7 February 1956 “Spring has Sprung, well Peeked It’s Head Out At Least, And Planting Seeds the 1950’s Way.”

This morning Hubby, Gussie and I hopped on our vintage bikes and rode to the ocean. We are lucky in that, though we do not live ON the water, we are biking distance away. Part of the trip involves our riding down this lovely mown path, large enough for us to ride two abreast if we choose. It is so fun to go bumping over the grass with our white-wall tires flashing in the warm sunshine. In the summer, the shrubbery grows over 15’ on either side and is filled with wild roses and honeysuckle. I always feel myself in a Merchant Ivory Film when we pass through there.
This path then crosses the raid road tracks and goes down to the Canal (which was once a brackish stream that was dug out in the 1930’s to allow ships to pass through thus connecting the Cape with two bridges and turning us into an island).
There is a lovely two lane paved path that follows the canal along and is only open to foot and bike/roller-skate traffic. As it was a sunny Sunday, the thoroughfare was rather busy. But, we didn’t mind. The sun was out, the air warm and sweet and you could just feel Spring waiting in the corners and crevices of everything. There a bit of crocus or daffodil peeking through. There, the bugs on the trees straining to be set free. This mingled with the salty air of the ocean and three happy bikers was an intoxicating mix.

So, we biked along. At one point to get to the beach, you ride around the little harbor here and see all the boats laid up in their winter coats, waiting for their release to the water. A graceful boat, like a swan, looks Ridiculous out of water. Its streamlined wonder and cutting dashing appearance becomes ludicrous when its great bottom is left, knotted with barnacles, on stands.

After the harbor we pass the little fish market where I buy our seafood (it is VERY fresh since it is literally on the water, and then the pretty three story Coast Guard station. The Fried Seafood Shack and the nicer Seafood Restaurant.Then, down another little dirt path (again very Merchant Ivory, especially when you are wearing a skirt and hose and jaunty scarf as I was). And then the beach and the immense stones of the break wall. We parked our bikes along the Beach signs and moved out onto the warm rocks to what the water ripple by.

Oh, so warm and lovely. Closing your eyes and feeling the ocean breeze, the heat from the rocks, the gulls. Hubby turned to me and said, “You know, this is what people pay to come here on holiday to do. Ride your bike to the beach and lounge, stay in a little old rustic cottage.And we get to enjoy it whenever we like.” I smiled and agreed. It is nice to appreciate what one has; to feel blessed and to be happy where you are and in the moment.

Once we returned, we sat on the little terrace and watched the dogs rolls and romp in the grass. Hubby hacked a bit at our mounds of Forsythia (they are going to be dug up and recieve a new home in the front garden). Of course, the warm air and exercise has me so excited for the gardening season. I love gardening. I think I inherited the love for it from my Paternal grandparents, they had amazing gardens, acres of them, and could get a anything to grow. My Grandfather loved exotic plants and was always trying something new. I remember the rows of drying ‘Chinese paper lanterns’ in the big outbuilding they used for their garden equipment/potting shed. My Grandmother is still alive and gardening every year, though she is 98 this year!

I bought my first seeds the other day. I am trying to buy only old or heritage seeds, nothing that is an insane hybrid or anything that was genetically made. I love the history of some of the heritage seeds and plants and to know you are growing and keeping on the earth such old tested plants. I am going to be putting some Heritage and fun seeds in the new SEED section of the store on the site, if you want to check those out as well. I love this bean, which I freely admit I am buying because of the name and because it is from the 1880s. It is called the “lazy Housewife” because it was the first string-less bean.

I want to try some new things, such as this I am going to let you read about it, here you go:

This heat-loving summer green is even more nutritious than spinach or beet greens! With its coleus appearance, it is showy enough for flowerbeds. With its heat tolerance, it will give you sweet and slightly tangy salad greens well into summer when your spring crops have been harvested or have bolted. Incredibly versatile, you can steam it like spinach, stir-fry it, or sautee it. Try mixing the leaves with spaghetti sauce, rice, meatloaf, or use it whenever your Chinese cookbook calls for spinach. Just like our Amaranth Burgundy. (in the flower section) you can also harvest the seeds to eat as a grain. The seeds have a huge 20% protein and rank 75 out of 100 as a complete protein, which is higher than milk, soybeans, or whole wheat. The foliage is very nutritious. High in vitamin A, C, iron, calcium and protein. Can be grown in full sun or partial shade.

How wonderful does that sound, plus it is pretty like coleus. I want to try to harvest the seed to grind to use like flour. Has anyone ever grown this one before?

Here are the seeds I started today.I really love the Botanical Interest seeds and was excited to see I can sell these in the Store on the website. They are great seeds and a great company too.(no I am not getting paid by them to say that, I just like their seeds, choice and company). These are all Heritage and organic seeds. I really want to be able to plant all my veg next year from harvested seed from this year. It is going to be a sort of Garden Challenge.

