Clemies Recipes from Under the Sink

It's always shocking to see the prices from way back - this was most likely sometime in the early to mid thirties.  They are astronomical now in comparison to back then.  What we do know is that wages also were vastly different than they are today so the shock shouldn't be that great.  It would be interesting to know, however, if wages have risen percentagewise as much as prices have.  I suppose that could be found someplace but I don't think I will search for it.   There is also so much more to "want" in this day and age than there was back then.  It's still fun to look at the old ads and see what you used to be able to get for under 25cents.  Now there's hardly anything under $1.00 at the grocery store.  (Click to enlarge)

Postcard Friendship Friday

Happy PFF.  Don't quite understand this one - she must have spilled her sewing box and something rolled under the chest.  Odd little postcard but the kind I am drawn to. 

Bertha's message to C.W. is short and to the point.  Wonder what it all means.  Drop by Beth's blog at
http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ and check out the posts of other postcard contributors.  And thanks to Beth for hosting.  (Click to enlarge)

From FOH Fashion Friday

Our models today are my cousins in California, Ken and Bob, and Uncle Lambert, the sons and husband of Nelle, my mother's sister who is in so many of the pictures. The boys are wearing uniforms and I am unsure if they are Boy Scouts or not. Bob, in the center, has some really great high boots. Now Uncle Lambert - what a great outfit he is clad in. A checked sweater, knickers and checked socks - handsome attire. And it is topped by a really good looking cap. Looking good, fellows! I am sorry this photo doesn't enlarge - I would love to see it closer.  (This was posted on Funoldhag in January, 2010.  Ken, the older brother, just passed away a few weeks ago not long before he was to turn 90 years old.  It was interesting that I really got to know him in the later years over the intermet.  My brother, Ken and I did a lot of e-mailing about the Pearce side of our family.  What a nice man he was.)   

A Long Ago Dance Recital

Probably about 1956 or 57, Sherry took tap dancing lessons.  Five little girls and one little fellow were in the class.  If I recall correctly, they were taught by the son of the fellow who drove the bus when I went to high school.  In this dance number their were five little chicks dressed in yellow maribou costumes and one little rooster.  I made Sherry's costume - I had my sewing machine in the living room and we had a dark green carpet.  There were lots of little yellow feathers around the machine for awhile.  Very cute little outfits. Sherry is the second little girl from the right in both pictures.

Here is Norah, Sherry's oldest daughter, dressed up in the chicken costume when she was playing in our basement in the  very early 80's.  The hat is minus its maribou but the costume still has lots of feathers.  She strikes the pose of the little dancers. 

This is a cute picture of the second dance.  They were graduates in this number.  Wish I could remember what tunes they danced to, but I just don't recall.  I made this little dress, too, and she was able to wear that one for quite a while.   More fond memories.  (Click to enlarge)

Postcard Friendship Friday

Happy PFF.  Here is a quaint little card which I thought was a rather cute little joke and also very nicely illustrated.  But the message side is another story.................... 

It reads "Dear F. J. I would like to see you.  Sorry I am home sick but will have to put up with it.  I like Mrs. King she is very good to me.  I have a good room a good bed and plenty to eat so ought to be contented.  Grammie".   A sad little message from a homesick but strong woman.  To Beth, our hostess for PFF, http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/, thank you again.  (Click to enlarge)

My How the Friendly Skies Have Changed

Not too many years ago ads like this were common.

I wasn't doing any flying when the girls were dressed like this  or

this -they were color cooridinated with the interior of the plane.

Another look at some of the cuties who looked after the passengers in days gone by.    (Click to enlarge)

Thirty Years Ago Today

On Valentine's Day in 1981, this handsome couple was married in Chillicothe, Missouri.  Here are my son and his new wife, Bill and Ann, ready to cut their cake at the reception that was held in the church Ann's family was and is a part of for many years.  It was a beautiful wedding with Ann's three sisters standing up with her.  She wore her mom's wedding dress and it was beautiful. 

This is a picture of our family that day.  Norah Lee was about three years old and was flower girl.  Her dress was a small replica of the dresses Ann's three sisters wore and I made it.  It did turn out nicely.  Sherry was pregnant with Molly who was born the 5th of May.   I send you love and want to wish you a happy 30th anniversary, Bill and Ann, and I wish you many, many more years together.   You are a great couple!!      (Click to enlarge)

Clemie's Recipes from Under the Sink

A couple of weeks ago I did a post featuring some recipes from cookbooks that my mother-in-law, Clemie, gave me.  I will carry on with more of the items in that old Ranger Ice Skates box.  This time I have pictures of a cookbook from the J. R. Watkins Company.

 One or maybe two of these recipes must have been a favorite of Clemie's.  Almost all well loved recipes are food stained by the cook as she mixes together the ingredients of one of her families favorite dishes.  I wonder if it was the strawberry shortcake or the cocoa cookies.  The boiled frosting would be one that I love - I think that is the same as seven minute frosting.  It's obvious that this little recipe book was opened to pages 40 and 41 many, many times.   (Click to enlarge)

Postcard Friendship Friday

Happy PFF--one more week with Valentines.  This little lady looks as if she could have been drawn by Theodor Geisel,  the author of Dr. Seuss.   How cute can a girl be?  Evidently the writer found this in Windsor Locks, where the funny ones are! 

