Ah, the blissful years of youth. My parents are married happily at this point. My mother works from home babysitting kids during the day. I am starting real school now. I am in Kindergarten. Socializing with other strange new people. Exploring the world in ever bigger loops on my bike.
During these years, I spent a lot of time with my cousin Kyle. He is the cousin who was born ten days earlier than me. Our parents would take turns watching the kids. Since we were basically the same age, we had a lot of things in common. But we went to different schools. So we did not see each other until weekends. But on those weekends we really had some fun. I will dedicate this weeks blog the three activities we did most often...
Totem Bowl
We were registered into a junior league bowling. I mean, really junior. Basically, the moms would drop off the kids at the bowling alley and then the kids were grouped up into teams of three or four. We would then spend the next three hours "bowling". Not that any of us were any good at it. But, they did play music and it was fun to see the pins go down and get reset. And I guess I did learn the basics of the game. This was before automatic scoring machines. So, someone else probably had to keep score. If anyone was keeping score at all.
Plaza Theaters
When I was five or so, our little Marshalltown Mall opened up. It was a nice venue with three anchor stores and a handful of other retailers. It was exciting and made Marshalltown feel more like a big city...like Des Moines. Well, in this mall was a new movie theater. It had two screens! TWO! The old Orpheum theater only had one...now our town supported three indoor movie screens and even a drive-in theater in the summer months! We were movin' on up! Well, on weekends this theater would show kids movies or movie marathons for kids. Again, mom would drop us off and give us a few dollars for candy and leave us there for the next few hours. It was great fun to see so many movies. I grew a real appreciation for the Disney live action films of the day. This was before the days of the VCR, so the only real way to see movies was to go to the theater.
Skatetown USA
The third location where our mothers would drop us off for hours at a time was Skatetown! This place was the best! Rollerskating was at an all time high in popularity. The place had a great concessions stand. And it was probably my first exposure to a disk jockey. The DJ booth was right on the corner of the skate rink and you could go up and actually make requests! We would get dropped off there around noon and picked up again at 5pm. Usually all of that skating left us hungry and tired. But, ready to do it all over again the next week!
Those past times were good times for sure. A great way to hang out with your cousin and get away from two younger brothers. I think there was some kind of a discount card that our parents bought which allowed us to go to these places more often. I remember taking that card out and getting it punched off each time we went to any of these three places. And then when the card was done....so were we.
Times have changed. Now Totem Bowl is still much the same....although it seems run down by comparison. The Plaza Theaters moved to a different part of the mall and now feature eight screens! And Skatetown closed a few years ago and was not replaced by anything. No more skating indoors in Marshalltown. Awe...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Year Six - 1972
In this year I attend pre-school. This is a hot button issue right now in Iowa. The new (old) Governor wants to eliminate all funding for pre-school programs. With most parents working these days, I think a program that starts kids off with social and educational programming early is an excellent way to support our children and families. I hope something is done to preserve the pre-school programs. It would be a shame if they were eliminated.
Well, my pre-school was a private one held in a home. The Wantese (sp) Preschool. It was run by a nice older lady. The house always smelled like paste. The kind of homemade paste you make with flour and water. A little musty. There were about twenty kids that attended preschool there. We would play games. We would do arts and crafts. And each day after we had a snack, we would lay on our mats to take a nap. Usually for a half hour. I don't think anyone really ever fell asleep. We would just lay there and listen to the farm report playing on the transistor radio. "Corn is up 1.5 cents today, wheat is up 2 cents today, hogs are trading at $37 a head." I think I may have drifted off a few times I guess...
Also, this was the year that I started taking swimming lessons. See, my mother did not know how to swim. She probably still does not know how to swim. And she made a declaration that her kids were all going to learn how to swim. Well, after being attacked by a nest of sandflies on the beach when I was two and living with a woman who was afraid of the water herself....I was deathly afraid of the water. I would cry and kick and scream if anyone tried to take me into a pool. So, making me go to swimming lessons was not something I looked forward to doing. I was stressed and upset just pulling up to the building where they were held. I would sit on the edge of the pool and not move. The instructor was a local middle school gym teacher whom my mother had (and did not like) when she attended school. Her name was Mrs. Hasenwinkel. She was a beast. She was a tall woman. She had pasty white skin and a big curly afro hair style. She just seemed mean. She did not appreciate that I was afraid of the water. She would drag me into the pool and take me to the deep end. There she would hold me about six feet from the side of the pool and tell me if I wanted to get out, I would have to swim there. Well, she would let go of me....I would start kicking and flailing about....and I would sink to the bottom of the pool. At some point I don't think I even tried to make it to the edge anymore. I did not want this method to work out for her.
Many lessons later, I just eventually began to swim. I know it was independent of Mrs. Hasenwinkel's instruction. And I know she was there to see it. At this stage, she just seemed to tolerate me and did not insist on "teaching" me anything anymore. I felt vindicated somehow. I had learned how to swim and also not given in to her methods. I was really developing my rebellious nature already.
Soon, I was hearing that I would be ready to play sports......oh no!
Well, my pre-school was a private one held in a home. The Wantese (sp) Preschool. It was run by a nice older lady. The house always smelled like paste. The kind of homemade paste you make with flour and water. A little musty. There were about twenty kids that attended preschool there. We would play games. We would do arts and crafts. And each day after we had a snack, we would lay on our mats to take a nap. Usually for a half hour. I don't think anyone really ever fell asleep. We would just lay there and listen to the farm report playing on the transistor radio. "Corn is up 1.5 cents today, wheat is up 2 cents today, hogs are trading at $37 a head." I think I may have drifted off a few times I guess...
