THE " MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E." 1964

This was a TV show that began in 1964. It starred Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. McCallum acted the part of "Illya Kuryakin". In real life David was married to Jill Ireland. She divorced him and was then married to Charles Bronson until her death in 1990. Charles had her cremated and her ashes were inserted in a cane that he used until his death in 2003. The cane was buried along side of him in his casket. True love.  This is the six inch plastic replica that was sold in local department stores of "Illya". 

Trivia:  A humpback whale can eat 5,000 fish in a single sitting. (Who knew they could sit?)

Did You Know?  When their dog Bertie started walking strangely, a couple from Essex, England, took him to a veterinarian who found that nine golf balls were lodged in Bertie's stomach.

LITTLE GIRL TOYS KNOWN AS "CAMPUS CUTIES" 1964

In 1964 most dime stores ,( "dollar "stores now due to inflation), sold plastic female figures of ladies dressed for different occasions. I have noticed in my collecting of such items that similar male figures for boys were usually in worse shape. I wonder why. NOT! We weren't really destructive it's just that our imaginations were more inclined to see just how much tests we could put these toys to before they succumbed to our administrations. These toys were priced at 19 cents each. Unreal eh?  They were known as ,"Campus Cuties".This first set are named from left to right:  SHOPPING ANYONE?, LAZY AFTERNOON, STORMY WEATHER and ON THE BEACH.

The next set of "Campus Cuties" are named NITEY NITE, LODGE PARTY, DINNER FOR TWO and

ON THE TOWN.

Trivia: A box of Girl Guide cookies was 25 cents when they debuted in 1936.

Did You Know?  Elephants can recognize groups of people by their specific smell, colour and the style of their clothing.

A POEM,SOMETHING TO PONDER OVER

ONE DARK NIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY,
TWO DEAD BOYS CAME OUT TO PLAY.
BACK TO BACK THEY FACED ONE ANOTHER,
DREW THEIR SWORDS AND SHOT EACH OTHER.
AND IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE MY STORY'S TRUE,
ASK THE BLIND POLICEMAN. HE SAW IT TOO.






Trivia: Lions can mate more than 50 times a day. Maybe thats why they call him "the King of the Jungle".

Did You Know?  The Alpine weta of New Zealand, a large, cricket-like insect, can freeze solid for several months without suffering any ill effects. ( My ex-wife could do it a lot longer)

GODERICH, OUR TOWN

Having lived in a city for many years we had now gotten tired of it. It is not like the way it used to be. Back then you pretty well knew almost everyone in your close neighborhood. Now the next door occupants stay in their thousand square foot box of a home and don't say "diddley- squat". The times when I did go and introduce myself to someone they would be stand=offish, as if maybe I was going to ask them for something.HEAVEN FORBID.
Gangs were now starting to spring up here and there. One night a bunch of stupid, care-less teens thought it would be "funny" to shoot parked car windows out with a gun as they drove the streets. They smashed over 50 windshields on their nightly foray. My big concern was the fact that these jerks might miss their target and hit my bedroom window or someone elses and kill somebody. This was one of the many factors that helped to make up our minds to leave Guelph, Ontario.

In the previous years Karen and I had stumbled on a quaint little town  on the banks of Lake Huron .We planned to retire there someday in the future. Population 8,000. It has shopping, Walmart, Zellers, restaurants and Lake Huron. It was now time to get "out  of Dodge", as the saying goes. We found a cute "fixer-upper" in this town. I put pen to paper, made up a realty offer, presented said offer, offer accepted, put my home up for sale, sold it and moved into our new home 6 weeks later. Talk about determination. We sure had that. We fixed the home to our specifications. We changed not only the landscape of our property but the landscape of our lives. Not one single regret. Wish we had done it sooner.

Our Main street is a circle with streets eminating from it like the spokes of a wheel. Our beach is a five minute walk away. In the middle of the circle sits the courthouse surrounded by a good expanse of trees and grass. Every weekend in the spring and summer this area is set up with a Farmers Market and Flea Market. What a treat. Whenever one of the big trees starts to die they chop it down to about the ten foot level. They have this artist come in and he cuts, saws, chisels, hammers and paints a figure out of the tall stump. This is one of his creations. It takes him
about a week to do it and everyone watches him at his craft.



