What are your fun memories from childhood?
 

Remember this?

- bread bags on feet before putting on your snow boots

-stealing beans, peas, carrots from gardens and drinking from the hose. Apples off of trees.
If we went home we'd get chores assigned

- going to your friend's church because you hung out at their house for days, and friends mom adding you to the house chore list

- "that rich kid" on the block had cable, Pong, Sesame Street, Quisp/Capn Crunch & Twinkies

- fear of the basement. Do the rapid dog paddle up the stairs and do NOT look back!

-getting "beaned" during dodge ball with that gigantic rubber ball

-calling radio station to recite "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions all on a sesame seed bun" to get free Big Mac

What's your list? :thumbup:

Getting dressed up for church, climbing trees, sled riding, homemade ice cream, hide and seek, nuns in habits, neighborhood baseball game, fresh corn on the cob, vinyl records, drive-in movies, fruit trees and berry bushes, arcade games, disco, roller skating rinks, equal rights amendment, and the farrah flip.

Stealing a beer from the case at the bottom of the American Legion stair case. They left it down there in the winter so it would be ice cold. Me and 3 or 4 buddies would take hours planning the crime and finally consuming our prize on the rare occasion we were successful. Looking back I'm convenienced those old men knew what we were up to because they would ambush us about 75% of the time but they never turned us in. The first time or 2 we had to poke a hole in the can with a screwdriver or pocketknife because no one had a can opener.

The day JFK was shot
The day MLK was shot
My brother going to Viet Nam
The day RFK was shot
The day George Wallace was shot

They are all with God and praying for us

Lord, what a violent country

All definitely among my "fun memories".

You don't want to count the Challenger disaster, among your fun times?

I did watch that live unfortunately. Funny how just trying to do your job gets you killed...isn't it? That was 1986 and I was talking much earlier when I was very young.

I thought it was cool to see a M46 Patton tank sitting and blocking Eastern Ave and Patterson Park Ave during the race riots. Didn't understand it when I saw it. We went into town every Sunday after Mass to go to Mikulski's Bakery, Ostrowski's for homemade kielbasa and kieska, and if we were really lucky the old polish ladies would be making handmade pieroges at one of the Fells Point Parishes. One Sunday there was this giant hulk of Iron directly in front of the bakery, protecting what was left of the little bit of dignity our, my family's, ancestors had. It was very turbulent times then, much like now. Many people chose to ignore it, just like now. I'm embarrassed by the city I grew up in and I know who is to blame.

I'm sorry to be Debbie Downer and it wasn't my initial thought. I had all the usual fun like rolling in fields of splendor and sneaking beers. Just thought I'd give a realistic view of the 60's as a child of a working class family. I will say I had a great time in Scouting....all the way to Eagle. It taught me life skills that help me to this day. My Dad was very nurturing and will always be the best friend I've ever had.

Camping in the back yard
Riding mini bikes.
Building tree forts.

[QUOTE=AMB444;2311504]Remember this?

- bread bags on feet before putting on your snow boots

-stealing beans, peas, carrots from gardens and drinking from the hose. Apples off of trees.
If we went home we'd get chores assigned

- going to your friend's church because you hung out at their house for days, and friends mom adding you to the house chore list

- "that rich kid" on the block had cable, Pong, Sesame Street, Quisp/Capn Crunch & Twinkies

- fear of the basement. Do the rapid dog paddle up the stairs and do NOT look back!

-getting "beaned" during dodge ball with that gigantic rubber ball

-calling radio station to recite "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions all on a sesame seed bun" to get free Big Mac

What's your list? :thumbup:[/QUOTE

-Big Macs and Whoppers true to size in styrofoam containers

Vegetables and fruit in the backyard
Fresh egg’s every day (not getting chased by the mean rooster back to the house)
Playing hide and seek until you were called home
Making a snow fort with 4’ of fresh snow because school was canceled
Family vacation with grandparents.

Summer at the family Dairy Farm, Tobacco Farm and Horse Farm watching all the new babies but learning very early
the Bull is mean,
many race horses bite,
and tobacco worms are giant scary monsters

About 10 years ago, I was playing golf with a guy and he uttered a 5 word phrase, that brought back more memories than imaginable. It could have been a New England phrase, I don't know. But for those who recognize it, it will bring back irreplaceable memories.


