With this very long post, I have finally exhausted my long trip down Memory Lane circa 1976.
First, I wrote about my mom’s 50th birthday and how my grandmother and Aunt Frances took the bus from Toronto for a surprise visit the day before. The three of us had made the arrangements and I wrote about that event here in my tribute to Mom who would have celebrated her 100th birthday on Valentine’s Day 2026. That tribute may be found here.
Next, I wrote about finishing up at Henry Ford Community College in June 1976 and the slew of activities I enjoyed immersing myself in during the time I was at that institution. You can find that post here in case you missed it.
Then, on Independence Day this year, I shared some memories and photos about that Bicentennial year, when we celebrated the 200th birthday of the U.S. That post may be found here.
As mentioned in those posts, I have still more to add. I’m going to pick up the “story” again, this time in conjunction with National Grandparents Day, which is today, although I know it is more of a Hallmark event, rather than a day to celebrate your grandparent(s). It is always the first Sunday after Labor Day.
I know that one day I will run out of memories about Wilhemina “Minnie” Goddard, or “Nanny” as I affectionately called her, but if you’ll indulge me in one more 1976 memory, here we go….
After my grandfather died in 1969, my grandmother spent every Summer here in Michigan – 1976 was no different. My parents drove to her Toronto home over Memorial Day weekend to pick her up so she could attend my HFCC graduation on June 4th.
I wasn’t the only one decked out in a mortarboard and gown and holding onto my Associates Degree diploma – Nanny did as well.
Day Trippin’!
I worked six days a week at the diner every Summer, but on my day off, weather permitting, Mom, Nanny and I always went out, maybe to the mall, the show, or out for lunch.
Mom tried to think of interesting places to take Nanny and decided Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn might be of interest to her. Mom decided to stay home as it was a lot of walking, even though she said “I think one trip around the Museum and your grandmother will be ready to come home.” I agreed.
It’s no secret that most of Dearborn, Michigan is about Henry Ford.
Multiple historic sites and tourist attractions are relevant to Mr. Ford.
I’ve often written about my treks at the Ford Estate, a/k/a Fair Lane. It was Henry Ford who created the concept of the Museum at Greenfield Village, so he had “The Henry Ford Museum” built in the 1930s to house a wealth of inventions by his friends and colleagues like Thomas Edison. The Village and Museum are one of Michigan’s biggest tourist attractions.
Even though Nanny had a heart condition, she could walk short distances, but needed to sit down occasionally. Greenfield Village is very large and spread out with lots of historic buildings, a farm and the Museum. I decided we’d visit the Museum first and, if Nanny was up to it, we’d tackle something else later.
The Museum had many areas of interest – where to go first?
I thought we’d head over to the showcases of vintage clothing, but, before we moseyed over there, my grandmother left my side to wander over to the huge farm machinery, like this tractor. (Note the name of the inventor in the lower, right-hand corner.)
Nanny circled the area filled with these huge farm machines and delighted in telling me each of their names/purpose and how she remembered her father using them in the fields to sow, plow or harvest their crops. Well, of course this would interest her – she grew up on a farm in Ariss, in rural Ontario.
Finally, I tore her away from admiring the farm equipment and steered her toward the sections of vintage clothing from different eras. Nanny had eight siblings, most which stayed in Ariss and farmed on their own land or married farmers. But, Minnie and her sister Loretta wanted to live in the Big City, i.e. Toronto, so they left Ariss when they were still in their teens. (Minnie is on the left, Loretta on the right in the below photo taken in the early 1920s.)
Once they arrived in Toronto, they rented a room, each got factory jobs and quickly shed their “farm girl” personas once they had paychecks. Nanny was in her glory as she pointed out to me vintage clothing she had once owned, like buttoned shoes, a fancy hat, or a small drawstring handbag, even a corset, all items worn by both sisters back in the day. Actually, Nanny wore a corset for years afterward. I can remember how I’d see her squeezing into that contraption to slim her waist and hips when she got dressed up for church or other occasions.
I know we lost track of time with my grandmother’s fascination and exuberance from seeing items she likely had not thought about in a very long time. Finally, she conceded she needed to sit down, then soon she popped up and was ready to look around some more.
We passed a gift shop on our way out. The shop featured vintage-type items and Nanny decided to buy this small chicken roaster for Mom.
She told me her mom had a huge chicken roaster that looked like this one. Mom remembered that chicken roaster and put this one in the back of the shelf so it would not accidentally get broken – it fit in perfectly with the other country-type items and is still there to this day.
We also we had a similar style of dish, but a duck, on the kitchen corner cabinet. The blue cake plate belonged to my great grandmother.
We finally left for home, ten miles away. We were gone many hours and unbeknown to us, Mom was worried something happened to Nanny due to her heart condition and that’s why we didn’t return home earlier. I should have gone to a payphone and called home, but I never thought of it.
My grandmother had a short nap on the way home but walked into the house and recounted to Mom every last item she’d seen at the Museum, so Mom excused us when she saw everything was okay and how much Nanny enjoyed herself. We went out for a late lunch at A&W. Nanny had never eaten a footlong coney dog, nor onion rings, so she raved about that simple meal, along with her Museum visit for the rest of the Summer.
A visit to Carter’s to see Erdie and Ann.
My grandmother wanted to visit Erdie, my boss, who managed the diner where I worked and was kind enough to pick up my mother’s birthday cake and drive us home when Nanny and my Aunt Frances were here for Mom’s 50th birthday back in February. She wanted to thank him again for his kindness.
So my parents and Nanny stopped at Carter’s on a Saturday afternoon, while I was at work, before driving her back home to Toronto. Erdie’s granddaughter Leslie and I had worked together Summers and every Saturday for several years. My grandmother asked Leslie if she’d ever visited Toronto and when she said “no” my grandmother invited her to visit before school started. We asked Erdie if it was okay for both of us to be off for a week and he said “sure” (though we kind of put him on the spot to be honest).
Soon, we were making plans to visit there the last week in August.
Tronna, here we come!
(Note: Canadians always know the tourists from the locals because they pronounce their City “Toronto” … Torontonians don’t say Tor-on-to in three syllables, but run it together as two syllables, Toronno, or even as one syllable, Tronna.)
We left on the Greyhound bus on Sunday, August 28th. There was no reason for me to drive – you really don’t need a vehicle in Toronto as there is mass transportation galore. You can ride everywhere on one fare by asking for transfers and great connections are available via the streetcar, subway or bus. My grandmother lived just off Dundas Street, where we could catch the streetcar to Downtown.
There was one pesky problem however.
When the Greyhound bus pulled into the terminal in Downtown Toronto after our four-hour bus trip, the driver announced that the TTC had gone on strike that day, the TTC being the Toronto Transit Commission which operates all mass transit in the City of Toronto. NOT great timing!
There were no taxis to be found to take us to Nanny’s house either – those drivers probably thought it would be more lucrative to wait for fares at the airport. Luckily, I had Nanny’s phone number memorized as we called her every Wednesday (after 7:00 p.m. – remember how the rates went down then?) Who says the brain has only so much memory … I still remember her phone number: Lennox 3-435-4346 and Nanny’s been gone 40 years.
My grandmother and aunt had great neighbors, a big circle of friends, but like them, no one had a car – they didn’t even know how to drive as they all relied on public transportation. So my grandmother, who worked in Downtown Toronto for years said “it’s easy, you and Leslie just find Lansdowne Street and keep walking – you know where to turn!” Well, we were young, we had been sitting on our bums for the last four hours, but it ended up being 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) to Nanny’s house and we were both toting heavy suitcases. Thankfully we were wearing flats!
We finally arrived at my grandmother’s house hours later, just in time for dinner.
Leslie took my photo on my grandmother’s front porch sitting on my suitcase; hers is to the left of me.
We relaxed and rallied back quickly and by the next morning, we were ready to hit up all the tourist attractions, some which I had not seen since before we moved to the States in 1966. We checked the newspaper to see if we could reserve tickets for any concerts that would be coming up at the Toronto Exhibition that week.
Then we were off, still on foot … in fact the TTC strike ended the day we left for home, the following Sunday, so in addition to any sightseeing on foot, we had that 5-mile roundtrip to the City and back to factor into each day.
Here are some of the places we visited that week.
Casa Loma.
I gleaned this info from Casa Loma’s website: “Completed in 1914, it took 300 men nearly three years to complete the almost 200,000 square foot, 98-room castle at a cost of $3,500,000 (at the time). Today, Casa Loma is one of Toronto’s top tourist attractions and hospitality venues. Each year over 650,000 visitors tour Casa Loma and the estate gardens.”
I remember going on a field trip to Casa Loma, either for school, or maybe an outing for our Brownie troop, while we still lived in Canada.
Unfortunately, there were renovations outside the castle, so there is some scaffolding in the photos. No selfies back then of course, but my Kodak Pocket Camera was so easy to use, I never hesitated to hand it to someone and ask them to take a photo. (Unfortunately we are a bit blurry here.)
