Hello and happy Thursday all. A lovely morning here. It is going to be a warm but gorgeous day. I hope to get some things done outside again. Trying to spend time out every day with something - work never ends.
I was watching fireflies (lightening bugs) the other night and got to thinking about being a kiddo. Used to get an old jar, poke holes in the lid and catch those little buggers. What fun we had back then. Simple fun.
As a matter of fact we had a lot of simple fun.
We played hopscotch, Jaxs, baby dolls, jump rope, then we had badminton and croquet. Sometimes we would sit on the porch swing and play "I spy" games or count cars!! LOL. A big old box was so many different worlds - a store, house, hospital, etc. In grade school I got a little record player, and we played those 45 rpm records! Had a hula hoop and got good at that and rode bikes. Gosh we had some fun - and it was all simple.
Who had one of these? Ours was yellow and gray. I loved that big old table. Our kitchen was painted with glossy bright yellow paint, white open face cabinets, a huge farm sink with a built-in drainer and this big old table. Sure had a lot of good food and fun times around that table.
I remember many hours looking at the Sears 'wish book' as well. Watching cartoons, getting excited that Lassie was coming on. Disney on Sunday evening. I even remember the old Ma & Pa kettle shows. I watched one a couple weeks ago!!
There were milk boxes out on the porch and the milk man came every week. The Avon lady came by - she always smelled good to me - and usually gave me a little sample lipstick!!! I can see her to this day if I close my eyes (and her bright red nails).
We all had a pretty box of 'dusting' powder (talcum) in the bathroom. Then there were the futuristic looking hair driers - looking like we had a huge balloon on our heads!
Pin curls and home perms (I hated).
Lightening bugs made me start thinking and look where I went!!!!! Down the rabbit hole! LOL
Do you have any fun and special memories from back in the day?
I know many of us remember these things, and then we probably have younger gals who don't know the joy these all brought to us. I am so glad I grew up during this time of no cell phones and no technology - we used our minds and had a ton of just plain old simple fun! Dark was the indicator to be home. Our social network were our friends playing together, and the neighborhood moms all watching out for us (though we didn't realize that).
I truly would be in my element to go back in time!
Have a wonderful day and enjoy the remainder of your week!
One of those tables was in my family home. It made its way through 2 more generations. It's now the craft table upstairs. The closest neighbor was a mile away; the next >2 mi. We used to walk or ride our bikes back & forth. A day that sticks out in my mind - stripping down to our underwear & swimming in the dugout, then rinsing off in the rain barrel. Store bought treats were few & far between. I remember putting koolaid into pop bottles & pretending we had store bought soda! My son doesn't believe how we lived, never mind the grandkids.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had one of those tables still. May put that on my bucket list! Lucky you.
DeleteThat sounds like a fun time! So true, store bought treats were so seldom - but they sure were good when we got them. Love the ideas of Koolaid in pop bottles. Your son and grands don't know how much fun they missed.
We played outdoors most of the time. Mom would tell us to go play in the traffic (we lived in the country and there wasn't much traffic), and we had a playhouse that was a log cabin once owned and lived in by a local farmer. One of my favorite memories is playing hide and seek with Dad when he would come in from the fields in the fall. It would be nearing dark but still warm and the smells of autumn in the air.
ReplyDeleteMom had a wringer washer too, then one of those side by side washer/spin dryers. Even after she had a dryer, sheets and towels were always hung out on the line in the warm weather.
I have always wanted one of those tables. We didn't have one at home, but I recall a couple of local restaurants did. If I had my choice I'd have a red one, though it's not a colour I normally would use in my home.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
Your own log cabin! How cool. Sounds like fun times to me. Neat memories of your daddy.
DeleteThose washers could sure do good size loads.
I still want a table. I wish I had moms. Red is a good color. Maybe we can both put them on the wish list!
Thank you for these wonderful reminders of great things from the past...fizzies, wax bottles...metal dining room sets .
ReplyDeleteYou bet. I just think it helps us come back down to earth after dealing with all technology all the time. They were good times.
DeleteWonderful memories stirred by your post. Let me add, playing in the field across the road; picking wild dewberries using an old strawberry quart box and taking them home for mom to make jam or some dessert; using a large rock to crack open other rocks hoping to find crystals inside; using the soft inside of a rock in place of chalk to draw a hop-scotch grid on the sidewalk; climbing trees, sometimes building a make-shift tree fort; playing softball with neighborhood kids on a field we set up for baseball, not the "real" one at our school (no one wanted to go near the school in the summer); going to get library books at the bookmobile; a pitcher of kool-aid to drink and mom would make popsicles with it, too; taking a sheet or blanket to lay over the wooden picnic table to make a fort ...
