11 March 1955 "Penicillin, Painting, Workday Blahs, and Gardening for Victory"

11 March 1955- Sir Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin, dies. Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 marks the start of modern antibiotics.

I just like this painting by the Australian artist John Brack, and this piece is from 1955. Although it depicts a busy street in Melbourne, I feel it could be New York or Boston or any of the American cities in post war times. The march of corporate worker is beginning. It is interesting that we lead ourselves into a sort of mindless hive mentality in the work environment but in personal or community life, we became obsessed with the me. Which, I guess, really makes sense. Slowly becoming part of a corporate world where all things begin being watered down and there are Walmart Starbux etc and endless cold grey office buildins, you will want to retreat to just yourself in your free time. I hope a move towards smaller business and community really is on the rise, because with that I am certain we will see the Me generations change to the We generations. (I know this is a modern hope, but I almost wonder if we wouldn't all be better if the government did let all the large corporations and banks fail. Why should we save GM? Why not let them go and let our country rebuild based on small local productivity?)

Now, I know this is not specifically 1950s, but this robot made by an MIT student is based upon the movements of 2-D Disney Cartoons of the 1950s. I felt it was worth a look as it is another odd way in which the 1950s has touched the 'modern world'.

Although in 1955 I would not be considered a new nor a young homemaker, because I am only two and half months into this experiment, I do think I have some of that new homemaker emotion. At least I feel the excitement and rush of all that lay before me. I sometimes feel a bit like I get to play house on a large scale. So, with that, I believe I feel those "new homemaker" ups and downs. Sometimes I move about with the determination of a seasoned homemaking vet, lists checked off, Kirby attachements thrown over my back as I rush up and down the stairs, dust bunnies recoiling at the sight of me. Then there are those other days...

With any job, especially one started with such anticipation and hope, there has to be some slump. Yesterday I felt a sort of slump. It was not sadness nor disillusion, just that sort blah. I had that "Oh well, I guess I better get to work", sort of mentality. Those are the days when I know this IS a job. When the alarm rang at 7:00 I wanted to hit snooze, only my vintage electric alram clock (in lovely early american styling with light up dial!) has no snooze. I had that type of day I am sure many office people have when they are just going through the motions. I got my work done by the end of the day, but only just what needed to be done. Just...

The ironing got moved to today. The floors got a quick sweep, but the Kirby sat idle and waiting in the cleaning closet. Dinner was made, nice fried chicken and even home-made cut french fries and greenbeans. But, no new cake, as planned. Luckily a 1955 Homemaker always has a backup, so it was a repeat of the previous nights dessert, Brownies with coconut and icecream.

I even forget to run out and do some quick marketing, which left my poor hubby (and me!) without a fresh pot of coffee. We had to have tea. I am sure to any non-U.S. readers this would seem no problem, but you must understand the importance of the American and his morning pot of coffee. It is almost a patriotic duty to have that smell, the aroma and the thick black heavenly brew before you can start your day. I adore tea, don't get me wrong. It is, in fact, what I drink for the remainder of the day. I look forward to that pot and some cookies (biscuits) in the afternoon when I get a few moments to peruse my magazines and research materials, but in the morning, it has GOT to be coffee. And, today, it wasn't. Even my hubby's thermos contains tea today, again almost a sacriliedge to we americans. Maybe even more so for we Bostonians, as there was that incident in the past when we sort misplaced all those cartons of English Tea in Boston Harbor. Ooops!

Anyway, it was one of those days.

But, it was a sunny day. S,o I made my 'schedule' in my Homemakers Housekeeping journal for the coming spring for the gardens. However, after talking to a friend on the phone and hearing she had already put in her peas and lettuce I felt my balloon again deflate. "Behind, before I even started!" It really was one of those days.

So, I stood there: dunagarees, hubbys old plaid wool shirt tied jauntily at my waist, work gloves and wellies, and stared at my vegetable garden. I have two 8 x 8 raised beds for veg. They need to be turned over and some mulch added for the season. Around these are the weeds and things that didn't get taken care of last season (Remember, I wasn't a 1955 conscientious homemaker then! Just a lazy modern girl whose ideas of liberation somehow involved slovenly behavior, apparently). I began to think, "Here I am in 1955, am I going to get lazy?"

Then, it hit me. Yes ,today I am lazy in my attempts to keep going with what I want to do each day for this project as well as my life.

This lead me to ponder, did a 1955 woman my age wonder this as well? She would have lived through the war. I would have been old enough to have to play a big part on the homefront. Our Victory Garden, rather it was city or country, would have been important to us. There was no time for laziness or self-pity during the war. Yet, in my quiet easy suburban existence, would I have moments like this? Moments where I was tired and thought, 'Oh, well, I will just leave those clothes in the dryer and iron tomorrow" and then be struck by the memory of only 10 years earlier when I had no dryer and working a garden meant having extra food to aid the rations?

