Bittersweet Days

The sweet...we celebrated my Mother's 85th birthday! All she requested

was a family dinner, cake and a trip to Columbus to see the campus and

 new Student Union of her Alma Mater. Yes, The Ohio State University!

Mom loves to go out to The Dock for seafood...

The pretty roses we gave her...

Her cake and some of her cards.

Then we celebrated my brother Jim's 45th a few days later!

AS he is a huge OSU fan too, he was happy to celebrate 

some of his special day in

Columbus too!

My Mom was having such a good time!

Brutus as Woody!

Archie Griffin was such a great athlete and we have met him

a time or two. He is as wonderful a gentleman as he was an athlete!

The new Student Union is glorious!

We had lunch at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Grill!

Good food and service and what fun to be

surrounded by all the OSU Buckeye memorabilia!

It was such a wonderful day...sadly, the bitter arrived just a

 few days later Mom was hospitalized,

 had emergency surgery and was in hospital for 11 days. 

I spent most every day there and often, the nights as well.

I can not thank the wonderful staff of Miami Valley Hospital more.

Thankfully Mom is now home, still getting her strength back but doing well.

I also want to thank our friends and family for their prayers, calls, visits,

food, cards and love. I will never forget it.

I hope your Summer is going well and that you are finding

ways to stay cool!

Sending my love to you all.

Hugs,

Susie Q

How Did We Survive?

No cable television, no video games and no CD players. 

But we did have transistor radios and AM radio! 

 Medicine did not have child proof lids.

 There were no, or little used, seat belts in cars.

Parents smoked right in front of us...and 

even while *expecting* us! 

 Our sodas were loaded with sugar,

 we ate white bread slathered in real butter and drank

 full fat milk. We rode our bikes 

with no helmets...yet we survived. How did we do it? 

 We had fun. Uh huh. We did. 

And there was nothing unsafe about any of these toys right?

Right?

Here are some of the things that I enjoyed in the 1960s.

 Do any of them look familiar to you?

 Toys in those days didn’t come with warnings

 about small parts or sharp edges or  fumes.

Between toxic fumes,


 fire hazards,

the potential for losing a 

limb (or an eye) and even poisoning 
I am surprised we survived!

Who would have thought that just by


 the sheer fact that you

 are reading this you are


 (hopefully) a survivior... 

Okay, so a few kids impaled themselves 

with these things...

does that mean that none of us can play

 with them? Come on now...

Let's experiment with atomic energy 

and "blow things up real good"!

It came with three "very low-level"

 radioactive sources,

 four samples of Uranium-bearing ores,

 and an Electroscope 

to measure radioactivity. 

The neighbor kids must have been

 positively glowing with envy.

Nothing unsafe about a hot metal unit that 

could reach 3,000 degrees to heat up the Plasti-Goop

or the toxic fumes it produced. 

Nope.

Imagine the hours of fun that 

could have been had if you 

had this toy and the atom lab...wow. Good Times.

Loved the sound they made...but never mind

cousin  Bobby's front teeth. 

Or that kid up the

street who has to wear

 the eye patch for a month...

Yeah...and you can always chew on the stuff too...

I am sure there was nothing dangerous about it!

We made our OWN zip lines back then...

ever try it from the house's roof top? 

My friend Andy did. I sure miss that boy.

Learning tool and gun all in one!

Flies a whole 4 feet or more! 

The better to put the eye out of the nasty kid 

up the block!

Just don't burn your retinas too...

Maybe not dangerous but wrong on so many levels...

Came with the coolest cutting tool...

...my next door neighbor,

 3 Fingered Sally,

LOVED this toy!

And when we tired of these toys there were always

M-80s, BB Guns, Swiss Army Pocket Knives 

and Cherry Bombs to play with...

I mean, you HAD to have the Cherry Bombs 

and M-80s to blow up 

your GI Joe didn't you?

Uh huh...life was simpler back then. 

Cheaper too obviously!

Stay safe now...

Hugs,

Susie Q