4 October 1955 “Wartime Images: can they still be valid Now? Proposed Shopping List for VICTORY WEEK”

I thought since we are discussing rationing and our proposed “Victory Week” I would share some great wartime posters. What I found interesting about these, is really what they suggest are perfect for today’s world of faulty economy and need to conserve and be GREEN.

First off, this shows why rationing was a good idea and the fairness of the system during a time of shortage. I feel now as if this poster should be made to show the top A Wal-Mart large and ominous and little business being squeezed out and the bottom or resolution, a smaller wal-mart and other equal sized local business.

When food is scarce, it is serious business, and I think this poster says it all. However, today, though we have plenty, why do we feel the need to waste it? The amount of food thrown away is criminal, not only in our own homes, but in chains and other restaurants. This is true for clothing as well.This poster shows the horrors of it. When I see this and think of Old Navy and such stores today I want to cry. I worked for awhile when I was younger in a chain clothing store. We moved clothes so quickly from full priced to sales and then we had to destroy and throw them out when they didn’t sell in the alloted time. We could not save them and donate them, they literally had to be cut to shreds in the back room, stuffed in plastic bags and put into dumpsters. I know someone who works at J. Crew and at Forever 21 and all these chains do the same thing. Move in the product, mark it down in a week, second/third markdowns, then destroyed and tossed away. What does this say about our society? Sad.This could help us today as well. Even if you did buy a shirt for 5 dollars at old navy, you know what? if you mend it and not toss it out, or embellish it to give it a new look, you are still spending less money then buying more five dollar shirts! Maybe we could even do a ‘week of mending and no buying’ and see if we could dig out some clothes we don’t wear and see if we can repurpose them for ourselves so as not to buy any new and with any extra donate them.

  I think these two posters could be relevant today, perhaps not the Hitler imagery, but it drives the point home. Don’t waste when more than one person could ride with you. Save on gas, and wear and tear, so true today.Even the concept of ‘staying put’ for “Home Holidays” were popular due to the needs of the war. But, now in a recession time, why not make a local holiday? We always feel the need to get away and rush about and spend money. This poster is still very relevant, in fact we need to bring back more trains to ease the transportation burden away form the gas guzzling cars! Just in my own experience, having recently downsized to one car makes a world of difference. Now, when I have to go somewhere I really need to think about it and plan and not just ‘take off whenever’ and now my bike get’s used more!

  And, of course, the Victory Garden was serious business. It could literally stand between your family and starvation. The concept of giving up some of our lawn and flower garden space to actual food growing is ever important. I was happy to hear our new president, for the first time I think since Roosevelt the first, had a veg garden planted at the white house.

  Even a poster like this could be used to help us in our fight to build community. If we could make it feel as it we are NEEDED, from Father to little sister, then we could make a community. The kids could learn that besides video games, there is a way to work together to make a better place in which to live, so when they meet with their friends to play video games they will have made a change in the physical world as well. Balance. I think video games and computers are not going anywhere, which is fine, but all things need to be balanced and there is enough time and room in this world for video games AND building and making a community, don’t you think? And if we felt a need or a push, as a Nation, to make our local communities, it would take off. I am sad to say, however, that many media outlets (tv for sure) do not want this. IF we learn to get along and make do and men and grow our own food and also know our neighbors then we might ban together and open local shops and if we know mr. jenkins down the road, or Sally up the street and they have a shop we will support them and be treated kindly for our effort. Does anyone think this could ever be?

If we could make our own new ‘1950’s’ that would be our second chance to get it right. We would not be living in the past, but looking to the past to take the chance post war America started and then got lost somewhere in the late 1960’s.

This poster is a good hearld for our proposed ‘Victory Week’.

Now, for our Victory Week, I have been doing a little research. I was unable to find a typical American week of Rations for WWII, so if anyone has such a list, you could post it in the comments in this post.

What I did find, which is staggering, is a normal weeks ration for Britain during rationing. Vegetables were not rationed, but were nearly impossible to come by, so many grew and saved their own, thus the “Victory Garden”. Lawns and parks were given over to vegetables and farm animals were allowed in cities and small plots to aid in self-preservation.

Here is the list of what was allowed then.

Lard or Butter  4 oz. (that is only 1/2 a cup)

Sugar                  12oz.

Bacon                    4oz.

Eggs                        2  (this was supplemented with powdered    eggs, and of course many kept chickens at this time)

Meat                       6oz.

Tea                          2oz.

This was mind blowing for me and I am not going to recommend this, unless some people would like to try it. I would be willing to do it for a week if we wanted to try an actual WWII week. The above was for an entire week per person!  But, for this week, I think we could make a more manageable list for those of us who live in such a food rich world.

Here is my proposed weekly list, let me know if you think we should add or subtract etc. I think this list should be for two people as opposed to one and for every young child under 12 add 1/4 the amount and for every teen/adult extra add 1/2 the amount. No Chips or Candy bars (except chocolate exchange see below), Junk Food etc.

Bread    1 loaf  (purchased, you could choose to use your baking supplies to make the amount of bread you could for the week)

Meat       30 oz. (So basically that is 6 0z. of meat per day for 5 days and the other two days nothing, but divided how we see fit)

Butter/Lard  8 oz. (which is two sticks of 1/4 cup butter each, does this seem too much?)

oil   (corn, etc) 12 oz.

Bacon   1/2 package

Eggs         one dozen (unless you think we should make it less for more of a challenge? Although we would possibly have chickens)

Potatoes    5 lbs or about 14 full size (that is 2 per day used obviously how you want)

Milk              1/2 gallon

Canned fish/meat     2 cans

Canned Veg                 3 cans

Fruit (seasonal for your area) 5 pieces (ex five apples)

Snack    one bag of kernel popcorn

Fresh Veg  (seasonal for area) 5 pieces or exchange (ex 5 tomatoes or one bunch of carrots)

Flour   5lb. bag (this is an opportunity to make things with it, bread, desserts, gravies thicken soup etc)

Sugar 2 1/2 pounds (basically 1/2 of a 5 lb bag. Does this seem too much?)

Oatmeal (not sure size of smallest box, but that one)

Various baking ingredients you already have (baking powder etc if you don’t have then buy for the week in smallest size possible)

Chocolate    one sweet exchange  (this could be one normal sized candy bar or one 8 oz. bag of chocolate chips, make it one small item that you can either spread out, add to a dessert or hide in the closet and eat it behind hubbies back, whatever you choose but only ONE ladies)

Jam (what you have made or one 6oz jar)

Golden syrup (or you could use corn syrup) of Lyles Golden Syrup. I think 1/2 the can or 8 oz is more than a fair amount for the week for two. great in oatmeal or in cooking. Try some on that popcorn for a sweet treat. Those in the UK will know this product but it is not always available here in the U.S., but even my local Stop and Shop carries it and I use it. Here is what it looks like)

So, Meat with bones is always a good idea, as you can save the bone to boil for soup stock. I think there will be no ‘throw away leftovers’ as anything can be saved and added to next meal.

