Strolling Down Memory Lane

[injest]

ok this isnt' really a POLL exactly but I would like to hear from all of ya'll...tell me about things from your childhood to young adulthood that you remember with fondness...in particular things that kids today don't do, can't do, won't have to do...and things that you wish you could do again if only you could be young again (or not get arrested for losing your mind!)

[injest]

me first!

I miss SWINGING!

on  a swing set, Charlie, get your MIND outta the GUTTER, 

I used to LOVE to swing, I remember racing the other kids to the swing sets at recess and spending the entire time swinging...I loved the seesaw feeling and the wind in my hair...I loved dragging my feet in the soft sand to stop...

I would swing til I had BLISTERS on my hands...

[huntinbuddy]

Yes, swing sets were fun; we even had one in our front lawn when I was kid.  Another thing we had that I don't see all that often is a sand box.  My dad would go down to the nearby stream and would bring like a couple of front end loaders full of sand for us to play in.  Mom hated it because we would track it into the house.   The damn cats thought it was a huge litter box, and we would occasionally come across their little treasures.   But we had all our toy tractors out there, dozers, and cranes......we would build lots of things, only to tear them down and rebuild them again and again.

In my high school years, the bigger the 4-wheel drive pickup you had, the more prestigious you were.  And in those days, every one of us had a gun rack in the back window and the guns to go with it.....quite often they were loaded even.   Don't see that parked at high schools today!

[injest]

Yes, swing sets were fun; we even had one in our front lawn when I was kid.  Another thing we had that I don't see all that often is a sand box.  My dad would go down to the nearby stream and would bring like a couple of front end loaders full of sand for us to play in.  Mom hated it because we would track it into the house.   The damn cats thought it was a huge litter box, and we would occasionally come across their little treasures.   But we had all our toy tractors out there, dozers, and cranes......we would build lots of things, only to tear them down and rebuild them again and again.

In my high school years, the bigger the 4-wheel drive pickup you had, the more prestigious you were.  And in those days, every one of us had a gun rack in the back window and the guns to go with it.....quite often they were loaded even.   Don't see that parked at high schools today!

no in fact one of my neighbors kids got suspended for having a rifle in the gun rack, he had borrowed his dad's truck..

[MustLoveDogs]

I loved swinging too. Had a backyard swingset that I used a lot, but the greatest swing in the world was one that my grandpa put in a huge tree in the fence row of the pasture!!! It was so far from the seat to the limb that I could swing very HIGH. It's a wonder I made it through my childhood. Climbing trees and farm buildings, swinging in a 180* arc, getting chased by mad mama cows, no seat belts---hitting the windshield and breaking it, running the fields where there were snakes, coyotes, stinging bugs, etc. It was a fun, fun time!

[MagicM]

When I was a little kid it was great fun to run around under the sprinkler on the lawn.

As I got older I loved the freedom to get on my bike and just ride around wherever my fancy took me.

In Western Australia the summers were long and hot and we spent half our time swimming at the beach, in the Swan River or at the baths.

We played soccer on the road and in the back lanes.

Saturday afternoon at the matinee session watching Tarzan or a cowbody movie and later Friday nights snogging at the local cinema - in summer the open air cinema next door provided deck chairs.

One night when we were about 11 and 12 my brother and I snuck out to the pictures only to be caught by Mum and Dad who had decided to see the same film. We were sent home in disgrace.

They were magic moments alright. Mostly I remember the spontaneity, the freedom and the adventure. We pulled some dangerous stunts like getting stuck half way down a cliff and the neighbours had to rescue us. We lived in a kind of virtual reality in our heads - the lounge room became a theatre, the local park became a jungle or battle ground. We didn't have computer games or TV so we relied on our own imagination and creativity. We may not have had cyberspace but we had the whole world around us and the freedom to explore it.

[CoyotePiper]

Hmm, I remember really looking forward to Saturdays. All day long was spent on playing, fun and adventure. Outside all day even in winter. Up at dawn with the TV on very low volume watching kid shows. Then out. No organized sports at all. No soccer practice or anything like that. Yet I played 10 times more baseball than any kid today on supervised, organized teams. In summer off on long adventures on the bicycle. My parents never realized how far I went. 10 to 15 miles away. The girl next door was more adventurous, she used to take the city bus downtown alone. The idea of doing that frightened me but also left me slack jawed with some envy. I thought she was the coolest to do that.

[injest]

Hmm, I remember really looking forward to Saturdays. All day long was spent on playing, fun and adventure. Outside all day even in winter. Up at dawn with the TV on very low volume watching kid shows. Then out. No organized sports at all. No soccer practice or anything like that. Yet I played 10 times more baseball than any kid today on supervised, organized teams. In summer off on long adventures on the bicycle. My parents never realized how far I went. 10 to 15 miles away. The girl next door was more adventurous, she used to take the city bus downtown alone. The idea of doing that frightened me but also left me slack jawed with some envy. I thought she was the coolest to do that.

