1 December 1956 “ Thanksgiving Photos and Lessons for Children Also Good For Adults”

I haven’t posted any Thanksgiving photos as of yet, so I thought I would today. As usual, while in the midst of enjoying the day, I forget to take more photos. The turkey was so lovely and I have no picture of it. There were other things as well including my guests who, for the most part, dressed vintage or else dressed up.
  I shared with you before the little name cards I had made for place-settings. You can see how I used them here.I made my ‘rose bud’ or ‘Bishop’s Hat’ folded napkin and placed these inside. What you can’t notice here is the little menu card, which sits above the plate above the dessert spoon and fork. It looked like this. We had no salad, so there was just a dinner fork and soup spoon and dinner knife. I used bread plates and knives and we had champagne, wine and water glass. I used my antique Sandwich glass water glasses (the red ones) and dark green napkins, to sort of hearld the coming Christmas holiday. Here is another view of the table. I served most dishes from a sideboard, so the table was free to have arrangement, candles and not too much fuss.
We had nibbles before hand and some lovely vintage 1950’s punch I also served egg nog (spiked or not) in my mothers hobnail set of white glass pitcher and glasses. I also used milk glass punch cups.
     With dinner, besides rolls, I served Brown Bread. This is a traditional New England bread. It is often served with franks and beans. Many buy it ready made at any grocer in a can and heat it up. It is then sliced. I wanted to make homemade version and it could not have been easier. I shall add this to the list of things I will no longer buy pre-made. 
I used a pudding tin, but if you hadn’t one you can steam it (as is often done) in a coffee can. You simply butter it, fill it about 1/3 of the way with the batter and tie tin-foil over the top.
I, however, have a few pudding tins. So, I used my ‘bundt’ shape. Here it is ready to be covered and steamed. You only fill it that little way, as it steams about 3 hours and fills up the tin nicely.Here it is all closed up and ready for its steam. Here is the recipe I use, it was from my Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I also used our locally ground rough corn meal, which was lovely and rather pretty in the cut bread.
Here is the recipe: I also made local cranberries. They are so pretty that I had to share them in their natural state. I know many people buy canned cranberries, but honestly they couldn’t be easier to make. You literally place them and sugar in a pot to boil, then simmer for ten minutes. Add what you like, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange or lemon zest, even frozen blueberries are wonderful in them. And the color is amazing. One guest even commented on the true red color (and how they matched the cranberry water glasses-planned on my part I might add, a homemaker is always thinking ahead) and asked if they were dyed. No, of course not, just by nature.
I also used Shitake mushrooms in my stuffing as well as in my homemade version of Green Bean Casserole. The Casserole was lovely. As I said, I have never liked the canned soup, canned fried onion casserole, when I have tried it, but this was lovely. I made homemade cream of mushroom soup with butter and cream and shitake mushrooms and even made my own little battered and fried onion rings. It was really delicious and very hearty.
   I had to share this close up of the mushrooms, as I couldn’t help getting a photo. These things were all prepared before the actual day, so I was more camera-ready, then on the actual day. No pictures of me, rather bad on my part.
I wore a grey wool pencil skirt and grey and blue plaid blouse with ruffles down the front and my blue pearl 1950’s earrings. It was really a lovely day and we all had such fun. And, of course, no TV, just music laughter and great conversation.
Now, to continue on our Christmas Preparations path, I thought I would share these great little hints about children at Christmas. I really believe this is good advice for all of us, child or not.Of course, making a Christmas fund is always a good idea. Since our voyage to the 1950’s we have set budgets on our Christmas buying, which we really never did before. I often didn’t know what I had spent until January, very bad indeed. And, as this is our second Christmas in the 1950’s, we have even reduced our Christmas spending budget. This  has encouraged us to spend less time in the stores and more time anticipating our time together. We shall have a cocktail party, a tree trimming party and of course our Family Christmas Even Party to look forward to. I will also be making some gifts this year.
  Here we can see that indeed, making our own gifts and decorations can be fun and really mean more in the end. When we think of each day as building good memories for the future, we can see how heartfelt or even silly but well thought gifts will mean more in our older days.
  I like this advice about gift wrapping and allowing the children, no matter if it is a ‘mess’ to do it. Good advice I think, though helping a child to do a good job, is of course a good idea in any task. This last advice to allow the child to take his time to deliberate on his gift buying is also a good adult bit of advice. If we take more time over less gifts, they will be better received for having been better considered, in my opinion. The fast quick ‘in and out’ buying  is exactly how we over-spend and no time more than at Christmas is this likely to happen.
So, let’s keep working towards our Home-Made Christmas and as always, Happy Homemaking.

