The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: What’s your favorite childhood memory?
Talk about it….
29 comments
My back not hurting!
Not having to pay bills 😃
We moved to the Pleasant Hill / Martinez boarder off Alhambra Ave. There were still a lot of hills to roam at that time. Totally loved the peace & quiet and all the wildlife to see. Still a outdoor baby…. 🙂
Didn’t have to shave.
Living without a care in the world. I grew up in San Francisco when George Christopher, a Republican, was mayor, and it was safe to be a kid. I would wander around the city by bus and by foot. My friends and I would go downtown and mess around, other times we’d go to Playland, or to the Sutro Museum and have a good time. Another thing we did was visit Coit Tower or walk around Chinatown. Then we’s head off to Fisherman’s Wharf and visit the Maritime Museum. In those days, there were so many free things for a kid to do in the City. Fleishacker Pool was an Olympic size saltwater swimming pool near the zoo that was free to use, even the zoo was free.
Another fond memory is watching TV as a family. There weren’t a lot of TV channels to choose from, and the most popular TV shows were sitcom’s, western’s, and detective shows. So it was pretty easy to decide what we wanted to watch. We’d all sit down in the living room and watch TV together.
Good stuff…thanks for your story
Going to Blue lakes in lake county with my parents. Fishing with my dad, what I wouldn’t give just to do that again!
Went camping with the family when I was 4. We drove to Yellowstone, Glacier, and finally to Banff. The highlight was one day that Dad and I took the canoe out onto Lake Minnewonka (sp?) and fished for “monsters”.
Dad did the trolling (we had a small outboard motor) and the fishing and I was just along for the ride. He didn’t catch anything until late in the day. A BIG strike on Dad’s line. The fight was on and lasted about 30 minutes. Eventually, the promised “monster” emerged. It barely fit in the net and it was the biggest fresh water fish I’ve ever seen on the end of a line.
By now, the weather was turning and we were miles from the marina. The wind was whipping and there were whitecaps everywhere. I was thrilled but Dad told me years later that he was pretty worried. Finally the lake patrol found us and hoisted the canoe onto their deck. We headed to the marina while the crew wrapped us up in blankets. Some other kid onboard shared his jelly beans with me.
The boat radioed ahead that we had caught a huge fish and there were reporters when we hit the shore. Dad had landed what turned out to be a 3.5 ft., 25 lb lake trout that was the lake record for the year! It is still mounted in his family room (Next to the sailfish, mahi mahi, and barracuda).
WHAT A DAY!!!
The one I remember the most was feeding all of the animals twice a day on the farm. Seven days a week. I find it funny when someone has to remind their kid to feed the dog.
Disneyland at New Orleans square going on the rides with my family. Unfortunately with the crowds and such that world no longer exists.
Running and playing with our dog in our two acres of Walnuts on Concord Boulevard.
Not have to wear a MASK!
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Playing catch with my dad (RIP).
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Playing in the abandoned town of Cowell with my friends.
Riding dirt bikes out in the open and nobody complaining
Mrs. Wormer
Me and my crew in summer of 1975 went down to goof off at a nearby creek. We used to play there on our summer days in Bunker Hill area of Houston, Texas. On this day we lifted up a discarded car hood that some jerk dumped into the creek. Under it was a huge alligator snapping turtle … HUGE. Probably 40lbs. We worked for about 2 hours trying to capture him. We did. We dragged it home by its tail and built him a pen in my sandbox in my backyard. We played with him all day and all the kids in the neighborhood were impressed with our catch. Next day he was gone. Escaped. Next door neighbor found him walking down the street and recaptured him and took him back to his home in the creek.
How do you play with an Alligator Snapping Turtle?
I had one when I was a kid in the 60’s and you could still buy one in California…. fed him minnows and nightcrawlers.
He started getting bigger and after a couple years I decided to let him go in Heather Pond with all those red eared slider turtles before he could bite my fingers off.
He could still be there……
Play = getting him to bite stuff like twigs, and general harassment. We thought up a plan to sell him to the Houston zoo and were sure we would get at least 75 bucks for our amazing turtle. We were 7 years old. Dumb kids bored and broke during summer break.
