Friday, January 24, 2020

Children will always play

Being born at the beginning of WW II, my life was somehow influenced by the drive to collect metal to be used in the war. So children's toys were not made of metal as much as before the war. I had a wood wagon full of wood blocks, and 2 small chairs, one a rocker. And a little wood cradle for baby dolls. I had been 4 months old for my first Christmas, and I'm guessing this is my second Christmas in Dallas TX.

I loved the nesting blocks (cardboard with pictures from fairy tales on 5 sides of each one.) I probably made some towers with both these colorful blocks and the wood ones which were to teach me the alphabet and numbers. It sure was fun to knock them over and see them scatter, and make a big sound.

My baby sister was born in February 1946, so this is before she turned one. I would have been around  4. We called the contraption she was in a "go-cart." No strollers then!

These girls are all cousins, and it was my little sister's frowning first birthday in a little swing. Standing behind her is the oldest cousin, Claudette, then myself in the middle, and Sandra in sweater on right. Claudette and Sandra were sisters who lived in Houston. We moved there about that time.

I was happy to get a doll (as usual) for Christmas when I was probably 8. (I think she marked the wrong date on this one.) Little sis also had a new doll. I'm thrilled to see what knick knacks my mother had on that non-working mantel.




Here are more Christmas dolls, and we girls have poodle skirts, with matching collars. I was 10 or more likely 11 (again her dates might be within a year or two.)


The big snow of 53 (St Louis MO) may have been 12 inches, or maybe that was another one. We got a sled, and learned what being cold felt like. Most children don't know when to come in out of the cold. But put mittens on a radiator, and that smell will remind us all of how our feet and fingers burned as they warmed up.


Fast forward 40 years, my son, Russ and his wife and their first 2 (of 3) children enjoyed a Florida beach. where her parent had a condo. I've played on beaches with them when one or another was buried in the sand for fun.

My father enjoyed a Lionel train set under our tree many Christmases. This one is at the Swannanoa Valley History Museum in Black Mountain. I enjoy seeing it in action, and it's available for many visitors to operate also.


Cherry Street (in Black Mountain NC) now has 2 empty stores, the toy store and the book store no longer are in business. I hope new businesses move in soon.

This is what I found this week of the old photos with children's playtime captured.

Oh, here's a new one.  

I wasn't there, but my grandchildren took part in a run, and their mom shared this cool photo of jumping for joy!

This is my submission to Sepia Saturday this week! Come on over and see what other playful activities might come up!

 





15 comments:

  1. My brother had Lionel Trains and so did my grandfather. I remember one time we went to grandfather's apartment and he had laid out a long section of track so that it went under the sofa. When we sat down, he waited until the train went under us and blew the whistle!

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    1. Oh my goodness, I'd have jumped out of my skin with a whistle under the couch!

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  2. THis is a very well put together chronology.

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    1. Well, I did some digging for this post. Sometimes I think I have a certain photo to share (like this time) and go hunting but never find it. So these will do.

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  3. Great job catching the girls in the air. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that wooden wagon. Please say you still have it - eh probably not, right? When I look at MY baby pictures, I do not see ME. But I definitely see you in your baby pictures.

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    1. Oh I think I'm definitely getting the baby fat back in my face!

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  4. Hello, wonderful memories and family photos. The men in family loved Lionel Trains, we always visited various Train Gardens during the Christmas holiday! Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend.

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    1. I've never seen a train garden...what fun. We did go to a Train Museum in Missouri once.

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  5. I'm intrigued by your photos of dolls at Christmas. My sister had a Toni doll which I envied so much that finally when she reached college age, she gave it to me.

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  6. ...things were simple back then.

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  7. What wonderful pictures and shared in chronological order so we could follow thought the years. Love the '50s snap with the poodle skirts and collars. Brings back memories! Santa brought my younger brother a train set for Christmas one year. Dad made a plywood base with tracks that folded in half so it could be stored under a bed. Unfortunately, because of expense, Dad had to take the transformer out of my dollhouse (he built for me earlier) that ran little overhead lights in every room, to use for my brother's train set, promising he'd get another transformer to put back in the dollhouse, but it never happened and I'm guessing because of expense? Hard to say. Oh well. My great nieces now play with my dollhouse and don't seem to mind that the little lights don't light up. :)

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  8. Wonderful set of family shots. You are lucky to have so many of you as a baby. We didn't have a camera, so few photos.

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  9. Great set of childhood photos. I well remember those wooden alphabet blocks and their sound. Also the go-cart, which each of my younger brother commandeered before strollers took over. And of course the Lionel train set...my mother continued to set one up for the holidays into her 80s.

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  10. All great moments but the last one of the three runners sets a new higher standard of fun. And I always like getting ages with children's photos to improve my guesswork on estimating unknown children's photos.

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