More Childhood Memories

This is a picture taken by either my daughter or son-in-law, I'm not sure which. I think it's beautiful. It is, of course, of my grandson, Isaac, and their cat, Emily. Please note, the tat on his right arm. I don't know where the children today get these things. We used to find them in Cracker Jack boxes when I was a kid, or sometimes they came with bubble gum. I don't know what Isaac's is. I used to love the ones of butterflies or cartoon characters or flowers.


Cracker Jack was a real delight then. The prizes in the boxes were really fun too. These days, I occasionally buy a box. But the so-called prizes are only dumb little paper things - never any good toys. I remember once getting a whistle .


The prizes in cereal boxes aren't like they used to be either. Now when I was a girl....


And what ever happened to Dixie Cups? It's been years since Dixie Cups. I had a vast collection of Dixie Cup caps - the ones with the pictures of movie stars. I loved the cowboy stars - Tom Mix and Gene Autry. (Yes, I go that far back) I had lots of other stars too. Imagine what that collection would be worth today! No chance. My mother's favorite sport was throwing things away. She didn't believe in "clutter" of any kind. We used to joke that our rooms were always so neat because Mom never let a piece of clothing touch the floor before she would whisk it away to the laundry. The kitchen was always neat because we never got to completely clean our plates before she had them washed and dried and put away. That was why my sister and I always said we'd never be good housekeepers. We never learned how. Mom couldn't stand waiting while someone else did anything.


I guess we were very easily pleased when we were kids. I can remember playing for hours with clothespins, or with checkers or old chessmen. I'd turn the footstool upside down. It had thick sides and big round feet, and upside down, it became a castle and the chessmen or whatever were the knights and the royal family.


But then, I don't remember our local firehouse having Open House for the kids in the neighborhood either. The community seems to do more today to entertain and instruct our children than was ever done when I was a girl.


We had some great field trips from school though. One of the very best was the day we went to the Philadelphia Zoo in Fairmount Park. I got to ride on Elizabeth, the elephant. A very bumpy ride, but so exciting! And I loved the trips to museums. They were all good, but my favorite was always the Philadelphia Art Museum - the one famous now for Rocky running up the steps. We didn't wait for school trips there; we often went on a Saturday. I ate many a box lunch, sitting on those Art Museum steps. So far, Isaac's field trips have been to the pumpkin farm or a nature preserve, with his pre-school class. But I predict many fabulous adventures for him, exploring the world around him.

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I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying the comments that everyone has made on my posts on my school days. Each one has a new little story of their own days when they were young. They are all delightful. Thank you so much!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR CANADIAN FRIENDS!

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Isaac's mom says, "the tattoo is of a dinosaur of course."