Times of Real Sugar

This ornate real silver (I had to polish the tarnish off for the picture) "sugar shell" was always in the sugar bowl which was ALWAYS on the kitchen table along with the toothpick holder earlier noted. Real sugar was used on cereal, in coffee and tea, on those fresh garden tomatoes, wherever a person needed a little extra sweetness. I don't know the exact origin of the spoon -- I think it may have been a wedding gift. It is another one of those things that has always "just been there" and taken for granted. Our kitchen table had a certain amount of "middle stuff" that just stayed on the table at all times. There were always 3 meals a day at that table and sometimes, a little late afternoon lunch, besides. Sometimes, those lunches were packed in a basket or box and taken out to the fields so the farming would have minimal time interruption. Our evening meal on the farm (supper, it was called) was sometimes as late as 10 o'clock at night. We consumed the calories, but, we also worked them away !! In the spring planting season and fall harvest season, the farm work was going on nearly 24 hours a day-- machinery and people, a nearly constant hum. Planting and harvesting of crops had to be done in tune with weather conditions. If it didn't get done, it could make a huge dip in the income for the year. "Make hay while the sun shines", an adage well known to a farmer, meant more than "making hay" !!

For the Jam

Capturing the beauty of vintage glassware has become a huge challenge ! After at least 150 shots of this little 5" pressed glass dish, as usual, I ended up with one of the first ones taken !! This was another dish brought out for those "special" dinners for "special" friends. It was usually filled with some of Mom's homemade strawberry jam to slosh onto those fresh homemade baked rolls or biscuits served with that Sunday "dinner" ! Yummy !! One particular Sunday dinner remembered - Cleo and Ralph were invited. Of course, the children were always part of the package, but, as teenagers, their children usually had other plans for their day. 18 year old son, Dwayne, came along one particular Sunday as he had a brand new car to show off - --a 1950 Studebaker convertible. Freshly graduated from high school, starting a new job at the Firestone tire factory in Des Moines, he was in the money and proud. After dinner, Dwayne put the top down on that convertible, we three kids piled in with him and off we went for a Sunday afternoon drive. Good food, good friends, hair blowing in the wind of that first ride in a convertible. A fun afternoon with a teenage boy ! What more could anyone ask for ? This day has always been a reminder of how short and precious life can be. It remained in my memory as it was the last time we were to see Dwayne. A few months later, he was killed in a factory related accident.

For the Berries

This pretty little pressed glass "dish" measures about 9" long counting the handles. Another one of my Mom's special things brought out only for special dinners cooked for special guests !! Mom and Dad "traded" Sunday dinners with a couple of sets of friends through the years. Friends I remember most were Elmer and Luella Watson and Ralph and Cleo Hitsman along with their children. These were families that at some time in Mom and Dad's early years together, were neighboring farmers and they had become close friends. Luella and Elmer's children were younger than me, but, had the neatest toys. Cleo and Ralph's kids were teenagers so they were awesome to me. It was always a BIG deal to plan and cook for this Sunday noon meal -- cleaning the house, getting all the "good" tablecloths, dishes and silverware out and ready, preparing 2 or 3 choices of desserts the day before -- I mean, REALLY BIG DEAL ! It seemed the gals always tried to outdo what the other one had done the time before ! This dish usually held jellied cranberry slices. It was just the right size. I have used it for the same thing for just us, because we were special, too. It now has it's place of honor in my china cabinet. Oh yes, I forgot ! I think Cleo's windows were always more sparkling than ours !!

Garden Fresh Radishes

During the 70's, our Christmas gift from P.M. and Ruth, my wonderful in-laws, was always a generous check enclosed within a beautiful Christmas card. More often than not, included with this generosity was a family heirloom of some sort.. This little "radish bowl" and "salts" bowls ensemble, was one of those gifts. They came from your Great G'ma Lottie's collection of special things. I remember as a newlywed in 1958, having lunch at her home and these were part of the table setting. The large ( actually, quite small) bowl was filled with radishes, fresh from her garden. The tiny bowls filled with salt to dip your radish into, sat at each person's setting -- Now, that little bowl of radishes emptied quite quickly, but, G'ma had plenty more cleaned to refill it ! There was then and still is, nothing tastier than vegetables, fresh from a family garden ! Well, one exception -- G'ma Lottie baked those wonderful cinnamon rolls that I became aquainted with that day !!

Artful Memory

As I was cutting the little bunny rabbit image from a mail order catalog this morning to create this atc, I thought, "OMG, I was creating altered art when I was but a mere child !! " My sister and I would look at all the beautiful dresses (or at least, what we thought were beautiful at that time) in that fat Montgomery Wards catalog (that featured absolutely everything), cut them out and "design" clothing for our paper dolls. I always thought my sister's "designer dresses" were prettier than mine. She always had a natural artistic talent. Do little girls play with paper dolls anymore ? Do they even know what they are ? Thinking further about what other kinds of altered art I might have been creating, this memory popped up. Television was a new media in the 40's and 50's. There was a 30 minute children's show at 4:30 in the afternoon called "Magic Window", timed just right for after school and before evening "chore time". ANN was the "host"- a beautiful lady full of artsy ideas for kids to create. One of the projects was to cover a shoe box with wallpaper which became our "kit" to keep ALL of our tools and materials in. I wonder how many shoe boxes I could fill today ??? I will be pondering that question for at least the next day or two !!

Top Dog

As a farm wife in the 40's, my Mom's social life was limited. Of course, all the surrounding farm families knew each other and their kids played together on occasion, but, the women rarely had "morning coffee" together or went to someone elses home for an afternoon visit. Farm families had too much work to do !! BUT, this one holiday season in 1944, I remember vividly, Gladys Oviatt, a farm wife friend of Mom's, invited several neighbor wives and their children to her home for an afternoon "Christmas Tea". Everyone was to bring a 10 cent wrapped "grab bag" gift. These were placed into a pretty decorated basket. Some little games were played, tea and cookies were served, and everyone "grabbed" a gift from the basket. I grabbed my gift, excited to open it and see what it was. It was a potholder !! I must have had this hugely disappointed look on my face as the woman sitting next to me opened her gift and it was this cute little dog figurine - I don't remember that woman's name, but, I have always remembered her saying "Oh, you got just what I wanted. Would you like to trade?" And so, when I look at this little guy with his umbrella cane and top hat, he brings me a memory of kindness and sharing, never forgotten.

Crystal Photography

An essay on what Virginia does when photographing glass pieces should be today's subject. Someone would have had a hey-day video-taping the contortions I went through to get a photo that did this piece justice !! AND then, I ended up using one of the first ones taken. This 12" cut glass crystal bowl was used almost daily at Gr. G'ma Rose's home and then again at G'ma Ruth's. It came to me when G'ma Ruth moved into the Eastern Star Home. She kept it in her cupboard with her "every day" dinnerware and always put it in her dishwasher after use. I mentioned to her one time about how beautiful it was and why didn't she put it up in her china cabinet ? - that is when I found out that it was used as an everyday bowl when she was growing up, so to her, that was what it was - just another bowl !! I keep it in my cupboard with my "everyday" dinnerware, put it in my dishwasher after using, and amazingly, it has survived without a chip or crack in it. In my world today, it is most often used only for fresh fruit.