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun to me. Good clean fun. I remember using rocks for chalk! Yes, hopscotch!
DeleteWe did go up to the school playground a lot even in summer, there were so many fun things there. A pitcher of Kool-aid or tea was always available. Popsicles from Kool-aid, I remember those.
You sure brought some more great memories to my head today.
Good memories!
ReplyDeleteThanks - life was so much fun back in the day. I would love to go back for a while!
DeleteGreat commentary in some of the past culture. A few of those are before my time, although I remember the A&W meal car trays and the Sears catalogues. You forgot the ice cream trucks that went through neighborhoods in the summer with their loud tunes, all the kids looked forward to those.
ReplyDeleteI knew some readers wouldn't get them all. Yes, ice cream trucks!! We still have one that comes around here in the summer. Usually around dinner time is when he shows up! that music always brings back memories.
DeleteSo many similar memories. I grew up in the country and never recall a day of summer boredom.
ReplyDeleteGood times. Life was such a joy then - and there was always something to do and fun to be had.
DeleteLove it! We had a grey and white checked table
ReplyDeletelike that.
Remembering:tire swings, mud pie making when younger, hula hooping, tag, red rover, making noise makers with the maple tree seedling things, pink sponge rollers in my hair Sunday night to be ready for Sunday church, homemade cranked ice cream, paper dolls.
I could go on and on. Thanks for stirring pleasant memories!
Linda M
Oh what goodies you listed. I was talking to a neighbor just this week about the big family summer meals outside when I was little and that we GOT to crank ice cream. Daddy made it sound fun and not like a chore.
DeleteI had so many paper dolls. Thanks for bringing up more memories.
I remember those wax bottles! And the icecream truck - skyblue raspberry popsicles! Our mouths were such a frightful color after those things. Riding my bike everywhere, playing outside all summer long, and after school all year round until dark.
ReplyDeletePinched my fingers in the wringer washer roller, oh how that hurt! My mom hung out all the laundry, but winters often were rainy and she had clothesline strung in the basement where the washer was, so things could be hung there. Remember those big poles that helped support the heavy drooping lines outdoors?
My childhood home predated those tables, but we did have a kitchen table with a metal top. The only kid I knew with a TV was a child with asthma whose daddy was a doctor. It was about as big as a fridge, but the screen was tiny! Howdy Doody! My nana got a TV when she moved into a little apartment after breaking her hip... I saw KingKong on that TV and was scared half to death!
My goodness, so many memories. :) Thank you, Cheryl, and all you others, bringing good times back to mind.
MaryB
Blue popsicles are still my favorite! My nephew stuck his hand in the wringer once. He was about 3 and standing on a stool mom turned her head for a second and boom. It went to his elbow, but just burned - didn't break anything.
DeleteI still have a pole for my clothesline!
I think we got our first TV when I was a bout 4 or 5 - you are right, they were huge but that picture was little.
It is kind of nice to take a trip down memory lane once in a while. I appreciate all the people commenting their memories.
I remember my parents converting our old coal shed into a playhouse for me with curtains at the window, a table, chair, little shelf with knick-knacks on and my doll's cradle. It felt like I had got a real house.
ReplyDeleteI loved playing with paper dolls and doing crafts. My Mum had been to art college and had lots of good ideas. She would buy a cheap roll of lining paper and get me to lie down on it, draw around me with crayon and then get to me to add the details and colour it in. It took a long time! Sometimes I would draw a big landscape picture on it and at other times Mum would cut shapes into a potato and I would make prints using poster paints to make wrapping paper.
In the summer holidays I would play out all day with Roger, a boy who used to stay with his grandmother, next door. Roger was at boarding school in England, but his parents lived in San Diego. That all seemed incredibly exotic to a working-class girl in the English Midlands and I felt quite honoured to have such an 'unusual' friend . He used to come until he was into his teens, when he began to fly home for the holidays. I often wonder what he is doing now.
I bet you did feel like you had a house of your own. How cool.
DeleteThose big rolls of paper were a lot of fun. Hours of drawing and coloring. Potato stamps! I forgot about those.
Oh how neat on the boy next door. I bet that was quite exotic to you. What a neat adventure for him. You should try to look him up and see what is going on today!
Oh my goodness, I remember so many of these! My grandmother had those cups and they are probably still around somewhere. I have to ask about the mower. How hard was it? Because I’ve been considering one.
