A to Z Challenge - Letter E

E is for Eight Track Tapes.

There was only one remembering that I could think of for the letter E.  Boy is it a doozy. 

I am remembering cruizin' the Boulevard, windows down, music blaring

Want some whiskey in your water
Sugar in your tea
What's all these crazy questions they askin' me
This is the craziest party there could ever be
Don't turn on the lights, 'cause I don't want to see

Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
That ain't the way to have fun, no

How dare our generation criticize the lyrics of today's music!  Three Dog Night Captured Live at the Forum was one of Jim's favorite Eight Tracks, so it became one of mine by osmosis.  We listened to everything, though.  Some of our favorites were The Carpenters, Willie Nelson, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Hank William, Kenny Rogers, The Eagles, Moody Blues,...

Our eight track player was retrofitted on a metal rack that hung under the dash of  Jim's '63 Chevy.  It was a real knee buster.  The tapes themselves were not very reliable.  Often the player would "eat" the tape, pulling it out of the case, creating a mess that had to be tediously wound back inside - if we were lucky.  The music would skip and warble where the tape had become damaged.  But our ears forgave every little flaw as we sang to the tunes of our generation.

WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN  The Carpenters

We've only just begun to live

White lace and promises
A kiss for luck and we're on our way
(We've only begun)

Before the risin' sun, we fly
So many roads to choose
We'll start out walkin' and learn to run
And yes, we've just begun

Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin' it over, just the two of us
Workin' together day to day
Together
Together

And when the evening comes, we smile
So much of life ahead
We'll find a place where there's room to grow
And yes, we've just begun

Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin' it over, just the two of us
Workin' together day to day
Together
Together

And when the evening comes, we smile
So much of life ahead
We'll find a place where there's room to grow
And yes, we've just begun

Songwriter(s): Paul H. Williams, Roger S. Nichols

A to Z Challenge Day 4

Well, here we are.  Day four of the A to Z Challenge. 

My choices for today were Dime Stores, Drive-In Theatres, Dick and Jane, and Dolls.

This was a tough one because I have such vivid memories about all of them, but I'm going to go with... (drum roll....)

DRIVE-IN-THEATRES!

The magical Drive-In.  It is such a shame that it is a thing of the past.

We had two drive-in-theatres in our town.  One was built in the Missouri River bottoms and the other at the outskirts of town (which now happens to be anything but the outskirts of town). 

The first movie I saw at the drive-in was Shane.  Yes, "Shane, come home...".  I don't really remember it.  What I do remember was the excitement.  "We're going to the drive-in, we're going to the drive-in!".  Dad popped pop corn and filled a small paper sack for each one of us.  For some reason I don't think mom came along.  We went to the Missouri River bottoms theatre.  This was the "good" theatre.  The other one tended to show not so family friendly shows, if you know what I mean. This was before the G to X rating system, but let me tell you, my parents had their own system and it was a strict one. 

I remember the sounds of children playing on the playground equipment, although it was off limits to us.  I remember the smells of the concession stand, thinking how cool it would be to be able to walk up to the window and order a hamburger and fries.  But we were perfectly content with our little bags of popcorn.  I thought it was so cool when dad attached the speaker to the partially rolled down window.  Cars were bigger in those days.  I'm pretty sure we were in a '52 Chevy, although how a detail like that would stick in my mind, is beyond me.  It was hard to see over the front seat... and it was sweltering hot in that river bottom .  One of the downside were the mosquitoes, which is why the windows weren't rolled down all the way. 

Many years late, Jim and I tackled the fun times of drive-in theatre dates.  Oh what times we had!  I'll spare you most of the details (my kids read my blog, you kow).  A couple of antics stand out in my mind, though.

In those days, we had very little date money.  I do mean VERY little.  Jim drove a Karmann ghia.  It had a tiny little trunk that could be accessed from outside or inside the car.  Inside there was a little latch that dropped the back seat down.  He was known as the guy who went to the drive-in movies alone.  Since I was a tiny little thing back in the day, I'd crawl into that tiny little trunk and hide.  Once he was parked well away from the ticket takers, he'd release the latch inside and I'd climb into the front seat.  We were such juveniles.

 

 



Then it was early Winter.  Since Jim's Karmann ghia didn't have a heater in it, we had borrowed his dad's old Studebaker Station Wagon. As with most movies we went to during those teen years, I don't remember the movie at all. Studebakers had what I think of as "little rear windows" that would slide, rather than roll down. That is the window we used to put the speaker cord through. As the credits of this unnamed movie rolled, we began the process of defogging the windows and replacing the speaker on its pole outside the car. There was a huge problem. The window had frozen shut on the cord. No matter what we tried, we could not slide that window away. Finally, out of desperation, Jim took his pocket knife, cut the cord, opened the car door and replaced the speaker on the pole. We drove away fast, like we were criminals.  Like I said, we were such juveniles.

 

The theatre on the Boulevard where the naughty and scary movies played was located down from the Dairy Queen.  Saturday nights found the DQ a very busy place.  Our High School crowd were known to park their cars facing the movie screen and sit on the hoods slurping ice cream cones, trying to catch a glimpse of the action.  No sound was needed to understand what was going on in THOSE movies!