30 November 1956 “Home-Made not Ready-Made Christmas”

I thought I would keep interjecting the next week or so with  some of the home-made decorating, gift making, table setting ideas from my vintage magazines.
To get us started I thought this home movie of a family enjoying their town’s Christmas decorations would give us a good spirit. As you can see, many of these wonderful outdoor decorations are obviously hand-made. And, I must say, say much more about the industrious spirit and innate artistic talents we, as a people, once displayed. No going to the big store and buying the giant ‘fan filled plastic blow up’ Christmas decorations. These were cut by hand from wood, or fastened with other materials, painted and constructed with our thoughts and hopes. Anyone can go and buy something and, as our towns now show, the homogeneousness of towns with all the same stores seems to be true to our Christmas. Any town in any state in the USA may have the same things in their yard all bought at the big box store. Why even bother? Why not make something original that will have meaning to those who have them in the future.
“Remember when Father cut and made this Santa out of wood?” is much nicer than, “Remember how we bought these for a few bucks and everyone had one?” Not that they will last long enough to be handed down.
Any way, enjoy this:

This darling little tree decorated with ballerina’s would delight any little girl’s room. The little figures could also become anything: Little toy soldiers, Christmas Carolers you name it!
This tree could be made with all sorts of fun ribbon as well as the paper they used. A great way to use ribbon from previous Christmas. Try and save and reuse old paper, ribbon and cards. Why fill the landfill when you can fill your brain with ideas and your wallet with more money you DON’T spend on new paper and ribbons and decorations?!
This wonderful little tree could do well in a modern or antique setting depending on the colors and striped patterns used by you. It is made with yarn and left over or extra yarn is easy to come by. Why not even take an old moth eaten sweater that can’t be used for patching sweater elbows, making pot holders, or dolls, and unwind it and make a darling little tree. Father’s old sweater, rich with pipe smoke, that you recalled him wearing and reading the times is now a Christmas tree! That is what good memories, with no expense, are built upon. I think old ribbon and even garden twine would lend itself to this design, don’t you?
Here are the easy to follow instructions. Let me know if you make these and what other ideas with these plans you can think of. Home-made Christmas, here we come!
Happy Homemaking.

29 November 1956 “Sorry to be AWOL”

I am sorry to be ‘offline’ for the past two days. Our internet has been completely out and after hours on hold, found out much of New England was having trouble.

Nothing rockets me back to the frustration of modern life more than dealing with automated phone menus, pressing random buttons, being hung up on by a computerized voice, and hours of ‘Musack’. I am happy for many things in our modern world, our computer is a wonderful tool to know all of you and to allow me to express myself, but when things go wrong, boy do they eat up your day! I know I should be thankful for all we have in the modern world but sometimes I wonder if the time it took to do things the old way was not better spent than the rush rush of modern life and the sudden screaming stand-still stop that arrives when ‘things’ go wrong. And ‘things’ are always the computer. In a store, the registers are down, its the computer. Heaven forbid we just press in buttons and hand back cash, but no everything is SO complicated and mixed up with computers that if we ever DO have a nation wide brown out, what a horror that would be! Let us hope that does not happen.

Well, I shall return later this evening with a proper post. I have a bit of Christmas shopping to do with a friend. I need to fill some Brittle orders today (my pin money maker is doing rather well for the Holidays) and we are getting our Christmas tree today.

I hope all have a lovely day and I shall see you later today.

Happy Homemaking.

