Remember when...

[graceanne]

My favorites were always the characters with the gumball eyes. Pink Panther, Ninja Turtles, Mickey Mouse...

Now it's spider man and dora the explorer. i think there's a barbie, too.

 

[ownedsubgal]

Mr. Rogers always read super duper creepy kiddie perv to me, i actually would get nightmares from watching his show (sometimes the grandparents would force me since they loved him).

as far as cartoons, didn't watch too many, but loved Merry Melodies that featured Foghorn Leghorn. His almost-cursing drunkeness with a southern drawl made me feel at home, lol.

but my all time favorite kiddie show was Reading Rainbow!!! of course the books were always way too baby-ish for me (i read The Iliad when was 8), but i really liked the educational/exploring bits where they would tour a factory or go inside a waterfall or whatnot. the best thing about RR though was LeVar Burton!! for some reason, unknown even to me, i had the major hots for him when i was a little kid. maybe it was that soothing voice....mmmm. plus RR had the best theme song EVER. try listening to it high or drunk and you will know what i mean.

 

[FurryFury]

My fav ice cream was orange sherbet push up pops. Recently I looked for them but couldn't find them at the grocery store. I did find orange sherbet. It was GREAT on my poor throat at that time.

Reading Rainbow was / is? a great show. I think it started about a decade past my own childhood though.

I found Mr. Rodger's soothing.

I liked Electric Company too!

FF

 

[graceanne]

Mr. Rogers always read super duper creepy kiddie perv to me, i actually would get nightmares from watching his show (sometimes the grandparents would force me since they loved him)

I never liked Mr. Rogers. I figured anyone being that nice was up to no good.

but my all time favorite kiddie show was Reading Rainbow!!! of course the books were always way too baby-ish for me (i read The Iliad when was 8), but i really liked the educational/exploring bits where they would tour a factory or go inside a waterfall or whatnot. the best thing about RR though was LeVar Burton!! for some reason, unknown even to me, i had the major hots for him when i was a little kid. maybe it was that soothing voice....mmmm. plus RR had the best theme song EVER. try listening to it high or drunk and you will know what i mean.

I loved RR. I knew the whole song and sang it all the time. I wasn't allowed to watch cartoons in the mornings, cause weekends were for cleaning, but after I got old enough to stay home along my sister and I would sneak in afternoon cartoons, and we LOVED she-ra. lol

My fav ice cream was orange sherbet push up pops. Recently I looked for them but couldn't find them at the grocery store. I did find orange sherbet. It was GREAT on my poor throat at that time.

We weren't allowed ice cream from the ice cream man. There was never enough money for treats like that.

 

[Cattypuss]

as far as cartoons, didn't watch too many, but loved Merry Melodies that featured Foghorn Leghorn. .

OMG I loved loved LOVED Foghorn Leghorn!

 

[VelvetSin]

My fav ice cream was orange sherbet push up pops. Recently I looked for them but couldn't find them at the grocery store. I did find orange sherbet. It was GREAT on my poor throat at that time.

Reading Rainbow was / is? a great show. I think it started about a decade past my own childhood though.

I found Mr. Rodger's soothing.

I liked Electric Company too!

FF

Orange push pops are great, and our local grocery store sells them on rare occasions. If you like that flavor and drink alcohol sometimes, TGI Fridays has a orange dream mixed drink foofy mix sold at liquor stores that reminds me of orange push pops. Yum!

I still remember the Reading Rainbow song too!

One retro / nostalgia thing for me at least was that people always had cash on them. My parents always had at least a few bucks in purse/wallet and stashed around because that or checks was the only real currency. Credit cards were for "big" things / emergencies (which usually meant a big thing). It's been months since I had actual paper cash on me, and it was so out of habit for me I hauled it around for something like another month before I remembered it and spent it all. I always use plastic/debit to buy anything, and no one takes checks any more.

 

[Cattypuss]

One retro / nostalgia thing for me at least was that people always had cash on them. My parents always had at least a few bucks in purse/wallet and stashed around because that or checks was the only real currency. Credit cards were for "big" things / emergencies (which usually meant a big thing). It's been months since I had actual paper cash on me, and it was so out of habit for me I hauled it around for something like another month before I remembered it and spent it all. I always use plastic/debit to buy anything, and no one takes checks any more.

Ooh! Transtlantic differences! We always have cash on us. For buying newpapers, or a pint of milk, or to pay for parking or or or....

 

[FurryFury]

My dad always had cash but I rarely do.

*nods*

FF

 

[ultramarineblue]

Ooh! Transtlantic differences! We always have cash on us. For buying newpapers, or a pint of milk, or to pay for parking or or or....

