Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for September 20, 2010

Go for Boggle! That will help with their English and it’s fun to make your opponent whimper. I’m an English teacher, I’m allowed to be a “Boggle Bully”.

I remember 2 faucets on all the sinks (1 hot, 1 cold), one console radio in the living room that everyone gathered around to listen to, an attic fan (no A/C), one floor furnace, open light bulbs on the ceiling in porcelain fixtures, wooden windows that opened from the top and bottom (with a cast iron weight inside the sash) and a refrigerator where the freezer section only had room for 4 ice trays and a small container of ice cream. TV? What? Texting? What?

kreole - perfect description, when have you been to my house???

We had two channels on a good day. We lived on a fram in central MO. Ahhhhhhhhhh, the good ole days…………………

I remember those days myself B&W tv no VCR or cable. Though found out cabel was in use in TX. Not sure of KS as parents would never have cable. No computers either. How far alone is SS for school? Good thinking grandma got the girls away from TV being drastic. Wonder if Evie would bellydance?

kreole…thank you…after reading your comment, I realized just how old I am… going back to my coffee now… lol

Where’s Val?…Nudge,nudge,Wink,wink saynomore.

Val’s busy, The DOCTOR. Don’t interrupt them. Her. Whatever.

I think Evie should teach them belly dancing. It would be excellent exercise, and it’s good for attracting boys, Holly…

Skip-Bo? Information, please.

Skip-Bo is a card game made by the same people who make Uno. Basically, it is counting to 12 over and over again. Yet it is actually fun, and many people can play at once.

We didn’t have a library close by during summer time still no extras like VCR or games, had bikes.

Our farm was like that too but we didn’t get a bathroom until several years after I was born. Yep, good old outhouse 150 ft. from the backdoor and in all seasons too. Didn’t see “The Wizard of Oz” in color till teenager! No phone till I got a job and had one installed and even then it was a party line. Games were dominoes, checkers, carom and puzzles.

Yeah, I can remember climbing a ladder to the roof to adjust the anteanna with my sister inside shouting instructions through an open window. three channels was the most we could hope for.

Gee, I never lived on or saw a fram.

We got a black & white TV when I was 8. We got 7 channels.

@aerwalt; ever hear the kids’ song, “Old McDonald had a fram”?

I remember the first tv on the block, at a girlfriend’s house. I and a third girl went to see it. Black & white (of course), one channel (of course), playing baseball. Well, after 5 minutes we all drifted off. Baseball! THE most boring occupation in the world (yes, I know you can compare it to watching paint dry)!

Baseball is for Americans; we could never figure out why they loved it so much.

Now that I think of it, reminds me of Stephen Jay Gould’s description of evolution: “punctuated equilibrium”. For long periods of time, NOTHING HAPPENS. Then a mad rush of activity for a few seconds. Then back to nothing happening.

For us, hockey was THE game. Every player moving every second. Inaction only if someone was getting a penalty, or in the breaks between periods. My father explaining the rules to me, which I did understand a bit.

How did I get to talking about hockey??…..

Val is out with Phil! By request, at a restaurant that has ”no kids’ menu”.

Seems to me the kids regard their beloved Gramma’s activities as bizarre and to be avoided at all costs. They sound very conservative to me, not curious about what the world holds.

Once when I was in college I saw a girlfriend demonstrate her belly-dancing at a party. She wasn’t particularly good, but the men loved it!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fram

My lord, RinaFarina, if you want boring on TV, try roller derby on a Sunday afternoon. Or bowling. B&W TV in my childhood was enough to drive anyone either outside or into a book, depending on your interests. In my case, in good weather, outside, up a tree, and into a book .

I loved roller derby. Would go visit my older sister and they had an 11 inch black and white. That was bad television.

I don’t think my grandkids would be bothered by anything I did; they were here with my daughter last Thanksgiving and Christmastimes and I did my normal exercise routine (on the other hand-(just remembered) I wear a jogging suit in cold weather for ex; they’ve not seen me doing them in my mesh swimsuits which are for hot weather (we still have 100+ and I’ll be doing them tomorrow). A grandma body that is 7 decades old is not something to admire no matter HOW much we work out- unless we are rich and vain Hollywood who pay to have surgery.

ejcapulet, I love Boggle!

I don’t think their reaction to Evie practicing belly dancing has anything to do with them being conservative…it would be more towards what vldazzle said..about the appealling nature of the elderly body and gosh, it’s GRAMMA-seeing Gramma belly dancing is too much information.

Golf is duller than baseball then bowling.

LOL. Great one …

I love the expressions on the girls’ faces in panel 3, too.

I snorted coffee when I read this comic! I am a professional bellydancer and my family reacted this way both times I mentioned my dancing! Crack me up!!!