I am using some leftover plastic domes seed starters I had before, but promised myself not to buy any new plastics. I began to wonder, how did they do this in the 1950’s? Yes, they had plastic, but not like they do now. I don’t think plastic seed starting trays came out until the late 70’s. So, how on earth did they start seeds indoors? And, before that, in the 1900’s how?

So, in my 50’s Gardening book (which will really help with the Gardening section on the site) it shows starting seeds in little wooden boxes. I think I shall try to make some myself. I have included the two sets of instructions they have. (Just click on the image to enlarge it) Neither address how to stop the water from leaking through, but I suppose you put it somewhere waterproof. Luckily for me, I found that wonderful metal kitchen cart when I went to the Estate sale of Ann’s that I wrote about last month.

It seems a very ‘green’ way to grow seedlings, I mean why more plastic, right? But, I have some leftover, so I will use those and the new wooden ones. I was also thinking, how adorable the wooden are and would look cute in the house, as opposed to the wretched plastic. It also really demonstrates how heat more than light are important to seedlings. Many people make the mistake of starting seedlings in direct light and they can dry out too soon or get burned. They don’t need that sun until they begin to photosynthesize (why plants are green). I like how they said to use old newspaper, if you haven’t any glass and the brown paper on the bottom to keep the soil in. This whole set up is all about using old wood leftover, brown paper and leftover newspaper. It also fits into the Use less Plastic discussion we have been having on the Forum.

I also noticed that you most likely didn’t just saunter into the garden store and ask for seed starting mix. You made it from your own soil. Interesting. Not sure if I will try that this year or not. If I do, I shall share the results with you here and on the Gardening page of the site.

You can also make grow pots out of old newspaper as well. Here is an easy tutorial from Youtube. ( I know they sell little wooden shapers to make your own newspaper pots, but why spend the money when you can just use a glass or tin can you have in the house, save the money for the seeds.)I also think, I will make some of these and put them in wooden boxes (no plastic) and then also plant up the wooden boxes as shown in my 50’s book (the above photo’s) and see which work best for next year.

 

Have any of you started your seeds indoors yet? I know there were some on the Forum that were surprised to know that you can plant a garden without any land, by using buckets. Check out the Victory Garden section of the WarTimeThrift page of the site. There is a video on how to use an old plastic bucket (use it up!) and grow tomatoes upside down hanging on hooks, even if you only have a deck or an outside wall you can do that! And I am going to be growing potatoes in buckets this year, as well!

I have just discovered I can put so many of the wonderful Heritage and organic seeds in the STORE on the site, so if you want to have a look around and the seeds I love and some of which I will be planting check it out HERE.

Until tomorrow, then, Happy Homemaking and Happy Gardening!

3 March 1956 “News, Meat Pie, Website Update and A Serious Discussion”

Morocco, which largest city is Casablanca ( a wonderful film we are all familiar with) gained its independence yestrday 2 March 1956, from France.
    “occurred in Oujda where Moroccans attacked French and  other European residents in the streets. Operations by the newly created "Jaish al-tahrir" (Liberation Army), were launched on October 1, 1955. Jaish al-tahrir was created by "Comité de Libération du Maghreb Arabe" (Arab Maghreb Liberation Committee) in Cairo, Egypt to constitute a resistance movement against occupation. Its goal was the return of King Mohammed V and the liberation of Algeria and Tunisia as well. France allowed Mohammed V to return in 1955, and the negotiations that led to Moroccan independence began the following year.”
Casablanca in the 1950’s.

Tortiere:Basic French Canadian Meat Pie Recipe (50’sgal version)

• 1 lb ground beef
• ½ lb ground pork
• 1 medium onion, chopped coarsely
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp celery salt
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• dash of clove (optional, but I like it)
• ½ cup hot water
• 1 cup mashed potatoes (make homemade and mix 1/4 sour cream into them with some rosemary)
• Crust for 1 9-inch pie, with top (make homemade crust)

Method:

1. In a large pan, cook beef, pork and chopped onion until cooked through and all browned.
2. Add water, salt, celery salt and savory seasonings to the meat and let simmer for about 45 minutes, with a lid on the pan.
3. Then stir in the mashed potatoes, and let cool partially. Spoon the mixture into your pie crust and add top crust. Puncture the top to let steam escape.
4. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes, then reduce the oven heat down to 350F and bake for another half an hour.

