The news in Israel is slightly too depressing for a regular blog posting. Or maybe it's a general feeling of moodiness.
Soooo, I thought I'd fall back in time to recollect some of the activites that made me smile when I was a kid.
Unlike where I live today, I used to have a wonderful, large public library to visit, and I vividly recall the privledge of receiving my first library card. Fridays were library day, and each of us kids would each take out 8-10 books to be read over Shabbat and Sunday...
Some of the books I used to borrow:
I loved the Great Brain books. Not that I was such a great brain, nor did I have such an older brother figure....but I loved those books. Famous stories I remember; First Toilet in Utah, Building a Roller-coaster, going off to the Academy and sneaking chocolate in...and finally, teaching a kid with a missing leg how to run, jump, and play ball like everyone else. Thanks RR for reminding me of those books.
I only saw this book once in fourth grade, and it immediately became one of my favorites. I never read the original Adventures of the Mad Scientist's Club, but the "new" adventures were simply too good to put down. I think I reread this book over 10 times. Lots of the technology there would be put to shame by the contents of my 2 older boys' room, but that book was ahead of it's time.
Before third grade was over, I had read every single Tom Swift book in our school library. I think I was one of the few who actually read them...no one else seemed very interested. What did they know. Now I'm working in high-tech, loving the technology I used to dream about...and they...we'll...they're doctors, lawyers and accountants making 3 times as much as me. Hmmm.
Of course, I did read all the Hardy Boys books, but they got sort of repetative after a while. I think I was crushed to learn that the author Franklin W. Dixon was only a pen-name for the FEMALE writer who also wrote Nancy Drew. Bah.
While PsychoToddler may know everything about the new series, (which I'm also a big fan of), I loved the old series -- and memorized more details about that show than I knew mishnayot by heart. As I could only watch one hour of TV a week -- I saved up my time to watch my favorite show...Battlestar Galactica. I owned every single book about the show, the complete comic book series, and I made every single plastic model. Maybe I'll write about the time I cut camp to walk to the mall...and spend the day in the bookstore reading Battlestar books. (No, I didn't go to play video games, or hang out...really!)
I didn't only read books. There were fantastic radio shows on once a week. Usually on Sunday night after 9:00 PM, I'd have to be in my room, with the lights out, and I'd listen to these great radio presentations: The Star Wars audio performances were done so well, that if you closed your eyes and just listened, the experience was at least as good a a 70mm widescreen showing in the theatre.
Another great series was the Jack Flanders radio show series by ZBS media. Classic radio...I think I'm going to try and find those series again.
Fine. So you think I was all geeky and just read books, and fantasized about Science Fiction?
Wrong! I also played in Little League. My real picture is saved at home...this pictures is for display purposes only.
And besides Little League -- on warm summer days, I would bike to the nearby lake and pedal around it without a care or worry in my head. I'd stop under a shady willow tree, and read some of the library books I'd picked up the previous Friday, and relax in the cool shade.
OK. You got me. Even with biking and little league, I was still fascinated by science. The best possible piece of mail I could receive (and I used to love getting junk mail, I signed up for every free piece of mail, catalog and freebie I could find, because what's more fun than getting mail?) was the coveted Edmund Scientific catalog...The coolest stuff that only a budding mad scientist could dream off, was all there.
The magical drinking bird.
The Astroscan telescope whcih I wished I could buy:
Lasers, optics and cool stuff. I wanted it all...but rarely got any of it, and their mechandise remained a distant dream, which I guess was always more fascinating in my imagination than in real life.
Hmmm...feel a bit less wistful than before. Maybe I'll continue this tomorrow.
Want to gain more Muqata points? What stuff from yesteryear made you smile?
Tip: Save those Muqata points...
Soooo, I thought I'd fall back in time to recollect some of the activites that made me smile when I was a kid.
Unlike where I live today, I used to have a wonderful, large public library to visit, and I vividly recall the privledge of receiving my first library card. Fridays were library day, and each of us kids would each take out 8-10 books to be read over Shabbat and Sunday...
Some of the books I used to borrow:
I loved the Great Brain books. Not that I was such a great brain, nor did I have such an older brother figure....but I loved those books. Famous stories I remember; First Toilet in Utah, Building a Roller-coaster, going off to the Academy and sneaking chocolate in...and finally, teaching a kid with a missing leg how to run, jump, and play ball like everyone else. Thanks RR for reminding me of those books.
I only saw this book once in fourth grade, and it immediately became one of my favorites. I never read the original Adventures of the Mad Scientist's Club, but the "new" adventures were simply too good to put down. I think I reread this book over 10 times. Lots of the technology there would be put to shame by the contents of my 2 older boys' room, but that book was ahead of it's time.
Before third grade was over, I had read every single Tom Swift book in our school library. I think I was one of the few who actually read them...no one else seemed very interested. What did they know. Now I'm working in high-tech, loving the technology I used to dream about...and they...we'll...they're doctors, lawyers and accountants making 3 times as much as me. Hmmm.
Of course, I did read all the Hardy Boys books, but they got sort of repetative after a while. I think I was crushed to learn that the author Franklin W. Dixon was only a pen-name for the FEMALE writer who also wrote Nancy Drew. Bah.
While PsychoToddler may know everything about the new series, (which I'm also a big fan of), I loved the old series -- and memorized more details about that show than I knew mishnayot by heart. As I could only watch one hour of TV a week -- I saved up my time to watch my favorite show...Battlestar Galactica. I owned every single book about the show, the complete comic book series, and I made every single plastic model. Maybe I'll write about the time I cut camp to walk to the mall...and spend the day in the bookstore reading Battlestar books. (No, I didn't go to play video games, or hang out...really!)
