The Velveteen Rabbit:

I read this one alot circa '73. I was usually into happy stories, but this one had a touch of bittersweet to it, so I didn't keep the book for long. It broke my heart when the toy rabbit had to be thrown out and destroyed. And even though it was turned into a real rabbit in the end, the rabbit had changed and the friendship with the boy was over, and things could never be the same as they once were. I don't know if this is the intended moral of the story, but this book makes me realize that time changes people, and friendships quite often don't last because through life's circumstances we're always evolving as individuals, our personalities change and eventually we part ways. I often say "my friends", but they're actually never really mine - they're only "on loan" for awhile and sooner or later they're gone. Family will always be family, but you can never take your friends for granted - enjoy them while you have them, because 'friends for life' are rare, no matter how permanent the friendship may seem to be.

Dear Blogger:

This is just a little note to tell you my opinion of your new interface that you're forcing upon us all. I've seen your new interface, and quite frankly I don't like your new interface. Your old interface was simple, easy to use. Your new interface is awkward, and hard to navigate. There's nothing I like about the new interface, and from what I've heard nobody else likes it either. I don't like the font colors we are forced to choose from: no longer will I have my awesome avocado green colored font. I was not able to find how to save the html of my site's template. Also, to view the new interface, I have to log into Blogger through Google chrome. It doesn't show up on my AOL dial-up. I resent that. I implore you to let us all keep the old interface if we choose. This is America. We're supposed to have freedom of choice. You're taking that away, and for that I will always be resentful. I may no longer love you as much as I did in the old days, when you were nice and easy to work with. You may even lose me one day. Please re-consider this awful new interface that you're making us adopt, or even better just get rid of it. And maybe even demote the web designer that designed it and give him a desk job instead, or maybe give them a job in the mail room. Don't do it just for me, do it for all of us.

Thank you,

Joe

Question:

So how many of you, back in '78, watched "Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park" on TV? I did. It was pretty bad. Well, even though it used up 2 hours of my time that I'll never be able to re-coup, at least I didn't pay to see it; and being only 10 years old it's not like I was doing anything else that night...

Sunday Comic:

I'd like to know how Harold's going to talk his way out of this one..

Lidsville:

Apparantly this show ran from '71 to '73 on Saturday mornings. I only saw it around '73. Never really cared for the show, I mostly watched it for the intro where the kid (Butch Patrick aka Eddie Munster) fell into the hat at the amusement park. It was truly one of the most bizarre shows ever. The kid falls into Lidsville where all the characters are hats.... no I'm not making this up. I could sit through a repeat of The Munsters, but not Lidsville. I watched the intro on youtube a month ago at the library (free wifi), but I didn't have my earphones so I couldn't listen to the sound. I may watch it again, but I kind of "lost the love" on this one.

Pull-ring zipper shirts:

These were popular circa '71 - '73. I had one just about the time Maureen was modeling hers (although hers seems to be more like a sweater). Even though they were kind of popular and alot of people had them, it's almost impossible to find a picture of them on the internet these days. Mine was a long sleeve navy blue shirt with white bicycles printed all over it. Yeah, it was awesome...

I hear laughter in the rain - walking hand in hand with the one I love. Oh how I love the rainy days, and the happy way I feel inside.

"You're gonna make a fool of yourself, Eunice."

Feelings, nothing more than feelings.

Trying to forget my feelings of love.

Teardrops rolling down on my face,

Trying to forget my feelings of love.

Feelings, for all my life I'll feel it.

I wish I'd never met you, girl;

You'll never come again.

Feelings, wo-o-o feelings,

Wo-o-o feel you again in my arms.

Feelings, feelings like I've never lost you.

And feelings like I'll never have you

Again in my heart.

Did you know ...

... that in 1973, a postage stamp cost 8 cents?? Did you also know that I'm really running low on ideas for posts lately????

Clueless:

When I was 9, my father quizzed me and asked me "what's the largest state in the United States". I replied "Massachusetts". I got pretty offended when he laughed at me...

Okay too much excitement here ...

Back in the day I loved Bubble Yum just as much as any other kid, but I never got that excited over it.. I mean it's just gum....

1974 Remembrance:

That was the year my grandmother and mom got into drinking "grasshoppers". I had a sip and of course being 6 years old I gagged. I'd probably like them now, but I never seem to pick up the ingredients to make them. I'm not really a drinker, but I'll have a beer or 2 every once in awhile. This is the recipe:

Grasshoppers:

3/4 oz. green creme de menthe

3/4 oz. white creme de cacao

3/4 oz. light cream

Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Alcohol content 15% (30 proof, which is no wonder it really caught on with those two....)

Misc. Remembrance:

When I was a kid, I used to fill an ice cube tray with fruit juice and cover it with plastic wrap. Then I'd stick a toothpick through the plastic wrap into each ice cube hole then freeze it, and make miniature fruit juice popsicles. I learned it by one of the "Time For Timer" cartoons.

Fact:

In the early '70s, boys wore suits and girls wore party dresses to birthday parties / any kind of party. It ended sometime around '73/'74. I don't remember wearing a suit to a party, but I'm sure I did, and I was probably as uncomfortable in it as Peter appears to be in the above pic..

She keeps Moet et Chandon in her pretty cabinet:

"Let them eat cake" she says, just like Marie Antoinette. A built-in rememdy for Kruschev and Kennedy. At anytime an invitation you can't decline. Caviar and cigarettes, well-versed in etiquette. Extraordinarily nice. She's a killer queen: gunpowder, guillotine. Dynamite with a laser beam. Guaranteed to blow your mind anytime. Recommended at the price, insatiable an appetite. Wanna try? To avoid complications, she never kept the same address. In conversation, she spoke just like a Baroness. Met a man from China, went down to Geisha Minah, then again incidentally, if you're that way inclined. Perfume came naturally from Paris - for cars she couldn't care less. Fastidious and precise. Drop of a hat she's willing, as playful as a pussycat; then momentarily out of action, temporarily out of gas. To absolutely drive you wild, she's all out to get you.

Random fact:

I've never had a Filet-O-Fish. I'm not a fish fan, especially one warmed under a heat lamp. My cousin Karen liked them until she had one and there was a piece of the fish's fin in it. I've also never had a Big Mac because the whole "special sauce" thing kind of turns me off... yes I'm a picky eater. The above ad is dated 1977, which is about the time Karen found the fin in her sandwich (hey it's a fish, what'd she expect?????).