During the 1950's when we all wanted to 'get back to life', the victory garden certainly began to ebb. The cabbage patches where grandmother's roses once grew, could become roses once again. All the spare ground that had been given over to any kind of food production, slowly became lush green lawns and annual flower patches. Pansies and roses replaced peas and carrots. I am sure if there were a timelapse movie from the end of the war to the 21st century it would be interesting to see the slow decline in anything practical being grown to purely ornamental to acres of grass. It is a sad side affect that in the desire to forget about the war and to make a lovely little safe home, free from outside harm, gradually turned into another form of consumerism.

Even the farmers changed from small family farms to large production. The new era of big business and corporations has begun.

"In 1950 the farm population of 23 million stood at slightly more than 15 percent of the total population. Ten years later only 15.6 million farmers remained, constituting 8.7 percent of the total population. The American farmers of the 1950s did not necessarily resemble the gentleman farmers of Thomas Jefferson's day: they had become specialized and mechanized "agri-businessmen."

The need for large perfectly weed free green lawns gave us pessticides, more gas to run the mowing machines, more machines to cut the lawn, more things to buy to keep the lawn unnaturally green etc etc. It is really telling how every part of our modern day homefront has been permeated by the change in our socitey from an agricultural/urban socitey to a suburban/comsumerist society.

Now, I want pretty flowers and I also want to supply my table and larder as much as I can with my plot of land. I honestly feel, for my age in 1955, the war would be vivid enough in my brain to encourage me to keep "some of those cabbage amonst the roses", sort of speak.

In fact, the idea of Victory Gardens are having a come back in 2009. With the constant threat of global warming, concern about our carbon footprint, and the increasing costs down the road, many are looking at the big green lawn and invisioning some small crops there.

"Today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy and contributes to the cause of global warming.
Planting a Victory Garden to fight global warming would reduce the amount of pollution your food contibutes to global warming. Instead of traveling many miles from farm to table, your food would travel from your own garden to your table.
Our current economic situation is other good reason to start a Victory Garden. Every time that food is shipped from the farm to the store and your table, gasoline is used. As gasoline prices rise, food costs rise. "

The site I found that information offers this advice:

I have no backyard, what can I do?
You can combine vegetable plants with flowers in your frontyard.
You can plant containers on your porch, patio, or balcony and can grow sprouts indoors.
Check to see if you have a community garden available.
Perhaps a neighbor or friend without time or ability would let you garden their yard, in exchange for some produce.
If these options are not available, you can also choose to purchase foods which are grown close to home by visiting your local farmer’s market or joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). If local foods are not available to you, choose foods which use fewer chemical pesticides - such as organics, are in season, or have minimal packaging.

What is nice about these examples is they definitely all have a very 'vintage feel'. The idea of community garden (I joined our local community garden last year, so I can buy what I cannot grow in my own yard there, support the community, meet my neighbors and support the reduction in the use of pesticides.) It might not be exactly purely 1955, but I really do belive people my age and older in 1955 would keep the memory of food shortage and the Victory Garden to heart.

This really does demonstrate a movement towards the past. It is another example of people looking towards a vintage lifestyle not only as a way to wear darling outfits, but as a way to get back the idea of family, community, AND the earth! It is these types of ideas and concepts that really encourage me to not only go ahead with my project but to really think that the vintage ideal can really be a life movement.

I want to take all the aspects we love of the 1950's, the way they wanted to make the world new and wonderful, but learn from all the mistakes we made from the 60's until now. Now, we have the benefit and knowledge of all that time before us. I say, leave the future to science and human rights, those both need to always advance, but culture in the home and community, maybe we really do need to take a step backwards so that our future will be something we can be proud of. And there is a certain amount of responsibility when you try to 'live up to' the past, when the future has an almost no accountabiltiy to it.

How much, I wonder, did war time memory provide the guilt and then the impetus to continue on with the 1950s homemaking lifestyle. Certainly, knowing what one had to go through to get to the 1950s and all the loss and strife that lead up to it, helped the homemaker to keep going. So, if we chose to make the world many of us long for with a sort of non-present nostalgia, we can use that same impetus. We can look back at the world wars and use them for our guide to betterment.

This also demonstrates how subsequent generations, without having to lose so much, did not appreciate what they have and are becoming almost like Rome at its decline. Bloated, lazy slovenly spoiled nations with no hardships.

