I've been keeping a note going in my iPhone. I want to write a little book for my grandkids on things that were around when I was a kid. Things that they will never know.
Heck, I still remember Fibber McGee's closet. I never actually heard it, but my Mom had and she told me about it. (You're going to have to look that one up!) Speaking of which, you don't have to go down to the library to find some sort of book about Fibber McGee. It probably wouldn't even exist. Just as an experiment I timed myself looking up Fibber McGee. From Google page to a Wikipedia article: 18.2 seconds!
More than that, I didn't have to wait for the dial-up modem to connect. Nor did I have to return the carriage on the typewriter to write this.
Consider this, I was able to keep this blog post open while I went to Google and then onto Wikipedia. In 1990, I was still teaching students how to open a program on a computer. And that was the only program you could use.
Okay, technology is an easy one to find a hundred things that our grandkids won't know. Remember when the only thing teens could say about adults being "antiquated," basically was old ideas. It's amazing all the things I keep remembering for that list on my iPhone.
What's amazing is that I have a 13-year-old grandson and a 3-year-old granddaughter. It's hard to believe what the difference between what the older one knows that my younger one will never have experienced!
Maybe my grandkids will not even know about "snail mail" and only UPS and FedEx. They certainly won't remember Air Mail and onion skin paper! When I was near 5-years-old, the postage stamp went up to 5 cents! Even further, they won't know about dittos and carbon copies. When I was 10, I made a book of stories I had written as a Christmas gift for relatives. I used two sheets of carbon paper to make three copies at a time. I typed that book over four times!
When I was in college in 1975, senior year, I bought my first calculator. It had the basic four functions. Period. It cost me 25 dollars. And I felt guilty buying it because I should be doing it by hand. In 1979, my first husband who was an engineering major, needed a programmable graphing/scientific calculator. (see picture at right) Prior to that he used a slide ruler! It cost near $300.
Oops! That was technology. Sorry, won't happen again.
Image: http://www.hpmuseum.org/powerlog.jpg copyrighted
I was explaining this to a 19-year-old a couple of days ago: Party Lines. When I lived in a rural area we had a party-line. Look this one up too, it'll only take eight seconds!
What about movies? When "The Other Side of the Mountain" came out, it stayed in the cinema for near six months. And that was normal.
When I was 8, 1963, oops! Now I've done it! You know how old I am... And if you don't have a two buck calculator around, that means I'm 58. So, 1963. I wanted a "graham cracker doll" from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. It wasn't a graham cracker, which I was crazy about, the doll was a nurse and the square thing with little holes was a bandage. That's not the emphasis here, however. That same doll was in the catalog for quite a few years! And it wasn't a TV or movie related doll.
Now that brings back memories! When 101 Dalmations (the original) came out, I fell utterly, head over heels in love with it. My mom bought me every commercialized object from the film. A Pongo stuffed dog. A LP (record) with the story. A lunchbox. Maybe there were a few more things, like a storybook. Put basically 4-5 things. That's it. That's all. Truly flabbergasting, isn't it? Go here to hear the twilight bark!
As far as movies go: I saw the first run of Mary Poppins, To Kill A Mockingbird (scared the pajabers out of me since I only remembered the "pumpkin scene"), Bambi, The Haunting of Hill House, plus more.
Do your remember these?
Left to right, top to bottom:
1. Reel to Reel Tape player 2. Blue Chip Savings Stamps
3. Pee Chee folders, which are coming back!
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| AND--it was broadcast on a radio! |
More than that, I didn't have to wait for the dial-up modem to connect. Nor did I have to return the carriage on the typewriter to write this.
 |
| Apple IIc |
Okay, technology is an easy one to find a hundred things that our grandkids won't know. Remember when the only thing teens could say about adults being "antiquated," basically was old ideas. It's amazing all the things I keep remembering for that list on my iPhone.
What's amazing is that I have a 13-year-old grandson and a 3-year-old granddaughter. It's hard to believe what the difference between what the older one knows that my younger one will never have experienced!
Maybe my grandkids will not even know about "snail mail" and only UPS and FedEx. They certainly won't remember Air Mail and onion skin paper! When I was near 5-years-old, the postage stamp went up to 5 cents! Even further, they won't know about dittos and carbon copies. When I was 10, I made a book of stories I had written as a Christmas gift for relatives. I used two sheets of carbon paper to make three copies at a time. I typed that book over four times!
 |
| Image: http://www.hpmuseum.org/34.jpg copyrighted |
Oops! That was technology. Sorry, won't happen again.
 |
| This is a slide ruler, if you've never seen one! |
Image: http://www.hpmuseum.org/powerlog.jpg copyrighted
I was explaining this to a 19-year-old a couple of days ago: Party Lines. When I lived in a rural area we had a party-line. Look this one up too, it'll only take eight seconds!
What about movies? When "The Other Side of the Mountain" came out, it stayed in the cinema for near six months. And that was normal.
When I was 8, 1963, oops! Now I've done it! You know how old I am... And if you don't have a two buck calculator around, that means I'm 58. So, 1963. I wanted a "graham cracker doll" from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. It wasn't a graham cracker, which I was crazy about, the doll was a nurse and the square thing with little holes was a bandage. That's not the emphasis here, however. That same doll was in the catalog for quite a few years! And it wasn't a TV or movie related doll.
