Community Chat

[ScrapHappy]

Yes!  Don't forget playing kickball and foxes and hounds when it started getting dark (that's hide & seek in teams).  If there was a very large box put out to the curb for garbage, say from a fridge or something.  We'd use it to go box riding.  Like sledding with no snow.  We'd go down a steep hill with high weeds.  And pool hopping.  Many on my street had pools and we'd just go from pool to pool all day long in the summer.  I really wanted all this for my daughter growing up, but everything has changed...and not always for the better.

[Mindy D]

This was just the way I grew up. I'm so glad I was able to grow up in that era. 

[Gorgf]

We didn't have an ice cream truck either but went to the Drive In for a root beer in a frosty mug. A&W or others. Baby rootbeers were free.  My Dad had the ball game on the radio and listening to the mosquito zappers. Most people didn't have air conditioning and there were some hot nights.

[Lindsays Grandma]

You have no idea how many times I have said I am so thankful I grew up before technology took over.  Spending summers at the summer house my father built was the greatest gift he gave our family.  

The land was undeveloped, no running water or electricity and above all, NO BATHROOM.  We pumped water, used oil lamps for light and an outhouse in place of a bathroom. 

By the time the utilities were available I was on my own as an adult living 3,000 miles from what once was my home and I have the fondest memories of the summers in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.

For those of you who may be familiar with Long Island, we were about 12 miles before Riverhead, not far from Wildwood Beach.

[GrailSeeker]

These days....it's my experience, too. Except for bakery delivery, we did have a milk man, and for maybe 2 summers, an ice cream truck.  Barbie and the Beatles.  Lightning bugs and sparklers for the 4th of July.  Grandma and Grandpa live on a farm.

I also associate these days with a set of Childcraft books.  They were sold door to door from the same company as World Book Encyclopedias.  Book one was nursery rhymes and poems for slightly older children.  We got little bits of Shakespeare, Vachel Lindsay, Eugene Field and Carl Sandburg.   

This poem by Rachel Field was included in the collection.  It immediately came to mind when thinking about these times.

When summer’s in the city,

And brick’s a blaze of heat,

The Ice-cream Man with his little cart

Goes trundling down the street.

Beneath his round umbrella,

Oh, what a joyful sight,

To see him fill the cones with mounds

Of cooling brown and white:

Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry,

Or chilly things to drink

From bottles full of frosty-fizz,

Green, orange, white, or pink.

His cart might be a flower bed,

Of roses and sweet peas,

The way the children cluster round

As thick as honeybees.


Rachel Field

[deja vu]

Yes, born in 58.. yes to all but the smore's.. fun times !

We played hard and slept well with all the windows open, and window fan blowing in the cool clean air.

[Katcat1]

I also loved my childhood.  Playing hop scotch in front of the house.  We all had imaginations.

[lovesallanimals]

I used to love playing Hop Scotch, drawing the game on the pavement with chalk.  We lived in Brooklyn in a tenement building so when the ice cream truck would come by, my grandmother would wrap some coins in a hanky and lower it down with a rope so I would have the money before the truck left.  Remember all the neighbors sitting out in our gates (front yard that had a bench) on a nice evening and everyone talked to each other and had so much fun.  Also remember on a hot night sleeping on the fire escape  (no air conditioning).  It was such a simple and wonderful time and I treasure my memories.  I never was and probably never will be a tech person but I don't care, I have no need for all this facebook and twitter stuff, video games, social media, etc.

[Catiele]

I feel so fortunate to have been growing up when I did. I love to look back at those days. I would like to take my grandchildren back there for a day. No on second thought they would not like it. We lived near a pond so it was swimming in the summer and ice skating in winter. I know TMI. Back to the present.

[Snowpuppy]

@GrailSeeker oh how I wanted a set of those World Book Encyclopedias!! Never knew they were sold door to door.

I lived in such a bad area and I knew there was life beyond it and those encyclopedias would take me there.