70s Retro

My Dad's handy in every way that counts! He's there when you need a hand, of course, but better, he knows how to solve problems and fix things to make them better.   One of the things I remember he made for us kids was stilts.  A long piece of wood, attach a foothold onto it, and voila! I remember how my sister and I would hop up on those things and stomp around the driveway.  I look back and think wow!  We had balance, a good core, strong limbs to be able to do that!  And we weren't afraid of falling either!

I also loved to jump rope.  We had a long run with the double dutch jump rope.  It wasn't always easy to find kids tall enough to turn the rope for me (I was one of the older kids on the block).  Neighbor girls would come over and we'd double dutch for hours at a time, taking turns.




 
Do you remember marbles in grade school??  4th and 5th grades - at Bracher Elementary.  There was an unpaved portion of the school yard, and we'd head over there to shoot marbles.  I think we put a string in a circle, tossed in a few marbles, then tried to shoot them outside the circle with our large lucky cats' eye marble.  Or maybe a steely.  I remember my marble bag.  It was green, with a red print - flowers or leaves perhaps - with a draw string.  I know Mom made it.... she made everything!  Recess and lunch times, it didn't matter, we were in the middle of  a marble fad!

Another childhood fad I recall... knockers.  The design was like the answer to a Zen riddle: two orbs attached by a common string. By holding the middle of the string and moving your hands in a constant up-and-down motion, kids caused the thick glass spheres to collide at the top and bottom. Aside from looking great (especially if the balls were speckled inside with glitter), the toy made a highly satisfying clacking noise that you controlled. Many a parent was driven to profanity by this hellish metronome, but that was only the start of the problems.

As you can probably guess, they had a short life, and ended up on the "dangerous toy" list.


Another 70s fad from my childhood:  waffle stompers!  Everybody had 'em for a while in the mid 70's. You know - those big, clunky beige or brown boots with the waffle tread and red or yellow laces.  These days, they look like "hiking boots".  In fact, I just bought a pair two years ago for hiking! 

What goes around, comes back again!