Of course, I do not want a war or hardships per se (though we do have a war and our on the brink of a great financial woe) but let's face it, it is not 1940s. Yet, if we can feel a collective longing for a time in which most of us did not live, then certainly we can look back to their struggles, compare them to our day and think, "I had better get up off the sofa and get to work. Be thankful for that full pantry and make some wonderful meals and desserts. Be glad I can, for pleasure and to help the budget, go out and plant and harvest and do some canning and preserving or support my local farm for the same reason. Of course I can go buy anything I want at the store, but what if it were gone?"

Maybe with a mixture of the guilt of global warming and keeping the memories of the wars in our minds, we can move into a new world designed after the elements we find endearing in the old world. What do you think?

Now, needless to say, these thoughts did get me going for the rest of the day, but I had still lost a good portion of the morning to mopey tired bored 'day at work' syndrome. The good thing about this job, however, is I am allowed the time to contemplate my situation, evlauate it and move on. Today, after all, is another day and I am determined to get back to the routine, although I now have ironing to catch up on!

Happy Homemaking!

9 March 1955 "Space, Beef Stew, McClosky's continued, and a Pheasant"

Tonight would air the Disney Feature "Man in Space" . It is worth a look. Below is the first part. All the episodes can be found on Youtube HERE.

I think I will definitely do a future post on science and concepts of space travel today (1955). It was becoming a much talked about topic and became the polar opposite of the other favorite childhood pastime, cowboys and indians.

It seems the new frontier of space held a certain level of hope and escapism much needed in post war 20th century. It was a possible new world untouched and unscathed by the horror of two world wars. It could hold promise of a clean slate; a brave new world where there were no wars and everything was shiny and new. The irony being, I think, that by the Reagan 1980s years of rising capitalism and greed, space was the place to consider war defense and spying. What had been a realm of hope and possiblity, merely reverted to the 'old ways' of the human animal. Protect your territory and try to increase it.

Today the space program gets little press. I am sure there are many activites going on now with NASA that would once have been feature news, but I feel with the increasing money worries and failures of the worlds banks and corporations, space is the last place we want to turn. It is not unthinkable to compare the past, our increasing view of nostalgia, as the 'New Space'. My hope for tomorrow seems to be in the past. Maybe they will begin making toys to allow your child to relive the glory days of the 1950s. Who can tell. I know I would rather travel back in time than out into space, and it is a more feasible 'everyman' position to try and relive or recapture a fond time period, than it would be to travel into space. I wonder what those who dreamed of space in 1955 think of our world now?

Now, into the kitchen:

I am sure my inexperienced petticoat is showing, when I say I have never made a beef stew before. I knew of beef stew and had certainly tasted them before, but have not ever attempted it. I know, I am sure there are some experienced homemakers out there shaking their head in disbelief. I had a very small range of dishes pre-1955. I do, however, think is says a little about the art of homemaking that one can really address the cookbook like some great learned tome. I have called this approach "The University of the Home" in previous blogs and I am sticking with that. It truly it. The fact that I can skim through a magazine or a cookbook, find, like some great wizard pouring over my book of enchantment, the ingredients needed to make my intoxicating concotion. It does bring to mind images of dry ice fog, long gnarled fingers and a cackle or two. Or, perhaps you enjoy the image of the intelligent lady-scientist. Prim and crisp in her white labcoat (ironed by her own little hand of course!) hair properly pinned up and bespectacled in horn-rimmed glasses. She moves about her laboratory (her kitchen) with determined movements adding a beaker of this a dram of that and ta-dah (Poof a cloud of smoke clears) a braised leg of lamb with homemade mint jelly! However you choose to view this person, she can be you. She is you, most likely.
Now, I know, stew...it doesn't sound exciting. But, for me, it was. There was the quite evening sat in front of the fire with hubby, he smoking his pipe, feet up and slippered, reading a book. I, next to him with my dogs around me, a cup of hot tea and a pile of vintage magazines. I tell you ladies, this is heaven. Then, as I casually flip the pages, there I see it. An ad for Hunt's Tomato Paste with a recipe for Beef stew. My finger slides down the recipe list in anticipation. Yes, I have that and Oh, I did buy a package of cut up beef that said "for stewing" on it. It is waiting patiently in the freezer. And, yes, I even have Tomato Paste (It happened to be Hunt's too, though not due to any faithful adherence to the brand, but it was probably on sale that day).
Now, for you who have made stew, you know it is fairly easy. I liked the process. The gathering of the ingredients. I think this is part of the allure of cooking for me. I check the pantry ( a growing collection I might add. Part of my hopeful kitchen enlargement will reslut in a larger area dedicated to this space)
"Yes, I have that. Oh, good, I bought a jar of bay leaves for that last recipe", and so on through the list of ingredients. This perusal through my recipe books and magazines also often preceeds any marketing I am about to do. It helps me to pick up future things I may need. Things I had never bought before, but now normally stock in my pantry. Things like condensed milk (which after an exhaustive search and finally asking I found at my grocery story it lives with the peanut butter, jelly and coffee. Why? I have no idea. I looked forever in the baking aisle!) Jar of pimentos. (have had them in olives, did not even know you could buy JUST the pimentos. You can and they used them ALOT in the 1950s) Cream of tartar. Shortening. Lard. Knox Gelatin (unflavored gelatin), Sure-Jel, and I am sure the list will expand as does my research. I find myself excited to find these items and to use them. As if I am a real time travelor allowed to test these ancient artifacts in their new state and to be amazed and the outcome of their combinations. Who knew a kitchen and pantry could be so much fun!

