Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Wistful Wednesday :1960

This photo was taken December 26, 1960.  The occasion..my other baby brother was two months old.

Dec 26 1960 (2)

We were all watching the new TV..it was in the corner!  My baby brother was practicing toy gun safety and pointing his gun away from everyone.  I was nine, my Mom was 31, my other baby brother Jody was two months old, and my baby brother Carey was six.

The linoleum had been stripped off of the old kitchen floor..solid wood floors were underneath.  The kitchen became the living room and a new kitchen was added on.  We finally had a real bathroom indoors and a bath tub.  That couch was brown and it had gold threads that ran through it.

I loved that pair of pants that my Mom sewed for me..they were patched and high waters ..but I loved them and wore them out.  Mom must have made herself a pair too..except hers look like new.  I have one of my other baby brothers toys.  My baby brother has a pair of those muck-a- lucks on.  You know the ones that are like knitted socks but they have a leather sole.  They were great slippers to wear in the winter time..except they were usually made from wool..so they would make my hairy legs itch.

This is a photo that I have shown before on Wistful Wednesday.

december 1960 jpeg

Still watching the brand new TV set in the corner..it was a pretty big deal to finally have a TV.

My Mom sewed my Dad’s shirt..it was plaid and a couple of shades of Turquoise/Green.   I remember because I had a dress out of the same material and my baby brother had a shirt that matched…somewhere I have a color picture:)

28 comments:

Gail said...

I remember when we finally got a tv...and a bathroom! Both events were certainly highlights of my child hood.

LindaG said...

Our tv was in the corner when I was growing up, too.
But we had a bathroom in Michigan.
I remember 3 TV stations and how strange it was when something finally appeared on the UHF station.

Have a good day, Far Side.

Country Gal said...

Our Tv was also in the corner on top of a short wide bookcase when I was growing up we had the big old outdoor antena tower beside our house! We had a full bathroom on the hobby farm. Awesome photos ! Have a great day !

Alan Burnett said...

A perfect example of how an old photograph can be a door into the memory.

DJan said...

I remember our first TV. It was in the center of the room and you didn't see much on it but snow. Do you remember the first shows you watched on it?

Laura said...

Your baby brother is my age as I was born on the 4th of Nov. 1960.
I remember that we had one of those console televisions with a record player and radio. It was long and took up one of the walls in our living room.

Dreaming said...

I love the pictures and the fact that your mom sewed matching clothes. My mom did the same thing! It's funny how sewing has changed. It used to be a way to economize, now it is almost a luxury!
We had a TV in a large cabinet in the corner of the room. I remember watching Romper Room and Lassie. After watching for a while the TV had some sort of problem and would lose it's vertical hold - one of us would have to jump up and thump the cabinet in a certain spot on the right side to set it right again!

Marti said...

What great pictures, and memories. It is fun to look at old photos and see how things have changed.

Sam I Am...... said...

What great memories and pictures. I remember those couches and they were "scratchy" on bare legs. I used to watch Kookla, Fran and Ollie, Howdy Doody, Milton Berle...I remember those. I was born in 49.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

I never remember not havin' a TV but an indoor bathroom was another matter.

I too was nine before we had runnin' water in the house with all the modern convinces.

Loved the pictures of your little girl self. I had to laugh when I first glanced at the first pic. I thought maybe brother #one was contemplatin' shootin' baby brother #2 only to find out he's practicin' gun safety! Heehehehe!

God bless ya and have a stupendous day!!!

Winter's comin' sister :o)

Ann said...

I remember all the home sewing my mother did also.

Rita said...

My mom sewed some, too. I vaguely remember a small black and white TV before we moved to the suburbs of Mpls when I was five...so that would have been 1956. I remember what a huge deal it was when we got our first color TV, but I can't remember how old I was...maybe 8-10? But I remember Johnny Quest was on and all three of us kids begged my dad to leave the color adjustment for later till the cartoon was over. He wanted to turn to something that had flesh tone he could play with. (He was a lithographer and drove us crazy adjusting the color TV all the time--LOL!) Thanks for the memories. You guys look so sweet! :)

Just Stuff From a Boomer said...

My father is still a "TV" person so we always had a television. There is a photo of me at about 3 on a rocking horse wiht a TV in the background. ONe of those big cabinet and little screen deals.

I do remember being the human remote control for him though and if you spun that dial too fast you got into trouble.

My mother sewed for my sister and I and herelf but your Mom was really talented and brave to under take your dad's shirts too.

Love the old pics.

carrington said...

Fun to go down memory lane with you each Wednesday! I think we had the same couch.

Anonymous said...

Love these pictures and the memories. We had a sofa in the early 60's just like that - I can remember it so clearly!

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Looks like the whole family was enjoying that TV. I remember my parents had a b&w set that my dad had built. Your family photos sure bring back memories for many of us.

Rae said...

You were a cute little girl. You have great recall for little details. I can't begin to recall the colors of our couch or the clothes I wore.
P.S. Got a new kindle game app you might like - Quell. It's a thinker's game.

Leenie said...

Sounds a lot like my home. Upgrading to a real bathroom indoors and a bath tub instead of bathing in a wash tub in the kitchen. Television. Wow. You and your sibs are a handsome lot.

Ellen said...

I just had the best time spending the last hour going through your blog to see what I had missed while away on vacation. Thanks so much for sharing all you do. I love this last picture. I was born in December of 1949 so I'm just a little ahead of you. I always remember having a television, but I remember it being a big deal when we got the first color tv in the neighborhood. I was probably 11 or 12. My mom made all my clothes too and I loved going with her to the fabric shop at the end of each summer to pick out patterns and fabric to make my new school clothes. We were fortunate financially back then and really didn't have to have hand made clothes, but my mother loved it and so did I. Times sure have changed.

Jeanne Estridge said...

I should have known you were blonde.

Jeanne Estridge said...

Because you're from MN, I mean.

lisa said...

I always had one (being as I am young enough) but I sure remember going to the grandparents and they had a tv but no bathroom!

NCmountainwoman said...

Sweet photographs and sweet memories.

Red said...

Always enjoy the pictures from the 50's and 60's because they are so dated that they're cool.
Interesting that the same pattern and cloth was used for such a variety of garments.
In those days we were together when we watched TV.
Quite bit you can pick up about life at that time just by looking at a photo.

Intense Guy said...

I'm almost exactly the same age as your baby brother...

:) I remember our first color tv - my dad took the old black and white one and put it in the bedroom and then always had a tv there.

The color tv went down into the basement - the house wasn't big enough for it in the living room. I hated the basement - it gave me the creeps. Probably kept me from watching a lot of TV!

Anonymous said...

Lovely pics - what charming dungarees you were wearing!

L. D. said...

It was sort of unusual to have this box and not really know where to place it. I like how everyone is looking off in a direction getting crooked necks. We sat ours at the end of a long room and then sat at the other end of the room like we were scared of it.

Suldog said...

I love old photos like these. Thanks for sharing your memories!