 

Up next for Day 5 of the A to Z Challenge is the letter E.  I have only one choice for remembering the good ol' days.  Any guess what it might be?

A to Z Challenge Day 3 - The Letter C

Here we are, day three of the A to Z Challenge, with my theme being Remembering.

Today my Remember is Cards in Bicycle Spokes.  What child of the 50's didn't attach cards to their bicycle spokes for the cool factor?

We lived on a cul-de-sac where children spent their summer days playing in the street.  You heard me right.  Playing in the street.  It was a much simpler time.  There were fewer cars since it was rare for a family to own more than one, so traffic wasn't an issue on our quiet little street.   I'll have to admit that we were a bit more restricted in our activities than the other neighborhood children, but we did get to play some.  One of my favorite memories is of hopping on my bicycle and peddling as fast as I could to the top of the hill, then back down even faster with the sound clicking in my ears of playing cards attached to the spokes with a clothes pin.  Some of the kids used baseball cards, which seemed to make a much louder clicking sound and increased the cool factor exponentially.

So this memory is about summer, ice cold cool aid, and bicycle cards!  There were no video games, television shows, or computers to distract us and keep us inside.  Things weren't always easy growing up, but in so many ways they really were the good old days.

My choices for tomorrow are: Dime Stores, Drive-In Theaters, Dick and Jane, or Dolls

Day 2 (April 2) A to Z Remembering - B is the letter of the day

So how did you do on guessing yesterday's challenge choices? 

Day two of the April A to Z Challenge.  My choices were Barbie Dolls, Big Chief Tablet, and Black and White TV, and Bath Time..

Bath Time is my remembering of the day.

Since there was only a shower in our little apartment, this sink is where I bathed until we moved when I was five years old.  Above the sink (wouldn't you love a sink like this today?) was a nice big window.  As I got older, modesty set in and oh how I hated bath time.  I was so scared the cute little boy next door would look through that window.  I have to smile as I think back and wonder at myself as to what exactly I thought anyone watching was going to see.  Oh, the good ol' days.

 

Up next for Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge is the letter C: Candy Cigarettes, Cards in Bicycle Spokes, Cars.

So what do you supposed I'll choose? Any guesses?

 

A is for Apple Tree

Day one of the A to Z challenge.

My choices were Apple Tree, Aluminum Christmas Trees, and Adjustable Roller Skates. 

All three are a blast from my past, but the apple tree won.  It is one of my earliest childhood memories. 

This memory appeases all of my senses.

Our family lived on the lower level of my Grandma's house.  Outside our front door was a concrete slab where we could sit and play by a level side yard that quickly sloped down into what, at the time, seemed to me to be a steep hill.  At the bottom of that hill I could SEE the APPLE TREE.  In my young mind everything revolved around that apple tree.

I can still FEEL the roughness of the bark as I climbed up to my perch in that tree.  We spent hours there.  My older brother and sister on the higher branches and me, the youngest, on the lower ones.  We would play telephone, using tin cans on a string.

 

"Ring, ring.    Hello.   Not you! I was calling Tom.  Ring, ring.   Hello.  Hi Tom, what are you doing?   (I think he was usually "making things" and certainly not interested our little parties).  So, Ring, ring.  Hello.  Hi Kathleen.  Can you HEAR me? Yeah?    Close your other ear.  Now can you still hear me?    You wanna play?"  It seemed the nonsense went on forever. 

 

I can still SMELL those apples as they ripened.  They were small and tart to the TASTE.  I was always fearful of the ever present worms.  I seem to remember they were not good for anything other than to let them fall to the ground to rot.

 

Down that gently sloping (steep) hill I went as I tried to ride my brother's little bike.  My skill set certainly did not include knowing how to brake.  So, I headed straight for my friend, the apple tree.  I'm pretty sure that, though everyone came running, I didn't get hurt.  In my young five year old mind, that apple tree saved me.   And that, my friends, is why A is for Apple Tree.

 

Day two of A to Z Challenge:  My choices are Barbie Dolls, Big Chief Tablet, Black and White TV, and Bath Time

 

Any guesses on what I'm going to choose?

 

 

A to Z Challenge

Tomorrow is Day one of the A to Z Challenge, where bloggers from all over will be blogging their way through the alphabet through the month of April.  Sundays are a day of rest.  To see all of the A to Z posts, just click on the button on my side bar and start surfing.  I can't wait to see what everyone blogs about.

I've chosen the theme of "Remembering" for my A to Z journey.  Each day I will be traveling back in time to my childhood and teen years to remember the way things were back.  My mind is full of ideas.  For the most part, each letter has more than one remember for me to choose from.

So, day one:  Letter A

The choices are:  Apple Tree, Adjustable Roller Skates, or Aluminum Christmas Tree

Any guesses on what I'm going to choose?

Barn Charm

 

Today is Tuesday's Barn Charm with Tricia at Bluff Area Daily.

So get your barn fix and head on over to check out all of the other charming barns!

 

 

I will have to admit that this barn is more about the green than it is about the building itself.  Green.  I want to see green again!  It's Spring!

 

 

Winter wonderland view from The Loft, as I worked on an embroidery job yesterday.
Come on Spring!  I'm waiting on you!