"Invisible man on 2nd Base".

No cell phones.
No Brutal murder, nude, foul mouthed swearing and everybody screwing everybody in theatres and home tv.

Attending a small public elementary school that taught reading, writing and arithmetic. The principal played piano and we sang. A music teacher came once a week as did a Spanish teacher. Walking or riding my bike the two blocks home for a hot lunch.

Learning to cuss in Spanish and German, a little in Assyrian and Greek. Vastly increasing my English cussing vocabulary being a batboy for the Kirtland Flyers, a semi-pro baseball team.

Playing marbles in the dirt in the spring

Shooting my Daisy pump BB gun until its spring finally broke

Building model airplanes from scratch and then flying them

Building kites and flying them

Playing "Smear the Guy" on a dirt playground, a game where whomever had the ball was tackled

Riding my bike wherever I wanted without worry

Listening to The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Fibber McGee and Molly and other comedy teams on the AM radio

Going to matinees at the movies in the summer, admission a dime

Root beer floats, banana splits, ice cream sodas, cherry, lime and chocolate cokes, malts, milk shakes, all at fountains

Snowball fights at school on the rare occasion it actually snowed in Albuquerque

Getting a day off from school and going to the State Fair, hitting the midway, eating cotton candy, Indian fry bread, and attending the rodeo

Driving around town in the family Oldsmobile during the holidays to see the lights, especially enjoying the luminarias (farolitos)

Hmmm....we must have grown up differently. I remember not being allowed to watch the news because of so much violence. Vietnam, race wars, Manson, Bundy, shootings of political figures, kkk and more. On Tv, women did not wear bras and playboy was very popular. They even had private clubs around the country. Places like Studio 54 where drugs were passed around like candy. Maybe not the same foul language as the present, but lots of racism and bigotry. So common place, that a show like All in the Family, was allowed to air and received great ratings. I remember comedians making fun of every nationality known to man. Women were second class citizens and had to stay home.

When my grandchildren watch old tv shows or movies, they ask a lot of questions as they look at me mystified. I have to explain that it was a different time. Women and black people had to fight for equality. Racism and chauvinism was not only allowed; it was a form of comedic entertainment. How does one explain character names like Pussy Galore or Petticoat Junction in a town called Hooterville? Thankfully, we've come a long way since then. Every generation has its scars.

How about the Dean Martin roast specials? Don Rickles? It seemed genuine and people weren’t offended.

That is my point. It was so commonplace back then that everyone thought it was funny. Test it yourself and watch some of the older shows with your grandkids. You will find it difficult to explain why it was acceptable.

Being "offended" is the catch-all word for the WOKE minority.

I fondly remember my father taking my brother and I to Steeplechase Park in Coney Island.

Fun Times
 

Swimming all summer, long bicycle rides everywhere, picking cherries till one of us broke too many branches, Chinese chestnut burr and Mayapple fights, digging in the garden, corn roasts and playing in the fire pit the day after a gathering.

Honey-suckle bush, ice cream truck, inflatable swimming pool, cherry coke at Woolworth, dad's whistle to come home, 6 RC caps got you into movies, ping-pong, fire flies in bottle, first bicycle

Fun Memories? Too bad you blocked out Kent State to round out your seemingly sad reminiscent life in our otherwise great country of our youth.

- Walking 1 1/2 mile to school, taking a shortcut through a little wood that was so magical to me.
- Crazy snowstorms that made the doors completely inaccessible so we had to get out through the kitchen window, no school but lots of shovelling!
- Watching The Flintstones, cartoons, Walt Disney.
- Playing records and writing out the words so I'd be able to memorize them.
- Camping trips to the Atlantic coast.
- Skiing in Quebec and Vermont
- Watching color TV for the first time
- Watching Nadia Comanici's perfect 10. WHAT A GYMNAST!
- The first steps on the moon.
- Getting to wear a tutu for my first ballet recital.
- Swimming ALL DAY until my fingers and toes turned into prunes.
- Picking fresh blueberries in the forest near our house and having a pie made from them by mom. YUM

Exactly! I've never been "offended" in my life. I've always "considered the source" and never got my panties in a bind.