PIE CRUST

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

4 to 8 Tbsp ice water

I like to have my butter for pastry in the freezer, if you have not done so, stick it in there for 15 minutes or so. You can pre cut it into cubes if you like. I just cut it up with a paring knife as if it is a vegetable into the flour mixture. COLD butter and COLD COLD is the secret to flaky pie crust. So, if you have Marble use it to roll out the dough, if you don’t have any, go get some. You can go to a local stone masonry/yard where they cut stone and they will sell you a little slab of marble for next to nothing. Now you can keep it in your kitchen for your ‘pastry prep’ and, come on, it’s marble, its pretty.
So, combine flour, salt and sugar. You can sift it if you like (sometimes I do that) or you can use a hand whish and mix it that way, but do mix it together before you cut in the butter.
Then cut in the butter. At this point I first use a pastry cutter, that is this thing If you don’t have one, well get one silly. They are not expensive. I have some in the Corner Store on the site for $3.50, or you can get them at an antique store (mine is old) or any kitchen supply store. Anyway, until you have one, you can use a whisk probably.
They say to do that until it looks like coarse meal. What I do, is use the cutter until it is broken up somewhat and then I use my hands. I have come to believe that much of baking and cooking does need hands, especially baking. I think the warmth of my hands for just 40 seconds or so, breaks up the cold butter just enough without making it too warm. Don’t play with it. Remember COLD COLD for pastry.
Now, add the water one TBS at a time, I usually mix it with a wooden spoon. You may need all the water  you may need more or less. You want the dough to stick together, so take a bit in your fingers, if it sticks to it self, you’re done, if not, more liquid.
Now gently shape the dough into two blobs. Sprinkle a little flour on them, wrap them in waxed paper and stick them in the ice box for either an hour (if you are using it today-remember COLD pastry) or you can keep it for up to two days, so if you want to make your pastry on your bread making day, say, then you have it later to make sweet or savory pies, planning gals! Planning.
Now take the cold dough out of the ice box and onto your floured marble. Let it sit about 5 minutes to warm a BIT. Don’t play or knead pastry dough, but roll it out an 1/8 inch thick. Those globs and chunks of butter you see in the dough ( you should see it) is what makes the pastry flaky and light.) You want about a 12 inch circle for a 9 inch pie plate. Check to see if your dough is sticking to the surface, if so, sprinkle a little flour (not too much you don’t want to make it tough. Treat the dough like it is an expensive Faberge’ egg, that you love and admire, but you MUST NOT BREAK and you shall have lovely pastry every time!)
So, line your pie tin, add your ingredients, roll out and place the top. Pinch the two together to form the crust. There will be left over. Sometimes I use the kitchen scissors to cut the edges or I use my hands. In this case, I want it to look rough as if it was crafted in a stone cottage by an old woman and baked a brick oven. So rough and rustic, but with a darling little flourish of leaf and berries on top. Just take your extra dough and cut out whatever shapes you like with a knife. Now score the top to let the steam escape and bake, Yummy.
Here it is ready for the oven. I wiped the flour off before I baked it, my hands were messy, but that is the sign of a true cook! I also brushed it with melted butter lightly. Here it is out of the oven. Look at that lovely buttery pastry and meats don’t you just want a bite! These type of pies, and steak and kidney etc, I always feel are even BETTER the next day. They hold very well and are great for hubby’ lunch. I adore sweet and savory together so a pastry such as this holding meats and rich potatoes is heaven! And this is a great way to use plain old cheap ground beef in a new way. Or if you have left over cooked meat, any kind, get a good meat grinder and grind it all up, heat in with some olive oil, garlic, and a dash of sweet such as cinnamon and potato and throw that into a pie crust (remember you make some extra and it is in the ice box!) and you have a lovely meal.
New things today for site. I have added on the bottom of the MAIN PAGE, Vintage Video. Each week I will highlight some fun, educational, silly, interesting, what have you video pertaining to the Vintage world. Check it out. The videos start on the Main Page and then you click to go to the Vintage Video Page to watch the rest. Enjoy!
We have been having a rather serious discussion in our forums about the Role of Homemaker in the modern world. It has become rather serious but very interesting. We have been going back and forth and as the conversation progressed, I began to actually feel bad for one of our Forum member’s view of human value associated with money and also her view of marriage. Here is one of my long winded responses to the ongoing discussion with her.
I am sorry that you feel we are trying to 'kick you out' and I must say, on my part, that is not the case. I find the discussion interesting. It is true, in my own opinion, I think your views of 'obligation' and 'paying back' seem a bit cold and unfeeling to me. That is my opinion. I would hope that we could do things for one another (such as pay of loans) without EXPECTING something in return. I think one of the biggest differences I found in my year of study and immersion into 1955 was that I got a sense of more openness and giving in the past. People did tend to be LESS materialistic and value was not as heavily placed on money, so a situation where a wife should feel that she need to 'perform' in the bedroom to 'payback' a husband for paying a loan would seem ludicrous, because one did for the other out of kindness, love and to help another WITHOUT expecting in return.
I suppose, maybe, why I seem saddened when I read your responses, is I keep seeing so much value on money vs. humanity. I also see that when you use terms such as 'balance of power' in terms of a marriage it sounds as if there are two warring factions or two great nations needing to keep themselves armed 'in case of attack' that is a sad state to me, to even have to view marriage or a relationship with a human being in that light.
When you say, Yet, I am utterly terrified of the idea of being financially dependent, of losing the respect of my peers, of falling off the career ladder & not being able to get back on, and of somehow betraying feminism, of belittling the gains of my mother's generation who fought for the right to be paid as much as men & respected in the workplace. The glass ceiling is alive & well because companies still believe that women will leave. In my field, college professor (Philosophy), you are told that you can have children or you can have tenure. Men, needless to say, do not get that spiel from their dept. chair.This says to me that you are so frightened and scared about what others think. About if your peers will judge you, or if you will suddenly be dependent upon someone who only wants something from you in return, that you are somehow going to let down a generation, that you might lose out on a career, all of these are fear and worry OUTSIDE yourself. That does not make me angry with you or want you to leave, if anything it makes me want to hug you (and believe you me, I am not a hugging person) because quite honestly, all I see in your comments is the plight of modern man (And woman of course). The fear. The worry of appearance or judgment. The idea that if someone does something 'nice' for you they MUST want something back. It makes me think of times when I see an elderly gentleman hold a door or be kind to a young girl who then becomes angry at him. He was doing a kindness because she was a fellow human being and yet she felt as if he was 'after something' or 'belittling her' So much of our modern life is about over analyzing and putting everything into little psychological boxes to study and give 'labels' to that we live in a sort of science lab devoid of human kindness. Perhaps because we have so many generations of people worrying about who and what their role is instead of just following their heart and getting on with it, that we cannot trust anyone.
So, Rowena, I , 50s gal maker of this site and Forum, do not want you to leave. We are not that type of place. I almost feel on some level that such a harsh action would almost feel more genuine to you, because such action of anger or upset over a difference of opinion somehow is more tangible then honest to goodness kindness. I may not understand your point of view but I can try to understand 'where you are coming from ' with your point of view. I also think of some of the ladies responses seemed harsh, perhaps they seemed hurt. You see, we too are modern and cannot help but be suspicious of things, we wonder and worry are you a 'troll' or a 'spy' and we wonder this because they exist in this modern world of anonymity and unfeeling modern machines. Look at our very community here, we are all just sitting alone somewhere writing to one another. The modern world IS a very suspicious and cold place and we can feel that we are being attacked or worry what our peers will think of us or worry that our REAL value lies in the money we earn or have control over rather than in our real soul and heart as a human. And that is the saddest bit of the modern world for me. The verly loss of human trust and kindness.
But, you shall not lose that here, Rowena, you have it in all of us. We can disagree and still be compatriots. Don't give up on us and we shan't on you. Let us continue to grow as a community of understanding and care and leave suspicion and anger outside in the Modern world.
50sgal

