Toys, Toys, Toys

I was thinking about toys and what I played with as a little girl. So I thought it would be fun to write about some of them.

Barbie was introduced in 1959. I had a couple of them through the years. The original, the the strange eyes and the stranger pony tail. Then one with the "bubble" hair cut. My mom found a lady in our town that made the clothes. So, I had a pretty good size wardrobe for my Barbie. The one with the pony tail, I discovered that you could comb out her hair and using straight pins you could make all kinds of hairdos. Not once did it enter my mind that by sticking pins in a dolls head that I was maybe leaning towards voodoo. I wonder if that would work for the Ken doll?

The hula hoop was introduced in 1957. While it was fun for a while, you for the purpose intended, it was also great to use as hoop for the cat to jump through (depending on the cat's mood). I did find that riding a bike with a hula hoop is a bad idea. The only place to put it is around your neck and that was just to much of a temptation for some friend to grab it as you rode by and pull you off your bike.

Play-Doh was introduced in 1956. Great fun, but it does stick to carpet when it dries out. Also sticks in cat hair and the cat did not appreciate that aspect of it.

Mr. Potato Head came out in 1952. Not the kind with the plastic body. You had to use a real potato. Messy but fun. I wish they would have had more expressions. I loved the line from Toy Story when Mrs. Potato Head tells Mr. Potato Head that she had packed his angry eyes.

The Sleeping Beauty Game came out in 1959. A marketing ploy by Disney. I loved this game and would beg anyone coming into the house to play with me. My brother-in-law (at that time my sister's boyfriend) would play it with me. He cheated and then try to deny it.

I always like toy cars and would play for hours on end with them. We also played "cowboys and Indians" and used our index fingers for guns. I could always make a really good ricochet sound. We were like Zombies, dead one minute from an Indians arrow and shooting up a storm the next.

There was lots of hide and seek, kick the can, and flashlight tag. Outside from the time we awoke to after dark.

I feel sad for kids today that don't have that freedom.

My youngest grandson comes to our house, and he is old enough to mow the yard, there is always a story going on in his imagination while racing around the yard. It is so much fun to watch him. I will peak out the window and watch him talking to an imaginary person and see the expressions change on his face. That is when I know all is right with the world. Imagination reigns in the minds of little children.

January 27, 2011

This date in 1951 saw the close of "Peter Pan" on Broadway. It has been redone a couple of times since and aired on the television a couple of times, made into movies with some success.

Mary Martin will always been Peter Pan. She captured the "boy" perfectly. I really don't think anyone could do the role as well.

January of 1951 (from what my sister tells me) is that I was still in the hospital. I was supposed to arrive in March, but arrived early. I often wonder how a premature baby made it to life back then. Now there are all these warnings and fears for premature babies. Well, here I am 60 years later and other than the inability to understand complicated math, I think I did ok. The town I grew up in had no special natal units, no special doctors, nothing in the way of specialized care for preemies. So I guess by a stroke of luck, I made it.

Being nearly 10 years younger than my sister and 6 years younger than my brother, there isn't a lot of remembrances of my babyhood. Both Carole and Jim seemed to not notice me until I started to get into their toys and such.

I have a granddaughter that is just now looking at turning 2, her sister is 15. So there is about the same age gap between siblings. I hope that they form the same bond that my sister, brother and I have. It is special and wonderful.

I hope that this Monday finds everyone thankful for siblings. Call your sister or brother, they love you.

State of the Union

I watched the State of the Union address last night. As I watched I wondered what was in Harry Truman's address in 1951.

Mostly it was about the big bad wolf, the Soviet Union. The need to build bigger and better military and the need to train children to that end. Scary!

No wonder my generation grew up thinking we could protect ourselves by "duck and cover", no one told us that we could actually vaporize and that "duck and cover" was just a way to kiss your ass goodbye.

Today, we still have the same mentality. We have just changed enemies. We have gone from Russia, to China, to the Taliban. There will always be an enemy real or imagined. I believe that if we would just mind our own business that the peoples of the world wouldn't be out to kill us.

I listened to President Obama's speech. I don't believe that we have ever had such eloquence. I don't believe that we have ever had such a forward thinking administration. This administration sees our enemies and knows we must take action, but not destroy cultures as old as the beginning of time. There is a sense of what we really need to concentrate on, such as energy, our citizens right to a good education, a fairness in the distribution of wealth, our right to healthcare, and a right to our dignity as human beings.

Now, I know that some of my readers will loudly disagree. To these people, I can only say you are misguided and so very wrong when it comes to the true salvation of our country.

Education

Talking with my grandchildren about their school day is always fun. However, I wonder at the state of Education in the modern world.

We rank below other nations and seem to keep changing our studies to teach to standardized tests. No longer do you see kids playing a recess and the choices in the school lunch program are frankly, awful.

In the 50's we did have standardized tests, but I really don't think our education was based solely on what the outcome of the results were.. We had two recesses a day and the school lunches, (while we thought they were awful), served real food. Somehow we all learned what we needed. I truly don't believe that subjects have changed that much.

Kids are still required to take reading, writing, math and science. Reading should be the most important. If you can't read and understand what you read, then nothing else will make sense. Reading is not just for pleasure. The more you read the better your understanding of the English Language, writing construction, vocabulary and ability to grasp overall meaning becomes. Yes, reading should be pleasurable also. My granddaughter was, a few years ago, not wanting to read. I told her that she should continue to read and that someday a book would come along and grab her and make her into a reader. That by reading books you could go anywhere, have adventures, and make you dream. Ha, Grandma was right. She did find that book and now you rarely see her without a book. Her grades have improved and she understands much better. I am so proud that like her parents and grandma, she starts to panic when there isn't a new book around the corner.

