I’ve just had the best time looking at old television commercials from my childhood, a whole hour of them, ads from the 1950’s and 1960’s. They were simple commercials, often with a familiar jingle that would stick in your mind, so you wouldn’t forget. I remember almost every one that I saw, whether it was from my own childhood, or hearing them when my brother and sister were young. Things like Bosco, Good Humer Ice Cream, Colorforms, Slinky, Rin Tin Tin’s toy shopping spree contest, G.I. Joe, and who could even be SEEN without a pair of P.F. Flyers?
Remember “every boy wants a Remco Toy”, and what girl didn’t want a Tiny Tears doll. If you wanted a doll that produced “water from the “other end”, there was Betsy Wetsy - now that I’m an adult, that just sounds strange. Do girls even play with baby dolls anymore? Do they still play “Doctor” or “Nurse” with little stethoscopes and plastic toy syringes? With my children grown, and no grandchildren yet, I’m a bit out of touch.Why don’t you take a trip down memory lane if you were a child in the ’50’s & ’60’s? Here’s a whole hour of children’s toy commercials.
It’s funny how even a simple thing like your very first loan can be an unforgettable experience. My first big loan was a personal loan to buy that 1964 Mustang I told you about in an earlier post. My Dad helped me by co-signing for the loan. Well I don’t have my dear Dad to help me anymore with loans, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t help from people in the process of getting a loan. There’s a unique and fairly new concept that I just heard about today, a Prosper loan in which lenders lend and borrowers borrow through a completely different approach, without the bank as the middle-man. I admit it is so new to me that I’m still fully trying to comprehend it, it will take a little bit for me because I’m not a math wiz and have to take a little time to think through the percentages, but I’m fascinated, imagine, people like you and me lending and borrowing through peers without having to go to a bank. It must have you curious enough to want to take look at the Prosper link.
The weather has been beautiful the past few days, the sun is shining and it has been warm this week, earlier than usual this year. So today I went out and purchased a flat of Petunias to put in my hanging planters, and old wooden bucket that I use as a planter next to the front door, and planter on the deck.
Whenever I garden, I think of my Mom. She loved gardening, and still does though it is a little harder for her to work in the garden these days. She still always has something growing in her gardens, and something starting in the house under her “plant lights” on shelves.
When we were young children and lived in our home in Nixon/Edison area of NJ, she used as much of the property to garden as she could. In the back, our yard was surrounded by a chain-link fence. Before they decided to put in a shopping center, there were woods behind the fence at the end of the property. When we looked from the house, along the fence on the left was Mom’s rose bush garden. She had beautiful rose bushes, and our job was to go and tap the Japanese Beetles into a little jar that had Kerosene or some such thing in the bottom to kill them.
To the right, she had a wonderful vegetable garden with tomatoes, lettuce, pole beans or bush beans, and other goodies. Next to that, she had Concord Grape vines growing on the fence. And up against the house a honeysuckle vine crept up a trellis. Outside the picture window in the front, she had ivy growing up against the house, and grew Coral Bells and other pretty flowers and bushes.
I was to young when she put in those gardens, I’m sure with help from Dad, to appreciate how much work went into doing this, but I know she loved it, and has given me great memories in the process.
Can it be that 29 years have passed since hubby and I said “I do”? I have the TV on and the beautifully-filmed movie, “Witness” with Harrison Ford is on, it is so peaceful except for the violent moments that are made all the more harsh by their contrast with beauty. Toward the beginning of the movie there is a tranquil scene that simply shows a field of long grass blowing in the wind. I long to be there.
And what does all of this have to do with our anniversary, this is our favorite place to go on our anniversary weekend, we love staying at a quiet motel that isn’t close to the where the tourists haunt. We like to ride up and down the backroads, park the car and walk, watch the Amish farmers turning the soil with their mule teams.
One of the best memories we have is of a time when we decided to visit an Amish/Mennonite church. I wasn’t dressed properly for the occasion, but we were welcomed. Men sat on one side, and woman on the other, but since we were guests, we could sit in the back together. There are no pianos or organs, just singing, and we were there to see a foot washing, our first in that kind of setting, very moving.
After the service, new guests are always invited to a home for dinner, and we decided to accept the invitation. What a beautiful time with special people in a simple but beautiful home. Bountiful table full of delicious food, woman in their simple dresses with hair pulled back and head coverings, men with their black suits and hats. Wonderful, friendly people. The only awkward moment was when I tried to help by bringing some dishes into the kitchen from the table..awkward because I was in blue jeans. The woman did give me looks, but it wasn’t long before they warmed up to me. That was a once-in-a-lifetime memory.
29 years of marriage on the 7th, I’m sure to have more thoughts on that in the next few days.