Now that brings back memories! When 101 Dalmations (the original) came out, I fell utterly, head over heels in love with it. My mom bought me every commercialized object from the film. A Pongo stuffed dog. A LP (record) with the story. A lunchbox. Maybe there were a few more things, like a storybook. Put basically 4-5 things. That's it. That's all. Truly flabbergasting, isn't it? Go here to hear the twilight bark!
As far as movies go: I saw the first run of Mary Poppins, To Kill A Mockingbird (scared the pajabers out of me since I only remembered the "pumpkin scene"), Bambi, The Haunting of Hill House, plus more.
Do your remember these?
1. Reel to Reel Tape player 2. Blue Chip Savings Stamps
3. Pee Chee folders, which are coming back!
4. 45 record with adapter
5. Tulip Lawn Chairs 6. Cloth towel dispenser
7. Free glasses in detergent 8. Sardines that opened w/ key
9. Wall heater control
Tell me, what "vintage" things do you remember?
Hooking up with Totally Random Thursday & Let's Bee Social, badge on right.
And now, it's time to say good-night!
5. Tulip Lawn Chairs 6. Cloth towel dispenser
7. Free glasses in detergent 8. Sardines that opened w/ key
9. Wall heater control
Tell me, what "vintage" things do you remember?
Hooking up with Totally Random Thursday & Let's Bee Social, badge on right.
And now, it's time to say good-night!
I really enjoyed this post! A couple of years ago my son, who was then at University doing Architecture, told me about an amazing new type of transfer paper his friend's father had sent him from India. And it turned out to be carbon!
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty funny! Guess he'd never seen it before, even though it is still sold in places. I'm glad you enjoyed the post; it was fun to write!
DeleteOh dear, this really strikes a chord! Our sons are amazed that we had television that wasn't in colour, nor was it available 24/7. A blogger posted the other day about darning and I had to admit that I still have a darning mushroom :) It hasn't seen much use lately though!
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
I've never darned. I did sew up the hole in the toe in my nylons though, but I don't think that counts. It's so different nowadays when buying a new "one" is cheaper than fixing it. I wonder how shoe repair"men" stay in business?
DeleteI didn't even have to look up party lines. Just before my time, but close enough I had heard of them. I remember very clearly when we got cable. 13 channels, required a very expensive VCR, and a coax adapter. I couldnt have even imagined something like netflix!
ReplyDeleteI remember how the whole ten years my husband and I lived while at college we didn't even own a TV! When VCR came out I thought it rather silly and was sure it wouldn't catch on!
DeleteUmm, well, cassette tapes were popular when I was little, and neon, although that appears to have made a comeback!
ReplyDeleteI remember you could play on building sites as they hadn't got savvy enough to fence them off, and there was really cool stuff you could find when they were building new houses.
I'm struggling a little here, sorry!
Oh yes! The building sites! Weren't those the best! As I look back, I love my childhood more than today's. I tried to get my nine and eleven year old grandkids to go out and PLAY while they were here for Thanksgiving. All they had done the day before was play video games--all that noise drove me crazy! They went outside and ten minutes later came back and asked what to do outside! Can you tell I'm an old, (maybe crotchety) old woman who walks around saying, "Well, in MY day..."?
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Okay, I remember when we RENTED our phone from the phone company--you didn't own your phone, you paid a monthly fee. And while I really REALLY wanted a "princess" phone, the rental fee was so much more than the regular one. And the remote to our first VCR had a cord attached to it, because it cost $100 more to have a wireless remote. And our 5-year-old grandson opened a VHS box the other day (I had collected all the Disney movies when they were newly released on VHS--just for the grandkids--who don't even know what a VCR is!) and he said, "Grandma, where is the DVD??"
ReplyDeleteOh my, I remember those too! Great memories... Remember when you couldn't write checks at the store, unless that one single check was approved previously at another counter? I know KMart did that.
ReplyDeleteI'm 4 years younger and I remember all those. I had to have one of those Pee Chee folders when I was a kid. They were still out a few years back (3 ?) So they still might be today. Oh can you believe we still have the cloth hand towel dispenser at work? (I can't!)
ReplyDeleteI nearly choked when I read that your workplace has the cloth towel dispensers! Then I noticed you live in California! I would never have imagined that to happen here!
DeleteI'm in Santa Rosa? Are you Northern or Southern?
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ReplyDeleteDon't worry, Girl, when you were 8 I was 15... thanks for the memories. The Twilight Bark still makes me cry. (Funny it took us humans so long to figure out the Amber Alert.)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Great post... Yes, I remember as a child, when my Gramma and her generation would talk about 'the good old days'. I thought I missed it. My first favourite band was "The Steve Miller Band" on 8 track. Now I listen to "The Glen Miller Band" on CD in the car. Despite their audible disapproval, my kids can be heard humming along. My tastes are getting older but the mode is getting newer - barely. No iPod or iPhone here, although my daughter owns one of each!
ReplyDeleteI loved writing this one! I keep thinking of more things to add! I just got the pictures to reappear...it's more fun when you can see the vintage items, don't you think?
DeleteI love those vintage items!
Delete