Evening Activities

Yesterday's post made me think of the other show Bob Barker hosted, Truth or Consequences. Prime time started I believe at seven. Hence, the whole Nanny fiasco, wanting to watch a new TV show with my friend and ignoring the time.
I did like Truth or Consequences. I rarely watched the news when I was very young. As the weather cooled, I played in my bedroom. I had the big middle bedroom with twin beds, inherited from my sisters, who didn't want to share a room. They were now in college or married. I had an old record player and chose from my many albums to help me in my make believe. I had Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, Oliver!, and each new Disney movie that came out. I also fought my sister for her Monkees album. I didn't want just the 45's. I loved albums, because they had short narrative and pictures. I guess they were like video tapes or DVD's for the 60's child.
I either laid on my bed while I listened to the music or I acted it out. I never saw Peter Pan, or Oliver! until later. These two albums had the most pictures and story. I could follow along while the songs fueled my imagination. Peter Pan showed the Disney version, not Mary Martin. Oliver! displayed glossy black and white photos from the Broadway musical before the movie.
By the time I matured to sixth and seventh grade, the albums were rock and roll or John Denver. Yes, I have diverse taste. Some one also gave me David Cassidy's Cherish, when I was in fifth grade, which really wasn't bad and I daydreamed of having someone like David Cassidy cherish me. Those shadowy men that just gaze at me, didn't know much else to imagine. Frolicking in leaves, maybe?
Junior high I did become interested in the news, as it was the only station on the only TV at the time. Eighth grade, watching it became a requirement, as well as Sixty Minutes, on Sunday evening. Before VCR's, the parents and I were mad at the teacher who made this assignment, an old neighbor, who was a Christian, since I attended Youth Group on Sunday evenings. I believe we taped recorded it- cassette tape. I supplemented the requirement with reading National Geographic, writing reports on the articles.
I spent a lot of time in my room when the cooler, darkening evenings came after supper. My homework, though, usually finished at the dining room table until I moved in the renter's room when I was fourteen or fifteen with the new desk, an old vanity, under the window in the back room. I still feel that is my room.  I loved it so much, I wrote essays about it in school.
High school, I had a new stereo in my room. I listened to mostly Kiss, Areosmith, Bruce Springsteen and Al Stewart albums. Then there was the Wizard, the FM sister of WHOT, playing the progressive music. At four in the afternoon, they played the whole album without interruption. How cool was that?
Also as I grew older, I had more activities outside the home. Girl Scouts, Rainbow girls, volunteering for Candy Stripers filled many evenings. Now, it is Friday night in September, which means rain just in time for the football game. Looking forward to pulled pork sandwich, cabbage and noodles and maybe, if chilly enough, cappuccino. And the best band music in Mercer County.