Friday My Town Shoot Out~ Classics of Childhood

This week's theme is classics of childhood, chosen by Ellise.

When I think of my childhood, my most cherished memories involve my grandparents.

This is my Mamaw and my Papaw.

It's hard to believe that they are only in their 30's here.

They seem so much older to me.

Mamaw and Papaw lived in Bakersfield, California

and I grew up in Stockton, California until I was ten years old

So it was always a treat to go visit Mamaw and Papaw.

Gosh, how I loved them so.

I remember one Christmas I had asked for a maxi dress.

I begged and begged for one.

and when I opened one of my presents at Mamaw and Papaw's house

I giggled with joy and twirled around holding that dress up against me.

My sister got one too.

Here I am at 8 years old, in Dec. of 1972 wearing my brand spanking new maxi dress.

It appears that my bow is tied in the front instead of the back.  How funny.

Every year Mamaw and Papaw sent us birthday presents in the mail.

I always looked forward to their packages because inside the box

was always a pair of boots or gloves, my favorite things.

Here is a pair of gloves I got when I was eight or nine years old.

Yep, they are the original gloves and they are kind of dirty.

After all, they are more than 35 years old.

 I cherish them so much because they remind me of Mamaw and Papaw.

I loved these gloves and wore them all the time.

I felt so glamorous in them.

I think I was more like a little adult as a child.

My favortie TV show when I was in Kindergarden was Perry Mason.

I would get dropped off by the bus after school at noon

and my mom and I would watch Perry Mason

and I understood what was going on.

We also watched a soap opera called Love of Life or something like that.

I loved books of all kinds.

When I was younger I asked Santa Claus for a sky blue binder.

How many kids do you know who wants a binder for Christmas?

My sister and I loved marbles. 

We collected and saved our marbles for a long time.

I remember we had over a thousand marbles.

When we moved to Bakersfield, we would walk to a store called Cornet

and buy marbles by the bag fulls.

We had steelies, cateyes, dogeyes, perry's and solids big and small.

I really could write all day long about all my childhood classics. 

I'll post a few more photos but first,

I want to write about the places that will forever remain classic to me.

Mamaw and Papaw owned a board and care home

so we spent a lot of time with the mentally disabled.

(back then, before it became a politcal issue, it was the mentally retarded)

My grandparents were so good to their clients it just makes me smile thinking about it.

They had fun with their people. (clients/mentally disabled)

On many occasions we went to dances with them

We went roller skating, we went for drives, we went to Magic Mountain and the Pike.

We rode the rides with them and laughed and held their hands.

We rode horses and went to horse auctions.

Those were amazing times and Mamaw and Papaw were the best.

I just don't know if there are any grandparents on the face of this earth who are as good

as they were.  I really miss them so much.

Mamaw was my best friend before I moved to Las Vegas.

She passed away three years later, my papaw sixteen years before that.

Anyhow, enough of that.  On with the classics.

I found this second place ribbon that I received for softball.

Here is a doll that my mom had custom made for me when I was 15 years old. 

My sister got one too, only with a different outfit.

Beware, she's kind of dusty.

The base of her body is made from a clorox bottle.

This is my baseball glove.

It belonged to Papaw, but at some point I took ownership in my early twenties.

I love this baseball glove and I always admired it when he had it.

I used to have a dark brown glove.  This one is black.

It looks brown, only because it has been used a lot.

I was on a softball team last year, so it has been good to me through the years.

Sometimes, when I put my hand in it, I feel like I am holding his hand.

It's good.  It makes me smile.

Oh, I even have an item from my husbands childhood to showcase.

This is a ceramic pixie or elf that his mom painted.

She and all three of her boys painted ceramics together.

I am so lucky that my husband has this.

I really like it a lot and I think it's really cute.

I have him sitting upstairs keeping watch over us.

Oh, the classics......

My sister and I would buy 45 records from Montgomery Wards,

Ice cream cones from Thrifty drug store,

Steak Um Sandwiches from Woolworth's,

clothes from Gemco,

slushes from circle K

Fun dips from the little country store.

We would eat whole tomatoes fresh from Mamaw and Papaw's garden.

There was no Chuckie Cheese.

Our favorite pizza came from Straw Hat and Shakey's.

The original pizza joints.

We visited the Easter Bunny at McDonald's.

Does anyone remember TRAX shoes?

We thought we were so cool.

I know I'm leaving out so much I would like to tell you about.

Maybe some other time.

I look forward to seeing all of your town shoot outs this week.

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see what other town bloggers are posting please visit here.

Thanks for stopping by.  You all have a great weekend.