Elizabeth and Bob are in their new home.
They seem to be content with the arrangement. Now you can get a good idea of their petite size in relation to the other happy couples. I look forward to finding more newlyweds for my collection.
Yesterday’s post elicited so many wonderful comments. I’ve loved reading your memories of childhood. It seems as if we all enjoyed hours of imaginative play outside, no matter where in the country we grew up. And yes, I also had to be in when the streetlights went on. Since there was a streetlight on the edge of our lot, I had no excuse. Those summers seemed endless, in the best possible way. Long days full of adventure, evenings on the porch….heaven.
One commenter mentioned the milkman. Did you have a milkman? We did.
Here’s an interesting thing about my childhood bungalow home. These homes were all built in the early 1950’s and each of them had a little door built into the outside wall of the house. The door measured about 12 inches square – maybe a little bit bigger. It was called a milkchute. The door opened to reveal a little shelf and another door on the other side. Inside our kitchen, the door was at floor level. The milkman would come to our house, open the outside door and leave our milk there. Later, we would open our door from inside the house and find that our milk had been delivered.
The milkchute also doubled as emergency access to the house. I can’t tell you how many times we were locked out and dad or mom would say “Looks like you have to go into the milkchute” and one of us would be lifted up and sent into the milkchute, head first. After wriggling our way inside, we’d go unlock the door.
Did anyone else have milkchutes?
We also had an eggman. I remember him so clearly – a man of few words, always whistling, always happy. He’d knock on the front door and mom would let him into the living room. He had a basket full of eggs from his farm and mom would pick out the eggs she wanted, putting them into a large melamine bowl. The eggman would give her change from a leather pouch that he wore around his waist. I wish I could remember his name! I can see him so clearly, all these many years later.
A simpler time, wasn’t it?
Yes, we had the milkman, but he just left the milk on our back steps. We didn’t have that cute little milk chute. We also had a juiceman, who brought different cartons of juice. We also lived in a bungalow home. Hmmm…. I may have to do a post on this myself – its so much fun to reminisce about this.
I remember the milkman leaving the milk on the doorstep. Wasn’t it fun when you got extras…like ice cream? I always buy brown eggs…they taste better, don’t they? ♥
We also had the baker. He would come in a black and white Cushman’s Bakery truck. He would bring us our bread & english muffins and sometimes, if my mother had some extra money for a treat, she would buy some lemon filled donuts sprinkled with confectionairs sugar. I can still taste them! We would try to suck out the lemon filling and then eat the empty donut. Yum!
We had a milkchute when we lived in a little WWII bungalow – they were everywhere in cities across Canada, tiny rooms, tiny house, big families. Dad was studying to be a minister and we had moved from the ranch to the big city, huge shock to our systems. But we did run and play and the neighbourhood all watched out. We had a collie who herded all the children and would not let any adult come near (made some of the parents pretty ticked off too).
We had a milk man, too. He left quarts of milk, and a pint of cream (for my mother’s morning coffee) on our front porch. Occasionally, Mom would order a quart of chocolate milk as a treat for my brother and me. We also had a bread man, who drove a Helms Bakery truck. Helms was a large Los Angeles commercial bakery. They sold different kinds of breads, coffeecakes, and donuts. The Helms man parked a specially outfitted panel truck at the curb, and you could go out and make your selections. We did not have an egg man. Our eggs came from the grocery store.
Our house was built in 1953, but it didn’t have a milk chute. I’ve never heard of one. No egg man, but for a while we did have a milkman. A little mom and pop grocery store was only 1/2 block away, though, so we kids became the gofers in the milk category!
Love hearing about the “good old days”.
It is sad that kids now, don’t have the freedom and the fun we did. A computer game just can’s compare to the neighborhood games, bike rides, kick the can, hide and seek, and just the wonderful freedom we had.
nancyr
No milkman since we had cows but we had a “store on wheels”. A panel truck came around selling staples. It was a simpler and better life in many ways!
Claudia, your posts are like a little vacation for me, taking me back to when life was simple (at least in my child’s eyes.)
We did not have an eggman, but we absolutely had a milkman. We moved from a city (Somerville) to a brand new home in the suburbs in 1960. It was the first ‘development’ in our town, consisting of ranches, split levels, and capes. We lived in a small split level and had a metal milk box sitting next to the front door, as did all the other houses.
With both of my parents gone now, oh how I would love to be able to travel back in time, if only for one day, to the sixties, to sit on the corral fence in front of the house, to ride my bike, play in the backyard, to call for my friends with that sing songy voice, to wait for the mailman at the top of the driveway, certain that THIS was the day he would bring a letter from George (Beatles) who I wrote to several times through a fan club, and to know at the end of the day, supper would be on the table and mom and dad would always be there if I needed them… Donna
We also had a milkman who would leave our milk, in glass containers, on our back porch. Your little milk chute sounds so charming!! We were lucky enough to live next door to a Helms man–I still remember buying the occasional donut or sour candy from him…oh, the memories!!
That is so clever. Maybe because of the weather. What I do have is a mail chute. The mailman lifts the lid and drops the mail in a little box that is inside the wall and i have a brass lid on this side.
We had a milkman and a baker. You left a note and money in the empty milk bottle telling him what you wanted. It sat on the front steps and no one ever stole the milk money. An old man came around wheeling a grindstone to sharpen knives. You placed your order at the grocery and they delivered it. The door was always unlocked and they walked right in and put it on the kitchen table. ~ Maureen
We had a milk and egg man. But no chute, just a box on the front porch. In summer there was a man that would stroll through the neighborhoods calling loudly, “Blueberries, raspberries”. My mom loved when he came around with those luscious fresh fruits.