Here are a couple of authentic wartime recipes from Marguerite Patten, who was Britain’s authority on cooking. (Really the first celebrity chef, of course there was Mrs. Beeton before her) Here she is in the 1950’s.

Woolton Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb each of diced potatoes, cauliflower, swedes and carrots;

Three or four spring onions;

One teaspoonful of vegetable extract;

1 oz of oatmeal or rolled oats.

Method:

Dice and cook the potatoes, cauliflower, swedes and carrots in boiling salted water.

Strain, but keep three-quarters of a pint of the vegetable water.

Arrange the vegetables in a large pie dish or casserole. Add the vegetable extract and the rolled oats or oatmeal to the vegetable liquid. Cook until thickened and pour over the vegetables.

Add three or four chopped spring onions.

 

EGGLESS SPONGE

Ingredients:

6 oz self-raising flour with one level teaspoon of baking powder, or 6 oz plain flour with three level teaspoons of baking powder

2.5 oz margarine

2 oz sugar

1 level tablespoon golden syrup

A quarter of a pint of milk, or milk and water

Jam for filling

Method:

Sift the flour and baking powder. Cream the margarine, sugar and golden syrup until soft and light, add a little flour, then a little liquid.

Continue like this until it is a smooth mixture. Grease and flour two 7in sandwich tins and divide the mixture between the two. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until firm to touch, just above the centre of a moderately hot oven.

Turn out and sandwich with jam.

This is a great modern quote from Marguerite for cooking in today’s recession

“"The first lesson is: don't be defeated. Sit there as if you are planning a campaign. Have a look at what clever things you can do with the cheaper cuts of meat or offal. What about hearts? Have you had them? No? Well, that's because you're a modern person. But they're delicious. Stuff them with sage and onion and cook them very slowly so that they melt in your mouth. What about tender, young lamb's kidneys? Mmmmm. Wonderful!"

So, use that as a guide. I love Beef Liver and Kidneys and they are always inexpensive, as is the heart. Great sources of iron as well!

So, Let’s today in comments talk about my proposed weekly list. What am I missing? Should I reduce some things, increase? Let me know and we can revise and make it a set list. Then we can decide to start tomorrow, Monday, if you wish or we could put it off until the following week. Let me know. Let’s get to our VICTORY WEEK!

3 October 1955 “Buy More Pay Less or Pay More Buy Less, a Proposed Project of Rationing”

We are so used to the phrase “Buy more Pay less” that we forget it has led to our “society of entitlement”. We feel we DESERVE to get a bargain on everything which then forces us to not shop locally and force out small business and ultimately ruin our communities.

This image shows people waiting in a rationing line. What is odd, is I often see this in stores today, but people lined up to buy more and more of what they don’t need! I remember when the local IKEA opened, I fell into it as well. I remember standing in this long line just waiting to give up my money for things I honestly did not need. When I think of that now it almost sends a shiver down my spine. I really feel now brainwashed by the consumer culture.

I wonder if these ideas of the wartime economy may someday be our solution to our planet and pocketbook woes?  It would seem the idea of people coming together to solve a problem as a nation is a good solution. It makes us all feel part of it. Unfortunately, those making the money from our overspending don’t want us to believe it is happening so they lie to us and use poor imagery of anti-American ways to fear us into ignoring it. And keep us from coming together by the lazy ways of staying home with tv and computers, who could ever come together as a community and try to change when we are so lulled. When, really, how un-American is it to be ruled by a dictator of consumerism and fall prey to the propaganda TV stations that perpetuate the lies? But, I don’t want to go off on that tangent right now. I think we need to really think about that basic concept of buying more paying less or buying less and paying more (which supports our local business and helps us to economize and be healthy)

I sometimes think about rural central America and feel bad that they were once thriving little communities that sent their children off to school to have them return and make their part of the world better. The young people had dances and listened to the radio and played games. There was community. Now I think of these places as sad dustbowls where the downtown is gone and empty, just outside of town is the Wal-Mart and various fast food places. The teens are ‘bored’ and doing drugs and overdrinking and can’t wait to leave or if they don’t leave, they stay in all the time on the computer or video games. How have we become this?

I am sure there are women today who were homemakers in the 1950s that are so glad to have so many things so cheap,  and to use kleenex and paper towels, but in a way, they really can’t understand where we have come and in some way, let them have it. But, for those of us who are young enough that we are making the country still and preparing new adults for the future, we have to somehow stop the idea that we need to buy more and more and it had better be cheap!

I am always amazed and appalled at the way people in lines at stores will treat the help and with their own feeling of entitlement. If  someone is trying to return something beyond the stores policy or they don’t have their receipt, they go crazy and DEMAND that they get what they want! It is not the help’s fault the person made the wrong choice, or didn’t keep or read the rules on the receipt. But, this feeling of “I want it now and I want it fast and you better treat me like a God” is such a horrible trait and path we seem to be treading down.

I remember my first day out in Paris when I was a young girl.  I was coming form the American stores that treat you, the consumer, as if you can do no wrong. Boy, that was a rude awakening! I actually felt anger and frustration, but the longer I was there I began to realize, “Why do I think I DESERVE to be treated like a queen and at the expense of the people who have to work there or the shop keepers who have to buy and stock the items?”  There should be no rudeness on either side and certainly the customer should not just walk in and expect everything to be just for them.

I see now that even back then we were being groomed to be the consumers that can only be happy at a store that can afford to stock and return without fear unlike a local store.

So, back to shopping locally.  We  go to the local chain and the meat and chips are are half of what they are at a local shop. So, we buy more, spend the same amount, overeat and have more to throw away. I think if we could look to ourselves, we new Homemakers, as those ladies did during war rationing, we could really wean ourselves of the current over consuming habit.

If we said to ourselves, “we MUST shop locally and consume less”, we could just approach it as if we were in wartime spending. So, we cannot buy as much food, well then we have to be more creative about how we use it. Learn how to stretch it. That meatloaf can become two meatloaves with some bread added as filler; those leftovers can go in the freezer or into a pot for stew. So, chips are expensive, STOP EATING THEM, they aren’t good for you anyway. I know it sounds harsh and hard, but you know what, anything worth doing often has some  struggle in it, but when you have succeeded you are happy and content and glad for the struggle. Or one bag of chips for the month, then you have to ration them out! It might sound extreme, but right now we have been taught the other extreme: that we must buy as much as we can and fill our shelves to the brim and then overeat and buy more! It is not healthy for our pocketbooks, our health, our waistlines, nor our sense of being. I don’t like to think that we are training groups of children to think they can just consume and consume for ever and ever, how will that make them understand the consequences of anything?