Trivia:  "Rule of thumb". The meaning of this saying comes from the 1800's  . It meant that a husband could not beat his wife with a stick thicker than his thumb.

Did You Know?  " Snake Boy". Uorn Sambeth from Setbo, Cambodia, has an unusual pet for a nine year-old boy. He has developed a friendship with a huge 16 foot (4.9m) python snake.He gives the serpent hugs and kisses and sometimes sleeps inside the coils of the snake, which weighs over 220 lbs( 100 kg) and requires three adults to carry . The python first slithered into the boy's bedroom when he was three months old, and now has its own room in the family home.

"OUT OF THE BOX" BACKYARD GARDEN RENEWAL

These are photos of the "before" and "after" pics of our backyard. I no longer wanted a back yard that was boring when you mowed the grass so I thought it best to install some impediments to make it interesting. How'd I do?                      
                                                         BEFORE

AFTER

Trivia: A weasel whose coat has turned white for the winter is an ermine.

Did You Know?  Fishing at Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, in 2008, Jeff Kolodzinsky caught 1,680 fish in 24 hours.

" KNOCK YOURSELF OUT", GARDEN RENOVATIONS

That's the answer my petite wife, Karen, said to me when I asked her if I could go "a bit wild ",in my garden efforts in 2009. Not being much of a gardener, I wanted to do things a bit more differently than most yards were. Usually peoples back yards had gardens on the borders. I was now going to "go out of the box". Over the past several years my good friend Ron, otherwise known as "Rabbit", had taught me a lot about flowers. Especially perrenials. THEY COME BACK EVERY YEAR. I usually planted annuals in the spring, then ripped them out in the fall. My other friend, Paul, told me to have a look at his gardens in Auburn the next time I was in his "stomping grounds." I did. I was impressed. I had my work cut out for me to come close to his efforts.Following are 'before " and "after" pictures. Enjoy. We sure do.

I started out on this venture in April and concluded at the end of July in my spare time. The real compliment came when" Communities In Bloom" chose our gardens as one of the three prettiest in our town. These are pictures of the front. In my following posting you can view my backyard efforts.

BEFORE

AFTER

Did you know?: Jack Nicholson has a rattlesnake embedded in his toilet seat.

Did You Know?  A pet rabbit in Xiamen, China, is so addicted to South Korean TV soap operas that she attacks her owners if they change the channel while she is watching. Every night at 10 p.m., the rabbit, Jia Xiaoyu, climbs between the couple to watch an imported drama, buts starts biting the pillow and becoming aggresive if her favorite show, Ms. Mermaid, isn't on.

WEIRD-OHS 1960's, "HUEY'S HUT ROD" CAR-ICKY-TURE MODEL, I CALL MINE "POOP TOWN"

This model from the 60's is called, "Huey's Hut Rod", also known as "The Way Outhouse Bomb". I named mine "Poop Town". Too cool. Too cool. Too cool.

Trivia: The first time the sound of a flushing toilet was heard on the big screen: Psycho (1960)

Did You Know?  A pig the size of a Shetland pony terrorized a woman in Murwillimbah, New South Wales, Australia. The pig took up residence at the home of Caroline Hayes and refused to leave her alone.

PETE AND JACK AND JOHN

Aaaaaahhh the 60's. The times they were "a changin'". You could feel it in the air. See it on TV. The 50's were gone. A new breed of people were making their mark on society. It happened at a time when my parents started renting out the basement in our home. Pete and Jack. Two fellows in their early twenties sharing an apartment downstairs, to save some of their hard earned dollars. I know what you're thinking and you are wrong. They were not gay. Far from it. At night, whenever I knocked on their door I was welcomed in. I learned so much from these guys. New shows were hitting the airwaves on TV and we watched them and laughed till we had tears in our eyes. Shows like "Rowan and Martin's Laugh- In"," The Smothers Brothers" and many more. They explained a lot of things to me because a large part of some shows made fun of politics. They would listen to music on the record player.(my favorite album was Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons). They also had some ribald record with "Bawdy Country Ballads". Such as-

"Put on your old grey corset
If it don't fit , force it
for tomorrow there's a mortgage due.
Put on your old pink panties
That used to be your aunties
If you can't get five, take two."