NOW, if you are still here and reading all this, you MUST go to the FORUMS page and if you have not joined (you have to join to read and comment, don’t worry it’s free!) and read all of the discussion and back and forth of this topic. The Topic heading is called “A very worthwhile role” Here is the link to the direct Discussion. Once you have joined you can read and chime in. I think it a very important and interesting topic. Do, if you have the time, read all the responses. I think debate and discussion so important to we Apronites.

Happy Homemaking!

1 March 1956 “Just an Update”

This weekend and this morning, amongst all my usual homemaking (today is laundry day and list day!) I have been working on revamping the website. I want to slowly evolve it into a continuation of our community here, so check it out. Click HERE.

On the new main page you will find (besides the new layout and design) that our Apronite of the month is up (our Danish friend Sanne) and that another follower and helper in the Forums, Cedar, has written a lovely article about Vintage Entertaining, which you can also access from the main page.

If you get a change go to the Entertaining page and you will see how I hope to have all the pages laid out. More like a ladies magazines with organized ways to click and link to other topics, what books pertain to it, to the forum topics etc. This page (and the Cocktail party page and the Tea Party page) still need more content but you can see the layout I am hoping for.)

I know someone mentioned wanting to join in on the Forums and were confused. Before I started this site I did know what a forum really was and had never been on one. But, you must go to the Forum and join and then you can access all the conversations and discussion. It really is fun. I think of it as many little blogs mixed with a good ole coffee klatch!

Now, don’t admonish me that this post is about the website instead of 1956. I am still very much alive in that year, but I really feel the need to continue on growing our community with the tools we have available now. It does me now good to sit alone in 1956 and not have a way to share and communicate with all of you. I feel we can all use some Vintage in our life.

So, check that out and enjoy. I shall be back with a blog per usual Wednesday.

27 February 1956 “February Dress Challenge, and Some Recipes”

My February Dress Challenge started out by dreaming on these lovely shirtdresses. I hadn’t a pattern and after the success of the January Dress Challenge Dress, I thought I would give it another try.

  So, starting with this men’s brown shirt I had thrifted and this lovely pink cotton fabric I wanted to create my own design.

Would I make this dress again? Not this way. I had to pin and then take apart, rethink, cut, ponder and put it away a lot. But, I persevered. The dress itself is very comfortable and I am wearing it now as I write this. It was just the way I went about making it that I would not try again. I think I will make more such dresses, but after the struggle with this one, I have learned what I will NOT do next time.

The initial idea of taking a shirt that is already constructed and adding a pleated skirt to it became more of a chore. However, if I had a dress form, many of the mistakes and struggles would not have happened. It is rather hard pinning it to oneself and then trying to take it of again. The shirt I had to cut down and then my plans to have a zipper in front proved to look silly. In the end I had to split one of the side seams and put a zipper into the shirt and skirt of the dress. The result is nice as it zips up nice and snug and the top buttons, so overall a great dress.