I was amazed the other day when I was out marketing. I saw, with the produce, these little packages of sliced apples with a little dipping sauce. I thought, “How on earth is ANYONE too busy to slice an apple and put it in Tupperware?” Here is more packaging, plus I know there was some chemical to make the apple not turn brown that we then would eat and the cost!

So, I don’t want to go on another rant without any result.  So, what say you to an experiment we can share in? Maybe we should try a week where in we ‘pretend’ it is WWII rationing and see how we fare. I think that is a safe amount of time. We would simply use only what is the very basics, no chips (crisps) nor very large helpings or seconds, maybe even scale back desserts and only what we can make with the basics, flour sugar butter (Which I know they even ran out of  during the war).

What do you think, would it be a fun project? Maybe in the comments we could discuss it and set the parameters.

For instance we could say we could only use bread we made ourselves or bought at a local bakery (not a chain) and we could only buy one loaf instead of more.  So if we ran out of bread during that week we would have to use our minds to think, ‘what can we do?” I know that during this time many people turned to pancakes/flapjacks as alternatives as they were easier to make than bread and no yeast was required. SO instead of a sandwich you have a pancake with something rolled into it.  You know what I mean, be frugal and see what we could do.

We don’t have to be too extreme, but I would love to see the results, especially for those of you who have children. I think we are made to feel we are bad parents if we don’t have all of these things for our children, but the 1950s homemaker grew up in the Depression and she definitely did without during her childhood and of the childhoods I have heard recalled, so many children actually had fun growing up during those years, as they didn’t know they were poor. They only knew what they grew up with and had more imagination and patience because of it. In some way I feel like every generation we are just training ourselves to be lazier, less independent, more unhealthy etc.  But, I digress, we could make the rules however we want, but for one week, wouldn’t it be interesting? I wonder if we would learn any saving measures we could then adapt to our normal weeks and realize we don’t actually NEED the things we buy.

So, if anyone is up for the proposed week plan let me know. I think we could come up with a ‘required’ shopping list for the week. We could decide how much butter, flour, meat etc we are allowed and then we can stick to that and see how our weeks turn out. If you have children then certain things would be increased per child I would imagine. So, what do you say?

30 September 1955 “The Hankie and the Linen Napkin”

These two simple items and ideas can save you a lot of money and help the environment and give you a little pride along the way.
I know to our modern germophobic minds, the thought of the hankie being sneezed upon and returned to the pocketbook or pocket seems repulsive. Yet, if we launder them and have simply a set of seven (one for each day, though I am sure they could become addictive like potato chips!) we would have a clean one to use daily. Certainly, grabbing a Kleenex is easier and may seem more sanitary, but if it is your germs and you are merely applying it to your face, you cannot reinfect yourself with the sniffles! Now, add to this the added bonus of the money spent on Kleenex and paper napkins etc. I know even my paper towel budget is easily cut in half since I started this project.
The linen napkin. I know use these every day for every meal. When we were first moving and had to share the little cottage with all our things tucked away and no laundry facilities I just bought some paper napkins and paper towel. I could not believe what I went through in that one week! The waste alone! And, you feel good and grown up when you unfold that linen napkin and place it on your lap before you begin your meal. It is as if you are saluting your hard work and preparing for that time you sit and relax at the repast you have created and enjoy good conversation.
It’s funny how our incessant need to make more items that make the day easier and somehow go by faster. Why is that? It seems, if anything, we are running about more and are more frazzled today with all the new things we have. So, though it is impossible to get rid of your cell phone or not have a tv or computer, why not add some old things and remove some annoying modern things that do add to your day. The Hankie and the Napkin. Simple. Easy to add to your life. Now, you are saving money and helping the earth. In addition to this, you have now given your mind and creativity a canvas for some fun relaxing art time. If you don’t have to throw away your hankie or napkin, now you can think, “Hmmm, I wish these matched my drapes or wouldn’t it be lovely to see a little tea kettle come to life and dance around my apron?” We buy at home stores sets of things and all the added bits that are produced to ‘match’ the decor we buy. We can simply buy some piece or something we like and then ‘match’ the decor as much as we want with our own hand, by painting or needle work. Then it is also uniquely ours. There is something cold about the homogenous ‘sets’ of things one can buy at stores. The landscape is becoming the same and now go to any house in America and see that set of sheets, matching curtains and towels bought at Target. There isn’t anything wrong with it per se, but it does stifle the creative element and again, the Homemakers best and most powerful tool is her mind. We should exercise and use it all times as an important part of our job. Rather we are a full or part time homemaker, the mind needs it’s exercise.
   Now,

Look at this adorable child's hankie. The idea instilled early on to have and keep something and use it with care is important.  With Kleenex and Purell (by the way studies have shown that overtly using anti-bacterial items actually reduces your bodies own abilities to fight germs. ) we are teaching our children to be garbage makers. Here is this thing, there is an endless supply, use it and then throw it away! That is a scary message, isn’t it! And with that goes the fun and creativity of having a hankie or napkin. Certainly the dexterity given to a small child (boy or girl) who would be given some simple needlework on a hankie and then the pride from using that is immense. Even the responsibility of sitting down like a ‘grownup’ and using a sharp needle would probably seem bad parenting today, which is silly. But, how can we teach children to be responsible and adult when honestly, are any of us?  No need to learn needle work or drawing if you just use a Kleenex and throw it away. I mean the fact that we even say Kleenex, it is the name brand of the product.
But, I won’t go off on another rant, so here are some cute images of different iron on transfers that were popular from the 30s-60s.
I think you can still find these fairly inexpensively at local antique shops and online I am sure at etsy and ebay etc. I would check local places first. I would love to share these type of items on my new website when it is ready.
Here you can see how one would make their simple dress patterns come to life or have a more unique style. Surely this was an iron on pattern you would follow, but you could also stitch your own design. When fashion has a particular ‘look’ then if you can’t afford the Dior dress you can follow the example of its line and make it your own creation. The power of fashion and industry in YOUR hands, don’t you love it?!
  Here is an example of the anthropomorphized items that were popular. This image actually came from a site I found where the lovely lady was sharing some of her patterns like this. It is an example of the kind of links I want to make on my future site. To have a place we can come to find each other and such lovely people as she who are willing to scan and share patterns. 
There is an innocence about these that I find appealing. Though, once I would have scoffed at their twee sweetness, I now find them rather darling and the art historian in me wonders at this piece of Americana art form that deserves more research. If only I could live to be 300 I could someday write all the books I want. I could see a whole picture book/research book on these transfers alone!
Anyhoo, what was great about these simple outlined pieces of needlework, is they were perfect to teach little hands the art of needle and easy for a homemaker to have in her sewing basket for the odd rainy afternoon when the chores are done, laundry ironed and put away, a pot of tea and some pillowcases or aprons or Hankies that needed adornment. Such an idea today by the masses would be deemed, ‘a waste of time’ but by the very same people who would waste five hours sitting and staring at a box and doing nothing! (That’s TV if you didn’t get my image.)
So, even though I have never done any needlework before but a few stitches to hem here and there, I am going to get a box of plain hankies, sew up some plain aprons and buy some plain white cotton pillowcases and lookout! I actually had a great idea, I am going to copy my Pyrex pattern that I collect ( I once made labels for spice jars check an old post of mine) and use that as a pattern on some kitchen towels. Then I can embroider teal on white towels and white on teal towels, wouldn’t that be lovely? I know I don’t really need one more thing to do, but again, I find as I do more and make it a normal part of my life, I found room for more things. Of course, this might put back my correspondence even more, but just think of the darling hankies and napkins I will have! And what a great gift!
How many of you already do needle work? Have any of you taught your children this art form and at what age? Aren’t you itching to try some now?! I know I am!

