16 July 1955 “A time travel experiment from 1905-1955”

Since beginning this project I have found myself slipping in and out of time. Though the original intention was and still is to focus on the day to day of 1955, I have of late begun to stop in the middle of a 1955 decision and think ten years back, twenty and so on. It has left me, though focusing on 1955, beginning to really feel the elasticity of time. The past can be a living thing in which we can, on some level, hone and make malleable. There is a lesson in it. The past is a sort of free university waiting for our attendance. We can go into it as deeply as we choose and there are a myriad of ‘subjects’ to study, but whatever that choice may be you come out the wiser, I think.
A big part of understanding the specific role of a middle class woman in the role of homemaker in 1955 America has led me down a path I could not have understood at the beginning of the journey. There are forks in the road and hidden foot paths to take or glens in which to peer and wonder or a soft sun-dappled glade to rest your weary modern eyes for a moment. I know I am not, in any way, close to what a true and honest 1955 homemaker truly was. I do not even claim to have their strength or complete understanding of the framework of their time, but I have tried to give my year 1955 a solid framework.
As I have mentioned before, I did not want to feel as if I was just dropped into 1955 straight out of 2008. I also did not want to wander in “Hollywood Movie” style, as if I travelled, Alice in Wonderland style, into a 1950’s sitcom. I did not want it to be a joke. I thought it to be fun and maybe a but silly of a project, but I never went in with any intention to make fun and I hope I have not done so.
The relevance of who I would be in 1955 at my current age could only truly be felt if I also took moments of my day or weeks to ‘look back’ to my fictional past of childhood and teens in the 1920’s and 30’s, my war-time bride era of the 1940’s to really understand what I am doing here, a stay at home homemaker in 1955. That relevance was to come about with trying (and still to try) may hand at skills and ideas that I would have had before the conveniences of 1955. Much of what I, a staunchly middle class woman in 1955 America, would have in the way of conveniences is not that dissimilar to today. I would not be sitting here on my computer, but I would most certainly be washing and drying my clothes in automatic machines, my dishes would be washed in their dishwasher, there would be endless prepared food items available for me to ‘save time’ and endless gadgets from toasters, blenders, waffle irons, steam irons. These things would be new to me. There would be days, no doubt, when I would look at my life and recall my early married days in the war time era or my own ‘help at home’ life in the Depression and wonder and be thankful. I would also worry about my family’s safety, with the cold war and threat of the ‘A-Bomb’, but this fear would not be new to me. I would have grown up on it. It would have been the very fabric of my rearing, the wonder of food and money in the Depression, the worry of safety of life and death, they would have been a constant companion, so I would have dealt with them with a quiet confidence and strong shoulders to carry it off. These realizations have come to make me appreciate this generation to such a great extent.
When I think of how I pictured the 1950’s, and how much of it is now portrayed, before I started this project I cringe. We would look with the lazy casual snobbery of the modern world at the sad little woman in the puffy dress holding the martini and slippers for her domineering husband. Certainly, this may have existed and may still today, but I think when we view the past with only the eyes of the present, we learn nothing and scoff at a great learning opportunity. When we realize that ‘woman at home’ most likely ran the world while the men were away protecting it seems in a different light. To know that that same woman probably worked along her ailing family through the Depression to eek out a life and still smiled and dressed up prettily when she could, laughed and danced and cried, it no longer becomes a funny iconic image to either put neatly up as high art on a wall or as silly magnets upon the fridge. The very strength of character of these people could serve us today if we only took the chance to learn and listen.
Sadly, many of this generation is gone. Those who remain are probably quietly set aside in nursing homes. They can use their strength there as well. They labored and struggled through a life and raised children so that their children could have the freedom to ‘rebel’ and ‘experiment’ with their lives. To selfishly use up the worlds resources for their fun and amusement and constant need to be entertained and feed and satiated to only set aside those who made it all possible in the cold sterile hand that is the nursing home world. This might sound harsh, but it really hits me some days that when I think of those who would have done what I am trying to recreate now are gone and may have been easily shuffled away, hidden, rather than treasured, it makes me sad. But, I digress.
