The last few weeks around here have been just awful, and they certainly won’t get better if I try to do nooze on Sunday. Now would seem a good time for a “Memory Lane” post… and then, an even better idea.
You are all invited to submit your own “Memory Lane” suggestions, in the form of comments on existing posts. The winner will get an autographed book (your choice), and I’ll expand his or her suggestion into a full-length post–with full credit given.
Come on–you must have a lot of cool memories that I’ve never touched on. It doesn’t seem like a lot to do, to earn an autographed book. (Caveat: I only autograph books written by me.) And anyhow, memories are fine things to share. I can’t wait to read some of yours.
All memories are eligible, although I admit to a prejudice for those involving our popular culture. What kind of cock-a-mamie thing do you remember, that I forgot?
I don’t know if this qualifies, or not, but I remember, when I was a kid, that I could fund a bottle of pop or another small purchase by simply walking along a nearby busy road and collecting empty pop bottles. IIRC, each empty was worth about 5 cents, so two empties would fund a bottle of pop, plus one more empty to serve as deposit for the bottle containing the pop you just bought.
Recycling aluminum cans doesn’t have the same appeal. A garbage bag full of empty aluminum cans are worth next to nothing, and would require a trip to a recycling center, which will cost more than the value of the cans you are recycling. Livfe was simpler in the ‘60s.
Playing games outside with friends. Games like marbles, skipping rope ad kirby. Also playing on the swings and Shute.
In the summer the neighborhood kids (from many different streets) would play baseball or football on the elementary school grounds, which ever we had enough players for. No adult supervision whatsoever. Today that same school has a 12-foot chain-linked fence around it keeping all interested parties at bay.
We often had to settle for baseball variants–like three to a team, trees for bases and foul poles, only allowed to hit to one field, etc.etc. I had to be better than having adults breathing down your neck.
The gum that came in packs of baseball cards. And the monster cards that came with humorous comments on the pictures. Like the one with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, with his arms outstretched. “Altogether now, three cheers for the principal.”
Oh, boy, monster cards! Haven’t thought of them in decades.
Me, my brother, and dad would go cray-fishing in a small pond, behind the Starlight, an outdoor movie drive-in. We’d buy a big hunk of liver, cut it into small pieces, and with a ball of string and net, catch a bucket or two.
We’d tie a piece of liver to the string, and toss it about ten feet into the water, wait a few minutes, and slowly pull it back to shore. There were always crayfish feeding on the liver. Slowly, we’d dip the net into the water, and catch a few. After an hour we’d have a bucket full. We’d give them to the neighbor that lived behind us; she loved to cook and eat them.
Two memories for the price of one–gee, I miss drive-in movies.
Super balls. Wow, did they fly when hit with a bat.
Whack! Out of sight…
Our home was in one of the many new subdivisions being constructed in the rapidly expanding northwest quadrant of the city of Milwaukee. We lived on an unpaved gravel road. A number of times during each summer a tanker would roam our neighborhood and spray used oil on the roads to help keep the dust down.
We used to live on a dirt road, It was eventually paved.
Cobblestone pavement, though rare, could still be found in and around Milwaukee’s downtown streets. A fixture since April 1890, streetcars traveled on a network of steel rails throughout much of the city. However, largely due to the widespread adoption of gas-powered automobiles and buses, the ridership waned greatly until that fateful day, March 2, 1958, when the service was discontinued. As fortune would have it, I rode with mother on the last trolley as it made its twilight journey into the history books.
Mr. Duigon, this really is such a fun contest!!!!
And everyone can play, Katheleen–open to all.
So I will think of a memory. (:
Mousekin – You are so right, Kathleen! This is so much fun! I remember Ball and Jacks, Tag, Hide and Go Seek, Betsy McCall Dolls, Cartwheels, Hula Hoops, Paper Dolls, and filling balloons with water from the outside faucet to toss at each other, running through the sprinkler, sledding in winter and watching the boys build snow forts at recess during school days.
Girls can build them, too!
Mousekin – Yes, they can, Lee. But, the boys would build two forts and then have a battle with snow balls. The girls just weren’t interested in doing that back then. At least, not at my school.
Girls ought to have more fun.