All this walking made us hungry, so we stopped for lunch in Chinatown.
The CN Tower a/k/a “The Needle”.
Next we went to visit the newly completed CN Tower, a/k/a “The Needle”.
We went up to the top and had a bird’s eye view of the City. I did not change the photo from the top viewing area to black and white.
Canadian National Exhibition a/k/a “The Ex”.
We spent two days at “The Ex” which is how Torontonians abbreviate the name for the Canadian National Exhibition. We were lucky to get tickets for The Beach Boys and Chicago, so we visited this venue twice that week.
This photo was taken at the Princess Margaret Fountain at Exhibition Place which is where The Ex takes place every August through Labor Day.
There was plenty to see as it is like a huge county or state fair, with lots of rides, …
… an agricultural exhibit and loads of fair-type fare, especially a booth selling the famous hot ice cream waffle sandwiches like the vendor used to sell in Eaton’s Annex Tunnel. I remembered them from my childhood. Leslie and I figured we could indulge since we walked so much on our vacation.
We were lucky enough to see the tall ship Christian Radich docked at the shoreline and take a tour of that wooden sailing vessel.
Ontario Place.
We spent one day at Ontario Place, a waterfront park on Lake Ontario. This was a big tourist attraction, which has since been shut down. I had never been there as it was built after we moved over here in 1966.
The spherical building was called “The Cinesphere” and it was a huge movie theater.
I took a few photos of the Toronto skyline to show “The Needle” from different angles. (Either “The Needle” was listing, or I was!)
There was a lot to see at Ontario Place, so we were there until dusk.
Ontario Science Center.
We went to the Ontario Science Center one day, another new-to-me tourist attraction.
Leslie took this photo of me with Nanny and Aunt Frances.
All too soon, it was time to leave Nanny’s house, as we had to trek, one final time, with our suitcases in hand, to the bus station downtown. As mentioned earlier, the TTC strike was resolved later that day.
I had one last photo taken with Nanny in her backyard. The neighbor next door had many grapevines and made his own wine.
We arrived home Sunday evening; the next day was Labor Day. I started school at Wayne State University a couple of days later and it was back to just working at Carter’s weekends and school holidays.
And now I’m finally done stirring the memory pot for the year 1976. Looking ahead, 1977 was kind of a bust – it will be just one post and done. 🙂
I’ll have some pretty apricot and orange flowers for Terri’s Color Challenge and Flower Hour on Wednesday.
Linda Schaub
You did more than I Linda. I’ve never been up the CN Tower. I can’t remember ever hearing the CN Tower referred to as the Needle? Seattle does have a tower they nicknamed The Space Needle.
I do remember going to the CNE! That was always a OD of fun!
Either you were really tall or your nanny was very short? She looked like a charming soul at any rate!
I bet you have many more memories of the CNE. I enjoyed the airshow on Labour Day weekend!
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Wayne, Leslie and I were pretty busy that week we were there, especially considering we had to factor in walking five miles a day! I don’t know if it is still called “The Needle” but when we were there we went up to the top and it was referred to that way.
I went to the CNE a few times as a kid before we moved here. I went with my father. Once I won a pink and purple poodle on a stick and my father used it as a sample so he could groom our poodle … the dog had ear issues and was at the vet all the time so my father said he wasn’t paying for grooming too. I think he had one haircut at home and that was it … he looked bad.
Nanny was very short, but probably the same height as my mom who was 5′ 2″ tall. I was tall since I was a teenager when I shot up to 5′ 9″ tall, rising way above my parents. My father was only 5′ 3″ tall.
I never went to the airshow at the Ex. But something I did do, years after we moved to the U.S. My mom and I were visiting my grandmother and aunt in November one year. We always went for my grandmother’s November birthday and also celebrated Christmas while we were there. So they had neighbors who visited all the time and one asked if I’d ever been to the Royal Winter Fair which was at the CNE fairgrounds. I never had, so we went – it was great and I had a lot of fun. They had the draft horses pulling the beer wagons, lots of horse shows including jumping hurdles, plus these massive Black Angus steer in livestock pens. Did you ever go there?
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No, I can’t recall going to the Royal Winter Fair but It sounded like fun!
You turned out tall considering how tall your parents were.
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Yes, I really enjoyed it and was glad my grandmother’s neighbor suggested it. We spent the whole day there. My parents used to say it was the milkman (people said that a lot if their kids didn’t have similar traits), but I looked just like my father, so that joke fell a bit flat. My maternal grandparents were short too. My father’s parents died when he was a teenager – I’ve not even seen pictures of them as my father didn’t have any.