27 November 1956 “Christmas is Coming”

I am sorry I didn’t make a post yesterday. We had such a lovely Thanksgiving and so much fun and food. However, yesterday I had a bit of a 24 hour cold. I am feeling a bit better today and so this shall be a short post as well. I hope all enjoyed their holiday.
Seeing as yesterday was ‘Black Friday’ here in the USA (Crazy shopping day) I thought I’d share a couple Christmas ads. This first one is fun because it shows the style and graphics of what one would see in Christmas wrapping paper available from Hallmark in 1956. Fun bright colors and geometric shapes.
For the young one on the list this year, these View Master toys were probably scrawled in childish hand-writing to Santa. 
For the lady of the house, these higher end products would be a welcome surprise under the tree. $20 dollars in today's money would be $140.00 dollars. I am sure one could find an electric blanket very cheap today, but we must remember this probably lasted forever (in fact they are probably still around and working today) and were most likely manufactured in our country. Thus providing jobs and money for the holidays. I actually have that pink radio clock as it was my Mother in Laws and she let me have it. It was just stored away in the attic. She remembered having it as a teen in her room.
I hope all are avoiding the busy early Christmas shopping rush and getting into the Holiday spirit. I think we need, this coming month, to try and foster as much Christmas spirit as we can without too much emphasis on the consumer aspect. Maybe talk about and share homemade gift ideas. Home made ornaments and cookies and treats. Share stories and tales to tell around the fire in lieu of being to rushed about and stressed from spending money we haven’t got only to worry over the bills come January. Who is in with me to try and make this a less ‘Buying’ Christmas and a more Celebrating Christmas? And, when buying, local made or good reliable vintage!
Happy Homemaking.

25 November 1956 “Happy Thanksgiving”

Here some families enjoy the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC in the 1950’s. I love the children’s winter suits. You will notice that, even were the picture in color, the over all look would be calm and pleasing colors. No loud neon and an over abundance of Corporate Logos and printed Thomas the Tank engine and Sponge Bob everywhere.
Now, they did have fun programs for kid’s in the 1950’s and Rootie Kazootie was one of them in the early 50’s.
Rootie Kazootie was a popular early 1950’s children’s program. It incorporated puppets as well as live actors. The show first aired locally as “The Rootie Tootie Club” on New York’s  NBC affiliate WNBT on October 14, 1950.The show aired on NBC until November 1952, and was seen on ABC beginning in December. The last telecast was May 7, 1954.
So, today here is the Rootie Kazootie Thanksgiving special in its entirety even with advertising. So, if you are busy set the kids down in front of this fun show and see if they enjoy it. And have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

24 November 1956 “Thanksgiving Eve”

I think I may have shared this video last year, but it is fun to watch. A 1950’s family prepares for Thanksgiving. You will notice how the turkey is obviously Before we genetically made and then hormonally increased Turkey production. By today’s standards it seems almost a ‘weakling turkey’. We need to get back to that for our own health, I think.
Isn’t it lovely how the gentleman help the ladies to their seats. I like that they also point out how to use your soup spoon properly. This was always a pet peeve of mine, not sure why. I guess its the sound of people slurping up great bucketfuls of soup like they are eating their Cap’n Crunch in a vast bowl in front of the TV. This family seems to use the ‘American Method’ of eating with their fork in their right hand. It seems a mixed bag here in the states, but mostly my family eats with the fork in the left hand (that’s why it is placed on the left by the way).Although, later in this video the little boy uses his left hand with his fork (incorrectly I might add). They seem to switch back and forth, I wonder why that is? Who of you uses the left hand fork method vs. the left to cut, right to eat fork method? I wonder why we have that combination in this country. It would be interesting to find out.
I love that mother has her holiday corsage. And interesting that they have their holiday pudding now (or Christmas pudding). At least that is what I think she has lit for dessert set on the holly leaves.
I see they wished on the wishbone right after dinner. We always save ours to dry for the first week of Christmas and then wish upon it, not sure why.

