Nutrcracker Suite

Here is one of the 45 rpm classical music boxed sets that my dad gave to me. The sets are from the 50s and vary in the number of records in them. My example, The Nutcracker Suite, has three made of clear red vinyl. The Beethoven's Ninth Symphony set had eight records while the Mikado is a two volume set with a total of eleven records.

The artwork on the box sets vary as well. Some like the Nutcracker set have very creative illustrations. Others are rather bland with just the name of the composer, the piece, orchestra, conductor, and some of the performers. The sets also came with inserts that have a some information on the composer and piece being performed.

My Dad collected these record sets when he was in the service. He liked them because they are compact and he moved around a lot. He also has a 45 rpm record players with the auto changer that I will probably take as well even though it needs some work. These records are fun to listen to but it's a bother to keep changing the records with the player I have now.

December Again

Well it's December again and I'm not ready. I've been trying to organize things and making a bigger mess. We haven't got a tree or started to decorate yet.

Actually, I just put up a festive fireplace screen I got from my parents. My parents are going to be moving soon. They are moving from a four bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment. My sisters and I have been helping them go through the things they have accumulated through the years. That means I've been adding to my accumulation of stuff. So far I've taken the rocking chair they got the year I was born, my mom's cookbooks and cookie cutters, my dad's collection of 45s in boxed sets, lots of books, and some of my old artwork from school. I also got some art supplies, dad's artwork, and an unfinished painting of his that he thinks I should finish (oh! the pressure!)

I've posted a photo of a wonderful pin I got from my parents back in 1975 for our first Christmas in that house. The pin is two inches tall by 1 and 1/4 of an inch wide.

Happy Halloween!

Here is an old photo of my sisters and I. We had just moved from an apartment in San Francisco to a brand new house in a new neighborhood in San Jose. This was our first time Trick or Treating.



I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

Baseball Super Freaks

Here are some trading stickers from my childhood that I thought were long gone. These are from the 1973 Baseball Super Freaks by Don Russ. There were 44 stickers in the series but I only have 40 of them. They bring back memories of summertime when we used to get these and Slurpees (in DC comic book heroes collector cups) from the local 7-Eleven store.

So, who do you think "Henry the Horrible" was based on?

Champions!

A young relative of mine recently posted a picture of their Champions Online character on Facebook. The game has changed a lot since my friends and I played Champions back in the early 1980s. It’s probably easier to set up a character and keep track of all of its super powers and other attributes. The characters and backgrounds look pretty cool, too.

Dan and I found some of the old character sheets that we used back then. We would create our characters by looking up the various super hero powers, skills and disadvantages in the game book. The sheets were filled in with all of our character’s information and we hoped they’d never get lost as we seldom made copies. The sheets also had rudimentary figures sketches that we would customize with character’s costumes.

Here are some of the characters that were created by me and some of my friends that played back then.

“Pixie” was my character. She was an alien that could fly, but only when she was tiny. She also had bracelets that shot energy beams.

Rick was inspired by Greek mythology when he created “Polyphemus”. This was the big, strong guy.

Wheatie Man was by Brian and I have no idea what he was thinking about when he created this. It’s been years since I’ve seen Brian so I can’t ask him.

The last one was by Jennifer, another friend I lost track of. She didn’t write down her character’s name and I don’t remember what it was. He looked like a smaller version of the Thing and had martial art skills. I don’t recall her being into comic books so maybe she borrowed a few for ideas.

Happy Birthday Barbie!

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Barbie doll. Barbie Doll debuted on March 9th, 1959 at the American International Toy fair in New York city. She has changed in appearance many times over the past 50 years but will always be my favorite doll.

I got my first Barbie doll in the spring of 1968. She was a second hand doll purchased at a church bazaar. Although the doll was an older model, with straight-legs and a ponytail hair style, she provided many years of fun. In the early 1970s I received a few newer dolls to add to my little family of Barbie dolls. Unfortunately, I no longer have my original dolls due to some strange whim in my late teens that led me to give them all away.

In the mid 1990s Mattel started creating vintage reproductions of the older Barbie dolls. I purchased a few of them as well as newer dolls to add to my collection so the fun continues!

The photo above is of my Solo in the Spotlight vintage reproduction doll. I altered the photo using Adobe Photoshop.

This Year's Tree Topper

This tree spire will be topping our tree this year. We found it at an antique store in Carpenteria just after Christmas last year. It is similar to the spire my family had when I was a kid. I will post pictures after we have decorated our tree.

Happy Hollow

These pictures are from Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose, CA. Dan and I took a short trip there last summer. Happy Hollow was a place I used to visit when I was a child. The park has been there since 1961 and I wanted to see it again before someone got the idea to close it. It was good that we saw it when we did. The park and zoo will be closed in July for some major renovations and won't be open until fall of 2009.

The one part of Happy Hollow that I remembered the most was Danny the Dragon. How could anyone forget something so cool! I had vague recollections of the Small Carousel and the Mini Putt Putts. I didn't remember King Neptune's Carousel or the Granny Bugs.

We will have to make a trip there after it opens again to see the changes.

Vintage Tree Topper

This is a recent eBay purchase. We will get a tree this weekend so we can display the topper and all of the decorations that have been in storage.