Flashback Friday - #5 - Downtown

Aah. Greater downtown metropolitan New Middletown, Indiana - also known as Harpool's General Store. This is right across the street from the only other convenience store in the town; Kigers. There used to be two gas pumps in front of this store. When I was around 10, my mom had asked me to go to Kiger's and get a gallon of milk. She gave me the $1.50 that it would cost and send me on my way. I ran down the country road to the store and bought the milk. As I was leaving the store, I ran down the stairs swinging the purchase. It slipped out of my grasp and the milk leapt into the air, landing right next to the gas pumps, shattering the plastic container and spraying milk everywhere. I tried to go back in and get another gallon from Mrs. Harpool; citing that the jug must have been defective, but she didn't believe me. I ended up going home, getting more money from my mom, returning to Harpool's and buying the replacement milk, then working to earn the money back to pay my mom. Lesson learned: don't run and fling around gallons of milk! I guess I'm lucky I wasn't a child a decade or two earlier when the milk came in glass jars (of course, that might have meant that milk would be delivered and this unfortunate situation may have been totally avoided!)

Flashback Friday - #4 - Fund Raisers

Every year there was a "fund raiser" activity. In one of these, with the help of my Mom and Dad, I helped New Middletown Elementary School earn money to help build the playground. I was going door to door, peddling my wares (a huge collection of ceramic bisque bird bells crammed into Styrofoam packaging) and I came upon this home. It is across the street from the school, and has a view of part of the playground (they would be able to see the teeter totter and maybe some of the swings) - they also had the joy of watching bus after bus load in while picking up and dropping off students every day.

They either had an affinity for small bisque bird bells or they had pity on me, because as I remember, they bought 1 or 2 full CASES of these bells! I didn't ask what the reasoning was; I was just happy to make a sale and get closer and closer to whatever prize I had been eyeing....

My Mom and Dad both took the bells to their jobs; my dad was in construction - I believe he was building some towers in Louisville, KY at that time - and he sold quite a few of these bells to his workers. My Mom was working for the Census Bureau (I think it's in Jeffersonville, IN) and she sold quite a few as well.

I have good memories about going door to door selling things for fund raisers - when coworkers or friends come to me asking me to buy something for their child's fund raiser, I have a hard time saying no; I recall quite clearly how happy I was when my parents came home and showed me all the folks from their work who had committed to helping me out with my mission...

Flashback Friday - #3 - Kickball

#3 Kickball


One of my favorite recess games was kickball. I know that I wasn't very good at it but I had a lot of fun. We played with a big brick colored "recess ball" - not sure what else to call it - it's the same kind of ball that we played dodgeball with when we played in the gym on rainy days. I remember kicking that ball into someone (the guy who pitched it to me) and I remember one time someone actually kicked the ball over the building! We hated that! - it meant 5 or 10 minutes of running around the entire building to retrieve the ball; which used up so much of our recess time - by the time we found it, it was time to go inside and get back to classwork.

The doors in the photo are where we went into the building (from what I remember) and on the left were the classrooms - starting with first, second, and third, then the hall turned right - for fourth, the principals office, some "front entry" doors, then fifth and sixth - then the building turned right again and it went on for seventh and eighth... then more doors going to the back of the building which would be where the baseball field and track are, and farther down the hall was the cafeteria and gym...

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As a side note, I'm going on vacation - so I don't know how active my posting here will be - I'm going to St Louis, MO, then driving from there to Indiana, then through Kentucky to stay in Tennessee for a night or two, then up to Kentucky again - it's going to be a fun trip - and we're looking forward to it - it does mean, though, that there's a chance for no "Flashback Friday" this coming week. I'll be back home on Monday October 1st. :)

Flashback Friday - #2 - Parallel Bars

#2 Parallel Bars

I was in second or third grade. The day was chilly and overcast, with a sharp breeze. I was swinging by my legs on one of the parallel bars, with the back of my head facing the fence, watching some of my classmates play kickball. My head was probably a foot from the ground. I lost my grip, fell, and landed on my head. I remember that we were pretending to smoke right as I fell. I was knocked out, and was revived by a teacher. They didn't seem as frustrated with me this time (it wasn't the end of recess like when I was knocked out at the teeter totter) - I was asked to sit down and rest against the gym wall. Reluctantly, I obeyed. I was probably frustrated that I had fallen and now I had to sit and rest - it was like getting a double punishment! This is my last memory of playing on the parallel bars at New Middletown Elementary.

Something I have noticed recently is that there's a lot of blacktop in my old hometown. In Los Angeles (where I live now) it's all concrete - it feels nice to be on blacktop when I go back to visit - I remember on really hot days how soft the roads got - and I remember some dips in the roads where heavy trucks had pushed the road deep into the ground - patches show up clearly too... my favorite part about the blacktop is how shiny it gets after a rain - so shiny.

Flashback Friday - #1 - Teeter Totter

I thought it'd be fun to post some of the photos I took in 1992 when visiting my old hometown (New Middletown, IN) - I documented some of the stories I remembered as a kid - my plan is to post a photo and short entry each Friday. Let's see if I can do it! :)



#1 Teeter Totter

I was in elementary school one late fall day in New Middletown, Indiana. It was recess and all of the kids were outside bathing in the warm sunshine. For a good part of the playtime we had, I was playing by a tree; digging my toy cars in and out of the dirt between its giant roots. I decided to go ride on the teeter-totter for a few minutes before our recess was over. Someone (I don’t remember who) joined me. I sat on the green painted plank of wood, facing the brick building and went up and down and up and down. The time flew by. The bell rang unexpectedly and whoever it was that sat on the other side jumped off while they were low and I was way up high in the air. My side came crashing down with a huge thud and I bounced along with it. I was holding the metal handles for dear life, but didn’t have much time to react. I am not sure if I was just stunned for a minute or if I blacked out, but the next thing I remember is my teacher standing over me telling me it’s time to come in from recess –

I was a kid when the playground was installed – I remember the fund raisers we did to earn the money to put it in. When I visited and discovered that the playground was “gone” it struck a chord with me – you can always go back, but you can never go “home” again.