"I am a gay cabellero, I come from Rio De Janero
I carry with me my long pompadee and two of my romp pompaderos
One night I caught a diseaso, a very bad diseaso
Right on the tip of my long pompadee and one of my romp pomaderos
I went to see a medigo ,a very special medigo
He cut off the tip of my long pompadee and one of my romp pompaderos
Each night as I lay on my peelow I see what I can feelow
And all that is there is a handful of hair and one of my romp pompaderos"

They were cute little "ditties", but the knowledge these fellows imparted to me were valuable. They taught me to see humour in simple things. I learned what it meant to have friends. Pete was artistic. Boy could he paint. Jack was more outdoorish and took me fishing and camping. In 1965 Jack was one of the first to purchase the Ford Mustang. What a set of wheels. For his holidays he was going to Florida and let me come with him.
Can you imagine, nowadays, someone in their 20's taking a 14 year old on a trip like that. Not. But the trust my parents placed in him was correct. What a trip.
When Pete met a girl he,"dug" and married her, he moved out. John ,a friend of Jack's moved in. He taught me how to fish and took me canoeing a lot. He drove an old beat up Ford from the mid 50's.It needed a paint job in the worst way. What he did was hand paint pictures all over his car using oil paints. Talk about going "out of the box". Everyone thought it was "cool" and "groovy". They were a very memorable part of my growing up and maturing. Over the past years some of my efforts have been to connect with them to thank them . Jack was found in an obituary of 2006. Pete and John seem to have disappeared. The three of them
are greatly missed.     Goodbye old pals. You still live in my heart.





  Trivia: The lifespan of a tastebud is about 10 days. Mmmm, Mmmm, Yum Yum

Did You Know?  A pet dog that was swept overboard on a sailing trip swam 5 miles through shark-infested waters and survived on a remote island for 4 months by feeding on baby goats. The grey and black cattle dog was reunited with its owners after being found by rangers on the largely uninhabited St. Bees Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia.                                                          

VINTAGE MARX CONCEPT BUICK SPORTS CAR, 1950's

This is what is called a toy "1950's Concept Buick LaSabre Sports Car". How they visualized future cars would be. They weren't too far off the mark.     The video shows a jet car we watched racing at a "Drag Strip"

not too far from our home. My wife, Karen , had never seen anything like this before. She had no idea just how loud that jet engine would be when it let loose as the video will show. She had to put the camera down pretty quick to cover her ears. "Trooper", that she is ,she is still happy to watch the" Rails", fly down the track.

Trivia: A Boeing 747 jet holds 57,285 gallons of fuel.

Did You Know?  While humans only get two sets of natural teeth to last them their entire life, alligaters get between 2,000 to 3,000 teeth during their lifetime.

"SHE'S A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY, I'M A LITTLE BIT ROCK AND ROLL"

About us. There are days in everyones life that they remember as turning points. Some are sad such as Hiroshima, Pearl Harbour, 911 or the death of someone dear to our hearts. But their are also those turning points that are fondly remembered and tucked safely away in our minds. The birth of my two children Rob and Melanie, the memories of my fantastic mother and meeting a sweet, pretty, unpretentious 26 year old lady with 3 children of her own, for a coffee on November 26, 1983. Cupid started his work almost immediately. She was divorced and I was just going to start my own divorce. I now tell people not to look for love because it usually happens when you are not looking. Thats when it grabs you by the nape of your neck, slaps you a few times, makes your world spin around and the words just fall out of your two lips like a gentle summer rain. "I LOVE YOU KAREN". I remember it so well. It was not planned. It just came out of its own accord.It was real. We lived together for 5 years and then ,"Tied the Knot" in 1988. I know what they say about a soul mate because that is what we have with each other. I can honestly say that we have not had a fight or raised our voices at each other in over 28 years. We must have got that out of our systems in our first marriages. I know I did. One picture is at the time we met and didn't have "a pot to piss in". The other is more recent. See ya!



