Now who do you suppose is that child? Hmmm. Yep, I confess that it's me, perched on my Dad's hand. I imagine this was taken in 1950 next to the small trailer where we lived. My dad was all of nineteen years old at the time. My how time flies.
When I was in fifth grade, I had classes in a building similar to this one. See that tube along the right side of the building? That's a fire escape! The one in my school building was a corkscrew tube inside of a silo, but the principle was the same. When it was time for the fire drill (or even a real fire!) the class lined up and jumped into the tube. You came whizzing out the other end. Since we girls all wore SKIRTS back then, the boys were always trying to get in the front of the line. Nothing much changes, right?
All right! Everyone who remembers making chewing gum wrapper chains raise your hand! Com'on. I know there are more of you than that! My favorites were the wrappers that came with cinnamon gum because those wrappers were RED. It was especially cool for decorating the tree at Christmas. Too bad no one ever came up with a really useful purpose for them. They were really tough and could stand up to a lot of handling...Want to see the world record chain? Check out here. Wanna know how to make your own? Check out this site.
When I was a kid, we traveled surprising distances considering the shape of the roads. I remember traveling from Arizona to Indiana all on two lane roads. One of the things that we kids would amuse ourselves with was the Burma Shave signs. They were strung out along the road about a quarter mile apart. And each one was a poem with a twist. There were tons of them...actually 7000 of them at the height of their popularity. Want to know more? Burma Shave.Any of you have some of your own memories? Post the url! Blessings on your day.
Anny
Stop in to check Amarinda, Kelly and OhGetAGrip! Leave a comment!
OMG...I remember those chains. I used to make them in class all the time. I'd alternate types of gum to get different colors. Doublemint, Juicy Fruit and Spearmint...those were about the only kinds then, except for that cinnamon gum and I don't recall what brand it was. We all wore dresses, too and we had slides on the playground and monkey bars. Always checked to make sure there were no holes in my underwear.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a very small town in Oklahoma and still remember the only restaurant in town had a sign that said "No Coloreds Allowed". Black families passing through would drive to the kitchen door around back. It made me mad, even as a child.
I had so much fun making chains! Isn't it sad that gum no longer comes in individual wrappers? No more simple fun and harmless entertainment for today's children. Did you seperate the silver foil from the paper surrounding the gum too?
ReplyDeleteAs a kid my brothers and I used to pull up and eat the ends of clover - yes, weird - anyway we stopped immediately when my father told us the clover tasted so sweet because cats peed on it...yep, it was that sort of childhood.
ReplyDeleteSadly I have none of these experiences. Most of mine are in foreign languages, like the bus signs in Argentina that threatened death to anyone speaking English (the touchy subject of Islas Malvinas vs Faulkland Islands is STILL and issue). Though we did make drink tab chains with the old coke can tabs that used to come off instead of push in.
ReplyDeleteAnd honeysuckle. Lots of honeysuckle tasting. Yum.
I remember the gum wrapper chains and the Burma shave signs. I also used the roam the fields freely and loved finding spearmint leaves to chew. My first lesson in botany was that only the mint family boasts square stems..Honest. Good blog, Anny. Jean
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post! Yes I made gum wrapper chains galore...lots and lots of them. I used to love getting fruit stripes gum seems to me the wrappers were different colors then... or I'm remembering wrong... wow, that was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI never made a chain but I do have a picture of me to put on my blog. I will advise when it's up. I am quite adorable as you can imagine.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memories. I went to so many different schools in different cities and towns I'd have difficulty finding a picture.