As April 14th dawns, approximately 20 million+ other celebrants here on Planet Earth will mark the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Today I’ll stray a bit from my usual nature treks to take another stroll down memory lane.
While I don’t do an annual birthday post as a general rule, I have been pondering about turning 67 and, while age 67 is hardly a milestone birthday, the year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of embarking on a slew of “firsts” never to be surpassed in these past five decades.
There have been a plethora of pictures marking my journey from newborn to adulthood. Being an only child, plus having parents who were eager to capture poses with their respective cameras, contributed to multiple photo albums and scrapbooks. Between my father with his Leica 35mm camera, (which he brought with him from Germany), to my mother with her Baby Brownie box camera, a wealth of images from days that I was way too young to remember, to memorable life events, all found their way into those albums. When I was deemed responsible enough to own and take care of a camera, Mom passed her beloved Baby Brownie on to me. I found a photo on Etsy – this is exactly how I remember that 1940s-era camera.
I was told if I didn’t waste pictures or make too many boo-boos, my parents would pay for developing the film. This early foray into photography was followed by a Polaroid Swinger, a video camera, then a Kodak Pocket Camera, which was my faithful companion until the film drawer cover loosened, so I bought my first digital camera in 2010.
If I were to look back at my 7th birthday, I got a very unwelcome birthday present … it was a trip to the eye doctor to pick up my first pair of eyeglasses. As I looked in the mirror that night, all I saw was a childish face marred by those ugly, pinky-brown, cat-eye frames. I remember that I cried and was likely told to “smarten up” by Mom, who was always the disciplinarian, my father shirking that responsibility in favor of calling me his princess, (in the early years anyway). Here I was posing at Disneyland.
And now a little look-back about that wondrous year 1973.
Flash forward a decade and even now I recognize that at age 17 I could identify with Janis Ian who bemoaned being 17 years old and lacking a valentine. If you’re old enough, you may remember that painful line (“To those of us who knew the pain, of valentines that never came”) – here’s that song if you want to give it a listen.
Ah well, I never received a valentine from any high school boys; worse yet, I didn’t get invited to the prom, which was on my birthday, April 14, 1973. How sad is that? Well, it was teenage angst at the time, but 50 years later, looking back, really and truly, how important was going to the prom on my birthday anyway? Very low importance, so score one for Mom, the realist in the family, who told me “years from now you’ll look back and wonder why you agonized over such a trivial thing.”
Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour was the cherry on the 17th birthday sundae.
Both parents were strict in my upbringing and didn’t tolerate teenage angst and drama, so I was a tad miffed that the only consolation and counsel I got from Mom was a 70s version of “suck it up Buttercup” so I stayed mum over my misery about the prom. Of our gang of six (my five closest girlfriends and me) we had three prom attendees and three of us girls staying home and shampooing our hair on prom night.
However, unbeknownst to me, Mom and Rosemary, one of those friends, had organized a surprise birthday party for me for the night before, Friday the 13th, at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour, a venue where we six often went on weekend nights to enjoy such sinful treats as a Tin Roof Sundae or a Matinee Idol in a vintage Roarin’ 20s setting.
So that evening, me, a/k/a “The “Birthday Girl” was presented with one of Farrell’s specialties called a “Zoo” which was brought to the table with much fanfare, i.e. a siren and clanging bells as the two wait staff circled around Farrell’s toting a huge metal bowl on a wooden tray, then making a big deal out of its presentation to the honoree. Here is a photo I found to illustrate.
This ice cream extravaganza was truly a sight to behold. I could simply retype this recitation of the ingredients that comprised the “Farrell’s World Famous Zoo” but I’ll show you this screenshot instead.
Here are some photos when I received it, flanked by family and friends… yes, I shared.
Turning 17 kicked off my memorable 1973.
My first vacation when I traveled solo.
Our senior class trip for Spring Break 1973 was the Bahamas. Our family took a three-day cruise to the Bahama Islands the year before, so friends of the family (Alfonsa and Werner) that lived in Puerto Rico, in conjunction with a three-year work assignment, invited me to spend Easter break with them. Alfonsa was born and raised in Spain, so there was no language barrier and we spent a wonderful week visiting El Yunque Tropical Rainforest, El Morro Castle and snorkeling or sunbathing at Dorado Beach. It would be my first trip solo, but in later years taking trips by flying solo, then hooking up with a tour group, was how I traveled over the next decade. These are a few of my favorite pics from Puerto Rico.
My first walk for a charitable cause.
I’ve written before about participating in my first walk to raise money for charity. Who knew it would become the precursor for the walks for charity I’ve participated in the last five years? Nowadays, it is simply a 5k walk, but back in the Spring of 1973, it was a whopping 17-mile walk! I even got a certificate proving I completed the event, the official stamp being a bare foot and tootsies. I’ll bet I had big-time blisters and shin splints after this endeavor!
