine products that were gruesome and awkward, cars with no seat belts, baby seats that were just a basket with leg holes and a steering wheel over the front seat (!)Milkmen, Bread delivery men, , dime Cokes and dime payphones (another thing altoghether!)50 cent(when I started driving!) gas! Sattelites, sputnik,the program to go to the MOON (and I know a lot of you remember that time, black and white TV and Men on the MOON!!), women's lib, the evolution of transportation and the accessability of foreign lands. Careers being other than nurse or teacher, and you didn't have to leave the field when you married. I know our elders have seen a lot more in the space of time, but I think our generation has seen and embraced much more than expected- and Thank God so much more to come!! Every day is a learning experience and a blessing and thank God we can go on in the intrepid course! Keep the eyes, ears and hearts open ladies, so much to make you glad of life even with the problems attached!

There really were Good Old days. Wonder what our own children will say about the days they are growing up in?

I pretty much grew up with that list too Chatty, although some things were different here.

Can I ask, are P F Flyers, unisex sneakers?

Hannelore, I used to love the Archie comics too!

I remember them as high-top sneakers. Some girls wore them too but I think they were for boys mostly.

Anne, I always read MAD at my friend's house, because they were more expensive than a reg. comic. Loved them. My youngest son looked like Alfred Neuman at six years old when his front tooth was missing. Ha ha he was so cute. Got to add he developed into a good looking guy...thank God he didn't remain that way.

karen, that was a great list. The one that I get a kick out of the most is the three TV channels. What would our children do if they couldn't roll through 300 of them.

What I find crazy is that when there were only three channels, there was something worth watching...

Who would've thought, as we were playing our record albums, that we could store all of our favorite music in a device not much larger than a credit card?

My first "car phone" cost $1,500 (not that long ago, 1988 or 89) and my x bought it for me for Christmas - of course I had to actually pay it off.

Daisy, do you have an Ipod?

Oh yes! I too grew up with everything on that list. We were on a party line with 20 other neighbors. One elderly woman seemed to control the line and let us know when we could get a call out. She listened to all our calls and commented whenever she felt inclined to be part of the conversation.

Did she ever interrupt and ask you to get off? That could be done, couldn't it?

Growing up in the 20th century, we've seen so much progress in our lifetime. I don't believe in any other century has so much been accomplished in so little time. We haven't quite reached the 'Jetson' era yet, but we're well on our way. Who ever thought you could tell a computer to vacuum a room, and you could walk away and come back to a clean floor? And, it put itself away!

I'm so thankful I lived and grew up in a simpler time so that I can truly appreciate the products developed in our lifetime to make our lives "easier". Children, don't have that luxury. They were born into this lifestyle and can't possibly be appropriately grateful.

You're quite right, Vicky. My children cannot imagine how we managed. The big difference was when they were in school and the availability of reference materials within arm's length by way of the internet as opposed to the way we did our research in libraries. Remember how we scoured through rows and rows of books? I have been to my grandson's school and it is so modern. Gone are the days of chalk and blackboard and eraser monitors. In his school, everything is computer projected to a white screen and it works very much like blackberrys. All the teacher and pupils have got to do is work with pointers and zap answers to solve problems accordingly. The technology is mindblowing.

Wow, we aren't quite there with our school system. At least not that I'm aware of. Possibly some of the colleges are like this but not the elementary schools. The technology is mind-blowing. I can't quite imagine what type of educational experiences my grandchildren will have.

My children go to the library to study because it is a quiet place. I don't think they use any of the resources there because they can get everything they need on their lap tops. They have no idea what we had to do to write a term paper. I recall coming home with stacks of books on one topic. I also recall getting to the library too late and all the books already being checked out. Then we'd have to beg and borrow them from friends who got there before us. Seems odd nowadays.

Oh, yes. The dreaded term papers. I had to type my thesis on an electric typewriter that did not have any corrective tape! I went through reams of papers and must have contributed to deforestation. All shared paperwork for lectures were also done by mimeograph. Remember them? And dittos! Ink tubes and inky hands!

