Back-to-school bags: old skool backpacks

Every year around Labor Day, I was excited to get a new plasticy vinyl bag to start school. Below is one I managed to save. The little girl with the flowers in her hair is just too cute. Would this qualify as ephemera, even if it's not really paper? I can't imagine many of these survived 35 years--I couldn't find any on ebay or anywhere else on the 'net. Anyone find any?

30 years later and they still smell

I'm not talking about the Seattle Mariners, either. (A little weak Seattle humor, there, for you local people. To love a Seattle sports team--any Seattle sports team--is to have your heart broken. Repeatedly.)

Anyway, I am talking about my Strawberry Shortcake doll. Amazingly, she still smells faintly of fake strawberriness. And she has flat hands, which appear to make her more valuable to collectors. Not that I would sell such a thing.

That clown head: more Seattle summer fun

We've been having a rare heat wave in Seattle. Which reminded me of one of my favorite summer toys from the cool people at Wham-o: the Fun Fountain, which my mother called "That Clown Head."

Not as grand and glorious as the Slip N Slide, but pretty fun nonetheless, except when your little brother kept knocking the hat off so that all that remained of the fun was a stream of water shooting straight up while you stood there shivering in your bathing suit because like Mom said it was only 75 degrees and not really warm enough to run through the sprinkler and you wanted to go back inside and change after about 15 minutes so you could watch "Speed Racer."

Anyway, watch the commercial here. The kids in the commercial probably didn't live in Seattle, where it almost never hits 90 degrees.

Buying dolls at gas stations

Do they still sell collectible stuff at gas stations? I mean, beyond the constant new and exciting processed snack food products like Slim Jim Honey Jalapeno Cheddar Stixxs or Reese's Double Super White Nougat Caramel Peanut Fluffyballs.

I mean stuff like these dolls I excitedly collected in the mid-70s.  Each represented a nationality (Ireland, England, and Spain, above.) I can't find any info on these dolls online, so please let me know if you remember them or have some in your closet, too.

Speaking of memories, I bet you don't remember this game

Nobody remembers Worm Wrestle except me and my little brother. Please post and tell me if you remember it!

I can't say this game was anything other than weird and goofy. The worms spin around the miniature wrestling ring, propelled by contact with a rapidly spinning spindle in the center of the ring. (The metal spindle spun extremely fast; I'd be surprised if some kid didn't hurt himself by licking it or putting it in his nose. "Hey, let's play Booger Wrestle!") Meanwhile, if your chosen colored worm was the last one remaining in the ring, you'd win. Even for a kid's game, this required remarkably little skill and involvement.

Check out the commercial for it here.

Slippery summer shenanigans

I'm not sure you could have too much more fun during a Seattle summer than you could while playing on a Slip 'N Slide.  A very thin yellow plastic sheet with tiny sprays of water keeping it really too slippery than was wise combined with the hill in our front yard made for an excellent summer afternoon.

I used to slide tummy-first, like the first kid in this old 70s ad. I would often wake up the next morning with my tummy so sore that I could hardly move.

Check out how many cool new versions there are of the Slip 'N Slide today! In my day, we only had ONE kind of Slip 'N Slide. Sheesh.

In case you're thinking about adding dish soap or something to make it even slippery-er, don't. Trust me on that.