We had a telephone that sat on the table in the living room  & one on the wall in the kitchen. At first the standard cord was short (about 2 ft long, we later got a 10 ft cord). With the longer cord you could move around the kitchen.

 

Our cooking was done on the stove & the oven. I don't remember any summer BBQ's. Dad did like to make home made peach ice cream in the summer. I remember having fresh tomatoes and green beans, since he had a large garden. 

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Summers were hot, we had our windows open most of the time with box fans in the windows and an oscillating fan on a table. I remember falling a sleep to the sound of the fan and the breeze blowing across the bed.

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To write a formal letter we used a manual typewriter. I got a typewriter for Christmas when I was about 10 years old, I loved it. My dad collected rent for the Belle Haven Lodge apartments. I remember him sitting in the dining room counting the money and totaling it on a large metal adding machine. You punched in the numbers and pulled the handle down to enter each number.

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I spent most of my time outside when the weather allowed, riding my bike. I LOVED my bike, I had a purple bike with a banana seat and large handle bars. When I was teenager I had a white 10 speed bike. My indoor time was spent playing board games (like monopoly) if I could find someone to play them with (since I only had one sibling and he was 7 years older then me) and watching TV.

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Our TV was a large box the size of a living room chair, which only had 5 channels, in B&W and the television stations broadcast from 6:00 am until midnight. The signal was received by rabbit ears, some homes had large antennas on top of the house. It was a big deal when dad installed the antenna outside, the TV became much clearer. I remember that happening somewhere in the mid 60's about the same time television shows started broadcasting in color. The first one I remember was every Sunday night the Wonderful World of Disney.

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We only had AM radio in the car until about the mid 70's. I liked to listen to WPGC top 40.  When I was about 12 I got a nice record player for Christmas. When it played an LP album when it finished the arm came up and repositioned it to the begging of the album.