Sunday 21 January 2018

Remembering . . .


I had a pair of saddleshoes when I was in Grade one.  They were my pride and joy. I am not sure why, because they are not particularly attractive are they? 

  

This is me wearing them at the end of the year Awards Ceremony at the end of Grade One.  I am the second from the left.  I remember that teacher, Miss Beizek was here name and I thought she was so pretty and glamorous.  The tall girl with the short hair next to me was my best friend. Susan Warburton.  We were pretty unseperable.  I was pretty devastated when her father got posted to Germany at the end of Grade 3.  I thought I would never survive losing her.  We wrote back an forth for years and years and years.  She came to my first wedding, and we are still in touch on facebook.  I guess, other than my sister she is the friend I have had the longest! 


My parents had a bedroom set, pretty much just like this!  Same type of wood veneer, blonde . . .  bookcase headboard, tall boy dresser, and long dresser with a matching mirror.  They didn't have the night tables however.  I remember thinking it was very modern and sophisticated and it probably was for that time.  My mom was very thrifty and when she bought furniture, it was expected to last a very long time.  They were still sleeping in this bed when I left home to get married in the 1970's.  I think the tall dresser is still in the spare bedroom actually. The tall dresser was my father's dresser.  I used to love opening the top drawer.  It smelled of butterscotch, leather and cork grease.  He loved butterscotch wafers and he always had a tub of them in his top drawer, and he played the clarinet, hence the cork grease.  This was the drawer he kept his belts and wallet, etc. in . . .  hence the leather. It was pretty much forbidden to go into my parents bedroom, but we did sneak in now and then and have a look and a smell . . . 

My mother had the long low dresser . . .  filled with whispers of silk and smelling faintly of her perfume and cosmetics.  What I loved most was looking in her jewelry box . . .  she had some lovely pieces, nothing too expensive, but great jewelry nonetheless.  Black diamonds, black enamel, gold, rhinestones . . . . my mom was always very elegant.   

  

Even when they were only out for an afternoon of sight seeing.

This was she and I in Germany. I might be about 2 in this picture, and she is expecting my sister.  I think it was taken outside a German War Bunker.  I love the way she is holding me.  So protectively.  I am looking forward to calling her later today. 


My mom has always been a big fan of Avon cosmetics.  In fact at one time she used to sell them.  As a child I loved the lipstick samples. My mother had tons of them.  I bet she still has some of them tucked away somewhere.  My mother collected Avon perfume jars and stuff for years and years and years. 


She had a whole set of this, but I think she gave it away.  I could be mistaken however  . . .  but she had perfume bottles that looked like victorian ladies and all sorts.  I remember a bottle of aftershave for my dad that looked like a car. 

  

Did you have cream sachet that was in one of these?
My sister and I did! 

All of these things are considered highly collectable now. 


One year my sister and I got a portable record player to share.  We thought it was fabulous!  We did not have many records and I am sure we drove our parents crazy listening to the ones we did have, over and over again.  Some that come to mind are Freda Payne singing "Band of Gold", Free's "All Right Now",  Three Dog Night "Liar", and George Harrison, "It Don't Come Easy,"  . . .  Lonely Girl by Eddie Holman . . . that is just a few.  We spent hours listening to the ones we did have and new all the words to all the songs, could sing them backwards and forwards and inside out. 



Did you want to be a Charlie's  Angel?  

The closest we ever got was trying on my mother's Farah Fawcett wig. But, I did wear bell bottom jeans, and have a belt with a peace buckle and . . .  


These

I had a bazillion of colors of these thick yarn hair ties.  They graced all my teenage pony tails and pig tails.  And I had a lot of those brightly coloured nylon kerchiefs also.  Did you? 

  

My mother had one of these that we were not allowed to use.  In Grade 12 my boyfriend gave me an electric blow hair dryer for Christmas and it caught on fire. Scary stuff!  Those things still pretty much look the same as they did back then, except maybe they are a lot more powerful these days and you can change the temperature of them, plus they come with styling brushes. 


Did you wear this and feel very sophisticated? 

  

Did you play this with your friends?
We played this for hours and we also spent hours bouncing
our India Rubber Balls against the side walls of the house.


My mother still has hers.

