Recess

Of course, we only had recess from 1st through 6th grade, the same as today. Our playground was one large field – well – large in my mind, but I think much smaller that many of the school playfields that are common today. I recall that there was some sort of a large collection of balls and other equipment for playing games. There wasn’t any organized games, it was kind of a decision made by the old “majority rules” concept. And - the games were only self-refereed and usually were fairly incident-free.

I think that the biggest difference from today’s playgrounds was the area where the bars were. There were various configurations of bars that we all played on. They were all made out of metal – probably iron – pipes. So, they were really hot or cold to the touch depending on the weather. There were ladders (suspended horizontal ladders) – were they called monkey bars? The rings, that you would swing from and clang loudly as you swung from one to the next. There were horizontal single bars that you wrap your knee around and spin in circles. I think we had a merry-go-round, and a few others. There was always a huge rush to get to your favorite apparatus first, and then perform as best as you could in front of all of your friends.

The area where all these bars were was on asphalt. It’s probably a little different than the bark, sand, grass or rubberized mats that are more commonly underfoot for the kids out on recess today. It does seem that today there are a lot of plastic or composite materials in the large variety of playground equipment that kids play on. And there are things like ships and forts, bridges and hideouts... lots of cool things we never had.

One thing we didn't have to worry about... there were no kids hanging out smoking behind the portables. It was something that would never have happened or been a concern back when and where I grew up.

Do you have memories of recess from your childhood? I’d love to hear them!

Remember Farrell's?

How any people remember Farrells Ice Cream Parlour?

There was one at 130^th and Aurora in Seattle. It was a place like no other! It was the closest thing to a Disneyland like atmosphere outside of L.A.
When you walked in, there was a big waiting area, and it was filled with candy – awesome candy – TONS of candy. All of this to make your sweet tooth start to ache!

But just about the time you think you can’t stand it anymore and you NEED to have some of that candy, your family would get called and shown to your booth. Now came the hard part – choosing what to have from the incredible menu. If they had anything but ice cream and desserts, I don’t remember it. There were so many option! I know that banana splits and something called the Pig Trough were what I usually got. And there was the ZOO – it was incredible! It was so fun, too. If it was your birthday, it was really special! They were all dressed in fun old fashioned ice cream parlour costumes and sang songs and made us all laugh.

What a super special time! Fun, Ice cream, laughing, music, lights, candy, it was kid’s dream come true.

Here’s a link to a web page all about it. Watch the video – it’ll bring back some great memories!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30307233&l=6a31d4eec5&id=1285072823

Those Old 45's

45's were a real important part of my growing up. Albums (by definition, 33's, 12" vinyl records) were expensive and we just didn't have that kind of money as kids. When new songs came out and we wanted them, it was a quick trip to the record store to pick it up.

While it was possible to get them at the local Fred Meyer, Sears or even J.C. Pennys, it was always best to got to the Tower Records store. Going there was so cool. You felt like you were a part of the real music world when you were there. We would end up looking through the store for what seemed like hours, dreaming about all the cool albums that we might get some day. I'd usually end up making a mental list of these hopeful future purchases, too.


There was nothing cooler than being able to get home and play the 45 on the hi-fi and listen to it over and over again. And - if you were the first kid in the neighborhood to get it, your house was the place to be! You also had to be sure to have plenty of the little yellow thingies that went in the center of the 45. I think I remember one time when we didn't have any of them that weren't broken and we tried to center the 45 on the spindle... and we probably shouldn't have done it. I think it worked, but it couldn't have been good for the record.

I still have a box of 45's in my closet. I don't even own a turntable anymore, but I've got my old box of 45's. I don't know - maybe someday I'll sell them all and get rich - well, probably not. They're good memories, though.

The OJ Train

Ok – this one may be a bit obscure. I can’t even find anything about it on the web. When I was a little kid, so this would’ve been back in the mid to late ‘60s, my mom sent away for a kit in the mail that would use frozen orange juice cans to make little toy pull-along trains.

As best as I can recall, the kit contained a few different things. It had little axels that would poke through the lower edge of the sides of the cans with wheels on them so the cans could roll – they would resemble a fuel car. There was also some sort of connection pieces that would enable the cars to be connected together… I can’t remember if they were some little ball-joint hinges, or just a connecting string. I believe that it also came with auxiliary pieces that could be used to fashion an engine and a caboose out of cans. I don’t remember much else… were there decals to put on the cans? Was there a track that came with it? What all was included?


I do remember that it was a really special thing for us. While it may have seemed simple, it was exciting to build these trains out of empty frozen orange juice cans. They seemed to take on a magical quality when we got them done and could play with them. And of course – major props to the OJ company advertising exec that realized a great way to sell more orange juice. And I’m sure moms all over were happy that their kids wanted to drink more OJ so that they could build these trains. Between the excited and nourished kids, the happy moms and the spike in sales, it was definitely a win-win situation.

Does anyone else remember these?