The March of Dimes 17-Mile Walk-a-thon 1973 was held at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. I walked with Paula Crowe, a high school classmate from my journalism class. Bob Seger, Michigan’s home-grown rock-and-roll legend, was just bursting onto the scene after appearing in local gigs at nearby high schools; he led us walkers. This annual walk to raise money for moms and babies is now called “The March for Babies” and I am participating virtually in their 2023 event in a venue of my choice to commemorate this 50th anniversary.
My first mortarboard and scroll.
I was the youngest of 613 students in our graduating class, having just turned 17 two months earlier.
High school graduation night, June 13, 1973, was stinking-hot and since we queued up in alphabetical order, “S” for a surname meant a long wait until I crossed the stage to receive my diploma. So I unzipped my gown, then the zipper stuck when it was time to take that ceremonial stroll. Whew! Half a dozen fellow “S” students helped restore decorum to walk across the stage. Edie Sumner and I were bringing up the rear here, tassels duly flipped over to the left side and holding our diplomas which were not sheepskin, nor scrolls, but actually in a leatherette folder. (So much for steeped in tradition.)
My first REAL job.
My first “real” job, not dusting Mrs. Moss’ collectibles every Saturday for a quarter, or raking leaves in the ‘hood for a quarter for each yard, (I definitely undersold myself), was in June 1973. I had secured what I believed was a part-time job at Kentucky Fried Chicken. After a two-week stint at KFC, which work hours were arranged around graduation festivities, the manager forgot I would never be a full-time employee due to college commitments and told me my KFC days were over. That was a blessing since I found a job at Carter’s Hamburgers, where I happily “slung hash” until college graduation.
I liked the manager and his wife – Erdie and Anne were like grandparents to me.
That job helped me overcome my shyness and I enjoyed interacting with the customers. For years after I left, I’d see a customer at the mall or the grocery store and could still rattle off their favorite meal.
My first car.
A VW Super Beetle in Biscay Blue became my wheels when I began college in Fall of ‘73. My parents bought me a new car, the premise being “we want you to have a safe car to drive, so we won’t worry about you.”
However, the night I brought it home from the dealership and parked it in the driveway, it rolled backward into the street, leaving a trail of red liquid dribbling down the driveway. A tow truck fetched it and deposited the little gem back at the dealership before they closed that evening. Suffice it to say it was a lemon with a capital “L” from day one, but yes, it was as cute as a bug’s ear and I later “dolled it up” with white pinstripes and proudly had my HFCC sticker on the back window.
My father eventually took it over and in 1977, I got an AMC Pacer, another lemon.
My first year in college.
I loved my years at Henry Ford Community College beginning in the Fall of ’73. Here it was not necessary to be in a clique or be the most-popular kid to join student government or the newspaper staff and I enjoyed being immersed in those extracurricular activities as well as the National Model United Nations delegation … I aimed to not only further my education, but enjoy the experiences as well.
What a year 1973 was and thinking about these past five decades makes me feel old. I’ll (finally) conclude this long post by saying what keeps me young is walking over 1,000 miles a year, blogging and interacting with all of you.
[Note: All pics are my own, except the Baby Brownie from Etsy and VW Bug from Pinterest; the black-and-white rendering of Carter’s was done by local artist Sean Manual, from whom I received permission to use his photo in an earlier blog post.] Also, take a peek at the stats on who shares your birthday here.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Happy birthday! Hope your day will be spectacular!
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Thank you Anne! It was quiet as I walked, then had to work, but I was off last Friday and Monday so that made up for it.
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Happy birthday kid. I say that because I am 80! Ha You had a good – fun filled early life. I learned to drive on a green volkswagon bug in 1962. Loved those little cars. Thanks for sharing this with us. 😊❤️
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Thank you Peggy! My friend Ann Marie just turned 80 in December. She is like you – she does not look her age. I think it is the hiking and walking you both do, so I will aspire to be like both of you! I will bet you drove a stick shift though. I’ve never driven a stick – this VW bug only required driving in second gear if going over 55 mph and it had no clutch. Glad you liked this post. When it was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and Woodstock, I did a little retrospective about what I was doing in 1969. I was lucky to have a fun filled early life and though I was an only child, I really was not spoiled.
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Yes, I drove a stick shift VW Bug and I loved it. Your early life looked fun. I had an advebtureous early life. Dad followed construction work and we moved all the time. I loved traveling.
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My father had a VW Bug with a stick shift. We drove from Oakville, Ontario (near Toronto) to Oklahoma for a job interview for him and traveled in that VW Bug and took Route 66. It was very hot, no A/C … around 1962 or 1963. I did have an adventurous childhood like you did. Traveling makes you adaptable doesn’t it? I am getting too set in my ways now that I am older and I like my younger self better. 🙂
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We had more energy to explore the world when we were younger. I like to be in my own bed at night anymore. That roadtrip with your dad sounded like fun.