 Real-life country song titles:"Feelin' Single and Drinkin' Doubles"
"I Want a Beer as Cold as My Ex-Wifes Heart"
"I Wouldn't Take Her To a Dog Fight 'Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win"
"If You Can't Live Without Me , Why Aren't You Dead"
"Did I Shave My Legs For This?"
"I Gave Her The Ring, and She Gave Me The Finger"
"I'd Rather Pass a Kidney Stone Than Another Night With You"
"If My Nose Was Full of Nickels, I'd Blow It All on You"
"I Bought The Shoes That Just Walked Out on Me"
"I Gave Her My Heart and a Diamond and She Clubbed Me With a Spade"
"You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too"
"Thanks To The Cathouse ,I'm in the Doghouse With You"
"He's Got a Way With Women...and He Just Got Away with Mine"
"I Went Back To My Fourth Wife For The Third Time and Gave Her a Second ChanceTo Make A First Class Fool Out of Me "

The song sung by Bertie Higgins was "our" song and still is . Whenever we stopped into the Bar," El Rancho", that we frequented they would automatically start the song ,"Key Largo",and off to the dance floor we would stroll hand in hand, cheek to cheek, hearts interlinked forever.Enjoy























































TWO MORE RAMP WALKERS

These ramp walkers are only one inch high.

Trivia: Heavy drinkers: Elephants love to drink alcohol.

Did You Know?  Biologists in Florida tape magnets to the heads of nuisance crocodiles to disrupt their magnetic sense of direction when they relocate the animals. ( I wonder if they would work on my wife when she goes shopping, just kidding)

VINTAGE RAMP WALKERS, 1950's

The 1950's made simple toys for kids to play with. With these all you had to do was make a type of ramp and let the toy just waddle -walk its way down. We used to race them down any slope we could find.These 3 rampwalkers are Pluto (by hanging the ball over a table end the dog would trot along), Hap Hop soldiers and the Three Little Pigs. Enjoy.

Trivia: All of Japan's highways are toll roads; it costs more than $300 to go cross-country.


Did You Know?  An extinct species of snake, which lived in Columbian jungles 58 million years ago, could reach lengths of up to 42 feet long. TThat's longer than a bus.

MAMA B. and BABY CAR-ICKY-TURE [WEIRD-OHS MODEL] 1960's

In the early 1960's model companies were taking a big risk by foraying into a new type of assemble and paint model kit. For years children and adults bought model kits of cars, planes, boats and spaceships. To me they were BORING. But now there were the "Weird-ohs". Fascinating! This was a great conversation item for us kids. I could not buy them because my overly, fanaticly religious father would not allow it. He was not really a fun guy to be around. Now that I can do what I want, I am making up for the things that as a child I was not allowed to do. As kids we would purchase a model car or plane ,slap the Testors paint on it and begin to assemble the kit before it was dry. My goodness. We were so very impatient. Now as an adult I appreciate the differance that taking your time on a project can make. After having lost the vision in my right eye over 30 years ago in a car accident{ tell you about that another day} I am not the best artist by a long shot. I did what I've told my kids over the years.Try it. This model is called MAMA B. and BABY. Enjoy.

Trivia: In 1977 American car makers recalled more vehicles than they produced.

Did You Know? A man in Boynton Beach, Florida, received more than 50 traffic citations from police in one day on February 5th, 2009. (What I would call a repeat offender)

VINTAGE SIX-SHOOTER CAP GUN,"HIGH NOON" FANTASIES AND DREAMS

Or ,is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Almost every young boy dreamt of being a gunfighter. Me included. To this day my best reading companion is a western by none other than the best fiction writer of this genre. LOUIS L'AMOUR. His morals and principles ,transmitted by his writing style, are for the "good guys". My wish is that I would have been steered to his writings earlier in life than just the past ten years. Good morals. Great reading. As a child the gun in my use was usually a bent stick. Me and my "pardners" would run around shouting "bang ,bang  you're dead". In response "no I'm not, its your turn to be dead". I think we fell down "dead" about a hundred times a day. Man, that was fun.

Pictured is a 1950's gun and holster set in remarkable condition. Cap guns brought more authenticity to our play times. Personaly I feel that playing with toy guns as a child did not make me want to rob or actually kill anyone. But I am not opposed to others that feel differently about the subject.

The other picture is of me on one of the days that I actually tried to dress for the part.

Trivia: The Lone Ranger was the first TV show ever to be shown in reruns. Hi ho Silver, Awaaaay!

Did You Know?  Zeke, a cat in New Jersey, had surgery to remove more than a years accumulation of ribbons, hair ties, twist ties and other junk from his stomach which had grown to five times its normal size.

