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And that Space Age design! Wow! Refrigerators in those days had a lock system that was connected to the handle. You didn’t just pull the handle–you pulled it down as well to unlock the door. But in the sixties, fridges became frost-free (old fridges were called iceboxes), which meant that the freezer no longer accumulated… Continue reading All those time saving Gadgets

The Great Escape In the 1860’s/1870’s, Irish immigrants flooded the US. Many found work in the Pennsylvania anthracite mines. The Irish were considered the lowest form of humanity–drunks and ruffians who indiscriminately had babies that they couldn’t support. From this discrimination/humiliation came The Molly Maguires, a combination of a trade union and a terrorist group.… Continue reading Total Time Transfer: Late 1910’s

Sitting in the classroom, trying to look intelligent So now you see that my wonderful little hamlet was swelling like a pregnant seahorse, ready to discharge hordes of baby boomers. Yipes! That ancient 40-year old school just won’t do. So they built one kind of halfway down the hill, on a wide mesa atop the… Continue reading I fit in a little dedication, with one eye on the clock

Welcome back, baby…to the ‘poor side of town’ My borough was between the road at the base of my street (north-south) and a four lane thoroughfare (east-west). The borough sprouted in the 1900’s off the main thoroughfare and oozed up the large hill behind it. It was called “The Hills”. Houses were generally mansions, but… Continue reading Rising above the factories and the fields

From that moment ’till the spot disappearsMan, I could be anywhere Not only were these the days before remotes, these were days before color. Your TV took a minute to warm up (forever to a 4-year old, let me tell you) and you changed channels manually. Switching it off shrank the picture to a small… Continue reading Television: My Best Friend

It’s not Mom and Pop anymore…. While the model for grocery store shopping wasn’t started in the 60’s, our little mico-chasm (pun intended) of suburbia was certainly a model for how the times they were a-changing. As I said, we had a small mom and pop store at the corner. Two aisles: limited selection, limited… Continue reading The Grocery Experience: Changing, Arranging

The dream-child moving through a land of wonders wild and new–Lewis Carroll I’ve been told that my generation was the last one who never saw the inside of a daycare. The word ‘daycare’ did not exist. Women stayed home or found someone to watch a small child. My father once told me that it was… Continue reading Long days with Mom

Who was trained not to spit in the fan? Well, all this talk about Nicki leads me to dogs. Our neighborhood had only a few. There was a nice boxer named Mack one block up who I’d occasionally visit if he was tied up in the backyard. Loved how he shook his groove thang when… Continue reading Dogs (Three Different Ones)

Thrown together……. Because my parents had formed a little clique with 3 other couples, my first friend was the only one near my age–the Bryant’s youngest daughter, Cathy, who was some months younger. There was no ‘puppy love’ here–just two kids knocking around, playing with toys or running in the field. I don’t really remember… Continue reading Friends together watch their childhood fly

Nature brings a boy in tune My parents bought me a swing set, mini sliding board, and a bizarre sled contraption in the backyard. The sled was a small open platform that your butt just barely fit; the wheels would lock into a metal track. So you’d lift this sled (weighing half as much as… Continue reading Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze….