Comments on: The Ultimate Baby Boomer Tool

By: PopArtDiva

PopArtDiva — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:56:02 +0000

I was not a roller skater when I was a kid though I did ice skate. I would never have figured it out from the photo because I didn’t know it was a skate key, lol. Funnily enough I got into roller skating when the in-line skates came into popularity, they were more like ice skates to me and I loved them.
I was a pretty active kid, a tomboy really, so I enjoyed just about everything else that was physical – especially baseball. Yes, baseball, not softball – my hands were too little to control a softball well. I can’t tell you how many pairs of glasses I broke playing baseball – I spent most of my childhood with tape wrapped around the nose bridge of my specs!

By: Vicki M. Taylor

Vicki M. Taylor — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:48:42 +0000

Eileen… your memories are always timeless. You paint such a vivid picture.

By: Heidi Richards Mooney

Heidi Richards Mooney — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:51:22 +0000

Thanks for bringing back the memories, skinned knees, Janis Joplin and all….

Heidi

By: Beverly Mahone

Beverly Mahone — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:40:11 +0000

Ohhhh…I never had roller skates as a child so that definitely wouldn’t have been a guess.

By: Joyce Mason

Joyce Mason — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:34:13 +0000

I’ve got the scarred knees to prove I spent many an hour on my roller skates and used one of these keys often. In these days of ergonomically correct, expensive athletic shoes and gear, I wonder how our little feet withstood the perils of those relics. They were little more than a slab of metal with wheels, just a bit adjustable on the width to fit whatever shoes you wore. Still, we grew up–most of us relatively in one piece, not counting knees!

Wow, Eileen, you’ve given me quite a blast from the past on this one. I’m envisioning a mid-20th-century hall in the Smithsonian someday with all of our play gear. Bet this one will be a stumper for youth of the present and future!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:59:05 +0000

I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, you got a brand new key (oops flashback from the early 70’s)….. ) Been following your blog for some time now and I “think” that is what the nifty tool is … a roller skate key! I loved skating and wore my “key” around my neck on a braided yarn rope.

By: Beverly Mahone

Beverly Mahone — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:11:57 +0000

LOL! I was going to say it was an old-fashioned shoe horn but if you played with it, that can’t be right. I have clue. Funny, I didn’t play with cap guns as a child. I know there were little boys in our neighborhood who did. I remember playing with something where you would strike it with a rock on the ground and it would pop–similar to a firecracker. I guess I just didn’t have such an exciting, adventurous childhood–partly because I was an only child.