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genetics is a fickle mistress
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Very true Wayne.
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What a great post, Linda. I enjoyed your memories and seeing the vintage photos.
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Thank you Ruth! I’m glad you enjoyed the memories and the photos! It was fun looking back and doing this three-part series about 1976.
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Thanks for this enjoyable tale! If I ever get to Toronto, I will know how to pronounce it like a local.
A trip to the Henry Ford Museum finished off with a footlong chili dog and onion rings sounds like a perfect day to me too!!
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You’re welcome JP! I’m sure if I went back to Toronto, there would be lots more attractions 50 years later. My mom and I were both amazed how much my grandmother enjoyed herself at the Museum and then at A & W … they were the highlights of that year for her and she told everyone about it for a very long time.
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Sounds like an amazing trip is a friend! Your nanny was a kind person to invite her.
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Yes, it was a lot of fun – Leslie’s first time to Toronto and there was lots to see and do. My grandmother was always like that and she had neighbors that looked out for her too, similar to Anne Mehrling’s. I’ve told Anne I find a lot of similarities with the two of them. She and my aunt lived together for years after my grandfather died. She liked meeting Erdie that time with the birthday cake and him taking us home so the invitation might have stemmed from that as well.
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Wow. Did you take notes all those years ago or do you just have a phenomenal memory? I kind of remember 76, but I don’t have photos like this from then….I don’t think! My mom would have been 50 in 78. And my grandmother, her mother, died in her 90s in 80.
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Dawn, I come from a small family, just my parents and me, my maternal grandparents and my aunt. My father was orphaned as a teenager in Germany. So, unlike most people with bigger families, it is easy for me to remember what happened and when. My mom kept scrapbooks of my younger years and told me a lot about relatives and stories about the family when we went through the photo albums way back when. Funny you mention taking notes – when I traveled in the 70s and early 80s, I did take a lot of photos and I did have a small notebook on me so I could remember where we visited on tours, etc., but back then it was just my trusty Kodak Pocket Camera, no notes. They are all big tourist attractions though. My grandmother died a few months after her 80th birthday in 1986. “Sixes” seem to run in the family – my grandmother was born in 1906 and passed away in 1986; my parents were both born in 1926, I was born in 1956.
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Hi Linda, I have been tagging along with most of your 1976 posts and I like how you opened up this post with a review of what has been shared so far.
In this post, it was fun to see the old photos of the needle and I bet there’s a lot of people from this area that will love landing on your post in years to come. These vintage photos are priceless and they do need to be shared with the world.
It’s also nice to learn how to say, Toronto:
Toronno, or even as one syllable, Tronna
—
And it looks like you’re walking for miles definitely goes back to the 70s.
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Thank you Yvette! At the beginning of this year I thought “I’ll be able to have some fun with more than one post for the year 1976.” Lots happened that year, as opposed to 1977, when a trip to Washington, D.C., working and going to school was all that was on my agenda. I’m glad I always had a camera as it enabled me to capture all those fun times growing up, even as a kid using Mom’s Baby Brownie camera. So, between my parents’ photos and mine, it has been nice to include them in my blog. Yes, people know right away that you are from out of town – pronounce Toronto just run together. 🙂
I probably walked more that year, between the NYC trip, then Toronto, always on my feet at the diner, plus a lot of running around for school/graduation than I have this Summer fifty years later. My walking stats are abysmal this year.
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Hi Linda, it really is cool that you went everywhere with the camera and it was definitely much less common than it is now.
Also, the other day, my mother and I stopped at a thrift store and we saw bottles of 7-Up from 1976. They were not opened and the inside looked like dark cola. They were four dollars a bottle and I almost bought one for a neighbor who care collects US memorabilia. However, I decided to just pass. They were four dollars each and looked kind of cool. I forgot to take a photo but if we go back next week and they’re still there, I will get a picture to show you.
I hope that you are having a great week so far and I will be back
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I remember those skinny, green bottles of 7-Up from back in the day Yvette. I never got to drink pop as a youngster as my parents didn’t want me getting cavities, but when we traveled cross country on Route 66 on vacation, we stopped to gas up frequently and there would always be those vending machines with Orange and Grape Crush, Coca-Cola and 7-Up. Sometimes then I got to have a few sips. Even if they had little stores attached to the gas station, they were mostly where you went in to pay, no snacks or other paraphernalia like gas stations have today.
