Last month, I received an email from gal pal Jan Richards of Kingston that set this old memory bank back in time.
It was a 25 item “do you remember” list. If you remember all items, you clock out as older than dirt. It turns out I am really older than dirt, more like moldy. I not only remember all but could add a hundred items more to it.
Oh, yes, I had my adventure with Black Jack gum, and a disgusted mother had to cut the yucky wad out of my long blonde hair, leaving a bald spot. I didn’t spit it out before bedtime like I was told. I bawled and didn’t want to go to school the next day. But mom just said, “Live with it.”
Little wax bottles with sugar water in them I knew very well. I didn’t check the pockets on my sweater and mom ran the mess through the ringer washer. She was not happy. I spent hours cleaning the wax out of the wet garment, grumbling all the while. As for candy cigarettes, I played movie stars with my friend across the street, thinking we were so sophisticated. I was Katherine Hepburn and she Greta Garbo. We didn’t know yet that real ones could kill you.
Soda pop machines tempted you then took your money, and you had to go every time to the grocer who interrogated to see if you really had put a nickel in.
The list asks, “Do you remember glass milk bottles with the cardboard top?” Do I remember! I had to grow up to find out mom had been giving us skimmed milk for years because she poured the cream off for her coffee. If it was really thick, she made whipped cream for Jell-O.
My brother Frankie and I swiped one from outside the door of the bachelor who lived upstairs in our apartment building (you could get a nickel from the corner grocer for returns) and that was how mom met my stepdad. He caught mom in the hall one day complaining we were noisy pilfering scalawags. The man upstairs fell in love with my red-headed Scots mother and they were married a year later. I adored him.
I remember going to one grandmother’s in Yakima in an old hand-cranked Ford. In the 1930s, granddad would drive over the mountains and pick us up for a few weeks stay during the summer. Driving along the Yakima River, you could look right down into it at that time. It was terrifying when grandpa would turn the car around and back up the steepest parts and I always got carsick.
I do remember the jukeboxes at the Triple X Barrel where we kids gathered before WWII. In my day, you could get a hamburger and malt for 10 cents. What a fortunate person I am to have such wonderful memories to pass on to my family now going into a fifth generation. My journals are full of stories to hopefully be enjoyed by generations to come.
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Kingston Redeemer United Methodist Church Sunshine Ladies annual holiday bazaar will be held at the church Nov. 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Nov. 17, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Pat Menge is chairing with Susan Houghham. I will be handling the Grandma’s Treasure table with Fran Larrabee.
There will be handcrafts, Christmas items, a slice-of-pie corner and the popular children’s shopping corner where small inexpensive gifts can be selected for family and friends. Kids love doing their own shopping.
Funds are used for community needs, among them Kingston Food Bank and the church. Turn on Parcells Road off Highway 104. Turn right on Shorty Campbell Road. Questions? Call Pat, 297-3482.
— Contact Jacque Thornton at jacquejt@centurytel.net
