My father was one of the original Madmen and worked in advertising. On the weekends, he sometimes created art projects like transforming a baby buggy into a shoe.
It was the 4th of July and my sister, Patty, and I were characters from, The Old Woman and the Shoe. I’m the old woman and she’s one of the children who lived in crampt shoe conditions. My mother was a fine seamstress and sewed our outfits. Patty is wearing a rosebud dress and I am in the hoop skirt. We gathered in front of Queen of Peace Church and paraded down the streets of our neighborhood.
It seems, I was directionally challenged from the start. Note the stroller next to us. It appears we’ve crashed.
Do you remember this abusive nursery rhyme?
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread;
Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
Fun times!
Times were sure different, as we can see from the old nursery rhymes.
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So true! I don’t think we really gave it much thought when we were kids. 🙂
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That’s right! We didn’t get all tied in a knot over Little Black Sambo and think we were being racist, We loved him! We didn’t get bent out of shape over calling Indians redskins. We were whiteskins. So what? When we played cowboys and Indians in the backyard, we always wanted to be the Indians. And I didn’t think that all step-mothers were bad or lose sleep over the witch being burned in the oven in Hansel and Gretel. It was one bad woman and the witch deserved her fate. I didn’t have nightmares. But the vampire and horror shows of today are so bad that as an adult I can’t watch them without getting nightmares.
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I remember the first time I heard about the kids in that poem getting whipped soundly. I was three years old and didn’t know exactly what was wrong with it, but it bothered me a little. My mom just smiled like it was a cute little poem. It wasn’t child abuse back then, I guess, though Dr. Spock had already written, “Baby and Child Care” and we boomers were gradually becoming the dictators of acceptable words, thoughts and behaviors to our parents.
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That is amazing!
You’re right about us boomers. We became the politically correct generation.
Thanks for stopping by!
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I could see CPS at the door of the shoe now. This was great.
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Right! It is crazy what used to be completely acceptable. Thanks John!
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It’s interesting to read the words of nursery rhymes – they are non-sensical babble at times and then some are profound wisdom – you just never know. Great photo from way back when! Happy throwback Thursday!
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Thanks Clay! You have to wonder… 🙂
Happy Throwback Thursday to you.
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I think most of them are quite dark Susie.
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Like, Ring Around the Rosie??
Thanks for the Tweet!!
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Most welcome
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it’s a wonder we spelt at night with nursery rhymes.
Jack be Nimble suffered third degree burns
Humpty Dumpty smashed himself in falling off the wall, Jack and Jill did something similar, and were probably on life support.
Hush Little Baby has plenty of terrible events but it’s unclear if the baby is present in them.
And Little Miss Muffet had to contend with the most hideous spider
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You’re right!!! There are so many of them. Mother Goose was a sadist. I hope you’re having a wonderful summer, Joe!
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It’s a wonder we all turned out into well rounded human beings with these scarring tales.
Summer came and went in London, it’s back to grey and rain!
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Oh no! Our monsoon season started which means blue skies then afternoon storms. I LOVE it!
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Your father sounds like quite a card. Now I know where you get it. My father was 6’3″ and weighed 300 pounds. In 1965, he was the sole survivor of a private plan crash (sadly, the other 2 men were killed). His size saved him, but the crash crushed his spine and he was 6’2″ after that.
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That is amazing! I bet he told that story a few times.
My dad is a character at 88!!!
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Some of those nursery rhymes and fairytales were abusive and scary and creepy! Love the capture 🙂 Happy Thursday
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I should compile all of the most outrageous rhymes. I bet there are a lot of them.
Have a happy Friday, Renee!!
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That is so very lovely 🙂
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It’s fun to reflect on old family photos. Thank you!
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Well 2 A+’s for your parents for a clever idea and clever costumes. C- for the driving instructor.
Thanks for sharing. I love cute “old” pictures.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
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Hahaha! C- is right! The first time I drove, I was in that same parking lot and I almost crashed into the only parked car!!!!
Thanks Patricia!
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Well that’s because you kept looking at it. You had a target.
Patricia
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It’s the same thing in sports. I tend to hit the ball back to my opponent. DOH!
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What cutie patuties!
Diana xo
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Thanks Diana! My sister loved seeing this photo.
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Susie, so fortunate you were, to have such talented parents. They must have been very devoted to you and your siblings. Lovely memories. 🙂
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I am fortunate and they are still with us in their 80’s! My dad draws every afternoon, but my mom has glaucoma. She had to give up sewing, but cooks and bakes every day! Thank you! 🙂
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What a precious picture, Susie. Wow. The costumes are amazing as it the shoe. LOL on crashing it onto another buggy. What’s up with all the nursery rhymes – they all have a dark and twisted message.
