My favorite toy

Each age of childhood has it's favorite toy. I'm not talking about the most popular, but rather to each child there is a favorite toy.

7 year old Mary loved Sixfinger. The secret agent craze (cold war) was in full swing in 1965 and microfilm was just beginning to find it's way into the everyday conversations. Miniature cameras, codes, hidden phones in SHOES of all places.
I had to share my Sixfinger with my 5 year old brother, who promptly lost parts of it. Sigh




10 year old Mary didn't have a specific favorite toy and not even a manufactured toy, but rather the dress ups were the favorite. Go figure. . huh? Who would want to dress up a doll when you could dress yourself up. And ohhhhh, when we moved into the house that had a playhouse in the backyard!!! I was in 7th heaven. . .till the now 8 year old little brother decided to make the playhouse into a gulag and fight off the enemy (me).


14. . .awww 14. . .No toys. . .a transistor radio! and listening to KYES Roseburg Oregon. And Saturday afternoon at 2pm was the All request show! You had to fill out your request slip and put it into the box at the Red Wing shoe store in town by Friday morning to get your request in.





At 16 you would think toys were done with, but nooooo. Much like today when teenagers like to revert back to childhood and carry around Hello Kitty stuff. . .I carried around Holly Hobbie. . .yes. . .Holly hobbie when she first came out, 1974. And I bought a 8 inch doll. I still have her somewhere. . .what does that say about me?

As an adult I think my favorite toy would be my Ipod and has been for 6-7 years now. But of course Jerry wouldn't call it a toy, he calls it a nuisance. Yet recently a new toy has entered my life, thanks to my German friends, Birgit & Reimer.


We saw this in Tolz Germany on our trip last year and became entranced by it. Looks simple doesn't it. Take a marble and drop it on the top "branch" of this rainbow tree and it tumbles down making a wonderful Marimba (wood zylophone) sound.


What was your favorite toy?

Ground Hog Day. . .sorta

Last Year, in preperation for our trip to Germany, spcifically visiting Karlsruhe, I wanted to get a better idea of what the landscape looked like in that region. It is the SW corner of Germany. Thanks to current Technology I can do that. With a quick SEARCH on webcams in the area I can start seeing weather, traffic, even local pubs/shops and residences. I can also see local attractions and the animal kingdom.

One of these cameras became a favorite of mine very quickly.
A stork Cam.
When I first clicked on it there were two teen age storks in it and a set of parents.
I watched them through the summer. And by September they disappeared.

In December I started to check every morning as I sign on my computer for work. I can't wait for the mated pair to come back and start making a new family for this year. I want to see the babies hatch from eggs this time.

This is a very small picture, the only one I could find. I can't capture off the webcam anything. It is best to go visit the link and see for yourself.
The cool thing is you can see the town and the Gasthaus (resturant on the right side) has installed solar panels on the roof. During their bad snow storm in december everything was covered with about 10 inches of snow, but not the solar panels.

It is sorta like waiting for the ground hog, when I see the storks I know that spring has arrived.

Wind it up

There are two buckets full of wind up toys in the Nana room. The grandkids actually ask me to bring them out and they play with all of them. Yes there are favorites among the hopping, spinning, flapping & walking creatures. Some of them are new creations and some are vintage like the Woodstock of Peanuts fame.
There is one windup vintage toy character that none of the kids knew. They had asked me previously who it was and it took me a while to decide how to explain him. Last night he was brought out again and the renewed interest began. This time with Mommy around we tried to explain E.T.


I happen to have the movie on DVD and suggested we all watch it together. Mommy was not so sure they were ready for it. These grandchildren are 3-5-7 years old and can be sensitive to sad stories. After dinner we put the movie in. Unfortunately Mommy said when she was a little girl she was afraid at the beginning so that put it in their minds that it was a spooky story. They all wanted to sit next to Mommy with the blanket.

I know I should have taken pictures. But let’s just say it was soooooooo darn cute watching everyone experience E.T. for the first time. Joy thinks he is scary but loves Gertie (Drew Barrymore). Korban was really immersed in how Elliot was trying to take care of E.T., And Kentucky was able to predict the “Feelings” E.T. was having about wanting to go home. He also loved (jumped all over the living room) the bike race at the end and helping E.T. escape.

Over all it was wonderful. As Mommy and I watched we also noticed all the bloopers, clothing/costume choices, toys in the closet and Product Placement (Reeses Pieces, Coors Beer, etc.). This made it even interesting to us. Even Grandpa said it was the first time he had seen all three kids engrossed in the same movie. They never left the room.

Now my little wind up toy has a special meaning to 3 more kids.
Phone Home. . . . . . . .