Vivid Memories of Childhood and Beyond

'I've got yer nose'

Remember that one?

When Dad did that to me, it was a bit of a shock at first
Then I thought about it
Didn't realize my nose looked so much like Dad's thumb

Anyway, the (India?) boy in the 3rd or 4th vid is quite precious

 

Kind of a cruel game to play with toddlers when you think about it. It's the ultimate vulnerability... your parents can steal your body parts at will, and you have to resort to begging to get them back.

Agree about the adorable little boy who's 3rd or 4th on the video.
 
StarSong said:
Kind of a cruel game to play with toddlers when you think about it. It's the ultimate vulnerability... your parents can steal your body parts at will, and you have to resort to begging to get them back.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Dad was a bit sadistic like that
Back then, it seemed the norm

I rather liked being not heard......or seen
 

Rag Ball

Before baseball, there was rag ball

Just take a rag
Tie it in knots
You've got a 'ball'

Grab a stick....a broom stick is best
You've got a 'bat'

Put most anything flat out for 'bases'
You've got a 'ball diamond'

Most any back yard will do (rag balls don't go all that far)

Grab some neighborhood kids, you've got teams

Not enough kids?
The game of 'workup' comes into play
To first and back

No kids?
Got a dog?
Hit the rag ball, yer dog will bring it back
......or run off with it

Then the game of chase comes into play

Yeah, back in the day
before plastic balls and bats

There was rag ball

Let a kid use his mind, he'll come up with his own toys

Boredom never existed.....ever

'Play' was something you got to do

...after chores
 
Gary O' said:
Rag Ball

Before baseball, there was rag ball

Just take a rag
Tie it in knots
You've got a 'ball'

Grab a stick....a broom stick is best
You've got a 'bat'

Put most anything flat out for 'bases'
You've got a 'ball diamond'

Most any back yard will do (rag balls don't go all that far)

Grab some neighborhood kids, you've got teams

Not enough kids?
The game of 'workup' comes into play
To first and back

No kids?
Got a dog?
Hit the rag ball, yer dog will bring it back
......or run off with it

Then the game of chase comes into play

Yeah, back in the day
before plastic balls and bats

There was rag ball

Let a kid use his mind, he'll come up with his own toys

Boredom never existed.....ever

'Play' was something you got to do

...after chores
Click to expand...
We never had enough "big kids" (AKA 8 years old and up) to field a baseball team, never mind two teams. Our solution? The little ones got three chances to hit a pitched ball, then we'd put the ball on home plate and the team in the field backed up to the outfield, pitcher included. Catcher wasn't permitted to field a ball hit this way.

The little kid would take his/her best whack at the ball (they wanted it to go far!), then ran like hell.

Anyone on base was allowed to advance only as many bases as the little kid touched before the fielding team either tagged him out or stopped play by getting the ball to the catcher (who by then had moved to the pitcher's mound).

Since most in our group learned how to play starting with "ball on the plate" there was no shame for little kids to be doing it, more kids got to play, and it was the perfect way to learn the game. Win-win-win

The kids in my family and our neighbors devised numerous games that worked despite some kids not having bicycles, gloves, other equipment or even a lot of athletic ability. We learned early on that the worst kind of player was a poor sport, whether that meant a sore loser, a crybaby or a crowing winner. They were taunted and even worse, sent home. Home being chore-land, most kids didn't have to learn good sportsmanship lessons more than once.

I bemoan adult intervention into children's sports. Left on their own, children sort out fair, imaginative rules that work well for their playspace, their players' ages and skills, their equipment (anyone with a glove shared with the opposing team, no questions asked), and so forth. Unevenly skilled teams get re-chosen immediately.
 
Gary O' said:
Rag Ball

Before baseball, there was rag ball

Just take a rag
Tie it in knots
You've got a 'ball'

Grab a stick....a broom stick is best
You've got a 'bat'

Put most anything flat out for 'bases'
You've got a 'ball diamond'

Most any back yard will do (rag balls don't go all that far)

Grab some neighborhood kids, you've got teams

Not enough kids?
The game of 'workup' comes into play
To first and back

No kids?
Got a dog?
Hit the rag ball, yer dog will bring it back
......or run off with it

