And…we listened to phonograph records. Played the piano and sang.
Kids colored, painted, played with clay. Built fabulous structures with wooden blocks. Played pretend games with each other and with dolls. Invented games for indoors and out, summer and winter.
Mothers ironed. Shirts, sheets, blouses. Cooked, made things ahead. Darned socks. Took care of babies. Baked cookies.
Fathers came home from work and read newspapers, paid bills. Did household repairs. Built things like yard furniture. In my father’s case, also prepared lectures and graded papers.
People wrote letters. Lots of letters. Long-distance phone calls were expensive. Hand-written letters in envelopes came and went every day. My father groused loudly when first-class postage went from 3 cents to 4 cents.