Tag: toys

Forgot to Post the Pilgrim Trolls, So Ugly They’re Cute?

Trolls have a really bad name these days. The internet troll is the first to come up with a google search.  UGH. The word conjures visions of creeps on the internet doing extremely negative things.

But there was a time when the word trolls meant little plastic doll with crazy hair sticking up and beady eyes-

and before that they were written about in Norse Mythology and Scandinavian Folklore.

The trolls of the rubbery type, a protruding belly with navel, glassy eyes and colorful hair were around when I was in grade school in the late 60’s.

Did a search for the origin of the  troll dolls and they were created in 1959 by a Danish man, Thomas Dam.  They are also called Dam dolls.

Chicago John noticed the Christmas troll, dressed as a caroler, on my Sunday breakfast table.  The wikipedia post says that some people collect THOUSANDS of them.  No kidding. I have a few of the Christmas ones that have been around for years and I brought them out for the grandkids who had fun with them last summer.

When I was with the family in Virginia over the Thanksgiving Holiday, my son’s in-laws had this pair of Pilgrim Trolls on the mantle. They made me laugh when I saw them.

I did turn these two so they were looking at the camera cause initially they just had eyes for one another. (scroll down)

Sounds like they are having a bit of a comeback these days with a new generation.  Any troll collectors out there?

Pilgrim Trolls (1)

 

 

Pilgrim Trolls facing

by Categories: PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

Wind Up Toys

Sunday morning. Breakfast at Joan’s.  A cadre of colorful windup toys in her kitchen… I asked if I could photograph them. I can’t remember a specific windup toy I had as a child but these all felt familiar and provided a relaxing and fun time as she wound them up and they executed their motion while I tried to photograph them.

Guess they are making a big comeback.  I am going to get some for me  the grandkids so I they can play with these adorable windup toys. 

 

by Categories: Childhood, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 11 Comments

South Side Storefront Sign- Get Thee to Munhall

It was the color that attracted me.  Not that the colors are particularly attractive but definitely made me turn my head to get a better look and see why so purple? Complementary colors collide.

I have put Too Groovy Pop Culture Toys  on my list of places to visit.  I see they have a FB page.

by Categories: Light in the CityTags: , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Sisters Separated at Production in the Doll Factory

or What Love Looks Like-

It’s been almost two years since I posted Baby Doll (the loved doll) and her “sister” who was bought as a replacement but never really played with or looked at as far as I know.

Baby Doll (b. 1979) belonged to Erika when she was little and now Anna has loved her for 8 more years.  I just stitched her arms up as they were coming off.  And since I’m visiting the family and not driving around the city today I am showing the effects of two more years of loving.  Maybe someone who reads this post will send a photo of the same doll in a similar condition.

 

One thing I know is they are most cooperative when I set them up to pose for the shooting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Categories: Childhood, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Cowboy Ignores Sign Posted

by Categories: Photography, Pittsburgh PhotosTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 11 Comments

Meeting of the Sock Monkey Minds /Solving WordPress Email Deluge!

Four sock monkeys I made, set up, waiting for the kids to come home and find them (from Easter visit to grandchildren)
When I looked at the photo, I thought of meetings, meetings, meetings…….table the motion and I move to adjourn-
Do I hear a second?

second part for my blogging friends who experienced a deluge of email in their box. See Chicago John’s public service announcement

or it could be a WordPress meeting!

Monkey 1″Hey, let’s flood people’s inboxes with a ton of emails, every time they write a comment or reply on a post”

Monkey 2 “Yes, let’s check the box for them without their realizing it so they get emails and more emails and more emails. Imagine if a blogger gets twenty comments.  And then a commenter replies, or the blogger replies, too.  YIKES
Multiply that cause each commenter will now receive an email. Wow, it is like a math problem. Can even get almost to infinity in an inbox!”

Monkey 3  “We might get a ton a email ourselves over in support!”