I have made ahead some of my things. I made my Brown Bread yesterday. It steams for about three hours and is very easy to make. I made my cranberry sauce from local Sandwich grown cranberries. The cape and this area is a very large cranberry growing area. They are lovely before they harvest, when they flood the fields and the men in their big waders are out rounding up the floating bright red berries.
I have designed and made a dinner favor/place card and also printed up our menu. Sometimes when I do a longer sit down dinner now, I like to have the menu in front of each plate just to see what is being served and as a fun take home for my guests. Many people scrap book and these are fun ways to have keepsakes. You can write on the back or stick a photo of the day there, whatever you like. I will show how they looked after the table is set, but here is the image before it is printed.
  For the Favor/place card I scanned an old Post card and then changed it in Photoshop. I was going to handwrite each person’s name, but I actually liked how the font I used really looked cute for the persons name. Again, a fun thing to save for a scrapbook. (Just as an aside, we call our house 6-A House, because we are the historic King’s Highway, also known as 6A. I don’t know when this started, but we have called it that for years.)
Here is the Menu. I wanted to make a homemade version of the green bean/onion casserole that many people have on Thanksgiving. I have never served it myself and have only ever had the ‘original’ version once. It is made with a can of soup, can of beans and packaged fried onions. I found it rather salty and ‘fake’ tasting. But, I wanted to make my own homemade version. So, yesterday I made some mushroom cream soup with shitake mushrooms and real cream. I also pan fried onions very thin and just lightly coated in flour. I will mix these with fresh beans tomorrow to make the casserole. Since I did so much work, I decided to name the dish in French. So, Green Bean Casserole with Shitake mushrooms became Cocotte de Haricot verte avec les champignons shitake. Some how in French it sounded better and though it seems a bit ‘overdone’ for this big holiday, I think it will be fun. And of course I can watch my guests read it, do their French in their head and then laugh.
Oh, I thought I would share a good site for napkin folding. There are many ways to do it. I prefer the rosebud, as it is simple and I can also insert my Thanksgiving favor in the front, like a little pocket. HERE is the site.
Well, back to work for me. I hope all of you here in the States have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And Happy Homemaking.

22 November 1956 “More Thanksgiving”

Just a quick post today, as I am off to a friends and I have some Thanksgiving things to prepare.
I love this image of the son watching his father check the turkey. And what a bird!
With more information for any of you new Thanksgiving chef’s, here is a good turkey roasting time-table I thought I would share.
I am not sure if I am going to try these myself. I will at some point, not sure if I will for Thanksgiving. But, they are so much fun I had to share, in case any of you were looking for a fun way to serve up those sweet potatoes this year! What a lovely vintage way to do so and a marshmallow in the center of each little treat, what fun.
Happy Homemaking.

