I don’t know what made me think of this as a subject to write about…but the other day I was remembering my high school years. They weren’t the most fun years of my life, going from a private school to a public school, and being clueless about the ways of the world. Not such a bad thing in some ways, but terrible in others.
In private school we dressed very very modestly, I mean VERY modestly…and when I started public high school, my family…especially my father…wanted it to stay that way. Actually, when I first started high school, they hadn’t started allowing jeans and casual dress in high school, by the time I graduated, that all changed.
I remember when mini-skirts became popular, there was no way this girl was going to get out the door in one of those, and it was humiliating to go to school each day and be teased mercilessly…ugh!
Then one day, I think my Mom must have had a talk with my Dad, because everything changed. There was an outfit in a catalog that I wanted, it was a short fitted skirt with a wide glossy orange belt, tight ribbed top, and it had a hat (tam?) that matched…the British look popular at that time, and with it I wanted fish-net stockings.
Mom just looked at the catalog, and quietly said “okay”, and we got the outfit. I went from frumpy high school girl to awkward in-style girl…and did I ever feel uncomfortable spending the day in that skirt, so short you had to be careful all day long that you sat just right! And those fish-net stockings! They looked like the pair to the far right in the picture. They didn’t keep the cold out, and by the end of the day (I walked a good long walk to and from school) my feet had the impression of fish-net in them when I, with great relief, removed the outfit, stockings and shoes, and changed into something more comfortable.
Needless to say, I was relieved when wearing jeans and casual cloths to school was “in” and style was at least a little less important
Words bring back memories…and there are words that have been used in recent history that are memories in the making.
Take for example the word “bling” or “bling-bling”, never heard of those when I was growing up in the ’50s and ’60’s, but in about 30 or 40 years when you look back, you’ll think of showy, glitzy jewelry when you hear the word, jewelry that people wear to stand out and be noticed.
Another term that comes to mind is “Hip-Hop” which, if the source I used to find the definition is correct, refers to popular music that originated among inner-city African-Americans in the ’80s, including rap, funk, and such.
Take those terms and put them together into “Hip-Hop Bling” and you have a great source for contemporary jewelry…yes…”Bling-Bling”.
Now here’s another term for you, Grillz, this one has me scratching my head a bit, jewelry for the teeth? Hmmm, that’s unique, take a look at the link to check these out and read a bit of the history…and then have fun looking at all the other glitz and glamour at the site…I’m a bit too old for Grillz and such, and my kids are grown so not sure it’s for them, but for those of you who’s time is NOW, or who are young at heart, have fun at this site, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, they will make it for you!
I join many today who remember Neil Armstrong stepping down from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and making that first small step on the moon…I was working at a summer camp in New Hampshire during summer break from high school 40 years ago today, it was getting close to dinner time here on the east coast. We stayed in a dorm-type setting, and there were people camping with campers and tents in the campground.
Many of us gathered around a particular camper that had a screened-in section and television set up on their picnic table. The TV screen was small, the picture black and white, and the image was snowy and a bit difficult to see, but we did see that amazing moment when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon and the footage that followed.
The space program was important to our family…my Dad was working for the aeronautics division of a company at the time, an electrical engineer, and designed parts for air and space travel. When Kennedy declared that we were going to go to the moon, it was a boost to the industry, and more job security and new jobs for people who did work like my father did. I remember in particular one of the unmanned viking missions for which he had designed a part that was to allow an arm to reach out and scoop up soil samples. I remember him watching and listening intently to the news that day to see if what he had designed had worked. His name is up there on the moon somewhere as everyone who had a part in the designing had their name sent up to the moon with the ship. Exactly how that was done, or where the names are, I don’t remember as I type right now off the top of my head, but do know that is a part of our family history stored away somewhere in my papers.
So today is not only a wonderful memory of an amazing historic moment, but brings back fond memories of my Dad.