28 September 1955 “A Rant, Marmalade, News, and Fall Fashion”

  As I begin to come closer to the end of 1955 I am finding myself more and more thinking of the future. I know,at my initial attempt at a 1955 woman, I first tried to buy as many things to ‘re-create’ the time as possible. I then found this action to be my modern ‘consumer driven’ need merely replaced by this challenge. I wanted to try something new, so what do I buy to do it?  Then as I began to use and appreciate the old things from that time (which I could buy cheaply and were still working), I began to discover how things are now made cheaply to be bought inexpensively and then tossed away to buy new. The garbage and pollution and money wasting of my time was more revealed.

Now, I am beginning to see that if I were a woman in 1955 I would not be buying old appliances to use, but would be excited about the future and wanting the ‘new items’. I would also expect to pay more but now it was a piece of machinery that can be maintained and fixed to last a long time most likely my lifetime. That is where I began to really see the difference. Particularly 1955 was really a year of plenty and growth. The world seemed to be promising and opening up for everyone. So the new and latest was what was wanted but the higher cost mingled with better craftsmanship made the purchase something to work towards and then take care of, the responsibility of action which seems to be devoid in a world where things are cheaply made, cheaply sold, then tossed on the scrap heap for new.

The world after WWII was all about the future. The past was unbearable and needed to be forgotten. We NEVER wanted to return to that place and time of war and destruction; “New and better” was des rigueur. But, now I find myself and many others longing for a past and that past seems to be right at that pinpoint in time when we looked to the future with hope. It seems to be an almost gateway to a new possible future.  I think now we look back in fondness at this time perhaps because we were perched on the beginning of a great new future. We were just getting it right and then somehow we took a wrong turn somewhere.  I am beginning to believe this is because we had that chance, that moment to make a new and better world and in some ways we did but in others it is as if we have given up that main element of humanity. The connectivity and responsibility of individual pride and action and the combined need of others.

So, I think the reason there are so many of us that look back fondly or are drawn to this time, this post war time, is that was when we had our clean slate. The page was blank and we could write on it. What probably happened was we had to get behind our government and think, “Go, U.S.A.” so we could win a war against Hitler, and then we just wanted to believe that government was there to protect and help us. But, it only takes a few bad apples. I even wonder if our silly involvement in Vietnam had not happened, would there have been hippies? Maybe people would have thought to look to their parents and older generations to learn and grow instead of the “Don’t trust anyone under 30” mantra of the baby boomers. And, now these same boomers, who are well over 30, expect the subsequent generations to pay for their old age.

It seems that we are moving slowly (or quickly rather) away from the local community. All our needs our being met by a few major companies that are moving into place to control the world. I know it sounds like farfetched conspiracy theory, but think about it: Stores like Wal-Mart that contain all the things we ‘need’ and even local drugstores are chains, food and clothing also chains. The landscape of  America is slowly being homogenized into an ugly sameness and we all blindly seem to follow it. Your phone company, as an example, is so inhuman and heartless.  Good luck trying to talk to someone in this country (more jobs outside our country thanks) or do something as simple as address a bill change of address. Everything is automated or shipped out to places far away. Are we headed to a world where we are merely plugged into three or four major corporations that control our food (Monsanto-if you saw the documentary I recommended) clothing needs and styles, communication? Even if we want to try to become part of our own community, how much can we help grow and make our own towns when there is still a Wal-mart, a CVS, McDonalds, Gap, Old Navy, Stop and Shop, etc.? On some level, this year has made me open my eyes and that is good, but on the other hand, I think I am becoming to feel more and more powerless as the year passes. I want to believe we can, we Apron Revolution, make a difference. But, when I hear about the world, at least our country, and it’s chains and corporate ownership of the very seeds we grow food from, it scares me a little.

I am sorry this is such an embittered post, but I feel and have begun to feel so frustrated and sad. Perhaps it is the reality of 1955 coming to an end and knowing 1956 isn’t really around the bend. There is a part of me that wants to just quietly live in my safe bubble of make believe, but as I see so many more of you seeming interested and craving for an ‘old way’ of life, I really do increasingly feel an obligation to somehow use this awareness of ours to grow more opportunity for the future. We cannot take on the big corporations, nor stop government, but maybe if we could, through example of simple pride and responsibility and a work ethic, begin to attract a few young people. The masses forming  lines to the malls and old navy and EB Games might have a few people who look our way and think, “Hmm, it is harder work to make my own clothes, or learn to cook, or read for an hour and lose some computer/TV time, but I feel better and stronger and more in control”. I am not sure if any of this rambling is making any sense. But, in my fear of our present and future I want to, in fact feel I NEED to, try and make the future better is some way and to make opportunities for future homemakers and self-sufficient and community driven ideals.

Perhaps it has been my move that has added to this feeling. It has become symbolic for me, as the year ends, to suddenly replace my location and return to a place that has history both my own and the country’s and face the challenge of this modern world in our ‘simplistic’ things. Our cell phones and DSL all set up to make life easier, and yet all the work and struggle to deal with them. I don’t want to throw out the “baby with the bathwater” I know these technologies are good for us, but what have we given up for them? We cannot get it back in the same form, but there must be a new way, a better way than we have now. There has to be a way to connect and grow and make a world around what is happening and still take the time and effort to make our own things and control our own lives more, shouldn’t there? Am I crazy? Do you think we can, a rag tag band of ladies (and gentleman) donning aprons and cookbooks with a penchant for sewing and old records, really make a difference? Should we make a difference? I am finding myself more and more determined to use this technology to somehow make a new year, not 1956 nor 2010 but some amalgamation of the two. The power of modern conveniences, as my 1955 counterpart would have wanted (the dishwasher, the blender, the washer and dryer these were intended to make her day easier), but what have we done with the free time? What would she have done with the free time?  We just seem to have filled it with ‘needing’ more and using credit until we find ourselves so in debt we must have two income households so we can keep paying and buying into the own destruction of our hometowns and the very look and feeling of our country. My 1955 self would have marveled at the new gadgets and bought them as she could afford them, but with her free time she would not have had more ‘tv time’ or ‘gone shopping with the credit card’. She would have used the time to freeze or can more food, plan more for her own family, more time in the sewing room or at the Junior League or helping in her community.