ReplyDeleteThe cups are so pretty and they sure did keep things cold - although they 'sweated' a lot.
DeleteThe one we had/I have is old and it was quite heavy. I doubt I would be much good at it today. I am sure you can buy newer ones that are much lighter weight. If I had a light weight one, I might give it a whirl. You will build some muscles!
Good to know, Cheryl. Thank you. 😊
DeleteThanks for the trip down memory lane .. loved seeing all the old things. We definitely had a kitchen table like that in yellow and grey.
ReplyDeleteSure. I would love to go back for a while and live like that again. Yellow and gray was what ours was too.
DeleteWe had a grey chrome set. It lasted for years. My fav memories growing up were going to the Dairy Queen for ice cream cones on a Sunday evening, and taking the camper Dad built later on to a lake where we spent the summer, swimming in the lake and getting blocks of ice for the ice box in the camper.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Camping and swimming sound wonderful - especially as kids. That is neat you got blocks of ice to keep things cold.
DeleteThose little DQ cones were the best. Haven't had one in years.
We had a set of the aluminum glasses, too. We each had a color to tell our drinks apart. I made a gillion of those potholders, my preferred potholder!
ReplyDeleteWe drank water and plain iced tea and very little Coke or Kool Aid. Playing outdoors was summer. We used our little ball peen hammers to make things like Daddy did.
Had the same washer and a clothes line.
I learned to sew when I was four, so spent time sewing doll clothes by hand. At ten, I learned to sew on a treadle machine. I learned to crochet in 4-H. All this was extremely fun for me, not a chore. In the years since, I have clothed myself and three children, plus made many gifts. Plus sewing supported me for a few years.
My grandmother played Jacks with us. She said she played with peach pits.
I miss seeing a field and yard full of lightning bugs.
We learned to make things and decorate cast off items!
Thankfully, we didn't have a tv until I was 14. Daddy bought one when I was 8 and took it back two days later because he could not stand to have it on as he could not read for the noise.
Practical Parsimony above. About the lawnmower, I bought one when I could no longer start the electric mower or push it. All my friends were shocked I bought it. But, it was light and I could push it, took no gas, and I could still hear the birds. Wish I could push a reel mower now.
DeleteMy mom taught me to sew as well, and then there was 4-H. I made all my clothes in high school - that was how I had a lot to chose from.
DeleteSo many things that we learned as kids and then they stuck as adults. I sure like that.
Yes to so much of it! We did not have a doll house, or the wringer washing machine. But my grandparent's had an old one in their basement. As an adult, I always kept a dress-up box for visiting little girls. And they all loved it. Low tech, but still fun.
ReplyDeleteDress-up was always a fun things for the littles. I have little ones in the family today - that totally love dress up.
DeleteFun times.
I LOVE all the memories you stirred up! Lightning bugs in jars, Kool Aid, croquet, hopscotch, hula hoops... I had a metal dollhouse like that - I think it was a hand-me-down from an older cousin. And books! And decorating our bikes for the 4th of July parade. We need to think on pleasant things like this more often.
ReplyDeleteJo
I so agree - we need to remember the fun times and create new fun times with family. Those times are what truly great memories are made of. We need to make them for the younger ones to look back on. Thinking back sure is more pleasant than TV or news!
DeleteWhat fun memories Cheryl! I miss a lot about those times. We had the old wringer washing machine and mom made my sister and I hang the clothes on the line before leaving for school! As someone else mentioned, making mud pies was fun! I have a small area of grass now and still use an old push mower. If I go too many days between mowing, it's a real workout! Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think it helps in todays age of things to remember back on those fun things. We had such simple fun. I am glad I was a child when I was and not today.
DeleteI bet that is a workout. Not sure if I would have the strength today.
Oh what great memories. My mom and I talk about them all the time. Kool Aid, riding bikes with a playing card in the spokes so it would make noise, walking to school with a bunch of neighborhood kids, paper dolls, playing house. Good times! My dad worked for the railroad as a conductor and built us a sandbox with the railroad ties as borders. We spent lots of time in that sandbox. When I was about 7 I was riding my bike, fell, and hit my head losing consciousness. Our pregnant neighbor saw me, came outside, picked me up and took me across the street to my mom. It was definitely a community back then!
ReplyDeletePlaying cards in the spokes - YES! I had a girl around the corner that I walked to school with every day and home. There were some fun times back then.
DeleteWhat a sturdy and cool sandbox that must have been.
