14 July 1956 “Staycation, All I Ever Wanted…”

Well, it’s a rainy day here in 1956 and I thought I would post a quick ‘look in’ to say hello. We are enjoying our Staycation or Holiday at Home, or whatever you should like to term it. It does help, I suppose, to already live at a Summer Resort Destination, but it is rather fun to play “Tourist in your own Backyard”.
I am sure no matter where you live such a break can be fun. And, homemakers, fear not if you think you shall be stuck cooking and cleaning as usual, simply do what I did. I imagined we were simply coming here for the week and treated my marketing that way. I figure, ‘We are going to the little cottage this week’ in my head and bought things easy to prepare and fun ‘pre-made’ things we might not normally have. Drumstick ice cream cones were invented in 1928. So, these would have been available. Though we have many wonderful ice-cream shops around us (one of my favorites is practically walking distance) where they make good homemade ice cream, sometimes a quick little frozen cone is fun on a hot sticky day.Other such confections are easily available for the 50’s homemaker
Here is something one might see on tv or at the movies

Thrill to the ‘ice cream taste’. I wonder why body-less heads were used so often in 50’s advertising? Maybe it had an ‘everyman’ quality to it.
And, yes, even Pizza is availabe here in the 1950’s. Notice how small the size is and it is available at the ‘refreshment center’. We do have a vintage drive in here on cape. It is about 45 minutes away in Wellfleet and that might be on the list of ‘to-doing’ this week of Home Holiday. And, as they say here, “mom, why fuss and fight about dinner, eat here at the movies” I am a little worried about the ‘scientifically grown’ popcorn, however.

Another vacation activity we might enjoy, that we never do in our normal life, is tv. We have no actual tv hookup, but we do have access to old shows. I found this site interesting HERE. It explains a phenomena started in the 1950’s where in the summer, to replace the normal regularly scheduled shows, they would air un-sold pilots! I guess this summer, of 56, was a big year for that. How odd, that you would just see one or two episodes of a show that would never be seen again. Maybe it is beginning to show that the tv consumer doesn’t care and just wants ‘something to watch’.
Besides traditional golf here on cape cod, of course we also have mini golf, another summertime favorite of the past still readily available. (This image came from Gorillasdon’tblog.) There is an old mini golf course up the road on 6A that we are going to visit this week. Hubby recalls playing there as a child. It shall be fun.
So far we have made good use of our holiday. We spent our first day puttering around the yard, hubby getting out the chain  saw and getting to that cut down tree we had been meaning to attend to. He enjoyed it and was happily cutting even sized sections and making piles of various logs and kindling while I shingled the front of my chicken house. To us, this had that, “We are here to open the cottage for the summer, lets do some preliminary work” feel to it. We rather enjoyed it and rewarded ourselves with fresh brewed iced tea and a swim.
We have biked to the ocean already and laid about like tourists. I love our little beach here along the canal. At high tide it is rather like a great saltwater swimming pool, as the sandy bottom gets very deep quickly and the water is clear and cool. We spent a good hour diving for rocks and sharing various sizes and shapes. In the end we decided none of us wanted to tote them home on our bikes. Yet, on our return, hubby drew from his pocket with a ‘ta-dah’ a favorite stone, the size of a softball, he had secreted away in his pocket. It took the place of honor on our dining room mantle next another odd rock he picked up last fall while strolling through the woods near by.
There have been evening fires with friends, wine and cocktails on the terrace, s’mores and sausage over the fire. Over all, thus far, we are enjoying ourselves, but I did not want any of you to think I had forgot you.
Still to come is some sailing, a trip to P-town, some 6A antiquing and of course more swimming. We have a fish and seafood monger biking distance from us to get food to cook at home as well as our great ‘fried seafood restaurant’. We figure if we bike there, some of the calories and fat will slide away on the bike ride home. So, overall, we are enjoying ourselves and at the end of it, no packing up, plane or train rides or hours of traffic.
Another fun trip we made recently, though it might sound odd, was to our local dump. We have a wonderful ‘swap shop’ there where people drop off anything working and in good repair for free. Hubby likes to dig about the electronics and find computer parts. I believe he is intent on using old parts and building his own for as long as he can hold on doing that. We are not very good consummers on this holiday, except for local food, produce and possibly some local made items.
So, I strolled into our little swap shop and saw it was fairly picked over and then, in the corner, behind an old treadmill, there it was. I saw its distinctive dome shape and caught my breath, “Could it be?” I wondered? I had dreamed of these and even tried buying one (rather expensive on eBay when I could find them). There she was in all her glory, The Lady Schick Capri Consolette. You must understand how this odd space age shape trimmed in my favorite pale blue makes a 50’s gal’s heart go pitter pat. This little gem is a life saver for a gal who sets her hair. It folds out and locks like this. Then you sit comfortably, with a magazine and cup of tea waiting for your pin curls or what have you, set. It is the epitome of luxury in an easy to carry and store case.It has all these settings (which all work) and it really feels like when you are at the hair dressers. I have to show the interior label, I adore the font and color (and the color is much more brilliant in person)This is the top of the hairdryer and this the inside label   This little darling will not even be hidden away, but will have a place of honor on the top of the built-in next my dressing table, where my extra jewelry boxes sit.
So, I am off to enjoy more of our holiday and I hope all of you are enjoying the summer in your hemisphere or the winter in the other.
Happy Homemaking.