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That’s for sure Peggy. I wish I’d bottled some of that energy up to sprinkle it on my current self. 🙂
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Magic bottled energy dust. Would be nice.
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Yes, we would be millionaires if we could create that recipe!
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Lol😄 – yes millionaires!
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Happy birthday! Today is the 77th birthday of a very good friend of mine. Have a wonderful day and do something special to treat yourself (but maybe not that gigantic ice cream meal!)
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Thank you Kate! That ice cream extravaganza made me feel a little ill seeing all those ingredients. I had to work but will enjoy myself this weekend. We’ve had a wonderful but hot weather week, but it ends Sunday with severe storms, then snow flurries. My friend Ann Marie brought over birthday brownies she baked … they were wonderful.
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Happy Birthday Linda!
Many more in good health! I hope your little furry friends bake you a cake and have a picnic for you in the forest! No bears, as they always gulp everything down!
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Thank you Wayne! My little furry friends didn’t get the memo it was my birthday, so there were no treats left out for me. It seems at the Park I am always the treater, not the treatee.
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That was lots of fun.
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Glad you liked it Anne. I did a retrospective back in 2019 about fifty years past the moon landing and Woodstock and what I was doing that Summer, so I decided to have a little fun and have a look-back fifty years after turning 17.
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What lovely pictures (and stories)! Happy birthday!
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Thank you Rachel! It seems I always have a little story to tell – 1973 was a big year for me!
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Happy Birthday to you! All that ice cream, my goodness it sounds like my kind of birthday. Your first car was a slug bug!!!! My arm still hurts from being hit every time we would see a VW and yell Slug Bug! Loved this post Linda!
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Thank you Diane! Glad you liked the post – it was fun creating it. I got the idea because back in 2019 on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and Woodstock, I wrote a post about what I was doing that Summer. I have never heard a VW bug called a slug bug before and just Googled around and now I understand why your arm hurts, because you have to punch someone each time! It was a cute car but it had so many problems … it was not a stick shift with a clutch – you only had to shift into second gear after 55 mph.
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Happy Birthday Linda!!!🎈 This was so much fun to read. I never went to prom either and you’re right it’s just not an issue. 🙂
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Thank you Ruth! I had fun doing this post. Lots was happening in 1973 and like you, prom was not a part of high school festivities but we sure are no worse off for it now.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA! Please keep walking and engaging with all of us. Glad to be part of your birthday celebration this year!
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Thank you TD – I am glad you are enjoying the posts and part of the birthday celebration. I will return to walking posts Monday. I’ve really been wordy lately! 🙂
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I love your wordy posts!
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Thank you TD – you will certainly find a lot of them here! 🙂
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Happy Birthday Linda…………………………..I enjoyed your birthday blog this evening………………………….you have good looking long legs!!……………………….
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Thank you Ann Marie. I am glad you enjoyed having the look-back with me. I have been tall as long as I can remember and because of those long legs and arms, I used to sew all my own clothes. My parents were both short, but I understand my grandmother on my father’s side (whom I never met) was tall. Long legs help me walk more miles and walk down the birthday brownies you made me. 🙂
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Miss Linda……………………………Ha Ha Ha Ha
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Indeed – I walked almost six miles today – I am pooped!
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What fun to share your past memories! Life was so much simpler in the 70’s wasn’t it? It was a fun time to grow up. I hope you have a very Happy Birthday!
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Thank you Rebecca. I thought it would be run to have a little look-back at 50 years ago – it really does not seem like these events could possibly be 50 years ago. It was fun back then in the 70s, more fun I think than kids the same age experience today. Going to Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour was a regular outing for us and we always had fun. I have often told people that the simple pleasures were and are the best experiences.
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What a lovely trip down memory lane, Linda!
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Thank you Pam!
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Happy Birthday! I enjoyed your firsts, especially the one of you standing beside your VW. What a throwback pic. Think how far you’ve come.
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Thank you Ally! I had a lot of firsts that year – that’s for sure. I did a similar retrospective for the year 2019, which was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and Woodstock and I was visiting Germany with my father at the time. I did love my VW Beetle, despite its constant issues. That photo with the car was taken in front of my grandmother’s house in Toronto.
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Happy birthday. What a great post. I started with a box brownie. Dad had a VW bug in the 70s a red one!
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Thank you Andy! I had fun putting this post together with the flashes from the past – fifty years ago is a long time. I liked that Baby Brownie camera and had it for years and took a lot of B&W photos. I was excited to find the very same model online to use in this post. Was your dad’s Bug a Super Beetle? They only made them for a few years as they were problematic. My dad had a VW Beetle (with a stick/clutch) in the early 60s and we went on a long trip in it in mid-Summer – I don’t remember the trip as much as I remember sticking to the back seat.
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I think dad sold the Bettle as we got taller my brother and myself heads started to touch the roof in the rear!
