THE "WHEN I WAS YOUNG" GENEA-MEME, PART 3

Finally I've caught up with the "When I was Young" meme from Randy Seaver's
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges on his Genea-Musings blog of a few
weeks back. Here's my answers to Part 3 from questions originally posed by Alona
Tester on her lonetester HQ blog.



16.What was entertainment when you were young?
Mostly tv,  listening to music on the radio, and reading.

17.Do you remember what it was it like when your family got a new fangled invention? 
(ie. telephone, TV, VCR, microwave, computer?)
Not too many newfangled inventions when I was really young. My Mom's stereo console,
and the portable phonograph that my sister and I had to play 45's on come to mind first.

18.Did your family have a TV? Was it b&w or colour? And how many channels did you get?
We had black & white tvs. I remember the Beechwood company tv that was a smallish
tv built into a cabinet of some tan wood. At first there were only two channels in Boston,
Channels 4 & 7, and then Channel 5 came along towards the end of the 1950's. I bought
my parents the first family color tv,  a Motorola portable with a lime green and creme
colored plastic casing that had both UHF and VHF channels. That portable was passed
down and around for nearly 20 years after my folks got a larger tv.   

19.Did your family move house when you were young? Do you remember it?
Four times: From 37 Beach St in Malden to the Dorchester section of Boston at 101
Capen St, Then a few years later we moved to 18 Evans St, a few blocks away. Finally
we left Boston and moved south to a house here in Abington on Bicknell Hill Rd.

20.Was your family involved in any natural disasters happening during your childhood (ie.fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake etc)
There were several hurricanes that happened when I was younger back in the 1950s while
we were living in Malden. I've blogged before about how Dad drove his car down the flooded
street to get home.

21.Is there any particular music that when you hear it, sparks a childhood memory?
Some of the older songs that were performed on the Mitch Miller albums makes me
remember the parties at 18 Evans St and Mom playing those albums. Also, anything
by Andy Williams or Johnny Mathis reminds me of Mom playing one of their albums while
she cleaned house and she sang along with them.

22.What is something that an older family member taught you to do?
My Granduncle Frank taught me to make tomato sandwiches, much to my Mom's dismay;
I used too much mayonnaise and cut the tomato slices too big. But I was 8 years old when
he taught me.

23.What are brands that you remember from when you were a kid?
Waleco Candy,  Andrews and Swett Carpet Cleaners, Robert Hall Clothing stores, T.V.
Time Popcorn, Cushman Bakery, S.S. Pierce.  

24.Did you used to collect anything? (ie. rocks, shells, stickers … etc.)
Baseball cards and comic books, and postage stamps. I still have my stamp album, but
the baseball cards and comic books are loooong gone.

25. Share your favourite childhood memory.
Hmm. Hard to narrow it down. I think maybe the hot summer nights before we had
air conditioning, when we'd get in the car and Dad would drive us down to the beach,
We had all the car windows open and we'd sit there where it was cooler until finally we
fell asleep. Then Dad would drive us home and wake us up when we got there.