First I decided where I needed to cut the shirt down. Again, this would have been much easier on a dress from.

 Next, I took the yardage of fabric while it was still one long piece at put bias tape on the hem. I just wanted the look and I like how it adds weight to the skirt. You can see my ‘new’ machine in action here. I actually have a foot that puts bias tape on for you, but have not tried that yet. I have tried the ruffle/pleat foot and it worked really well.

My original plan had me sewing the rough edge of the skirt onto the top as you would a normal dress pattern, but due to my crooked cutting and inability to get a good straight line on me (again, no dress form) I decided to put a tall waistband on the skirt. So at that point it basically was a finished skirt I could have put a zipper in and wore it with the shirt, but I had already cut the shirt and this is a Dress challenge not a skirt and blouse challenge.

So, after putting the zip in (pinned only thank goodness) I took it out and realized that I had to take out part of the side seam of the shirt. I love the look of a high-waisted skirt, but it always rolls down, so having it sewn as the actual bodice of the dress makes it stay put, which I really like.

I wanted the shirt to look part of the dress and not just a separate top, so I decided to cover the cuffs. This is what I did. I laid out the cuff as a pattern and cut around it (double twice and on the fold so I ended up with two equally cut cuffs.

 I did a roll hem as you can see here, as the edges would sew the way I was sewing it over the existing cuff.

 Here you can see (I hadn’t hemmed the cuff yet just did this for a picture) how it is basically an envelope of fabric that slips over the existing cuff.

 As I literally sewed on the outside of the fabric (where it shows) I added an additional decorative stitch (this is one of the built in stitches in my Rocketeer) just to make the showing stitch seem on purpose.

And after all that, a pocket square in the same fabric and viola’:

 My version of a pattern-less shirtdress! I am sorry I look so stern in this shot, but it was a long day of sewing and hubby was luckily home to take my photo. I was happier than this photo demonstrates.

And here is the dress in black and white for no other reason than I like to see how 'vintage’ I look if I turn it to black and white, silly I know.

I have decided that part of my March Dress Challenge is going to be doing a duct tape dress form. I think it will make dress making much easier. The finished dress hardly looks professional, but I am proud of it considering, again, I have never been taught to sew and much of what I do is trial and error. I do learn from my mistakes MOST times, but not always.

Now for some recipes. I have a few I have done lately.

As I have been doing my Breads, I am baking my way through as many recipes as I can get my hands on deciding which will remain a part of my normal baking day and what are just for special times or not good.

I had listed a great oatmeal bread recipe before that used honey that is wonderful, but until I get my bees again and honey is not so dear I wanted another oatmeal bread recipe that did not use honey. I found this one.

1 packet yeast
2 Tbs. molasses  (You could use honey and even, I think, real maple syrup might be nice)
1 C.  rolled oats
1 Tbs. butter plus 1/2 t. for buttering pan

1 tsp. salt
1 C. unbleached flour plus 1/2 cup for kneading
1 C. whole wheat flour

In a mixing bowl, combine yeast, molasses and 1 cup warm water (wrist temperature). Let sit until yeast is bubbly (about 5 minutes). Stir in oats and butter and let sit for 5 minutes.
Add salt and flours, stirring in 1/2 cup at a time. Knead dough into a soft blob, return it to the bowl and cover bowl with a damp cloth. Let rise until double in bulk (about 30 minutes).
Punch dough down and knead until smooth, adding reserved flour as needed.
Shape into a loaf, place in a buttered loaf pan, cover again and let rise. When loaf has doubled in bulk, place in the oven and bake at 350°F.  until done (about 45 minutes). Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before slicing.

Here is the lovely little dough ball before it’s first rising. It made a nice little loaf. What I liked about this recipe was it was comparatively fast for yeast dough that must rise. I will definitely make it again and I am going to try it with real maple syrup instead of the molasses and see how it affects the chemistry of the bread. You know we New Englanders will use any excuse to put maple syrup on or in anything! Mmmm.

Now another fun ‘bread’ I made was homemade tortillas. I have had never made them before and it was really just one of those “oh, I have some ground beef and would love to have a fun Mexican dinner, but don’t want to run out and get tortilla’s ( I am a stickler with my weekly shopping trip!) These were SO easy to make, so much fun and they were 1000 times better than store bought.

Here is the very easy recipe:

Tortilla Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar (optional)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (more for softer tortillas)
1 cup water

Instructions:
Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Add water and mix with hands. Divide into 10 small balls. Roll each flat with rolling pin and cook on very hot ungreased griddle until lightly brown on each side.

Here are the little balls before I rolled them out. Here is one rolled out. I made them fairly thin. They roll out very easily if the rolling pin is floured.   This is the uncooked side up while the first side is down browning. See how lovely they bubble? The browned side up whilst cooking. And, of course, I love my close up shots of my food. Just look at that lovely flourly texture. They were so good warm from the griddle. Yesterday, Hubby had one in his lunch with tuna salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms. He come home and said, “That was the BEST wrap I have EVER had”. I just love standing in my kitchen and thinking, “Hmmmm, what have I bought that I could try making?” I have to say, it’s fun! I have a lovely meat pie recipe, but I think I will share that on another post.