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That is funny Andy – as tall boys, not only bumping up into the roof, there was no leg room in the backseat either. We were traveling a long distance and there I was amid the luggage and I’d be curled up in a fetal position just to sleep on the back seat. And my father insisted on plastic seat covers – I think it had plastic seats to begin with. Shorts and short-sleeved tops in summer as there was no A/C and sticking to the seat covers!
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can not recall the model but UK may have had different names. The pictures look the same as yours except for colour.
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My father’s earlier Beetle had smaller tail lights and was dark gray- the Super Beetle was only around a few years because they had mechanical issues. That’s what the mechanic at the foreign cars repair shop told me. Every time it got damp, it would not start. The auto club terminated my membership as I got towed so many times as it conked out repeatedly – that happened from day one.
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Happy birthday, Linda! Each one is special in its own way.
Loved all the 70s memories shared here. I never went to prom, either, or got valentines from guys in high school. On senior prom night a girlfriend and I got up to quite a bit of mischief instead.
Looks like you got to take some fun trips and had a decent first job. Oh the lemon cars – I did have experience with those , too!
Your ice cream parlor birthday sounds way more fun than my 16th, which took place at a similar parlor.
Sounds like you’ve found a calling in photographs and walks.
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Thank you Eilene! I must admit the birthdays since then have actually paled in comparison, even the milestone birthdays. Farrell’s was a great place to celebrate your birthday, no matter your age and they always made a big deal out of it.
As to teenage angst, it seemed like such a big deal at the time to have valentines and go to prom or homecoming, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a minor blip in my life going without them. Thank goodness we get smarter as we get older.
I loved working at the diner and worked there five years. I stayed on after I graduated from college as my boss was retiring when new owners took over, so I stayed so he would not have to find someone for weekends. I used to travel a lot when I was younger – I have mixed feelings about traveling after I retire though. I feel badly I did not get a job using my college degree (B.A. – Mass Communications), but walking, blogging and photography have given me the joy that a career in that field would have.
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Loved everything about this, especially the song. Just beautiful.
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Thank you Barbara – I am glad you liked this post. I really enjoyed putting it together and taking a stroll back to a year of first for me. That song is kind of haunting. It makes me want to go to Janice Ian and pat her hand and say “there-there, it will be better.” I am glad you liked the song too.
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I am not sure my comment worked the first time. Loved this.
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I did get it the first time Barbara – Word Press issues sometimes as I did not have to approve it … seemingly lost in cyberspace momentarily.
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Happy Birthday Linda! I hope it is spectacular! I’ll be 64 this year, how did this happen? I remember my ex Mother-in-law telling me she was always 18 in her head (this was years ago) and I thought what a weird comment but now I get it! I was 7 when I got my first glasses too, I hated them. And I never got asked to Prom either! We have a lot in common Linda. It was fun to read about your young life, brings back memories of my own
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Thank you Susan! I feel the same way when I thought about things that happened fifty years ago; even five decades ago sounds like a very long time and I wonder how can that be? Because you are active in your RV travel adventures and walking a lot like me, that should keep you feeling young in your head and health-wise as well. How funny we have those things in common – I was devastated to get glasses and got contact lenses when I turned 18. Even though you are younger than me, you still had many of the same experiences I am sure and it is fun to share them and look back with others. I was younger than everyone in my class as I was double-promoted while in Canada. We had whole classes of kids get double-promoted a “repeat grade” like grade 3, so that is what happened with me … everyone moved from grade 2 to grade 4 at the end of the school year. In high school, everyone I graduated with had already turned 18 or soon would turn 18.
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I also got contacts when I was about 18 but I had cataract surgery in 2019 so only need glasses to read now.
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I wore contacts until I got laid off from work, then started working from home in 2011. I do miss wearing contacts as I still don’t care for myself in glasses, but I am not as vain as I once was! That’s nice only needing glasses for reading. So far, so good on my eyes as to cataracts, but I do spend too much time sitting in front of a computer screen which is not good on a lot of levels.
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Yes I agree, I have been spending less time on my computer which also means I haven’t been working on my blog! oh well………..:-)
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I would have thought you were taking advantage of the warmer weather for a quick getaway. I am five days behind in Reader again – we had a few bouts of predicted severe weather, which didn’t happen, but I decided to do other things in the house, so I didn’t have to shut down my computer in a hurry.
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Happy birthday dear Linda
🎈🎈🎈🎈
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Thank you Yvette!
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I enjoyed your memories here – and I knew you had the VW and Pacer car- so it was so nice to see that picture of you with the VW
The zoo sundae was cool and liked that photo of you at Disney!