The above items will recieve in time my own personal labels or copies of vintage labels. I like they way they look and the effect they have on me. Speaking of which I was glad to get this image from one of my loyal readers/commentors/new friend. She was inspired by my post about making my own labels. Here she has followed suit with a label for her own 'homemade' cleaning solution of vinegar and water. Well done!

Now, back to stew. The recipe I used last night was a 'quick fix' recipe which would encourage you to use the Hunt's product. My hubby loved the result and he took the leftovers as well as the last two home-made biscuits with him for his lunch today. But, next time there is stew on my menu, I am going to attempt the more traditional recipe I found in my General Foods cookbook which includes dumplings. As I said, I had made hot biscuits, which were lovely with the stew, but the dumplings might be very nice and the presentation could be good.

I am going to attempt my own steak and kidney pie this week. I have a great recipe in my Betty Crocker. I will let you know how it turns out.

If you read my previous blogs, you'll know I am continuing on with the feature articles on the McClosky family in my 1953 Ladies Home Journal. The article is showing various aspects of the McClosky family to illustrate the young middle class American family. Here are some more pictures from that article:

What a darling little house. I really like Mrs. McClosky's haircut. I think this might be the cut I want as I can curl it tight and still wear a little ponytail for housecleaning.
In the article, she mentions how she makes dress shorts for her son out of an old wool skirt. Very industrious. (I have not forgot about my own sewing, either. I just have not done enough worth showing yet. I have cut out and begun a muslin version of the blue dress I showed in an earlier post. I learned my lesson and will make a mock up of any pattern I use now in muslin. If the muslin dress looks good, I am going to dye it with my vintage dye and can still use it as an outfit for cleaning at least.)

Here she is cutting her sons hair ( I love the expression on his face!) It says she does her own facials, manicures and permanents. This does show a young couple homemaker needing to do these things for herself. I do think, however, being an older homemaker and not having children, I most likely would pay for these items. And, in fact, I am NOT going to attempt my own hair or permanent and am taking your advice and having it done professionaly.

Though hardly my cup of tea, the McClosky dinette is rather darling. The walls are wall papered in white brick pattern. They second hand chairs were purchased from an ice cream parlor for $12.50 each. (That seems a bit high to me, as that in todays money would put them around $98.00 each. Maybe I am just used to the bargains I find at my local tag sales!) They painted a 'carpet' on the linoleum with floor paint because, "The wall to wall carpeting in our living room stops at the entrance to the niette and so dod our budget," said ANita McClosky.

While on the subject of decorating, I did a "Color Story" photo to help me design and decorate my hubbys new den. By gathering together these various objects I like, I can really get into the manliness I want of my hubbys Den. The stuffed pheasant is not somthing my husband shot, in fact he is not a hunter (though is a crack shot at a caly pigeon). It is one of my past Christmas gifts, which might

seem odd, but I like antique stuffed birds. He actually found this in the back of a great little antique shop in Beacon Hill (in Boston) on Christmas Eve. I definitely like how it has a very distinct manly study/den feeling. It has the color family I have chosen for the house, browns and reds and even a touch of blue.
Sometimes a closer view of my 'story' will help reveal a color way for my design. The one red key on this typewriter of my hubbies mixed with the blue/grey of the typewriter and warm wood tones really speaks to me. I am even considering doing one wall of wood 'paneling' which in fact would be individual wood boards stained or painted. I am not going to put up wood paneling. Though available in the 1950s it has too many 1970s connotations for me. If it were really 1955, I would not yet now of the orange shag rugs, harvest gold and pea green and wood paneling of the 1970s, but in fact, I do, so it is out.

Well, until tomorrow then, happy homemaking!

7 March 1955 "Peter Pan on TV, The Executive Homemaker, Liver, and a Scavenger Hunt"

On March 7, 1955, NBC presented Peter Pan live as part of Producers' Showcase (with the show's original cast) as the first full-length Broadway production on color TV. The show attracted a then-record audience of 65-million viewers.Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard had already won Tony Awards for their stage performances, and Martin won an Emmy Award for the television production. It was so well received that the musical was restaged live for television on January 9, 1956. Both of these broadcasts were produced live and in color, but only black-and-white kinescope recordings survive.

