Vivid Memories of Childhood and Beyond

When my 6th Birthday rolled around there was no party planned. My Mother wanted me to take a nap after lunch, but I didn't want to. She kept insisting that I just lay down and rest. So I did and fell asleep for about an hour and she came and woke me up saying she didn't want me ruining my night's sleep. We both walked in to the kitchen and then....SURPRISE!!!! filled the room from several of my friends. Balloons were hanging everywhere and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner was on display. I remember that moment very clearly.
 
Y'know, back in the day...before videos
there just wasn't much exposure

House of the rising sun has been one of my very favorite songs for a very long time

I had some personal ties to those lyrics
and the music made it all come alive

However,
just recently, I saw the vid of The Animals singing that song
back in the mid '60s
Didn't realize how pubescent Eric Burdon was
Kinda took away something
I mean he sounded like a guy in his 30s or 40s
He looked like he was 15 back then, when he sang it




Heh

I just now found a vid of him trying to sing that song
Must be around 80 or so

Whoa

Couldn't finish the vid
(I may have thrown up in my mouth)

There are times when one should just hang it up

This is wunna those times;

 

Eighth Graders

The kings of elementary school

They could do most anything

Seventh graders seemed to just bide their time
Sixth grade and under were fodder, hoping to live

Seemed forever to reach eighth grade
Seemed gurls matured much quicker

By sixth grade, gurls looked more like wimin
Guys didn't begin to look any kinda cool 'til seventh grade

There were exceptions

My neighbor buddy, Bart, was huge
He was man size by sixth grade
Guess that might be why the eighth graders didn't pick on us

Brady had this cool blonde hair
He wore it in a DA (half flattop, half grown out)
Culminating into a ducktail
Fifth grader
Smart mouthed little turd
Always hanging around me
He never seemed to tire of trying to fight me
He was too easy to beat on, but there were times I enjoyed it


But eighth graders simply ruled

It was that way for me for seven years
Riiiight up until I became an eighth grader

I really don't know what changed
But, I mostly concentrated on the upcoming freshman year
Freshmen got beat to a pulp on a regular basis
That's what the previous eighth graders told us

Being in eighth grade was pretty cool, however
Nobody to fear
Not even teachers
and......if you didn't shoot yer mouth off, you could escape, back of the gym, and smoke
or
make out

I had my make out fantasies
But had to settle practicing on gurls in my grade

Guess that's what grade school was mostly about

Trying a few things,
but,
mostly

waiting

(Heh, I just proof read this....had to fix eight to eighth)
 
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S'mores

posts-8031240.jpg


Loved finding the right branch to put the marshmallow on, roasting the marshmallow with great care and blowing out the flame when it caught fire, squeezing it between the graham crackers and chocolate, blowing on it to cool it down fast, and having the patience to have it melt the chocolate was very difficult. :)
 
I remember in the 1980's getting tickets for my parents to see Dean Martin perform live. My Mom loved Dean. I also bought her flowers to give Dean. When she got to where he was performing she gave the Usher the flowers for Dean but the usher said she had to give them to Dean. So when Dean came on stage the usher walked her up to give Dean the flowers. After she gave them to her he kissed her on the lips. When she got back to her seat and told my Dad to kiss her so that the only 2 men she had ever loved their kisses would be on her lips. Now every time I listen to Dean sing I think of that night.
 
Gary O' said:
The pedal car thread reminded me of my cousin...and his pedal tractor

Thing is, they had essentially nothing
Not even a whole house

Folks on my dad's side were some of the original The Grapes of Wrath folks
Only, my uncle Curty never ever quite got the hang of staying put....anywhere

We'd visit 'em about once ever six months (once we found 'em again)

They'd always be living in a house (sorta) on blocks
Always had to find a way to get up into the place
The yard was dirt
The interior walls always had blankets instead of doors

But my cousin had this pedal tractor.....and trailer
Seems he always had sumpm really cool
Had some sorta upmanship thing going

But, man, looking back, they were poor.....poorer than poor
My uncle never really had a job
Just got stuff and sold it
Even their houses

We were invited to my cousin's family shindig a few years ago
He's on his third or fourth wife
…...and third family
lotsa kids here and there


Anyway, he built a very nice place
Out in the country a ways
Built a trout pond
Very nice, well manicured grounds
Flies to work in his helicopter
Showed it to me, in his helicopter garage

