When I Was Young

Me in my crib

Here is another post following Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun prompts, When I Was Young.

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:

1)  Geneablogger Alona Tester has devised a new meme called the "When I Was Young" genea-meme on her blog, LoneTester HQ.

2)  Since the genea-meme is 25 questions, let's do the last 10 this time.  This week, answer questions 16 to 25.

3)  Share your answers on your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook post or a Google+ post.

Probably impatiently waiting the
requisite 30 minutes after eating before
we could go back in the water! 

 What was entertainment when you were young?

Well, you can look up what the music was like and what was popular on television so I will focus on what I did for fun. In the winter, it was skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, building snow forts, and in the summer the big activity was definitely riding bikes, swimming, playing with the neighbors, games like tag and hide and seek. Of course when we played school, I was always the teacher. 

Do you remember what it was it like when your family got a new fangled invention? (ie. telephone, TV, VCR, microwave, computer?)

I don't remember when we got a private phone line, but I do remember when I was really young, we had a party-line. Basically, multiple households shared the same phone line and every house had its own ringtone (one long, two short, etc.). My parents had a TV when I was born and I didn't have the other items until I was an adult. The microwave came into our home first (about 1985), the VCR about 1987, and our first home computer in 1991. 

Did your family have a TV? Was it b&w or colour? And how many channels did you get?

Our TV was black and white until about the time I was in junior high. We got 2-4 channels depending on the weather and position of the antenna. The networks we got were NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS. If you asked anyone at the time, they would have surely asked why anyone would need more channels. 

Did your family move house when you were young? Do you remember it?

In front of my grandparents' house

We moved once when I was very young - too young to remember it. My early life was on the family farm with my grandparents next door and then the rest of my childhood was spent in one house the "Steam Mill" section of Bethel on Route 2. 

Was your family involved in any natural disasters happening during your childhood (ie.fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake etc)

I'm sure there were spring floods and winter blizzards but living in Maine comes with the benefit of not having many tornados or earthquakes. Thankfully, the only fire I remember was when the former Red Lantern ice cream shop next door to us burned. This sounds more dangerous to us than it was as the building was not very close to my house. I do remember the firefighters waking us up just in case it started to get windy and put us in danger. I remember the winter when I was young and we got so much snow that there was no place to put it so my Dad got a bucket loader to make room in the driveway for the cars. The banks were so high that we could climb them and slide right in our own driveway. 

Is there any particular music that when you hear it, sparks a childhood memory?

To this day, I dislike Country music and blame it on the fact that every Saturday morning, my mom would load up the stereo with multiple albums as the soundtrack for hours of cleaning. Good memories mostly come from old songs that my Grammie Carter would sing to me - Billy Boy, A Tisket A Tasket, and How Much Is That Doggie In The Window come to mind. 

What is something that an older family member taught you to do?

With my cousin, Nancy

I'm sure there are many things and of course almost everything came from my 

parents.  My mom taught me to knit and crochet. My dad taught me to drive a snowmobile and shoot a gun. I remember my Uncle David introducing the entire family to cross-country skiing when he worked in Jackson, N.H. My Grampa Carter and Uncle Pete taught me how to ride horses. 

What brands that you remember from when you were a kid?

I had this carriage forever. 

Koolaid, Zarex, and Tang are a few popular drinks. I've never been very brand conscious so this one is hard for me. Classic toys like the Radio Flyer wagon, Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs, Flying Saucer (sleds), and Barbies were also a big part of my childhood. One of my absolute favorite toys was a jumping horse, but I have no idea what the brand was - I'm sure I wore out the springs. I remember being scolded for riding it so aggressively that it was coming off the ground. 

Did you collect anything? (ie. rocks, shells, stickers … etc.)

When I was about ten, my grandmother gave me a spoon collection that belonged to my Great-aunt Frances. I have added to it so much that I can't even display them all. 

Share your favourite childhood memory.

My birthday party - with the Olson girls
I'm the one leaning back

I couldn't possibly pick just one. I have so many great memories of growing up. Many involve my being able to do something for myself for the first time. Many involve great friends and neighbors and the best involve my family - grandparents, cousins, parents, and sister. If you were part of my childhood, please leave a memory in the comments. I'm sure it will be among my favorites!