The point of this post was the malleability of time and the past. Its power as a learning and entertaining tool.
I figured in this post I would, with some images and video, show a little cross section of ten year leaps starting in 1905 through to 1955. I hope you enjoy it:
Let’s start with fashion, as it is fun and great to see in a timeline.
1905: the Gibson Girl hair and the flowing skirt. The décolletage on the bolero tops. The “S” curve of the woman's overall shape. The very end of the ‘flamboyant times’ and certainly the Belle Epoch. Of course these are most likely upper class or upper middle class women.
There were also those who were at the bottom of the class ladder such as these in Stieglitz photo “steerage” and of course, the growing middle classes as these women out shopping
Now 1915: Here you can see a pattern for a ‘well-cut chemise’ that would have served the middle class woman. The next would also be more middle class fashion while the last drawing, which I live the life and style of, certainly shows a more modish turned out upper class woman. These are the First World War years and you can see the raised hemline and more functionality of the clothes, though still very similar in one defined line to which fashion would be interpreted through fabric and various accessories.
That seems to hold true until probably the late 1960’s early 1970s that fashion seemed to dictate a certain silhouette and then was interpreted in different fabrics and accessories, while today, really, anything goes. There is no ‘specific hemline’ nor ‘style’ that the clothes for that year fall into. I think once the complete care free attitude of jeans and t-shirts arrived, it seems to change our way of thinking in how we look. It certainly opened up the world to mass production. It is cheaper to print out dozens of t-shirts with a picture on it and sell it for a fast buck then to have a well made shirt waist.
Now onto 1925:
There certainly for many 1925 was probably indistinguishable from 1905 in terms of women's freedom and even clothing freedom, particularly in rural America where even electricity and plumbing did not arrive until FDR’s New Deal plans, this cartoon certainly shows the great divide beginning to form between the generations. Again, though, after WWI a sort of world party and celebration wanted to start but then after WWII a more staid almost Victorian rule of home and roles returned, as we were not sure of our futures anymore.
The 1925 older upper classes as seen here in Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, still had a bit of 19th century about them. While the youth were more ‘free’ in their attire, though still more dressier than we see today, for sure, they seem to have an almost childlike quality to them for the first time.
1935: The skirt is getting longer, but we really begin to see what was most like today’s model body type, not unlike the Twiggy body of the 1960s.
This photo of this young couple looks SO modern as opposed to say a 1955 photo. It also has a very 1970s YSL look to it. This pair were certainly upper or upper middle class. Some young ladies out shopping, most likely middle class and of course we cannot address the image of 1935 without the famous Dorothea Lange’s photograph, “Migrant Mother” that spoke volumes about the Great Depression. Certainly amongst the happy Hollywood days and the bright young things flying about in sports cars, the worse economic depression rocked our country. You certainly couldn’t, unless you were unfeeling, not feel it somehow. As I had said before, my Maternal Grandfather still bought a new car every year during the Depression, but my mother had told me how they used to buy fruit and things for local poor and let kids have ‘fun rides’ on the running boards of the cars. You could not, perhaps more so if you were staunchly middle class, not feel for the wretched poor. For certainly, you were but a few missed payments away from slipping down your class rung to the lowers starving masses.
1945: you can see the skirt is higher than it has been. It was to this height in 1925 and then quickly dropped as the 20’s lead into the 30’s. Much of this fashion was based on utility and amount of available fabric as well as fashion. There was a definite military feel as the shoulder pad appeared on women. Here some young ladies, could be either middle or upper classes in a city, appear to be ‘knitting for the cause’.
and finally 1955:
And of course the role of mother was even important in the fashion world. And in many ways the silhouette of 1955 was not unlike that of 1855. As I said, after WWI there was a sort of free for all party atmosphere with the ‘war to end all wars’, while WWII left us reeling and returning to home to rebuild and re-grow. But, the genie had been let out of the bottle and the children of this generation would not have it.
There are so many other aspects of this fashion timeline that I will address it more in my next blogs, I think I might do bathing costumes next.
Now, onto film:
Yes, there was film in 1905. This little French piece I think really shows a sort of lighthearted theatre perfect for the time that was the Edwardian Period. The last big party before the world was to change for ever in the remainder of the 20th century.
1905 film

