Time On Our Hands:  End of the Year 2012

As 2012 draws to a close, just 6 hours left, I have dropped by my blog to see what happened here this year.  I like it!  The past month has been a hard one in which to find the time to blog so, alas, I haven't added anything.  But my blog is aged now 6 months old + a few days.  A New Year's resolution: I plan to do more blogging in 2013 than I did in 2012.  Might be hard to find the time with two new residents at our house, but sometimes events like this will increase my organization and therefore my productivity.  

So I promise myself to try.  That's the best resolution I can make!  Try and Try Harder.  The mantra of 2013.  

Time On Our Hands: Old Book

Time On Our Hands:

A Wonderful Childrens' Book

At the Expo Center in Portland I recently attended the Palmer Wirff's Antiques Show.  I bought a couple of photos that I will post later but my prized purchase that day was a book called Pedlar's Ware by Mary and Margaret Baker.  It was published in 1925 and my copy was a library book for its career.  There are four stories in this book and each is written by one sister and accompanied by silhouettes painted by the other sister.  

Here are two examples of the silhouettes.  

There is a silhouette on nearly every other page.  Many are people--a juggler, three fancy ladies with fans, a dancing couple, a leprechaun, a beggar maid.  Some are fairies and some brownies.  Some are cats and some children.  There is a house, a woman with a child and a leprechaun.  They are all so wonderfully done.  

The stories aren't that great, frankly, but these silhouettes are the reason I bought the book to begin with.  I wonder about these sisters and how they spent their days.  Did the artist do her silhouette work hour after hour?  Did she paint them after the stories were written or before, to shape a story around?  

They published other books as well.  Together they wrote the stories and made the pictures for The Black Cats and the Tinker's Wife as well as The Dog, the Brownie and the Bramble Patch.  

I've studied the pages of this book until they are falling out of the binding.  I want to thank the Baker girls for doing this work so that a woman 87 years later could enjoy them.  What a great find!

Time On Our Hands: Shirtwaists

Time on Our Hands: 

Girls in Shirtwaist Dresses

I bought this photo recently at a favorite antiques store where I used to work.  When I first started collecting these school group photos, they were priced high.  This one was only $6.00 which was a bargain, or so it seems to me.

The shirtwaist dresses make me think this was taken in the early 1950s but I'm not sure.  At that time I was less than six so not a fashionista by any means.  But these dresses look familiar,  like they are something I saw as a girl.  A collar, a pair of puff sleeves, some buttons up the front, a belt and swing skirt.  They look very tailored and nice but, from what I remember, they were terribly uncomfortable.  Maybe that was just my problem because I wasn't built with my waist in the right place!

Moms might have made these dresses.  That was a thing stay-at-home moms did back then.

I love the hairstyles, too.  Very much like those I grew up with, at least in grade school.  Say until 1957 or so.  The girls have such sweet faces and fresh smiles.  One pair of glasses in that whole class! I find that pretty amazing.  Oops, just found another. Do you see her?  She's just a little blurry.

The boys in this picture are better dressed than the boys in many of the other ones I have.  The economy must have been good for their families.  They're all so clean cut.  And happy, I might add.  These boys look happy and cheerful.  Not shy and not afraid.

I wish I knew where this school is/was.  As far as place goes,  I haven't a clue to go on.  The boys have sweaters, the girls don't.  Can't be too cold, can it?  These kids have a stance that shows pride and assuredness.  They don't look beaten by the times or starving.  Their clothes aren't full of holes or dirt.  Their hair is combed, their hands look clean.

Would you like to go to this school?  Why?  Who do you think would have been your best friend in this class?  Where would you be in this picture, do you think?  Would someone near you make you laugh?  Who would that be? That little boy in the front row with the L on his sweater?  I think he's saying something very humorous.  There is a lot of joviality in that group of three boys, don't you think?

The teacher is a man, something new in my pile of class photos.  He has a three piece suit and a Hitler mustache.  He looks nice if you ignore that little bit that resembles a torturer.

My favorite person in this photo is the little girl straight up from the middle with a large square white collar, her head tilted slightly.  I would like to know her.

Time On Our Hands:  Cooking

Mr. G and I make pickles!

Here's Mr. G in August of 2010 stuffing quart jars with cucumbers cut in wedges.  I am posting this now because we are revving up to doing this again very soon--within a week or two.  We are just waiting for the cucumbers to be ripe and ready at Joe's Place Farm a short way from here.  