  

Did you play with these?  Clackers.  Dangerous things.  They could sure crack your knuckles hard if you missed.  I never ever was able to quite get the hang of them.  They would be banned now.  Health and safety. 


Brut after shave, and Jo Namath  


I used all of these things.  Or at least most of them.  My hair smelled Terrific, and I had Loves Baby Soft perfume, and I shaved my legs and underams with a flicker razer.   Kissing potion, lol . . . 

We were so media driven.


A frozen TV Dinner was a real treat, especially if they came with dessert.  I liked the turkey and the fried chicken ones.  We also loved the Bird's Eye chicken pot pies with the white gravy, peas and carrots. 

  

Did you do this?  If you mixed a bit of iodine in it, it worked even better, or so we thought.


Yardly blue eye shadow.  I did . . . 

 

I got turned on to Shakespeare, or at least Romeo and Juliette.  This is still my all time favourite version of it.  I remember sitting in the theatre and crying all the way through it because the boy I had a crush on had taken another girl to it. I was feeling very heart broken.   His name was Dougie MacDonald and I thought he looked like Doctor McCoy from Star Trek.  We were in the High School Band together.  He played percussion and I played clarinet.  I remember hanging around after band practice so we could walk home together . . .  we went the same direction.  I am sure he was cringing the whole time.  What a goober I was   . . . 


She was so beautiful . . . 

  

They were beautiful . . . 


I was never beautiful.
Most people were only average, so
I was not alone in this.


But I had dreams of being swept off my feet by a Romeo.
Did you? 


I need to go get ready for church, but its been fun remembering all this stuff.

A thought to get you going  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ | 田田 |門 ★

 *.˛.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
The most certain way to succeed, 
is always to try just one more time.
~Thomas Edison   •。★★ 。* 。 

 

 

In The English Kitchen today,  Breakfast Waffle Quesadillas.  Delicious of course!  I served them with guacamole, sour cream and salsa! 

Have a lovely Sunday!  Don't forget!

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════

And I do too! 

10 comments:

  1. I met my best friend and her twin brother Susie and Chuck Avery in the 1st grade and they moved to California before starting 4th grade. I never got to say goodbye to them either! She wrote to me once and some how I lost her letter and address. I was heartbroken! I never heard from them again! Years later my neighbor said he use to write to her, but lost her address. I hope I get to talk to both of them some day soon! I did find out that her Dad bought her a horse. I never forgot them!

    It was fun to reminisce, I did have some of those things.

    I hope your headache is gone Marie!

    Love and big hugs!~♥~

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do remember many of the same things including the lipstick samples. I'm pretty sure I finally threw them all out. Ha! I too must ready for church. Have a wonderful Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marie I love today's blog did a lot of those things....the shoes were Pat Boone's shoes I loved wearing mine! Have a nice Sunday, I think were going to see The Post with Meryl Streep...love her! Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love when you take me down Memory Lane!

    The Flicker..Love's Baby Soft ..Yardley Glimmerick..had not thought of 2 of those in forever!
    Avon lipstick samples:) LOVED them to bits..

    Avon perfume bottles..

    oh so much of what you shared..I had Saddle Shoes but once I was a mom..the girls and I had matching pairs.I thought they looked great w/ kilts;)

    Have a great day and thanks for the warm memories..

    PS..I have a pic of me somewhere w/ my FF hair lol.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Marie~

    Oh my goodness, talk about a walk down memory lane!! I remember all of those things...I think you lived my childhood!

    I loved, saddle shoes. I think I only had one pair, but it was when I was older, when they came back into style in the 70's. I loved mine too, even though they weren't very cute.

    I loved to sneak a peek into my parents dresser. They had two dressers that sat side by side, with a matching mirror. I have one of the dressers, my sister has the other one with the mirror. If I close my eyes, I can still remember how they smelled. My mother had a beautiful turquoises bracelet that I loved, I think she still has it in her jewelry case.

    Your mom did look elegant, and you were a cutie!

    I loved Avon sample lipsticks! I still buy Avon products, remember the blush...Tropical Peach...I still wear it. It was in a tube. The tube is smaller, but the color is the same, it's my favorite.

    I actually have those red goblets - they were my mother-in-laws, and somehow I ended up with them!