I know that “stay at home” is not the norm now. Most towns don’t have neighborhoods full of women who can meet and plan in the afternoon, but now we have this: the internet. So, we can meet per se and share and laugh. I don’t know, I think there is hope for a different tomorrow, but I don’t think I can plug myself back into the blind shopper along for the spending ride. I can’t even buy a coffee at a local Starbucks without baffling at my stupidity. A year ago a five dollar latte was nothing to me, today a two dollar cup of coffee seems a sin to me when I can get a pound of coffee for only a little more. It’s the trap of consumerism that I want to let go of and return more and more to the power of self-sufficiency.

Yet, even that word, self-sufficiency, often brings to mind neo-hippies and flowing beards or cultish people living off the grid far out in the country. Though there is nothing wrong with that, it doesn’t have to be only that. We can have a pretty little dress and heels, hat and gloves, and have just canned for the upcoming winter, sew our own clothes, use some devices less in lieu of by hand and still be self-sufficient. Make that bread yourself or buy from your local bakery, or if you don’t have a local bakery, maybe think about starting a small one with some friends. We really need to take back our Present. I think it is good and healthy to look to our Past to make it better. We are so conditioned to the moment now, that clothes from last year and ideas are meant to be forgot and to move forward, but that is a dangerous way to be. It seems the less mindful and aware we are the more we feed into the system of endless buying to fill the void and then we must work more to pay it off, but never wondering or looking to see, why do I have the void? “Why do I feel alone, or empty or unsatisfied? Somehow buying more things at lower prices isn’t making me feel better, I wonder why?”

I told my hubby the other day, when I saw an older person in a wheelchair, that I now sometimes feel a little trepidation when I think of the last of the ‘older generation’ dying off. The world is going to be left in our hands and the hands of the baby boomers and it seems scary. As if somehow, those people we did fight in WWII and were part of making our country in the 1950s, when they go, chaos will truly reign. The last of the grownups are gone, get to playing. It seems silly, but it has led me to really think more and more about what I want my future to be.

That is another element that the homemaker had that no one ever talks about now: the time and ability to think. We can make fun or joke about the unsatisfied woman ‘at home’ left to be bored watching her stories, eating chocolate while her husband goes out fulfilled in his work. But, that seems to be part of the modern propaganda to keep us FROM home. Because, the more we can think  about the world we live in the more we will open our eyes and realize what a mess we really are in! The power of thought and self-contemplation and direction is one of the homemakers best tools. If she were a super-hero it would be one of her main powers. “Look out, that corporation is taking over!” “Don’t worry” cries Super Homemaker, “Let me think on it”…”I have it, just stop buying their products/services and see them fade away!” “AGHHHH”, cries the corporation, “They realized the power was in their spending the whole time, curse you Super Homemaker!” or something along those lines.

The power of thought and thinking is our best defense and tool, but the modern world has made sure to stifle that. Tv, Computer, Video games, Malls, Cheap things to buy, easy fattening food, all of those things allow us to not have to or to not get to take the time to think. But, if we ever want to change for the better or even just affect our own lives, we have to. We have to sit still and quiet and really think about our life and the world around us and then get off our duff and get to work to change it!

Now, enough of my soap-boxing, I should share some real tangible things with you.

I had promised to share my grapefruit marmalade recipe with you, so here it is with some other fun sounding marmalades you may want to try:

I think the Tomato Marmalade would be wonderful on meats, don’t you?

Now for some news.

On September 22,  Independent Commercial Television (ITV) begins broadcasting in the UK. It is interesting to see they are showing American TV such as Dragnet and Bob Hope. Do any of you  UK readers know of ITV? Here is a video of the first broadcasts.

On September 24 President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack. Here he is in October after his attack.  Interesting bit on fashion as well, enjoy. I adore the black day dress with the opening in back with the lacy white patterning.

Speaking of which, this week I am bound and determined to get to some sewing. I need clothes for fall. I am going to make some Plaid wool and Wool Felt Pencil skirts. Isn’t this suit dreamy? And if ever a gown could make me feel as if I was in heaven, it might be this lovely one from 1955 Paris, Oh, the yards and yards of velvet!

Well, enough of that. If I want to return to posting more often I can’t talk of everything in one day.

Happy Homemaking and Viva la’ Apron Revolution!

25 September 1955 "Don't worry, I'm still here"

I have had a busy few days, more boxes to unpack, making jams, and the general settling of moving in, changing addresses, dealing with insurance etc. All the things, I suppose, I would have had to do in 1955 but with the pleasure of putting on my hat and gloves and walking to the local office to deal with a person instead of computers and computerized voices on phones asking me to press this or that only to never get anywhere. All very unsettling and only making me crave the real 1955 more, but I digress. I shall be back later today, I promise. Sometimes a homemaker's life just pulls her along so rapidly on the 'to-doing' currant, you don't realize how far down river you have drifted!

19 September 1955 “ News, Canning, and Biking, ”

FARM INCOMES will be boosted and surplus products cut back, if Agriculture Secretary Benson can persuade Congress to okay a mammoth new crop-control program that may cost as much as $500 million a year. Benson wants to buttress present flexible price supports by paying farmers $10 to $12 an acre yearly to grow grass, cover crops and trees on their land, thus cut down on overall farm output by taking 40 million acres out of food production. ( I am not sure who watched the video on Monsanto, but here you can see it is beginning, paying farmers to stay out of food production, slowly this leads to our sad state today with so much being imported that could come from local farmers)

U.S. RAILROADS will have to spend $20 billion for capital improvements in the next decade to meet growing transportation needs, says Pennsylvania Railroad President James Symes. His forecast for 1965 rail business: 850 billion ton-miles, 53% above 1954's total. (Sadly, we will see a decline in the railroads as well, as multiple cars and highways replace shared and cheaper forms of transportation.)

STATION WAGONS are fast becoming one of the most popular auto models. As the all-purpose family car, station wagons are now selling at the rate of 500,000 yearly (v. 29,600 in 1946).(I love my station wagon, that is for sure!)

Canning before the 1950’s was without question necessary. This poster from WWI shows its urgency during war time. Certainly, during the WWII it was also important as food was becoming scarce and one needed to conserve what they could from their Victory Gardens.I love the look of these happy people in their root cellar properly stocked with canned goods and fruit to last. This house actually has an old root cellar, reached from the outside through a bulkhead whose walls are made up of great stones set into place. I will show photos, once I get my shelves up. I am afraid this winter, though, it will not be this stocked, but we shall see what can be yielded next summer in my new garden.