Peter Pan opened in New York on October 20, 1954 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York for a planned limited run of 152 performances. The show had been sold to NBC, which ensured that it was a financial success despite the limited run. It played its final performance on February 26, 1955. The show closed so that it could be broadcast on television, although box office continued to be strong throughout the Broadway run.

FROZEN ORANGE-JUICE prices will go up because of the recent cold snap in Florida and pessimism about next year's crop. Two big producers, Birds Eye and Libby, McNeill & Libby, have just boosted wholesale prices 5¢ per dozen six-oz. cans, and the rest of the industry may follow suit. Retailers are expected to pass on the increase.

Now, I want to continue on with this large article in a 1953 magazine a friend had given me. I have really just started to look at it and it is really a great and thourough piece. I am going to continue to cover it over the next week, as it is long and deals with The homemaker (Mrs. McClosky) on many levels, from the breakdown of her day, to her decorating, her realtionship with her husband and family, and how they entertain including recipes as well as how she spends on clothes. The recipe for the hamburger casserole is from this feature.

Today I am going to show the breakdown they have done representing what a homemaker would be earning over the year. They show a total over $200.00 a week if they paid someone to do the work she does in the home. This in todays money is $2,074.01. this would mean she would earn $12636.00 a year in 1953, in todays money that is $99,552.35 a year!

One of the costs I found interesting. It states that it would cost $354.53 a week for maid, which is about $17,000.00 a year. Now, I only have Gussie twice a week so that would be around $100.00 a week in 1955 dollars. As it so happens, I may be losing Gussie as she has some new responsibilites with the local theatre, so I am suddenly faced with that 1955 homemaker dillema: "I have lost my housekeeper, what can a gal do with rising prices and help so hard to find?"

The article goes on with some wonderful photos and lays out the various roles that Mrs. McClosky plays.

Here she is in the role of the plumber.

Here she is as bargain shopper and decorator. So, In the coming week I am going to eventually have the entire article and photos and recipes from this feature. There is a lot of information to cover and I don't want to just cram it all into one post.

I love this shot of Mrs. McClosky, as it proves my own theory of what a homemaker wore while cleaning. No June Cleaver pearls and heels here. I was actually taken aback a little, when I first read the article, as I really saw myself in this shot. I wear cuffed jeans socks and loafers or flats and a man-style shirt and often have my hair in a scarf rather in is set in curlers or just held back while I am cleaning. I love her old electrolux, as well. I really like that vacuum and may need to add this cannister to my cleaning closet. I could have one vacuum per floor, how is that for decadence?

Speaking of cleaning, yesterday morning I had a nice little suprise. I was doing my normal morning routine of straightening up the bedroom and making the bed. Part of my bed making includes a nicely folded pair of pajamas under our pillows. As I was gathering up the bedclothes to make the bed, I lifted my husbands pillows to find a neatly folded pair of his pajamas. He had done it, by habit, on his own! I couldn't believe it. Now, my husband is a neat man by habit anyway and before 1955 I would say his closest and clothes were often more organized and hung up than mine. However, here I had simply made this small habit a part of my routine and suddenly, without his thinking about it, he folded and put his pajamas in place as that was how he has become accostomed to finding them.

Also today, after breakfast, before I realzied it, he had emptied the dishwasher for me and picked up the breakfast things. Again, it is not that he has not helped me in the past, but my new 1955 routine often involves me so rapidly clearing away and cleaning up, that he never even really had the chance. But today (he is off weekends) he just did it, naturally. It was nice. Normally I have Gussie on weekends, but, she is getting involved in a local theatre production and may now have no free time to be Gussie. Luckily todays 1950's meal is at Vintage friends house, so I won't feel her absence as the dishes won't be piled at my house, nor will I need to have the kitchen in high-prodcution for a large meal for a group of people. However, last Saturday the meal was at my house and I had no Gussie. I really found myself scrambling to catch up on Saturday evening dishes. Thank god I had the dishwasher. That is sort of a very 1955 moment, as well, out with the help in with the automatic aides!

But, I digress...back to my original point. In my articles and books it says that by my example of tidyness and thoughtfulness around the house, the other family members will follow suit. And, as I am living the experiment, I got to see first hand it is true. I am glad I am getting into these habits, as if we were ever to have a child (a BIG if) I feel I would be a little more prepared for what type of home life I would want for a child. The structure and routine. I am sure all of you mother's just rolled your eyes and thought, "You just wait honey, your routine goes out the window when that baby gets home" which I am sure is true, but I would feel that once I wanted to regain that routine, I would be able to doso from having been in the routine at one point. I could revisit it, as I had already learned and lived it. This project would either not exist or be much different had I a little child running about. Would I still try it? Well, considering how crazy I am and my desire to challenge myself, yes I probably would. To much more hilarous and frustrating results for all of you, of course!

