Were you a kid in the Fifties or earlier? Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-somethings shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad?
Judge for yourself:
In 1953:
The US population was less than 150 million ... Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better ...And that was good.
The average annual salary was under $3,000 ... Yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life ...And that was good.
A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents ... But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one ...And that was good.
Prime-time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriett, and Lassie ... So nobody'd ever heard of ratings or filters ... And that was good.
We didn't have air-conditioning ... So the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike ...And that was good.
Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins...But not Ms Becky or Mr. Dan ... And that was good.
The only hazardous material you knew about ... Was a patch of grassburrs around the light pole at the corner ... And that was good.
Most families needed only one job ... Meaning Mom was home when school let out ...And that was good.
You loved to climb into a fresh bed ... Because sheets were dried on the clothesline ...And that was good.
People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives ...So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles ...And that was good.
TV was in black-and-white, if you had TV at all ... But all outdoors was in glorious color... And that was certainly good.
Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor ... And the Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs ... And that was very good.
Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard ... And chickens behind the garage ... And that was definitely good.
And just when you were about to do something really bad ... Chances were you'd run into your Dad's high school coach ... Or the nosy old lady from up the street ... Or your little sister's piano teacher ...Or somebody from church ... ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number...and YOUR first name....and even that was good.
What could have possibly been behind that fence that could have sent all those mature women, scrambling, climbing, lifting someone up, risking injury, possibly breaking the law.....................Here it is.........a house!!! Was it a celebrities house? No.....just a house.
Albeit a nice house......it's just a house. Girls, we need to get a life again.
Isn't this a beautiful scene! How picturesque! It was taken by a friend who has joined up with the notorious "Biddys" of Washington State. She is not old enough to be a true biddy but she is a "Biddy Buddy" and we all love her. She takes beautiful pictures........the scene is the Pacific Ocean in all it's glory. The occasion, a week long outing with some of the Biddy's and some "Biddy Buddys".
Isn't this a lovely picture of a group of mature women, walking the beach, enjoying the camaraderie, the smells, the sand, the sun, the spiritual friendships, God's glory..........
"Oh Look! What have we here? Is that property that adjoins the beach? Let's go up and see who lives there.....come on you guys, up here.......follow us."
"Wow, this place is awesome! Look at the beautiful house and look at the beautiful landscaping.
I know we can't get in but let's just peek through the knot holes and cracks in the fence."
Farkle Face says, "You guys, I really want to see in there, isn't there some way to get in or at least get a better look?" Someone else replies, "No, we are too old and mature to break into someone's yard.......aren't we?"
Well, guess not because obviously this Senior Citizen, with a little from her friends, scaled a wall, and.......
reached inside and unlocked the gate.......
Don't believe me......see below!!!
And the really funny thing is the fact that these women are all in their late 60's and have been pulling these sort of shenanigans for most of their lives and now we have the pictures to prove it. Thanks Cbev for providing me with so much laughter.....I truly felt like I was there.
I really love my friends. Since I had such a small family, my girlfriends have always been my "family". I have spent as many holidays at their houses or their family's houses as I ever did my own growing up.
You can't pick your siblings but you CAN pick your girlfriends and I have done a wonderful job of that. (not good at picking a mate but really good at picking my "Pals")
This isn't a picture of us. It could be if we had known each other when we were this age.
We are all about the same age, give or take a few years, but other than that, the differences start......High brow, low brow, and everything in between. Fancy tastes, home-style tastes, in the middle tastes and in some cases, no taste at all. But we won't go there as this is a tribute not a roast. NO, this isn't a picture of when we were younger. Trust me, we never looked like this!!!!!
We have been through love affairs, broken hearts, broken parts, divorces, loss of parents, the loss of a child, diets, diseases like Cancer, that are really scary and others that are just pesky. We have shared with each other, gotten angry with each other, cried with each other, prayed with each other but most of all we have laughed and laughed and laughed. Pulled jokes, pranks, and some down right dirty tricks stealing treasures from each other. We have baby sat for each others kids, animals, relatives, including the newest generation, the grand kids. We have ridden together in hot cars, old trucks, RV's , on motorbikes, buses, airplanes, and on horses side by side.
Now here is a more believable picture. Ha ha haaa!! 
We have secret sayings like "who's a pompus ass", and "the older we get the goofier we get" and there is always, "the men may come and the men may go but we've still got each other". When someone says it, we all crack up, much to the amazement of those who don't get it.
