October 15, 2016- More Toys and Childhood Fun-Part 2

    I had plastic tea set (Nursery rhyme character – Little Boy Blue?), Pluto, Aimee (I am pretty sure that this is the name of Holly Hobbie’s friend), Kathy, and a few other dolls. Two of them were named after family friends, Gina and Kerri. Mom had to buy me a new one of the latter because she got ruined when I accidentally dropped her in the tub. I also had a big red-headed doll that wore my old clothes.

   I loved my handmade doll clothes- 2 Barbie dresses made by either Fran or Donna, or perhaps both of my cousins. Aunt Ann made the Barbie wedding dress and a coat for my Cabbage Patch Kid. Mom made a few items for my Kerri doll.

   

   Mike had 2 cowboys that looked alike and were pretty heavy that he got from Helen J. He called them Nick and Ben after our twin uncles. One day he accidentally hit me in the face with one of them and it knocked out my baby tooth.

   

   I had the Barbie camper. Mike had a Tonka fire truck and a car that I’m almost certain was a Camaro; my Barbies fit into this. My dream car of the 1980s was either this or a Trans Am. I have a picture of me in a Trans Am which was on display at the World of Motion in EPCOT Center in 1983.

   He didn’t have Legos until the mid-80s. I have a funny photo of him and Tony sitting at our kitchen table playing with them. He won a nice Pink Panther stuffed animal at Kathy’s church carnival around the same time period. He regrets getting rid of it. He does still have the Wile E Coyote that he won either down the shore or at a carnival.

  

   I have a stuffed Benji that Aunt Joan got for me. Our Ginger looked a little like that doggie. Grandma Next Door gave me a teddy bear for my first birthday. I’m glad that I kept these. One of our oldest stuffed animals is a tiger from the mid-60s. She was the mother to my Lilly, who was a victim of my possessions purge- the late 80s edition.

   

   I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for getting rid of my stuffed animal friends. Poor Mrs. Raccoon no longer has her husband and daughter Raquel (I got her from our grade school’s fund raising Farmco kit) because of this. Mike would say that they are just stuffed animals and put me down for getting emotional about this.

1976

1976-Aimee

1973

1974-Gina

                                                       

1975-Kathy

1984-CPKs Gerald and Myrtle

1985-Lara and Gerald,; Fleagle and Daisy Beagle

1974-Kerri

Theresa, Kathy, and other doll

Handmade doll clothes

Handmade CPK coat

Handmade Barbie clothes

Johnny West

The Pink Panther

1982-Benji

1969

1969

1970

Mrs. Raccoon- on right

Wile E. Coyote

Pluto-right

Legos 1986

Trans-Am-Epcot 1983

Internet photos- Barbie camper, Johnny West, and The Pink Panther.

Our Grandparents-Part 2

Grandma-at-the-Farm

Mike and I always thought of mom’s mother as Grandma-at-the-Farm even when she moved to the house in Bordentown in the early 80s. The land owners had only given her and her brother Charlie either a month or 6 weeks to move. They wanted to redo that house for a relative – their son? She had moved in with her 2 brothers after letting Mom and Dad have her apartment in our town after they were married in 1968.

   I really wish that we had gotten the chance to see her and Aunt Ann’s family more. We’d go to her house for Thanksgiving and to Aunt Ann’s place for our second Christmas. Sometimes we’d visit them all in the summertime. They didn’t visit us that much mainly because Dad didn’t like them doing so. That is just so heartless and unfair.

   Grandma (and also Aunt Ann) tried teaching me to crochet. She even got me a set of hooks in the early 80s. I still have them. I could only do the single loop stitch. I made a little blanket for my stuffed animals.  I didn’t stick with this for that long, however. Mom tried teaching me to knit but I could never get the hang of it. I guess that I didn’t inherit their crafting abilities.

   I still have the 2 latch hook rugs- spring/summer and fall trees- and the blanket and pillow set that Grandma made for me. She did the latter for Mike too. I could never get rid of these and the other handmade items from her and Aunt Ann.

   She prepared nearly the entire Thanksgiving dinner which was delicious, esp. the pumpkin and apple pies. I remember how much she used to like English muffins with strawberry jam which I do also. There were always mini York Peppermint Patties in the candy dish at her house. I think that she liked Fritos too. I have a vague memory of that, as well as her canning vegetables and fruits in Ball jars.

   She got me into 2 mystery authors that she greatly enjoyed – Earle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason) and Agatha Christie. I always preferred that authors’ detective Poirot over Miss Marple. Aunt Ann introduced me to others of that genre- Martha Grimes, Margaret Truman, PD James, Elizabeth George, Reginald Hill, and Lillian Jackson Braun.

   Grandma had very beautiful Christmas cactuses. I am pretty sure that Aunt Ann got these after she died. She gave me a cactus but I accidentally killed it by over watering it which I felt very bad about.

   She helped me study my state capitals in 4^thgrade one of the few times that she was visiting us for a few days. This really helped me to remember them even more than if I had done so on my own.

   Her favorite perfume was Jean Nate and she collected cardinals, some of which mom has now.  We would get her both these as gifts. We have a few of her kitchen items too, like a cast iron skillet.

    I found the photo albums of her pictures of Germany when I was looking through mom’s totes a couple of years ago. I can’t believe that I had never seen them before this. Maybe I had but it was a long time ago and I forgot.

   She used to go bowling with her brothers. I was talking to mom about this one day and she told me that her sister, sister-in-law, nephew and even mom would also go with them sometimes. They had a pool table at their house. I remember her brothers playing this but not her but mom said that she did too.

   Mom and I both used to like playing the card game Solitaire and also doing those circle- a- word puzzles just as Grandma used to do. I wish that I could recall more about Grandma-at-the-Farm; maybe if Dad had let us visit her more then I’d have more vivid memories of her now.

 

                                                             1986- 80th Birthday Party

                                            
                                                                   Crochet hook set
                                                
                                                                   My Doll Blanket
                                    

 

                                                               Handmade Snowmen

                                                                Christmas Cactuses

                                                                      Poinsettia

                                                                  Germany-1960s