WW2 MEAT TOKEN,"WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING."

Well ,that's how the song goes and helps me to segue into todays item. We don't have want for many things these days. We take a lot of things for granted. That is why it is always good to remember times of not only what we want but what we need. Want and need. Two completely different words ,yet a lot of times they are used in the same context. I want a Porche but that is because I need transportation. So a Chevy will suffice. If not , then a bike. When worse comes to worse we'll walk. During the past wars there has always been a shortage of items. There was restriction on how much gas you could purchase. Lots of food shortages. If there was any metals that were not in use they were given to the "war Machine" to build tanks, planes, weapons and bombs. To make things fair for the population the governments of many English speaking countries made and distributed what were called "tokens". Made of metal to last. When given to a merchant ,he knew by the color and size how much meat or bread you could buy that week. No more. This is a" meat "token from the 2nd World War. Remember. Lest we forget.

Trivia: What do U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan have in common? They were all members of the NRA [National Rifle Association---and they were all shot.

Did You Know?  In December 2008, a reef shark at a Bahamas resort jumped from its aquarium, landed on a nearby waterslide, slid down to the swimming pool and surprised the staff and guests. ( I would have left a yellow streak in the pool as I evacuated.)

"WRINKLE-TITS " AND VINTAGE BOTTLE CAPS

As I mentioned previously that when I was 12 years old ,I cleaned my fathers barber shop. I liked having some coins jingling in my pockets so I also got a job on Saturdays delivering bread and pastry on a bread truck. Yes ,that was at a time when the milkman and the breadman were as normal a sight on the streets as the mailman. The nice fellow that took me on as his helper was named John. He paid me the fabulous amount of $3 a day. The equivalant of 30 large ice cream cones per week. I always seemed to guage my wealth in earnings by how many cones my pay could purchase. Not that I did. Early Saturday mornings we would drive to the bread depot [Canada Bread] and I would load the truck while John did paperwork. Off to Brampton we would go. In those days we went to the homes on our route every two days.We would go to the same homes on Tuesday, Thursday And Saturdays. The other half of the route would see our smiling faces on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There was always a pouch around my waste to collect money. It was aptly named ,"The Pouch". I learned math real fast. Always scribbling down the prices of purchases as they were taken out of my big, humungous, wooden basket. I had a favorite house that I would go to. You see, I always had to hold the basket up as a courtesy to the patrons so that they would not have to stoop or bend down much.This Lady always answered the door after my knock and yelling the word ,"baker," in her housecoat. From the first I noticed that when she bent over to look at my wares I could see that she had these "wrinkles "on the top of her boobs. [ Years later I would come to the realization that these were "stretch marks"] The lower my basket was held ,the more I could see. It got to be a contest almost. How low could I hold that basket before her arm would automatically go to covering her chest. The last time I tried was when John said to me as I was heading to her door was, Don't hold the goods so low for "wrinkle-tits, I think she's on to you." Well that was that.

My Mom. What a terrific person. She was the mother that on a cold winters day I would always find a candy or two that she had slipped into my coat pocket. When I worked on the bread route she would give me a bottle cap for my pop bottle. That way it would stay fresh and not spill. I MISS HER.

These are the type of caps we used. One for small ,one for big.

Trivia: Kissing can cause wrinkles.

Did You Know?  Eighteen year old Jack Hyde from Oxfordshire, England, had his driver's test canceled because the examiner found crumbs on his car seat.

VINTAGE FLICKER RINGS AND THINGS

Cheap jewellery ,Yes. But they were worth their weight in gold when you gave them to a girl you were infatuated with in grade two to grade four. It was a joy to watch whoever wore them , how they would move their hand to watch the "flicker". Quite similar to how my pretty wife, Karen, wriggled her finger after I gave her a "real" ring. Again and again and again. I was very thankful that there are only ten fingers until women started wearing them on their toes. NOW I'M SCARED. Anyway, the rings pictured are a 1960's Tarzan  flicker ring , 1960's Man From U.N.C.L.E.flicker ring  and a 1960's Popeye-Wimpey flicker ring. Another ring pictured is a 1950's toy metal saddle ring. A great collector item. The last ring is an old [1950's] Romper Room Do Bee Ring. These rings were given to lucky children who appeared on the Romper Room TV show. Engraved on the ring is "I am a Romper Room Do Bee". I watched this show as a child and always waited for the magical time when the Host would look through her magnifying glass and rhyme off names of children she saw. "Romper stomper bomper boo, tell me ,tell me, tell me true. I see Sally, I see John, I see Alice, etc, etc ,etc." My name , Peter, never came up. It was on early in the morning so I was usually still in my underwear eating Tony the Tiger's, " Frrrrroossted Flaaaakes." Even after I made sure I was properly clothed ,my name never came up. Oh well. Back to " Captain Kangaroo "and "Mr Bluejeans".