Last week we have quite a shock when my son had a sudden seizure out of the blue, has never had one before, and he’s 27. He lives home with us due to the economy and a job situation, and is uninsured, but had to be taken to the hospital to rule out any serious conditions, such as a brain tumor, etc. After 2 days of tests, they couldn’t find a major cause, so we are waiting to see what time will bring, hopefully it was just on isolated incidence. He doesn’t smoke, drink alcohol at all, or do any drugs, so all of those things have also been ruled out.
I have to admit that this happening to my son was a tougher blow to take than hearing about the sudden death of Michael Jackson because it was so much more personal, not to mention the death of Farrah Fawcett, I’ve been following her progress and had watched her special on television not that long ago.
Had it not been for the emergency and all the running I would have posted some fond memories about both…and plan to do so soon.
My son is doing well so far, by the way, and not having insurance may mean some help, a reduced price on the hospital bill, we’re still waiting to hear about that.
Do women wear aprons anymore? I think they do, in fact, I know they do, but when I put an apron on, it doesn’t look anything like the apron’s my mother or grandmother used to wear, and doesn’t get used nearly as much. My mother always, always dressed nicely each day, wearing a dress or skirt with a sweater or blouse. It was only in the later years when teens had moved on to wearing jeans in high school that I remember my Mom finally wearing pants or slacks.
But an apron was very important if you wanted to keep your dress clean, and I suppose it still is. I read a little write up in a recent newsletter from a quilting club I belong to that was so nostalgic, and I thought I’d share it with you, it’s called “The History of Aprons”...I’ll give credit where it’s due…as soon as I find out who wrote this!
“I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. Here’s some other things Grandma’s apron was good for:
It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and somtimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old time apron’ that seved so many purposes.
PS - I don’t think I ever caught anything from an Apron”
Star Trek (2009), the new movie is coming out this week, and if you grew up watching the show, it’s going to be a double-treat….you’ll have the old shows to compare with the new movie…and with the advancement in movie-making technology, I am sure the difference will be quite extreme!
As a baby boomer I wonder whether I’m going to be captivated by the movie enough to be able to get past Captain James T. Kirk being anyone other than William Shatner, or Spock being any other actor than Leonard Nemoy. I have great memories of watching the show while growing up, my Dad even enjoyed it and he was pretty picky about television programs, especially if they were shows that his kids liked.
I can admit to you that hubby and I probably won’t go to the first showing at the movies, I’m going to wait for the reviews to come in, and then decide. If they are fantastic, and seeing Star Trek on the big screen is essential to enjoy the movie, then we’ll go, if not, as we do with most movies, hubby and I will wait for the movie to come out on DVD and rent it somewhere like BLOCKBUSTER .
In fact, if you are young enough to have missed the older Star Trek movies, or the series, I’m sure BLOCKBUSTER will have them available for rental.
If you’ve been to the movie, please let me know what you thought! Should I run out and watch it on the big screen, or wait to rent the movie on DVD?
How could I forget the first Earth Day? It was my last year of high school, and being April 22, 1970, it was only a couple months before graduation. I’m sure my focus at that time was on the day I would FINALLY be finished with school…at least the schooling you didn’t have a choice about…but I do remember caring about the environment and natural things from early childhood, so the day had some significance to me.
The “hippy” movement had been going on for some time, and the “Jesus” movement was still to come. Rebelling against “the establishment” was “groovy” and though there were elements of the rebellion that weren’t good, the desire to return to natural things that took place then, and we see repeating itself now, was taking shape in a very big way.
One way that this was expressed was by setting aside a day to focus on the environment, and wake up “the establishment” to the need to conserve our natural resources. I wasn’t part of the “college scene” yet, but knew a lot about demonstrations…so very popular at the time, anti-war demonstrations, anti-this, anti-that. People gathered by the thousands to show their support for a concept started by an environmentalist and politician, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin.
Next year will be the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, where did the time go? Have we learned anything?
BLOCKBUSTER 