Monkey 4  ” We had better fix this problem at WordPress NOW as our loyal bloggers and their readers are not happy!!”  : – (

20120508-001007.jpg

by Categories: Childhood, Family, photo of the dayTags: , , , , , , , , , , , 17 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Two Subjects

Christmas 2009
Jack and Woody or rather Woody and Jack

You can check out fellow bloggers responses to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Two Subjects

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Little People®- 3 Generations

I never played with Fisher-Price Little People® as a child but I used to love to play with the FP garage with Mark in 1977. I can still hear that ding as he would crank the elevator.    The wooden figure on the left is from the 70’s and belonged to my DIL. The one on the right is 2011.  No one is going to choke on that girl!.  Was in the basement playing with the grandchildren and saw these three figures in a bin.  Stood them up on top of the toy shelf. Just a compare and contrast photo. With the good old iPhone.  By the way I was at the Apple store and it was hopping, people outside in a queue with precious tickets to get a new iPhone. Just crazy.  And I am not going to write about my excessive data and computer crash and some loss of photographs.  Instead I will shoot more and be grateful I have the weddings I need to work -safe on the original cards, Phew. Trying to keep what is important in perspective. So you lose about 16,000 images? The backup on the external hard-drive did not do what it was supposed to do. It is not bad news from a doctor. I am sure there are many of you who can relate to loss of data.  Or the simple playing with little toy figurines and using one’s imagination.

I like the personality of the old wooden one on the left.
by Categories: ChildhoodTags: , , , , , , , 20 Comments

Silly Putty®, Wiffle® Ball,Slinky®- 3 Toys Share a Distinction ( and it’s not short i)

All three are manufactured in the USA!!

Two in Pennsylvania, and one in Connecticut (Wiffle® Ball)

Learned how to make a ® symbol on the Mac keyboard so thought I would use (overuse) it for this post.

These names are familiar I know. And to people my age, a host of memories will resurface after you view these images.

Silly Putty® is now owned by Binney and Smith and is more than fifty years old. Tons of this pliable stuff has been manufactured and sold in the past fifty + years.

Slinky® has an interesting history, too, and About.com lists this memorable jingle but be careful cause it might stick in your head all day and you’ll remember the tune, too. They are manufactured in Holidaysburg PA.

“What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, And makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, Everyone knows it’s Slinky…
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, for fun it’s a wonderful toy
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, it’s fun for a girl and a boy
– Advertising Jingle for Slinky

You can always buy a new Slinky cause who hasn’t gotten one stretched out and tangled up irreversibly?

And I remember when Wiffle® Balls came out ! Do you? They are still selling strong. Especially to college kids.

I was in Shadyside Variety Store, picking up a few items for the grandchildren. I remember when Mark, Matthew and Laura used to shop here in the early nineties. We lived around the corner for two years and they could walk there to shop.

So many nostalgic favorites- and the latest inventive toys from the Toy Fair, like Spot It which Sharon the proprietor demonstrated for me so I can play it with Anna and Michael when I visit. Keeping my brain sharp. I am fairly certain they’ll beat me.

See the rubber chicken dangling inside the colorful hula hoops at the store entrance? Next time the grandchildren come I am going to take them to the Shadyside Variety Store, give them each some money and see what they decide to buy after extensive browsing!

The nicest guy from Texas,who just finished up a Robotics Conference at CMU, was shopping – he held the Etch-a-Sketch up for me when I was exploring the store for classics!

When your shopping list says birthday gift, jumprope, jacks, sidwalk chalk, art supplies, Dots, Pinky Balls, and Silly Putty, Slinky and Wiffle Ball….. Shadyside Variety Store 5421 Walnut Street, Pittsburgh – (412) 681-1716 (Cash or check!)

Someone asked me the other day if I were a reporter. No, a blogger. Self-assigned!

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Art Car #2 by Greg Phelps

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Another Art Car spotted in Columbus OH at the Touch-a-Truck Day. Artist wearing blue shirt  in vertical photo. This is his ONLY car. He glues the items on with silicone glue.   He donated his Art Car #1 to Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft.   Check out more photos at his site.  Saw my first Art Car on July 4th.  Let me know when you spot one where you live.

by Categories: Seeing Art in the Everyday, ThingsTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments