Tag Archives: memories

Apr20

miracle mile.

Posted on April 20, 2024 by beth

Standard

built in 1960

less than 3 years after i was born

this magical miracle mile movie drive-in and i grew up together

i never got over how wonderful going to see anything was

pajamas with feet, blankets, popcorn, sticky lemonade

jockeying for space with my sibs in the station wagon

never made it through a second feature

carried sound asleep into my bed

stories still playing out in my dreams.

—

“isn’t if funny how day by day, nothing changes, but when we look back, everything is different.”

c.s. lewis

Nov3

dia de los muertos.

Posted on November 3, 2023 by beth

Standard

one of our classrrom families

came in to teach us about

this very moving and beautiful tradition.

what a lovely way to celebrate and remember our loved ones.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1 and 2 and is a time to remember and honor deceased loved ones.

The holiday has its roots in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures, and it is a unique and beautiful blend of indigenous and Catholic traditions.

On Dia de los Muertos, families build altars in their homes and cemeteries to honor their deceased loved ones. The altars are decorated with photos of the deceased, as well as their favorite foods, drinks, and other belongings. Families also visit cemeteries to clean and decorate graves, and to leave offerings for their loved ones.

Dia de los Muertos is a time for celebration, not mourning. It is a time to remember the lives of loved ones who have passed on, and to celebrate the bond that continues to connect them to the living.

—

“to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”

-thomas campbell, author

Oct21

forgotten five.

Posted on October 21, 2023 by beth

Standard

“in celebration of the national toy hall of fame’s 25th anniversary, the public will have the chance to choose one of this year’s inductees from the so-called ‘forgotten five.’ the toys – the fisher-price corn popper, my little pony, pez dispensers, the pogo stick, and transformers – are ‘icons of the play world’ and frequent finalists, but have never made the cut. “now one of these will make the hall and, for the first time it will be purely in the hands of the voting public,” chief curator, christopher bench said in a press release.

Cast your vote.

—

“to this day, i have the most fond memories of some of my old toys.”

-michael keaton

—

photo credit: fisher-price vintage toys

May16

today.

Posted on May 16, 2023 by beth

Standard

another beautiful outdoor adventure day shared with the kinder

—

“there is such a difference between asking,

“what did you do today?”

vs.

“what do you want to remember about today?”

-t. kearby

Dec20

memories gather and dance.

Posted on December 20, 2022 by beth

Standard

Toy Department during Christmas season in the J.L. Hudson store, Detroit – 1957

loved this view of the toy department at the store during the Christmas season.

toys were displayed on shelves, tables, and display cases,

with decorations featuring elves, a sleigh, and reindeer in background.

—

this is where i went every year

all dressed up fancy

to buy little gifts (with help from the elves) for my family

to see santa

to have a special lunch

always, always amazed

by the glamour and magic of it all.

—

“like snowflakes, my christmas memories gather and dance –

each, beautiful, unique, and gone too soon.

-deborah whipp

—

credits: detroit memories, linda yates rudnicki, j.l. hudson’s

Oct31

hot stuff.

Posted on October 31, 2022 by beth

Standard

i loved wearing the costumes of my childhood era

and happily ‘suffered for my art.’

recent neighborhood nextdoor comments on the halloween costumes are wonderful:

They were so ugly but if you made your own costume, it wasn’t cool. We had to buy these things…jumpsuit tore easily, and elastic snapped off mask. And the sweat…and trying to breathe through the tiny mouth hole!

Those masks were so HOT! Didn’t hold us back tho! Was so safe then and went out by ourselves.

You couldn’t see out of them, sometimes the parts that touched your face were sharp, the elastic that held it on got tangled in hair. It is a wonder we survived Halloween in these masks!

then the elastic broke so your mom tied it and was even tighter and hotter!

and tangled it whatever hair was still left!

I’m surprised there weren’t thunderstorms inside the mask with all the condensation from breathing too. My favorite was my Hot Stuff costume. I still have a picture of me in it!

I totally had one of these costume with the mask…but this…this looks like a Pink Floyd video.

It was miserable wearing those masks, but we didn’t care, we wanted that candy !!

Looking back at those costumes, they were actually a little creepy!!

How about the little tiny slit near the mouth so that you could attempt to get air? Your parents couldn’t understand why you had to take it off before you went up the steps of the next house. Your face would be drenched with sweat but you would wipe it off and keep going.

Made of suffocating plastic but we loved them anyway.

happy halloween!

—

“when you’re wearing an animal costume and something bad happens,

your facial expression doesn’t change. the animal is deadpan the whole time.

if you’re skiing in a gorilla suit and you fall, you just see a gorilla who has no emotion.

it’s just a stoic gorilla wildly falling down a hill, out of control.”

-dimitiri martin

—

photo credit: vintage pinterest