We had added new people over the years as we really are a loving group and if you can stand us then we guess we can stand you. But you gotta be able to laugh or be laughed at and to see the humor in the mundane. It's just part of being called a "Biddy".
We have a new generation of Biddy's.....our daughter's and daughter-in-laws and hopefully they will carry on this wonderful tradition by being Itty Bitty Biddys or Biddy's in training. I know one, for sure cares this title proudly.
Since I branched off and headed to California I have had the good fortune to find another wonderful group of friends here in Santa Rosa. The SR chapter of Biddys are a fine group of ladies who are loving, supportive, and also love to laugh.
Here is to all of you, My Dears, and I hope and pray that the last time we see each other in this life will not be the last time we ever see each other.
Thanks for so many wonderful years and many, many more to come.
'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there'
Age is really relative.
It's about 1981. A gorgeous Saturday in June. As was usual back then; I was spending the weekend at Kathy's place.
Kathy and I had a date to meet friends at noon and go riding (I think....) We got up early, fed the horses and decided to go to Duvall for breakfast.
My new son-in-law Russel loved my hot, blue '73 Chevy short box, step-side, truck with deep dish mag rims and headers. I, in turn, loved his little bright yellow Triumph Spitfire sports car. We often, traded cars for the weekend.
Kathy and I had the Spitfire and the perfect weekend for it. We took the top off and headed to town.
At that time, Duvall had only one block of secondary street on the west side of the street.
We turned west off the main road and parked between the Restaurant and a Nursery. We had a leisurely, breakfast and then cruised the nursery.
We spent enough time in the Nursery to forget which car we came in. I got a real deal on a 6 foot tall flowering cherry tree, in bloom and Kathy got an azalea.
As we headed back to the car; we noticed there were a lot more cars parked on our back street. Then, we heard bands and engines tuning up.
Kathy remembered it was the day for the Duvall Days Parade. It starts at the south end of town, goes down the main street and turns onto the bridge that goes west out of town.
We had a good laugh when we spotted our car. We considered leaving the tree at the nursery but I found space for the root ball behind and between, the seats. We settled the tree in. It looked quite pretty sticking about 3 feet above the seat with pretty pink blossoms hanging over our heads. Kathy had the azalea on her lap. We started up to the street to find the parade was going down the main drag and we were stuck on the side street! We were going to miss our company if we had to wait for the entire parade to go by!
As Kathy said about 7 years later, "Sheesh! The older we get, the Goofier we get".
I took a second to teach her how to wave like the Queen. (No hand flapping. Just a rigid, rotating, 'high sign'...). Told her to smile no matter what, found a gap and shot onto the street between a float and a band!
We were that little yellow 'float' decorated with hanging, pink blossoms, with two 'dignitaries' smiling and waving side-to-side to the crowd and one of them holding an azalea on her lap..
We were in the parade for about 4 blocks. As the parade turned onto the bridge, we went straight and sped out of town towards Kathy's.
We laughed all the way home and made it in time to go riding.
From L to R, Trudy, Pdot, Joybelle, Horsey Gal, Ellen, Tanya, Farkle, Cherie, Attebetty
Don't you just love a plan when it works!!!!
My friend, Attebetty, with her superior intelligence, has always intimated that she can't be surprised. I picked up that gauntlet, so subtley thrown down, and was determined to surprise her for her Birthday. See, I live 618 air miles away from my Pals.
On April 20th Attebetty turned 66. I tried to get there to surprise her on that day but it didn't work out. So we hatched up another plan. Horsey Gal hosted a Belated Birthday Party for Attebetty. And unbeknown to her, I had flown in.
Well, all the old friends gathered together for lunch over a week after her Birthday and some said they even mentioned the only thing missing was me. Little did they know I was getting closer and closer by car driven by my DIL, Tanya..
We arrived about an hour after all had gathered. We parked and I bent over to keep the top of my head out of sight. I opened the back door and as soon as I did, Horsey Gal started to walk towards the door then turned around and loudly said, " I feel like singing' and started singing Happy Birthday. I came in the door partially hidden by her and then she stepped aside as I got right in front of the VERY SURPRISED guest of honor seated at the dining room table. She just sat there staring at me for about 30 seconds until her brain could catch up with what was going on. She jumped up and started to cry and ran around the table to hug me. Gotcha!!!
The sign in the front was a gift to her and we all wrote on the back.