1915 film “The Tramp” was a piece of art. There was another film to come out this year about the Civil War that made quite a stir. Though many felt it was unpatriotic, dealt with the civil war in its very real sense of death and destruction. The use of cinema had a moment of seriousness as the world was torn apart in WWI

1925 film. Rudolph Valentino was the first great leading man in the modern sense, I believe. He was such a legend that woman actually killed themselves when he died in 1926. So begins the great ‘fictional mystery’ of film and its power over the masses. Little did they know to what extent ‘celebrities’ and ‘movie stars’ were to play in the future world.

Here is a bit about the introduction of sound to film:
The first commercial screening of movies with fully synchronized sound took place in New York City in April 1923. In the early years after the introduction of sound, films incorporating synchronized dialogue were known as "talking pictures," or "talkies." The first feature-length movie originally presented as a talkie was The Jazz Singer, released in October 1927.
By the early 1930s, the talkies were a global phenomenon. In the United States, they helped secure Hollywood's position as one of the world's most powerful cultural/commercial systems. In Europe (and, to a lesser degree, elsewhere) the new development was treated with suspicion by many filmmakers and critics, who worried that a focus on dialogue would subvert the unique aesthetic virtues of soundless cinema.
So, 1935: I think Shirley Temple really represents an escape needed during the days of the Depression. Often overcoming obstacles and hard times and ending up wealthy. Her plucky youth gave a promise to a very scary time. She also really is the first white female to have as close to an African-American co-star as was possible at the time.

1945: I think this clip from the film “Twice Blessed” really typifies what we think of as the 1940’s as well as showing a light hearted need during the tough war years.

1955: James Dean first film “East of Eden” based on Steinbeck's book comes out.

And of course you can’t mention the 1950s with out the musical. Here is Guys and Dolls.

So, by looking at things this way, from 1905-1955, has been very interesting. I will share more of these findings in the next blogs. It is really an interesting way to ‘time-travel’.
Let me know if you would be interested to see more posts like this showing such a cross section. I think showing the kitchen from 1905-1955 is rather interesting as well. Of course, I am still going to post my home-buying economic post, but I just needed a light break. I hope you enjoy.

15 July “Busy and Apologetic”

I promised myself to at least post a small blog every day, but when I sit down to do so I began writing and expounding on things and then find myself with little time to make it cohesive, so then it goes un-posted.

I am still working on my post about home buying then and now. My research into FDR Depression era New Deal legislation is so fascinating and really needs to be addressed to get to where we were with home buying in 1955. The Depression Era is becoming rather interesting. What FDR faced when he came to the white house seems to make what our current president’s problems small in comparison and makes our current economic crunch seem less frightening. 

The more I look into it the more I begin to think of my own 1955 self and her life during that time. I would have been old enough to have recalled the Depression. I wonder, being a teen at the time, would it have seemed different to me, as WWII was often recalled fondly by very young children in London who got free reign and had an entire city as a playground and no parental supervision? Certainly, if we were effected economically, which I don’t know how you could not be, would I have worked? Would a young daughter of a middle class family be sent out to earn, or would I have needed to ‘keep up appearances’ maybe taking over more housework to cover the fact that the family maid had to be let go? It is all very interesting.

I have done some research and magazine and book reading of the 1940s for this project, as I would have been a young wife then. But, to really begin to think of my formative years, looking at the 1930s is almost imperative. But, I digress.

Perhaps it is just the hairstyles, but these 1935 seniors at a High School some how look older or more mature than their 1955 senior counterparts. Maybe it’s just me. Yet these seniors, from 55, had the fear of the A-bomb, but they were at the tail end of the horror that had been. The 1935 seniors had to live in the sad Depression and then to fell the fear of war in the air. I wonder what it felt like in 39 and the early war years before our country got involved in the war?

I have been very busy, as we always seem to find ourselves in summer, and am apologetic for not having posted more. I am also sorry for this meager post, but wish to ‘stay in’ my community and not feel I am letting anyone down.

Maybe until I get up another post, we should discuss what we think the 1930’s would have been for our ‘counterparts’. If you were the age you are now in 1955 count back and see what your age would be in 1935 and then wonder how it would affect you. I think it could make for a lively discussion.

I will be checking in, so if you have not all forgot about me in my lax ways, then we can have a good ‘comment discussion’. So, again, excuse my lax behavior I will try to rectify it.

9 July 1955 “Some News, Some Music, Some Food, and is it Easier Now or Then?with a little Rant thrown in for good measure.”