For those of you who follow or visit the website, I have been working on redisginng some of it and hope to upload the changes on 1 March. It will, of course, still be a work in progress and really part of the project of this year to see what I will have with it at the end of 1956. I hope to make its layout more conducive to me easily adding bits and bobs everyday. We are going to have our first APRONITE of the month and one of our fellow Apronites, Cedar, is going to be writing the first Guest Blog we are to have on Vintage Entertaining. If you have not checked out the site yet, that might be a good time to start.

Until next time, keep your Apron strings tight and your mind and hands busy!

25 February 1956 “No Excuses, Just Happy Diversion. And A Job To Do.”

I was feeling rather guilty over not having posted these past two days. Though I don’t always post everyday, I at least  begin writing, scanning images, research etc to prepare for the actual posting. Yet, I cannot claim to have done that these past two days.

These past few days, except for a few moments of ‘sticking my head in’ at the Forums, have been blissfully unplugged. I have gone about my usual day, of course, the running of this house, the preparations of its meals, sewing,  and such. Yet, I have almost not touched the computer.

As I have mentioned before, we have a TV in our house, but it is hooked to nothing save a DVD player and we rarely use that. So, that contraption has not been too much  distraction in any case. But I must, by the very nature of my project ( my writings and website and research) use the computer. And I don’t know why, but these past few days I have just looked at it and sort of moved on. At one point I think I almost scoffed at it, that great heap of metal on the floor next my desk. That wretched dust trap (for surely it is that if nothing else) and the odd black screen; lifeless like an empty picture frame.

I did not do this on purpose. I did not get up and say, “Alright, I shall not touch you over these next few days” but it just sort of happened. I think what I have discovered now, which has finally lead me to write this, is that while in the past the TV and computer were the distraction from my life, now My Life is the distraction from the computer and TV. That is to say, at one point, I would muddle about with life, trying to get it done as quick and slapdash as possible so I could get to the TV and computer. Now, these past days, I have found myself happily humming along though my life and dreading having to get back onto the computer. Odd indeed!

It seems as I continually get deeper into this new sort of life I am living, that so many concepts of living have changed. Things I thought cement and constants have been shown to me to be merely my perceptions or modern day notions. I always wonder when this will sort of ‘level off’ and then another thing like this happens. I find my whole level of thought and pleasure flipped topsy-turvy. I am again, Alice at the tea party with the Mad Hatter.

There is always a little lesson in it for me, these ‘ah-ha’ moments as I have come to call them. There is a realization that I have suddenly begun to do things in a very different way or in a way contrary to what I thought normal. Then I will find that normal is relative and that often this new way makes more sense. Even my very core beliefs and understanding of people and politics etc have changed. We can be so IN THE MOMENT, that unless we step so far out( 54 years out to be exact) we can not see how we are merely reacting to the norms of our times. There is a lot of mimicry and mind washing done to us in the modern world as we are all so ‘plugged in’. It wasn’t until I unplugged and stepped back that I really realized how deep this goes.

Now, this post isn’t going to be about how I am going to run away from the computer nor try to use it less. I feel a very real duty and obligation to write my blog, continue to work on my website, and to grow it and to contribute to the forum. I even feel compelled to possibly make a book of my experiences from last year. I do not need to do this. There is no one telling me to do so, yet I feel it is right and that it should be done.

I do feel, at least from all of you who have written me and commented on my posts over last year and up to now, that I have touched you and made you think. That rather you are hating my, thinking me mad, agreeing with me, or thinking me confused, you none the less were there and wanted to see more. So, with that I feel a certain level of responsibility. This is another element new to me since 1955. The old me would have tried it out for a few months, became bored or lazy and moved onto something else. But, part of what pushed me forward last year, what made me get through the humps of “I just don’t want to write today, or I don’t want to clean or work on that meal, etc” was that I thought, “I have taken on a bit of serious work here”. I am out  to prove that a homemaker is a real person that it is a real career and that the way it was once addressed is valid and is IMPORTANT.  This spurred me on, made me feel I was doing something worthwhile and important. And, feeling responsible to all of you and myself  kept me going. IT is the very feeling that will keep me going with this blog and the site and the forum and any other avenues this takes me down.

But, just for these past few days, I was a little belligerent. I was busy with my days, baking bread, working on my dress, planning out new dresses for Spring, thinking about doing over my kitchen, looking for seeds and planning out my garden. My walks in town and to our local library, chatting with people there, going out to find more local merchants to shop at. These were important to me, but they were also fun and it left me dreading the computer at home. There was just so much Living going on, that it was work to drag myself to the computer.

