There were plenty of kids living in the neighborhood where I grew up. I mostly hung out with Devin and Kathy Wolf and Lori Norris. Among other things we put on plays for our mothers and just dressed up for the fun of it.
Here we may have been playing at being pioneers, or just dressing up. Whenever I look at this photo I have to look twice, thinking each time that the hat the girl on the right has a pipe sticking out the top. We’re standing in Mrs. Wewell‘s back yard, in between two of her many lilac bushes.
L-R, back row: Me, Devin Wolf, Lori Norris. Middle row: Kathy Wolf. Sitting: David Lodge.
When I was a kid I had plenty of toys. I had dolls and books and crayons and records. I was really wanting for nothing. That’s why it still seems strange to me that my most memorable “toys” were not toys at all.
I liked spark plugs. My dad was an auto mechanic for the first part of my youth and must have given me some to play with. You have to admit — they are kind of pretty with the metal and ceramic. I don’t remember what I actually did with the spark plugs — maybe just admired them but I always think of my dad when I see a spark plug.
Spark plugs among other garage stuff
I also remember playing school with my mother’s paint pots. She was taking a correspondence art course, so she had a lot of art supplies. I used to put a large paint pot in at one end of a table, then line the smaller ones in rows like desks. Girls on one side, boys on the other. (Red, yellow, pink, orange, white were girls. Blue, green, brown, black, gray were boys). The teacher would then teach the class.
Some paint pots lined up on a table
As I said, I had plenty of toys but these were unique and memorable. Did you play with anything unusual as a kid?
Clutch Cargo Lips 