Spending an Afternoon in the 1960s

Rail all day yesterday forced the kids and I inside. Around the time animals in the neighborhood lined up in pairs with ears cocked for the sound of a hammer, we took a virtual field trip to Manhattan in the 1960s. First, we read a few chapters of Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy. My nine year old daughter read it herself last year and chose it for our current read aloud. My sons
are enjoying it, but I can tell they'd appreciate a bit more action. Of interest to all of them is the idea that the parents of a girl not much older than themselves allowed her to roam around New York City (or at least the Upper East Side) for hours every day after school. When we put Harriet down, we created MadMen avatars of ourselves over at AMC. I love the setting of that show. The costumes remind me of pictures of my parents when they were dating and newlyweds. Here's how my son pictures himself looking in 30 years:

My daughter would have me looking like this in 1964:

I gave myself a more schoolteacherish look

.

The sun is shining today so I think we're gonna get out there and enjoy July 2009 while it lasts.