Absolutely. I remember smelling the dittos right after our teachers handed them out.

Ah Ha! I've found a fellow ditto sniffer! Sigh. I kind of miss that smell. And we had a party line when I was a teenager and my grandparents were on the same line as us. My grandmother was notorious for listening to calls so my friends and I had all these codes worked out so Grandma wouldn't know what we talking about.

My Mom wrote on slate. She said they would erase it after each lesson. Times such have changed since she was a kid huh?

chick

Chick, my mom did too. I have to tell you the name of her school! It was called "Smutty Bear Bottom School" - I guess that was the name of the little village in South Dakota where she lived as a child.

Smutty Bear Bottom School - now, really, Kathy, that is too funny. I remember most of the things on Chatty's list but in Canada it was a bit different. I was 5 years old when TVs became available and we got one (3 black-and-white channels). My parents had a hard time getting me interested in food until we got the TV. Then I wanted whatever I saw being eaten on the screen. Tweety Bird, Little Lulu and Archie's Betty were my favs. Penny bubble gum with comic wrappers, milk, ice, bread, and meat delivered by different people. The milk man had a horse-drawn cart! We kids ran after the ice truck for chunks during summers. We went to the butcher to pick out our live chicken and the rabbi would cut it's throat, bless it and hang it up to bleed out. Then we plucked it and took it home. Most of the family lived in one city and my grandparents (Mom's parents) moved in with us when they got old. Those were the days! Thanks for the reminisce. Good memories.

Smutty Bear Bottom? I wonder how it got that name?
I remember bringing our milk bottle to the farm and getting it filled...um ummmm so good.

chick

Sounds like it needs a good bath to me....yuk,yuk!

My grandmother had a couple of houses just across the border in Mexico. One of them was a mud house and whenever we stayed there we had to use an outhouse. They sure are scary. We always banged the seat to make sure there were no snakes or bugs. It was gross

Saundra, when did you move to the states?

I remember the milk man from when I was very little. I think we started buying our milk at the store when I was in second grade. Does anyone know why we had milk men? Was it because the milk was fresher than at the store?

I recall that my friend's milk man also brought those mini chocolate wax donuts on Saturday mornings. What a treat that was when I spent the night there on Friday nights.

My daughter lives in the countryside and still has milk delivered to her door. Mostly, it is to support the local dairy farmers. She and her husband, however, have to collect it as soon as the frontbell is rung because the birds seem to like milk first thing in the morning as well.

One of my Uncles was a milk man for many years until they did away the milk man job. I think he got up around 4 am to start his route. I believe I was a teenager when they eliminated the milkman's delivery job all together. That was about the time when the "milk store" was built and replaced the milkman. Where I grew up, a couple of the small towns had Dairy plants where the large semi's would bring in the milk from the dairy farmers to have it processed and bottled. The milkman would go to the dairy plants daily and pick up the milk for his deliveries......fresh from the dairy! And you could be sure their was no hormones, etc. in the milk neither!

We had our milk delivered too, in glass bottles - four to a wire crate if I remember right. Then when that stopped, we would always drive through the dairy for our milk. Then finally we ended up getting it at the store.

Wonder what our kids will remember about their lives? "Well, kids, I had to actually flick a switch to turn the light on and off. And did you know your grandparents didn't even have remote controls?" And the kids will wonder how we ever lived that way!

We had an outhouse when I was a little girl, but we used a chamber pot under the bed at night. We didn't have a bathtub until I was around 10 and it was a luxury to behold. The water came from the well(away from the outhouse BTW) so we were only allowed to fill it up 1/10th of the way. Before that we all got a bath in a wash tub.
Oh, the good old days...

Did you have to heat up water before hand, Chick? Just curious. A friend of mine here said that before central heating in London, they used to haul a bathtub in front of the lone fireplace in their house in the winter. Then they had ceramic hotwater bottles which they fill up to warm up the beds before they went to sleep.

Lola, We used beach rocks heated in the oven for warming the beds. When plastic bottles came to our town, we filled those with hot water.

