16 August 1957 “A Trip to the Rail Road Bridge and the News Returns”

I thought I would start with a few photos from our staycation here on Cape Cod, where we make our home. Having had almost an entire week from the computer has made it rather hard to return. I find, when I am not set to edit photos, write  or mess about with ideas for the blog/site, I am happy unplugged. It seems rather an anachronistic sort of statement, but is rather true for me. Certainly I greatly appreciate the liberating freedom and the endless opportunity the computer and internet allow me. The fact that I have met so many and continue to share with all of you is an amazing and wonderful part of my life. It is my ‘plugged in' aspect of my existence. But one can very easily, if one is allowed, to slip into a sort of timeless daze of disconnect.

I am rather apt to brood, so extended periods of time unplugged  would most likely not be good for me. But, for a week here or there, it can be rather bliss. The morning coffee with the chickens and the wild birds. The day stretched before you with no more responsibility than my usual homemaking chores and the promise of bike rides to the sea. There is poking about town or idle rainy hours in old bookstores stuffed into dilapidated houses, creaking under the strain of the quickly dying medium of the printed word on paper. I have had lazy afternoon teas of laughing with friends, hot sticky days of sand and salt, followed by cool evenings by the fire; a lull in the conversation, the crackle of the logs and the sound of the Katydids in the dying orange light of twilight. It has been a good week off.

Where we live we have easy access to the Cape Cod Canal bike trail. This slip of pavement winds its way along the man mad Canal that split our little peninsula into an island many decades ago. There are two bridges to access Cape Cod, and one Rail Road bridge. The latter is an interesting bit of metal and ingenuity that lowers when a train needs to come onto or leave the Cape. This allows our rubbish to leave and once the passengers of trains to enter.

We biked one afternoon to the other end of the canal. Our usual tour is a simple ride to the Sandwich Beaches, but if you ride toward the bridges, the Canal Path eventually takes you to the end at Buzzard’s Bay. There you can see the Rail Road Bridge.

Here it is as we approach it. The little slip of pavement with the yellow line is a narrow path for bikes and pedestrians only, so cars or motorized vehicles. We were lucky that day as we heard the distant whistle of a train on the opposite side. We sat upon some large rocks and waited.

Here it is half way down. The large metal box shape in the foreground is the great steel weights that work on a pulley  system to raise and lower the bridge. We see it has completely been lowered. Obviously, when not in use, it needs to be raised as very large ships, container ships and the like, are always heading through the canal as well as pleasure craft and even rather small boats. And the train makes its way onto the Cape.

The bridge itself is rather beautiful and has some interesting sculptural qualities. You can see the dramatic affect with a dark rain cloud passing by.

There is, along the way to the Rail Road Bridge, a stop along the way known as the old Trading Post. It is a Colonial trading post from the 1690’s. The old building is maintained by the Historical society and is rather interesting. You can see the old original leaded windows and the interior, much like our own old home, is all old post and beams. There is also a spot to picnic and relax. Here you can see our trusty old bikes with the Canal in the background.  The old trading post building. Here is a blurb about it:

Aptucxet Trading Post may have the earliest remains of a Pilgrim building. The known facts present a fascinating story, not only of an antique building but also of Bourne's participation in 17th-century events.

and a link to the site HERE.

The sign by the Colonial Garden adjacent to the Trading post.

All in all we had a lovely week. And, as many of you know, we currently have our old home on the market. However, we keep waffling on rather or not we actually wish to sell it. Part of our plan, if the house were to sell, was to move to a larger piece of property Down East, in Maine. Yet, this house holds so many memories and is such a wonderful place in the summer, it is a hard decision. We have also been considering a move back to the City part time, which makes this house so convenient, as Boston is only an hour away. The current political and economic conditions of the country and the world keep breaking in on our idyllic past-recreated lives. Things which would not have been part of decision making are certainly not to be ignored and we are very concerned for our futures.

But, more of that later. I am just getting back into the swing of things here.

There is a NEW News. It is now the WEEKLY news, so you can click the link to the left or go HERE.

I am working on another idea to become part of the blog as well. I am looking forward to getting back into my time and effort here. Some more fun recipes and discussions on how to incorporate good old vintage ideals into our ever changing modern world.

Until tomorrow, then, Happy Homemaking.

15 August 1957 “Back to the Ole’ Grind”

Well, after a week of staycation, it is back to work for me. Hubby is back to work tomorrow and so am I with my blog. I apologize for my lapses, but hope you will forgive due to my holiday.

Until tomorrow, then, Happy Homemaking.

10 August 1957 “Easy Cheese Crackers and Staycation Under Way”

There is something about getting out of the pool or ocean or water, basking in the sun and reaching for those deadly delicious little cheese crackers. Perhaps it was my actual childhood in the 70’s and 80’s, but Cheese crackers, be they Cheezit, Nips, Store brand, just had that taste of Summer. The damp hands, dripping hair and warming sun mingled with the sandy legs or smell of chlorine and then that quick taste of cheesy goodness.

It of course follows that I would try to make my own. And I have in the past as well. I have shared that recipe. And much as most of my pastry type recipes it calls for cold butter broken into flour. If you have a food processor, which I do not (Well, my hands, a hand held pastry cutter, or two knives are My food processor) it can be quick and easy.

The other day, after swimming, I had a powerful craving for these little yummies. I often don’t buy such items as they don’t fit my food budget and I do try to stick with homemade. Though, this Summer, I have treated myself a few times with the actual thing, in the package, just for ole’ times sake. I have to say, I don’t know it there is a chemical additive, but I could honestly eat an entire box of Cheezits myself! While, the same amount of homemade cheese crackers, I never could. It would be far too filling.

Hubby mentioned to me that they use labs and spend quite a bit on the chemical compounds to affect the eating stimuli in the brain and such procedures are used to mix the right amout of this and that into processed foods so our brain literally doesn’t know when to stop. I believe it, as having done the experiment, it works every time. Cheezit’s, easily the whole box; Homemade: usually around 20 crackers and I am done.

Well, onto my point. I wanted to make some easy crackers and being without a food processor (save my own little hands), I thought I would try an experiment. Instead of cold butter, room temperature/soft butter and rather than use water, cooking oil (Olive/veg what have you). The following was the surprisingly flaky and wonderfully delicious results.

  Look how flaky and wonderful. Here is the simple recipe. You can always fudge here or there. More oil if you need, less, more cheese. You want the dough to be easily made into a ball without sticking to your fingers. You can even sprinkle the top before baking with Romano or Mozzerella, garlic salt, what have you, go nuts.

 50’s Gal EasyCheezy Crackers

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons soft butter

1 cup grated cheese (your choice of cheese, a medium to hard cheese preferred)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, but recommended)

4 tablespoons olive/vegetable oil

Mix the ingredients until dough like and then for easy rolling, place between two layers of waxed paper.

With a knife cut Cheese Cracker size squares (about an inch square) and then poke holes with a fork. This allows for flaking and puffing of crackers and even cooking.

Cook in a 350 F oven for about 25 minutes. Watch them and then decide how dark you like them. This first batch, which is lighter, were so good and had a more gourmet taste, like a cheese straw. But, I found if I cooked them a bit longer until they turned a darker orange, they tasted SO close to the Cheezit brand crackers (without the chemical engineering to not stop eating of course).

You can see the do not have to be all uniform and look lovely in a jar on the counter. They last about five days in a sealed jar. These are easy and well worth the little time to make them. You could make a double batch the day before a picnic or beach outing and surprise your family or friends. They will ask for me, believe me.