I am okay with this new finding. THIS is a wonderful realization for me that the very things which may have seemed drudgery or work before or things I thought would feel that way, or be too much bother, have become the things I look forward to doing. The old ‘distractions’ (computer) are now the work. But, it is my work, this blog and site and such, and I shall treat it that way. I have no children and therefore cannot say to myself that I cannot find time in my ‘busy day’ to do my bit of work. I have found myself this far in and I don’t want to turn back. I know much of what has come to be the better quality of this new life is responsibility. Responsibility to my husband to make our home, manage our money in exchange for his working outside of the home. My responsibility to my country and the things I want to see change, to try and shop locally and save and reuse. And, of course, the responsibility to all of you to continue to record my findings, share what I find and to grow a site so that we can, all of we crazy ‘outsiders’ can have a place to go and commune with like minded people. To share ideas and ideals. This is a very important job and though it can sometimes seem very much like real work for which I do not receive actual money, it is none the less important. My modern concept of placing value on things only by the comparative money it generates is over. In many ways, it makes it harder for me sometimes, but I cannot let it stop me. I know I should and will go forward learning and sharing and writing.

So, this post won’t contain any recipes or pictures of my dress. There is no images or videos displaying the 50’s in some way. It is merely to explain this wonderful discovery I have made. How does it affect you? Well, I think there are some of you who do feel now that TV and computers are your distraction or your reward, but in some way feel you wish it wasn’t so. For those of you, I am proof that it can be changed. It means hard work and working at that which you want to do other than tv/computer, but the happy result will be that the ‘other stuff’ will soon become that happy diversion. Though ‘writing that book, cooking that meal, learning to sew, trying to shop local’ all those things are harder than what we can do to ‘get by’ in the modern world, they are not always the most fulfilling. Most times the best things are hard won and the good of it is, once won, they are suddenly a joy and no longer hard work or struggle.

For anyone else, it is merely another moment in my odd little life that you might look at like as you would a  picture in a museum. You can stare and wonder, “How on earth” or “Well that’s sort of pretty” or “How horribly out of date” and then move on to the next. For whatever purpose it serves, I felt the need to share it. To put it out there.

I don’t want it to sound as if I think writing is just hard work. I have always liked writing and enjoyed it, but I was lazy about it. I would never follow through. I used to subscribe to that very modern statement: Well, if you like something or it is fun, if you turn it into a job, you will grow to hate it. I now realize that is just another modern moment where we disguise our laziness as some truth or concrete reason. Writing isn’t easy. I don’t even know if I am any good at it,  I know my spelling is atrocious, but I do like it. Is it always easy? NO. Is it always fun to research some news and recipes and various topics for a post? No, sometimes it can be quite tedious and make me swear under my breath, but when I am done with it, I am glad for it. Hard work and determination DOES really pay off. It seems that sort of adage or common sense rule of  “if you want something worthwhile than work at it, work hard and it will be all the sweeter for its labor”, is never really taught anymore. It almost seems we worry more about rather people/children are more in touch with their feelings or if they feel ‘okay’ with things more than just saying, “Tough, it’s hard but get to work and in the end you will have something”. You will know how to play an instrument very well. You will be able to write papers for school. You can rebuild an engine. You can write a novel. You can perform brain surgery. You can run a home efficiently and beautifully. You can raise a child to a good responsible human being.

I have thought a bit about Tasha Tudor again over these past few days. I imagined how she was able to completely submerse herself into her ‘time’. Certainly 1840’s may be much harder than 1950’s ,but the more I ‘take away’ the modern bits, the more I covet the more antiquated things. At one point I thought, “Well, 1955 is not too shabby, as I can have my dishwasher and dryer, my electric lights, color movies, even TV if I want it”  But the more I live the experience the more I see that were I to suddenly do “My Year 1855” it would be quite hard at first, much like 1955. I would find myself stumbling, as if brand new to housework and such, into odd territories. Yet, I don’t think now that I could not do it. And I may even end up not wanting to come back from the 19th century.

But, I won’t. At least not yet. I have found that while my initial experience was an almost ‘hide away’ project, my new life has become more about how I can help other people as well. I have come to feel more in tune with my life and to truly be living than ever before. While it would be easy to just turn off the computer and turn away from all of you (save using old fashioned letter writing which I have got behind in because of my amount of computer writing) and go on, quietly. Yet,  I cannot nor will not. Even if only one or two of you remained after a few more months of my site and blog here, yet enjoyed reading my words or even were angry enough to write back to me, I would feel an obligation. I think that so important. That is the main thing that seems to be missing from our modern world: personal responsibility and obligations to others.

I know there are plenty of modern people who are more self responsible and responsible to others, but for the most part it is easy to just cloister ourselves away and do nothing but the bare minimum to scrape by, as it is so easy and to just ‘entertain’ ourselves the rest of the time. Why bother doing or trying harder, it might interfere with our ‘shows’ or our computer time. Now I know( at least for me) that Entertainment was actually stealing my life away. It was and is not bad in itself, but the amount of time and energy I put towards it could and has been better spent in other avenues and I am happier for it. True, that might not be so for all, but if even one person could feel that freedom, then I will feel I have done my ‘Job’.

So, thanks again to those of you who bother to listen to my rants and writings. I am honored to have this bit of work to do.