Everyone watched out for everyone else's children. I don't think we realized we had so many "moms" watching, and they somehow knew everything. I don't remember people worrying about bad stuff or bad people.
Lots of nostalgia! We had a dining set that was yellow and white. I remember the set that had a place to put a bouquet in the center of the base. Come to think of it, that was sort of silly, as who could see the flowers very well? I still have some of the woven potholders. The aluminum glasses sure kept things cold. My mom had a Maytag wringer washer. It was my job to "help". You had to make sure the buttons were in a certain position so they weren't popped by the wringer. The bleach came in a brown glass jug. I don't remember a push mower like that. We lived in the country on a farm so the yard was pretty big.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your weekend. Looks like rain is on the schedule but it would be welcome.
I never saw one with a vase built in.
DeleteHelping with laundry was a chore. Lots of lifting and dumping water - we used big metal tubs for the rinse and emptying. We also had one of those I used for a tub until I was 8!
I remember the brown glass jugs.
It is raining right now. I got my walk in and some work done outside before it started!
So many happy memories! I remember a lot of the same things.
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot of relatives that lived in another state about 8 hours driving time away who tried to visit every summer and since the trip was so long they would bring as many family members as they could cram into a couple of vehicles. My father would go and get a 24 pack of Coca-Cola in the little green glass bottles packed in the wooden crate. This was a big deal because we NEVER had soda except as a rare treat. After we drank our sodas we would look on the bottom of the bottles. Coke used to emboss their bottles with the location of the bottling plant. Whoever's bottle came from the furthest away won.
We'd play outside all day in the summer, usually barefoot, and it seems that summer didn't really start until someone stepped on a yellow jacket and got stung on the foot. Even that is a cherished memory because I can't go barefoot anymore.
Thank you for reminding me of some of the best days of my life!
Those little bottles of Cole - yes mam. A treat for sure - we got those little bottles at Christmas, because Santa was 'probably' tired of milk! What a fun game with the bottles.
DeleteI collected Coca Cola memorabilia for years.
I bet those family get togethers were a blast.
Barefoot is still my thing. I hate shoes!
You are welcome - glad you enjoyed the trip back in time. I find it is always fun.
I had an idyllic childhood, similar to yours though more rural. At the 50th school reunion a few years ago I heard stories of a couple of others and what they were experiencing at that time, and I was shocked. Domestic abuse, child abuse. I think these days they are more open, and not tolerated.
ReplyDeleteWe were so blessed to have such a good childhood and such good memories. I know there were kids who had little, and some from divorced parents, though not many. You are right so much happened that people didn't talk about back then. It is heartbreaking that many got no help.
DeleteThis post made me smile to think of all of the wonderful memories of growing up when I did. We lived next door to our Grandma. She would let us play in the camper. What fun we had. We had a little store in our small town, and Grandma would sometimes give us each a quarter to go get a candy bar. We love the Marathon bars; they don't make those anymore. Grandma would sew and have us read to her while she worked. I love to read the "In Grandma's Attic" series. Life was much simpler back then; we enjoyed lying on the ground and watching the clouds or using sheets on the clothesline to make a "house."
ReplyDeleteWhat fun memories with your grandma. I hardly remember mine - you are very lucky. Getting a whole quarter to spend was cool - that would have been a lot to me. I remember that candy bar. As a teen I used to get Clark bars when I could.
DeleteWatching the clouds - a lovely past time. I still do that some, just not laying in the ground anymore!
Yes! So many wonderful memories. I can almost feel the frozen slush in that first sip of A&W root beer at the drive in on a hot summer’s day…sigh.
ReplyDeleteMary in OK
Wasn't that something? Yes, the taste, the feel, the coldness, all of it. Such simple pleasures.
DeleteThose pot holder kits are in the stores again. Hobby Lobby. So fun!
ReplyDeleteI think that is where I got the loops several years back. It was a fun time.
DeleteChildhood was so much better without technology! Last year I found a set of the Avon lipstick samples (the ones in the little tiny white containers) on eBay and bought them as a nostalgic suprise for my sister in law - she said she takes them out all the time just to smell them! ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, those little tiny white containers! What a fun and neat gift to surprise someone. I love that.
DeleteI can still remember the lady that came, and she always smelled pretty to me as a child.
I would gladly go back to no technology for individuals.
Loved this, Cheryl! I remembered everything you talked about and showed. What a good and simple life we had back then.
ReplyDeleteThanks - glad it made so many smile today! Life was pretty darn grand.
Delete