🎵🎵
the 17 song was great
I also heard a Linda Rondstant song and thought of you –
The “ooooo ooo baby baby” one
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Glad you liked this post Yvette. It was fun compiling it. I got the notion to write it after the post I wrote in 2019 to commemorate Woodstock and the moon landing 50-year anniversaries. I wrote about visiting Germany with my father that Summer. Farrell’s was a hoppin’ place and people often went there for birthday celebrations with family or friends – not just kids either, all ages. I was surprised to hear that the franchise had closed down all of the Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlours. We would wait in a line that snaked out into the parking lot back back in the early 70s. I liked “At 17” back in the day. Linda Ronstadt had such a soulful voice – I knew all her songs by heart as I listened to them so much and still can sing along now. Sadly that voice is silenced due to Parkinson’s – same as Neil Diamond whom I also liked and attended two of his concerts.
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Parkinson’s is such a sad affliction
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Yes it is Yvette. I feel lucky to have had good health all my life. Right now I know several people, some here at WP, who are very ill.
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Yes! My heart goes out to the afflicted and another reason to appreciate the days we have!
My son’s girlfriend lost her step mom back in 2019 and I don’t know why it continues to stay with me!
Maybe because of the way it unfolded – she was diagnosed with cancer in august 2018 and spent a year battling it and died the following summer of 2019!
In a blink!
And spent all of her savings and all her hard work (as an advanced nurse) – and she looked healthy from the outside – well it all hit a wall when the inside was afflicted and reached the final point
–
I still pray for her adult children / even tho we all lost touch
But sometimes I think of how Melanie was here one day and gone the next
And it makes me stop and enjoy life /
Stop nd smell the roses
Or as you would do – stop and enjoy the squirrels
☀️😊🙏
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I agree with you as to stopping and smelling the roses (or enjoying the squirrels). So many people with chronic pain or diseases have said to me “get out and enjoy yourself, no matter how simple those pleasures are – look at me.” I have taken that wisdom to heart.
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🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
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I love this post!! Happy birthday Linda!!
I think this is the first time I saw a picture of you in your teens and 20s than the baby ones. My goodness, what a fashionista and pretty lady!! The pictures were wonderful and that Zoo sundae sounds like a fun thing to get on your birthday!
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Glad you liked this post Esther. I thought it would be fun to commemorate all the happenings in my life from fifty years ago – it was a big year for me. Well, I did sneak that pic of me at Disneyland in Anaheim to show those dreadful cat-eye glasses that I hated so much. Thank you – I had a lot of pictures so I knew I could come up with pictures to go with the narrative. Alfonsa was short -about four feet nine inches tall, so I was a foot taller than her. She always wore high heels, but I had to show the shot of us side by side in the water where she had bare feet. Farrell’s was a very fun place and lots of people of all ages went there for the ice cream specialties – I think we only had ice cream and no meals. Lots of people celebrated birthdays by having the Zoo (which treat you shared) or the Pig’s Trough (designed for one eater) which was a double banana split and it was served in a wooden trough and if you finished it, you got a button that said “I made a pig of myself at Farrell’s.” It was good, clean fun back in the day and I wonder why they closed all the stores.
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Cat eye glasses are so cool and they looked pretty on you! What shape glasses do you wear now?
How funny Farrell’s had an item called the Pig’s Trough. lol. Creative name!
It was nice to read about your adventures and enjoyed the pictures along with it!
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Thank you Esther. I have the same shape glasses as I had when I graduated high school. I stopped wearing contact lenses when I began working from home, I hated the feel of glasses on my face after so many years of wearing glasses just to give my eyes a little break (I wore hard contact lenses) so I got the lightest frame and have stuck with that. Farrell’s was such a fun place to go. They had such clever names for their ice cream treats. The Pig’s Trough was for individuals so if you finished it, the wait staff made a big deal about that too when you were presented with the button. I did have a lot of fun that year and I traveled to Spain the following year with those same friends so that was a lot of fun.
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Happy Birthday! The photo of the Farrell’s waiters carrying the Zoo is my hands-down favorite of the bunch. I forgot they made such a fuss before setting down that giant dessert but I could hear the siren and the banging bells as you described the scene. Also, the photo of the Zoo at the table seems to confirm what I remember: we all just ate the Zoo right out of the same bowl. Who would do that these days, right? I’m sure my own first camera was something from Kodak, probably their famous “Instamatic”. You must be very organized to be able to produce this timeline all these years later. You’ve had a good ride so far, Linda!
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Thanks Dave! I spent many nights with my friends at Farrell’s back in my high school years, once the first friend got her driver’s license and was allowed to use her father’s car – it was not near us. I can hear the clanging of the siren and bells too as the wait staff went around the place a couple of times before landing at the table. And of course, everyone in Farrell’s is watching you! I guess we probably had individual bowls as it was family and friends. And you’re right … eating a Zoo together in one bowl wouldn’t happen nowadays. I’m assuming all Farrell’s looked the same. We had an old-fashioned candy store which you had to pass as you waited in line … the line would be through that store, out the door and snaking out into the parking lot on weekend evenings. I forgot about the Instamatic camera as I remember those square flashcubes you had to put on top of the camera for each shot needing light. The Pocket camera had a built-in flash. I took a ton of photos with that Pocket camera – I always had it on me. Between my memory, the scrapbooks and photo albums, it all helped to put together this post and I hope for many more years to come!
