Thursday, March 26, 2009

more fun with dick and jane

My great-grandfather was a elementary school principal. My father happened to go to the school that he resided over. The same school, incidentally, that I went to some thirty years later. The school itself was built around the turn of the century. It had ornate brass hardware and black and pink penny tiles in the girls bathroom. They tore down my school last year to make way for a new fandangled building which will have automated sinks instead of the charming little asterisk knobs for cold and hot water. I am bothered by the fact that the town I grew up in has so little respect for historic buildings.

And I can guarantee they aren't using Dick and Jane readers anymore. They probably threw those out like so much trash. Little did they know their worth. A vintage Dick and Jane reader sells for hundreds of dollars now. The same readers that I learned to read with. The same readers that I wrote little hearts on and doodled my name.
Most people that learned to read with Dick and Jane are my parents age. But my little town didn't more out of the fifties until the early nineties. And so I have a soft spot in my heart for Dick and Jane and Sally and Spot and what was the cat's name? Fluffy? No Puff.

I started a little project yesterday and I'm almost finished.

I pieced the top and I'm crocheting around the edge. My scallop edge isn't as "scallopy" as I'd like but it'll do.

It's not as girly as the other things I've been making for our baby, but it will match our new stroller that Ben ordered. It came this morning and I was able to assemble it even with my melon brain.


I was so proud of myself I took myself out for sushi.

7 comments:

Sandy said...

i totally LOVE that stroller - totally sushi worthy..(-:

Emily said...

My parents still have their Dick & Jane readers. I loved them as a kid.

Laura said...

I just threw out our glider/rocker...got it over 10 years ago...and the fabric was Dick and Jane! Loved it.

QuirkyGirl said...

Your pram is lovely! It made me smile after I was saddened about your old school being destroyed. I grew up in Europe and in the south were old things are cherished. I wish the rest of America loved the history of it's landscape as much as folks such as you and I do. Your sweet girl's new blankey is a great way to start her on a love of all things old.

Natalie said...

i love those dick and jane readers, too. my kids have the cheap combined copies, but i love them just the same. the blanket is adorable, not to mention that fabulous pram - SO jealous!

Jeanne Oliver said...

You will love your new stroller. We bought it for our third. We have always bought great strollers, but this is the best. Our third is now 2 1/2 and we still use it all the time.

Jennifer said...

I also began a lifelong love of learning with Dick and Jane and Sally and Spot at Bryant Elementary in Long Beach. I remember Mrs. Frazier so well-mostly for her bouffant hair and her horn-rimmed, although nicely bedazzled glasses! The end of an era, no?