I was not so fortunate a child as you (toy-wise). My father wished nothing to do with his childhood, and my mother was one of seven children... so the hand-me-down toys were somewhat sparse (though I do have a stuffed dog that was hers). I had plastic toys, but my favorite toys were some little cloth mice that my mother and aunt made for me (and my brother). I would conduct adventures (ripped from books I was reading) with them and the various plastic toys that they would encounter during their journeys throughout the basement. (It often took weeks for a party of mice to make it from one side of the basement to the other... there were a great many tribulations.)
I remember that my father made me a few wooden toys, which I totally failed to appreciate. Of course, should I happen to have children, I have every intention of making them toys that they can ignore and then remember fondly in their thirties. ;)
I too, remember wanting to taste things like treacle and Turkish Delight (which isn't *nearly* as delightful as one might be led to believe). The interesting thing though, is that after growing up reading E. Nesbit, P. L. Travers, J. M. Barrie, C. S. Lewis and the like (are all good British authors initialized?), I seem to have internalized certain British spellings. The words just look wrong the way spellcheck wants them to be.
I'm no expert, but I suspect that you are correct and the dominoes were made of ivory. In the story, they turn into a white road with black pips, so unless they're the only thing in the story that change colours, they've got to be whitish. Given the casual magnificence of the toys the upper class children had, ivory would be quite logical.
And I don't mind the stream-of-consciousness. It's always interesting to hear what others think and of the forces that formed them. And your life seems to have been quite unique. I'd be interested in hearing more.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-02-17 04:40 am (UTC)I was not so fortunate a child as you (toy-wise). My father wished nothing to do with his childhood, and my mother was one of seven children... so the hand-me-down toys were somewhat sparse (though I do have a stuffed dog that was hers). I had plastic toys, but my favorite toys were some little cloth mice that my mother and aunt made for me (and my brother). I would conduct adventures (ripped from books I was reading) with them and the various plastic toys that they would encounter during their journeys throughout the basement. (It often took weeks for a party of mice to make it from one side of the basement to the other... there were a great many tribulations.)
I remember that my father made me a few wooden toys, which I totally failed to appreciate. Of course, should I happen to have children, I have every intention of making them toys that they can ignore and then remember fondly in their thirties. ;)
I too, remember wanting to taste things like treacle and Turkish Delight (which isn't *nearly* as delightful as one might be led to believe). The interesting thing though, is that after growing up reading E. Nesbit, P. L. Travers, J. M. Barrie, C. S. Lewis and the like (are all good British authors initialized?), I seem to have internalized certain British spellings. The words just look wrong the way spellcheck wants them to be.
I'm no expert, but I suspect that you are correct and the dominoes were made of ivory. In the story, they turn into a white road with black pips, so unless they're the only thing in the story that change colours, they've got to be whitish. Given the casual magnificence of the toys the upper class children had, ivory would be quite logical.
And I don't mind the stream-of-consciousness. It's always interesting to hear what others think and of the forces that formed them. And your life seems to have been quite unique. I'd be interested in hearing more.