I am really disappointed in the inability of todays kids to write cursive. They only get a few weeks and then it's back to printing. None of my grandkids write cursive. I believe that writing, the making the letters beautiful and legible helps to make the mind creative. Of course, their inability to really read cursive will hinder any comprehension of anything written in old letters, journals, and other kinds of media.

Math, this is my downfall. I've never understood math. I know that it is important and that it has it's own beauty, but other than adding and subtracting, I am at a loss. I can make change without a calculator and do percents, but that comes from years of retail work. Still, it is important that our kids get the basics.

I cannot understand why kids no longer have recess. It boggles my mind that there basically no way for kids to get outside during the day to play for 15 or 20 minutes. I substituted for a year, and found that these kids are like little robots going from one subject to the next and no physical play at all. Ha, where are the jungle gyms, the swings? Where is the play? I didn't see that they were learning anything other than a highly structured robotic

education.

School lunches are a joke. Chicken patty sandwiches, pizza, really awful vegetables. Where is the tuna sandwiches, where are the chicken and biscuits (my favorite from my school days), where is the chili and grilled cheese? The isn't any real cooking going on at schools. It's all microwave and go. Kids don't eat real food at school unless they bring their lunch. I am so glad that my kids do just that.

It just upsets me that parents are more involved in their kids learning. You see children failing and the parents are blaming the teachers and the school. Wake up folks, they are your kids. Ha, well, I could go on that subject forever.

Schools have also been bitten by the political correct, and the idiotic right. We read the books that are deemed politically incorrect and because we knew history, we knew a frame of reference in which certain books were written. No parents, politicians, or religious leaders protesting. Teachers weren't afraid to assign certain books for fear that some right wing idiot would complain. We have sanitized history and literature. Enough!

Ha, well, this is my rant on the modern school system. Take it or leave it.

Movies

1951 saw a lot of really wonderful movies: The African Queen, Day the Earth Stood Still, Streetcar Named Desire, Alice In Wonderland, A Place In The Sun, and Bedtime for Bonzo.

"The African Queen" with Humphrey Bogart and Kathrine Hepburn is a study in how well those two could act. I really think they were at their peak in this movie.

"The Day The Earth Stood Still", was a testament to how scared we all were about UFO's and nuclear bombs. Not a great movie, in my opinion, but the message was right.

"A Streetcar Named Desire", not much else to say, except that Vivian Leigh was magnificent. And this movie gave me one of my best memories of my son, Timothy. We were in a store and someone opened a door for Timothy, (he was about 10 at the time) and he looked at the person and said, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers". I about lost it and the other person looked at him and had no idea what he was talking about. It was just too funny.

Disney came out with the cartoon version of "Alice In Wonderland". While not as dark as Tim Burton's , it will always be the way I see the Cheshire Cat and the Caterpillar. How little did we know that the Caterpillar and his hookah would influence in the 60's. "A Place In the Sun" is Elizabeth Taylor at her sultriest. And "Bedtime For Bonzo" would show us that we could have an actor playing a President.

Moving going is not as popular as it once was. I remember going the theater every Saturday night for a dime. A box of popcorn and a strange soda called Burgundy was the height of our weekends. Now it costs nearly 50.00 for a movie. Most are watched at home. It is sad because there is nothing like a theater for a movie.

Maybe now, I can get the senior citizen discount on a matinée.

Saturday/Jan. 22,2011

The spring that I thought was here, will have winter kick her butt again tonight. Will freeze here in Florida. Dang, I was really, really ,really wanting to start thinking about a new pair of flip-flops. Guess, I will just have to wait a few weeks longer.

I was thinking about all the books I have read in my life. What good friends they have made over the years. I would like to have one of those electronic book readers, but there is nothing like the feel of a book in your hands.

What would happen to the libraries? I cringe to think that they would, at some point, cease to exist. I loved the library in the small town where I grew up. It was a beautiful building and had wonderful furnishings. I would hate to think that some modern store front type building could replace it.

They are thinking about building a new high school. It is sad, because the old one looks like a stately mansion on a hill. I hate think about it being replaced with some awful modern sprawl.

I love old buildings. Like old people they have paid their dues and should not be forgotten. The courthouse in our county here in Florida is a lovely old building. But they compromised and now have another more modern building far out in the woods. While it is a nice building, the one in downtown is by far the more interesting one.

It would be wonderful if people really looked at old buildings and remembered that they have a history. They should be preserved whenever possible.

I do like some new buildings. Some of them are very interesting. I would hate to stifle the creative endeavors of new architectural artists, but I am just not into all the sharp edges.

I am rambling today. So, maybe tomorrow will find me in a more creative mood.

Friday/Jan.21,2011

Today was my Dad's birthday. He was a gentleman. Not to many can attain that goal today. Dad was kind, gentle, funny, and always caring. For all my sons and grandsons, remember that you come from these traits.

I heard a conversation the other day, about that as you get older you start subtracting from your life. I never knew how to put into words that feeling, that material things (other than I still want a black, VW convertible with a kick ass stereo system), mentally , and emotionally.

Mentally, I find that this is true. Somethings just don't really matter any more and you start to wonder about the bigger picture. Oh, I do find that I lose things on a fairly consistent basis, or can't remember what I did yesterday.

Emotionally, I think we just start to ignore people and places that want to control or are shallow. Our hearts break faster at little slights and are able to forgive them at the same rate.

I find that I really want to start getting rid of "things". This is difficult since Don is a pack rat. It is a frustration. If I had my way, I would back up a huge trash bin and start tossing crap.

I find the only thing I really need is conversations with my sons, my sister, the laughter of my grandchildren and the look of love from my Don.