Remember When

[Snowbird]

This topic is to remember things we use to do that most people no longer do or things we use to use that are no longer in use.
Examples would be the old wringer type washing machines or getting polio shots.

I will start with remember when we use to wear Easter bonnets?

[ponytail]

I particularly remember one that was covered in pick flowers. Holy cow, glad those days are gone.

Remember when you had to get off your butt to go change the channels on the tv set?

[Prairie Dawn]

Yes! I was my fathers remote control! Lol, and there were only 3 or 4 channels!

Remember those metal roller skates you would clamp onto your sneakers that made the cooolest, thunking, hollow sound when you whizzed down the street?  Your legs would vibrate for hours afterwards!

[Snowbird]

I sure do.  I broke my arm skating on a pair of those.

Remember when you had to stand within a few feet of your phone to talk to someone and they all had rotary dials?

[Prairie Dawn]

Yes! I actually miss a rotary dialer, old fashioned phone. 


Remember those "metal slides of death" at the playground?  The ones that would peak at about 120 degrees in the summer sun and you would go screaming down.....without a helmet and fly off the end!

[ponytail]

Sure enough!

 Remember going to the A&W Drive In and getting a frosty mug of root beer brought to your car on a tray?

[Prairie Dawn]

YES! The best root beer float ever!


Remember when penny candy was only a penny and you could get a boatload for 25 cents!

[ponytail]

Yep! Remember when you always wore skirts and dresses to school?

[Merry Prankster]

Snowbird, your topic has managed to release the Prankster's memory Kraken.  Why is it such memories cause the characterization of the ol' days to be "good" and create a feeling of wistful longing and mental images with sepia hues?  Ah, the impetuous follies of youth and the increasingly selective memory of advancing years.

One of my dominant memories involves  "quality of life" as opposed to an antiquated object or service.  I grew up in an area where no one ever locked the doors to their houses or their cars.  Why?  It never occurred to them to do so.  Also, from the age of 8 0r 9 until I could drive, in my free time I would roam with others my age all over my own and adjacent neighborhoods, riding bikes, playing sports, etc. and no adults would have a good idea where we were.  Why?  They never felt the need to do so.  Someone would whistle us home for dinner.   Halcyon days!  Of course, there were occasional bumps and potholes.

[ponytail]

Sounds familiar. Did you have games of kick the can at dusk, too?

[Prairie Dawn]

KICK THE CAN! I loved kick the can!


Oh, MP, you just brought back a funny memory.  Remember when you would be out playing all day in the summer, stopping only for lunch, kool aid, and dinner.  After dinner was the best time to run around, maybe play some kick ball, or clothespin some playing cards to your bicycle spokes and zoom around.  Eventually you would hear parents start to call out names and the crowd would disperse one by one.  However, my dad did not yell, he mounted a giant bell near the front door and would ring it several times.  Heaven help you if you were not home within five minutes!    

[Snowbird]

Snowbird, your topic has managed to release the Prankster's memory Kraken.  Why is it such memories cause the characterization of the ol' days to be "good" and create a feeling of wistful longing and mental images with sepia hues?  Ah, the impetuous follies of youth and the increasingly selective memory of advancing years.

One of my dominant memories involves  "quality of life" as opposed to an antiquated object or service.  I grew up in an area where no one ever locked the doors to their houses or their cars.  Why?  It never occurred to them to do so.  Also, from the age of 8 0r 9 until I could drive, in my free time I would roam with others my age all over my own and adjacent neighborhoods, riding bikes, playing sports, etc. and no adults would have a good idea where we were.  Why?  They never felt the need to do so.  Someone would whistle us home for dinner.   Halcyon days!  Of course, there were occasional bumps and potholes.

I love the way you write.  It is so descriptive and almost poetic. 

I roamed all over the neighborhood too.  We had a mental hospital about a half mile up the street from where I lived where there were lots of sidewalks where we skated and road bikes. 
We would play outside after dark by the light of the front porch.  Sometimes when I step out at night and see the shadows of the trees from the moon I think about playing "ain't no boogers out tonight".  Did anyone else play that? 
Catching lightning bugs was also another after dark activity.

[Prairie Dawn]

Lightening bugs! 

I have never played "ain't no boogers," what is it?


Remember how excited you would get as soon as you heard the sound of the ice cream man's truck?

[ponytail]

I never played that one either.

Remember when you always used to wear a girdle even if you didn't need one?

[bacali]

Never play 'the buggers game"either
And, yes, I was skinny but wore a girdle because of the garters to hold up my stockings...
Now.....

How about me turning around and you see how far you can get....
One, Two, Three....

REDLIGHT !