Jack Lalanne of Oakland, California
swims two miles from a point off Alcatraz
Island Prison to the San Francisco shore,
with his wrists handcuffed together.
Lalanne started from a boat, because
Warden Paul Madigan refused him
permission to leave from the Island.
Madigan still maintains that Alcatraz is
virtually escape-proof for prisoners
because “the water is too cold and the
currents too swift.”

Last minute preparations to get the
nearly completed Disneyland ready for
dedication ceremonies will be shown on
a special this Sunday night at 8 on ABC. I know some people may get mad at me, but I have never been a Disney fan. Particularly now it sort of represents to me all that I find abhorrent in our American culture. The false overbuilt idea of ‘history’. The plastic overpriced trumped up representation of old classic fairy tales. Even the modern day affect on copyright law and all the ridiculousness that entails is mainly from the Disney’s forcing the copyright law to be extended 100 years. I find this particularly odd, since they want to protect the copyright on stories in which they were not the originator, the old fairy tales. I have to say, if I had a child, I would not even introduce them to any Disney except perhaps the old Snow White. I just see it as the beginning of the packaging and selling of youth and childhood for a fast buck.

Pop music this week in 1955 -

“Rock Around The Clock” - Bill Haley,

“Cherry
Pink And Apple Blossom” - Perez Prado,

“A Blossom Fell” - Nat King Cole,

“Something’s Gotta Give” - The McGuire Sisters,

“Learnin’ The Blues” - Frank
Sinatra,

“Sweet And Gentile” - Alan Dale,

“Experience Unnecessary” - Sarah
Vaughan,

“Honey-Babe” - Art Mooney.

At the movies this week : “Lady And The Tramp”

 

“The Seven
Little Foys” - Bob Hope and Milly Vitale.

“The Cobweb”
- Richard Widmark, Gloria Grahame, Lauren Bacall,
Charles Boyer.

We see Marilyn is on many magazine covers at the height of her career, including this “Liberty” magazine which is a Canadian Magazine of which I had never heard.

  

There is something telling about this July cover for the New Yorker. The old Brownstones of old New York, the pre-war buildings becoming shadowed by the increasing growth and building of the post WWII era. The skyscraper has arrived.

 

Last nights dinner included a new recipe for beets. I really like beets and this very classic recipe is easy and yummy. I really love the color, don’t you?

HARVARD BEETS
Serves 4-5
1 lb can diced beets, drained, 1/3 C liquid reserved
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
¼ tsp salt
¼ C vinegar
2 Tbsp butter
In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn starch, and salt. Stir in reserved beet liquid, vinegar, and butter, and cook, stirring, until mixture thickens and bubbles. Add beets and heat through.

Along with this dinner was a rare pot roast with roasted potatoes fresh herbs from the garden. I realized, afterwards, that I did a vintage no-no and left the skins on. I am used to doing this in the modern world as we are told that is where much of the nutrient lies, but I think from now on I will peel my potatoes instead. Of course, being good middle class 1955 folk we love our martinis dry and our steak very rare.

I was thinking about some comments we had back and forth on my last post. And it does seem that there is still a considerable amount for a homemaker to do despite the modern conveniences. However, baking bread and canning and keeping a stove lit with coal or wood is no longer a necessity, yet the time at home is gone. It seems, however, that if we begin to return to the 'work at home' and embrace the modern conveniences at the level we feel comfortable we can work backwards as much as we like to simpler times. That is to say, if someone were “into it” enough, they could return to baking and canning all their own things, making all their own clothes, etc. Or, if someone wanted only to stop at mending but still buying clothes but more affordably and still buying bread but locally to support their community, that also seems a great place to go with our apron revolution.

