Why I Oughta...

Over the weekend, I posted a vintage photo of my family 1 at Walt Disney World back in the early 1980's and talked about how I wasn't sure EXACTLY where the photo was taken nor was I sure why my sister and I were wearing these white tags on our clothes.  Here, again, is the photo in question below showing three of us wearing Mickey Ears and my mom looking very chic in the Florida heat. See those tags on me and my Sister next to me that seem to be pinned or tied to our shirts?  Earlier this week, I posted about the details and solved *that* part of the mystery:  those are "Lost Parent" Tags with Mickey and Minnie Mouse on them .    But, I still didn't know the location.  Of course, we're in a hat shop.  And, the cast member is wearing some sort of lederhosen-like outfit.  But, was it in Epcot @ the Germany pavillion?  Was it at The Chapeau in Magic Kingdom?  I wasn't sure.   But, I knew that someone WOULD know the location....

My sister Vic sent me this photo of us at Walt Disney World from when we were very young.  It is my Mom (very stylish, right?), my second oldest sister Sharon, my sister Vic and - of course - myself.  I'm assuming my oldest sister is the one taking the photo, right?  We're all wearing Mickey Ears and my mom is holding a fourth pair in the photo.  But, where are we?  It seems like we are (obviously) in a hat shop, but looking at the cast member's uniform, I wonder if there's a way to figure out the location.  Is this inside The Chapeau in the Magic Kingdom - the big hat shop?  Or, are those lederhosen that the Cast Member is wearing?  Could this be inside the Germany Pavillion at Epcot?   I can't confirm this, but my parents tell me that they went to Walt Disney World during the opening year of Magic Kingdom - so sometime between October 1971 and September of 1972.  And, if that is, indeed, true, might my Mom have booked another trip...

Earlier in March, posted a few pennants from my childhood including this 1984 Illini Rose Bowl beauty , this vintage totally 80's Epcot Center pennant and this pair of Chicago Sting ones from their time at the Rosemont Horizon. Today comes a pair of Chicago Bears pennants from 1984 and 1985:  both featuring NFC championships.  The first one is from 1984 - the year BEFORE THE YEAR - when they (apparently) won the 1984 NFC Central Division Championship.   Next up is this NFC Champions pennant that calls out Super Bowl XX in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on January 26, 1986.  But, I'm pretty sure that this one was printed AFTER they won the Conference Title game and BEFORE the Super Bowl. These totally remind me of my childhood.  And...of course, they remind me of my dad.  The original collector in my life. 

In two-tone brown.  Saw this as we were heading south on I-355 recently and I absolutely INSISTED that Nat use my phone to snap a pic of this beauty.  Paint it two-tone blue (powder blue on top, navy on the bottom) and this IS the Dream Machine.  As named by my childhood friend Steve Blocker. Just look at the length of this thing.  Can you imagine driving this?  It almost seems more appropriate to a church group than a normal family, doesn't it? The Dream Machine was my Dad's van that was a fixture of my childhood.  So many memories in that van.  Lots of laughs.  Some embarrassment.  And a bunch of bonding.  All in a van.  Ours was a 1978, so if this one is of the same vintage, that'd make this a 42 year old van.  That is still on the road.  Incredible.

I came across this photo of Valley View Pool - later named the Frankfort Township Pool through a friend who found it Via Frankfort Deleted on Facebook here .  That photo above is NOT mine, it came from Frankfort Deleted  - which is run, I think by Pam Biesen, a mother of one of my grammar school classmates(!!) - who I presume got it from somewhere else. Based on some of the cars, this photo was taken in the Summer of 1959. Or maybe the Summer of 1960.  The reason that I'm saying that is that I showed the image to my Dad and he was able to identify *some* of the cars.  He spied: a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Sunliner (the yellow one on the far right), a 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 (the red one second from the right), a 1958 Chrysler , a 1955 Buick and a 1950 Plymouth (this one is easy because there's one car - the grey one - that doesn't look like the rest of the cars, right?). I'm saying Summer of 1959 or 1960.  Why?  Because the *newest* car shown in ...

All of the childhood feels with this one.  I've posted other LJN World Wrestling Federation Wrestling Superstars here on the blog.  Here's a Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake one that is mint-on-card, too.  And another of Nikolai Volkoff that my kids now play with as part of their toys. This one is of Jake "The Snake" Roberts and isn't one that I played with as a kid, but do have as an adult.  Weird, right?  This one has French (I think?) on it, so it was sold in Canada, maybe? Off you go to a good home.  While collectors like me have disposable income.  Don't want to become the Model-T of action figures, right?

My mom has begun cleaning out her attic and has started to deliver a lot of my personal effects to our house over the past few weeks.  The timing is great because we're having a garage (really...a "yard") sale next week.  At the bottom of one of the boxes that contained a bunch of childhood items were these three vintage Matchbox Disney cars.  Guess who I didn't really love?  Looking at you, Minnie.  Compare the paint job on Jiminy Cricket - and how banged up he is - compared to the relatively untouched Minnie.  Also, see that "TJ" on the front hood of Jiminy's Rolls Royce?  That's what I was called for a few years when I was a little one.  I actually don't remember that period, but I'm reminded every once in a while when one of my Aunt's calls me that at a family gathering. Don't worry.  These cars aren't going in the garage sale.  The Babe had asked recently for some 'cars' - after playing with them at her friend Mic...