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Lola said:
We invented games back then. We used our imaginations.

I wished the world were simpler and just a better place to live with out all this nonsense.
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My uncle taught my cousin and I how to make a very simple but fun toy. With an old wooden shingle shake (might have been cedar or pine) and a lino knife he cut an arrow shaped projectile from one with the head made from the thick part and the "feathers" on the the tapered end of the shake. Then with a length ( I'm guessing 2-3 feet long, I mean it was 60 years ago) of butcher cord or binder twine tied that to a straight stick with a fairly large knot tied in the free end of the twine. A small notch was cut in the shaft just below the arrowhead where you fit the knotted end of the twine. Then you launched the projectile just like the old warriors used to launch a spear. We played with those things for ages and had competitions to see who could fly them the farthest. I'd say we could probably get 100 feet or more from them, hard to say we were so young but it seemed like miles to us. Of course you wouldn't dare do that today, the safety gestapo would be all over anything like that! Look at what happened with lawn darts!😂
 
Lawn darts. As kids we played with them. Our parents just said, “go out and play” meanwhile we could of killed ourselves with these projectiles.

I must say the life skills that my parents passed along to me ensured that I would always be able to fend for myself. My mother taught me compassion and kindness. My father taught us frugality and to give an honest days work for an honest days pay. And now……I have passed those skills and character traits to my boys.
 
Lola said:
My father had built us a huge sandbox in the backyard. While my brothers were playing war with all there military stuff I was in the sandbox for hours with my Tonka trucks building castles of my dreams.

If we needed a snack it was right to the orchard my dad had. Peaches, plums, apples, raspberries and strawberries. Just go and pick it and enjoy. My dad never believed in spraying with insecticides back then. Or if you felt like a hunk of rhubarb or a beautiful fresh tomatoe off the vine you just went and picked it.

We invented games back then. We used our imaginations. We were exposed to an entirely different set of social ethics that my parents made sure I knew. When ppl came into my house the men shook hands and me and my sister did a mini curtesy to show respect.

And the best part of this was NO PHONES!

I remember having the best times having simple water balloon fights with my brothers and their friends. I was a Tom boy and still am.

Sunday dinners were amazing. My mom would allow one of my brothers to invite one of his friends for Sunday dinner through a rotation of brothers and friends. The best meals ever. My mom’s home made coconut cream pie. You don’t forget stuff like this.

I wished the world were simpler and just a better place to live with out all this nonsense.
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Amen Lola! I could sit down with you over coffee talking about our youth. Yeah, as kids we were pretty darned self sufficient when it came to entertaining ourselves with friends or with just ourselves. My absolute favorite time growing up was at a house we lived in from sprng of '62 until spring of '64. I call that house "my last stop at just being a kid." I was in 4th and 5th grades at the time. Riding our bikes, playing board games, making snow forts and underground forts. I also drew and read a lot too. Walking to the local D&C store to buy models kits, candy and Beatle cards! The best part was, there were still some houses under construction in that subdivision and we used to load up our wagons with scrap wood and nails to build tree platforms in the woods a few blocks away. Talk about fun! Bottom line: we were never bored!

Saw relatives on a frequent basis too. Of what I recall, at least once a month (sometimes twice) we would go to a relatives house or they came to ours. Those moments were so special. Not now. Families are so scattered anymore.

I'll never forget something that happened to me once and it hasn't happened since. I was 10 and it was during the summer of 1963. I was riding my bike and it was about 7:30 at night. The sun was just starting to fall below the tree tops, casting those long shadows on the ground. Perfect summer evening. I can still remember what section of the street I was on and I had an out of body experience. There I was, outside of myself looking at myself from the left and I was moving right along with "me" on the bike. It lasted for about 10 seconds. I wasn't spooked or upset and I knew something unique happened but I couldn't explain it. The only explaination I have now is that I was experiencing an absolute perfect moment. The kind of moment that only a young child knows. Perfect summer night, perfect temperature while feeling the breeze on my face. It's like I stepped out of myself so I could get a complete view of the whole scene. I was taking in "my good old days." A magic moment in time.

Believe me, I could go on and on about things but I'll end for now. Gotta get my day going!
 
@Mike J. you can regale us with some more stories. I love stuff like this. It’s an indicator as how you turn out being an adult.

I have my dad to thank for my work ethic. You could never never get away with doing something half arsed because my dad would make us do it again under his supervision. Super strict being a Sargent in the army, second world war. That was the best thing he taught me. This carry’s into every aspect of my life. Hence my passion for music and guitars. He said to me and my brothers, you never give up no matter what’s going on. You put your head down and carry on!!
 
Early 60's and childhood...such a grand time and such pure innocence. And what we saw and heard then (on TV and radio such as they were) was in some other world so we still remained rather untouched by the nastier and seedier side of life. The Beatles and the Stones were something that was on the radio and (gasp) Ed Sullivan but you didn't really dare speak of them out loud when adults were around for fear of serious reprisal! Even country music was sort of something that only the hayseeds listened to when there weren't farm reports to catch. Blues, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry or God forbid, that Elvis character? But there was magic in that too. Curiosity, longing, desire maybe?
Sometimes I still long for that time in certain ways....
 
Lola said:
@Mike J. you can regale us with some more stories. I love stuff like this. It’s an indicator as how you turn out being an adult.

I have my dad to thank for my work ethic. You could never never get away with doing something half arsed because my dad would make us do it again under his supervision. Super strict being a Sargent in the army, second world war. That was the best thing he taught me. This carry’s into every aspect of my life. Hence my passion for music and guitars. He said to me and my brothers, you never give up no matter what’s going on. You put your head down and carry on!!
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Thank you Lola! I find it's actually theraputic in it's own way for me to share some stories. Same here with you! Keep 'em coming!
 