Ella let Fred know in no uncertain terms that there was no frostiness in her family!

He must have sent her a Valentine because she was glad to receive it and know that she was remembered.  Ella is another of the people of the past with beautiful penmanship!  Thanks to our hostess Beth at http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ for another fun PFF.  (Click to enlarge)

In Newton, Kansas, in Early 70's

For three years in the early 70's, we lived in Newton, Kansas, a small town just north of Wichita.  That was the shortest transfer we had and in 1972.  We moved to Newton right after school was out in Topeka so it was a hard summer for the kids.  Bill did find some friends quickly because the people we bought the house from lived very close and they had a son his age.  Bill's summer was filled with building a two story treehouse with his newfound friends in the shelterbelt right beside our house.

    

 It was rougher for Sherry but she left for KU at the end of August.  Ray was gone a lot and I took a job at the Hesston Corporation about 11 miles from Newton.  We were all glad when the time came to move on to the Kansas City area.   Here is a picture of my sister, her husband and two boys when them came to visit us on their way to California. Such a long long time ago. Their oldest son now is a grandfather to two little ones.  Life goes on.

 



From Funoldhag's Fashion Friday

(This is a repeat of a post I did on Funoldhag back in March of last year. I love these two old pictures of my mom.)

This Fashion Friday I am featuring Nan in a picture that shows what a lovely young woman of her era wore for swinging on a gate in front of a giant castor bean plant (I am fairly positive that is what the plant is). Nan is wearing a lovely light colored summer frock with a big collar and three-quarter length sleeves. The bodice buttons down the front. A soft, ruffly cap completes her very pretty look.

Then we have this photo of what the lovely young lady would wear when sitting on the porch in a rocking chair back in the early 20's. Nan is attired in a sweet summer gown featuring a white collar and cuffs and maybe the same little bonnet that appears in the first picture or a bonnet very similar. Two more favorite pictures of mine. Enjoy. (Click to enlarge)

The Slide Scanner

I have been fiddling around with the slide scanner this morning and am having a hard time getting it to give me good color.  This incredibly cute picture of my middle granddaughter, Molly, turned out well by changing it to black and white.  A novice at editing photos, this was the best I could do.  There are so many slides and they are hard to get out of the little carousels, but I will do some every once in awhile.  Probably have ten or more trays of them.  And, alas, there are none of Hannah since we quit using that camera before she was born.  However, there are plenty of her in the albums and from the digital camera!

Norah Lee the Christmas of 1983.  Looks like she got some shoe skates that year.  She is wearing a little jumper that I made - both girls got one - and I did strip piecing on the tops.  I think that the straps should have been shorter.  I trimmed them with lace and buttons and was inspired by a book by Jean Wells.  If I can find it around here someplace, I will post a picture of it on Funoldhag for my quilting friends.  I did a pretty good job of bringing the color to what it should be.   (Click to enlarge)

Postcard Friendship Friday

I have found what I think are some very cute postcards for the upcoming Valentine's Day and will post them these Fridays before that sweetest day.  This is another illustration I think is just wonderful - even looks  a bit like the style of the card I posted last week - the big eyes.  The message is wonderful.

What gorgeous penmanship!  That has pretty much gone by the wayside anymore, I think.   Hope you grabbed him, Edith!

Note the little pencilled question on this one - Will you? 

I wonder if Elise and Daniel ever got together.   I am hoping our dear hostess, Beth, at http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/  is feeling better after the sadness of last week.  Time does help.  Everyone have a Happy PFF.  (Click to enlarge) 

From an Old Ranger Ice Skates Box

My husband's mother kept lots of old things and I am so happy she did.  I have some of Ray's baby clothes, an old quilt, various pieces of embroidery, etc., and probably the very best of all is the old sampler that was made by his great (or great-great) grandmother, Mary Anne Wiley, when she was ten.   Click   if you wish to read a post I did on her sampler.

Down in the basement on a shelf I have an old box that once held ice skates and it is full of old recipe pamphlets, some magazines, lots and lots of old memorabilia that Clemie collected over the years.  I remember her telling me her recipes had been under the sink and got wet from a leak.  I think they must have been in something else since this box is not waterstained.  A few of the items inside are but not all.  Probably she had to throw some out.

Here is one of the booklets in the box.  It is dated 1933.

 One of the celebreties who is a fan of McNess products.  You know I kind of remember him.

Edith loves their products, too, and credits McNess in part for her success in winning ribbons for her cakes!

Here are some of her prize winning recipes.  Have you ever tasted burnt sugar cake?  I had forgotten all about it but it is super delicious.  Can't remember having made one, though.  I think there is also a burnt sugar icing that is rather like seven minute icing.  Good grief, I am getting hungry!!!!!   More things from the skate box later!  (Click to enlarge)