By 1955 the new young wives and mothers would find in their cookbooks and magazines of the day Freezing to be the new food conservation. Certainly, they learned some canning at mothers knee but many younger women would be excited to fill their new ‘deep freeze’ with food. But, being my age in 55 I believe canning would still very much be a part of my life. And indeed, in my current state of 1955 with the knowledge of modern needs to not waste electricity nor overspend, canning certainly wins out. To me it makes more sense to preserve food I can store for free, than to pay for the upkeep and electricity to run a large freezer.

Yesterday I made Blackberry Jam. It turned out lovely.   It was fun and as with many of the skills I am learning this year, it takes something that seems impossible or unfathomable and opens it up to that “Oh, that’s it?” moment. It also, as has other things this year, made me see how much more of what we use/consume can very easily, cheaply and so much more healthy be hand made.

I am sure there are many canners out there. For me, this is the first time really. Here is how simply my jam was.

5 cups crushed blackberries

7 cups sugar

one 1.75 oz. package of Pectin

5 16 oz jars and lids

Boil the fruit and while stirring, slowly add the pectin. Then having measured the sugar int0 a bowl, add all at once stirring constantly until rolling boil returns. Then boil for one minute, scoop into clean dry hot jars (so they don’t crack from the hot liquid) seal and place in canning pot of hot water. Make sure 2 inches of water covers jar tops and bring to a boil. Hard boil for 10 minutes, take out and set upright on a towel and in 12 hours you have jam.

So easy so yummy. Hubby and I have almost polished off the first jar, it is so good.

For those who would like to know, and I just learned, according to my 1950s Boston cooking school book the following is the difference between jams, conserves or gumbo, preserves, and fruit butters.

Jam or Marmalade. Fruit cut in small pieces, cooked with sugar until sirup is jellylike.

Conserve or Gumbo. Thick, rich mixture of fruit cooked with sugar, usually with nuts added.

Fruit Butter or Honey. Thick, smooth sauce made of fruit cooked with sugar and strained. Seasonings are often added.

Preserves. Fruit canned in a sugar sirup, thinner than for jam. The fruit is usually left whole or in fairly large pieces.

There are so many ways and means to conserve and can fruit and jam. I also have a pressure cooker I have never used and would some day like to use it for veg and meat.

There is even a recipe to make your own pectin and I am sure very far back, one couldn’t or maybe could not afford to buy pectin for canning. I can post that recipe if anyone is interested.

My next canning is going to be some orange marmalade, which I adore, and I want to try some Grapefruit marmalade.

There are many variations of Apple Jelly ( I am not sure if they call it Jelly in UK as I know their Jelly is our Jello and what many of us call Jelly is their Jam, I know here it is Jam if it contains the fruit and Jelly if it is made clear with only the fruit juice, any UK or Aussies want to clarify that for me?) Anyway, I thought this sounded lovely as a variation of Apple Jelly (again it is made with apple juice and any other juice half and half and 2/3 cup sugar for each cup of juice and cooked to the jelly stage. It is:

Rose Geranium. Place a rose geranium or pineapple leaf in each glass and fill with apple jelly. Do not cover with paraffin until jelly is almost firm and left leaf so that it is suspended in the jelly. (wouldn’t that be a wonderful housewarming gift? So pretty)

Well, enough on canning for now.

This lovely cool brisk late summer New England day was enjoyed on my bicycle. Here she is in all her vintage glory.She is actually a bit small for me, but I don’t mind. Much like many things I have come to use this year, we seem to work it out and work with one another’s foibles.

I hoped I looked much like this lovely lady todayas I rode happily along with my hubby. We live close to a nice path that meanders along the Cape Cod Canal. We get to it through a long wooded path that connects to our back yard. There is a wide ‘road’ through the wood of mown grass and either side rise up wonder brambles, trees and in spring Mock Orange and in the fall lovely bittersweet (great for New England autumnal decorations). The feeling I got today on this bike riding over the bumpy grass was amazing. I felt, in that moment, what it must have been that first time a woman, most likely back in the beginning of the century, rode astride her first bike. The very freedom of it. The soft pleasure as the trees glide by and you bounce gaily along. And, belive you me, with my vintage Raleigh, you get a could cushiony bounce with that wide comfortable seat with it's dual springs.

As we rode along, the sun shone. It was one of those cool late summer mornings where the promise of heat is there, but the coolness of the previous night still hangs upon you. It is a mantle of comfort when riding briskly along. That lovely smell of ocean water and the sound of the gull…ah, I have to say that is my favorite sound. To hear that while on a boat and to sleep snuggled in the forward berth of our sailboat is the closet to heaven I have found. But, I digress, the smell of the ocean, the deep child-like cry of the gull, the dive of the cormorant, it was all lovely.

As we were casually biking along, we would occasionally be passed by other Saturday morning strollers or bikers. A few ‘grandma’s’ on similar bikes to mine, but newer versions pedaled on happily. Then, every so often, my skirt would swirl up and my get tossed in my eyes by a passing cyclist bearing down on me with incredible speed, stretched to the hilt in spandex.

I once belonged to these ranks. In fact, in the 90’s at university, I even mountain biked. Clad in spandex and packing power bars, bright colored plastic water bottles, I was ready for the battle of the hill or the road. Now I see this  and it seems strange to me. There is something about rambling along on a bike with no gears and the only brakes are engaged when you feel the need to pedal backwards. I realized I was not wearing a helmet and then hubby and I laughed about this. At the speed we were traveling we would have had ample time to stop without a fatal fall.

The world suddenly, there on the back of my simple little bike, seemed a little lighter. There was no time to beat or counting of miles I needed to get in . I was not in the process of trying to do anything TO THE EXTREME, no need to slam a power bar or replenish my electrolytes, whatever they may be. Simply, a sunny morning pedaling along the water, talking, laughing and enjoying the scenery. Another vintage moment given my as a little hidden jewel.

I found myself looking forward, at the end of our jaunt, to my doing this more often. I know pictured the ease and joy of pedaling to the local farmers market on Tuesday morning, filling my little basket with my wares. A ride into the local tea shop for an afternoon of cakes, a cuppa and a good read.