I don't have a helicopter
or helicopter garage
...or a garage

still pretty much hate him
Click to expand...
Heh, just chatted with my cousin
He totally remembered the peddle tractor scene

We had some laughs

shared those times

I no longer hate him......probably
 
Lakeland living said:
had one of the cars, bright red, was all dinged up when it arrived...:rolleyes: I helped put more on...:devilish:
No idea what happened to that car.
Click to expand...
Y'know, when my boys got old enough to peddle, I found one in a thrift shop.
Had to refurb it to make it functional, but they had a ball with it.
Beat the cardboard box 'car' I'd made them.
But that box was pretty cool.
Cut out 'doors', and even made a 'hood' and 'trunk' outa smaller boxes.
They had to pretend with the steering wheel, but, hey, pretending was what it's all about.
Stick horses are in that genre
 
Gary, I found this vid of a 1955 T-Bird Junior by the PowerCar Co.

"This is a video of a 1955 T-Bird Junior. This chassis is completely original and un-restored. The car had been sitting in the basement of the original owner since the late 60's. The body is being cleaned and polished so the test drive with a new 6 Volt golf cart battery was undertaken with the chassis only. ".

iu
 
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I was just listening to music and it brought back memories of the first house me and my Hubby bought after he got out of the Navy. One of our neighbors was a Disc Jockey and every year we had an outside party and he would play the songs. During the party, he would play a song with all the women's names in it. Like Eleanore Rigby, Diana, Mary Lou, etc. He would always play this for me.
 
I remember when I was twelve, I had to take the bus and at that time, I didn't have to pay because of my age. But the bus driver, when he saw how tall I was, didn't believe I was twelve. No matter how much I pleaded. I didn't have an ID on me, so I ended up paying. How tall was I? I had reached 5'7" and a picture of me next to my mom showed me towering over her petite frame. I got the genes from my dad. He was tall. My one sister was taller than me, 5'9" Now, I've been shrinking the past five years or so and have lost half an inch. :)
 
Rather clearly have always been able to recall the time at maybe age 2 or 3 crawling underneath some furniture in our home and upon seeing a 2 slit 110 vac electrical wall outlet even though I knew it was supposedly dangerous probably from what my mother had warned me, with my bare hand, stuck something metal like a hairpin or whatever into it. My brain thankfully has left a very enduring memory...

I do even recall wondering why I did smething stupid Mom had warned me about.
 
Two ol' guys

Oregon City is a quaint, working man's town.
A lot of it is on the hill, sprawled from the bottom to the hilltop

Everyone knew of the two ol' guys

They looked much like these guys;

TMS-Statler%26Waldorf-BalconyBox.jpg

Their uniforms were plaid shirts, baggy pants, and baseball caps

Fixtures of the sidewalk and the park bench

They'd slowly trudge from hilltop to the lower part of the hill, and into the library

if you were in the library, and if they got close to you, you'd become overcome by their aroma

Mostly, they sat outside, on the park bench by the library
.....all day

Then
late afternoon, plod back up the hill
Took about two hours

Hardly anyone actually knew these guys, but some were privileged to enter their home

In it was a TV, two chairs

One chair was almost on the TV
The other chair was turned toward the other chair

The TV volume was maxed

There they'd sit

One asking the other what they heard
The other asking what the other saw

They were brothers

Wonder what their thanksgivings and Christmases were like......
 
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This time of year, sends me back
Not all that far
Few years ago, we got real weary of the gift exchange
Adults really shouldn't do that

My wife's sister loves to load people up with things bought...special
Things to carefully place certain places
Like.....a huge bear....for our yard
This was when we lived at the cabin
Tried to let her know we have those.....live ones

Anyway, we all knocked off the exchange

One; we couldn't compete
The other, our tastes were rather polar

I'm of the opinion she doesn't have a lick of taste

She switches out her rooms like we change the laundry

Twenty or thirty some years ago, we got caught up in a mode of decor
Bought 'sets' of things
Living room sets
Bedroom sets

After a few months, we got rather sick of looking at the stuff

Got things that were comfy
Screw looks

Turns out, good ol' stuff has a warmth
Can't replicate that with new

Back to my SIL;

Both her living areas look like hotel lobbies
Doesn't matter, nobody can sit on that stuff anyway

......except her cats

So glad we cut that part of Christmas out

​

 

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