I've started trying to carry cash more often. It's easier than trying to keep track of all the debit purchases, etc. to make sure they are correct.

 

[Soumis]

Now it's spider man and dora the explorer. i think there's a barbie, too.

I find it vaguely creepy to think of humanish ice cream heads. I still feel the need to hunt down an ice cream truck though.

 

[Seurat]

I miss the Blue Laws. It was sort of nice to have everything - every store, etc., shut down for one day out of the week. The only thing you could buy was food, and even then it was only at certain places. Made for good family time, too.


As for all those reminiscing about cartoons - do you remember the television special they would have a few nights before the 'opening saturday', where the networks would give you teasers of all the upcoming new shows? "This year, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" or "Hong Kong Phooey", and they would do a background piece on each.

 

[Keroin]

As for all those reminiscing about cartoons - do you remember the television special they would have a few nights before the 'opening saturday', where the networks would give you teasers of all the upcoming new shows? "This year, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" or "Hong Kong Phooey", and they would do a background piece on each.

Do I? Oh baby, that was pure gold.

Here's one of my old Saturday faves...

http://lifesatoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Jabberjaw.png

 

[Homburg]

When I heard he had passed away in 03' I cried like a baby. No, I never met him, but that show was a part of my life for most of my life. It just goes to show you that people can become attached to things like television programs, in emotional ways that defies the fact that you don't actually really know the people/characters.

Mr. Rogers was a Pittsburgh area guy, and I have family up there. Just about everybody has a Mr. Rogers story where they met him or a friend did, and they all talk about how engaging he was, how truly nice a person the man was all the time. And they make a point of talking about how it wasn't a fake or obsequious nice. He was just a genuinely warm, caring man that made you feel better just by being around.

I was stunned when I heard that he'd passed away. It's logical, sure, he was an old guy, but the world was lessened by his passing. Some part of me just did not want to accept a world with no Fred Rogers in it.

--

Funny, on our recent road trip we spent some time with L's mom and this subject came up, which led to a discussion of over-protectiveness in general.

MIL asked L: How old were you when you did that bicycle trip to Arizona by yourself?
L said: 15
MIL said: Wow, funny, I thought nothing of it at the time. It just seemed normal.

I don't remember the story, but my family loves to tell it. I was five years old and we were on one of our yearly trips to my dad's folks' farm. For whatever reason, I got up reeeally early. Like early enough that my grandfather was still drinking his coffee and preparing to go feed the animals. I'd gotten dressed in jeans, boots, a sturdy shirt, and hat and asked my grandfather to saddle the horse. He has this shaggy old mountain pony that I loved dearly. With a grin, he said he would. I grabbed a pack, put some food in it, and strapped a .22 revolver to my belt. Why? Because I was going out riding, and had to be able to protect my horse from copperheads.

My parents were up by now, and apparently amused by the whole thing, and let me saddle up and ride off. At five years of age, I was trusted with a live firearm and a horse in the mountains of North Carolina by myself. In my parents defense, I had gun safety drilled into from about three years old, and the horse in question knew those backwoods better than anyone but my grandfather. And, on top of that, she was gentle and wouldn't spook or buck, and I was too little to get back on her if I climbed off. So they knew she would bring me back, and that it would probably be when I needed to pee.

Still, it was a different world back then.

--

Saturday morning cartoons rocked... I loved Superfriends... LOL I remember that I would HATE it when college football started and knocked the cartoons off the air...

And come on folks, "I'm just a bill, oh yes I'm only a bill, sitting here on capital hill...." or "Interplanet Janet she's a galaxy girl, the solar system is from a future world...." or "conjunction junction! what's your function?"

Yikes... that was off the top of my head...

I have a DVD of those shorts. They are so very good.

 

[Keroin]

I don't remember the story, but my family loves to tell it. I was five years old and we were on one of our yearly trips to my dad's folks' farm. For whatever reason, I got up reeeally early. Like early enough that my grandfather was still drinking his coffee and preparing to go feed the animals. I'd gotten dressed in jeans, boots, a sturdy shirt, and hat and asked my grandfather to saddle the horse. He has this shaggy old mountain pony that I loved dearly. With a grin, he said he would. I grabbed a pack, put some food in it, and strapped a .22 revolver to my belt. Why? Because I was going out riding, and had to be able to protect my horse from copperheads.

My parents were up by now, and apparently amused by the whole thing, and let me saddle up and ride off. At five years of age, I was trusted with a live firearm and a horse in the mountains of North Carolina by myself. In my parents defense, I had gun safety drilled into from about three years old, and the horse in question knew those backwoods better than anyone but my grandfather. And, on top of that, she was gentle and wouldn't spook or buck, and I was too little to get back on her if I climbed off. So they knew she would bring me back, and that it would probably be when I needed to pee.