Oh my goodness Claudia! You are walking us down memory lane! Boy, do I remember milk chutes. I had a neighbor ask me to be the one to crawl in and open the door for her. I was a tiny little kid. We have a milk chute in our current home but it doesn’t go all the way through. The drywall in the kitchen covered the hole from the inside, but I still have access from the outside. A few little gardening items are kept in there now.
In my neck of the woods the Twin Pine truck would deliver those delicious beautiful glass bottles of milk! We even had a family doctor who came to visit my home when I had my tonsils removed, and yes, he carried that little black bag! Oh, the wonderful memories of childhood. At least those are the ones I choose to remember!
Claudia,
One more comment, ha! Do you remember Clare Cummings who was Milky the Clown?
Such cosy stories dear Claudia,
and fun to read about the calling from outside.
That we did, too- But I don`t think we had a milkman coming to the house when I was a kid.
Now here living in the country, we have had both groceries, and eggs delivered to the door- maybe last time it was 8-10 years ago!
Hugs, Dorthe
You just jogged a memory from my past that I’m going to post about soon, honey!! I had forgotten about it until you mentioned milkman and eggman. Stay tuned!
xoxo,
Connie
I do remember the milkman delivering those glass bottles of milk with plastic straps around the neck of the bottle. We didn’t have a milk shute though. I also remember the Omar Man. It really was a much simpler time!~Hugs, Patti
We didn’t have a milkman, but I vaguely remember those small glass bottles of milk…or perhaps I watched too many old Tv shows!
Blessings, Joanne
I remember the milkman and the breadman and they both drove a wagon pulled by a horse! I loved the breadman because he always had fantastic deserts. My favourite were little cakes with butterscoth and cream and my grandmother would often get them for me.
We did not have a milk chute, we had a milk box. It was a metal box that sat in our back hall. I hated wearing shoes and my mother wouldn’t let me go outside without them. So I would go out the back door and hide my shoes in the milk box!
Speaking of people who came to the house, remember when doctors made house calls? Then my mom would call for the prescriptions and the drugstore would deliver it.
Hi Claudia, I was just speaking with my mom on this topic last weekend! We had a milkman but he left the milk in a silver box on the front porch. I can remember being sent out to get the milk or put the empties inside for him to take away. The lid was paper and the cream was just under the lid, unless we got the kind already mixed up. On special occasions we would get eggnog or even once in a blue moon–chocolate milk! I also remember the Fuller brush man, and I was trying to find out from my mom why it was necessary for a brush man to come around! She remembers the egg man and even the ice man when she was very little.
One of our milkmen brought the milk in and put it in the fridge. We also had an Omar Man, who brought breads, rolls, cookies etc.A junk man who collected trash, a knife sharpener who came around in the summer, and an ice man who brought ice for people who still had ice boxes. Those were wonderful days…the days of my youth.
Balisha
oh Claudia – you brought back such memories. We didn’t have a “milkchute” but our neighbours did and I remember being pushed through it as a little one when they were locked out.
Yes, we had a milkman. He was called Mr Hild. My friend Stephan and I usually sat on our apple tree anticipating his arrival. Mr Hild called all boys Fritzli and the girls Vreneli. He gave as a Tam Tam sometimes.
But there is still a milkman coming to my parents’ house. :-)
Me on the other hand I pick up milk at my neighbours (Hugo Künzle), who is a farmer. He has a huge tank for the milk of his 40 cows, that gets emptied at 11.30 each day. The baker (Thomas Niffeler) brings the bread to my house, puts it into the mail box. I get the bill once a month. Then I go to the bakery to pay.
Oh Claudia!!
I live in a house with a milk chute! And I love it. I also grew up on a farm and had the very same ‘head first’ experience…to go in and unlock a faulty door lock…but boy did that ever scare me. I couldn’t wait to grow too big to be volunteered for that privelege! Ha!
Your post made me smile, well actually laugh out loud!
Thank you so much!
Ciao Bella
Creative Carmelina
We didn’t have a milk chute in our little house in Kentucky, the milk bottles were just left on the front porch, but when we moved to Canada we had one. Probably has something to do with the climate. I can remember by brother sneaking in and out through the milk chute. He also went down the laundry chute once.
Laura
Funny, no one on the West Coast had milk chutes in our childhood, but the had them in the Prairies…colder weather.
We did have a milk man who delivered milk to the door. And the Doctors made housecalls, the good old days.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
You did it again! Yes, we had a milk chute for our milkman. And yes, again, it was also the emergency entrance for when we were locked out! The milkman finally faded away, but my mother loved to store food in that milk chute, especially in winter. My brother liked to cool his beers in there. Ann
We had the little metal milk box by the front door, we would get sour cream, butter and cream as well as milk. We also had the Dugan truck for cakes, the knife sharpener truck, Bungalow Bar ice cream truck, and even an amusement ride truck. Every Friday evening “Carl the Butcher” would drop off ground beef (which we would grab and eat raw),balogna and other meats wrapped in white paper. Must have been a great time to be a housewife, my mom did not drive but it seems as if almost everyone came by anyway!
We just had a milkman, and he put our milk in a special box on our porch–no milk chute! :-) Jennifer
We had a milkman during the years we lived in Canada. But I think he just put in on the porch. And when we moved to South America, we had all sorts of people selling their wares up and down the street where we lived, calling out their trade… the knife grinder, the icecream man, gardeners, etc…