Yes, the washtub had to have water heated on boilers on the wood stove. Saturday night was bath night. There was seven of us and now I think, "Last one in is the dirtiest one out", ha ha.
She had to use that same washtub to wash all our clothes too.

I would chop boughs for my mom to light the fire. Dad worked away as a carpenter. One very cold winter,when he was gone, my Mom chopped up our Organ to keep us warm because the snow kept her from getting into the wood shed. Boy, we have it easy these days. It's nice to think these memories, thanks for the post.

chick

Chick, have you written a book?

My Hubby grew up pretty much like you did. They were 7 children. He was born right after World War II ended; so like millions of other families, they had nothing, absolutely nothing. How those mothers managed, is beyond me. They did get food stamps and the children got a pair of shoes for school. Other than that they all went barefoot. They would remove the horse manure from the streets for a few potatoes, and help the farmers out for a loaf of bread. When I ask him about his childhood he says he had a good childhood, except for being hungry most of the time. At least the kids played together, climbed trees and what not, and helped their parents as much as they could. Despite all the hardships, he still managed to make something out of himself. Just like you are doing Chick! You're really something.

Dang, you people must be old. I don't remember any of that stuff....

Boy I feel like we were wealthy, NOT! But we had an indoor bathroom, we had a milkman and we kids use to fight for the layer of cream atop each glass bottle. He also left us butter, yogurt and cheese. We picked our own vegetables once a week at the farm where we drove to get fresh eggs.

I remember we had an ice box, a chest the ice man would come and fill with this big block of ice. Oh, and the coal bin and watching the coal truck man shovel the coal into the shoot where it slid down into the basement bin.

Mother made her own lye soap for laundry and had a washboard and an old fashion washing machine and it had on it a roller that squeezed the clothes and partly dried them, before hanging them on the line.

Never saw a vacuum cleaner until I was 10 and thats when we also got our first round screen black and white TV.

I remember mother having our shoes resoled so many times and they had metal taps to make them last longer. Does anyone remember hand-me-down? I wore my male cousins jeans, and t-shirts and jackets, then if still in decent shape my brother got then.

But we survived and I never knew we weren't rich...
At Christmas we kids each got ONE gift not like my own kids where the floor was covered with boxes...

Not everything, but somethings were better then and taught us good lessons about life.

JJ, my Hubby was born 1939...he's 10 years older than I am. I sure had a different childhood from his. I had it all, from growing up with television to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, whenever I wanted. When I hear him tell his story, I sometimes feel like I'm listening to a grandfather talk. Wait! He is a grandfather. Yikes! And I'm a grandmother!

What's a vaccuum cleaner? Don't know? That sucks, tee hee.

Mom sewed our clothes even our winter coats and knit our hats, scarves and mittens.

She made all the bedclothes, quilts etc. Washed everything by hand, cooked everything from scratch and even matted the rugs.

Chatty, I got hand me up's...I was smaller than all my youngest siblings.

My Dad was an uneducated highly skilled carpenter...Mom would say "He can put an ass in a cat."

Love made us the richest family in the world.

chick

I didn't own PF fliers, but I remember them. Skate keys, penny candy, newsreels and cartoons before the movies and movies costing a quarter a matinée! Playing hopscotch, kick the can, hide 'n seek and all-ee, all-ee oxen free and all after dark in the neighborhood. Fast food restaurants were few, but what there was served burgers and fries the size we serve the kids today! Sometimes they offered 5 for a buck! Remember when a small drink cost a dime and it was actually a "small" drink? I've been around long enough that I've seen styles come back, maybe with a different name, but they are (were) back, low rider jeans (hip hungers), flared jeans (bell-bottoms), capri pants (peddle pushers) etc. Remember brush rollers? remember wearing those damn things to bed? oh, lord! Oh, remember when thongs were flip-flops and not G-strings? Boy, this is fun, I'm on a roll! We all sat around the table for dinner that Mom made AT 5-6PM? Mom didn't HAVE to work? and most of them didn't. You could buy a new car for $1000 and a new home for $10,000?
We baby boomers did live in the best of times in a lot of ways...not all, but a lot.

I totally agree myownperson59...totally. We played in somebody's yard till dark, then under the street light on the corner until someone's Mother yelled, "time to come in!"

Jacks, hopscotch, jumping rope, softball with pillows from our own beds for bases sometimes....the ice cream man DID come around and you could hear him for miles and miles. I always thought that had to be the best job in the entire world.

Oh boy Dana your post started the wheels turning and I remember when Ed and I bought our first home back in 1959; it was a three bedroom, one bath with a big garage and nice yard. It costs us $12,500. (HONEST TO GOD!!) Now-a-days you couldn't buy the garage for that price.

I am still a mean Jacks player and skip rope like flash. I hate it that I can't hula hoop anymore though.

JJ said

Quote:

---

I don't remember any of that stuff....

---

The first sign of aging

I remember right after getting my driver's license, collecting coins from the friends to fill the tank. We filled up with quarters, dimes and nickels.

The first tv we had in our house was a console. Had a console stereo too. Big pieces of furniture!

Oh, reading about playing outside after dark, jacks, jumpropes, brings back great memories. We used to play ball (all kinds) in the street. If, and when, cars ever drove down the street, they went slowly looking for kids playing.

This does not make me feel old, it makes me feel lucky.

Drexel 5505--what country is that? Ours was GL-5 Blackjack chewing gum? What century was that? I remember candy tabs you had to peel off of the paper. I only bought Good-n-Plenty candy because I loved the little boy "choo choo charlie" was his name I think.


Peace & Blessings,
Beverly Mahone
Author, Whatever! A Baby Boomer's Journey Into Middle Age
http://www.talk2bev.com
“We are Strong…We are Invincible…We are Baby Boomers!”
Live to be DRAMA FREE Seminars coming Soon!

1955, my parents bought their house near Boston for $16.000. Just yesterday my brother sent me a link. The house I grew up in is now on the market for 1 million dollars! I can't believe it. It's just a plain normal house!?!

Been re-reading this topic. I think one of the differences in our generation and those to come is the time spent being inside vs outdoors. We practically lived outside and most kids these days play/stay inside. Anyone agree?

chick

The House Behind The House


One of my fondest memories
As I recall the days of yore
was the little house, behind the house,
With the crescent o'er the door.

'Twas a place to sit and ponder
With your head all bowed down low;
Knowing that you wouldn't be there,
If you didn't have to go.

Ours was a multi-holer, three,
With a size for every one.
You left there feeling better,
After your job was done.

You had to make those frequent trips
In snow, rain, sleet, or fog--
To that little house where you usually
Found the Sears-Roebuck catalog.

Oft times in dead of winter,
The seat was spread with snow.
'Twas then with much reluctance,
To that little house you'd go.

With a swish you'd clear that wooden seat,
Bend low, with dreadful fear
You'd shut your eyes and grit your teeth
As you settled on your rear.

I recall the day Ol' Granddad,
Who stayed with us one summer,
Made a trip out to that little house
Which proved to be a bummer.

'Twas the same day that my Dad had
Finished painting the kitchen green.
He'd just cleaned up the mess he'd made
With rags and gasoline.

He tossed the rags down in the hole
Went on his usual way
Not knowing that by doing so
He'd eventually rue the day.

Now Granddad had an urgent call,
I never will forget!
This trip he made to the little house
Stays in my memory yet.

He sat down on the wooden seat,
With both feet on the floor.
He filled his pipe and tapped it down
And struck a match on the outhouse door.

He lit the pipe and sure enough,
it soon began to glow.
He slowly raised his rear a bit
And tossed the flaming match below.

The Blast that followed, I am told
Was heard for miles around;
And there was poor ol' Granddad
Sprawled out there on the ground.

The smoldering pipe still in his mouth,
His eyes were shut real tight;
The celebrated three-holer
Was blown clear out of sight.

We asked him what had happened,
What he said I'll ne'er forget.
He said he thought it must have been
The pinto beans he et!