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Happy birthday! OMG, I had forgotten about Farrell’s ice cream parlor; it was always an experience. We have a couple more similarities. I, too, started wearing glasses at age 7; third grade me was convinced that it was a fate worse than death. I also graduated at 17; there were only two guys in our graduating class that were younger than me.
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Well Linda Lou, we are finding more similarities than just our names. My group of six friends spent many weekend nights at Farrell’s and yes, it was always an experience. We’d stand in line, sometimes an hour, just to get in and it was not near us either. I felt the same way about those eyeglasses and I had some adhesive tape I brought (scammed) from home and used to tape up my glasses and tell the teacher I broke them and the tape bothered me, so I had to leave them off. She sent a note home with me for doing that – that ended that little trick. Everyone I graduated with had part-time jobs and cars the last one or two years of school, so I was really behind in that respect.
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Happy Birthday Linda! I’m sorry I’m late, I was behind in Reader until last Wed. I hope you had a good day. What a great post – so much fun and so much to say I don’t know where to start. I remember high school prom being a big deal too, (I never went either), although perhaps not as big a deal as it is now when the kids spend so much money getting their dress and hair and nails done., it was more like dinner out and a dance in the gym, but at least now they can go in groups. Then you had to have a date, and if you didn’t have a steady boyfriend the chances of being asked were slim. I remember going through 17 magazine and looking at all the prom dresses and feeling I missed something. I remember the Janis Ian song – I saw her once in the 70’s during the summer at Ontario Place, the summer I worked in TO after I graduated. I remember her album was full of depressing songs. I loved all the photos – especially the clothes! I had a pair of plaid pants like that. My friend had a Volkswagan beetle/bug – hers was orange – and it had a rusty hole in the bottom of the floor on the passengers side. Still it ran and we used to go out for lunch in it. I never went on the walk-a-thons as my older sister did one year and came home half sick with a bad sunburn and blisters on her feet – I think it was 20 miles along the lake? I never went to Disneyland as a kid, until my first class trip in 1975 – four of us friends went on a bus to Clearwater Florida – we didn’t even know the party side was Daytona Beach! My parents bought me a set of blue Samsonite luggage for the trip and for going away to school the next year. Good memories, but I’m wondering how we ever got to be this age! There’s a play on at the summer theatre in July – The Music of 1973 – that I’m thinking of getting tickets for. I went to the Summer of Love 1967 one a few years ago and enjoyed a look back at the music. We did have good music.
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Thank you Joni! I am behind in Reader again as well (since Friday) … I hope to catch up a little tonight. “Sliding” one day due to this post last Friday, then another day and soon I’m behind. I’ve written more than usual the last two weeks, so now will return to two posts a week again.
The photo with the VW Beetle was taken in Toronto in front of my grandmother’s house (Dundas Street W and Lansdowne). One of our group of six would borrow her father’s turquoise Comet for all our weekend adventures to Farrell’s or going to the movies and dinner afterward.
My three friends of our little group went to prom but just to go to it – they were not going out with their dates, nor did they go out after that. They just wanted to get the dress, have the dinner, etc. The styles for prom back then were more like something from “Gone With The Wind” – there is a photographer who takes pics of Heritage Park all the time. He’ll go to that park, take pictures of people and write a short Facebook post about them on “Heritage Park Photo of the Day”. So I see the styles of the couples who go there to pose for prom and homecoming and he takes everyone’s pics and posts them. They’re not dressy like before and like you said, they are not necessarily couples, just kids going to prom in groups as friends. It was a blow to me at the time, but there were other things going on so I just dealt with it.
My parents bought me a Samsonite briefcase when I graduated from college – pale blue, hard case. It is in the basement with all the other mementos of years ago. It blows my mind to think that all these things happened 50 years ago, a half-century ago. Can’t dwell on that or I’d feel old. I’ll bet that play will be good I would enjoy that as well. I enjoyed that Hilderbrand book “Summer of ’69” as it had a lot of references to things I remembered. We did have good music back then. Our class song for 1973 was “Stairway to Heaven” – I know a lot of Led Zepplin’s songs, the words, but not necessarily the titles. 🙂
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Stairway to Heave was always the last song played on Friday night pub nights when I was in first year university! Not really a Led Zepplin fan, but did like that one, probably the only one I know. That or Hey Jude. A friend told me her daughter spend $700 on a prom dress……crazy? I saw it, it was short and nothing special, but designer I guess.