21 November 1956 “Q & A Sunday: Cooking With Lard”

Today’s Q & A is concerning our old friend lard. I had a recent question in a c0mment from one of you concerning this. I have also received various letters on the subject, so let’s look at that much misunderstood cooking fat: Lard.
Now, to start with, the question I received most recently was concerning a ‘meaty taste’ to a pastry while using lard. There are two possible reasons for that result. The first, and most likely the case, is the quality of the lard. Lard is made from Pig. Any part of the pig that contains fat (lard is rendered fat) can be used in lard production. However, there are ‘better’ parts of the pig for the lard which is better suited for pastry.
The second reason could simply be that maybe one should halve the fat of a pastry recipe between butter and lard, to see if they notice a difference. Perhaps the taste is so new it became more apparent to you. I, however, think it might be the quality of lard, as I have never had my lard pastry taste of ‘meat’.
Here are three levels of Lard: “The highest grade of lard, known as leaf lard, is obtained from the "flare" visceral fat deposit surrounding the kidneys and inside the loin. Leaf lard has little pork flavor, making it ideal for use in baked goods, where it is valued for its ability to produce flaky, moist pie crusts. The next highest grade of lard is obtained from fatback, the hard subcutaneous fat between the back skin and muscle of the pig. The lowest grade (for purposes of rendering into lard) is obtained from the soft caul fat surrounding digestive organs, such as small intestines, though caul fat is often used directly as a wrapping for roasting lean meats or in the manufacture of pâtés.”
Now, I would love to try various types of lard, but so far have only had experience with the simple store bought version by Armour. I am still uncertain if this is Hydrogenated. If so, it might add saturated fat. The good news for lard is that it  has Less saturated fat (the bad kind) and more unsaturated fat (the good kind) and LESS cholesterol than an equal amount of butter by weight.
Lards use in the 19th century was often due to cost. Butter was much more expensive than lard (I imagine the process by which you make butter including the smaller about derived from it as opposed to the large quantity of lard obtained from rendering a pig is vast.)
As I am uncertain about the lard I use, I found this product which will end up next on my monthly pantry list HERE.
The more research I have done, I have begun to think that I may, when not ordering the lard mentioned above, try my had at rendering my own. It seems simple enough and I am sure I can get it easily enough from a butcher I know of in Plymouth.
This tutorial on CHICKENS IN THE YARD blog is a very good step by step to lard making. Have any of you ever tried making your own?
So, I would say, if you are new to lard use 1/2 butter 1/2 lard. You will find, however, that lard is wonderful for pastry. If any are concerned of the product itself, ask yourself that while you are eating processed chips/Doritos, fast food, any pre-packaged box food in which all kinds of bad ingredients exist. Then ask yourself, ‘Can homemade things with lard, made so you know what is going into it and eaten in moderation be really bad for you?” Also consider the ‘bad press’ lard and even butter and eggs got by our ‘good friends’ the FDA when you consider who is pushing the cheaper made mass produced products of shortening and margarine and spreads.
Now, finally, I thought with Thanksgiving on its way I would show you the carving tutorial in one of my magazines. I hope it will be helpful.
Happy Homemaking.