Trivia: Hellen Keller could identify her friends by their individual odors. (Psst, I have some friends I can identify that way too)

Did You Know? In 2009, a court banned 84 year-old Luba Relic of Warriewood, New South Wales, Australia, from driving until the year 3000.

GEORGETOWN SCHOOL REUNION 2007

In 2007, Georgetown {my hometown} had a town and High School Reunion. My last full year of school was 1969 so I thought it only fitting to drive there in our 1969 Plymouth Fury 1 { a terrific gift from my wife Karen}and stay for  the weekend with  her. She could get to see the people that shared my youthful days at school and around town. Some of my friends that had moved out as I did even returned from Alberta. It was fantastic. It was good to catch up on how things went over the years for them. It was also very sad to find out that some of the great friends were no longer alive. It is shocking to find out that some of the girls I dated were gone. Also some of my Amigos. They are missed very much. It was also a time for me to right a wrong that was done to me when I was 14. In grade 9 we had wrestling for phys ed .{short for physical education} I was definitely not a "Hulk Hogan" type but I sure was long and lean {in other words I was SKINNY}. Well it turned out that the one kid that teased me the most {I'll call him Tom}, I ended up beating him in a wrestling practice at night in the school auditorium. He wanted REVENGE. He couldn't do it himself so he got his friend Bill to punch me in the mouth as I opened the school door to go home. Every school has a Bill. He is the type of person , because of his size, that is a bully. I was 5 foot 11 inches, 140 punds. Bill was well over 6 feet and about 190 pounds. The song "Big John" was a hit at that time so I wished I was his size{ he stood 6 foot six and weighed 245, Big Bad John, Big John]. Well it just so happened that over 38 years and due to the very physical work I had done along with lifting some weights I was now 6 foot six and weighed 255 pounds. Bigger than Big John. I made it known that if we came across Bill I wanted an apology. Wouldn't you know it . We found him. I almost crapped my pants. I felt like David against Goliath. How could this be? He grew into a King Kong size. He was not only taller but still had me beat by about 80 pounds. Someone smirked when they asked me if I was still going to ask for an apology. I hate smirks so I had a fast prayer to all the gods{wasn't taking a chance} and approached him as he was speaking to some of his aquaintances. I introduced myself and told him that he had punched me in the face for his friend Tom. I did ask for an apology and braced myself for the inevitable onslaught of his ham sized gorilla fist. His right arm came up and he then gently placed it on my left shoulder. He said," I don't remember hitting you but thats because I smacked a lot of guys back then for the hell of it. As for Tom I can't stand him. And as for you ,I'm sorry, and I apologize." I thanked him and we had a very pleasant chat. I might have farted a bit but I did not crap my pants. Just then a pal of Bill's asked him if he was "carrying" today. It turns out that Bill is a "Special Ops" police officer and "carrying" means that he can have a concealed weapon on his person any time. Not just when he is on the job. I think the next thing I said was,"Honey, lets go see whats going on in the auditorium. Lets hurry."
Click on the picture to enlarge.

Trivia: Streetlamps in Hershey, Pennsylvania, are shaped like chocolate kisses. Neat eh?


Did You Know? Seventy per cent of the Land Rover all-terrain vehicles-first built in the United Kingdom in 1948 are still on the road.

