Missing the Little Things

To me it's a little thing, because back in the mid-1980s my wife and oldest daughter went there for a trip. It was such a disappointment. It wasn't as I remembered it from the early '60s. The thing that stood out the most was that all the town's side roads were dirt. I hadn't remembered that at all!

The Moyie still exists to this day. It's been preserved like a museum and sits mounted on the town's beach on the shores of Kootenay Lake. I can remember it before it was restored.

I can remember those, too! That's from the days when they had real prizes!

in canada (or at least where i live) we called the ice cream bars covered in orange creamsicles

i feel bad for kids today that's there's no real penny candy or confectionary's left

Yes, I lived there for about 5 years when I was a kid a million years ago.

Way back then, just outside of town, they had a sawmill that employed quite a few people. Of course, it shut down. They're not much there anymore for folks to do job-wise. It's like a "living ghost town".

Nelson is a nice little city. Got my Canadian citizenship there back in 1964. Also, got my appendix removed in the local hospital around that time, too. I remember one of the town's doctors driving me from Kaslo to Nelson to the hospital in his car.

Yeah, at the time they were fond memories, but you know what? You can never go back and recapture that sort of thing. Inevitably, you'll be disappointed.

So did we. It must be a Noo Yawk thing!

Anybody remember those mushroom shaped clear vinyl umbrellas from the '60s? They were so handy, because you actually were inside them.



Actually, you walked with them covering your head and upper body, and looked through the vinyl.

Reyn, I had hoped this fall to tour that area north of the Washington Okanogan and into the B.C. Okanagan. My horse's "granddam" was from there -- one of the last of the "Chunks" that worked the timber -- part Belgian and part Morgan.


Ooooh, PHX -- I do remember those mushroom umbrellas. Some, I think were colorful but had a clear view area, too, which you had to carefully keep towards the front.

I wonder why we can't find 'em anymore? They were handy and (mostly) didn't catch the wind.

Creamsicles... I stand corrected. Funny what the mind changes..

Spaldeens, yes, I miss those too. I had one (or more) of those in New York...

Helms Bakery - I miss it too. That was a long time ago.. we were living at my aunt's in West LA. I think she and my mom actually bought donuts once..

Fudgesicles/fudgicles - yes, I remember them as edible in the way Piffka describes... sort of like a dense set of stalagmites, or stalagtites, words fail me..

Thanks, Osso. It is hard to describe how a fudgesicle would deliciously "calve" as a glacier does.

I miss candy cigarettes.

they were white with little red tips.

we'd all practice our smoking techniques sitting on the front steps.

i miss soda machines that had a bottle opener in it. It was part of the ritual of getting a yoo hoo.

I miss the way mcdonalds only used to sell hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and shakes. mmmmmmmmm.
sometimes less is more.

I miss those tricolor lights that you would put in front of your x-mas tree, and it would spin slowly, making your aluminum tree red, blue and green.

I miss those plaster of paris fish you would hang in your bathroom, with little plaster of paris bubbles coming out of its mouth.

like this

BBB
History of Duncan yo-yos:

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa120297.htm

I miss living in the country and even more I miss living by the sea

dreamsicles and stuff were never called that here - Mivvi's were ice cream inside and fruit lolly outside but we still have them with a different name. Our milk is still delivered at 6-7am in glass bottles.

we used to have a baker, butcher and greengrocer in vans who came round the small villages once or twice a week when I was young. Shops also used to deliver your groceries for you - though the big supermarkets are starting that again via internet - but oh the chore of ploughing through the long lists of products if you want to do it! I gave up.

I miss the old fashioned jars of toffees and stuff that you had weighed out into paper bags - everything is prepacked in more limited ranges, except in expensive specialist sweet shops.

I know what you mean about the Pavolovian response to tin openers Roberta! but I prefer the ring pull cans and even better the pouches that just need tearing open. Ours (when we had a single cat) never liked the refrigerated second half of a can the next day - they like freshly opened food

Available here!! http://www.umbrellasusa.com/rainbubble.htm

Reyn, I stand corrected. If it's a little thing to you, then it's absolutely, positively, definitely a little thing.

yitwail, I, too, miss real prizes in Cracker Jacks. A friend of mine got fed up and wrote a letter to the Cracker Jacks people. She got an assortment of prizes, but they were not like the prizes we used to get. Sigh.

Phoenix, I had one of those umbrellas. I loved that umbrella. If I remember correctly, the problem with them was that they didn't last long. The pressure of retaining the shape caused them to fail.

Piff, Your description of Fudgicles made my mouth water. The texture was different--better.

Chai Tea, I remember the candy cigarettes. I practiced smoking and eating at the same time. And I also miss the soda machines with the bottle openers. Have to admit that the photo you provided is the first I've ever seen of plaster of Paris bubble-blowing fish. And McDonald's arrived very late to NYC, and I've eaten at one only once, so there's nothing I have to miss in that department.

Vivien, You triggered a major pang of nostalgia. Getting candy in little bags. Another sigh. And I agree that the flip top cans are better than the can opener cans. But the cat doesn't come running in quite the same way. (BTW, Mikey eats more than one can of food a day. No leftovers for him.)

Not everything I miss is from the good old days. I miss The Sopranos. Why is it taking them so long to come up with a new season?

I've got some of those candy cigarettes in the glove box of the car.

Kinda startled Setanta when he was poking around in the glove box on the way to Cav's memorial. I think he thought he'd busted me.

He and BoGoWo each had one of the lil ciggies as I drove along.

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I recently found some mini Fudgicles that are a lot like the old ones useta be. They break off in a chunkier kind of way than the new regular-sized ones do. I stocked up on them - they're great if you've got a sore throat.

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What do I miss? the bread truck and the milk truck. I always thought it was so cool that they drove with the door open. Soooo cooooool.

thinking back, my grandmother had a milkman into the 1970's, and a family who used to deliver farm fresh eggs as well, i'm not sure if i remember the tinker (knife and tool sharpner) or just remember hearing about him


and pop machines that you lifted the top and moved the bottle through a maze and then pulled it out froma metal flap like thing, and then popped the top using the bottle opener on the side

as somebody else already stated, ice cold pop from abottle, is there anything better

djjd - have you seen the Pop Shoppe pop that's started to reappear? I hadn't seen it since the mid-1970's - til this past Friday night

no, there's another thing i haven't thought of in years

the pop shoppe

The sharpener guy still comes around here - ceptin' now he drives a station wagon slowwwwwwwwwwwly, instead of pushing a cart. The sound of his bell - well, I'm kinda like Pavlov's dog when I hear it.

<I need to get the hedge clippers sharpened - thanks for reminding me>

mmm, lime ricky