These pictures are of the first and only time we've made dill pickles together.  I had never done this sort of cooking before.  I still don't do any baking but I do love to cook meals.  That is my thing and it is a big thing!  But in this case I took the lead from my husband on this project.  He'd made pickles before and his sister Kelly gave us her fantastic recipe.  These pickles were so good that we made them last TWO years.  Now it's time to have another go at it because we ran out last week....

  

Here's how we made the pickles which we named Kelly's Wonderful Dill Pickles.  First we washed the jars--about 12 or 15 quart jars--in the dishwasher.  We got our  jars at a garage sale and were able to try different sizes and shapes because we didn't buy a case at the store.  We would prefer to use just wide mouth jars in the future as they were easier to work with.  

We put 4 1/2 quarts of water, 1 1/2 quarter of white vinegar and a cup of salt in a large pot.  That's the brine.  We set it on the large burner and slowly heated it to a boil.

In the meantime we put a washed grape leaf, one clove of chopped or pressed garlic, some dill seed and dill weed in each jar.  We put the lids and rings in a pan with water and brought it to a boil to sterilize them.  

We cut up the cucumbers--there were about 10 pounds of those little pickling cucumbers--and stuffed them into the jars, tight!   Then, using a glass measuring cup and a green canning funnel, we poured the boiling brine into the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top, wiped the rims and put a lid and a ring on each jar.  I let Mr. G tighten the rings since they had to stay very tight.   

For 5 weeks we watched the pickles sit in our garage waiting for them to be ready.  We had to be selfish and not share much since we'd made so few jars--even fewer after a few of the lids popped up before the wait was over indicating they were not sealed correctly and probably bad.  I hope this year we can make twice as many and give some away!

Mr. G told me that we have to use new lids each year so we got some at Walmart a week ago.  Thursday he bought some labels for the jars.  We are working up to the big day!!  Can't wait for our new batch of pickles.

Time on Our Hands:  Brothers 

Earl and Chester

Evidently this picture belonged to someone whose uncles Earl and Chester are depicted in it.  On the back it says "Moms Brothers Earl and Chester" and I just have to wonder which two are the uncles.   A further note says, "Will be back at 1 o'clock" and is signed "Nelson".  So maybe this is a picture that includes Nelson's uncles.  That is what I think, anyway.  

The young man on the right and the one sitting in the center with glasses are the two I think are the brothers.  The reasons are that their clothes are similar, their hair is similar and they have faces shaped the same, mouths the same (especially the lower lip that juts forward), ears the same.  Or so it seems in a picture this old.  

This group of boys could be a scholastic group like a debate team or the German Club or they could be a sports team--tennis, golf, football.  Several of them wear V-neck sweaters that might be a way of signing that they have excelled at something, like a school sweater awaiting a letter.  Or maybe it's just a fashion of the times.  

It seems like the pompadour is the hair style that everyone wanted at the time of this photo.  My own father sported one.  He graduated from high school in about 1937 and went off to college only to be interrupted and sent to World War II.  He finished getting his Bachelor of Science degree after the war.  I am guessing that happened in 1948 because I know my brother was born in 1947 before Dad had finished school. He and my mother and brother lived off campus with a dean and his wife while he finished.  

I can't really tell if these boys/men are in their high school years or just into college.  What do you think?  I am leaning towards college.  They have a very elite look to them.  Like "the best of the best", the ones who were able to go on with school.  To me all these young men seem to be just about 11 but I know they are older.  At my age, I am inclined to think anyone under 30 is too young to drive so don't ask me!  

At any rate, they are clean cut and well groomed.  They seem sure of themselves and pleased to be posing.  Shiny shoes, some ties, a couple of pairs of jeans, but neat ones.  Jackets, sweaters, neatly combed hair.  What did the photographer say to get some of the boys smiling and some (all on the right for some reason) NOT.  

"What happened to you?" I want to ask.  "Where did you go from here and what did you do with your lives?"  "Which of you went to war, which went bald, which taught school or was active at a church?"  "Which of you married and who had a nephew named Nelson?"  

Because they most likely would all be dead by now I am not surprised by the faded quality of their bodies and faces.  I don't expect them to be distinct or to look like they could walk right out of the frame.  And they don't.  They look kind of like spirits.  Some don't even have feet in the picture.  They just float there, looking in my direction.  

I hope you had a good life, Earl and Chester.  I hope the promise of this day stayed with you all the years of your life.  