I must have been brought up as a girl that came from a great family, enjoyed the heck out of life and saw the good along with the bad.
The topic is FUN from our childhood, not "period effects" of our youth. Lighten up.Smile more, laugh, like you did as a kid. Sorry to the people who love to hold grudges from the days of old....70 years ago.
That's a lots baggage baby!
Dean and Don were a riot!

Yes!!!
 

You made my day! My husband’s too. We had a good laugh remembering how invisible men worked in our backyard baseball games. And we both grew up in New England so your hypothesis about the origin of the phrase may be right. How did it come up on the golf course though??

It’s still out there (DM roast series). Like All in the Family and The Jeffersons, history has judged all kindly

The English "Carry On" movies weren't politically correct, but funny. It was a period in history.
History shouldn't be erased.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Just being young & being able to play outside after dark, not anymore!

Remember playing 500 till the bats started circling the balls. Then went snipe hunting or caught lightning bugs to put in jars. For those with the insensitive side, we made lighting bug rings…lol

How many lightning bugs perished to make one ring!

A couple
 

Maybe just a couple, it was usually just one or two put on the ring finger to simulate a stone. I don’t think we had the patience to make an entire ring.

Sounds like you may have watched Silence of the Lambs and Sir Anthony Hopkins a few times!

Just having fun with ya!
I used to use the magnifying glass and sun with ants. Don’t judge me...it’s better than being a plaintiff in a pesticide class action suit ! ;)

Growing up on the rural Chesapeake Bay. Hand dipping crabs, fishing, water skiing and playing on miles of private beaches. Baseball, bikes and friends. Life was/is great.

Better now?
 

So things are better now that we can’t even define what a woman is? I’d go back to the innocence of the 50s in a heartbeat.

We were talking about the things we did as kids and how often we played sports in neighborhood games. Baseball games, with only 4 players on a each team & one of those players, was someone's 7 year old little brother and we made him the full-time catcher.

I almost doubled over in laughter when I heard those words. I hadn't heard them, in 40 years. I thought it would be a spectacular name for a book and even put some effort into seeing what I could do to trademark the name. It was just one of those phrases, that evokes such wonderful memories ... & could only have been made up by a 10 year old boy.

Waking up every morning without any aches and pains.

Sitting on the front porch with my grandmother and one by one neighbors would stop by and soon a bunch of us would be sitting and chatting, going for a walk every Thanksgiving with my grandmother and neighbors after a big meal, playing kick socker, hide & seek, waking up on weekends to the smell of bacon and coffee, Sunday meals with family and any friend(s) that came by, block party's (which included clam bakes).

Picking out selected branches and then carving out a bow and then making life miserable for rabbits and large birds. Shooting an arrow straight up in the air and not flinching when it came down VERY CLOSE. Shooting at squirrels in a park and getting caught EVEN after running away. Listening to the song, "Rock Around the Clock" and realizing that both music and life was CHANGING fast compared to pre-ROCK. Running nearly naked through the neighbors back yards late at night. AS a gang-like group grabbing a guys bumper as he tried to get his car up a snow covered slippery HILL - and then absorbing colorful language as we ran away. There was a LOT of running away - like after stealing tomatoes. Playing baseball with a tennis ball - I guess we did that because we would NOT need gloves? Sitting on a park bench behind the swimming pool and hoping to talk to some young ladies. Water skiing behind my father's boat. Getting cut from the High School Baseball team. Having water balloon fights. Acting stupid and immature all through grade school. Sneaking under a fence into a High School football game and having to fight some clown at the top of the hill. Not quit understanding what the music teacher was trying to get across about the "me's and the do's thing. Still don't know!
......Those were the days my friend - we would fight and never lose!!!!!!!

Good story. Stolen things always tasted better.

Fun times, right? :ohdear:

Foster Brooks was my favorite...

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/5e/6d/4d/5...ce81adf004.jpg

Three Hail Marys and Three Our Fathers my son!