Saturday morning cartoons! with bowls of Fruit Loops (if we were lucky) with the milk turning pink from the dye...toast and Koolaid, yummy!!

and long stretches of time to do with as we wished....the sound of the TV and the smell of supper cooking wafting thru the screen door, calling us in at dusk!

remember the slam of a screen door?

[injest]

I loved swinging too. Had a backyard swingset that I used a lot, but the greatest swing in the world was one that my grandpa put in a huge tree in the fence row of the pasture!!! It was so far from the seat to the limb that I could swing very HIGH. It's a wonder I made it through my childhood. Climbing trees and farm buildings, swinging in a 180* arc, getting chased by mad mama cows, no seat belts---hitting the windshield and breaking it, running the fields where there were snakes, coyotes, stinging bugs, etc. It was a fun, fun time!

I always wanted to be a daredevil and do a flying dismount but never got up the nerve to just let go at that high spot!

[injest]

When I was a little kid it was great fun to run around under the sprinkler on the lawn.

As I got older I loved the freedom to get on my bike and just ride around wherever my fancy took me.

In Western Australia the summers were long and hot and we spent half our time swimming at the beach, in the Swan River or at the baths.

We played soccer on the road and in the back lanes.

Saturday afternoon at the matinee session watching Tarzan or a cowbody movie and later Friday nights snogging at the local cinema - in summer the open air cinema next door provided deck chairs.

One night when we were about 11 and 12 my brother and I snuck out to the pictures only to be caught by Mum and Dad who had decided to see the same film. We were sent home in disgrace.

They were magic moments alright. Mostly I remember the spontaneity, the freedom and the adventure. We pulled some dangerous stunts like getting stuck half way down a cliff and the neighbours had to rescue us. We lived in a kind of virtual reality in our heads - the lounge room became a theatre, the local park became a jungle or battle ground. We didn't have computer games or TV so we relied on our own imagination and creativity. We may not have had cyberspace but we had the whole world around us and the freedom to explore it.

we didn't often get to go to the movies but I DO remember going to see Bambi in the theatre, it was the first time I saw velvet ropes and I felt we must be in some REALLY high class joint for there to be VELVET ropes!!

and my brothers and I always wanted a Slip N Slide, although my mother insisted we would all break our necks (yeah, like we wouldn't learn after seeing the FIRST sibling dead....) and wouldn't buy us one!

we DID have a sprinkler with a clown that shot up in the air...

[huntinbuddy]

Another thing we had as kids was a tire swing.  In our case, it was good sized truck tire suspended from a high limb in the large maple tree in our lawn.  I would say it was about 30 feet of rope that suspended it.  It was really cool as you could swing straight back and forth, OR, you could go to the side and bang into the trunk of the tree and of course with the rubber tire you would just bounce off, only to come back and hit it again and again.

[injest]

Another thing we had as kids was a tire swing.  In our case, it was good sized truck tire suspended from a high limb in the large maple tree in our lawn.  I would say it was about 30 feet of rope that suspended it.  It was really cool as you could swing straight back and forth, OR, you could go to the side and bang into the trunk of the tree and of course with the rubber tire you would just bounce off, only to come back and hit it again and again.

OR spin it around until you were so dizzy you puked...

[MustLoveDogs]

Tarzan or Shirley Temple or both on Saturday afternoons with popcorn (not microwaved) and a half a Pepsi.

[injest]

attic fans!!

remember attic fans? do they even make them anymore? they were surprisingly effective but my mother wouldn't let us use it that much because it cost too much. no, we usually used the fan in the window thing, which on a hot day was pretty effective.

on a hot day, they would put a box fan in a window facing outward and crack the door open just a crack, the room would cool down ten degrees or more (I have no idea why but it did!)..they used it mostly for older people or babies to take a nap because as soon as that door was opened, the cool went away..

we'd do it at night too..

I remember the first air conditioned car and first window air conditioner...both were owned by a cousin whose husband made 'good' money working as an auto mechanic..

we were in AWE of that air conditioner!

come to think of it though, that cousin introduces ALL the cool new stuff...like miniskirts, thigh high boots, heated blankets, individual pizzas, color TV, sports car...

she was even the one that lived in Germany for a while, and I remember going to the airport to pick her up..vaguely...her husband was in the service and was stationed there..

[injest]

funny...

that reminded me, she got the window unit at the same time the Watergate hearings were going on..I remember that was on TV and we were torn up that that was all there was to see on that new color tv!!

I ran away one time...planned on living with her, didn't make it to the end of the driveway before I remembered no one would pet the cat and he would miss me...