Next day we had a new one
Dad put it up with ease.
But this one had a door sign
that read: No Smoking, Please!

Now that's the story's end my friend,
Of memories long ago,
When we went to the house behind the house,
because we had to go.

For those who never had to trot out in the Cold.....

Just Give Thanks!!!

chick

Holding my side laughing! Why this is brilliant! Did you build this beautiful out-house, Chick?

"He said he thought it must have been
The pinto beans he et!"

Too funny!

I'm picturing this huge house on the beach with all the boomer women playing jacks, jumping rope, swirling that Hoola Hoop, and playing tag 'til dark. Then we go inside and break out the wine to reminisce and share stories.

Chickadee,
I love it!!! What a great poem. I don't know how grandma's generation managed. It is so cold here today; I'm thanking God for in-door plumbing. My teeth chatter when I just think of walking outside--say nothing of "going" outside. LOL
Dotsie,
A boomer stagette!!! What a neat treat that would be, huh???
Ciao for now,
B. Rose

OMGoodness.... outhouses and explosions do NOT mix in my mind...poor grandpa!!!!!

E-Gads, there is nothing as primitive and discusting as an OUTHOUSE. So glad those days (for the most part) are over. Loved the poem Chickadee, what marvelous talent you have.

Oh Chatty, I wish I could take credit, but I have no idea who the author is. My Aunt from Canada sent it to me. She knows too well the outhouse. I believe some parks in Canada still have them.
All I know is the wood would leave a ring on my butt if I stayed reading the catalogue too long.

Anyone else bathe in jug and basin?

chick

We shared bath water in a no. 3 tub, maybe once a week, when some of my siblings and I stayed with my paternal grandparents. Our grandmother would heat the water on the stove and turn around and pour it into the tub, which was positioned near the back door in the kitchen.
The outhouse was about 200 yards from the backporch. We had to go down a trail in knee deep weeds to get to it. The seed ticks would jump from the weeds onto our bodies. When we returned to the house, our grandmother would take a soft bristled brush to us to get the little critters off. Oh, and the spiders in the one-holer - eeeek! It wasn't until the late 50s that they (finally) got indoor plumbing.

gimster, did it bother you at the time? It probably sounds archaic now, but it was what you were used to so I'm wondering if it freaked you out or did it feel normal?

I don't remember it bothering me. The girls bathed first, so we were using the cleaner water. Let's say it was unique... lol. We loved going to that grandmother's house, because she didn't make us do shores, which were DEMANDED at home.
At home, we had 4 restrooms (with indoor plumbing, of course), so going to the country to stay with our grandparents was somewhat of an adventure. I remember she'd let us play in her bras and our panties out under the tree near the sandpit, not far from the road coming through the woods to her house. We thought we were hot stuff.
Past the one-holer and further down the path was a fishing pond. We'd take some bacon and our poles to the pond and fish as long as we wanted.
I killed my first and only snake with a BB gun on the dirt road going around the bend from their house. I shot him right between the eyes. My brother was wide eyed and in total disbelief over my marksmanship.
That was before TVs were common and we had days to feel with real play!

I was 7 or 8... it was long before I was found to need glasses and that was 6th grade... my first pair were deep purple with rhinestones... you know, the kind that pointed up in the outer corners. I kept those frames for years and years. I wanted to show them to my girls, recently, but when I went looking for them, couldn't find them in my keepsake boxes. Can't believe I picked them out... ugggh!

Chickadee, that poem is great! For me, it brought back some long forgotten memories:

My grandparents did not have indoor plumbing. So, when I spent my two weeks every summer at their home in Wanamee, Pennsylvannia, I remember always becoming "bound up!"

This probably had something to do with that dark hole at the bottom of the freshly painted pink seat over the "pit."

Grandma always had the outhouse stocked with magazines and the little house was kept clean and neat. Grandma even planted beds of pink petunias around the foundation of the house, no doubt to greet those in need!

Grandpa fueled the furnace - which was how they heated water - with coal. And then he'd fill a wooden tub, placed in the middle of their big kitchen , and in I'd go!