    Yes, we had a record player - and you won't believe this - I had Freda Payne's "Band of Gold"!! I also had, "Ebb Tide" and on the flip side of it was, "The Stripper"!

    I did wear my hair like, Farah Fawcett, and those bell bottoms, I think mine were Levi brand, called Hash. I loved them so much!

    Wild Musk Oil, Clackers, I remember them all. My sweet neighbor who passed away last year always wore, Brut. If he gave me a hug, the smell would linger, I still miss that smell.

    Baby oil mixed with iodine was definitely the thing to do, all it did was make me look splotchy...and sunburned!

    I loved, Romeo and Juliet, they were beautiful!! This is where I will give you a pep talk...you were and are beautiful!! I love seeing photos of you as a girl, you were just gorgeous!! Isn't it funny that we even compare ourselves to others at our age?!

    I hope you enjoyed your Sunday - I need to get ready for church now! Thank you for sharing, I loved it!!

    Hugs and Love,
    Barb

    ReplyDelete
  6. IT is nice thinking back to the you of younger years....I remember looking for my school friend that I had lost touch with, I didn't find her but my dear Sister Sarah did...what a great day that was, so Phil and I are like you connected via the Internet we started school the same day so that must be 68 years !! Oh my goodness I didn't think,it was so long LOL....I hope you didn't have the rain we had yesterday it started around 6.45am with heavy sleet and continued on raining heavily ALL DAY didn't stop over till after 6 ..poor wee Masy had a terrible time going out she does not like the rain in the end I just had to let her....go....on the Matt on the top step.!!!....
    Have had a bad night last night so think I will be sleeping of and on today LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. That must have been a real wrench Jan! Sadder still for not being able to say goodbye. I really hope that you are able to be back in touch soon! I looked for my best high school friend for a long time as we had also lost touch, sadly to find that she had died six months previous to me finding her. I was sad about that. Hope you have a better find! Love and hugs. xoxo

    I am sure those lipstick samples would be pretty rank by now Pam, lol. I know I found some really old ones of moms last time I was home and they were putrid. I had to throw them away. Hope you enjoyed your Sunday! xoxo

    Thanks Di! I hope you enjoyed The Post. I have not heard of that one yet! xoxo

    Thanks Monique, I think we are all of a certain age and these memories ring true for each of us! You are quite welcome. Oh I would love to see you with FF hair! I am sure you were quite beautiful! xoxo

    I wonder Barb if those sneak peeks were not even more wonderful because we were doing something forbidden? I can smell my mother's also. Her perfume is a wonderful scent memory for me. Hang onto those goblets. They are worth a bomb! Thanks for your little pep talk, you are a treat! I hope you enjoyed your Sunday as much as I enjoyed mine! I listened to Elder (Will I ever get used to that) Uchtdorf and Sister Uchtdorf's address to the YSA's/ Pretty special! Love and hugs, xoxo

    Sybil, this is the first notice I have gotten in ages of your commenting! I usually never get a notice of it. Yay! WE had horrible rain yesterday. It was tipping it down all day! Very heavy. Mitzie did not get her afternoon walk, but she did go out to do her business. She is very good about that. Poor things. Love you! Hope you had a better night last night! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  8. My favourite kind of post. You and I are the same age from military families so it's not surprising our memories are similar. Yes, I did have that very same "basket" of fruit scented cream from Avon. So enjoyed your prompting of happy growing up years.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My favourite kind of post. You and I are the same age from military families so it's not surprising our memories are similar. Yes, I did have that very same "basket" of fruit scented cream from Avon. So enjoyed your prompting of happy growing up years. And I had my saddle shoes, three pairs in three years because they fit a wide instep, the only style that did in those days. I tired of them by the third year so my mother "bribed" me with a second pair of gold sparkly Mary Janes for special occasions if I'd accept the saddle shoes one more time. What a good mom!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ohh sparkly Mary Janes, sound lovely Colleen! I had a pair of penny loafers when I got about 10 that I did not want to give up. I had bright shiny new pennies in them. Funny the things that stick in your mind. Your mom was a good mom for sure! xoxo

    ReplyDelete

Your comments mean the world to me, and while I may not be able to address each one individually, each one is important to me and each one counts. Thanks so much!