No matter what the kids in my neighborhood were doing, we were always on our bikes. Whether we were riding around the beach, or just back and forth to eachother's houses.
What I did varied a lot, but I was always sunburned and my dog was always there. There was not a video game in sight. There was a lot of dirt though. I remember making my mama so mad when a bunch of us went into the orange and tangerine groves and got into fights throwing the fallen fruit at each other. We came home sticky and rotten orange scented. Who needs paintball?
i grew up remote on an alaskan homestead....my closest high school friends lived at least 4 miles away down a single road, some as much as 30 miles away, some without telephones either...when i was in high school i rode my bike miles upon miles to see my friends, or spent all afternoon on the phone with them...there were no stores anywhere around but there was a shallow creek to wade in and one of my friends had horses that we'd ride...once i could drive, we'd drive 40 miles to the nearest "fast food" place, owned by a friend's mom and serving greasy, well, everything lol
when i was younger than high school age, i didnt know anyone except my little sister...we were home-schooled and didnt know other kids...during summers, i remember alot of wandering around in the woods, swinging, sandbox, reading, writing poetry, more reading, lots of puzzles, barbie dolls, and pestering my sister...we had no TV until i was 10, no running water ever, woodstove for heat, and various wild animals around the area....but i wandered around the woods and never ran into trouble
I remember during the Depression and the dust bowl years how meager the food on the table was. We raised a lot of our own food, and there wasn't much variety. I remember the heat of summer, no AC, no swamp coolers, just electric fans and ice cubes in cotton rags to suck on. But we played outdoors all summer, pick up games of softball, riding our roller skates and bikes all over town.
I remember that we listened to the radio in the evenings, no TV at that time. My daddy was a veteran of WWI, and he followed the events leading up to WWII and the activity during that war with intense interest. When groups got together we played charades, or card games, or invented other ways to amuse ourselves. We were never bored, never.
Actually it was a happy time, a good time to be a child. We didn't have much, it was a simpler way of life, back in those good old day.
We made forts out of the trees surrounding our yard. Those trees were probably knocked down for another house to be built there, but boy oh boy was that a fun place. We made rock gardens, and played in the sprinkler, rode our bikes and swam in the lake if we bugged our mom hard enough to take us. lol
My childhood was a blast too!
John Mellencamp had Jack and Dianne "sucking on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze", and that chili dog, unwieldy, dripping and oozing, has to be the supreme hot dog. A bit of chili slathered over the dog and an ample bun. Finely chopped raw white onions on top of that. Cheddar or American Jack cheese melted onto the whole, placed in a thin cardboard container with a napkin sticking out from beneath. For the few moments it takes to inhale one, there is nothing else on earth but the smell, feel, and taste of that dog, fully unleashed.
Height: 5 ft 8.5" athlete who can give a punch & certainly take one too! :)
For me it was playing all day at the summer recreation programs in town, we would bike there & play all sorts of games from tennis, hopscotch, basketball, volleyball, hand ball, bumper pool, darts, ping pong, shuffleboard, board games, 4 squares, dodge ball, etc. Each sport you participated in earned you points & just showing up earned you points as well! We would go 3 times a day just to get our sport on & earn the points, at the end of summer, the kids with the most points got a free bus trip to a 6 flags type amusement park for the day! It was AWESOME, I remember winning toys and stuffed animals doing the ring toss, bowling, darts etc. which we did all summer, so most of us won prizes while we were there!!! It was so much fun, I got to go 4 summers in a row!!!!!
I also remember hanging out with the neighbor hood kids playing kick the can in the alleys & running under the water sprinklers to cool off while eating popsicles!
Also had many Koolaid & lemonade stands which I think started me on the road to being a successful business woman! I remember giving the $ I made to Jerry's kids being my best friends brother had MD.
I also picked and sold blueberries & raspberries, strawberries that I picked in the woods or uncles garden & sold them by the pint on street corner too & at the farmers market also!
Thanks for making me reminisce, earning $ & being physically fit as a kid certainly made me a successful business woman who remains fit & active today!
EVIL your memory of Jerry's Kids reminded me of a sad time when I was about 7 or 8. A local cartoon TV show, Johnny Downs, was giving out cardboard cut-outs and stuff for kids so they could put on a neighborhood carnival with the proceeds going to Jerry's Kids. Well, I did it, had a little cul-de-sac carnival with my siblings and neighborhood kids...my mom I'm sure guided us! Anyway, I had a collection envelope and when all was cleaned up it couldn't be found....I have no idea what happened to it...I remember balling my eyes out telling my mom I had lost the money. My mom, being the greatest, comforted me and said she would make the donation for the carnival. I can still feel that pain to this day.
Of course it was over 45 years ago but it was so cool being able to walk to the elementary school, jr. high, or rec. center to play in organized sports. I know things have changed now with insurance, budget cuts and just plain vandalism...but way...and I mean way back then...we had it good!
When the evening came we still played, in the streets...broke many a window on our street between all of us kids!
The GOOD 'OL Days....?
