Toys

'Tis the season for talking about toys. Millions of people are packing the Walmarts, Targets and Costcos of America to spend their dollars on Chinese-made plastic toys. Good for China.
Over the weekend I visited the Barker Cartoon Museum in Cheshire, CT. If you are going to be passing through CT any time soon, check it out. If you grew up in the 50's, 60's or 70's especially, before toys became not so good.
You enter the barn, and are confronted with what lloks like a store - glass display cases, narrow aisles, and lots and lots of toys. But most of the toys in this room are old - some going back to the 19th century - yes kids, they had toys before television.
That being said, it is called the Cartoon museum, because most of the toys are based upon cartoons - but also on live action tv and movies.
The display cases are organized by category, such as Disney, Superfriends, Harry Potter and so on.
The really great thing about this place, in a similar way to e-bay, is that you can briefly re-capture some lost childhood memories. No sooner did I inquire about the Six Million Dollar Man 12" doll, when I found myself staring at ol' Steve Austin in his rocketship. I wish I never gave that away. In fact, if my old neighbor in Mansfield is reading this, I want my toys back you brat (he was a brat when he was a kid and I was babysitting him, I'm sure he turned out ok like most kids do).
I won't bore you with the dozen or so moments I had in the museum. I will mention that there were few if any LEGO in the place. Also no Micronauts and I don't recall seeing any Muppets either. Well, the Barker family obviously does not have an interest in collecting some toy line-ups, but no worries. There are plenty of treasures for the eye and the mind.
Oh, did I mention my Star Wars lunchbox...oh, and the Batman and Robin dolls...oh, did I tell you about the Weebles...