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Hi Linda and I think these bottles were a little on the clear side because the soda inside had turned dark. I don’t know maybe they were fakes but I will try to get a photo. I’m so disappointed I didn’t grab a picture but I remember the green bottles too, but these were a little different and maybe they were commemorative bottles for 1976. Either way I will try to grab a photo.
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I hate when I see something, then wish I’d gotten a photo after the fact. Hope you are still having a good visit with your mom.
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Hi Linda, I think that I have so many opportunities where I could’ve gotten a photo but I have to just not think about it. And I’m sure the same goes for you because when you’re out walking around all that beauty, there are definitely gonna be things that we just can’t capture. But we have had the chance of enjoying it and sometimes that’s more than enough. Sometimes not. But it sure is nice to capture the beauty that you do capture.
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Yes, sometimes we are luckier than other times. Beauty is also so fleeting sometimes that it is indeed difficult to capture it.
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well said
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I enjoyed reading about your summer of ’76, Linda, and seeing all the old photos! 🙂 What a bummer about the TTC strike, but at least you got your exercise in. 😉 The Toronto skyline sure looks different today, with many more buildings surrounding the CN Tower. Ontario Place is being revamped and is supposed to include the Science Centre. Many people were upset about the move, though, and would have preferred they modernized the current building. The good old Ex! 😎 We try to visit every year, but missed it this time around, mostly because of the weather. It was either too humid or raining.
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Thank you Debbie! I thought you would enjoy it since you’ve been to Toronto often and of course our similar ties Oakville. I remember Ontario Place being built as my grandmother saved the newspaper to show us the finished Cinesphere. When the Blue Jays became Toronto’s baseball team she saved me the swag that came in the newspaper too … all the big Toronto events. My aunt and I went to the art museum to see the King Tut exhibit one November when we were visiting. I wonder why they would merge the Science Center with Ontario Place – keep them as two separate attractions. The weather killed off a lot of activities this Summer. My walking stats are way down and for house and car-related reasons I’ve missed many walks. Have you ever been to the Royal Winter Fair Debbie? I went once when we were visiting my grandmother. Her birthday was November 19th, so we always visited the first or second week in November for her birthday and we celebrated Christmas at the same time. A neighbor of hers asked if I’d ever gone to the Royal Winter Fair and since I hadn’t, we went together. They had the big draft horses pulling the wagons in competition, also the horse competition i.e. jumpers and livestock competition. It was fun, maybe not something I’d go to every year like the Ex but it’s at the same fairgrounds.
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I agree about the Science Centre, but Doug Ford (Ontario Premier) is determined to move it. He has faced a lot of backlash, though. We have been to the Winter Fair a couple of times, but that was decades ago. Maybe we’ll go again this year, now that you’ve reminded me of it. 🙂 The King Tut exhibit was excellent! 💫
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Well that is too bad. Yes, you should go and do a post about it. I just looked and it’s November 6th through the 15th. You went to see King Tut too – well, just think we might have stood in line next to one another! My aunt went and got our tickets ahead of time, I remember that, then she went with me.
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Love your plaid pants. They remind me of a similar pair my mother used to wear. So much of what you wrote about speaks to simpler, more innocent times (e.g. the ability to walk everywhere, the few skyscrapers on the Toronto skyline). Love the local pronunciations of “Toronto” – I won’t forget those. Funny how your Beach Boys concert will translate to my Beach Boys concert later this year (courtesty of a cover band, of course). You are so fortunate to have one-on-one memories with your grandmother. With four brothers and several cousins, I never had that luxury. And speaking of my brothers, we did try to see the HF Museum and Greenfield Village on our trip to Detroit, but it was closed (believe it was on seasonal hours in October). Next time!
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Thank you Dave! When I was compiling this 1976 series I was noticing the styles, especially how if you weren’t wearing jeans, you would be mad about plaid. Plaid was big for guys and gals. And those pants were all so wide at the bottom! We did have a lot of odd styles back then. Toronto was a very safe and walkable city back then and we didn’t really worry about walking home after those two nighttime concerts. I am sure it’s not like that now. I’ve not been back to Toronto in 40 years, so I’m sure there are many changes. I was lucky to be able to interact as much as I did with my grandmother and Mom and I missed her when we moved to the States, thus a lot of letter writing and the every-Wednesday-at-7:00 p.m. phone call. When we lived there, we visited every Sunday.
Our City has free outdoor concerts twice a week from June through August and they are all local tribute bands … the City videographer posts the entire concert on the City’s Resident Facebook page a few days later. They have a lot of attendees and they’re really quite good. I do follow the happenings at the Greenfield Village and the Museum – they just had the old car festival this past weekend. If you ever make it back to visit, I hear it is a lot of fun. Many vintage vehicles and the whole Village participates with old-fashioned food, clothing, games, the tall bicycles and of course the old cars and trucks. Once it is October, I think they are only open limited hours on weekends now (something fairly new as they were only open for Halloween events in the past).
