LIONEL TRAIN...where the pedal meets the metal and the boy meets the man

In 1959 I asked Santa for a toy train and I got one. We had just moved from our house outside D.C. and were spending Christmas in Harrisburg with my grandparents before driving across country on our way to Hawaii. There under the tree Christmas day was my train. An HO with two Plasticville buildings. I LOVED it! Over the years I'd put the train up each Christmas under the tree. As years went by the layout became more and more elaborate with more and more buildings and lots of snow. It was my idealized white Christmas. 

I still have the train in all of its original boxes along with the little green bottle of whatever it is to put in the engine to make it puff smoke as it goes around the track. I haven't put it up in a very long time and I miss it. I think of the little box of people I used to place in the same position each year. The rest of the year they were stuck in a little plastic box, but for a few weeks they were out and about in my wonderland beneath the tree. It took me days to put the whole thing up, but only a few hours to break it down.  

The ad below sort of ticks me off. Trains were always marketed as a toy for boys. The only time they marketed them for girls they made them...and I get ill thinking about it...Pepto-Bismol pink. What were they thinking? I imagine if you can get a mint pink train (hmmmm...note to self, possible odd candy to manufacture) in the original box it costs quite a pretty penny. Sorry, don't want one. I love my original with the black metal engine. Yeah, I miss it, but...

A few years ago my best friend, knowing my love for toy trains, gave me a DVD for Christmas entitled "Toy Trains & Christmas: Parts 1, 2, 3". I savored every moment of it. If you like toy trains or know someone who does I'd bet they'd love this video. I watched it over a series of nights with the glow of my Christmas tree in the room. Made me long for my train even more, but it's a good substitute. I've put a link to the video in the left column at the top of the Amazon listings.

Click on image to see it larger. (SOURCE: National Geographic December 1954)

Yup, a boy toy. Little girls weren't supposed to have any interest. I guess I just didn't fit the restrictive mold. But I will say that the train brought my father and me closer each Christmas. For years it was a tradition that we'd head out some evening to the hobby store to buy a new building to add to the village. Some of the buildings were Plasticville that I'd put together each year. Other, more elaborate buildings, were kits that my dad would meticulously put together. Good times. Good times.

EDDIE ELEPHANT'S BACK! New at CafePress!

Seriously, DID YOU THINK I WAS THROUGH WITH THIS?

More evidence has been uncovered. Apparently Log Cabin Syrup is now a good justification to use in court for dissolution of a marriage. Or perhaps...ummmmm...alien abduction. Now that I think of it, I do recall hearing there was a section in Project Blue Book called "Log Cabin...alien love syrup?" Okay, now I'm just pullin' this stuff out of thin air.

Once again THE EYES HAVE IT

Wish I had something clever to say but my mind is runnin' on empty. Okay, it's specifically running on Ambien which I stupidly took too soon which now has me wondering if I'll actually even take the muscle relaxant for the dislocated jaw. Oh whatever. Let's all pretend we're this lovely lady with the come hither eyes. Probably lived on Park Avenue and only knew about the Depression when her car drove quickly by the people standing in food lines. I'm being mean. She was probably a nice lady...just like the wives of the Wall Street honchos with the humongous gross out bonuses. Oh it's time for me to hit the sack. My cursor is starting to look like a little bug on the screen and soon I'll be down the hall spreading Nutella on a tortilla and then completely forgetting about it until I wake up the next morning and find chocolate on my toothbrush. Ambien...a dangerous dance with the pharmaceutical devil.

But back to this lady. Ummmmmmmmm...I know nothing other than she was illustrated by Dynevor Rhys. I posted two more of his illustrations back in October.

Click on image to see it larger. (Source: Delineator, December 1931) 

Talk amongst yourselves. Today's discussion is on the NRA. NO not that one. Not the one that thinks people should have a gun in each pot and four semi-autmatics loaded under the bed just in case a deer walks by. No this is the National Recovery Act and how desperately do we need one now? You can see the eagle logo in the lower left portion of the cover. Here's a bit of history about the logo:

The Blue Eagle, a blue-colored representation of the American "thunderbird," with outspread wings, was a symbol used in the United States by companies to show compliance with the National Industrial Recovery Act. It was proclaimed on July 20, 1933, as the symbol of industrial recovery by Hugh Samuel Johnson, the head of the National Recovery Administration.

The design was sketched by Johnson, and based on an idea utilized by the War Industries Board during World War I.

All companies that accepted President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Re-employment Agreement or a special Code of Fair Competition were permitted to display a poster showing the Blue Eagle together with the announcement, "NRA Member. We Do Our Part." Consumers were exhorted to buy products and services only from companies displaying the Blue Eagle banner. According to Johnson, "When every American housewife understands that the Blue Eagle on everything that she permits into her home is a symbol of its restoration to security, may God have mercy on the man or group of men who attempt to trifle with this bird."

On September 5, 1935, following the invalidation of the compulsory code system, the emblem was abolished and its future use as a symbol was prohibited. (Source: Wikipedia)

UPDATE: Wow I figured this would be bad when I looked at it this morning but not that bad. This is what happens when you mix a piece of fudge at bedtime and an Ambien. Above is the cleaned up version. My best friend alerted me to my stupidity. Sistee Lister indeed!

SANTA SWAPPING stories by the Coke machine

I've said before that I have created, in my mind, a fantasy world for the elves. And I think this just might be proof that Santa is a jolly old soul. Santa caught taking a break next to the Coke machine right before he's about to take off for his eventful flight. He's cracking jokes with the elves while they fill his sleigh. Knows them all by name. Is great with small talk, no height joke intended.

(Source: National Geographic December 1954)  Click on image to see it larger.

Then again maybe this is Santa at the ad agency getting ready to pose for another Coke ad. Who knows. Let your imagination lead you where it will.

Eddie Elephant Update: More Eddie items will be appearing at CafePress within the next twenty-four hours. Yeah, I know, it used to say 12, but things aren't going as fast as I'd hoped.