Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist)

© irene waters 2016

© irene waters 2016

© irene waters 2016

Last months responses were wonderful and although contributions were small the comments on all the posts were wonderful and well worth reading. If you are interested in food I suggest you follow the links and read the posts as well as the comments. As expected our Mother’s cooking provided most of the favourites mentioned and often these favourites were then passed on to the next generation again, not necessarily becoming that generations favourites but an expected dish at certain times of the year. Processed food such as TV dinners, appeared in the United States a long time prior to England and Australia.

On to this months prompt: Toys I wish I still had or do have. Child hood toys. When posting don’t forget to put your generation and where you grew up country + rural or city. Full post rules can be found here.

If you can’t think of what to write perhaps answer these questions:

Have you kept or still wish you had any childhood toy?

Did you have a favourite toy as a child?

Did you have a lot of toys or only a few?

Were your toys gender determined?

I hope you’ll join in.

Baby Boomer: Rural Australia

From my childhood I kept three toys and hankered after one that I didn’t have until eventually I bought a reproduction copy on a visit to England. The first toy I didn’t have in my childhood apart from visits to my Grandmother who lived in Sydney. My Grandfather had made this wooden toy (photos above) when my brother was born. It was kept in Sydney to provide entertainment for us grandkids along with a game we played on the dining room table and a money box which was the head and upper torso of a coloured man dressed in red. You put the coin in his hand and hit a lever and his hand went to his mouth and dropped it in. This is the one I replaced and on my reproduction model (and it may have been so on the original) as the hand went up the ears also moved. I loved it.

The other two toys were gender driven as both were dolls. One was a Barbie Doll. Every Christmas my Aunt made me more clothes for her and I spent many happy hours dressing and undressing her. When my nieces were at an age that I thought they would appreciate her I gave her to them along with all the clothes – by this stage very old fashioned clothes. Sometimes I wish I still had her as I don’t know what happened to her but I hope that there is some little girl out there playing with her and loving her as much as I did.

The other doll I still have is a German antique. I don’t know the maker or her name but I wish I did.

© irene waters 2016

She was given to me by an old (she looked old to me but she was probably on reflection in her late 50s or early 60s) lady who taught at the local school where my Mother also taught. I thought all my Christmases had come at once when she gave me this doll. It had been her doll as a child and the dress was made from the material of her mother’s wedding dress and the hair was a lock of her own baby hair. Her blue eyes opened and shut depending on whether she was sitting or lying down and I just loved her to pieces until Barbie came on the scene. Somehow I knew she was precious and I looked after her very well considering the care I gave my other toys (not that we actually had many toys or none that I really remember).

For the last 40 years she has lived in a shoebox barely seeing the light of day. This I think is sad as she is truly beautiful and should be loved. Sadly I have no-one to pass her on to and am considering that the time has come to give her a new lease of life with someone that will love her the way I used to. But we will see……..

USA  City (New York)

Child hood toys

Australia City (Adelaide)

Times Past: Childhood Toys

USA mainly cities

(nf) Past Times/ Toying Around (July 2016)

England/Australia

https://taswegian57.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/toys-i-do-or-wish-i-still-had-times-past/

BABY BUSTERS

Rural USA

Toys I Still Do or Wish I Had: Times Past