22 February 1956 “Dress Challenge Debacle, Spring Fabrics, Marilyn and Daisies, Automobile’s Across the ‘Pond’, And A Bus Boycott”

I had intended to be sharing my February Dress Challenge success with this post, but I have been having some trouble with it. I have pinned and repined it on myself and changed it three or four times and now it might be a completely different looking dress. But, I promise it WILL be done before the 1st. of March and I will share my results with you.
Here are some fabrics I recently purchased to start my Spring dresses. This is my color palette for the season. The first is actually a lovely spring green but it looks more yellow in the photo. I love the second fabric so much, here it is closer and it looks so vintage. It is actually a new fabric but it was marked down and might be discontinued. I think I have enough to do a short sleeved dress.
Speaking of Fashion,
look how fresh and modern this 1956 Vogue photo looks. Vintage does not have to be frumpy and whip creamy. It can be tailored and smart. Though I do like a bit of froth and twee as well, which is why I love the fashions of the 1950’s. It seemed to embody both the classic clean lines as well as frippery and fantasy. It did not take itself too seriously, yet seriously enough that you knew you better look darn good when you went into ‘town’ and even if you were taking the dogs for a walk in a pair of trousers, you’d still have a hat, gloves, scarf and some jewelry to make the ‘look’.
Here are two lovely Cecil Beaton Photos of Marilyn Monroe taken today, 22 February 1956. It shows the innocence of the early part of the decade and the sultry sexuality that will ultimately form the 60’s and onward. Even the use of the daisy has an odd foretelling of design and style in the coming 1960s. 60’s daisy clock 60’s daisy fabric and even Pyrex It is interesting to view the stages of fashion, art, photography and so on during the end of one decade to see it slowly evolve into the next’s ‘latest thing’.
The Fiat 600 was released this year, 1956, in Europe. When you see the compact size and almost modern lines, you wonder how it was that we were making such larger cars. And the Fiat 600 Multipla could seat six and was a recreation type vehicle, yet look at how small it is. Then compare what the USA was making the same year. As this Chevy and this Ford.
I wonder why it was that we just made larger cars? Could it be the endless space we had and the increased production from after the war? We also had a great burgeoning highway system forming at this point as well. And of course gas was becoming even more big business. It is interesting that small compact cars were being made in Europe this early.
It looks as if any idea of Foreign cars are considered a sports or luxury car at this point in time. This 56 Feb edition of Sports Cars Illustrated features MG’s. I love MG’s. I am much younger (20 years) than my older Siblings. I remember when I was very young, about 5 or so, my sister had a lovely racing green MG convertible. I have fond memories of she and I going shopping together, and I would love to wear a scarf on my head, as she did. Once they had children, the car went away. It was a darling little thing.
This is a photo of Martin Luther King’s arrest this month in 1956. As mentioned in my 1955 year, when Parks was arrested (and even preceding her in the 1940’s a woman was also arrested for not giving up her seat) the year long Montgomery Bus Boycott is still continuing. Blacks had to fill the bus by sitting at the back to the front and the whites sat filling the front to the back. The two races would meet halfway. When the bus was full and a white person got on, a black person in the rows behind the last white row HAD to get up for that white person, no matter if you were male, female, young or old. This year, later in the summer, the Alabama laws of bus segregation will be declared unconstitutional.
I have said it before and I will say it again: if we would try and treat one another as we want to be treated and to respect each other as human beings and then follow the manners of age (such as an older person should be offered a seat by a younger) and gender sometimes ( A man letting a lady have his seat) so much of the hate and violence may not have had to happen.
What is interesting is we see things now that have been changed, yet how badly they have had to come about because of people not wanting it, fighting it and there being horrible violence. Even the rights of women to vote etc was at first intensely objected. Then to the point of horrible cruel treatment to women, but in the end they won the rights. The same with blacks in our country. Yet, we continue, in the case of people who are considered not justified to have rights equal to all, to fight such things. Do we really not see that in the end those rights will out and that the unnecessary hatred and destruction could be easily avoided if we buy consider we are all allowed our own freedoms. We may not all agree on the same religion, politics etc, but we are ALL of us humans and Americans and I do wish people could be more kind, rational and just better mannered. Because we were not in the past, now we have people who are rude and angry for not having their rights. It is not right for them to have that anger, per se, but if we could just, even now, try to be more tolerant of one another, than we might be able to stop future problems such as this.
If we are, each of us, strong in our own convictions (rather it is religion, politics, etc) privately, then what matters it if there are people who live or act differently? If we raise our children to respect one another and to understand our own beliefs, than we cannot live in a world of fear that they will be affected or wronged by ‘those people’ now matter who or what ‘those people’ are. Acting cruel and irrational because we fear, do not understand, or personally loathe another person’s actions is not only damaging but only serves to show us up as brutes. Let us not try to coerice others into what we want, let us show our points of view and feelings through example. If we live as we see fit, as kind, considerate and thoughtful people, than others may wish to emulate us. If we see what we do not like or fear or loathe and then shout and throw mud at that which disgusts us, have we not then, ourselves, become disgusting?
I know I am going off on a tangent, but I really do think if we could think with kindness and consideration first our actions could be better served to a brighter future.