So, here 1955 have shown me, much like the swish of the petticoat or the simple thrill of white gloves and a hat, doing things with a bit of style and measured time makes the moments of living more real. Odd, again, that it takes time-travel out of my time to feel more in my present. When I do things with a quiet stylish determination, take that extra minute at the dressing table with my lipstick, decide which hat and gloves, decide to take a slower trip upon the bouncy seat of my vintage bike, I feel more NOW. I don’t feel I am rushing to get this or that done or running behind and trying to hurry to this or that. I don’t know how realistic this sort of time is for modern people, but maybe we need to look at what we have replaced our time with? Even for those busy with jobs, are there other things that could be done early or set aside to take your time with more personal things to make your day more yours? Up an extra half an hour to get your hair just right or to take time to sit down to a real breakfast of bacon and eggs on nice matching china? Maybe miss one of your ‘shows’ or tivo it for later so you can take the time to sit at a real table like a grown up and eat off nice dishes and talk about things with your family or read that book you have been meaning to get to? I don’t know. I do know that taking my time and doing things with a measured style seems to be changing my life in ways I never thought it would.

17 September 1955 “Home Sweet Home”

Well, these images of the house were meant to be shared yesterday, but part of the unpacking process has been playing the game, “where is it”. So, though I had my camera, I did not have the cable that allowed me to share these images digitally. Silly, really. I guess the ease of technology sometimes makes it easy to lose the small elements that make it possible in the first place. I wonder if the first transistors (which are becoming a new thing this year, check an earlier post) elicited such responses as, “Well, if they get any smaller, we’ll never be able to find them!” I am sure to those in 1955 (even with transistor radios just appearing ) the concept of MP3 players would be unimaginable.  Not only that, I am sure they would also wonder, “Why on earth would you NEED so much music all of the time?” Another cultural divide opens.

It makes me wonder, how much did music play in the life of the typical 1955 homemaker? I know my music listening has more than been cut in half. At first I noticed it, but now I really don’t. I have a good record collection at this point and my record player is unpacked, but I often find myself not listening to music as often as I once did. I think when I return to painting (pictures not walls)I will listen more, but I am not sure. Is it bad? Good? Not sure it is neither I suppose, just a different view.

I have cd’s of music and radio shows that are in an ‘old radio’ in my kitchen, but even then, I don’t always listen. Although, I do know that many people say the radio was on often back in those days, but I don’t think we were bombarded with noise and music and sound as much as we are today. I am sure the homemaker in my age group in 55 with kids probably wanted to destroy the television and the noise it would hail with the children returning from school. A parent in 1955 must have looked down at the child splayed in front of  ‘the set’ glassy eyed and motionless and wondered, “When I was his age I would have been…” And he would have been, too! Only, think how much that has changed. We are so many generations into TV now that the concept of “when I was young” may come up, but honestly most parents today probably spent as much time in front of the TV as kids today, I don’t know. 

I remember a few scenes in movies of the 1950s with parents being annoyed by their enraptured children. In “The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit” (which won’t be made into a movie until next year 1956) there is a scene where the father has to haul his children from in front of the TV, commenting about the western that is on. “Is this the only program on,” he comments only to be sucked into it himself while drying and re-drying the same dish he was helping his wife clean moments before. It does lure one in and I wonder why? Well, that was a big digression, on with some photos and news.

Here are some shots of my little antique home: In this first one you can see my orange sofa I rather like. It has made my color scheme here the rich oranges and reds of wood tones. While I worked on a concept in the old house for a color scheme for the house, here my furniture just seemed to tell me where it wanted to live and suddenly the disparate parts of my previous home came together and said, “Ta-da,  here is your color scheme’.

The deep red of the dining room melds into the oranges and warm tones of the wood floors and ceiling held in check by the pale blue walls. In this same picture on the old door (they are original if you can believe it and they have the old latch system that predates ‘doorknobs’) next the sofa is a hand painted sign that reads “bathroom”. This was for my mother when she lived here as with her Alzheimer's she needed help sometimes. I haven’t the heart to remove it, so it stays. Speaking of my mother, I call this shot ‘mum’s corner’.The chair was my mother’s chair while she lived here and this was a favorite spot of hers. On the antique table sits a photo of my hubby and his mother when he is a boy on their sailboat. You can just see the old picket fence out front that meanders crookedly along the sidewalk out front. The neighbors beautiful red maple is visible. It is nice to know I can just stroll out the front door and walk to a local eatery or ride my bike into ‘town’. Here you can see the wall color better and the old yellow upholstery of the chair, which was destined to be recovered, is now going to stay. It fits with the tones of the house and I rather like its aged shabby velvet.

Next to mum’s corner sits the piano.There is much love and frustration in this old thing. It was my husbands piano growing up. He studied classical piano and had at one point been set for Juilliard. The piano has followed us around. We have moved it six times. And one does not move it by themselves, so we have got to know the piano movers fairly well. It is a sight to see them move it. The legs come off and its elegant long beauty becomes odd and disjuncted as it is set on end and wrapped in moving blankets and wedged through doors by sweating men.

What is interesting about the piano now is our last move put it in this house when we had my parents here. They were nice enough to allow us to put it here and when we moved back to the cape to the other house, we had to leave it. That meant it was suffered to various tenants, but we did not want to move it again. Somehow we must have known we were coming back, for there it sat waiting for us. I remember when we finally got back in here that first day not even two weeks ago, after the tenants had left. I was unpacking in the kitchen and the sound suddenly filled the little house. It was so good to hear it sing again at the hands of my hubby.

The bust on it once sat as the mascot for my flower shop. She, too, has moved often with us. She always gets the place of honor, in the front seat of my car when the move.  Maybe I am afraid she will come to life and walk off to live with another less nomadic family. Though, I think now she may stay put.

In this same room is the living room fireplace.At one point in our living here years ago I had wanted to paint the wall and ceilings. Though, it most likely would have been done as the colonial period progressed, the work and detail of the exposed wood is too beautiful to cover with paint and it shall remain as it is. At least my wood paneling is the real thing so somehow I love it. The little chair on the hearth was mine as a small child and I can remember rocking in it for hours in my favorite red nightgown. Leaning there on the right (it will get hung on that wall when I get the right hooks) is an antique cranberry rake that I found one day in the back of an old shops basement when they were having a sale. Cranberries have a big history with the cape. The wood and hand bent metal match the patina of the house’s wood perfectly. Again, it is as if the things I have loved and collected have been waiting for this house. Even the old brass compass/sexton on the mantel has been hid away in it’s old box in storage, now it sits proudly waiting for the Whaling captain to return.

Now, in the dining room I have a lovely deep cranberry red. Another color I will not repaint. It looks a little more blood red than it is in the photo here but my hubby’s old pre-civil war map of New England looks wonderful against the color and even  “Hereford” my stuffed pheasant, seems happy here. This demi-lune side table works great as a bar and extra linen storage in the dining room. You can see the whiskey decanter is rather low, sometimes we need a little nip to help us get through the unpacking process.