Grandma would scrub me down, dry me off with "scratchy" towels that had gotten that way because they'd been dried "on the line," and then we'd listen to the radio.

I loved visiting my Grandparents Pennsylvannia. (My Mom was a Jones who married a Jones. So we called our grandparents Grandma and Grandpa Pennsylvannia or Grandma and Grandpa Missouri.)

I remember most everything anyone has mentioned, which qualifies me for a "mud" bath!

And, I remember: Ginny dolls; Mum deodorant (sticky icky); seamed stockings; Easter Eggs that had a scene inside; being able to buy colorful, dyed chicks at Murphy's or Woolworths at Easter; buying one of the cute little duckies from one of those stores and naming him George; getting my brand new patent leather MaryJanes before Easter, along with a new pair of lace trimmed anklets; Oh, Oh, and my Tiny Tears Doll!

I also remember going to the Cheasapeake Beach, on the Cheasapeake Bay, and seeing signs marked "white" and "colored."

Oh, and I typed on a manual typewriter, when I took my first test to become a Federal Government employee just after graduation. I also remember, after getting the job, that I had to type all letters with seven carbon copies. (I had to bang really hard to get the keys to put an impression on that sixth and seventh copy!)

Oh, and I also remember when my Dad brought home some "tv" dinners. The five of us stood, staring at the oven, waiting for dinner.

Love this thread!

Emily in Maryland

Emyjay,
Sounds like mirror of my life with the the quote in you sentence about Ginny Dolls

"And, I remember: Ginny dolls; Mum deodorant (sticky icky); seamed stockings; Easter Eggs that had a scene inside; being able to buy colorful, dyed chicks at Murphy's or Woolworths at Easter; buying one of the cute little duckies from one of those stores and naming him George; getting my brand new patent leather MaryJanes before Easter, along with a new pair of lace trimmed anklets; Oh, Oh, and my Tiny Tears Doll!"

I still have my doll and ginny doll and the Revlon Doll too . I got my shoes from Hess shoes where daddy worked and went to W.VA to see the Aunts and Uncles who had an out house out in the field away from the main house and had to go my the turkey pen to get there . Oh , they were fune times with the cousins . These are lost times only found in our happy memories of days gone by for us .

Or that hot summer day when we all would go to the movie theater in town and spend all day there to keep cool and then go home about supper time .

Those were the fun carefree days of youth .

Blessings,

Renee
of Maryland

Renee,

I still have a miniture Betsy Wetsy, still wearing her one piece, hooded what-ever-those-things-were-called. Oh, bunting! But, I didn't store her properly and her suit looks like it's falling apart.

After I posted yesterday, I took her out of a drawer and that's when I discovered the damage.

Anyone know what I could do to prevent further damage?

I don't think I've ever seen the Revlon doll, but you're lucky to have a Ginny. Is she dressed in her original clothes?

Unfortunately for me, my little sister beheaded most of my Ginnys and Mom probably never heard of a doll hospital. So, every so often, I try to get one at auction. Expensive. But not as bad as those button in the ear Stieffs!

Just like you, I've enjoyed reading the posts about the good old days.

I see you live in Maryland, too. If you grew up around this area, do you remember the Christmas animated window displays at Hecht's, Kanns, Lansburgs, and Woodies?

Oh, does anyone remember the Howdy Dowdy show and Pick Temple? My husband says he was a guest on the Pick Temple show one Saturday morning. He rode Pick's horse, Lady, and after the show, all of the kids got to "shoot" at a wall painted with snakes. John says there wasn't anything in the guns - no be bes - but that when the kids pulled their triggers, a banging sound came out of the wall. Then, they all were given little loaves of Wonder Bread to take home.

Now, I know all of use remember American Bandstand.

Blessings,

Emily in Silver Spring, Maryland

Emjay,
There is a site that I think you can purchase Ginny dolls still . Maybe if you go to ask.com you can key in on Ginny dolls . I will look for the site in my favorits for you . We had the Buddy Dean show here , but I remember American Bandstand with Dick Clark and love it . Oh , what fun and Howdy Dowdy show with Clara Bell don't rember the other show you mention . How about the Mickey Mouse Club love that show after school .

