Community Chat

[ScarletDove]

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@RetRN wrote:

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@chrystaltree wrote:

It only seems like it was simpler because that's the way you choose to remember it.    

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WRONG. You would know this, how? You didn't live the life of others. I think we are quite capable of speaking for ourselves. 

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@RetRN  Amen!

[Porcelain]

Life is pretty simple for most well-loved and well-cared-for children. No matter what era we're talking about.

[ScarletDove]

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@Still Raining wrote:

For sure it was not simpler for women relegated to staying home with simple appliances.

Anyone else remember coal furnaces in the basement which had to fed?  Wringer washers?  Freezers that had to be defrosted?  Ovens that had to cleaned?

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@Still Raining  Yes I remember the wringer washer, defrosting freezers and we had a coal bin and I got to put coal in the furnace; got filthy and loved every minute of it.  All part of life during those times....Actually that old freezer in the basement lasted more than 50 years!  The wringer washer was upgraded eventually as well as the coal furnace....All part of life during those times...

[ScarletDove]

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@this is my nic wrote:

It seems that life in the 1950's are generally looked upon as 100% wonderful.  I guess people don't know about kids in school having drills in case they were bombed by Russia, that's the atomic bomb friends, not a bomb some nut put together to level the school.  Imagine being a parent and worrying that your child might become infected with polio.   Measles were still a childhood disease which could be deadly.  We tend to look back with rose colored glasses.  The 1950's were not without serious problems. 

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@this is my nic  I remember those drills where we would crawl under our desks; I remember many people in the well-to-do areas in DC suburbs had underground concrete bomb shelters built in their yards. In the 7th grade, I had a friend in my class who contracted polio, was put in an iron lung and he died...all of us exposed to him had to have gamma globulin shots.  Salk vaccine was introduced not long after this happened. This was all part of life in the 50's......intermixed with wonderful and memorable fun of those simplier times.  During and after a rainstorm, running barefoot through the gutters in the streets....climbing trees, climbing up onto the garage and jumping.  Going barefoot all the time everywhere and enduring the cuts and scrapes with glee!  Having rotten tomato fights with the rotting tomatos from the garden.  Going down to the old train trestle and climbing up to the tracks...  Going down to the woods with my friends and playing in the creek catching tadpoles and frogs.  All part of life in the 50's, and those were some of my experiences!

[Vivian]

I was a lucky kid growing up in the 1950s. I lived in a great neighborhood, went to excellent schools, and had wonderful friends. My father went to work every day and my mother stayed home and took care of everything else. However, even back then I knew that many others were not as fortunate. It's also true that when people contracted serious diseases, they were done for. So, I'd say that if you were lucky enough to be born into a traditional middle class family in a lovely neighborhood, the 1950s were idyllic but it wasn't that way for everyone,

[Q4u]

Maybe not simpler but definately different and a time to be appreciated.  But so are the times now in many different ways.  My grown-up sons reminisce about the time in which they've grown up.... interesting perception regarding "times" between generations.  

[NAES1]

@Judaline   !

               Scroll back...

    The woman ~

...... the one in 'THAT' kitchen was never me, a-n-d- definitely at that time...there was a _no_ NAES even near that age.

 I do remember much later mom always wore a crisp shirtwaist dress. I remember more of the 60s - the 1 TV we all sat watching some type of comedy,maybe the news.

    I never was interested in TV then, or now.

   My mother was a career woman, as was (hearing) my grandmother, a school principal, her mother had been a teacher. 

              The sidewalk skates was a priority...and whoa, you never put the key down; it was always around your neck with some thin rope string.

Loved the middle school dances- sox /sockhop every Friday night. In elementary school we had to learn to square dance.

 When I was married, I had zero knowledge how to cook, and actually haven't advanced that well, yet. 

?? I didn't read upon the rules and chore regulations, I am sure. I loved my simpler time growing up....just wondering if that pumpkin pie (oven pic) was made from scratch...let me guess...yes,,,,,, 

                 That was some supermarket `````````````!!!

 Thank you @roxxy1  for the pictures.

      I had been to one drive in -car outdoor movie theater when our neighbor took her two sons, along with my mom, sister and self. Believe I was possibly 10 years old. I couldn't find the restroom, or was too confused to take the plunge finding it by myself. Mom finally haaaaaaaaaaa guided me through the maze of cars. 

Pics; thoses are great memories to many.  I'll give the pictured housewife 5 stars for the cleanest kitchen range/oven. 

 'what did you mean - somebody sure nailed it !?  Just the time...?  Century?

 NAES 

[tipsy]

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@Elodie2 wrote:

I'm fixated on the size of the woman's waist in the pink stove picture.

Thanks for the photos, Roxie. 

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@Elodie2 yes, it's actually freakish!!!

[ScenicMaine]

@roxxy1 

Thank you for posting these pics of days gone by.  I agree that in many ways life was much simpler and in many ways, I preferred that quality of life as opposed to these days. 

Yes, there are pros & cons to everything, I get that. 

I still prefer the days when growing up in 60s-70s.

[shoekitty]

Thanks roxxy!!   Amazing isnt it!!!  I am 71 and so much has happened since mid to late 60's. I was trying to think, since then I have seen the elimination of many jobs.  Like elevator operator, on the floor sales people at dept stores, they used to wrap purchases in tissue, lol...for nothing. Key punch operators, and filing jobs and typing envelopes,   I have seen the modern blow dryer, curling iron,in home microwave, color tv, 24 hour televison.  Nothing like being a new mom, up at all hours of the night and no tv...just snow,  i have seen dial phone to push button to cell phones and the internet,, things I never imagined in my life. Cars that could get you from NoCal to SoCal on one tank of gas and without stopping to patch the inner tube on the tires,! Not having to find a pay phone to tell someone you would be late.or finding a gas station to ask directions or get a map, free!  Men running out with white uniforms and caps to wash windows and fill your gas tank, and bet a free gift!  The days when we drank contaminated water from the hose, ate fruits amd veggies sprayed with DDT right off the tree, because orchards were everywhere.  As a young housewife I cooked. ate beef and pork often because chicken cost more.casseroles were my best friend as wasCampbell's  cream soup for cooking.   Leaded paints, playing with mercury balls from broken glass thermometers. MSG in all foods.   Lol when getting hold of a refrigerator box provided a weeks of play til it fellapart, the remains were good for sliding down hills. What kid does that today?  I dont even see kids  playing in the street anymore.

i am glad and feel fortunate I grew up in those times.  I appreciate the headways we have made, making our lives so much more comfortable and convenient.  I think growing up in 50's and 60's were interesting and news worthy times. I think it made me a better moreresourceful person.  I can still sew a button, open a can without electricity, and make a meal with something from the fridge and cupboard if I had to. I really enjoyed the photo of mrs house wife in the full skirted dress on the Caloric stove.  I had one, ovens are soooo much more reliable today.  Omg, those ovens never kept even temps.  But there again we made do, it was what it was and we were glad to have it.  And a pink stove,?  That lady is rich!!!  Lol