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...