Still, it was a different world back then.

Well, yes and no - re:different world.

Life in this part of the world is still very much like that, (which is part of why I love the Kootenays so much). On our first camping trip of the season, we had among us two 10-yer-olds and two 15-year-olds. While we adults sat around the fire shooting the breeze and planning our fishing excursion for the next day the kids were...gone. And we're talking wilderness with grizzlies, cougars, etc. This seemed completely normal to us.

The teens had hopped in the canoe to go fishing and were far, far down the lake until sunset. The younger kids were ripping up the trails with their mountain bikes and then they returned to chop wood, (with axes, yes) and make fire, (the primitive way) - all without adult supervision.

I couldn't help thinking of how freaked out most city parents would be by that. I was happy to see that kids still live that way.

 

[Homburg]

Well, yes and no - re:different world.

Life in this part of the world is still very much like that, (which is part of why I love the Kootenays so much). On our first camping trip of the season, we had among us two 10-yer-olds and two 15-year-olds. While we adults sat around the fire shooting the breeze and planning our fishing excursion for the next day the kids were...gone. And we're talking wilderness with grizzlies, cougars, etc. This seemed completely normal to us.

The teens had hopped in the canoe to go fishing and were far, far down the lake until sunset. The younger kids were ripping up the trails with their mountain bikes and then they returned to chop wood, (with axes, yes) and make fire, (the primitive way) - all without adult supervision.

I couldn't help thinking of how freaked out most city parents would be by that. I was happy to see that kids still live that way.

The area I was in had black bears and mountain lions. Well, it did back then. That particular holler has had a lot more homes built than when I was a kid. It is likely that the bears and painters have moved on to more remote ranges.

I would like to give my kids this sort of freedom. Nowhere around here to do that though. Too many damned people.

 

[FurryFury]

I hated the Blue Laws and I'm damned glad they are gone.

For me, being raised in a church that did everything on Saturday or more precisely from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, to have the stores all closed and not be able to do business on Sunday really was frustrating.

For a while I lived in one of the church enclaves. They shut down everything for Saturday which was different but also frustrating to me.

I didn't enjoy that crap then. I've written quite a few papers about it. I even ran across one the other day that I wrote in high school. All I can say is dayum, I was good. I did great research, extensive even and wrote a great paper! Woo hoo!

Anything that takes away from the ability and freedom to do business and live my life as I see fit on MY schedule, particularly do to religion, pisses me off.

FF

I miss the Blue Laws. It was sort of nice to have everything - every store, etc., shut down for one day out of the week. The only thing you could buy was food, and even then it was only at certain places. Made for good family time, too.


As for all those reminiscing about cartoons - do you remember the television special they would have a few nights before the 'opening saturday', where the networks would give you teasers of all the upcoming new shows? "This year, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" or "Hong Kong Phooey", and they would do a background piece on each.

 

[graceanne]

Anything that takes away from the ability and freedom to do business and live my life as I see fit on MY schedule, particularly do to religion, pisses me off.

FF

Yep. I got stuck in Utah for three hours last time I flew. Everything closed at 9. Every. Thing. I was so annoyed, I hadn't had time to eat in portland and planned on eating there. I wasn't surprised, though. I ended eating out of a vending machine which REALLY annoyed my tummy.

 

[FurryFury]

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Sorry that happened to you.

FF

Yep. I got stuck in Utah for three hours last time I flew. Everything closed at 9. Every. Thing. I was so annoyed, I hadn't had time to eat in portland and planned on eating there. I wasn't surprised, though. I ended eating out of a vending machine which REALLY annoyed my tummy.

 

[graceanne]

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Sorry that happened to you.

FF

I know. I was agreeing. And, I got over it. I was just annoyed at the time, and that probably had a lot to do with being hungry.

 

[Seurat]

I hated the Blue Laws and I'm damned glad they are gone.

For me, being raised in a church that did everything on Saturday or more precisely from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, to have the stores all closed and not be able to do business on Sunday really was frustrating.

For a while I lived in one of the church enclaves. They shut down everything for Saturday which was different but also frustrating to me.

I didn't enjoy that crap then. I've written quite a few papers about it. I even ran across one the other day that I wrote in high school. All I can say is dayum, I was good. I did great research, extensive even and wrote a great paper! Woo hoo!

Anything that takes away from the ability and freedom to do business and live my life as I see fit on MY schedule, particularly do to religion, pisses me off.

FF

I'm sure that as an adult, I would be as impressed as I remember being as a child. My current workplace does not recognize anything special about any day or not, and is fully operational 24/7, with no holidays. My choice to work there, though. Makes for a crappy family life at times.

