By Mary Ellen Shaw As often happens when a group of women get together, phones are taken from pocketbooks and pictures are shared. One of the most recent reasons for doing that was to show pictures of grandchildren who attended junior and senior proms. Some proms had taken place locally and some out of town.…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Now that summer is here it brings back memories of summer meals and ice cream treats enjoyed outdoors back in the 60s and 70s. The A&W Restaurant on upper North Main Street was one of the “in places” to go. It held a special appeal to teenagers who had a car. …

We don’t have to be very old before we acquire items that are dear to us and just can’t be thrown away. When you’re a child, it could be a doll, a toy fire engine or a baseball card. It just means too much to you, so into a storage box it goes. If you…

The summer season officially starts for many of us on Memorial Day weekend. It seems to be the official date to plant our flower and vegetable gardens. I remember when I was first married I would buy a few annuals and plant them in my one and only flower garden. I was in the midst…

Life was certainly different back in the 50s compared to today. I recently came across some ads from that era and they prompted me to take a look back at the products customers were enticed to buy and how the manufacturers went about it. So take a trip back in time with me either to…

When you reach your retirement years, hopefully you will be able to do the things you love. Your hobbies and passions in life probably had to take a back seat to work and family responsibilities during the years you were employed, but now they can take priority! “They” say that it’s important to have a…

I will admit that I have become a lost soul when it comes to using the library for reference material these days. I was a pro at finding things in the old card catalogs. The Dewey Decimal System and I were good friends back then. I liked the library so much that I almost got…

Getting together with friends for coffee usually brings up a topic that shows our senior status. We reached the conclusion that “old” has a very different meaning depending on our own age at the time. To a young child, babysitters are in the “adult category” even if the person is just a teenager. You have…

As we all know, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. During the aging process we sometimes take the “long way ‘round” to go places and do things. If you are with the love of your life, that might work out OK because to alter the age old expression just a little,…

Well, we are now into the second month of a new year. Did you make any resolutions? If so, how are they going? It’s no surprise that weight loss and fitness are the goals that many of us hope to achieve. I am among those who are motivated as the calendar flips each year. Unfortunately,…

In a recent column I mentioned that Rotary Rink in Rutland was a popular place to ice skate during my youth in the 1950s and 60s. However, its history dates back to the 1930s. The Rotary Club turned the property over to the city in 1946 and the Recreation Department began using it year round…

When I was growing up in Rutland during the 50s and 60s you didn’t have to leave the city to experience downhill skiing. You simply headed to the Rutland Country Club on Grove Street.  There was a rope tow that brought you to the top of a 525-foot hill. It offered a safe environment and…

I don’t know when I got so behind the times but I have a feeling that retirement is the culprit! I am happy in my little world of limited technology but when various items need replacing I am going to have quite the time adjusting. I am the type who tends to replace things only…

I got my first taste of winter fun in the 1940s when I was bundled up and placed in a wooden sleigh that was made for a small child. I still have that sleigh today. It has a back to lean against, a wrought iron handle for pushing it and metal runners. My mother was…

My husband, Peter, and I are fans of tennis. Although we don’t have a lot of “needs” when it comes to what we watch on TV, we do like to follow tennis tournaments throughout the year. The Tennis Channel will soon be leaving our “sports package” and moving to higher level of programming. Of course,…