19 November 1956 “How to Bring Back the Good Ole’ Days”

I was thinking the other day about that general statement : “We had it better back then”. In some cases many people say it was horrible back then, restrictive oppressive, nothing to do. And the converse being that we often decry the modern day and say how much lovelier it was back when.
My last two years have been riding this sew saw of truths and myths. I have come to understand more about not only the past, but our present. Things I thought were Hollywood-ized, often were. Yet, things I didn’t even consider appeared and myths turned out to be truths and truths myths. Let’s just say it has been a roller coaster of a year, but a good one. A roller coaster one chose to ride again and again (though I hate heights and would never actually ride a real roller coaster, buy you get the idea).
I have come to many realizations during these past two years. As a matter of course, when one approaches each day as a new set of tasks to undertake, lessons to learn and realities to discover or dispel as myths, one is certain to have little epiphani (I am assuming that is the plural of epiphany). In other words, I have many ‘ah-ha!’ or ‘Oh…’ moments. Today this moment came to me in the realization that Yes we did have it Better back then as far as Middle Class compared to today. Yet, I am beginning to see that much of it is not due to any specific things changing in our environment so much as how we live and perceive that environment.
In the 1950’s houses cost less. It is very much a fact that many of the bad decisions and rampant freedom the Government/corporation (You try to separate the two, I can’t seem to) lead to our over inflated real estate bubble. Yet, 1950’s houses also cost less because they were SMALLER. I know we have talked about this before, but it really hit me today that this is just one thing on a list of things that have changed that could easily be changed back. Obviously, we cannot alter the property values of our area, but we can move to a less expensive area and/or downsize the size of our house/apartment. It was not uncommon for a family of 5 or 6 to live in a 2-3 bedroom home with one bathroom. This was the middle class.
The amount of money spent on food is often higher today despite the fact that food WAS MORE EXPENSIVE in the 1950’s. Many people often like to say things such as ‘Oh, back this food item only cost such and such’. As an example eggs cost around .80 cents a dozen. Well, adjusted for inflation that is over $6.00 today. Things such as entertainment was less expensive though, such as movies and even the cost of paperbacks are equal to about 1-2 dollars in today’s money, while today they cost over $7.00.
I think the revelation is that what we considered the “good life” back then, may be more in keeping in what is considered below par today. Such as less bathrooms, only one car to a family, most meals at home, treats usually homemade or only an occasional candy from your allowance. Even the constant drinking of soda today, though it can be had cheap, still eats up the budget not only in food money spent, but dentist bills and also medical as well.
Think of the latest gadgets today. There isn’t a day or week that something ‘new’ isn’t coming out. Video game machines have a life of about 2 years and each game is over $50.00. Add to that the increase in electricity to run all the computers in our homes, charge cell phones, run multiple TV’s. The cost of gas is also greater as is its consumption for the average middle class family.
While children, for the most part, had to entertain themselves this cost was usually quite low. A once a week trip to the movies was not unheard of for the kids, but these were much less expensive. Yet, we have the option to watch endless movies today online for free, but these are often accompanied by endless adverts, which of course encourage more spending.
So, really, to live a 1950’s middle class life, a family today could actually do it quite easily. If one were able to get hold of the highest expense, that being housing and healthcare, then the rest could also fall into place. Even if one wanted to shop at places like Wal-Mart for cheap clothes and food, it could be EVEN CHEAPER, as you would remember, you would have LESS clothing. There would be ‘play clothes’ that you put on after school to save your nice clothes longer. You would have a few nice clothes a good suit for Sunday and other events and that was really it. Shoes, most likely nice dress shoes for school/church/functions and sneakers/trainers for play. But, they would be inexpensive converse shoes that you would wear out. Not endless new designed large white monstrosity’s covered in names and gadgets that cost $100.
It just really dawned on me how far we have come from then. Really the current form of consummerism was born in the 1950’s but that adult generation did not grow up with endless print and TV advertising. There was no pressure to be ‘cool’ or ‘understood’ by your parents. Young people were taught to aim towards adulthood. Teenagers were merely young adults preparing for their own families. Today, it seems, we are never shown or given examples of adulthood. Things like savings, citizenship, practicing for job interviews, home and building skills, repair skills, all things relevant to a middle class life in any home are either not given or simply scoffed at as old fashioned. Thus, teams of unprepared children go out into the world, are handed their credit cards at the college door and away they go, buy buy buy.
I know I have talked a lot about consumerism this year, but it has only been lately that I am beginning to see how much we could get back that old 1950’s family life of savings and responsibility. Most families would be met with hostility from their teens based on their friends cell phones, games, cars, clothes and over all lifestyle. But, are they happier? Teens today are expectant mothers more, depressed more, have less aims and goals that are realistic or tangible and often end up back at home after college with mounting debt. Meanwhile the parents themselves are also under considerable debt and really a misunderstanding of how to run a household budget or get happiness out of life WITHOUT buying it.
I guess in a way my message isn’t new, but it  is hopeful. With some work and honest to goodness thinking and planning, we can recreate the ‘glory days’ of the 1950’s today. It goes against the over all spending consumerism we have come to accept as ‘normal’ but you can’t make a cake without breaking a few eggs, as they say.
I think when we really start listing and realizing the things we love about the past and how we would like to improve our lives, we can make a change. The Vintage life does not have to be about Marilyn Monroe poster, vintage dresses and Elvis records. Frugal living, more hands on living and enjoying the plastic life we can make with what is already created is part of that. We need to realize to be ‘green or frugal’ doesn’t mean we have to wear hemp shirts, not shave, and go barefoot (unless that is what you are looking for) It is just as green to wear a vintage dress and petticoat be impeccably groomed when one has made or re-used clothes from the past. A wonderful local meal can also be 1950’s themed and colorfully fun, its all about where you source your ingredients and making more yourself. Flour, butter, milk, eggs, and sugar make a plethora of items, you’d be surprised as you begin to break down what you eat into its component parts, especially when you begin removing the chemicals. Even the concept of needing to buy an expensive coffee everyday or even lunch or a muffin, we don’t realize how this adds up. This also is almost an act of rote as opposed to a fun or special event. We become numb to things that were once ‘treats’ when they are simply repeated. Therefore we end up with less money and are overall less happy about it. We might say things like “Oh, God, I need my Starbucks everyday” well, then, good. I hope you also need less money in your account, enjoy more time working and are prepared to work way past retirement age. An age, it now seems, that will be pushed even further away than at present.
Today I made myself a caramel ‘latte’ that was wonderful. The caramel sauce was homemade. I made it last week and it is in a mason jar in my ice box. The latte was a cup of home brewed coffee and half a drinking glass filled with milk steamed in a pan on the stove. It was better than I get at Starbucks. In fact, now whenever I eat anything out (which is not very often) I can quite literally taste the preservatives. It is odd how your palette begins to recognize it. Even the caramel sauce, when it is store bought, I can literally taste the preservative.
Let’s look at what was considered a ‘good working family’ of the time.