I didn't only read books. There were fantastic radio shows on once a week. Usually on Sunday night after 9:00 PM, I'd have to be in my room, with the lights out, and I'd listen to these great radio presentations: The Star Wars audio performances were done so well, that if you closed your eyes and just listened, the experience was at least as good a a 70mm widescreen showing in the theatre.
Another great series was the Jack Flanders radio show series by ZBS media. Classic radio...I think I'm going to try and find those series again.
Fine. So you think I was all geeky and just read books, and fantasized about Science Fiction?
Wrong! I also played in Little League. My real picture is saved at home...this pictures is for display purposes only.
And besides Little League -- on warm summer days, I would bike to the nearby lake and pedal around it without a care or worry in my head. I'd stop under a shady willow tree, and read some of the library books I'd picked up the previous Friday, and relax in the cool shade.
OK. You got me. Even with biking and little league, I was still fascinated by science. The best possible piece of mail I could receive (and I used to love getting junk mail, I signed up for every free piece of mail, catalog and freebie I could find, because what's more fun than getting mail?) was the coveted Edmund Scientific catalog...The coolest stuff that only a budding mad scientist could dream off, was all there.
The magical drinking bird.
The Astroscan telescope whcih I wished I could buy:
Lasers, optics and cool stuff. I wanted it all...but rarely got any of it, and their mechandise remained a distant dream, which I guess was always more fascinating in my imagination than in real life.
Hmmm...feel a bit less wistful than before. Maybe I'll continue this tomorrow.
Want to gain more Muqata points? What stuff from yesteryear made you smile?
Tip: Save those Muqata points...
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
I loved Tom Swift and The Great Brain.
ReplyDeletewe have Little League right here in the Shomron. Check out http://eteamz.active.com/revavabaseball/
ReplyDeleteCome on...no choose your own ending books?
ReplyDeletecool! so if i save my muqata points you can choose a prize? like at a fair? so you'll have like, slinkys and plastic figurines and key rings and toy cars and and bouncy balls and matchbox cars and bubble wands?!
ReplyDeleteEnid Blyton books were always good, there was something for everyone. I especiallly liked the illustrated Far Away Tree books (which I still look at from time to time!) We also used to go to the library every week and pick out a selection. Oh, I love the Mr Men and Little Miss books (I have almost the whole set) and that's gotta make you smile whatever age you are! Also the books by Graeme Base (such as Animalia) which are beautifully illustrated and I used to spend hours looking through trying to find the hidden characters.
Aside from books, there were phases of everything from a chemistry set and microscope (go figure) to various toys and (more fun for me) various craft and art activities (crayons, paints, sewing, knitting, cutting and pasting, bits and pieces, plaster molds, shells, coloured sand). The best being play-dough and plasticine that I used to make little characters and other things (like a tiny, tiny balsa wood sukkah with all the trimmings and table settings!)
That was fun :)
I loved going to the library and was so excited when I got my first library card, but I don't remember ever checking any books out and reading at home, except for Dynamite magazine - how pathetic is that? But you got to admit, those teen idol centerfolds were really hot. I guess my thing was listening to music and playing records on my record player.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite yesteryear toys were the red thingamajig that would slide up and down on the metal whatchmacallit, my rollerskates and skateboard, and my fave albums - when I was younger, Peter Pan and Mary Poppins, and as I got older, all the K-Tel hits albums.
I also loved riding my bike, especially in the woods that we called, the Monkey Hills. Not a smart thing for a young girl to do by herself, but my only fear back then was Bigfoot and UFOs.
Do you know what a Tom Swiftism is?, he asked approvingly.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess that I wasn't able to watch Battlestar Galactica as a kid--I had karate lessons when it was on and we didn't have a VCR in those days. I've secretly pined after BSG ever since.
ReplyDeletetell kids today that going to a library was a weekly occupation and they think you must've been a nerd of major proportions, yet I enjoyed those quiet long halls where the books I needed were always taken out or impossible to find.
ReplyDeleteI recently found out he may have been an antisemite but then Roald Dahl's books were my favourites and boy did I laugh with some.
I guess that I am a bit younger, but I read the Cam Jansen books, and my Southern public school included the "All of a Kind Family" series in the hopes of being "diverse."
ReplyDeleteAnd for those who bemoan the lack of reading among kids today, what about Lemony Snickett, or Harry Potter? Those books are wildly popular.
I was fascinated by that drinking bird as a kid!!
ReplyDeleteI also waxed nostalgic today about the Encyclopedia Brown books- remember those?
Wow! Encyclopedia Brown and The Great Brain - I hadn't thought of those in ages.
ReplyDeleteWait a second... can I cash in the Muqata points I already have? :)
ReplyDeleteHave you forgotten The Phantom Tollbooth?
ReplyDeleteI always wanted magic monkeys but my mom wouldn't let. Etch-a-sketch (still around, and now in different sizes!), the FAO Schwartz Xmas catalog, riding my bike down to buy a Marathon candy bar at the grocery store, lots and lots of kittens until my dad gave the cat away, breaking off icicles from the trees and eating them, the library of COURSE, Narnia books, anything by Ray Bradbury, I could go on and on. More points please! We're in America right now, so please save them for me until we get back. :)
ReplyDeleteI heard that both the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were not even authored by one specific person, but were farmed out to ghostwriters. They're still good, anyway. My favorite books were the "Childhood of Famous Americans" series that made the history of early America leap to life for me. I think it was those books that instilled in me my lifelong love of reading.
ReplyDeleteWhoa...I recognize those T-ball shirts!! Are they from Linglestown, PA?? Does this mean that one of my favorite bloggers has a Harrisburg connection??
ReplyDelete