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I almost wish I’d had the option of plaid in my wardrobe. My mother insisted on no jeans in school so we wore a lot of corduroy, which is difficult to look back on in photographs 🙂 Our town also has free concerts and small festivals (e.g. Mardi Gras). No matter the quality of the music or whatever we’re celebrating, it’s just nice to have regular excuses for people to gather together in the downtown area.
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In the early 70s, striped jeans were a big fad and both guys and gals wore them. They looked like you snagged a piece of awning and fashioned them into pants. And you HAD to wear them with a macramé belt to be cool. I liked corduroy – people knew where you were, especially when they were new and especially wide-wale corduroy. We had a dress code in junior high and could not wear pants – probably a good thing. In high school they didn’t care what we wore, just show up. For 10th and 11th grade we had half-days of school due to millage issues. Yes, those concerts do bring a lot of people together. Here, the bands play in a bandshell and on the pavement in front of it a lot of people of all ages dance.
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Enjoyed this post down memory lane, Linda. Love your pics. 😉
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Thank you Pepper – it was fun to put all three posts together and take a stroll down memory lane. Now all done ’til 1977 next year … it was pretty uneventful.
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What a trip Linda! I lived in Toronto for 4 years as a student, but only saw Casa Loma, the CN Tower and Ontario Place…..never the Science Centre or the Ex. I can’t imagine walking that far with a heavy suitcase, but I suppose we had more energy then, and to walk day after day! I do remember walking back from a concert at Ontario Place one night to Bloor St. when there was a TTC strike on. I was noticing your clothes – you had a very nice wardrobe!
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Thank you Joni – I’m glad you liked this final post in my 1976 “Fifty-Years Ago” saga … it was a fun year with lots of memories and, after spending so many hours looking at photos, writing the narratives and compiling these posts, I will say the most-memorable year of my life. Fifty years ago, a half-century … wow and looking back makes me feel old. I couldn’t see lugging a heavy suitcase that far either. Thank goodness I had worn a comfortable pair of loafers, which I think were Bass shoes, a popular shoe at that time because of its comfort and durability. I wore white Earth Shoes for work – they were comfortable, but not as much as these were. When I put together this post I and the others, but mostly this post, I was thinking about the styles … plaid pants were all the “go” and cardigan sweaters were big. Another popular item for women then was sweaters with a tie in front … in this post I was wearing two of those, the brown sweater and a white sweater. Back then could we check the weather in Toronto somewhere? I’m not sure and I doubt it, but I took enough clothes in case it was warm or cool, remembering what happened the week I was in New York in April that year for the mock United Nations conference with its uncharacteristically hot, not just warm, weather that week. Maybe climate change was a thing 50 years ago? More likely just a fluke.
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I remember the sweaters with the ties but did not have any. I did have nice several cardigans though, one a brown tweed with a matching vest underneath, and another a long beige fisherman’s knit with a tie. The clothes had much more style. I shopped last week and brown is back in this year but the clothes are all so big and sloppy, both tops and bottoms that it look ridiculous, esp. on short people like me. Watching the Jays lose to the Tigers. It is hopeless for the Jays this year, they have no pitchers and no one is really hitting. I think last year must have been a fluke. I doubt they will even get a wild card spot, and even if they did, there are too many teams who are much better. Re your luggage – it was such a wonderful thing when they invented luggage with wheels!
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I loved cardigans, back then and also later. I have some I’ve not worn in years since I worked on site, as they went with dress pants or even wool skirts as sets. I should never have to buy a cardigan again the rest of my days. I sometimes wonder what I am keeping them for as I often wear a hoodie in the house if it’s really cold in Winter. I loved fisherman’s knit sweaters and cardigans. I still a sweater in a melon color which I really like – that one I do wear indoors in Winter. Do you remember the Icelandic sweaters which were also popular in the 80s or 90s? I liked them as they were warm but did not have fuzzy hairs on them which could get in my eyes. I wore hard contacts for 35 years, so I always avoided any sweaters with long fuzzy fibers as it would be miserable to get a fiber in your eye and I’d have to remove the lens. My favorite colors have always been beiges and browns. When they didn’t make pants and jackets for tall women, I started making my own and bemoaning being so tall. I never had the luggage on wheels – you were fancier than me. I remember taking a huge fold-up luggage with me when I went on tours. You could pack a lot in those suitcases made by Sears and called “Feather-Lite” and if you were only on a one-night stop at a hotel, you didn’t have to unpack everything, but could just lay it out flat on the other bed. Everyone here is crowing about the victory over the Jays and that the Tigers have won six in a row. I heard they only have 10 or 11 games in the regular season left.
