TBD on Ning
Reflections on Turning 60
ON turning 60
The first television in our house was a massive 19” box…that had two stations….both beamed from Yakima, 90 miles away. This meant that ANY kind of weather interfered with the reception.
I remember staying home from school…feigning sickness…so I could be there when it was delivered. The first thing I remember seeing on TV was a NBA basketball game…the Celtics were playing…I remember their floor.
Queen for a Day…where the MAJOR prize was usually a washing machine.
The original Honeymooners.
Ed Sullivan and the absolute SHOCK…SHOCK I TELL YA…that The Beatles caused with their long, scruffy hair. (take a look at that first album cover now!)
Going to Chicago to see Howdy Doody and The Mickey Mouse Club on TV because that kind of syndication didn’t reach us yet…or was far too expensive.
Walking to Densow Drugs, two blocks away…for Black Jack Gum, Bubble Gum cigars, candy cigarettes with the ‘lit’ pink tip…wax lips on Halloween.
The Cinnamon Bear as the harbinger of the Christmas Season. Christmas pageants in school where traditional Christmas music was celebrated. The town decorations. Santa at JJ Newberrys.
Walking to the public swimming pool about a mile away…every summer day…and dashing home at 5 for dinner…wishing to stay until they closed.
Walking to Junior High – then High School, both about a mile away
Playing outside until it was too dark to hit the ball…or until Mom called, whichever came first. Night Hawks swooping down to catch bugs…especially mosquitoes we were sure. The Government jeep fogging the streets with DDT…and riding our bicycles – sans helmet – through the fog.
My grandmother still had a wringer-type washing machine.
Viceroy Cigarettes – I’d rather fight than switch
The Marlboro Man
Anxiously waiting in September…not for the start of school, but for the New Car Line to come out.
Cars whose make and model could be told apart at a distance, and the competition the industry took in making their model just that much more unique. The Studebaker Eye. Cadillac Fins…HUGE fins. Push button transmission.
BIG cars with room enough to play flag football (or whatever) in the back seat.
The switch for bright headlights on the floor…left foot…UP the firewall a bit.
A radio with no FM, no cassette, no CD…and you lost the signal when you got too far out of town.
I wouldn’t mind growing older if it just didn’t hurt so much!
To paraphrase: every morning when I shave this old face, there’s a much younger man looking back in the mirror screaming, “Who is THIS old fool and where did HE come from?”
The first television in our house was a massive 19” box…that had two stations….both beamed from Yakima, 90 miles away. This meant that ANY kind of weather interfered with the reception.
I remember staying home from school…feigning sickness…so I could be there when it was delivered. The first thing I remember seeing on TV was a NBA basketball game…the Celtics were playing…I remember their floor.
Queen for a Day…where the MAJOR prize was usually a washing machine.
The original Honeymooners.
Ed Sullivan and the absolute SHOCK…SHOCK I TELL YA…that The Beatles caused with their long, scruffy hair. (take a look at that first album cover now!)
Going to Chicago to see Howdy Doody and The Mickey Mouse Club on TV because that kind of syndication didn’t reach us yet…or was far too expensive.
Walking to Densow Drugs, two blocks away…for Black Jack Gum, Bubble Gum cigars, candy cigarettes with the ‘lit’ pink tip…wax lips on Halloween.
The Cinnamon Bear as the harbinger of the Christmas Season. Christmas pageants in school where traditional Christmas music was celebrated. The town decorations. Santa at JJ Newberrys.
Walking to the public swimming pool about a mile away…every summer day…and dashing home at 5 for dinner…wishing to stay until they closed.
Walking to Junior High – then High School, both about a mile away
Playing outside until it was too dark to hit the ball…or until Mom called, whichever came first. Night Hawks swooping down to catch bugs…especially mosquitoes we were sure. The Government jeep fogging the streets with DDT…and riding our bicycles – sans helmet – through the fog.
My grandmother still had a wringer-type washing machine.
Viceroy Cigarettes – I’d rather fight than switch
The Marlboro Man
Anxiously waiting in September…not for the start of school, but for the New Car Line to come out.
Cars whose make and model could be told apart at a distance, and the competition the industry took in making their model just that much more unique. The Studebaker Eye. Cadillac Fins…HUGE fins. Push button transmission.
BIG cars with room enough to play flag football (or whatever) in the back seat.
The switch for bright headlights on the floor…left foot…UP the firewall a bit.
A radio with no FM, no cassette, no CD…and you lost the signal when you got too far out of town.
I wouldn’t mind growing older if it just didn’t hurt so much!
To paraphrase: every morning when I shave this old face, there’s a much younger man looking back in the mirror screaming, “Who is THIS old fool and where did HE come from?”
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