As hubby and I are still busy with our staycation, I have been a very bad blogger and I do apologize. We have had some rainy days thus far, but were able to do our usual bike to the beach, swim, read, relax and then bike into town for lunch, tea and lazy summer afternoon poking about the shops. Just as we returned from our day yesterday, we sat on our little terrace and enjoyed a fire in the little fireplace, some cake and coffee and then the rain began again. But, hubby went off to his office to write and Gussie and I headed out to our Barn to play cards and Chinese checkers while the dogs lazed on the old wing chairs and the rain beat upon the old windows. It was a very good Summer day.

This year, despite all the continued stress with our rental property and tenants, it has been that sort of Summer that you don’t want to end. Great lazy days mix with my usual busy days of chores and to-doing. Casual moments for lunch or bike rides, cool dips in the ocean or fun excursions to find our ‘treasures’ from the sea to line mantels and window sills. Overall, it has been a good Summer.

Though, I know, that Autumn is on its heels. Every so often I catch its strong scent in the end of the Summer rain. That slightly ripe and rotting tone that Autumn brings. I have always loved that season and when it arrives, I am sure I shall. But, today, this week, with hubby home and Summer still seeming to stretch before us, I have to say I am not excited about Fall just yet. How about you, do you live where there are seasons? Do you look forward to the change? What is your favorite season?

6 August 1957 “Easy Coffee Cake and Summer Time”

  As I have been so extra busy, but still wish warm good food for us, I whipped up this quick coffee cake yesterday morn. It is not as tall and rich as my usual coffee cake, but it is quite easy and very good.

I had an unexpected guest last evening when our Gussie brought over a friend. So, with an impromptu tea, I served this with some fresh strawberries with apologies that it is not as good as my ‘usual coffee cake’. The guest replied it was the best she had ever had, so there is much to be said about homemade.

This is really a combination of two recipes the first for an easy cake the second a topping is a rough approximation of streusel:

BUSY DAY COFFEE CAKE

1 cup all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. butter, melted
1 egg

• TOPPING
• 1  cups granulated sugar
• 3/4  cups Flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix ingredients and pour into a 9” round pan (I use a glass baking dish) Mix topping and spread on top before baking. Sprinkle with chocolate chips or nuts or what have you.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.

So easy.

Speaking of summertime, the song “Summertime” is a wonderful old standard written by George Gershwin in 1936 for Porgy and Bess. It has been covered thousands of times. Here are few variations and how they make me feel.

I always love Ella’s versions of songs. Her sing song literary style makes it almost a little fictional vignette. You have the feeling of just finished reading a concise short story in your favorite literary magazine.

 

This Miles Davis version of the same song is a wonderful late summer tune. Your hand lazily drags through the cooling waters as you sit basking in the hot August sun. A bead of sweat rolls down your back, so you slip back the brim of your old beach hat and sip the cool iced G & T and wipe the sand from the pages of your paperback book, dog eared and slightly warped from salt water and eelgrass book marks. It IS Summertime and the Living is easy.

This rendition of Summertime by Peggy Lee has, to me, an early Autumn feel. It feels more city to me. Your enmeshed in your corner cafe in late September. The multitude of breath from cafe chatter, the steam from your hot coffee clouds the windows. You run your fingers down the glass making stripes to catch the passersby. Their bundled up muted colors flash in and out of view and you recall the warmth of the summer days. The sandy floors and screen doors, the cool touch of the waves, the hot sticky skin with just a taste of salt. Along the old window sills sit the day’s treasures: seashells, an old mermaids purse, a razor clam. The days seem as if they can stretch into forever and the hot smell of the old house and the laughter of family and guests below.

Now, the cool air blasts you back to the present as the door whips open. The black of your cooling coffee looks deep and dark. Summer is over and Autumn has taken hold of you. You gulp the dregs of your tepid coffee, replace your old woolen beret and you are off into the cool rainy city streets. Summertime is over for now, but next year’s promise is locked away to keep, like the lawn chairs, and old beach furniture and the shuttered windows of the Summer house. It will come again…Summertime.

