While doing the dusting (a chore I will
never enjoy), I began thinking about dusting my grandparents’ living
room when I was young.
Grandma would put us girls to work doing something to use up all of our energy that was getting on her nerves, I think.
In
the middle of my grandparents’ living room stood a long table; it had a
drawer in it and a shelf on the bottom. The large legs had rounded
feet. There was a lot to dust on that table.
It was what you might call their “entertainment center.”
The drawers had fancy pulls and, as I remember, it contained a magnifying glass, pencils and some writing paper.
It
held a stereograph in which you put heavy cardboard photo pairs. You’d
slide handle to focus the pictures and make them look three-dimensional.
There was a whole box of pictures.
We weren’t allowed to use it unless an adult was with us.
The
shelf at the bottom was always left clean for dusting, I suppose. The
top of the table had an ecru scarf that went the whole length of the
table with crocheted edging and a wide hem from which tassels hung, some
of Grandma’s handiwork. There was a matching on top of the piano in the
corner of the living room.
A Tiffany-type lamp sat in the middle
of the table and when you wanted to work at the table and needed room
it could be moved to one side, but grandma used it in the evening when
she would sit in her rocker side of the table and with the help of the
lamp do her sewing, needlework, mending or sometimes would read.
There
was also a hanging lamp in the ceiling that had three bulbs with glass
shades that if needed could be turned on for more light.
Grandfather
sat on the other side of the table next to the radio, which was against
the wall. It was a Stromberg Carlson, if I remember correctly. It sat
on tall legs in a wood cabinet which was either walnut or mahogany with
ornate wooden decorations. The radio was only turned on when Grandpa
turned it on and that was only to listen to the news, a news commentator
H.V. Kaltenborn and the singing cowboy Montana Slim.
The radio
took electricity and in those days (Grandpa lived through the
Depression) you didn’t use electricity except when necessary and limited
enjoyment. As in most homes in those days hanging over the radio was a
large photograph of Grandpa’s father. Many homes had pictures of their
parents and families decorating the living room walls back then.
After
the news he would read the daily newspaper and occasionally a few pages
of the Reader’s Digest, one of his Christmas gifts along with National
Geographic. Children weren’t always allowed to look at that magazine if
it had articles from Africa or other eastern countries with pictures of
the people in their native dress which sometimes was very limited.
All this came back to me while doing one of the tasks I don’t enjoy, which made the task go quicker.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Autumn is awesome
Autumn is awesome!
There are pumpkins on the side of the road for jack-o-lanterns or pies. There are squash of so many varieties, along with gourds for decorating, corn shocks, potatoes, cabbage, rutabagas and all of the fall vegetables harvested and ready for eating. Fall is here and the growing season is just about over.
This is the time for a trip into the hills to enjoy the scenic beauty.
Gone are the days when you could drive out into the country and find corn shocks the farmers would gladly give you. They are no longer stacked into bundles in the field and now they are being offered for sale if you want them for decorating your house on Halloween. Times change, the stalks are chopped or cut in the field and taken out in wagons for storage.
You can now take the kids and go off to the apple orchard for your supply of apples. It’s a great family adventure especially for the younger kids to get a ride on the apple wagon towed by the tractor to the orchard to pick your own apples. And this is also a great treat for the kids to go to the pumpkin field to pick out their own pumpkin to take home and carve. Taking the children to these places is a learning experience, one they won’t forget.
You know what is also great? When you visit one of these outdoor trips you pack a lunch for a “late” summer picnic. There are so many places along the roads for you to stop for picnics. The rolling hills on Route 20 have drive-off areas with tables if you don’t want to “rough” it and spread a blanket for your lunch. The fall is a great time for a last summer picnic. If you have been to the apple orchard and if they have a cider mill you might be able to have apple cider for your beverage.