Also, this was the year that I started taking swimming lessons. See, my mother did not know how to swim. She probably still does not know how to swim. And she made a declaration that her kids were all going to learn how to swim. Well, after being attacked by a nest of sandflies on the beach when I was two and living with a woman who was afraid of the water herself....I was deathly afraid of the water. I would cry and kick and scream if anyone tried to take me into a pool. So, making me go to swimming lessons was not something I looked forward to doing. I was stressed and upset just pulling up to the building where they were held. I would sit on the edge of the pool and not move. The instructor was a local middle school gym teacher whom my mother had (and did not like) when she attended school. Her name was Mrs. Hasenwinkel. She was a beast. She was a tall woman. She had pasty white skin and a big curly afro hair style. She just seemed mean. She did not appreciate that I was afraid of the water. She would drag me into the pool and take me to the deep end. There she would hold me about six feet from the side of the pool and tell me if I wanted to get out, I would have to swim there. Well, she would let go of me....I would start kicking and flailing about....and I would sink to the bottom of the pool. At some point I don't think I even tried to make it to the edge anymore. I did not want this method to work out for her.
Many lessons later, I just eventually began to swim. I know it was independent of Mrs. Hasenwinkel's instruction. And I know she was there to see it. At this stage, she just seemed to tolerate me and did not insist on "teaching" me anything anymore. I felt vindicated somehow. I had learned how to swim and also not given in to her methods. I was really developing my rebellious nature already.
Soon, I was hearing that I would be ready to play sports......oh no!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Year Five - 1971
Ok, the year now is 1971. I am turn five years old this year. I have two younger brothers and we have just moved into a new house. In a new neighborhood. We live on a street that has many modest sized homes and most of the families have children in my age range.
Of the peers I have on this block, there are a few become people I still know to this day. Tracy Liter was a pretty little girl my age who lives two doors down to the left of my house. She has an older sister and a younger brother. Her parents became friends with my parents. I spent a lot of time hanging out at her house. We got into so much trouble. I think we had the bad reputations in the neighborhood. Always getting into things...
One such time was when we got some of those wonderful stick matches. The ones that smell so funny when you strike them on the box. Both of our houses had large backyards that ended by a large field. In the spring, before the green grass had come back, we went far out into that field and used the matches to light some paper on fire. Of course, we were standing in knee deep brown dried up dead grass at the time. And of course the grass caught on fire. And it started going up quickly. Well, we just stood back and watched the flames and smoke as it spread. And then someone came up from behind and yelled at us to go home. So we took off running while he stomped out the fire with a big board. It was exciting and scary. And then when I got home, I just went to my room and waited. I knew what was coming. As soon as my father got home, he came into my room with a flyswatter. The kind with the rubbery flap attached to a wire loop handle. Well, he turned that handle around and whipped me good on my bare bottom. OUCH!
This year was also really the first year I became aware of popular music. I fell in love with my first 45 record which I played in an endless loop. The song was called "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. I had no idea that they were not a real band. I was not even aware of the cartoon or comic books of The Archies. All I knew is that I loved the music. The opening chords. The loopy silly chorus. And the repetitive nature of the whole production.....I played that song all the time....I learned every word. Every note. And I sang it when ever I could! I count this as the first record that I owned. Even though I did have a nice collection of Disney listen along books and records that I played on my little red record player that had the needle and arm in the hood of the case. You would put the record on....close the lid....and then the record would play. This also is some of the first technology that I ever owned. I love technology!
These are the easy years. Not much drama for right now. Just growing up and having fun....
Of the peers I have on this block, there are a few become people I still know to this day. Tracy Liter was a pretty little girl my age who lives two doors down to the left of my house. She has an older sister and a younger brother. Her parents became friends with my parents. I spent a lot of time hanging out at her house. We got into so much trouble. I think we had the bad reputations in the neighborhood. Always getting into things...
One such time was when we got some of those wonderful stick matches. The ones that smell so funny when you strike them on the box. Both of our houses had large backyards that ended by a large field. In the spring, before the green grass had come back, we went far out into that field and used the matches to light some paper on fire. Of course, we were standing in knee deep brown dried up dead grass at the time. And of course the grass caught on fire. And it started going up quickly. Well, we just stood back and watched the flames and smoke as it spread. And then someone came up from behind and yelled at us to go home. So we took off running while he stomped out the fire with a big board. It was exciting and scary. And then when I got home, I just went to my room and waited. I knew what was coming. As soon as my father got home, he came into my room with a flyswatter. The kind with the rubbery flap attached to a wire loop handle. Well, he turned that handle around and whipped me good on my bare bottom. OUCH!
This year was also really the first year I became aware of popular music. I fell in love with my first 45 record which I played in an endless loop. The song was called "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. I had no idea that they were not a real band. I was not even aware of the cartoon or comic books of The Archies. All I knew is that I loved the music. The opening chords. The loopy silly chorus. And the repetitive nature of the whole production.....I played that song all the time....I learned every word. Every note. And I sang it when ever I could! I count this as the first record that I owned. Even though I did have a nice collection of Disney listen along books and records that I played on my little red record player that had the needle and arm in the hood of the case. You would put the record on....close the lid....and then the record would play. This also is some of the first technology that I ever owned. I love technology!
These are the easy years. Not much drama for right now. Just growing up and having fun....
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