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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine

Hope you enjoy this since I am posting it purposely for all you old friends - and some young ones too ...

Mike's Place - The Fifties

Jukebox
Were you a kid in the Fifties or so? Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-something's shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad? Judge for yourself:

Family

In 1953 the US population was less than 150 million. Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better
... And that was good.

The average annual salary was under $3,000. Yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life.
...And that was good.

Bread
A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents .. But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one
...And that was good.

TV

Prime-Time meant: I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie. So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters
...And that was good.

Bike

We didn't have air-conditioning ... So the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike.
...And that was good.

Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins. But not Ms. Becky or Mr. Dan
... And that was good.

The only hazardous material you knew about was a patch of grassburrs around the light pole at the corner .
...And that was good.

On a clothesline

You loved to climb into a fresh bed ... Because sheets were dried on the clothesline.
...And that was good.

Grandma and Grandchild

People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives. So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles.
... And that was good.

Parents were respected and their rules were law. Children did not talk back.
... And that was good.

Tree in fall colours

TV was in black-and-white. But all outdoors was in glorious color
... And that was certainly good.

Car with hood up - Dad lookin' in

Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor.
... And the Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs
... And that was very good.


Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard. And chickens behind the garage
... And that was definitely good.

And just when you were about to do something really bad ... Chances were you'd run into your Dad's high school coach ... Or the nosy old lady from up the street Or your little sister's piano teacher ... Or somebody from Church. ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number ... And YOUR first name.
...And even THAT was good! ~~~~~ REMEMBER ???


Forward this post** on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax lips and bubblegum cigars...

Kids smilin'

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! And was it really that long ago?

**To forward this or any post from 'OZ' just click on the envelope icon at the end of the post and follow the instructions -- it's just THAT easy!

1 comment:

STAG said...

And when you got listeriosis or mono, or clamidia, you learned to live with it. There were lots of "grandmothers" around who looked at you wistfully as you played in their yards, and when you asked them about where Mr. Jones, or Mr. Smith was, they just replied..."He didn't come come from the war". A lot of women discovered that the job that they had for 5 or 6 years and were really good at was suddenly gone in favor of a returning soldier, and the pipe fitter, or electronics expert suddenly had to become a poodle skirted bimbo or die alone. Nobody admitted to being other than straight, and being being black meant you got a good job straightening track for CN, and thats about it. Mind you, there were some advantages...safety glass for cars was finally invented and installed which made for a lot less carnage on the highway...and computers had not been invented yet, so when you phoned somebody, either they let it ring, or hired somebody to answer it.

Send THIS on to anybody who thinks things were so hot in the '50s.