Point of Reference

I know a few people--admittedly, only a few--who take a week or two each summer and go off to a cabin with no running water or electricity where they enjoy following simpler pursuits.  Thinking about those people, I came up with a list of activities now thought to be old fashioned.   Activities, say, that were common around the 1940s--the time of my first memories--which, of course, would most certainly include having running water and electricity.

• Taking a walk.  Along a beach is always nice.
• Singing (including family sing-alongs).
• Playing a harmonica, a non-electric piano, or a guitar.
• Doing a jig-saw puzzle.
• Playing vinyl records.
• Playing cards, dominoes, chess, backgammon, bad-mitten.
• Riding a bike.
• Using a handkerchief rather than a tissue ... and cloth napkins instead of paper.  Then washing, drying, and ironing them.
• Drinking from a glass or a cup and saucer.
• Making a cake from scratch.
• Making a telephone call from a land line.
• Paying in cash or by check.
• Signaling a turn when driving by opening your window and sticking out your hand--straight for a left-hand turn, bent up at the elbow for a right-hand turn.
• Having an attendant fill your gas tank while also washing your windows and checking your oil and radiator.
• Writing a letter with a typewriter, pencil, or pen and ink.
• Using fans to cool off.  
• Making sure the cottons in your laundry don't shrink or bleed their color onto the whole load.
• Then hanging the laundry on a line.
• Listening to a radio.
• If you're a woman, wearing dresses or skirts and blouses (no t-shirts). 
• Paying half-a-cent per pound for watermelon in high season.

So .... No e-books, credit cards, trips to Disneyland (it didn't exist then), computers, cell phones, TV, microwaves, rock concerts, video games, packaged mixes, catalogs in the mail, AC (house or car), or drinks with high fructose corn syrup.  Of course, the list goes on.