What's in Your Backyard?

So the Jones' are at it again. So they think that the new swing set they had installed for little Timmy is the best in the whole neighborhood, eh? And now Jone's keeps rubbing it in how sorry your own Junior's tire-swing is. Well you'll show HIM who should do the bragging... Just wait until the delivery truck brings this to your front door!

It wasn't supposed to be an ongoing series, but I have an update to my posts last summer on the influence of Mid-Century design and fads on children's playground equipment. But this has to be added! The very retro-looking robot slide above was taken from an manufacturer's catalog dated to the 1970's, obviously still influenced by the space-madness of the 50's and 60's. If you Google "robot playground" it appears that there's still one or two surviving examples hopefully still out there intriguing young and old alike today. So sad that a bunch of busy-bodies had to tear down most all this wonderful equipment from our city parks and school playgrounds as being unsafe. Silly adults!

But on to the link that I've included! Along with Giganta there's a rocket slide, lunar lander and a very Trekkie looking starship jungle gym. Now I'm not exactly sure where these images were originally posted, but I've seen this catalog first at Retro Playground Equipment @ Plaid Stallions along with other swell examples of jungle gyms shaped like castles, tugboats and a few which, umm, may be hard to describe.

The Divine Caroline.com article has a large number of additional images: rocket slides, barrel runs... all kinds of goodies to get the inner-child all excited. So just follow the link if you're ready for more. But be warned - there's much packed on this site in 3-parts... 70's Playgrounds @ DivineCaroline.com

Guard your Frigidaires People, it's Mr. Potato Head from Outer Space!

50's Pressman SPACE FACES Playset
Create your own vegetable space people.

Tele Radar Helmet Disc - check...
Sonic Resonator Headpiece - check...
Super Sight Eyes - check...
Fission Control Nosepiece - check...
Sound Stabilizer Earpieces - check...
Anti-Gravity Feet - cheeeck!

I've seen this Pressman set before, offered for quite a bit lower (and lost my a bid on it too - boo!). Toys like this make me feel like I missed out on something special by not growing up in the Fifties. I love the whimsical slant that seemed to permeate so many of the space toys dreamed-up during the pre-dawn of the Space Age. It's a shame much of that had to disappear. Thanks to Sputnik, Americans seemed to have lost any sense of humor when the reality dawned upon them that they were suddenly behind in the great Race for Space.


But seventy-five dollars for the opening bid??? *Gasp* I'll have to let this guilty pleasure pass, this time. Let some one else with much deeper pockets have the fun of creating their very own veggie army of spacemen, and I shall keep typing up posts about those who do.

Atomic Dining for Space-Age Lovers, and a Resolution?

Well another new year is born and another one bites the dust. It's a time when people often clean out the old to make a fresh start or make new year's resolutions. First of all I'm going to do a slight clean up to my blog by removing the playlist that's been floating at the bottom of the page for far too long - especially since it's been bogging-down the vintage Etch-a-Sketch computer that I use whenever I attempt to load the darned thing :)

The playlist will be kept archived here in this post since there may be someone out there who may still have some fun from it.

Next I need to make a New Year's resolution... hmmmm, that's quite a bit harder. Maybe I should resolve to put away all the Christmas decor before the end of January this year? Nope, that is a challenge for me, but not challenging enough!

The past is history and one should look ahead. It's time for a change. I'm bored of looking at these same four walls. I need something new, something exciting and different. Maybe Mid Century Mod has had it's day, it's dated and out of place today. Should I give this up, sell it all off and start decorating in vintage 70's decor with macrame owls hanging from the wall and some groovy lava lamps? Just as dated. A little Shabby Chic? Not in this man cave. Maybe we could go for a home make-over in all new post-millennial, like in the photo above? Let me think about that one for awhile. In the meantime I'll ask you this:

Do any of you make a resolution for the new year? And if so, just what is it that you're making a pinky-swear to do?