My Journal #2

5 favorite childhood toys

I would guess this is a no brainer. Books, Books, Books. As soon as I could read on my own I had books. I borrowed my first ones from an older woman at our church. She lived around the corner and down the block from the church and since we spent a lot of time there, I would sometimes get to go to her house. 
I remember borrowing many books but the one that stuck with me was Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigen.  After I became an adult I found a book in a garage sale. I think I still have it in my book box. I've moved quite often and some boxes don't get emptied. 
I have to include games. My sister, Kathy three years younger than myself, played a lot of board games. We didn't have TV in our home and games were something we played a lot. My Aunt gave us a card game called Authors. Every Author had 4 books to a set and you had to be the first to collect a certain number of sets to win. There was the Drowned Rat, that would be Nathaniel Hawthorne. Off hand I can't remember the other nick names for the authors, but we knew every book (4) for each Author. I can't say I remember them now.
Another game my sister and I played voraciously, was CLUE. We became so good, we mixed all the card and drew out 3. They could be all people, weapons or rooms. It didn't matter, we play over and over.
Monopoly was a game popular in the 50's and 60's. I hated to lose so I didn't play as often as my sister would have liked to play. 
I had roller skates as a little girl. They had a key and two clamps the squeezed the edges of the old oxford shoes. After a few years I might have lost one of the skates, I'm not sure but my Dad made me a skateboard. This would be around '60 or '61. He pulled the adjustable skate apart and nailed the front skate to one end of the board and the back to the other end. It had none of the stability, or balance of the boards of today. I had to oil the wheels every day or so to run smoothly. I became pretty good balancing on a 16-18" long board. It was enough to push with one foot and put my back  foot on the board behind it and balance my chunky body as I flew up and down the sidewalk, around the corner and then around the entire block.
Last but not least was Barbie Doll toys. My uncle was a tool and die maker. He was contracted by Mattel to make Barbie Doll accessories. My sister and I got the mistakes, The beds that might have a black streak of plastic in it or a car with an air bubble. We had tables and chairs as well as a multitude of bowls and plates.  I loved it when my uncle would hand my mom a grocery bag. We knew we were in for a treat. 
As much as kids today have all the advantages of technology, the games and toys that were invented and played with by kids in the 1950's and 1960's were the best. We had to use our imagination, our own ingenuity to come up with a variety of ways to use something. We explored, played in the dirt, got skinned knees and had to endure Mercurochrome and Merthiolate. We didn't die, become cripple or whine. Our mother's slapped a Band aid on it, kissed and hugged us to make us feel better, wiped our noses and sent us outside again.  I feel I am a better person for the things that went on in that era. I feel a little bit sorry for some of the kids now days.
I love the computer, and cell phones, but a skate nailed to a 2x4 works  for me.