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I was out this afternoon and couldn’t watch the game, but I think the Jays won today. At least they won one out of three. I think the Tigers are 5 back for a wild spot so not likely they will get in? But the stats change day to day. Definitely the season is coming to an end, only 9 games left for the jays.
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After the Tigers’ six wins in a row, the Jays rallied back I’m guessing. The Tigers were not doing so hot all that long ago. I hope your Jays improve and get to the playoffs because what a shame they just missed winning the World Series by a hair last year!
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PS. I remember Bass shoes, but you couldn’t get them in Canada. I don’t remember what I wore on my feet?!
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The Bass shoes I had in these pictures were really comfortable, so I bought an oxblood-colored pair with a wedge heel and they were heavy and gave me blisters, a real disappointment. I had the Bass Weejuns too, the penny loafers where there’s a slot and you put a penny in. I think I had them when I was still wearing knee socks with skirts and dresses, then later on when long corduroy shorts were in style? I liked them as I could never find pants that fit me without looking like I was waitin’ for the floods, so this way I could have these instead and be stylish. This might have been mid-70s. You wore them with a long-sleeved turtleneck or long-sleeved tee-shirt. I did make a few pair of long shorts in wool plaid, but nothing in corduroy – plaid was difficult enough to lay out and match the pattern – at least you didn’t deal with the nap. Also, I remember in college having the workman shoes that laced up with yellow laces and pairing them with heavy socks. They weren’t workman shoes with steel toes, but looked like it – that was the style around 1973-74 and I remember my mom cringing when I brought them home.
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I don’t remember any of those Linda, but we were always behind the US in style. No corduroy shorts here, and only one pair of plaid pants early 70’s, and an orange plaid jumper which I wore with a black turtleneck which my dad said looked like a horse blanket! I did have a dress with hot pants/shorts one year. No workman shoes either. I wore a very plain navy skirt/pants and navy sweater with a white blouse uniform in high school, so clothes were limited to dress-up days once a month, then it was like 17 magazine, but it wasn’t worth the expense of having too large a wardrobe that you could only wear one day a month. In university it was just jeans and tops and sweaters. Clothes were bound to get stained with all the labs we had. My lab coat was a mess of colors after organic chemistry was over. We were only expected to dress up for hospital rotations, a skirt, and a clean white lab-coat, and that was in 4th years. I did have a long brown corduroy skirt which I loved in my final year, which I wore with boots.
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I forgot you went to Catholic school and had a uniform Joni. I laughed at your dad saying the plaid looked like a horse blanket – they did now that I think of it. I did like the long skirts and had several I wore to work in the Summer with ballet-style tops. They were flowy and light and I wore them with a big belt and sometimes with flatter shoes, especially when I knew I would be busy that day, it was nicer than high heels for a change. In the Winter, I had a dark green suede skirt and wore it with a cream-colored fisherman’s knit pullover with crewel flowers on it – the pullover was made of a cotton-type wool so not that warm. And I loved the boots too. We had no dress code at the last law firm where I worked – just no jeans, so I got into more of the slouch boots and long skirts. All of them are downstairs in the clothes cabinets and on the racks… yes, I should weed them out, but they were clothes I really loved once upon a time and it’s difficult to part with them.
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Miss Linda……………………………………….I enjoyed your Blog to “Tronno”………………………..I’ve never been there……………………………..thank you for all of the delightful news about your trip way back then………………………and pictures
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Thank you Ann Marie! I’m glad you enjoyed my time-traveling pictures from 50 years ago. It doesn’t seem possible it was a half-century ago.
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So many memories! All of the photos were great. I especially like the last one; there was a similar height difference between me and my maternal grandmother. I was so excited when I got taller than my grandmama! It took a while before I realized that she was short. (She was about 5’3″.)
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Thank you Linda! I remember we discussed both of us being tall and I remember your recent family group photo I could really tell you were about a head taller than the group. You are much taller than me. It’s funny because it seemed forever that Nanny was taller than me, then I shot up at about 13 years old and suddenly I was looking down at her for a change. My parents were both short – my father 5’3″ and my mom was 5’2″ … it wasn’t the milkman as I look just like my dad. 🙂
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I have two half-sisters and we get progressively taller. My oldest sister is 5’3″, my middle sister is 5’6″, and I’m 5’11”. My father was 6’4″; I have no idea how tall my sisters’ father was. They introduce me as their “baby” sister as I tower over them, LOL.