Now, onto food and recipes:

I learned last night that hubby is not a fan of Liver. I have always loved liver, but rarely can find it in the store, and up until 1955, never really thought of preparing it. The last time we were at our favorite diner I say they had liver and onions on the menu. I believe this is a very 1950s meal. Although, not everyone loves liver. I happen to adore it and was so excited to see it while marketing. It is so cheap. SO, here are the ways my cookbook tells me to cook it.

I pan fried it. I started with bacon (of course!) and made enough to crumble the bacon on our salad and to leave a piece each to place on top of the liver when served. Next, I pan fried thinly sliced onions in the bacon fat until lovely and brownish yellow. Next, I dipped the liver in a mixture of cornmeal and flour mixed with seasonings. This went into the bacon fat. The result was wodnerful. Like I said, my hubby did not like it, but like a trooper he ate most of it. Though, the way I prepared it was lovely, as a liver eater I really enjoyed it and the onions in the bacon fat were heavenly. At least my hubby had room for dessert which was this:

The presentation was not quite what I had wanted with this, as my egg whites did not stiffen. I think there was water in the bowl I used and I learned water in eggwhites will keep it from stiffening. However, the taste was not affected and I really liked the result as did hubby.

It was a cross between a rich homemade pudding and a mousse. The changes I made to the recipes involved me dividing the milk quantity between milk and whipping cream (in its liquid form of course I would NEVER use prepared whip cream, although I know it was available then.) I think next time I will toast the coconut before I use it or toast some to sprinkle on the whipped cream on top. I love cooking with a double boiler and a whisk, as it makes me feel like a chef. I imagine a crew of helpers lined up about me as I make the important finishing touches on my grand meal! A homemaker has a rich imagination. I think it is one of the most important elements to homemaking, as it gives you all the ideas to make do with what you have.

So, one of the reasons I did not get to my blog yesterday was that I was out on one of my Homemaker Scavenger hunts. I am lucky in that we have many little antique shops and a local church has a year round 'rummage sale' where a gal can get a very good deal. So, here are some of yesterdays treasures:

I was excited when I saw this hamper, as I often see this ad in some of my vintage magazines. I love that Groucho Marx somehow seems to be the appropriate person to sell a hamper, I don't get the logic, but I love it anyway.

The ad says these hampers start at 8.95 and I bought my hamper at $8.00. Of course in 1955 money that would only be around .60 cents while really these cost close to $60.00 new (that is in 2009 money by the way) I love that it is still around. I also know it is vintage as I found some scraps of old newspaper with the date of 1953 and an old tinker toy inside. I wondered how long this had been sitting in an attic waiting to come home with me. One day little Johnny was playing around with his mothers hamper and lost his toy piece. Then, when grandmother was old and ready for the home, daughter put this horrid thing away in the attic, hoping to deal with it later. There it sat, its little tell-tale scrap of newspaper and tinker toy, aging and yellowing with the passing Cape Cod summers and winters heating and cooling it. Now, once again, it will hold clothes waiting for monday washdays.

I love the lid and the detailing as it is a heavy plastic that is marbelized. The detailing on the top are like two fins on an american car from the 1950's. I guess they really DON'T make them like they used to.

I have been hunting for some matching side tables for our bedroom. I found these yesterday for $10.00 for the pair. They are so 1950's 'Early American' and they fit the bill perfectly. I love the side detailing and the botton shelf is perfect for a collection of magazines or books to keep at the bedside table without cluttering up the top. Also, the built in lamps have a swing arm to may reading in bed easier, and though the shades are not wonderful, they are easily remedied with covering of new fabric or just purchasing a shade I do like and replacing them. They are nice solid wood, and I think maple. Very well made and I love the styling.

This is a large heavy maple hutch top. It was only the top and it is definitley 1950s "early american/colonial". It is SO heavey and well made. Even the back slats of wood are individual pieces of maple. This was a steal and will end up either in the new dinning room or the breakfast room. It will most likely recieve a coat of paint to go with the room and will set atop perhaps a nice dresser to serve as extra china storage. I have a collection of vintage milk glass dishes that might look lovely displayed in this in the breakfast room, in which case I might paint it a pretty butter yellow with the inside robins egg blue. I would try it first in its natural wood tone, as well, to see if I like it that way.
Now, you can never have enough trays, I think. I found this lovely vintage set of metal painted trays for .50 cents for all five! The colors are much nicer than this image is showing. They have a lovely faux bois (fake wood design) background. They are small enough to make for easy carrying, but large enought to bring out supplies for the barbeque or to serve the ladies iced teas on the verandah.