Another family outing is to go “nutting.” If you know where there are nut trees growing or have friends or family who can direct you to places where gathering nuts is fun. There are trees growing along roads and for all outward appearances belonged to those who wish to gather them. We used to and then spread them in the upper story of our barn to dry. Many a cold winter’s night we spent in the kitchen while my poppa cracked them on a brick held between his knees and we kids and Mom picked the meat out of the shell and put them in glass jars for cookies, cakes, frosting and fudge.
Group of us gals who were into Scouts, 4-H or just had hobbies and gathered wildflowers and weeds to dry and then either painted for the holidays or shellac the naturals and used in our children groups to make gifts for the holidays. Kids loved to make their own creations for their family and relatives. Budgets were small and the materials were free for the gathering.
Yes, fall is awesome. The days are crisp, sunshiny and cool. The football games bring out all those people you haven’t seen all summer. There are tailgate parties at some of the games and you get to visit with people you haven’t seen since last fall’s football games, and it makes you have a good feeling. “To everything there is a season” and autumn is just one. It is one of the beautiful times.
There are pumpkins on the side of the road for jack-o-lanterns or pies. There are squash of so many varieties, along with gourds for decorating, corn shocks, potatoes, cabbage, rutabagas and all of the fall vegetables harvested and ready for eating. Fall is here and the growing season is just about over.
This is the time for a trip into the hills to enjoy the scenic beauty.
Gone are the days when you could drive out into the country and find corn shocks the farmers would gladly give you. They are no longer stacked into bundles in the field and now they are being offered for sale if you want them for decorating your house on Halloween. Times change, the stalks are chopped or cut in the field and taken out in wagons for storage.
You can now take the kids and go off to the apple orchard for your supply of apples. It’s a great family adventure especially for the younger kids to get a ride on the apple wagon towed by the tractor to the orchard to pick your own apples. And this is also a great treat for the kids to go to the pumpkin field to pick out their own pumpkin to take home and carve. Taking the children to these places is a learning experience, one they won’t forget.
You know what is also great? When you visit one of these outdoor trips you pack a lunch for a “late” summer picnic. There are so many places along the roads for you to stop for picnics. The rolling hills on Route 20 have drive-off areas with tables if you don’t want to “rough” it and spread a blanket for your lunch. The fall is a great time for a last summer picnic. If you have been to the apple orchard and if they have a cider mill you might be able to have apple cider for your beverage.
Another family outing is to go “nutting.” If you know where there are nut trees growing or have friends or family who can direct you to places where gathering nuts is fun. There are trees growing along roads and for all outward appearances belonged to those who wish to gather them. We used to and then spread them in the upper story of our barn to dry. Many a cold winter’s night we spent in the kitchen while my poppa cracked them on a brick held between his knees and we kids and Mom picked the meat out of the shell and put them in glass jars for cookies, cakes, frosting and fudge.
Group of us gals who were into Scouts, 4-H or just had hobbies and gathered wildflowers and weeds to dry and then either painted for the holidays or shellac the naturals and used in our children groups to make gifts for the holidays. Kids loved to make their own creations for their family and relatives. Budgets were small and the materials were free for the gathering.
Yes, fall is awesome. The days are crisp, sunshiny and cool. The football games bring out all those people you haven’t seen all summer. There are tailgate parties at some of the games and you get to visit with people you haven’t seen since last fall’s football games, and it makes you have a good feeling. “To everything there is a season” and autumn is just one. It is one of the beautiful times.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Cookies certainly were good
Did you have a favorite food you can’t buy anymore?
At dinner the other night we discussed “can’t find” foods - things that aren’t on the shelves anymore. The manager will explain that if it isn’t in the warehouse it just isn’t available in the store. If the tab marking the place on the shelf is gone, then it isn’t available.
For instance, does anyone remember Mary Ann cookies? They were soft, rectangular cookies that tasted something like molasses cookies but they were different.
After school I looked looked forward to a glass of milk and a Mary Ann. We bought them from a box in the grocery store you could open and take out how many you wanted. When this display became outmoded the cookies came packaged with the other desserts.