I hope all are having a good day. This week my hubby has a week holiday and we are going to enjoy more of the Cape as our own Summertime draws closer to its end.

Happy Homemaking.

3 August 1957 “Some Recipes and More Apologies”

I have felt such a cad, or rather the female version of a cad ( I shall have to look that one up) leaving all of you in the lurch this past week. I can make excuses, which I have done, but really I should be better at time organizing now to slip a few hours in here and there. But, quite honestly, with all the drama of the rental house ( I may actually share pictures of it with you so you can see the wretched state. Some of you will remember my little white dining room makeover in 1955, you should see that room now!)

Well, I am extra busy again today, but feeling the need to share, I thought I would like to present you with these lovely fun Summer recipes from one of my magazines. Sometimes cooking in the Summer heat can be a bear and before there were any prepared foods, except frozen veg and TV dinners, we homemakers had to use our noggins to consider how to make cooler use of the kitchen.

So, here you go and do enjoy. I shall return on a more normal basis, I do promise. There is also much up in arms about the selling of our little antique home as well, but I shall share all that in time. Today, enjoy the Summer, cook up some cool refreshments and take advantage while you can. Labor Day is only weeks away now, so relish the rest of Summer.

Happy Homemamaking.

1 August 1957 “Checking In”

I am sorry to be absent these past days. I have had a more than usual full plate. With decisions on our home for sale, final dealings with tenants and court dates (we were able to get into the house today…I can’t even discuss the damage right now).

I just wanted all to know I am fine and am very apologetic to have not posted in the past few days. I shall return to normalcy soon as we make some more serious decisions. I have been able to also enjoy moments of Cape Cod summer fun. Tea yesterday in town and a fun poke through our local shops. Biking to the beach and gorging on seafood. Relaxing by the fire as the cool of the evening sets in, the sounds of crickets and our laughter filling the summer night. I am trying to keep some good mixed in with the bad.

I hope all are well and are busy and enjoying their own Summer (Or whatever season your hemisphere is currently in)

Happy Homemaking.

28 July 1957 “The Efficiency of a Small 1950’s Kitchen”

Since I have been dealing with Real Estate agents (after trying to decide if we should use an agency rather than sell our home ourselves) I have begun to appreciate the smaller kitchen more. The current trend is a large kitchen which is rather ironic when one considers how little cooking actually goes on in there. It is a sort of ‘keeping up with the Jones’’ sort of room, I suppose.

Our kitchen is very tiny. It was redone sometime in the 1950s in an add-on or ‘ell’ (as we call them here in New England) that was added on sometime at the end of the 1800’s. The room is a tiny square that serves as laundry room, kitchen, mudroom, pantry and scullery all in one. I do quite a bit of cooking. All of the food is prepared here, as is our laundry done and food and extra items stored. So, I appreciate a well organized and thought out small kitchen.

Before the 1950’s and at the end of the Victorian age, Kitchens were larger. Homes, for the most part, were larger as well. This was because there had to be room for extended family (Grandmother and unmarried aunts filled attic rooms where servants once slept) and of course that had to be room for the live in, as they were more a staple of middle class homes then. There needed to be room to cook and feed large families (Often breakfast being eat in the kitchen). Even farmhouses needed their large kitchens to feed big families and various farm hands.

When the 1950’s post war building boom began in the USA, small homes just made sense. Old farm land was converted to ‘neighborhoods’ and endless little homes popped up with one bath 2-3 bedrooms and a small square little kitchen. This served families of up to 5 children quite comfortably. And, without the added help of servants and extended family, all the cooking fell to the homemaker. So, she needed as much efficiency as possible. Luckily she had all the new gadgets her ancestors did not have, dishwashers, laundry machines, mixers and blenders, electric stoves and griddles. Of course, she was now utterly alone in there as great aunt Ermintrude, whom never married, and Grandma weren’t there to help peel the potatoes, wash the pots and pans and generally ‘help out’.