Blessings,
Renee

Renee, your dad worked at Hess Shoes? The one on Belvedere with the sliding board in the store? I bet I saw him in there years ago. We often got our saddle shoes for school there. ANd even when we weren't buying shoes we'd run through the store just to go down the slide.

Emyjay, I love those eggs that had the scene inside. They were so special. I don't know what we ever did with them each year. Did they get thrown away?

Dotise ,
My dad sure did he was manager of the men and boys dept Hess shoes and I would go down the slid many a time . YOu probably saw my dad there Now, the store has turned into a resturant and would love to go eat there sometime and don't know the name of the resturant . Oh,

You can purchase those eggs with the screen inside from the Vermont Country Store there web site .

Blessings,

Every summer my grandma and aunt would take all we children to an old summer home my grandpa built before he passed away.
It was in a tiny hillbilly town called Leeper, MO near Mill Spring. I've written a few stories about that house and our experiences there.
It was big and white with a wrap around porch and numerous porch swings. It sat high on a rise above the highway with railroad tracks across from us.
My cousins and I could swim in the cold St. Francis river in the heat of summer, sit on the porch at night and listen to the howl of trains speeding by with yellow lights.

My grandma would cook fresh biscuits, eggs and bacon on the woodburning cook stove and would make lye soap in a kettle out in back.

There was an old hound dog who would come down the hill and tiptoe through burning embers of our fire for food. We also had an outhouse (a three holer) and magazines galore. There was a big one for the men, a smaller one for the women and a lower tiny one for the kids.
I remember looking all over for snakes that would come and rest in the eaves of the outhouse.
So many memories...

Renee,

Thank you so much for the Vermont Store information! I love those "scene in the egg" Easter Eggs.

Dotsie, did you get the above lead on eggs? And I don't know why - maybe the eggs were coated with sugar - but my Mom threw those cute little eggs away.

Taking a ride through cyberspace to the Vermont Country Store right now!

Emily in Maryland, where it is nice and warm

I just finished looking over the merchandise at The Vermont County Store. I feel like I'm in my teens and just walked the aisles at my neighboorhood drugstore!

Spoolies . . . Pssssst (been looking for this for the longest time . . . genuine saddle shoes . . . those scene eggs . . . those little magnetic Scottie Dogs . . . Necco Wafers . . . many good cosmetic brands that I thought had been off the market!

I'm definitely placing an order for the Psssst and those eggs. I work the morning shift, as many of you know, and sometimes I just don't have the time to wash my hair. I've been thinking about dry shampoo, which I could use around my face, where my hair gets a small coat of my night cream! The rest of my hair looks nice, but right around my face looks like I haven't washed my hair for days. This is great. I can sleep in for an extra 45-minutes, every other day!

Thank you, Renee!

Emily in Maryland, where the temps are rising so high that the remaining ice doesn't stand a chance

Newleaf, I love porches. The house I grew up in had one. That's where we played when it rained. I remember playing jacks there for hours. We also built tents out there and camped out over night. I'd love to have a wrap around porch on my house.

The Vermont Country Store is so much fun to walk through. I once visited and fell in love. The old wooden floors, the cases, displays, and items all take you back. We mainly bought candy for the kids who were mesmerized by the old fashioned way of selling candy. Remember penny candy?

F9 - He ain't heavy, He's my brother.



What did you play on the Jukebox?

chick

Dotsie,
I love wraparound porches, too. The farmhouse I grew up in had a porch that wrapped around two sides of the front living room.
Chick,
I played George Jones', Born to Lose, on the Jukebox.
That's how I felt in 1963. The blues had me by the throat.
But not anymore!!!
Ciao for now

I love porches too.

I highly recommend Vermont Country store catalog. I order from them once in a while. They have great service and the merchandise is high quality.

Laurel

Yes, I too remeber all the good old stuff we did and had as children!
Here is a twist on Chatty's remark:
They really were Good Old days. Wonder what our own children will say about the days they are growing up in?