What I do believe we all seem to WANT to do away with is the sort of DISCONNECT we seem to all share within our communities and our own families. We may all be home but separately on computers or eating at different times in different rooms or talking or texting while around our family. We are MORE connected electronically to strangers than we are to those closest to us. I feel, for example, a great connection to all of you and you are scattered all around, but I don't want to lose that and want to foster it more, yet I also WANT the connection within my community and family. Just think how much we could change our lives and community by embracing BOTH of these aspects and relegating time and energy to them, say the time and energy we spend on watching TV or being passively entertained. Then we could form communities digitally and locally and reinforce and share our homemaking ideals and concepts. I think we may truly be on the brink of a wonderful and great revolution here. WE have the power of the modern age, now to only reach to the past and grasp what they had and wonder, "what could THEY have done with what WE have" and go for it! Think on it, we are really now given the chance to ‘time-travel’ in our minds to our fore-mothers and see what they saw and learn what they knew and then in a flash be back into the modern world and use the technology and the modern world and STOP letting it USE US! No more passivity. We don’t have to hide from our modern world, we need to remake it in a new vein that celebrates the past and revives those sage skills of homemaking and combine it, frugally, with technology, so that we can make a better home and therefore happy selves and family and community. So, try it at levels, say no to the Gap shirt and buy locally or thrift or make your own. Use your computer, but don’t just use it as a means to replace the TV, research and find ways to mend and sew and cook and share your skills and then, here is the trick, turn it off for part of the day and DO. That seems to be the main element we need in our modern society: ACTION. What wouldn’t our predecessors given for our modern devices, but would they want it to free up time to sit and watch more tv? No. So, let us build up our new vintage world, raise the flags of our Apron Revolution and march into the future proud and accomplished women. We don’t NEED everything easier, we can use the ease when we do NEED to to further our own growth along, but not to be lazy. Onward, sisters, onward!

Well, that’s my rant for today, now I have to get up and away from the computer and get to Action, myself.

Happy Homemaking.

6 July 1955 “Better Use For Leisure Time”

I have mentioned before that since starting my project some of the 1950s ‘educational films’ I used to laugh at now seem to actually be good life guides. It is interesting how what once was easy to mock and think, “How silly, who even lived like that? What a strict time.” Now, however, I often find some of them rather good advice. So, I wanted to start this post with this short.  I like how it mentions how things were in the past for father and mother. I really think it is worth watching, so watch it first and then read along.

It really does show how today the work concept of 40 hr weeks really had begun then. Yet, here is the advice that says, look how far we have come to have only 40 hrs a week to work, so use your time wisely. Yet, I feel most of us (I know I certainly did!) waste or while it away. There really is a lot more satisfaction to ‘filling your free time’ with activities than just sitting about.
Here is another example of a movie I once laughed at.

In fact it was used in the funny Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode. It is true, what they joke about over the movie is hilariously funny, I grant you that, but now watching the movie without their jibing over it, I realize this video, too, is full of sage advice: Helping one another, looking good for other memebers of the family as well as themselves, dinner conversations more about pleasing one another than monopolizing the conversation and being rude. We may see this now and think, “How robotic” but really it was certainly seen rather stiff even then, but the element of truth of kindness and concern for others is quite true and wouldn’t we enjoy our time together more if we do think and act a little more in this vein? I think so, what do you think? I know when they say such things as “Pleasant unemotional discussion” it sounds stiff and odd, but really, wouldn’t you rather have a pleasant conversation at dinner and I think they really mean, no shouting or arguing, as it does affect digestion.
That brings me to another point I have noticed in today vs. then: We are very concerned with diet and food and how it affects us etc yet so many people eat their food in front of TV or in uncomfortable ways, propped on laps or out of pizza boxes. It has got to be better on the digestion to sit square and properly in a chair at a table, napkin on your lap, good conversation, than slapdash on the sofa watching the idiot box; just a thought.
Well, speaking of food, I bought some lovely blueberries the other day for a pie and wanted to try this quick and easy pie crust in one of my books. I did and it was quick and easy and so good I have to share it with you.
It was very easy and if there are any of you out there not quite ready to try your hand at homemade pie crust, this is the one to try first. There really can be no mistake, as you do not roll it out, everything happens in the pan. Simple and easy.
Here it is before it went in the oven: and after: It served up rather pretty, I think and it tasted wonderful. The crumbled ‘extra crust’ on top gave it a nice crunch.
Included in last nights dinner was a fresh salad made entirely from my garden. I snapped this shot in my garden as after picking the salad fixings in my antique bowl, I thought it looked picture perfect. There was lettuce and crisp cabbage and sweet snow peas and some chervil and basil as well. There is such a feel of satisfaction and contentment in eating from your own grown foods. I wonder, if we get the nerve up, what it will be to eat a chicken dinner from one of our own ‘homegrown’ birds. I know that the eggs are so wonderful and bright compared to store bought.
Well, as tomorrow is talking point Tuesdays, maybe I will just end today’s post with the Talking point: What do you think of the two movies I included today. I know they may seem severe, but do you think there is any truth or good advice in them? Would you think your life could be improved by taking some of the advice. What out of the two do you already do? And, finally, do you think it realistic in the modern world to try to follow such advice? I am anxious to see how you all feel and what you think.
Until later, then, Happy Homemaking.

