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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Friday, March 4, 2011

Old Love








I found two of my old army men digging through my families garden on Detroit's lower east side.  This guy is encrusted with 1963 dirt. Having him back in my hand put me in a playful mood as I remembered how, with my buddies Sean and Dan,  played war all day creating long dramatic battles that were fought in the miniature world, in our imaginations, and there in the neighborhood as we ran freely. Back then we judged a kid on his ability to "die." If another kid caught you with his virtual machine gun, a weapon more than likely morphed from a stick, you needed to spin in agony hurling your own gun skyward and then fall earthward in a broken mess in order to make any kind of positive impression. Our beloved Dads were WWII veterans and we were raised on the black and white war movies of the era. They framed our play time and gave us some context for judging melodrama.
   Can a toy have soul? In this case, for me, the answer is obvious. Occasionally I still take out this relic and play! Old Love!
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12 comments:

  1. TexWisGirlMarch 4, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    That is awesome! Loved the shots. Loved the memories you painted so well! Loved that your dads were veterans...

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  2. tiptoethruphylsgarden.blogspot.comMarch 4, 2011 at 7:31 PM

    Ahhhh,what a neat story,so happy you found your toy!I believe finding things like this just make us younger,thank-you for your story,how cute!phyllis

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  3. Johnny NutcaseMarch 4, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    holy crap i love this. !!

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  4. DaveMarch 4, 2011 at 9:24 PM

    Great memories! My dad was in WWII as well, and we all played army on our street. I remember digging a 'fox hole' at the side of our house...were my dad parked his car. I forgot to fill it in before he got home from work. I'm still laughing!

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  5. holdingmomentsMarch 5, 2011 at 11:03 AM

    Great memories of childhood.

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  6. Sallie (FullTime-Life)March 5, 2011 at 5:14 PM

    Thank you for sharing the memory. Neat that you found these 'relics'...it was cool that we kids could play and roam freely then wasn't it? (In my neighborhood, the girls had to be prisoners in War Games. Cowboys and Indians was better -- we could be Dale Evans ;>)

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  7. theconstantwalkerMarch 5, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    You have just brought my childhood memories come flooding back. A great post. Thank you.

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  8. Mike B.March 5, 2011 at 6:06 PM

    Wow- love the photos. The second one actually looks like there is a war going on.

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  9. SondraMarch 5, 2011 at 7:53 PM

    While you played soldier I was playing cow"girl" riding a stick horse and trying to stay away from the Indians...I collected horse statues and read stories like Black Stallion and My Friend Flicka-thanks for bringing back some fond memories.

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  10. OwenMarch 5, 2011 at 8:56 PM

    Looks like an entire city is burning there ! Guess we must have a similar set of memories. From these small plastic figures we graduated to G.I.Joe, and all his various accoutrements and uniforms, and from there we progressed on to actually blowing up G.I.Joe with real explosives like M80's or homemade stuff like matchheads packed into CO2 cartridges and whatnot... We conquered the entire world several times over...
    Yes, memories...

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  11. jeanlivingsimpleMarch 6, 2011 at 3:48 PM

    What a cool find and even cooler shots of them! You are their Hero!:)

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  12. Suzanne ColletteMarch 7, 2011 at 8:07 AM

    Oh Childhood, I do miss Thee...

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