Did you play with little green Army men when you were a kid? Seems like I played with the cowboys and Indians and maybe a plastic farm set as well.
Did you know there were astronauts too?
When I was a kid, nearly every grocery store and five and dime had a rack of bags packed with these little inexpensive plastic figures.
Every kid had some but these astronauts were before my time – likely from the mid to late sixties when Americans were space obsessed and headed for the moon.
The first Army men were produced in 1938 by Bergen Toy and Novelty Company. Over time, a number of other companies offered their version. I didn’t study these in the store but a quick Google search tells me they likely were made by the Marx or Multiple Products Company.
For me, half the fun of antiquing is finding things I haven’t seen before. This certainly fit the bill. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t buy them. Perhaps they’re still hanging on a rack at the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall!
This place is on the list for my next trip to Denver. It’s a breakfast joint and they’re committed to locally sourced and delicious food as well as to recycling about ninety percent of their waste.
I took my own advice yesterday and went for a hike. It was 32 degrees but sunny and the sky was a beautiful bright blue.
Winter provides opportunity to see things you might not otherwise notice. Since the landscape is quite bare, you notice more the few pops of color.
You learn to appreciate the might and will of a tree and the roots it lays to survive.
It’s easier to appreciate the sun on your face on a cold, windy day than on a warm one. At one point I stopped in a patch of sunlight and stood for a long time just listening to the birds. There was a woodpecker high above and little birds chirping and hopping on the ground nearby.
It has been a rough week here in America.
A comfy reading chair has been on my wish list for some time. I have looked at many in stores and online, unable to find exactly what I wanted for well over a year.