Then the game of chase comes into play

Yeah, back in the day
before plastic balls and bats

There was rag ball

Let a kid use his mind, he'll come up with his own toys

Boredom never existed.....ever

'Play' was something you got to do

...after chores
Click to expand...
@Gary O' you know my 2nd huz and I were only talking about this recently that we never had a plethora of toys
I used to love going to my paternal grandparents and there were a few kid things there that Grampa had made
A toy pedal car and a double sided swing with wooden seat (had to watch the splinters though) my sister and I used
Wooden horses made with wooden head and broom handle to ride our hapless steeds
Most of the time we just enjoyed ourselves making up things as we went along with Grampa's stuff
Grampa never threw anything out so there was always something we could make into a game
Sometimes I would just watch Grampa make something in his shed and he would always let me have a go
Stood me in good stead for later in life when I became 'Mrs.Fixit'
 
peramangkelder said:
there were a few kid things there that Grampa had made
A toy pedal car
Click to expand...
Whoa!
And I thought I was doin' good making a 'Car' out of a cardboard box.
That was fun though.
Had a hood for the engine, a trunk lid, doors that swung open, and a steering wheel (of sorts) They played in it for hours/days

peramangkelder said:
I used to love going to my paternal grandparents
Click to expand...
Love every word of that post
 
Well now

Mother's Day

I've got some fond memories, early on
Back when I was 8 or 10
School had us all making things for mother with paper and glue
She'd fawn over them, and put them away

Years passed
Things got a little rough around the house
I didn't hang there much
Left home at 16

Seems Mom never forgave me for that

Many mother's days of the ol' shrug off
Some pretty good gifts
'Put it over there'

Visited her in the hospital in what was almost her death bed
'What are you doing here?!'
Felt like the grim reaper
Almost said 'waiting'

She died suddenly a few months later

I was the main speaker at her funeral
Laid out some pretty nice words, as she'd been thru decades of hell and back

Days later, my fair haired fat little brother and I went thru her stuff
Keepsake stuff for me
A wooden box
All the things I ever made in grade school, neatly contained

She was close mouthed with her emotions
A few years before her death, I hugged her
There was no hugging.....ever
Heh, she brushed it off
But
I could tell it got to her

Wish I woulda done more of that
 
My very favorite time, as a kid, wasn't Christmas, or birthdays, or Halloween, or Easter

It was goin' to the beach

Sand
Wet sand
Dry sand
Water, washing sand over yer feet

Waves
Weird sea life in the shallows
Waves, bigger'n me...pushing me back to shore
Covering me with salty bubbles

But, what really stood out were the aromas

Salt air
Cold or warm, still gets my blood running

But
The best, most prevalent aroma
was the smell of the beach cottages we rented
A certain musky, musty fragrance permeated those old cottages

Decades later, after renting old houses,
and their bouquet sending me to my favorite times,
I discovered it was the smell of mold I so enjoyed
Then I learned about black mold

Still.......it puts me at the beach

If my lady goes before me, I'm headin' to the beach


Hope to find an old cottage
 
Life's a Beach
iu
 
You're too little

My big sister ran with the neighbor kids
They did.....everything

I hung by, watched

I remember them sharing a bottle of Nesbitt's Orange soda

Hot out

Man, that looked good goin' down

nesbitts-sign_thumb.jpg

'You're too little'


Then there was the wax lips, teeth, and mustaches

They even chewed on 'em, made 'em change shapes

'You're too little'

I think I was around four

Seems I was 'too little' for everything that was in demand

Swore, when I grew bigger, I'd have me some orange soda and wax lips, teeth, and mustaches

Never happened

(sigh)

I might just get me some wax teeth tomorrow
This partial is nice.....but not as fun I bet
 
Entrées at our place
In the '50s

Meat

Hamburger
Hotdogs
Roast beef
Fried chikin

That was pretty much it...when we could afford it
(beans were waaaay too regular for dinner)

However

Liver and onions was slipped into the rotation, unannounced

Never took to it

'Eat it!......it'll give you iron!'

Something about eating an organ

Why not spleen and onions?
or
Pancreas and onions?
 
This memory will always stay with me. We were throwing rocks at each other from about 50 yrds and I hit a boy on top of his head. It broke his skull and he had to have like 50 stitches. My punishment was to wait till my Dad got home. He was a steel worker. Then he entered my room with a belt, and told me to "drop 'em". THAT was the worse spanking I ever got, but it worked...I never threw a rock at another human being. :)
 

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