But my memories of a time when businesses (for the most part) were required to recognize that one day of the week should be dedicated to home life meant something to me then. Youth is often seen through rose colored glasses or black lensed ones, and memories are quite the same. Nowadays, I look at the strictures placed on me by the state and scream at the idiotic way things are set up (Fireworks?you can sell them, but can't buy them or use them. Six pack? Can only be bought at bars or places with special licenses. Bottle of wine? Better hope the state run liquor store is open, or you have to risk the federales and cross state lines. Etc.)

Whenever I've seen them, I use to pick up the dvds of those Saturday morning cartoons I liked so much as a kid and, to tell the truth, they were pretty much crap. Most of the Bugs Bunny stuff wasn't really funny, Scooby Doo is now really a mystery to me, and things like Space Ghost and Johnny Quest are better left to be ridiculed on late night Adult Swim.

But then again, we were talking of memories, not the realities. Summers were better, weekends were better, cartoons and horror flicks were better, anything was better if that's the way you want to remember them. Or they are worse, if that's what you want.

 

[FurryFury]

I know what you mean.

My husband is supposed to be off weekends for the first time in his life.

For most of our (19) years together, he has worked every other weekend. That was fine with me because he was off during the week some and we had family / couple time.

For the past two years he is one week "days" only and supposed to be off weekends. Lot's of weekends he still works and the "days" are shift work which are constantly revolving. As a result he is super stressed, far less pleasant in general, our family and couple time is very close to zero.

I know this too shall pass but it's been very difficult. I think the company should be able to figure out shifts that allow someone to have a decent family life too.

I'm really a girl who tends to look at my glass as half full most of the time though. It may not seem like it here. LOL.

 

[culloden]

Remember when kindergarteners could walk themselves, without a parent, to school and it was safe and normal?

It's probably as safe as it ever was. It's just not normal anymore. The safer we as a society become, the more risk averse we get.

 

[culloden]

How about Bazooka bubble gum, 2 for a penny? The summer I discovered that led to the autumn when I had my first cavity. Ah, the good old days.

Smoking was permitted everywhere. I don't miss that.

From about fourth grade on, my buddies and I spent summers riding bikes everywhere, and floating down rivers on inner tubes. Real ones, out of farm tractors or trucks. The Gulf station sold patched tubes for a buck or two.

My neighbor was a state trooper. He always gave us kids firecrackers and bottle rockets he'd confiscated in traffic stops. He saved the big stuff, and had grand displays on the Fourth. The ethics were questionable, but damn, it was fun.

We shot .22s regularly, and explored miles of woods. We even drank from streams. We camped out, just taking sleeping bags into the woods and waking up in the morning soaked with dew and mosquito chewed. We got ticks in the woods, before Lyme disease, and leeches from the ponds. Those things are gross.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to be a kid today.

 

[FurryFury]

Yep. I had an uncle who would give me Bazooka!

Remember when the Frederick's of Hollywood catalog was drawn instead of photographed? Somehow it seemed much sexier then the rare times I found one at someone's house.

FF

How about Bazooka bubble gum, 2 for a penny? The summer I discovered that led to the autumn when I had my first cavity. Ah, the good old days.

Smoking was permitted everywhere. I don't miss that.

From about fourth grade on, my buddies and I spent summers riding bikes everywhere, and floating down rivers on inner tubes. Real ones, out of farm tractors or trucks. The Gulf station sold patched tubes for a buck or two.

My neighbor was a state trooper. He always gave us kids firecrackers and bottle rockets he'd confiscated in traffic stops. He saved the big stuff, and had grand displays on the Fourth. The ethics were questionable, but damn, it was fun.

We shot .22s regularly, and explored miles of woods. We even drank from streams. We camped out, just taking sleeping bags into the woods and waking up in the morning soaked with dew and mosquito chewed. We got ticks in the woods, before Lyme disease, and leeches from the ponds. Those things are gross.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to be a kid today.

 

[MasterPhoenix]

Commercials had the names of their competition blocked out. They would just say they were better than "The other leading national brand" and have blurred out box with a vague colour scheme of their competition....

I could ride a bicycle without a helmet or knee and elbow pads. (I have the scars on said knees and elbows to prove it. ) That was a part of growing up.

I lived in this court and there was an empty field on the other side where we could play baseball, ride bikes, etc... basically go outside have fun and get dirty.

Hell, we used our imagination all the time... my bike was anything from a race car to an x wing fighter. I can't tell you how many times as a kid I destroyed the Death Star... LOL

We would get old lumber and a tarp or whatever to make a clubhouse/fort/base...

Sigh...

Oh yeah, baseball/football cards were all about getting guys from the Raiders and A's the teams I followed, not a major investment... and they came with that hard ass flavourless gum.