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I liked Stairway to Heaven too … I think I heard it more than the other Led Zepplin songs. That is a lot of money for one dress for one night. I know my parents would not have paid that amount of money for a dress and I never had a job until just before high school graduation. I forgot to mention last night when you mentioned the March of Dimes event along the water, did I ever mention to you that I took a co-worker to Toronto for a week’s vacation? We stayed with my grandmother and took the Greyhound Bus from our city to Toronto – when we got to Toronto, the TTC was on strike. My grandmother was about three-four miles from Downtown and three miles from the Exhibition. The TTC was on strike an entire week. We had tickets to the Ex for the Beach Boys one night and Chicago another night. Plus we walked all over. Even now, being used to walking a lot, it would be a lot. Good thing was had comfortable shoes.
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Some parents want their kids to have everything, so they go overboard. My parents would never have paid that much for a dress either. I had a long formal for our grade 13 graduation dinner/dance but looking back it seems almost babyish – it was a tiny blue print with puffed sleeves! Nothing like the sexy things kids wear today. I remember walking back from Ontario Place but not how far I was not navigating. I had never been to Ontario Place before and did not know my way around. I’m sure we eventually got a streetcar/bus or maybe a taxi as I lived on Spadina near the campus, and I don’t think it was that safe to walk around at night once the crowds had dispersed, even then. I see they are moving the Ontario Science Centre over to Ontario Place – I think they are trying to redevelop the area as it had gone downhill.
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The dress you had was the style at that time though – it was small prints, puffed sleeves for dresses and tops too. You are petite so it would have looked good on you. I did get a long dress for the Senior Banquet. That was on Monday night, two days before graduation. It was our entire class, no dates, just us. It was boring with the class officers giving speeches, recognition to those in sports, drama, band … we didn’t have those things in sophomore and junior year because the millage didn’t pass, so we had 1/2 days of school, four subjects/classes only, nothing extracurricular. My dress was almost matronly looking. I sewed all my own clothes as I could not find pants long enough and sleeves long enough, but this dress was specifically made for talls. It was a lemon yellow and light orange plaid skirt with a cream-colored sleeveless top. My neighbor asked to see me in it and suggested a bolero jacket in a lemon yellow to go with it so she made it for me as a graduation present. I used it for another event in college, so at least got some wear out of it.
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It sounds nice. I attempted to sew occasionally, but my mother usually finished it! Our graduation dinner was no dates either, just a dinner and we went to a bar with a dance floor later. I don’t even remember being sad about high school ending, as we had grade 13 and I was sick of it by then and ready for a change of scene in the big city.
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It was tailored so not your typical fancy-type dress. It was a joke between my mom and me because I liked to sew, but my mom always did the hand sewing portions, like she would set in the sleeves for me, baste the zipper in, sew on the buttons and hem it. I am not good at hand sewing and I will be doing some hand sewing this weekend in conjunction with an upcoming post. I wasn’t sad to see high school end either – I was not one of the popular kids and had my five girlfriends, but almost immediately after graduation, we no longer had the same interests and by Christmas that year when we got together, we began to grow apart. Our 50-year high school reunion is this October – I am not going, but I have not gone to the 5,10,25 or 40-year reunions either.
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Happy birthday ! (though a few days late). I loved the pictures. And was there a Volkswagen in that picture? All I could see were those pants. 😁
Somewhere along the way, 1973 became “a long time ago,” and I’m not sure when that happened.
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Thanks JP! I had fun putting this post together. I had a couple of pics of me with the Volkswagen, but this was my favorite, as it was gleaming in the sun and reflecting the trees in my grandmother’s neighborhood. Funny, my outfit didn’t seem so “overly plaid” back then … but when I saw this photo I shuddered a little too! It does not seem like a half-century has passed since all these events happened in ’73.
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What a thoughtful stroll down memory lane, Linda! Your memories are a lot more detailed than mine, which are much fuzzier. That was so nice of your mom and friend to give you a surprise birthday party. I spent my 17th birthday on my first airplane flight, on a 747, crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Athens to New York City. (We got to Greece by ship.) My sister and I flew home before our parents, who were tying up loose ends, and we were so scared we held hands for almost the whole flight. I wouldn’t fly again for 34 years. I’m so glad you got so many chances to see the world traveling solo. Great pictures of you to go along with the stories surrounding all of your “firsts.” Gotta love those plaid bell-bottoms and that adorable Super Beetle. It looks so skinny compared the latest plump ones I see on the road these days. 🙂
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PS ~ Wishing you a very belated Happy Birthday!!! 🎉
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Thank you Barbara!