" AND THE BEAT GOES ON " AND THE BEATLES TOO

Music to soothe the savage breast, or beast. When I was about twelve years old my father had me clean , sweep, empty ashtrays and brush off the barber chairs in his barbershop in Georgetown. Two of my older brothers worked with him in the shop so there were three chairs. My earnings for that chore was $1 per week. Not bad pay for a kid in 1963. Heck, it cost a dime for a large ice cream cone at the Dairy Queen across the street. That's ten per week if I so desired. Anyway,  I'll get back to my topic. One night the radio was still on and as I was sweeping a song came on that stopped me in my tracks. It was "Johnny Angel". Well I sat back in one of those barber chairs, tilted it back and layed there thoroughly enjoying the melodic voice of  Shelley Fabares. I fell in love. Not with Shelley {even though my heart beats a little faster when I see her on TV} but with the music. That radio stayed on in shop every time I did my chore. Shortly after that Ed Sullivan introduced America to the Beatles. My father did not like their music or their hair. That figures because he was 40 years older than me. I think I noticed my precious little Mom tapping her toes though. Anyways, a few weeks later the music store at the plaza,"Wigos", had an event whereby the first ten people in his store on Saturday would receive a 45rpm record of the Beatles hit " She loves you, yea, yea ,yea". {kind of ironic since that is the song Karen and my lawyers sang to us at our wedding} Again I digress. I was the first in line that Saturday. Not because I loved the Beatles but because something told me this was important. By the time the store opened I had been shuffled back to eight in line by the bigger kids. I got my 45 { thats what we called them} and wish to this day that I had kept it . When you had a record in those times you needed a " middle". That I did keep. Dumb eh?

Trivia: There are no rhymes in the English language for orange, silver or purple. A colorful thought.

Did You Know? The Iberian ribbed newt, found in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, has sharply pointed ribs that it can stick through its sides to protect against predators. Neat eh?

LITTLE PEOPLE FOR MINIATURE RAILROAD SETS, EVEN A TOPLESS WOMAN

These miniature people were made in Germany to be added to very sophisticated train sets that had a town with a beach or swimming pool. I do not believe that America had made sets such as this one because the bather in the top right corner is topless. At the time when these were made Canada and The States were still very puritanical. The dime is to help show how small the figures are. Like Arnold says,"I'll be back".

Question: If you say, "I always lie", are you telling the truth?

Did You Know? A blind Border collie has his own guide dog! Five year old Clyde is totally blind and relies on another collie, Bonnie, to help him around the dog rescue center in Norfolk, England. Clyde refuses to go anywhere without Bonnie, who stays inches from his side while guiding him on walks or to food and water. She even lets him rest his head on her haunches when he becomes disoriented. True love.

THE VIEWMASTER, 1950

This Viewmaster brings back fond memories. It was almost magical to look through the eye portals and see the picture in such exquisite 3 dimensional clarity. It was as if you were a part of it. Little did we realize then how over the following decades these mysterious devices for viewing pictures would become passe.C'est la vie. Bye for now.


Question:  Would Adam And Eve have had belly buttons?

Did You Know? Judge James Martz of Palm Beach County, Florida, ordered a parrot to appear in court for a custody dispute involving the bird. (I gues that is why people say the court system is for the birds)

THE PAST IS WHAT MADE US INTO WHO WE ARE TODAY ,AIRPORT LIMOUSINE TOY 1950's

Hi. My name is Peter. I am a "baby boomer". There is no 12 step program that can help me so I am stuck with the memories of a golden era in time. If some genie could grant me the wish to be born in any year of my choosing it would still be the year of my birth, 1951. Ahh the 50's. I remember it well. That's a good sign. It means my mental faculties are still hitting on all cylinders. What I would like to share, with whoever reads this, are my thoughts, my memories, things collected over the years. So tighten your seat belts and hang on 'cause we are going on a trip that may be rocky and then again it may be slow. Lets start with toys. Yes ,chidrens toys. If you were thinking of something else then you are on the wrong blog.

 This is an airport limosine car of the 50's. It is a little beat up and chipped but you have to picture all the little hands that pushed , propelled, and yes even threw this toy over its life span to date. It is now retired and sits in comfort next to all its other toy friends.I believe this car has made children happy in its days.

Until next time, take care.  

Trivia: Eyes change colour after death, usually to a greenish-brown.

Did You Know? Brazilian police discovered inmates training and raising homing pigeons within Danilo Pinheiro Prison, Soracaba, for the purpose of smuggling contraband. Guards intercepted two pigeons carrying cell phones and chargers to the detainees.