A Trip Back in Time ... Remember When ?

Just for fun, let's take a little nostalgic break from our "grown-up" lives and play "Do You Remember When."

Do You Remember When ...

It took five minutes for the TV to warm up?

Nearly everyone's Mom was at home
when the kids got home from school?

When a quarter was a decent allowance?

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?

Female teachers wore dresses and high heels?

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and
gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time?
And you didn't pay for air?
And, you got trading stamps to boot?

Laundry detergent had free glasses,
dishes, or towels hidden inside the box?

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to
dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade
if they failed ... and they did?

When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car?
And cruising, peeling out, and laying rubber was cool?

Remember when people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were
because they were always in the car, in the
ignition, and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends?
And saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ..."?

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing
compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?

Can any of you remember Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Honey Bunch books, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk?

And summers filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops,
visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid Powder with Sugar?

How many of these do you remember?

Candy cigarettes ...

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside ...

Coke machines that dispensed glass bottles ...

Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes ...

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers ...

Telephone numbers with a
word prefix(Raymond 4-601).

Party lines ...

45 RPM records and 78 RPM records!

Green Stamps ...

Do you remember a time when ...

Decisions were made by going "Eeny-meeny-miney-moe?"

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do over!"?

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?

It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?

The worst thing you could catch from
the opposite sex was 'cooties'?

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute
commercials for action figures?

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?

Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived! And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor those simpler times and slower days? Maybe we can if we share it with our children and grandchildren today.

Why not start this weekend?

A Visit to the "Old House Depot"

Yesterday I drove to Jackson, Mississippi, which is about 45 minutes away and went to a couple of flea markets and a large antique mall. I want to share some pictures of those with you and also a couple of things I bought, but in this post I'd like to tell you about the last place I visited, which was the most unique. It is an architectural salvage warehouse called "The Old House Depot."

And like the sign says, it is literally crammed
full of all kinds of "cool old stuff."











With the outside temperature hovering in the upper 90s, it had to be 95 in that old warehouse, but I was so fascinated by what I saw, I didn't even mind.

So many old architectural pieces are being used in decorating these days and my original plan was to look for some old "weathered" shutters to use in a landscaping project. After asking permission, I rambled through the aisles with my camera trying to capture some of the character of the old treasures I saw ... and there were many. (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like)

I love this elegant old bathtub with its iron feet ...

And this pedestal tub ...

There were also sinks in all sizes, shapes, and styles ...

Isn't the one in the center of this picture cute.
It reminds me of a little baby bathtub ...

I love stained glass and especially like the
colors in the two panels on the right ...

I like these shutters for my landscaping project,
but may look some more before getting them.

It would never do to buy the first ones I see ... right?

More shutters ...

If I had had $1,500, two strong guys to carry her, and a place
to put her, I'd have bought this pretty iron mermaid ...

Old mantels are always in demand and they
had a lot of old ones and some that had been refinished, too ...

I think this is the tallest mantel I've ever
seen, and isn't the rich dark wood beautiful ...

Korbels or balusters, anyone ?

If you love old hardware, I'm sure you would enjoy browsing through this collection of beautiful old drawer pulls and porcelain and glass doorknobs. Notice the octagonal-shaped porcelain knobs in the center picture ...

After admiring the hardware, I continued exploring and found a multitude of unique old doors and columns ...

Another popular decorating item these days
is iron, and they had lots of it ...

Aren't these old rusty metal lawn chairs neat! ...

Benches are always a nice touch.

I love the aqua one in this picture, and
wish I had a place for that little one ...

I enjoyed exploring the "Old House Depot," and would love to know the history of some of the things I saw ... like the mermaid, and the tall mantel, and the beautiful stained glass panels. I'd like to know where the octagonal porcelain doorknobs came from ... and who owned the houses those beautiful old bathtubs were in. I may go back someday and visit with the owner. Perhaps he could tell me the stories behind some of these beautiful old pieces of architecture from days gone by.

If you're ever in the Jackson, Mississippi, area, I think it would be worth your time to stop by "The Old House Depot" and take a step back in time.

Sincerely,