Summer of '65
The "young lady" swimsuit
I think it was the year I got my first bathing suit with "padding." I was not too happy about that! It was an embarrassing suit to wear to the creek where some of my childhood friends all swam. Not only did it emphasize certain portions of my figure, it was, in fact, more well-endowed than I - by double or triple.
In addition to their blatant presence, these devices were made out of something akin to tennis balls. I was afraid if I bumped one it would permanently dent, and I was tempted to invert them. Now the size would have been more accurate, but the shape would have been irregular. Even wearing a t-shirt would not make the protrusions less noticeable. It was a difficult summer for swimming, and I was mortified that someone might notice. Thankfully if they did, they didn't say anything.
Summertime fun!
My mom worked in a grocery store, and she would fill the bottom shelf of our fridge with Shasta pop. At only 10 cents a can, we got to drink several cans a day. . .(no wonder my teeth needed a lot of fillings). Somewhere in the mid to late 60s. Shasta came out with a Chocolate flavored soda. I really liked it! My favorites, besides Chocolate, were: Grape and Black Cherry. My sister and I ate a lot of candy and ice cream, also. Thankfully, we were active - riding bikes, swimming, and playing at the school playground.
S. Rivers
My sister was probably still being babysat for the summer, but I don't really remember. I spent a lot of that summer playing with S. Rivers and running back and forth between her place and mine. Her parents lived in a trailer house two streets directly behind my parents, and we would walk through the fields to get to one another's house. I was amazed at her home. I thought she had the coolest bedroom, because it was compact, and there wasn't much to clean. Also, since she was a lot younger than all her siblings, she was like an only child and didn't have to share her room with a sister. (Probably wouldn't have anyway, as there was only one bed.)
The thing that was unusual to me was the way her mom made popcorn. In those days everyone cooked popcorn on the stove (except for Jiffy Pop). My mom would take great pains to cool the popcorn pan to melt her butter so it would remain a light golden yellow, but easily pour over the popped corn. Then she would lightly salt it. Mrs. Rivers cooked her popcorn in a cast iron skillet, dumped the popped corn into a bowl, then quickly tossed the butter into the skillet so it would sizzle to a burnt brown. Then she would pour it over the popcorn and salt the daylights out of it. I always wondered if she did this on purpose, or if she didn't know the butter was burnt.
8 comments:
I loved remembering all the flavors of Shasta pop. I loved that black cherry and I do believe we had an "incident" where a can got shook up and ended up on the kitchen wall. Probably that Raymond Pert! (:
Are you incinuating that he shook it up or opened it up (or both)?
I think we had regular soda pop explosions, but they were accidental.
When 2-liter bottles came out, we had our fair share of pop fountains. We discovered if they started to go all over, you can stop the spray by screwing the cap back on quickly!
I used to drink Shasta pop (particularly creme soda) until I was stationed in Tucson, Arizona in 1974. We took a group of students on a field trip of the Shasta plant there. The different flavors were in huge open vats. There were cigarette butts, sputum, and various insects floating on the surface of these ponds. All the employees looked like they were on a work release program. I am sure that the place was cleaned up for our visit and had we not been present there would have been some sort of pissing contest into my beloved creme soda. I realize the product was probably run through a filtering process before bottling, but I am not sure you can filter out micturition. In those days products for consumption were not required to list ingredients or nutrition facts on the container. Good thing.
Ewwwwe! Good thing I rarely drink any soda these days. . .I will have visions of "floaties" and not be able to swallow the stuff.
Does Coke have better quality control?? (I do like their caffine-free (non-diet) coke.
I love childhood reminisces--it always makes me do the same about mine.
We eschew microwaves, which began only within the last eight months or so. I have been learning how to pop popcorn on the stove, but I have not yet done it in cast-iron. Also, I use the same burner, but a different (smaller) kettle to melt my butter, so have managed to avoid "Burnt Butter Syndrome" thus far. Phew! However, we do like our salt here. (Last time I made some, I thought I had put plenty of salt on, and my husband added more. Good thing it was sea salt!)
Reading this reminded me of those 'budding' days when I wished I could wear a heavy tent so none of my emerging femininity would show! :-)
Your mom and mine made popcorn the same way. I still think that popcorn and chicken should only be made in cast iron skillets.
It's been awhile since I was in Pinehurst. I wonder if it's changed as much as Coeur d' Alene has?
scrapnqueen: My tongue burns when I think of a lot of salt. (But then it burns sometimes when I eat bananas. . . I think it's because I use an inhailer for asthma and it takes the hide off my tongue.)
Jackie: I was wondering if my story was too revealing, and if anyone would respond to that part.
My mom didn't use a skillet, S River's mom did. In Texas, they bake cornbread in a cast iron skillet also.
Pinehurst hasn't changed too much except for Division St. (The street entering town from the East.) It has been widened, sidewalks added (in the 70s) and now there are businesses all up and down the street.
Maybe you could take a road trip to the Valley and see the changes. I am amazed [read: appalled} at the growth in Cd'A since the early 70s when I lived there.
It hasta be shasta! :)
I loved reading about your "womanly" swim suit. I grew long in the torso (too long for girls' wear) years before I developed breasts and it was a source of endless humiliation to have those rubber cups sticking out in front, with nothing to fill them. At least with dresses you could stuff a bra with tissues! Of course I was sure I was the only teenager in the world with this problem.
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