Here is what our daughter said about my childhood from her perspective. At age six she asked me...when did the world get into color? I asked her what she meant...she said I see all your pictures from when you were a kid and the world was black and white then...when did it get into color?
Oh I love the eyes and observations of a child!

Dotsie,
Mentioning the Hess shoe store...reminded me of riding buses.
We often rode the bus to York road to the shoe store or to go shopping downtown! And we only shopped seasonally! Like back to school or Easter clothes! Oh did we wear some funky clothes. White patent leather shoes! Hats...white gloves.
Thank you GOD for the more relaxed clothing lifestyle we now live!

Does it mean you're only half as old as dirt if you remember only 5? <G> I do remember a drawer full of S&H greenstamps books, but I can't remember what they were ever redeemed for.

Well am not that old, just a few years under 50 but methinks I did go to some relic-like schools in Ontario.
In late 1960's, we still had wooden desks with drop down desklid.

And in 1970, I remember the girls had to kneel and female teacher would check to ensure our skirts were long enough to touch /graze floor. Yes, mini-skirts without pants underneath in winter time, were a no-no.

How about this one? Box fans and Blue Suede Shoes? I remember playing in the back yard hearing Elvis on the radio and coming inside to a house cooled in July by a huge box fan. Mom's fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and egg custard pie! yum, yum

orchid, my sister is five years older than me. We went to the same catholic high school. She ahd to kneel to have her skirt measured but by the time I got there, they weren't doing it. Do you remember rolling your skirt at the waist for the walk home?

NL, I remember box fans. I still have a very old one in the shed. I'm not sure why, but I do.

Mercy, I loved that white shoes, gloves and purses. I remember this one white, dressy purse I had for Easter. It had a draw string. It was adorable. I also remember the white, pleather bag with a little gold clasp that help my prayer book from First Holy Communion. Anyone remember that?

Katrinka, didn't we redeem them for little household items and flashlights, stuff like that?

Remember pill box hats with a short veil? Dresses made out of that nubby material, boucle?? I had the Jackie Kennedy look during senior year.

Memories...aah...you girls are waking long forgotten images in me.

Did anybody else get new shoes at the beginning of each school year? Remember Buster Brown shoes? Do they still make them? Loved it when they were shiny, without scuffs and the thick madras shoelaces weren't frayed at the end.

Okay, I've never ever told this to anyone before in my life.
Here goes; … I used to introduce my shoes to my old shoes lined up on my closet floor. You know, the same way the teacher would introduce a new classmate to the other pupils.
But that's not the worst of it. My mother told me I marched to school like a soldier. I swung my legs stiff and straight, throwing them way up high, so I could fully enjoy my new 'shoe view'.

Honest Injun, I don't walk like that anymore; stopped cold turkey last week.

Hah! That's funny Hannilore. My mom used to buy me the Mary Janes, black patent leather with the braided strap. I had a long pony tail in a banana curl and I can still remember a blue cotton dress with multi colored bows on it, a white collar and white trim on the sleeves.

I wore that particular combination for our first grade play. My part was to quote the poem, "I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I know not where?"

I stood there in front of all the parents in what seemed like a multitude. My parents were on the first row all smiles Brownie camera in hand.

I had a little bow and arrow but was instructed not to let it go, just to pull it back at the right time. I said, "I shot an arrow into the air, and at that point it flew straight up into the stage ceiling, upon "It came to earth I knew not where," it landed right in my derriere. My look of shock and mortification must have been worth a million. The whole audience roared with laughter and my mom and dad shrunk down in their seats red faced.

I'm 40, but my town seemed to be 10 years behind everyone else.
My dad brought home two of those desks, and we had them in the room I shared with my sister. That desk was one of the best things he could have ever given me. I spent hours "writing books." Almost ten years ago, when I homeschooled my kids, my dad gave us those desks. Eventually we gave them to another homeschooling family. {sigh}
Dotsie, I wish I could remember. I only remember the drawer was so stuffed with those books.
Marie