I also truly wonder if a modern family DID take on the ‘normal’ expectations of the 1950’s middle class, could the wife cease working? If housing was made cheaper (if it is too expensive where you love, move. I know it sounds drastic, but you have to live somewhere for the rest of your life, ask yourself WHY you live in the area you live?) Less spending overall on food, entertainment, toys/electronics. One computer for the family. One or No TV only used in the evenings for 1-2 hours. One phone for the family. Not everyone had phones back then and we all seemed to do okay. It really would be a good experiment to see the difference.
What do you think, as a modern person, you do that was not done by your counterpart in 1950s. This means even if you are a single working woman, how do you live differently from your 1950’s counterpart? I think it would be interesting to find out what you may think after you do some thinking and list making of your own life.
It isn’t for everyone, but I get letters all the time from people who wish they could ‘change their life’ or ‘bring back the old days’. Well, I think we could bring back a considerable portion of the good of it, only it takes some work and family meetings. But, as a family, you are a team. Though we often are separated in different rooms, looking at our own computer screens, cell phones, i-pads, if we come together and help one another out, the overall quality of life can improve.
So, let’s share, come one tell me how you think you are different or the same to your 50’s counterpart and do YOU think we can ‘bring back the good ole’ days’?

18 November 1956 “The End of Bus Segregation in the South and Colorful 1950’s Design”

 
On the 13th of this month, 1956, The supreme court ruled it unconstitutional for Alabama and Montgomery Alabama to enforce bus segregation. Thus by the 20th the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began last year in December of 1955 with Miss Parks, has ended.
Here is an interview from April of this year (1956) from Miss Parks

Last year (1955) before Parks refusal, a 15 year old girl, Claudette Colvin,  also refused to give up her seat to a white person. This combined with Parks lead to the Boycott. As most of the drivers and a large percentage of the patrons of the buses were black, this was a great economic hardship on the bus lines.
On June 4th of this year (1956) the pressure across the country in support of the ban on this segregation lead to the Federal District Court proclaiming the Alabama laws unconstitutional. But, an appeal kept the segregation in place until November, when the U.S. Supreme court declared such segregation unconstitutional.
It seems we don’t actually learn from our own history. Whenever we are prone to deny rights to fellow citizens, it leads to a raucous for awhile and really only more hatred and misplaced anger. And, in the end, the law is then often made right and the injured parties, once slaves, once women, then Blacks, win in the end. This is true today for other American’s whose civil liberties are brought into question. Understanding and kindness is so much a prettier place to be. Even when one does not agree with those being prejudiced against, one MUST agree that every individual DOES or should get the same liberties and freedom as all. I am not sure why this always is the case with we American’s, but it does seem to be a pattern.
I hope that kindness and charity will win out over personal opinion. But, alas, we have so many MORE ways to fan the fires today with endless ‘News’ programs, talk shows, radio shows, internet this and that. It’s a wonder the muck racking isn’t worse, though I suppose it is rather bad. We are constantly shown lines drawn in the sand and told to ‘choose a side’. We have all been on the other side of misunderstanding, so we should use that experience to put ourselves in the place of others. And that is all I have to say on that.
Just for fun, some colorful 1950’s items. This bright ‘flagstone’ floor gets installed one ‘flagstone’ at a time. I say this room (most likely a basement room) has really committed to its theme. It has gusto, I will say that for it.
And speaking of Gusto, look at these lampshades. They are not wall flowers nor do they accompany a room, they become pieces of modern art, I would say.
Happy Homemaking.