Sounds like it could be a good episode of South Park!
Growing up in the late forties and fifties 30 miles south of Copenhagen, trips to Copenhagen was the highlight of my childhood. Believe it or not, but some of the children I went to school with had never been to Copenhagen. I had an aunt and uncle living there, and my parents had friends there. When visiting my aunt and uncle the highlight was going to Tivoli Garden, the Zoo, and a botanical garden, my cousin was 5 years older, and when she got to be a teen-ager , we took the trolley to the center of town to go to one of the big fancy movie theaters. When I got old enough I was allowed to go alone, I remember I saw the original German version of “Sound of Music” with Maria Schell, it was not a musical. I also remember before one of the main attractions there were often a short travel film. One was from New York and I was so taken with the Statue of Liberty, and that you could walk up her arm, I swore one day I was going to New York and do just that. I lived in New York for 4 years and Connecticut for 2 years, and although I of course have seen the Statue of Liberty, and taken a boat tour right by her, I have never walked up her arm, don’t think you can do it anymore, but think you could in the sixties. At least I got to New York.
Yes, but nothing I can share here.
Climbing trees, jumping short cliffs, cutting apricots in the summer with our friends as we lived in the country growing up and the properties were large so we’d play basketball too. Going with my dad as a small girl everywhere he went on a Saturday, as we were always outside doing yardwork and he’d sing to me on the way to dump it all with his white tee-shirt and red hat in his pick- up truck Then he took the soap bar out of the little box and smiled at me and said, “here’s your little purse.”
Too many.
Before we had properly paved streets I remember making tar balls in the summer. Streets were gravel with liquid tar coating. In the summer heat the tar would bubble and become pliable on the periphery. The surface was coated with dust but below that it was plenty sticky. Ball that up and stick it in the freezer it would become like glass and would shatter when thrown against something hard. Downside was mom scrubbing our fingernails of the inevitable residue.
Many good memories growing up in Concord. Outdoor activities with my Granpa, he was laid back, unlike my Dad who really didn’t care for things like that. Catfishing, camping and squirrel hunting with my Granpa would probably be at the top on my list. For me then it couldn’t get any better than sitting on a levee in the Delta with a sleeve of Saltines, a can of Vienna Sausages and a cold Pepsi waiting for a catfish nibble with him. I learned more about how “life” works during those fishing and camping trips than anywhere else I believe. I reflect on those days a lot as I get older, Granpa was right….well, most of it.
I am enjoying your posts on this topic very much, and Hanne, your memories fascinate me. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite of mine, but I loved it when we visited my uncle’s Texas ranch and I could ride around with him in his old pickup truck to feed the cattle. Also, many Sunday afternoons were spent at a private lake near our small town where my dad would fish and my mother would read her magazines on the dock while I roamed the woods by myself. Sometimes I would take along a book and climb a tree where I would sit and read for a while.
Moved to Concord in 67. Rode bikes everywhere…Parks, Frosty Freeze…Movies….Actually went swimming in the Pond at Willow Pass Park… Yuck ! Playing Baseball in the Street…No traffic back then… Loved Going Camping every Summer in Our 16′ travel trailer…Yosemite, Mt. Lassen…Yellowstone…Grand Canyon…Disneyland…Boating on the Delta….Learned to Waterski on Coeur d’ Alene Lake in Idaho… Enjoyed Marine World near Redwood City…..Great America…Santa Cruz…..For me Growing Up was Great Fun !
Taking the southern pacific train ride from sacramento to alabama where my grandmother lived when I was 7 with my family. Sleeping in a compartment on the train and eating in the dinning car. Stopping at different train stations on the way and getting off to buy souvenirs and post cards.
For many years my parents rented a lot at a lake in Northwestern Minnesota about two hours from my home town. They put an old trailer on the space and a boat on a buoy. We’d go weekends and during dad’s vacation time. Fishing, canoeing, water skiing, campfires and hanging with cousins and other teenagers we met. I still can’t believe how lucky I was.
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