Whatever Happened To...

[L Verge]

This is totally off the wall, but most of us have probably received quite a few emails focusing on things that were common place to us oldies back in the 1950s and 60s. From hoola hoops to milkmen, they bring back fond memories (most of the time). However, one of my best childhood memories never shows up on these lists. BOOKMOBILES!

It was such a treat to have my mother drive us two miles or so to the nearest stop for our county bookmobile every two weeks. I don't even know where the closest lending library was to our home in those days - we just depended on the library coming to us on four wheels. Do such things still exist in rural areas?

And, what ever happened to pop beads? Mary Lincoln may have had her seed pearls, but we had our pop beads. Am I really showing my age now?

[RJNorton]

Laurie, we still have a Bookmobile. It visits more than 20 locations in Lee County every two weeks.

http://leelibrary.net/services/locations...fault.aspx

[BettyO]

Whatever Happened To...
This is totally off the wall, but most of us have probably received quite a few emails focusing on things that were common place to us oldies back in the 1950s and 60s. From hoola hoops to milkmen, they bring back fond memories (most of the time). However, one of my best childhood memories never shows up on these lists. BOOKMOBILES!

It was such a treat to have my mother drive us two miles or so to the nearest stop for our county bookmobile every two weeks. I don't even know where the closest lending library was to our home in those days - we just depended on the library coming to us on four wheels. Do such things still exist in rural areas?

And, what ever happened to pop beads? Mary Lincoln may have had her seed pearls, but we had our pop beads. Am I really showing my age now?

Oh, Yes! The Bookmobile was the highlight of my youth as well....however, I grew up in Richmond City and I could walk or ride my bike to the bookmobile - it came every Friday afternoon and I couldn't wait to go.... We lived in a housing development on the outskirts of the city and the main library was in town. It was a treat to go there, too! I remember we also had "Library Day" every Wednesday in Elementary School - and I so used to look forward to Wednesday mornings -

Pop Beads? Oh yes, I fondly remember those as well - and those strapless little plastic high heel shoes..... how about "Color Forms" - those stick on plastic sheets? Remember those - In addition to my Barbie dolls, I also had a GI Joe. I used to also love to play Army with the boys in the neighborhood....

[ReignetteC]

Remember the kid's magazine, "Highlights?" And how about "Boy's Life?" (I think that was the title.) I always looked forwarded to reading them, even though Boy's Life was for my brother. Anyone remember the stingray bicycle? I remember riding my brother's bike - without a helmet. My how times have changed! Oh, and it wasn't too long ago when one had to get UP and change the channel on the television . . . but then we weren't as glued to the TV as we are today . . . but that's another story. BTW, do kids ride bikes today, or does it take too much time away from their computer games?

[Rogerm]

I remember in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, my mother made "snowcream", something ressembling ice cream that was a mixture of snow, milk, cream and sugar. It tasted really good. But, she had to stop doing that because the snow was contaminated by atmospheric testing.

[L Verge]

I remember in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, my mother made "snowcream", something ressembling ice cream that was a mixture of snow, milk, cream and sugar. It tasted really good. But, she had to stop doing that because the snow was contaminated by atmospheric testing.

I used to love snow cream also, Rogerm. We stopped making it when the jets flying into Andrews AFB started jettisoning fuel before landing. Their north/south flight pattern was right over our house.

I also remember my mother and grandmother using something called Ten Below to make homemade strawberry and peach ice creams without having to go through the old cranking routine. They just mixed it all together and poured it into ice cube trays - in the days when the cube devices could be taken out. It didn't make a lot, but it was sure good.

[BettyO]

Oh yes, I remember riding my bike and later my horse (including jumping him over fences) without any sort of helmet whatsoever....

And snow creme - yes! I remember mom making that for us as well.... and lying out in the yard in the summer as a teenager or going to the beach with no sun protection at all - as well as driving in the early 1960s with no seatbelts. They weren't available then....

[HerbS]

Can anyone remember-the iceman,the coalman,the milkman,or the vegie man?

[Gene C]

or the TV repair man?

[BettyO]

We had the Milkman, the Insurance Man, the Bond Bread Man and the Charlie Chip Man....AND the Avon Lady - still have her! HA!

[Linda Anderson]

And the Bible salesman. My mother bought one and I still have it.

[RJNorton]

Where I grew up we had a man who used to push a cart through the neighborhood. The cart had a sharpening stone that would sharpen knives and scissors. The cart had a bell on it so you could hear when he was around, and the stone was operated by the man using a foot pedal.

[L Verge]

And Stanley Products salesmen, Fuller Brush men, vacuum cleaner salesmen, encyclopedia salesmen. The insulated milk boxes that sat at the back door awaiting milk delivery. Burning trash in your back yard with a 50 gallon oil drum as the "furnace."

[BettyO]

Oh yes - the Fuller Brush Man! And the man who brought the little black and white Shetland Pony around the neighborhood (I still remember her name; Nell) and mom paid him to have my photo taken on her -

[HerbS]

The encylopedia salesman,the neighbor from Italy that grew his grapes and made his own red wine!How about your neighbor that raised chickens?Now,who gets a tv repaired?First non-black and white tv in the neighborhood?Real popcorn,Greenstamps,greenhouses,gardens and manure,county fairs and carnivals,circuses,lemon aide stands,leather helmets no face mask,sleds, on and on!