29 June- July 4th 1955 “Half Way There”

This telegram is from 29 June 1955 and speaks of Maine and Boats, two of my passions. I love the “Want a boy” ad in the corner. I don’t know if telegrams still exist, but they certainly seemed magic at their inception; sending messages over wires. Here are some WAC’s during WWII doing just that.

This is a photo from June 29 1905, which would have been fifty years earlier to my 1955 day. Look how much has changed in dress in that short period of time. Really, when you think of it, 1955 to today ( a little over 50 years) certainly shows a change in styles and overall formality, but nothing to match this change. Imagine what it was for the young girl of 1905 to be the grandmother of 1955? How odd and independent would seem her granddaughters and how novel the idea of the ‘teenager’ must have seemed. Certainly, they went through time gradually with everyone else, but what they had to recall from their day must have seemed almost stone age to the youth of 1955.

Here is a magazine cover from today in 1955 featuring Marilyn. Darling bathing costume, don’t you think?

Here is a photo from a 4th of July 1955 picnic I found on someone’s Flikr site. I hope they won’t mind, but it is paying homage to the photo. I thought it was a nice representation of casual summer wear.

Yesterday, the 3rd, we celebrated our 4th of July as we usually do, on a Sailboat watching the Wianno Yacht Club fireworks. They set them off from a barge anchored in the harbor and we pull up in boats and have cocktails, food and watch the festivities. It was nice. I wore cuffed dungarees, red boat shoes a blue and white boat neck shirt and a red and white scarf in my hair. Casual and patriotic. We enjoyed it and the rain actually let up for the day.

Over the past few days I have sat down to write. My lax behavior in posting had nothing to do with being ill nor not having the time to do it. I have been merely digesting. Contemplating and evaluating have been my constant companion these past few days. Here I am: half way there.

In one of my previous posts Hairball asked me the following question.

“Can you believe your year is almost halfway done? What would you say are the best things you've learned from 1955? Any surprises? Would you say there are any myths people have about the '50s that have been dispelled for you? Has your husband changed in any way during this project?”

This was very fitting at the time, as I have been doing much thinking of ‘what has come and what will come’. I have sort of hit a spot in my life and this project where I am turning more introspective. I have almost been away from the computer these past few days. Almost retreating from it, not necessarily intentionally, but in some sort of ‘time traveling’ healing pattern. I am almost like an animal wounded, which needs to go off and lick its wound alone. Though, my only attack has been self-inflicted.

Perhaps, that analogy is misleading, for I have not been sad nor disappointed, only contemplative. Wondering where I am now, in my life, with the project and who I am or would like to become. I feel almost chrysalis like and am turning and turning in my cocoon waiting for the right moment to break free. 

I think I will merely start by answering the questions. The first part of the question, “What would you say are the best things you’ve learned from 1955?” Wow. I honestly don’t know where to begin with that.

When I started this project it was to be an interesting past-time idea. I love history and felt living it would be exciting and fun. I was new to blogging and wanted to see what that was about. Here I am, only six months down the road and quite honestly I feel as if I have lived lifetimes since.
When I think of the December 2008 me and the current 1955 me, I am amazed. It is as if I am an old woman looking back at the silliness of youth and not with a fondness but with a gasp to my ‘inconceivable behavior’. Really, I have grown so much these past six months.

I think part of this project had a little of the hiding in the closet for me. This past year has been hard on me emotionally as my mother with Alzheimer's and my fathers failing health. The sudden sort of break up of my family left me somewhat shell-shock and retreating into a past that was not my own, though not intentionally done with that in mind, my have been my psyches way of dealing with it. Whatever reason, I did it and here I am.