Thus, small was the norm and efficiency had to be born out of basic builder’s ideas of how a kitchen should be made up. Builders were, for the most part, men. And for the most part in the 1950’s men saw very little of the kitchen, so you can imagine the homemaker often had to ‘tut tut’ her new found kitchen and set about making it more workable.

I have shared these ideas and re-dos of old smaller 50’s kitchens before. I really liked this one. I thought it ingenious how they slanted a counter into the space to give more working area.

Here is the synopsis of what they did.

The before lay out, again a builder’s square kitchen. And the wonderful redo, which makes so much sense and really almost adds a fifth wall by slanting the counter with the sink. I also love the color scheme. We have talked before how the pale blue, or pale green, butter yellow or canary yellow and pinks with reds were the primary colors of 1950’s decorating schemes. Here we see the three used in harmony to the point that the curtains are a representation of these colors in three solid swaths of material. A great way to tie it all in.

Here are various ingenious storage solutions. I also love the small separate ice box and freezer, so much smarter than these monstrosities foisted upon us today in the guise of a refrigerator. A place for everything… and everything in its place.

This article also includes wonderful detailed building instructions that I would like to share on tomorrows post. Would you like to see that? How do you feel about smaller kitchens? If you are in an apartment or small home and haven’t the room for larger, these are wonderful solutions. And remember, bigger is not always better, in many respects.

Happy Homemaking.

25 July 1957 “Pizza the 1950’s Way”

I thought I would share this fun recipe and how to from one of my vintage magazines. It is from a 1955 edition.

I have been so very busy with the house and showing it and other things, that I have fallen a little behind in my posts. I hope you enjoy this and why not give it a try. You can see that Pizza, a relatively new concept in 1950’s, was hardly the over cheesed extra topping large meal we are familiar with today.

      

Enjoy and Happy Homemaking.

22 July 1957 “Tenant Drama Continues, A Trip to the Farmer’s Market, and a Cookout”

Yesterday was our court date. We, hubby and I, had to go to continue the process of evicting our derelict tenants. We figured, as would have been the norm, that they would not show up for the day. They have no case as we are evicting on the grounds of non-payment. It has now been over 4 months since we have seen any sort of rent from them.

At first we had to sit through all the criminal cases, which were quite interesting. As we assumed, there was no sign of our tenants. Then, just as they began to announce that they were to next move onto the civil cases, a full hour after our scheduled time, one of the tenants shows up. She saunters in an hour late and still manages to get there on time.

I had to say, listening to some of the other tenant issues before we were called up were really bad. One couple hadn’t paid for seven months and they told the judge, “Well, there were bed bugs and mold”. The landlord said, “We sprayed the complex for bed bugs three months ago”. Then they countered with, “Well, he doesn’t seem to care that the microwave electrocuted our daughter”. The judge said, “Was she seriously hurt, did she have to go to the hospital?” They said, “No, it was just a shock”.

The judge then proceeded to tell them, “Look you have to pay rent or get out.” The landlord said, “If they get out in 10 days, by the end of July, we will waive any un-paid fees”. They said no and the judge them gave them until the end of August, so they have another free month rent.

What was interesting about this couple was later, when we were waiting to meet with a mediator (the judge had all the cases concerning tenants go through the mediator and then back to him) we heard this couple bragging to another couple in the waiting area about new tattoos! They were showing a large one on his arm and he said, ‘Yeah, and the wife just got this one” and he shows a large one on the back of her neck. Now, how is it that they can pay hundreds of dollars for that but not any rent? And if their microwave really is unsafe for their daughter, how about using that money to buy a new one, since a landlord is not required to provide a microwave, just an oven/stove. It was amazing how much of the “It’s not my fault” attitude that so many people have. Do they not realize the landlords also have to pay to live somewhere as well? That no one is allowing them to just live for free and do as they please? There is so little actual rights to private property in this country any longer, it was quite sad.

