My Stuffed Animals-1970s and 1980s

                               
   
Top Shelf- My First Teddy Bear, Wile E. Coyote, Little Brown Bear (LBB), Pinky, Chick, Henry, Fred, Brownie, BB (hidden); Bottom- Mrs. Duck, Penguin, Beary Bear, Cottontail (CT), a raccoon and mouse, Cinnamon( partially hidden); Front- Lilly Tiger, Mrs. Raccoon, Ted

Poochie, Raquel Racoon, Cinnamon Koala, Mrs. Bunny and her daughter Cottontail, Chick, Mrs. Duck and her daughter Lisa, Shu-Shu Princess (Poodle), Ted and Beary Bear, Mrs. Octopus, Mrs. Bernard and her daughter Brownie (doggies), Mrs. Tiger and her daughter Lilly, Minnie Mouse (just part of her head)

March 13, 2016- Easter

Easter is early this year, just 2 weeks away. Hopefully, our cousins Tony and Debbie will be coming over then. They have been doing so for the past couple of years.

   I remember that it snowed a little on this holiday one time in the early 80s. Mom made a hen and it’s chicks in ceramics. We still have this and most of the other decorations, including 2 bunnies made by Cindy and Jessica’s mother.

   We celebrated it at Grandma Next- Door’s house. She liked giving us gifts like bunny banks and stuffed animals, like the Bunny family – Mr. and Mrs., Peter and CT (Cotton Tail). We got the first 2 one year and the other the next. I wish that I still had them.

   My brother and I would usually pick candy as the item that we would give up for Lent, the 40 days before Easter. We were pretty good at sticking to this. We were so glad when we could start eating it again.

   We did the no meat on Fridays thing then too. I forget when we stopped doing that; maybe 1984. Mom made us meals like noodles with cottage cheese or breaded flounder. We would usually have tuna fish or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

    My brother and I liked getting the Gertrude Hawk candy. I preferred the dark chocolate. The peanut butter Smidgens were so good. We sometimes got the white chocolate crosses. My favorite jelly beans were the pink and purple ones. Mom liked the Russell Stover Maple Cream eggs.

   Our meal was always ham, kielbasa, Farmers Cheese, dyed hard boiled eggs, babka (bread), beets with horseradish, potato salad and coleslaw.

   We’d use the Paas egg dye kit most of the time. We dyed eggs with Cindy and Jessica at their grandparent’s house once.  Mike reminded me about this. I think that we have a picture of us doing so. It was fun looking for the hidden eggs. I would always try to find more than my brother.

    Dad would always go back into the church for extra palms on Palm Sunday. We had some of the palms in our nativity set.

   I know that we used to watch the Peanuts special but I can’t really remember it. I should watch it next Easter. There were a couple of other specials too; I think that one was called “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” which is also a song.

 

 

1975

1985

Mr. Bunny

Mrs. Bunny

Bunny Bank

Babka

 

Kielbasa with horseradish and beets

 

Note- These photos are from the internet- bunny bank, Here Comes Peter Cottontail VHS, Babka, and other food after that.

 

October 12, 2015- Cute Doggies and Other Animals- Part 1

 I felt like crying when I saw a dead cat in the middle of the road when driving to the grocery store on Sunday. I remember when Mike, Kelly and I were walking home from school and saw a doggie that had been hit by a car. A man went out into the street to help it and told us that we should go home. I hope that the poor doggie was alright but I have this bad feeling that it wasn’t.

  I get so emotional about animals. They are also in the highlight reels of my mind from trips that I have taken. There was this adorable little calf at the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. that I was petting. She got some snot on my light blue pants. I have a picture of her and me. I barely remember anything else about that place or the Baseball Hall of Fame.

  We have pictures of me on a pony and petting a deer at the Turtleback Zoo in 1974. I wish that I could remember this. I pet goats at Hershey Park in 1975 and at a farm that had a corn maze that Matt and I went through in 2000.

  On a Girl Scout trip to the Bronx Zoo in 1980, I rode a camel and saw raccoons and otters. We went to The National Zoo in Washington D.C. and saw the pandas and I’m pretty sure otters too. I definitely saw them there in 1997 and even took photos.

   My troopmates and I went horseback riding during a trip to Virginia in 1982. That the only time that I’ve ever done so and probably would be too afraid to try it again.

  Mike and I liked feeding the ducks in Rahway Park when we were little kids. Helen J. bought a bunny rabbit over to our house one day and we were petting that. I held a baby bunny at the vet’s office a few years ago. It was so adorable.

  We buried a dead bird in our yard in the mid-1970s. A baby blue jay went under Mr. C’s deck about 10 years ago. I should have tried rescuing it or asked someone to help me do so. The mommie was looking for it. It must’ve been so scared and lonely. I know how it feels. I feel so guilty about this. Mr. C’s cat probably ate it or it just died of starvation.

  Mike rescued a baby groundhog from the middle of the road. We tried taking it to the woods near our house but it kept trying to cross the street. We took it to our house and kept it overnight. I didn’t think of taking it to the emergency vet place and was waiting until Monday morning to bring it to our vet.

  We didn’t even know that it was a groundhog at first. Mike was calling it a hedgehog but I don’t think that we have those in the U.S.  I thought that it was a guinea pig. I was saying that if it’s a girl I’d call it Molly and if it’s a boy it’s Simon.

  Our vet’s office only takes cats and dogs so we had to bring it to the one in Clark. The lady there said that they could call a wildlife rehabilitation place that would take care of it. The poor thing was dehydrated. It wouldn’t drink the water that we put in a dish for it. I called them a couple of hours later to check up on it. She said “He’s doing fine”.  Yeah!  Simon was okay. We found out it was a groundhog from them.

Calf- Farmer's Museum 1987

Turtleback Zoo 1974

Rahway Park 1972

Hershey Park 1975

Raccoons-1980

Bronx Zoo 1980- otter

D.C.-National Zoo 1997

Simon the baby groundhog

 

Note- last photo is from the internet- I wish that I had thought to take a picture of the baby groundhog!

 

 

Easter Decorations 8

The one with the cow is my mom's. The bunny in the top photo is handmade. I hope that everyone has a very Happy Easter.

Easter Beanie Babies

I was very into collecting beanie babies in the mid 1990s - early 2000s and loved the bunnies and other Easter type ones also which I saved as decorations for Easter. I got back into them a little a couple of years ago but mainly just for the dogs and holiday related ones. I have not gotten any for about 10 months though and as much as I'd like others that are on my wish list I really should start focusing on saving for more important things. I recently donated some of my beanies and other stuffed animals to a thrift shop that raises money for doggies and cats. I won't part with any of these though. Maybe someday I'll change my mind about this.

Easter Decorations 4

I was organizing and going through all the totes in our basement last summer when I came across these decorations. It had been many years since I had seen them . They are mostly from the 1980s. The butterfly was made by my Aunt Al.

Easter Decorations 5

More adorable decorations from the 1980s. I especially love the one of the little bunny asleep with the lamb.