Time On Our Hands:

First Communion

The socks are a dead giveaway.  This was before my time!  The dresses and veils are similar to what we wore in 1956 when I made my own first communion, but those socks?  No way.  So maybe the 1940s?  I don't know really.  Let me know if you do, would you?  

By the way, in my computer I can click on the photo and it will open outside the window.  Then I can make it as big as I need it to be to see those kids.  You might want to try that if you have trouble seeing them well.  

So now, first of all, White-Shoes-On-The-Right.  What was she thinking?  All the other shoes are black!  Didn't she get the memo? Maybe this was a fashion statement or maybe it's all she had. Or maybe she was just a rebel in the making!  Her see-through dress is long enough, though, so that you don't have to look at her knees and the wrinkly socks all the other girls show off so well.  

The girl fourth from the right is stupefied.  Hard to say why.  She looks off to the side, quite puzzled, and wonders maybe if she should be taking communion at all! She looks very innocent to me.  I am sure it's alright for her to go with the others.

Among these children we have prayer books, rosary beads and Easter lilies with ferns.  Hand-me-down dresses and veils as well as spanking new clothes.  The balloon/bonnet veils are new to me I must admit -- they would be the ones worn by the girls on the left end of each row.  I have never seen any like this.  

The second young lady from the left in the second row is a cute little thing, all smiles and sweet cheeks.  And next to her is the tallest of the class, very pretty.  At the far end of the row is a little girl in glasses who is huddled with cold or fear or both!  She looks pretty happy though, so her posture is probably not fear related.  

At the far left end of the little boys stands one tiny gentleman in a suit with a huge Easter lily.  This little guy is cursed with huge ears.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was in kindergarten, our first teacher lasted one day.  It was her first day of teaching and she was killed in a car accident on the way home from school. It was quite amazing to 5 year olds and a horrible way to start school.  But then, immediately, we had a "substitute teacher" even though we didn't really have a teacher at all anymore!  The sub was named Mrs. Cotton and she was a total witch.  I do believe she hated children and don't know why she became a teacher.  She was short and stout and had Brillo Pad hair.  

In our class was one little boy (whose name escapes me) who had huge stick-out ears.  Mrs. Cotton picked on him relentlessly, calling him names that referred to his appearance. Though I don't remember what names she used, fifty eight years later I do remember her terrorism.  I look at this picture and hope that the little boy at the left end does not suffer the kind of injustice my classmate suffered at the hands of Mrs. Cotton, the most horrible teacher I ever had.     

After all the smiles in the first two rows, it's strange to see only one or two in the boys' group.  Most of them look puzzled or depressed.  Not so much angelic as bored.  Come on, boys, it's your big day!

I wonder if any of these children realized what they were about to do and what it meant.  Probably not, though they may have later.  I hope that their faith brought them joy and comfort in their lives and that this day was the beginning of a wonderful and enriching relationship between them and their church.  

God bless these little communicants.    

Craft:

1950s Dressing Table Bench

I picked up this little 1950s Dressing Table Bench at an estate sale last weekend here in Vancouver, Washington.  It was in the basement, dirty, covered in paint splashes and sporting rubbed off spaces.  The seat cover was made of upholstery fabric that looked like carpet.  I paid $5.00.

I cleaned it up a bit on Sunday and popped the top off.  After I removed the carpet/cover, the cushioning material was actually in good condition with no spots or holes and it didn't smell bad as I'd expected it would.  I decided to keep the original padding.  

I chose this fabric to cover the seat.  I got a pretty big piece of it, about 2 - 60 inch yards, at a store closing a few years ago.  

I sanded the wood and gave the piece a once over with white primer.

While it dried, I stapled the fabric to the seat top.  I got confused with Mr. G's stapler and put a row of stables along the middle instead of along the edge before I realized where the staples were going!  Once I turned the stapler around I did fine, pulling the fabric snug and stapling all the edges.  I folded the corners so they are a little unsatisfactory but they are holding well.

In all I gave the wood two coats of primer and then two coats of this green paint.  I had a quart of it in the garage from one of our forays into a hardware store where we picked up a can or two of "oops" paint (mis-mixed paint) for $1 a can along with our planned purchases.  

I like my little bench. It took me one day to finish this project.  I was lucky and got a sunny day or it would have taken much longer! 

I think I'll use it as a footstool but still not sure.  It's kind of tall for that purpose.  It took only $5 + items I had around the house.