6 March 1955 "Housewife or Executive?"

I have been unexpectedly busy today and feel bad that I did not get to my blog. So, I am going to post this article that is part of a larger piece I want to discuss in my next blog. I think it is really fitting concerning the idea of the homemaker as a real career woman. It is interesting to see that it was even an issue in 1955. Perhaps those woman who did choose to go 'back to the home' were actually chastised even then by their fellow WWII Rosy the Rivetor compatriots that wondered why they would do it. Obviously, by what the article demonstrates, many men did not view it as a career either. I found it odd, actually, as I believe many people today would think that in the 1950s it would have been considered a real job, but it appears that was not always the view. So, here is the piece that is part of the larger article. Read it if you have a chance and comment on it and then tomorrow I will be adding more info from the piece.

5 March 1955 "Tupperware, Decorating, and Casseroles"

Tupperware debuted in 1946. I think it is one of those quintessential american 1950s icons. It is also very practical and much used to this day.

Tupperware was developed in 1946 by Earl Silas Tupper(1907-1983) in the USA. He developed plastic containers used in households to contain food and keep it airtight. The formerly patented "burping seal" is a famous aspect of Tupperware, which distinguished it from competitors.

"During the early 1950s, Tupperware's sales and popularity exploded, thanks in large part to influence among women who sold Tupperware, and some of the famous "jubilees" celebrating the success of Tupperware ladies at lavish and outlandishly themed parties. Tupperware was known -- at a time when women came back from working during World War II only to be told to "go back to the kitchen" -- as a method of empowering women, and giving them a toehold in the post-war business world. The tradition of Tupperware's "Jubilee" style events continues to this day, with rallies being held in major cities to recognize and reward top-selling demonstrators, managers and distributorships."

Tupperware spread to Europe in 1960 when Mila Pond hosted a Tupperware party in Weybridge, England, and subsequently around the world.

I have a few vintage pieces in my soft sky blue that I love. It is a hard color to come by. I am always on the lookout for it. If any of you ladies have any in that color that you aren't using, let's make a deal. A gal can never have enough tupperware.

My vintage friend and I would totally do a great job if we were to throw a tupperware party. Maybe I should make it one of my summer things as part of this project. How fun, all we ladies in the yard in sun dresses, hats and gloves, oohing and ahhing over the burp of the tupperware lid! Lemonade, finger sandwiches. Sounds like fun to me!

Now onto Decorating:
I am reading (over and over again I might add) Dorothy Drapers Book, "Decorating is fun". I am not sure who has this book or who has seen it. I luckily found it due to a comment by a very nice person early on in my blogs. I immediately ordered it and have not regretted it.

There are only a few photos (black and white) and some random drawings, done by Draper herself, I believe, which do help illustrate her point. This is not a coffee table book of casual perusing while you sip your tea. The images have to be drummed up in your mind and her almost militant approach to her ideals is rather refreshing. I thought I might give little snippets of advice here and then from the book every so often. I hope you will like it.

In chapter 3 COLOR, she tells us this:

"It is the rock on which your house is built. Without a keen sense of color, without the ability to get real enjoyment and exitement out of lovely colors, we might as well quite right now. I firmly believe that nothing contributes so much to the beauty of this world as color. And, happily enough, I bleieve with equal convition that every man, woman and child alove has within him a true instinct for color"

Well, that sounds promising anyway. I also believe color is so improtant not only in the world but in your home. It is funny how it honestly affects your moods. I love my vintage dishes as they have one of my favorite colors (robins egg blue) throughout them. Once this project started and I began our breakfasts all laid out on a pretty blue linen table cloth with my dishes and everything soothing, what a difference to the start of the day. Honestly, my husband now leaves often more rested and with more time to relax with me in the morning before he is off to work. Before 1955, it was just shamble out of bed when you could, throw some cereal in the first bowl you grapped, eat at the kitchen table amongst, perhaps, yesterdays mail or some random things that always seem to collect up on the kitchen table. There was always a scramble for a lost coat or keys, ets. I cannot tell you how nice it is to pull up to a nicely laid table with lovely dishes and a full hot breakfast and actually talk with my hubby before he leaves for work. Even though it means my getting up earlier and making it all possible, it would be a lie to say I do not enjoy it as much as he does.

This morning, the sun was streaming in the dinning room, the hot coffee tasted so nice and it was actually cheery and warm. I almost felt as if I had hopped, Mary Poppins style, into one of the old photos in my magazines I have often coveted. It isn't just a sham. It is real, or it can be. And it isn't pretense, but really living. It was like the joy you got as a child playing house, but with a feeling of maturity I have never really felt. I know that sounds silly, but I almost feel like an actual grown up now, with my homemaking duties.