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Well you had quite a 17th birthday trip Barbara. My first flight was in 1969 with my father when he and I went to Germany where he had not been since the late 1940s when he moved to Canada. We had horrible turbulence halfway there and it seemed to last for hours. An Italian woman a few rows ahead of us was screaming “Mama Mia, we’re all going to die!” once it began. I traveled with these same friends (Werner and Alfonsa) the following year and we spent three weeks in Spain, a week with her family in Madrid and the rest of the time traveling up/down the coast. They are nice memories. As to those plaid bell-bottoms, I somehow did not think they were that “loud” back in the day, until I saw them when picking the photos for this post. Yes, the newer Beetles seem squatter than this Super Beetle. My father had a Beetle when I was growing up and we traveled Route 66 to Oklahoma one Summer – good thing I was not as tall back in those days. 🙂
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Phew! That turbulence sounds like it was pretty scary! Were you reluctant to get on a plane for the trip home? The flight on the 747 was smooth. I remember feeling like I was sitting in a theater. But my ears started killing me after we landed in Rome and took off again. We weren’t near any windows. I think my scariest ride was on a bus going up and down the switchback roads on the mountains in Crete. Every other person on the bus was crossing themselves and wailing around every hairpin curve. No guardrails and very steep drop-offs. My daughter loved her trip to Spain and would like to go back there. I used to love riding in my grandparents’ little Beetle. 🙂
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Yes, I was not looking forward to returning home … we were there for three weeks and I dwelled on it the entire time. I would be worried on that bus trip after the hairpin curves and the other bus riders wailing and crossing themselves throughout the trip. You know now that I think about the tours I used to go on for vacations involved a lot of modes of transportation to get from one destination to another and I never really worried about what could happen on puddle jumper flights, train or bus rides, cruise ship tenders to rocky shorelines (when I didn’t know how to swim and still don’t) … now it would give me cause to pause, that’s for sure. A friend of mine just celebrated his 70th birthday in Hawaii – he and his wife went there for about 10 days and she posted on Facebook about a harrowing trip taken on a road just as you describe and that they were all shook up, especially Joe as he was driving. Spain was very nice and as we traveled up/down the coastline (Costa del Sol), we went into little towns and ate at family-owned tiny restaurants or went to small entertainment venues which was nice as Alphonsa spoke Spanish. I did not speak Spanish. I took French in school for years – can’t remember very much of it. I really liked my Beetle and would have kept it longer had it not had so many mechanical problems.
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Thank you for a glimpse in a different time! You certainly have nice legs, Lady 😉 Plus, you’re posing in front of a gnome at Disneyland!
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Thanks Jeanine – 50 years ago but it doesn’t seem possible to me. I had to include a cheesecake photo of me posing on the rocks. 🙂 And also a not-so-cheesecake photo of me at Disneyland. My parents probably said “Linda, pose right here” all the while thinking “those gnomes are cuter than our kid!”
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Pingback: To blog or not to blog – connecting makes it worthwhile - Barbara Strickland - Author & Blogger
(Going to reply here Barbara in case the comment left on your blog post did not work.)
Barbara – thank you very much for the shout-out; it is appreciated. I know there are many times that we reflect on the past and make things better than they really were and in the past I have said that our golden memories often get tarnished through the years. I remember associating myself with this “At Seventeen” song … now, all these years later I think I would over-think, over-worry things and having no siblings and having older parents, I would stew and fret over everything, but my strict parents kept me from really having a voice … now I look back and wonder why I was that way? I think of what kids worry about today and there is no comparison. My generation did not grow up with as many hang-ups, or maybe I didn’t know about them. I have a boring job and one that I don’t use my education or for my 43 years of being a legal secretary go unnoticed. My boss is 76 to my 67 and it is just the two of us. He wants to work until he dies with his boots on (his words not mine) but I don’t want that. I will tell you that if not for blogging and interacting with others, I would lead a very lonely life – I have no family and have worked from home since 2011. My first 4 1/2 years of blogging I had a handful of friends following me by e-mail until someone discovered a post in the blogosphere. Here’s to many more years of blogging for you, your followers and me. Thank you again for being so thoughtful Barbara.
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I discovered your blog today, thanks to our fellow-blogger, Barbara Strickland. I love your post. I have three years and a couple of months on you, but I can really identify. No prom for me either. And those Valentines have never come, but I’ve made it to 70 and seem to be more content than some of my friends who were popular. I’ve always been able to identify with the song, “At Seventeen.” I “enjoyed” listening to it again, sad as it is. I look forward to following your blog. I’m in North Carolina.
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Hello Janet and welcome! I did not know Barbara was going to mention my blog and that blog post, so that was a very nice surprise when I returned home from walking yesterday. I agree with you about being content and those whom we thought had it all really don’t … but try to tell that to us back in the day. High school years were such a popularity contest and if you were not popular, those years were not kind at all. On top of it, my parents were strict. I am Canadian, but have lived here since we moved to the States in 1966. My first few school years (6th grade until 8th grade) were horrible as I was bullied, even by my teacher, for my Canadian accent and pronunciation of some words. I hated going to school. That song brings it all back to me for my high school years. Anne, a fellow blogger, lives in the mountains in North Carolina, in Waynesville (not far from Asheville) and another fellow blogger, Barbara, is a lifelong resident of Connecticut, but she and her husband Tim will be moving to Chapel Hill, North Carolina next month to be closer to their grandchildren. You live in a very pretty state from everything I’ve seen. Thank you for following my blog Janet.
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