Any Surprises? I actually think the main surprise to me was other peoples reactions to my project. First, there were those who would literally approach me and thank me for looking nice. I had touched them so that the barrier between stranger disappeared and for a moment we touched. Could there be something there, in the clothes and looking nice, from that past that better fostered neighborly behavior? If we were all so decked out it wouldn’t seem to stick out as much, but would it still put a smile on our faces and make us more approachable. And that is it, as well, perhaps in my garb, my tidy clothes and hair, my smile and appearance is more approachable. I look good for myself and it means more to others. It makes all those 50’s films for school children and teens about looking good and respecting yourself and others, which we now laugh at and think “how quaint”, to have more than a kernel of truth to them.

The biggest surprise to me, was the result of one of my friendships. You may have noticed early on in this project, ‘Vintage Friend’ played a major role. Somewhere along the way, I lost her. I don’t know what it was that did it.  I know we were close and she shared a lot of my passion for my project and then it was just gone. I think it is true with people that sometimes we are there for each other when the time is right and we need one another and then perhaps they are gone. We each served whatever purpose there was for our friendship and it was all it was to be. Realizing that and knowing that I am not responsible for others feelings towards me yet feeling that being proud in myself and what I do is the opposite of the selfish attitude of ‘I come first’ in the modern world. It is a very slight difference and it took this project to show it to me. If one stands alone for what they feel is right for themselves and others around them and that alienates them from others who have been around, you still have to follow what you feel is the right path. The real friends will follow along or lead you on their path as well. There is no bitterness, at least on my part. Sometimes people grow in different directions. It could have happened rather I did the project or not, I don’t honestly know. Yet, it did happen during the project and so it does feel to be a part of the chrysalis transformation I have been feeling, so I thought to include it here.

I could be very wrong in this next idea that has been kicking around in my head, but I have come to think that perhaps these moments in time, these decades we are drawn to, somehow just “got it right”. It certainly could be looking through rose-colored spectacles, but there does seem to be this frame of time that just aligned everything in sync in a way that many people respond to today. That time (the 1920s-the mid 1950s) where human kindness, individuality, passion, restraint, fun, seriousness, maturity, frivolity, technology seems to have come into a sort of syncopation. Not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but in a way that people continually respond to these times. Even in the 1980s there was a nostalgia for the 1950s by those who were not there. There seems to be, in these past decades from the 20s-the mid 50’s, a certain element that makes one want to just say, “Stop the clock, we have got it right!” I know there has come much change in the realms of freedoms for women and minorities since then, but they really began then. I think if somehow we froze the other elements of those decades, the natural progression of fairness would have continued, but in a more honest vein. Somehow now our PC ideals have us want to celebrate diversity and yet ignore those very distinct features that make us different. I am not really explaining myself well, perhaps, but somehow I feel that during that time the level of technology and consumption seems to have finally hit the even mark with human condition and kindness and after that it sort of became eschewed more towards change and shock value for itself. The level of communication and machine was really at a pace that we could have said ‘stop’ for personal consumption and let the rest go on for overall health and medicine. I am not sure if I am explaining myself here properly.

Even the level to which computes have come seems to demonstrate what I am thinking. What I now use my computer for I most likely would not need to continue to get newer computers. I can view video and blog. Yet, they will continue to make websites and pages require more ability from the computer so that we are forced, if we wish to continue to participate, to buy a new one every few years. My question is, when will ‘they’ (the consuming world) push us too far? When will we one day wake up and say, “Well, I don’t want to buy another cell phone with more gadgets because my 6 month old version is obsolete. I don’t want to buy another computer because  this one is not fast enough to load web pages. I just won’t do it” When and if would that ever happen? I don’t know. And even for myself, I don’t know.

The more I am confronted with the modern world the more I feel as if my generations have been duped. Somewhere in the middle 60’s Madison avenue came along and sold out all of our futures through advertising. We were asked to exchange human skill and personal pride for ease and money and pizzazz. And, we did it. Now, we all live in our shiny little packages not questioning the very act of giving over large portions of our free time to the advertising machines to allow ourselves to be plugged in and sold to. We must buy the new fashion or the new idea or the new car. We have to have attitude and it’s all about ‘me’ etc. I feel like we just about had it right and then BAM, we sold out.

