I remember 10 cent a gallon gas wars...loaves of bread for 15 cents a loaf,  a carton of cigarettes for $!.00 (name brands, no such thing as generic back then).  Let's see.  Hmmm.  My family had a game when traveling of being the first one to call out the name of oncoming cars....Year., make and model (I could recognize them all, be they Dodge, Oldsmobile, Chevy, Ford, Studebaker, DeSoto or whatever...nothing foreign was ever seen). 

My Dad would never think twice about picking up a military hitchhiker and if you ever broke down on the highway, you could be assured that a friendly trucker would stop and help you within 10 minutes. 

We enjoyed trick or treating and never once had to worry about our candy, popcorn balls or apples being dangerous.  I remember Katy Keene and Archie comics and playing with paper dolls.  Dressing up with my mom's old clothes and falling down while trying to walk in her high heels at the age of four.  (We wore silky gloves and hats to church and Easter was my fav holiday because my older sister and I got new outfits then, no hand-me-downs),

I remember the Spic and Span commercials during the breaks on Search For Tomorrow, my mom's favorite soap opera.  Charlie Chan and Flash Gordon after school on TV.  I remember my dad playing for hours with the first color TV, changing Bonanza's fire from blue to green, just for kicks.

I remember my mom drinking nickle cups of coffee, with as many refills as she could handle, my dad's haircuts were 50 cents a week (buzz cut).  I remember D.A.'s (duck's a$$) and penny loafers,  and saddle oxfords.  I remember finally being old enough for seamed stockings and garter belts--what a wonderful feel on the legs back then..super sheer and silky.  Not a rough, mesh pantyhose back then.  I remember horse hair petticoats (at least two worn to make our skirts stand out properly.  I remember wearing a moistened blue colored pencil as eye shadow and back-combing my hair to the ceiling, but we called it ratting and teaseing.

I remember sock-hops and the makeout pits and cherry stealing in the summer.  I remember water balloon fights and snowball forts and being in love with Hoppalong Cassidy because he had a white horse named Topper and was featured on our milk bottles that were delivered to our door every morning.  I remember Doctor's making house calls and my dad helping me build a birdhouse, while I was home from school with the chickenpocks.  I remember my dad teaching me to shoot his guns at the age of five, loved them ever since.  Grandpa letting me drive the old pickup through the orchard at 10, while he loaded the back end with boxes of apples.  I remember bell bottom pants and my first pair of stirruped stretch pants and my first two piece bathing suit.  I remember rolling up the waistband of my skirts, to make them shorter and then much later, just after high school graduation, pantyhose and miniskirts hit our little hick town.

Gads...I think I'm gonna cry.  I miss the good old days!!  Thanks for letting me stroll down memory lane.  Wow...the stroll, the twist, the jerk, the bump and good old American Bandstand!!  How about Texas John Slaughter, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot and Huckleberry Hound...Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Woody Woodpecker... and my fav...Foghorn Leghorn.

I could go on for hours...but I have a new image to make for tomorrow,.  so I'll say adios to all and good night Gracie.or Mrs. Calabash, whereever you are.