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Oh that is funny Linda. I have some pictures taken when I’m standing between my parents and I tower over them. Growing up, whenever my father took pictures he cut my head off in the picture, even if I was the only one in the shot.
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LOL.
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I enjoyed reading about the wonderful adventure you had on your visit to Toronto and looking all the photos. I know the memories made with your Grandma will always be deeply cherished. I’m glad that I never had to live through the olden days of corsets. I can’t even imagine the discomfort. 🙂
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Thank you Rebecca, I’m glad you enjoyed the post! It was a lot of fun creating this post and the other two 1976 posts in this series. I missed my grandmother very much after we moved to the States and only saw her perhaps four times a year – it was 240 miles one way to her house. At least after my grandfather died, she retired and was able to come and stay here every Summer, so that was a real treat. I used to watch Nanny strapping on that corset, cinching it to get dressed for church or if we went somewhere for dinner and I can’t imagine it either. How lucky we are to be modern women!! 🙂
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You got to see the Beach Boys? Lucky you! It was fun reading about your Nanny’s visit in 1976, and your visit to see her in Toronto. Precious memories of such a sweet grandmother you were very fortunate to know so well.
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I’m glad you liked this post and all my memories Barbara! Yes, I did see the Beach Boys at the Exhibition, but also two or three years in a row at Pine Knob Music Theatre here in Michigan. My friends from the newspaper staff and I used to get series tickets every Summer, lawn seats, for six shows. I remember they were always the same six groups every year: The Beach Boys, Chicago, America, The Four Tops, The Four Seasons … I can’t remember the last group and in order to reserve your tickets for the biggest shows (Beach Boys and Chicago), you had to order the whole series. The Beach Boys gave a really great show with everyone on their feet on the lawn, swaying to the music and singing. I was close to grandmother, so like my mom, was very sad when we moved over here, 240 miles one way and only got back to visit about four times a year.
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Linda, I am so glad you linked the older posts in this one because I has missed them. I wasn’t able to comment on them but wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed reading them. Your college experience/achievements were impressive.
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Thank you Ruth – that is very kind of you to say that! The year 1976 was the most memorable of my life, so at the beginning of this year, I decided to make it into four posts, three about me as to school/HFCC, then the Bicentennial and also my grandmother’s visit and then Leslie and my visit to my grandmother’s house; the first post as I couldn’t forget my mom’s 50th birthday on Valentine’s Day 1976 and our surprise when my grandmother and aunt walked up the stairs and into the kitchen to greet Mom, instead of me. Thank you again Ruth … I know the posts were long and picture-laden, but it was so fun reliving those great memories.
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I haven’t been keeping up on wordpress like I should so have missed some things, but I think these were as fun for me to read as they were for you to relive. 🙂
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Thanks for saying that Ruth. You have a lot going on your life, between the house and the farm and especially in the Summer when it is the growing season, so it’s difficult to keep up here too. I do hope I never run out of stories like these. I have not gotten out this Summer as I usually do and I’m hoping to get out more in the Fall, my favorite season.
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Wow what great memories and you brought some back for me! I was at the CNE and saw Chicago! Wouldn’t that be funny if we were there at the same time! You are right about the pronunciation of Toronto lol. Great memories Linda😊💕
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That year was a memorable one for sure for me Susan. It would be funny if we were there at the same time to see Chicago – what a coincidence! A fellow blogger lives in Oakville, where I lived before moving here and I mentioned going back to Toronto for my grandmother’s November birthday every year and I went to the art museum for the King Tut exhibit … she said she went to that exhibit too, so who knows, we might have run into each other there as well. I have to smile when the sportscasters here mention the Toronto teams and say the whole word “Toronto” … someone has to tell them!
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Oh wow! I was at that exhibit too! I bought a little stuffed bear dressed like an Egyptian 😃 that’s too funny that we actually may have seen each other!
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That is funny! Now I would have bought that bear as I was already collecting bears at the time. I know I bought a picture book of the exhibit and saved the ticket as it was cool and had King Tut’s picture on the ticket.
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It would be funny if we might have seen each other Susan! I went into a post I did in 2017 about cleaning the basement after having insulation blown in and unearthing this treasure trove of stuff I saved. I tried to send the link to just the picture, but the post is too old, but if you scroll down, I was there on November 10, 1979.
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