In this same room is a built in corner cabinet. I think readers who have followed me for awhile will remember that I had an antique corner cabinet I put in the dining room redo I did at my other house. The funny thing is, that cabinet, had I left it in its original red color, would have gone perfectly in this room, but alas, it is now being enjoyed by the new tenants. But, this dining room has its own built in corner cabinet.The interior is painted a soft yellow and I was going to paint it the soft blue of the walls to go with my good china, which is rimmed in that color, but I rather like the warm yellow behind the blue and it ties into the kitchen , which is off this room, in the same yellow with red and blue accents. (I’ll show those pictures later).

So, that is the house thus far. The pictures really don’t do it justice, but you can see how simply old things live here with me. Any modern 1950’s items are either in the kitchen or will end up in my studio. I am happy with it. Normally, when I move into a new place, I immediately want to change everything, while here it feels right. The combination of memories of happy and even sad times with my family and friends mixed with the mellow tones and odd angles and slopes of the floor (if you stand in the living room you can drop a marble and it will roll towards the dining room, rather like being on a ship) just seem to fit me somehow. I mean, here we are,the pair of us, anachronistic to the core. We both look ‘of another time’, yet plopped down into the modern world. We will simply shine in our antiquity and let others either enjoy or disregard us, but we both feel very grounded in time. There is a sort of solidity to attaching oneself to a time that has gone by. You can feel a certainty that is not available to you in the unknown future. It gives you a rock upon which to stand as the deluge of life and its uncertain current rushes by. Perhaps, it is indulgent or unrealistic, but it does help one to have a strong base upon which to view the world.

Now, today I am making some blackberry jam and an apple and blackberry pie. Recipes and results will follow tomorrow.

15 September 1955 “Back to the Grind”

 

Well, here I am settled into my ‘new’ home. It has been seven years since my hubby and I lived in this house, though we had my parents here for two years and that resulted in being guests at Christmas and other holidays. They were good times for the most part, though they ended on a rather sad note. In that ending, the house sat, unloved and infrequently used by various bad tenants. We have returned and I am glad.

Somehow, now, it feels as if I have been working to this end for sometime without my knowledge. I certainly was not planning on the sudden removal of my family nor the dramatic way that played out, but as I have been settling my furnishings and various items these past two weeks it is as if I have been buying and collecting with the eye for this house the whole time. There, that old metal dishtowel rack bought and forgot and stored, now just fits that part of the kitchen. That chair, bought in the city for that apartment then stored away looks and feels right in that spot. The chair my darling mother sat in, which was hauled and used in my makeshift sitting room at the last house, has returned to its rightful place and looks so perfect with that old side table of my hubbies family.

Where the other house and places I have lived have immediately received my paint brush and hammer, the main part of this house just feels right. I think, ‘ Hmmm, that shade of blue I painted the walls four years ago for my family just still fits’.

 

  to show that not all 1955 living rooms looked like this Not that the second is bad and in fact, most likely due to my inundation with mid-century magazines and design books, there is much I Do love about this second modern room, but in an antique Cape built in 1718, I think it would look rather amiss, don’t you? I wanted to show that traditional as well as the ‘new’ “Early American” style was as prevalant as modern. The white trimmed built-ins, colonial inspired wallpaper and the ‘sandwich glass’ and tin lamps look much as they would today. Although I do have some victorian pieces, the Victorian ladies chair in the first picture is lovely, but I prefer my Wing chairs and of course my french inspired side chair.

Actually, there is much that I could write about this ‘Early American’ movement in decorating that really gets ignored today. Many people think that the 1950’s deco (much as they think the mindset and ideals) are all set in one pattern in the mid-century. I find the Early American probably really took hold in the war years. There is much ‘colonial’ inspired interiors in my 1940’s magazines as opposed to my 1950’s. I think it was a way to hearken back to the ‘good ole days’ the pre-war modern world and certainly had a good breeding ground in 1940’s America.

The picture I ‘borrowed’ for the above image of the ‘colonial’ home was from the same Flickr stream as the one below. I do hope that whomever’s site it is does not mind my using the image. It certainly is only done with the utmost respect and perhaps a sort of sad longing of these pictured. This one could easily be my hubby. Replace the cigarette with a pipe and that is basically his wardrobe today, maybe he’d have his straw porkpie hat on, since it is summer.  This one below was simply titled Summer 1955. It hit a note with me as it could easily be my yard now with hubby and I and a friend. In fact, I want to build a stone wall around our terrace here, much like they have done in the pictures, and frame it in my roses. I love the casual blue dress with the down turned pocket. The woman in front looks smart in her white piped blue pedal pushers. Relaxed yet put together. There is SO much in the 1950’s style that could be so adaptable to the modern world and in a way that allows us to have control by making it ourselves. There are no tags or labels or odds screen printed logos that are ‘must haves’ here thus making one not able to reproduce a style. When clothes are fashionable but individual and not mass marketed it gives a thrift, style and personal power back to the wearers. One can look through a magazine for inspiration and then buy a simple pattern and the sky is the limit.

I have been having trouble getting myself back into using the computer again. Being somewhat unconnected and preoccupied with arranging my home, I felt almost as if I was sleeping deeper into 1955. Today, to aid my ability to still hold onto the present so I can return to my blog posts, I went to some large modern stores. This ties in with what I was just saying about clothes.

I was in town and decided to pop into Old Navy, a store I am not that happy with normally, but now it was horrible. In the past which was conversely the future, when I would go to Old Navy to ‘just look’ I would never leave without some “great deal”. Their low prices (of course fueled by cheap product mass produced by low paid child labor) were often irresistible, even though most of these items would end up in drawers and closets unworn. I kid you not, as I was packing to move here I found clothes with tags on unworn, not good.

Today, however, my disgust was filled with sadness. The racks and racks of sweat pant styled pants, everything was soft jersey, shapeless and uninspiring to see rows and rows of them. I thought, maybe I could find some 1950s inspired skirt I could mix in with my wardrobe, I could not find one skirt that was not a short 1980’s ruffled mess that I would not even have worn in the actual 1980s. I have to say I left fired to get a sewing space cleared out soon.

Now, back to the house. I have just been so busy and into setting up house, that I have barely touched my computer. One can see how a homemaker of the past would not be bored, it is as if WITH the modern computer and TV, we become bored as we can think of nothing except these two tasks to fill our free time. But, I am slowly easing my way back into a sense of the modern world. I cannot, after all, live in 1955 forever. I could certainly try, but I really feel an almost calling to bring modern and mid-century to some interesting mix in the coming year. That means eventually with a website and also with my art. Perhaps, then, I will also finally feel ready to do a podcast to include, as the idea of talking, “radio program style”, about various topics does seem enticing. Although I could easily drift away into my safe 1955 world, I would miss all of you and all the potential people I have yet to get to know and meet out there.

Well, tomorrow I will get some pictures of various vignettes of the ‘new’ house, maybe a recipe or two and some more discussion about what it might mean to emerge, come January 1, from my cocoon of 1955.  The vintage chrysalis am I.