It seems my generation, and those after mine, often have that feeling of never quite knowing when to grow up or what it means. Now, I am not saying I know what it means, but it does seem to come along with the responsibility of your dailiy living. Making chocies that affect the happiness and comfort of your home and your future seems very mature. And, surprise surprise, it isn't a bad thing!And, I don't feel I have lost any of my childlike joy of the world. I merely feel more a part of the world, as if I would like to contribute to it...as if I have SOMTHING to contribute to it, even if that is just making a happy home and becoming a memeber of my community. I just wonder how many people who flounder about trying for some vast unrealistic greatness, miss out on the joy of simply living. I feel I may have up until now. This playing house and being a grownup it is almost as if it is some secret to happiness. As if it was some guarded talisman of the older generations. Only, they probably wanted to pass it on, but the generations before us seemed to have mislaid it.

Well, I have gone a little off topic...

So, back to color:

I totally agree with this passage about the harmony of a color theme throughout your house:

"Just as the main theme appears and reappears throughout a symphony, so you can carry one note of color through your whole house to beautiful effect. I don't mean that the color scheme in each room should be just alike-anything but. You just bind the whole thing together by light touches of the same shade.

For instance, if you have red curtains in your living room, you might have white walls in the hall with a red design stenciled on them. Then in your dining room you mihgt place a rug of the same color. In your bedroom you would just strike the note lightly-put a red quilt, folded, on the end of the bed. Just for fun you could even paint the ceallar stairs of the inside of your kitchen closets that same red.

In this way you can create a sort of intelligent 'color continuity' that is very satisfying, and smart to boot."

I, myself, like to even go one step further and really make a 'color story' for the house. As I have been mentioning, I am planning as part of my project to slowly make over the whole of my house and garden. I have been gathering things together that I love, objects and things with the color I love, in my house and taking 'color shots'.

I think this 1950 painting by Edware Hopper "Cape Cod Morning" is in, itself, a great color story. It really tells my combination I am drawn too, the shots of red/pink and yellow and green with a base of soft blues and held in balance with crisp white and shots of black.

My love of red and blue and warm shades of yellow and brown with stark couterpoints of crisp summer sail white and black really are going to tell that story. Each room will have it's own interpretation of that story, but I think it really allows you to address the entire house (even if you are going to spread your decorating over years) as a single project and it really helps to curb any decorating fear you might have. I think just gathering together some things you love and really looking at them pretty much tells you what colors you love and what 'style' you feel comfortable with. I hate the idea of trying to copy a look out of a magazine, I mean be inspired, but make it your own house, right?

I love, too, that she goes on to give examples of color combinations for different rooms and then states, "These are just suggestions-not ironclad formulas." And she openly invites you to break her rules, but really she is giving you a good solid base in which to create your own rules.

I think I will post some 'color story' photos tomorrow to get your opinions.

On my own decorating front, my living/drawing room cum library, is now going to stay just a drawing/living room. I have rethought my houseplan and our large finished room in our basement is going to get the first facelift by being turned into our library and my husbands study. His current study on the first floor will become our dining room, making room for an eventual redo I am planning that will give me a bigger kitchen with a breakfast/morning room. I will include you in all the mayhem that I am certain will follow with all that, as well as the success.

I belive I post this recipe before, but I just made some lovely doughnuts yesterday morning and wanted to post about it. Obviously I do not have any Swifting's, but I think it is just basic shortening. That is what I used, though next time I am going to use lard and I think I am going to get a vintage deep fat fryer for my kitchen. There are many things that could be cooked properly in it, and I think if I don't overdo it we should be able to stay away from hard attacks! They were so yummy and even cold the next day, they were not heavy nor greasy at all! Next time I will make icing and top them with coconut and jimmies (sprinkles for you non New Englanders).

My husband actually prefers them plain. But, of course, I adore them dredged through the sugar until they are almost white!

Sometimes the most simple things recieve the most lauded reviews. I had wanted to try this simple little casserole for some time. I was drawn in by the article, detailing a couple and their social life. This image and recipe just looked very middle class american 1950s. Before this project I had never ever made a casserole in my life. Actually the word drummed up horrid images of marshmallow covered meat and veg or overcooked hamburger and overdone noodles. I am a convert.

As far as having time in your busy schedule, the casserole is a homemakers salvation on busy days. We had an impromptu plan yesterday to go with some friends to have a fun evening of cards at my vintage friends house. I had these ingredients in my house and thought, "I'll throw together that casserole and bring it along for our dinner there" It was so easy to make and it was so good.

My husband took the rest with him to work today and even said again this morning, "That was so good". My vintage friends fiance' even commented twice and I think would love to see it show up on their table. I do highly reccomend it, even if you are like me and think casserole is a four-letter word.

Until tomorrow, then, happy homemaking!