The good news was that due to our mediation, our tenant agreed to pay back the $5800 in back rent $200 a month. Of course we realize we won’t see any of this money, but as part of this bargain she relinquished any rights to get a 10 day extension. She agreed to get out by Aug 1 (and we can now have a sheriff remove her 48 hours after that if she has not done so) and she is required to move all of her own belonging with anything left considered abandoned and we are allowed to throw it out. We were really concerned as our state also has laws that may have required us to pay for a moving company and a storage company for them! All in all it turned out better than we hoped. Of course we are still out months of rent, we will have to pay for a dumpster to removed all the things they will leave (such as old sofas in the yard and so on). It is really hard to be a landlord in my state.

On Wednesday, however, I had a lovely day out. It was nice to have a good day before yesterdays ordeal of tenant drama. A friend and I went to the Farmer’s Market in Hyannis, a town about half an hour away from where I live further down Cape.

Here I am, ready for the day in a new skirt I whipped up that day. It matched my favorite summer handbag.My friend (not my vintage friend but also a lovely vintage dresser when we get together) looked cool and fresh in summer yellow with her trusty vintage rattan Summer handbag.

Hyannis is the main town on Cape Cod. It is the largest and therefore we figured its Farmer’s market would be larger than our own respective towns of Sandwich and Dennis. We were wrong. It was quite small. And two of the vendors were from farms here in my town of Sandwich.

I still purchased some of their lovely beets though. Look at those amazing colors of orange and purple.Another vendor from my ‘neck of the woods’ is the Jam Kitchen. Here you can see some of there selection including cherry and of course beach plum, a Cape Cod specialty. The Rosehips of the Rosa Rugosa, or Beach plum are wonderful for jams and can be cooked and even made into teas. The flowers are a single row of petals rather than the fuller look of hybrid or tea roses. They are lovely, though, and are often seen dotting the beaches and dunes as well as a favorite yard plant along with the hydrangea and day lily. They grow like weeds here and are the easiest rose to manage, very resistant to insects, mold and so on.

 Of course there was a lobster vendor. And I loved the name of this Farm: “Not Enough Acres”. Believe you me, I know how they feel.

     There were lovely homemade pies and sweets.

A funny story was that my friend and I had lunch at one of our favorite little places here in Hyannis, Common Ground. The inside of the restaurant is so quaint and rather like a Hobbit House, with real tree branches and logs making up the seats with booths like little cottages with roof and windows! 

They make the best food all from scratch and we often choose this place as the fun go to place for lunch when in Hyannis. They make a wonderful double oatmeal maple cookie with maple cream filling. After our lunch, we decided to forgo the treat, in case there was something more tempting at the market. And, thank goodness, they too had a booth at the Farmer’s Market, so we ended the day with the cookie after all.

Here it is happily awaiting our appetites as our Summer Purses look on. Look at that lovely filling, it is large enough for both of us to share.

At the end of the day, relaxed and home again, I decided to cook some chicken and veg on the fire. We don’t have a traditional barbeque. I don’t like cooking over propane and much prefer charcoal or wood. Wood, is of course, my favorite form of outdoor cooking heat. We have a little outdoor fireplace we made with dry-stacked bricks from our property. We often enjoy fires here and I simply place a grate over the top, after I get a good hot coal going. The wood (which you can also get fruit woods or mesquite woods to throw on the fire as well) imparts wonderful flavor to whatever you cook on it.

The chicken turned out wonderful. I used barbeque sauce and though it looks quite dark, is how I prefer to cook it. The skin, when this shade, is so crispy yet holds the juiciness and taste of the fire, wood, and sauce. I also cook some freshly cut zucchini and squash as well as onions and peppers. And a tomato plucked from the vine and a few snips of basil from the pots of herbs on the terrace mixed with olive oil, salt and pepper made for an easy but delicious summer cook out. Can’t you just taste that Summer flavor?

I hope all are having a lovely day and as always, Happy Homemaking.