Store-bought cookies were a treat because generally the only ones at our house were homemade. In the boxes there was a marshmallow one with coconut on the top and there was a cartwheel that was similar to the Mary Ann.
There were also Fig Newtons which is one of the cookies you can still purchase today but there isn’t the flavor that was there in the ones that came in the boxes with the glass doors. Today you can also purchase these cookies with apple, strawberry Newtons which the children seem to care for more than the fig. We’ve concluded the reason they don’t taste the same as in the good old days is because they are now fortified with all the preservatives to make them last so much longer on the grocery shelf.
And did you ever look at the ingredients in what cookie you are nibbling on? Is it any wonder they taste more like a piece of cardboard sometimes than a cookie? Or is it my imagination?
What about the penny candy? We know we couldn’t buy it for a penny, but it isn’t even available for a nickel or dime. There was the Necco wafers and tubes of brown Hershey kisses.There were the watermelon slices that tasted like coconut. The licorice pipes that were hard and chewy and the banana peanuts that were soooo good. These are still available, but the other penny candy doesn’t seem to be.
I can remember going into a store that had in its front window a shelf with all of the penny candy displayed. If you had a nickel or sometimes a dime (which was almost never) the store owner would have a small brown paper sack and you could pick out enough candy with the nickel to half fill the paper bag. If you were careful the bag could last you a week if you spaced it out.
You can still find some of this candy, if you go to a store that specializes in it. They have candy like those days. You can still buy some of it through catalogs. It costs much more than a penny and the postage costs more than a large sack of candy, so it isn’t cheap.
But isn’t it fun to look at the items and remember what we could buy for just a penny?
At dinner the other night we discussed “can’t find” foods - things that aren’t on the shelves anymore. The manager will explain that if it isn’t in the warehouse it just isn’t available in the store. If the tab marking the place on the shelf is gone, then it isn’t available.
For instance, does anyone remember Mary Ann cookies? They were soft, rectangular cookies that tasted something like molasses cookies but they were different.
After school I looked looked forward to a glass of milk and a Mary Ann. We bought them from a box in the grocery store you could open and take out how many you wanted. When this display became outmoded the cookies came packaged with the other desserts.
Store-bought cookies were a treat because generally the only ones at our house were homemade. In the boxes there was a marshmallow one with coconut on the top and there was a cartwheel that was similar to the Mary Ann.
There were also Fig Newtons which is one of the cookies you can still purchase today but there isn’t the flavor that was there in the ones that came in the boxes with the glass doors. Today you can also purchase these cookies with apple, strawberry Newtons which the children seem to care for more than the fig. We’ve concluded the reason they don’t taste the same as in the good old days is because they are now fortified with all the preservatives to make them last so much longer on the grocery shelf.
And did you ever look at the ingredients in what cookie you are nibbling on? Is it any wonder they taste more like a piece of cardboard sometimes than a cookie? Or is it my imagination?
What about the penny candy? We know we couldn’t buy it for a penny, but it isn’t even available for a nickel or dime. There was the Necco wafers and tubes of brown Hershey kisses.There were the watermelon slices that tasted like coconut. The licorice pipes that were hard and chewy and the banana peanuts that were soooo good. These are still available, but the other penny candy doesn’t seem to be.
I can remember going into a store that had in its front window a shelf with all of the penny candy displayed. If you had a nickel or sometimes a dime (which was almost never) the store owner would have a small brown paper sack and you could pick out enough candy with the nickel to half fill the paper bag. If you were careful the bag could last you a week if you spaced it out.
You can still find some of this candy, if you go to a store that specializes in it. They have candy like those days. You can still buy some of it through catalogs. It costs much more than a penny and the postage costs more than a large sack of candy, so it isn’t cheap.
But isn’t it fun to look at the items and remember what we could buy for just a penny?
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