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They are dark! I bet Mother Goose struck fear in the hearts of all the children she knew!
Thanks Maria!
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I only recall the first part of that nursery rhyme, Susie. It’s likely that I was shielded from the rest of it. How barbaric! You seem far more tolerant about wearing a hoop skirt than I would have been. I would have pitched a fit that lasted until age 30.
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Hey V!
I was so into dress up back in the day. I probably wore that hoop skirt for a week!
Most of Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes are dark. She must have been a very negative and scary lady. I wonder if she had a crooked cane. I can just imagine her chasing after her children and grandchildren with it!!!! Corporal punishment at its finest.
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If your last name was Goose, you might have turned out to be a bitch on wheels, too.
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I looked it up and her name was Mary Goose!!!!
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There you go!
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You nailed it. You should play the lottery!
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Wonderful, thanks for sharing. I find it touching what your parents did for their kids, especially making things.
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Thanks Nia! Great to “see” you!
I have many fond memories. We did the same thing with our kids. I organized the parades in our old neighborhood for the 4th and Halloween. 🙂
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That doesn’t surprise me that you and your husband would create beautiful experiences for your children. And so you continue very good things that will continue to create very good things. Hugs,
Nia
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I hope! Thanks Nia!
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OMG. This took me right back to a memory of listening to a record of “This old lady” when I was a kid. “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don’t know why she swallowed a fly, perhaps she’ll die”. Fun times indeed! And so cute 🙂
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That’s another one! Hahaha! My mother-in-law gave my kids the soft puppets which swallowed each other!
There must have been a lot of exasperated parents who happened to be poets. 🙂
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Who doesn’t remember that poem, Susie? I heard it a million times if I heard it once. Ah, so much different from the tales and stories being written today. We didn’t have to have all the total violence, blood and gore !!! Some of us even improved on the old ones, such as “humpty dumpty got smashed and fell off the wall… and all the kings horses and all the kings men got smashed one and all. 🙂
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Ha! I never heard that variation!
You’re right about violence. Kids need a break from it somewhere! I bet Mother Goose is still on many shelves… 🙂
Great to “see” you, Paul!
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Omg I forgot about that rhyme. YIKES! There is a house shaped like a shoe near where I grew up that is now some kind of museum. I don’t know if I want to go in there!
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I had forgotten until I found the photo and asked my mom.
A real house shaped like a shoe? SCARY!!!
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What a cool float! Your dad and mom sure were creative.
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Thanks Peg!
They were. Now they’ve slowed down a bit and are in their 80’s. My mom can still make a gourmet meal worthy of any cooking show!
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Yanno . . of all the abusive elements of that nursery rhyme . . from living in a shoe with all those kids, to whipping them soundly before putting them to bed . . the part about feeding them broth without any bread? That is wrong on SO many levels. You need bread to sop up the broth! Come on!
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Right? They probably owned 3 spoons….
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Or worse . . . sporks!
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Or worse than that, THREEKS!
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Yikes!
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I don’t think I’d ever heard the last part of that rhyme. Can’t imagine why that wasn’t repeated often in school or at home!
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Right??? I remember it and always cringed at the word “whipped!”
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Who needed video games and horror/slasher movies? – we all heard all those dark tales/rhymes as kids. Even Disney and cartoons. No one claimed those warped their personalities. Life lessons they were called (try and say that about the games and movies now HA HA juries and judges?)
People didn’t take stuff so seriously then. Too much exaggerated concern, drama-for-show-and fortune, and fretting over small stuff now.
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It’s a different world, that’s for sure! I bet Mother Goose still has a place on many shelves.
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You guys were adorable and apparently your Dad was quite talented. That nursery rhyme, however, I’m not sure what to say. That is the first time I have ever heard it that way. I remember a line about “She went to the cupboard, The cupboard was bare” and I don’t remember the last line. Maybe I blocked it out.
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Are you thinking of Old Mother Hubbard? That’s another gem!
“Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to fetch her poor dog a bone,
When she got there the cupboard was bare and so the poor dog had none.”
What is the point of that one??? Another sad rhyme, to be sure!
Thanks so much Silk Purse!
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You are so clever! You’re right, I put the two together. Apparently, I don’t remember any of my nursery rhymes. I’m thinking that’s OK, given what I have learned here today. 😉
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Right? They are frightening!!!
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Wow that a great old photo! Love the stroller!!
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Thanks for stopping by! It was my dad’s art project. Lots of crepe paper and chicken wire.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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