Middle Aged Memories

saltmarsh, I have never heard of Haw Flakes before, but after doing a search, I have to say they sound intriguing. Since they used a dye that was banned in U.S., do the ones available now still taste the same as you remember?

NM, It was somewhere around my junior high school time that they "let" girls wear pants on Fridays. Before that, all a Northern girl had for Winter protection were those cable knit acrylic tights. (The alternative was mini skirt with knee socks and a 6" zone of bright red frozen leg above the knee and, oh my, how that would sting when that frozen section of leg started to thaw!)

Anyone remember your mom cutting your hair with a bowl over your head so it would come out right? My mom did that every year until I was going into the 5th grade. She wanted to cut my hair because it was getting beyond the way she liked it and my stepdad told her I looked very pretty with it longer. Dad won that round!

QUESTION: How do you know when your "middle-aged memories" have turned into "senior memories?"

ANSWER: If your memory has anything to do with YARN or PIPE CLEANERS, you just might be a senior.

I remember those sewing cards. My grandmother kept some on hand for us girls to keep us out of trouble.

I remember making beaded ornaments with my mom for Christmas bazaars and for my own tree out of pipe cleaners instead of the wire people use today.

I remember the mini “jungles” my mom and grandmothers had. Starting my own jungle bit by bit.

The haw flakes without carcinogens still taste the same to me.

Sometimes I worry we will lose things that can't be found or reproduced properly -- like the scent of a card catalogue in the library. I also have a typewriter my DH gave me for my birthday because I missed the susurrus of my grandmother's typing. (It sounds just as good now as then.)

Elimar - I finally got rid of my IBM selectric 10 or 12 years ago. I couldn't find anyone who still fixed typewriters & the bouncing ball had some problems.. Even after becoming relatively fluent in "computer" - I still miss the typewriter at times.

I hated Typing class. The teacher was so mean to those of us who weren't her “pets". My mom was very sympathetic so she taught me to type at home. Mom's method of teaching me was to write out a paragraph and time me as I typed until she called time, she even let me look at the keys while I typed. I did way better and much faster at home. So after that from 8th grade to high school, I type my own reports unless they had to be handwritten.

I did not do well in typing class in high school so before I went to look for my first job I attended a 'secretarial school' Grace Ball Secretarial School (that's what we called them in those days). Once I had a reason to learn it I did well and typing was part of my job/s for over 40 years. It wasn't just typing speed that was needed but you had to have an awareness of graphics. So after typing for years and sweating it out, I now don't care what my typing looks like or my punctuation or spelling. Too many years of having to type letter perfect (remember the IBM typewriter that preceded the correcting Selectric? I would have to go into the office on weekends to type my boss's wife's invoices which had to be Letter Perfect. No erasing!!!

Carbon paper...wow!!!

oH yea - Gumby & Pokey. Thanks for the memories.

I remember school papers fresh off the mimeograph machine. All the guys in my classes tried to sniff them. I hated the smudges on my hands from the ink, especially if they hadn’t had time to dry.

I liked the smell of mimeo ink. Probably carcinogenic, right? I don't remember this too well, but my first computer experience was typing out some Punch Cards, remember those?

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On a different note, a friend just asked me if I remembered the first time I saw color tv? Nope. But I do remember when my neighbor told me how The Wizard of Oz movie changed from b&w to color and I had no idea about that since on my tv it was b&w only. Our first color tv was a Zenith. Here's another memory tho' for Motorola.

(Can you tell "Motorola" above is a link? It barely shows up, but click on it.)

Mood rings and being able to ride your bike all over town and hang with friends without adult supervision