So now, moving forward with the next six months of this project, I am left asking myself, “Now what?” Do I continue to feel I am peeling back the layers of what our present society is whilst within this project and then just set it aside on January 1 2010? Could I? Wouldn’t it be easy to just turn on the TV, go to old navy and Wal-Mart, buy my meals prepared, just put on the jeans and old t-shirt? Yes, it would be easy, but can I do it? I think I could and that scares me. I don’t want to. But, I know, if I were to do it in a matter of months perhaps it wouldn’t matter any more. Why bother. I can’t be bothered, just get up, get by and go along with the flow.

But, and this is the most important lesson learned, that is not the life I want. I don’t want to put my hands at my side and blindly walk through the present with mindless ease to my grave. I don’t want that. If there is toil and frustration in making my own food and growing it and mending my old socks and making my own clothes and walking instead of driving and thinking and reading instead of just passively watching, I don’t care. I want it! Because the joy and laughter and accomplishment that will come with those continual trial and errors of actually living, really participating in my own life, will be more sweet than a life time of bland passive ease.

“Has your husband changed at all during this project?” As I have stated before, I am lucky in my husband. He is a darling gentle person who goes along with the flow. He loves me and supports many of my crazy schemes. What I have noticed in the past six months is that he seems more apart of the deal of our marriage in that he is fine with being the ‘bread winner’ and happy that I take care of the home and bill paying. It is really a very logical separation of chores for living. He is more aware of people at work who are two income houses and wonders that they probably spend more due to both parties working. I think he values what my ‘job’ entails and feels valued for what his does for us as well. Perhaps, in a way, he might feel more secure to focus only on his work at work, as he knows when he comes home he will not have to wonder what to eat or if his clothes are clean or the house etc. It, somehow, leaves us more time to share when he is off work, as things run more smoothly. I don’t think he grudges me my time home, nor I his not having to worry about food, chores, clean laundry and bills. The equal division of these necessities of life makes for a better marriage and stronger friendship, at least in my case.

I am not sure where the road will lead with this time travel I have undertaken. I know I am not sorry for the trip. We shall see what we shall see.

I feel bad that I have not posted these past days, but I have been really using my ‘free time’ to just digest what I want the next six months to be and to mean to me and my family.

Now, to make up for that, let me see what I can give for our frugal Friday and Gardening Saturday that I have missed.

My two frugal tips today are both for the food budget. Many people love waffles and think they are too hard to make at home. They might even buy those horrible frozen things that you pop in the toaster or wait until the go out to order one at a restaurant. Waffles are easy to make and cost effective.

Waffle irons, too, are basically unchanged since the 1930s. My waffle iron is from the 30’s and was purchased for under a few dollars and they are easy to find at yard sales, junk shops etc.

This is my favorite waffle recipe and sometimes I even cut it in half, as I did this morning, for hubby and I.

The trick to good crisp yet fluffy waffles is to make sure and beat the egg whites stiff. This might seem like a lot to do for breakfast, but it is really fast. I take all the dry ingredients and the egg yolk, oil and milk and just throw it in my pitcher/bowl with a spout. I don’t even sift. I then just whip that up. Then the egg whites are so easy to stiffen with a few seconds of your mixer and then fold them in. Just plop them on top of the other mixture and take your spatula and literally ‘fold’ them over with the spatula. These are wonderful and crisp and really fast and they do freeze well, so why buy them pre-frozen when you can make a bigger batch, eat some fresh and put the rest in the freezer for later.

My second tip is, believe it or not, home-made potato chips. I tried these last night. Potatoes are very inexpensive and two full size potatoes make enough chips for two to share for lunch. I have an old grater that has the long thin slicer on it and the other day I looked at while grating cheese and thought, “Huh, I bet that would slice a thin potato” and it did. I just heated the oil sliced and the crisped up in under 40 seconds, then pop on a paper towel or napkin to soak up the oil and sprinkle a little salt or any flavoring you like! Fresh and made to order and much cheaper than a bag of chips! When you start to think more about what you use and then wonder if you could make it yourself and then cost compare it, you would be surprised what you can make and how much you can save in so doing.

I thought this article on propagating your own houseplants very informative and also cost effective. And what better hostess/shower/hen’s party/house warming gift then a plant you propagated from one of your own?

Until Monday, then, have a great holiday (American's) weekend and a great holiday for all else as well. Happy Homemaking!