Oh, our “freezer” was part of the fridge — every fridge here had a small compartment above the fridge part where we kept ice cube trays and ice cream, etc. Ah, the good old days huh.
I hope you’re well. I’m taking a great online course on coping with CFIDS (based on Bruce Campbell’s really excellent book). The role of stress in making everything go on and on and on. It is a real eye opener even though I kind of “knew it” but not really. It can definitely help diminish the symptoms and hopefully lead to some kind of healing.

I am so happy the glorious Fall is here, even if I can’t get out that much. I hope Dora is having a good time and is doing OK with the other puddies. What a story that was. It would make a great book. Hi Dora – I hope you are frolicking and enjoying life. Hi to the other kitties too.

I didn’t realize you had gotten the nostalgia material from a newspaper article. Very very good, no matter who wrote it.

Something I really really miss today is MUSIC — you know hummable tunes. Radio stations that actually play new artists, etc. It’s a very big loss. Actually all the other fields of “art” are also on life support — I really don’t like most of the books that make their way to being published these days. Prefer the fiction I read years ago. Loved Barbara Pym’s wonderful books about the single ladies in England and the jumble sales. As far as art, puleeeeeze, awful. Just my opinionated opinion though.

You are definitely the website queen. Again I hope you are feeling OK and that things are improving for you. I think I’m improving — she said in a whisper.

xxxx

Chloe says “Hi Dora”

I have just finished a website for my school reunion next weekend, so many photos from the 60’s – where has the time gone? Even then we hitched lifts to Liverpool to see acts at the Cavern Club and came to no harm – our mother’s thought that we were staying over with friends!
CCHS

I got to wear a cute uniform to my grammar school St. Joan of Arc, complete with a tiny pocket in the skirt for a — handkerchief — remember them? No one objected to uniforms at all. We had to wear a beret and had knee highs and oxford shoes. We had a reading hour, music hour and art. Before we went home, the teacher sold some penny candy — OMG, candy to kids???? Yep, and it was fun. All those neat crazy candies — Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, etc.

There were Soda Fountains that we would go to after school for a freshly made Coke or an Egg Cream, Malted Milk, Ice Cream Soda or Ice Cream Sundae. Yum.

After school, we wore saddle shoes, white bucks, felt poodle skirts, hoop skirts, capri pants or peddle pushers as they were also called. We had heavy metal roller skates with big skate keys worn around our necks. We had scabs on our knees all the time.

We rode our bikes EVERYWHERE.

There were all those wonderful toys — hoola hoops, pogo sticks, yo yo’s, Mr. Potato Head, miniature kitchens with stoves that worked using a light blub for heat, dolls galore, and on and on.

We played endless board and card games — from Monopoly to Clue to card games like Slap Jack and War. We all had knives (OMG!) and used them to make bows and arrows (not to kill any animal but to target practice) and to play games in the dirt like “Territory.”

Most homes had ONE black and white TV with 3 channels AND everyone watched together and shared choices.

We kids had sherbet colored transistor radios that we hid under our pillows and listened to after lights were out. Rock and roll was the rage, calling in and leaving tributes to girlfriends/ boyfriends with the DJ’s was a vital part of each show.

Every kid had towers of comic books which were swapped back and forth. We read like crazy and the library was a second home.

Oh yes, those foods — aspic, plain meat and potatoes and one veggie. Jello, Hostesss Cup Cakes. However, sweets were in short supply — never ever had more than a pint of ice cream in our freezer, no large bottles of soda. Candy bars were a good size then and not these teensy miniatures we have today.

Kids spent many entire Saturdays at the movies — watching 50 Cartoon Bonanzas, followed by previews and double or triple features. When we got home, our mothers forbade us to watch TV as it would strain our eyes after a whole day at the movies.

Most families had NO Air Conditioning and somehow survived.

Winters were really cold and snowy and no one on TV said there was a “blizzard” or “snow storm” unless it was going to be several feet of snow, not inches. We wore skirts and high heels on dates even in freezing January. Brrrrr. We had sleds and ice skates and used them.

And yes indeed we stayed outside until the last possible minute playing. Not in play groups but with our friends. Hopskotch, tag, hide and seek, soap box derby races, Simon Says, roller skating, bikes, etc. Yep, broken bones and broken teeth. It was so much fun and unprogrammed.

It was a time of safety for kids — no one worried about their kids being abducted outside. Unheard of. Kids were allowed the freedom to play on their own — parents knew the neighbors would tell if we did anything “bad.”

A summer highlight was the daily visit of the Ice Cream Truck — and the yell from the yard (I lived in a 6 story apt. building) “Mom, the ice cream man is here, throw down a quarter.” And down the quarter would come wrapped in a small piece of newspaper. What a thrill.

We had friends in school and in our buildings and on our block. It was kid crazy and not schedule crazy. We baked in the sun with Copper Tone (just oil) and never got skin cancer.

I honestly don’t remember any kids with ADDH or any of those hyper active conditions we have today. I don’t remember any with autism. Of course, there were probably some poor kids with these things but they were not in numbers noticeable.

I went to church with a hat, white gloves and a little purse. When you went to a restaurant, your father HAD to wear a jacket and tie and everyone had to look presentable — unlike today.

There were boarding houses for vacations in the country or out by the ocean. Lots of kids, communal meals and swimming, swimming, swimming.

Lipsticks really stayed on then because of that nifty Red Dye stuff. Makeup was limited to powder, lipstick and maybe some “rouge.”‘

We bought record albums that were colorful with lots of information on the back. There were the 45’s too with the latest “hits” and every kid had a record player.

Aaaah, am I a happy oldster. Thanks so much for the memories you shared and for the tribute.

xxxx

denise