So good to wake up with my best friend in tow. The dogs are spoiled and sleep with us in bed. There’s enough room for everyone just to sprawl out and get comfy. They each have their own sweet spots on the mattress.

This is what I just woke up to. Lol

Like, hey mom it’s breakfast time. Getting a bit of cut eye!


 
Do back to glory days.

I am sure we were all expected to do chores to help out around the the household. What was one chore you really disliked doing?

Helping my father scale and gut fish getting them ready to eat as 6 year old every effing Sunday. Just placed in the deep freeze from his weekly fishing adventures Ya give that child a huge knife to work with. It made me cry. Just another way to stretch the food budget, free fish. Being in a large family each kid had their chores and heaven help you if you didn’t do it perfect in my fathers eyes.
 
Lola said:
Do back to glory days.

I am sure we were all expected to do chores to help out around the the household. What was one chore you really disliked doing?

Helping my father scale and gut fish getting them ready to eat as 6 year old every effing Sunday. Just placed in the deep freeze from his weekly fishing adventures Ya give that child a huge knife to work with. It made me cry. Just another way to stretch the food budget, free fish. Being in a large family each kid had their chores and heaven help you if you didn’t do it perfect in my fathers eyes.
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Once I reached the age of 6 or so, my only chore was to be sure I put my toys away. (Pretty simple. I can do that!). Afterwards I had to make sure I cleaned up whatever mess I made and had to make mine and my brothers bed (who I shared a room with) everyday.

Once I was in 6th grade I was given the glorious task of cleaning the dinner dishes. ("Oh, can I?"). Did not like it at first but after a short time it just became part of the routine. We had a portable radio (AM of course) on the kitchen window sill and that made it much more tolerable. About a year later while doing the dishes I'll never forget hearing "Light My Fire" by the Doors for the first time. It literally was.......WOW!! Grabbed me right away and my little imagination just took right off with what I was hearing. Sounded so unique, different, fresh and alive.

With no internet (can you imagine that?), your mind was free to imagine what the whole package looked like. How many people are in the group? What do they look like? What kind of instruments and amps do they use? What other songs do they have? It added to the wonderment of those days and my reaction was the same as the first time I heard the Beatles a few years before. No such thing as going online to find those answers. No, you had to........................wait.

My gosh, I miss that youthful wonderment so much.
 
Lola said:
Do back to glory days.

I am sure we were all expected to do chores to help out around the the household. What was one chore you really disliked doing?

Helping my father scale and gut fish getting them ready to eat as 6 year old every effing Sunday. Just placed in the deep freeze from his weekly fishing adventures Ya give that child a huge knife to work with. It made me cry. Just another way to stretch the food budget, free fish. Being in a large family each kid had their chores and heaven help you if you didn’t do it perfect in my fathers eyes.
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I did not really care about the chores I had to do (dishes, garbage, cutting the lawn). My favorite weekly moment though was Thursday nights. My Mom got paid on Fridays and as a result, she would go and get her hair done at the beauty salon each Friday. That meant on Thursday nights, it was free for all on her hair for me and my sister. She would let us style her hair however we liked on Thursday nights and we had a BLAST making her look like everything from a movie star to a monster ;~)) It is one of my favorite childhood memories and I treasure my Mom for giving us that kind of leeway ;~))
 
The world is as it always was—as simple or complex as we chose to make it. Blaming devices or others for our own choices is a delusion of our own making. That’s the worst kind.
 
We had an average (for us out in the boonies) of 13 Trick or Treaters hit our steps yesterday evening. We did have on group of 7 at once, a record group for us! I only made up 12 goodie bags so I had to scramble for the backup bag of Reeses Thins to fill all the containers.
Yesterday I was putting out the decorations and noticed the waxwings had arrived to gorge themselves on the mountain ash berries. With the lack of frost so far this year, it's actually really late for them to come in. So much fun to watch them though.
And of course, it wouldn't be Halloween if I didn't dress up to greet the kids at the door. Was really funny when the young folk asked about my costume and I told them it was actually a real uniform that I wear every week. Most of them were stuck staring gobstruck at the katana when I told them it was a real sword.😲😂
https://imgur.com/td6JJjn
https://imgur.com/Xvny7pT
https://imgur.com/zZQjZnP
 
I had 30 kids show up last night. Pretty good considering how it's been for the past few years. I live on one the the small side streets in our subdivision and these streets tend to be an after thought. But one year I had 100 kids show up....in the rain!
 
We probably had 60-80. I just left a big bowl of candy by the door, as we were out with my son.

When we moved in ten years ago, the neighborhood was almost all empty nesters. There’s been so much turnover. Lots of little kids!
 
RC Mike said:
We probably had 60-80. I just left a big bowl of candy by the door, as we were out with my son.

When we moved in ten years ago, the neighborhood was almost all empty nesters. There’s been so much turnover. Lots of little kids!
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It's amazing to witness the change in neighborhoods. I moved into my house in 1991 and for the first 5 years or so you'd think it was the baby boom years all over. Kids were everywhere. Slowly started winding down after a while and I'd get maybe 10 kids max on Halloween for years.

When covid hit in 2020, only three kids came to my door. That was sad because I've always enjoyed Halloween. Big kid at heart here!
 
Lola said:
What was one chore you really disliked doing?
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Trimming the grass. I was more than happy to mow, even when all we had was a push mower, but there were no weedeaters back then. ALL the trimming was done with "garden sheers" so you went around the house and the flowerbeds and the driveway and the mailbox and the trees and the .... well you get it, for over an hour using large scissors to trim the grass away from everything! That one, I wasn't fond of.
 
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