Mrs. Beeton Everywhere You Look

"Do you remember Mrs Beeton's illustration for a simple supper party? Three epergnes of red roses down the centre, and smilax trailing everywhere?"

"Our old edition had a picture of a tray for an invalid," recalled Amy. "There were two trumpet-shaped flower vases with carnations, as well as two or three dishes complete with silver covers, a coffeee pot, milk jug and sugar bowl. I don't think you could lift the thing, let alone stagger upstairs with it. But I must say it looked superb."

"I pity anyone being taken ill at my house. A plate of toast and a mug of tea would about be my limit."

Village Centernary, by Miss Read

I missed the Masterpiece Theater a couple of weeks ago about Mrs. Beeton, a Victorian-age Betty Crocker/Heloise/Miss Manners type. You can read about her here.

Village Centenary is set in 1980, so you can see how wide-spread an influence Mrs. Beeton's book enjoyed. Here in our house, it would be poached eggs on toast and 7-up, but most probably served on the couch, so Mama can still run things. Otherwise, of course, everyone would be In My Room, and recovery would be delayed, anyway....

Future Newbery Winner

[Note: You need to know that Joe Hardy sleeps in our basement, in the room next to the laundry.]

Last night, I sent Alvin Fernald down to the basement to rearrange the load in a washer that was making a whole lot of noise and rocking back and forth. He came back upstairs to say:

"One of these mornings we're going to find that the washer has walked all the way into Joe's room, climbed up in his bed, and pulled up the covers."

Wouldn't that make a nice idea for a children's picture book?

Yummy Is in the Eye of the Beholder

"I am waiting patiently in line at the Londis market with my Mullerice and a jar of bramble jam when I notice what the burly fellow in front of me is buying. It is a tin of--wait for it--Mr. Brain's Pork Faggots.*

* In a rich West Country Sauce. What, still not hungry?"

--Sixpence House--Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins

Gotta love foreign food, or at least the stuff that's "foreign" to us. Then again, you don't really *have* to love foreign food.

I am probably one of your less adventurous eaters. I have tried Vegemite--once. As well as caviar--once. No need to belabor the thing.

My daughter Violet was able to travel abroad twice during her college days. She went for a month to Oxford/Cambridge (forget which, sorry) with a side trip to Ireland. She walked into a grocery one day to find a package with a conspicuous American Flag sticker on it: Corn Dogs!! Eaten By Millions Of American Schoolchildren Every Day!! Poor schoolchildren--probably the number one reason I chose to homeschool....

She also went to an American Style Restaurant, and ordered an American Style Cheeseburger and milkshake. We all know that Europeans don't "do" ice in their drinks, but her "milkshake" was decidedly Not Frozen, either. Kind of like the Frosty Mix at Wendy's before they put it in the machine to freeze it.

Then there was the Burger. It's condiments were "distinctly American?" [not.] Shredded cheese and Chutney. I'm sure you've seen it at Burger King: "The NEW Shredded Cheese/Chutney Burger!"

I don't mind if they are Distinctly British, but for goodness' sake, the population has never heard of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. When Violet told them of this tasty treat, the reaction was, "oh, dear. Why would you want to mix chocolate and peanut butter?" She sent some to her friends that Christmas...

My family took a trip to Canada in 1966, when McDonald's hamburgers were 15 cents. Going out to get a burger and fries was a Fun Vacation Thing.

The restaurant we went to was not a McDonald's, but Daddy ordered like it was. Seven burgers and Seven fries, please. The waitress's eyes got Very Large as she asked him to repeat his order. "Are you sure you want seven orders of fries?"

She came back with seven Platters of fries. These are the size your entire Applebee's meal is served on. Daddy: "could you bring us some ketchup, please?" When she went back to get some ketchup, we saw her whispering to the other servers: Look at Those Aliens Over There. We figured out that the bottles and bottles of Malt Vinegar sitting on the table were for the fries. Daddy tried it; I was loathe to put anything labeled Vinegar on my food. But that explained the little round I had learned in music class: Fish and chips and vinegar, pepper, pepper, pepper, pot.

We ate fries (cold) for a bedtime snack. Daddy wanted to take them in the car the next morning, but Mother said No Way. *That* foreign adventure was Over.

The Invitation

Last night was Blackeyed Susan's dance recital. She was in a dance called The Invitation by Maurice Skylar. You may know the song: "To Him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb/be blessing and honor and power and glory forever." A very haunting instrumental. I did not get photos during the performance due my poor position in the church, but Susan and her friend Ashlee posed for me:
Susan is the dark-haired one. Here is one more:

Here is Susan at the cookies-and-punch soiree with her Daddy. The heavy makeup was starting to transform her into Racoon-Girl:

These events show clearly how little time we still have our lovely daughter at home. She is fourteen--Already! Sitting in the audience, I could see her beginning to look more like my mother, and Susan's two sisters.

The most fun of the evening was Laura Carrot (age 2 1/2) sitting behind me, when two girls on pointe with full romantic tutus (the long ones) in aqua with aqua satin tops with LOTS of sequins did a dance. Laura (with HUGE wide eyes): "There's one Princess! There's TWO Princesses!!" She was able to meet the "two princesses" and Blackeyed Susan gained points with Laura when she told her that the Princesses were her friends.

A beautiful night.

J E L L O !!

Gotta love this fabric. If you grew up in the 50's and 60's as I did, Jello was a Big. Deal. "There's always room for Jello!" the ads told us. And the colors! Red--Strawberry with bananas added was a favorite. Sometimes the school lunches would have Orange with shredded carrots, or (ugh) Green with shredded cabbage. I guess Jello couldn't decide if it was a Salad or a Dessert. FYI--in the 31+ years that I have been married, a Jello Salad has never appeared on my table.

Jello was good for other things, as well. Knox Unflavored was used for strong fingernails. Jello-water was used when babies had tummy trouble. Just put a spoonful in a water-filled baby bottle. Some nutrition, they said, and it usually stayed down. (though I remember a Jello-water shower I received one time...) Now we have Pedialyte. Where's the fun in that?

And what is it with Jello? Or is it just me? I have several boxes in my cupboard, that become invisible. It's like I never think of serving Jello for dessert, unless I do the Fourth of July United States Mold with Red jello/Lemon jello mixed with ice cream/Blue jello. (Hello. There is just something WRONG about blue jello. Oh, yeah, and blue popsicles.) So there those packages sit, month after month.

I don't *do* Jello Jigglers, though. The consistency is just too weird for me. I always think that somebody Just Made It Wrong. Don't mess with my Jello.

There is the fake color/flavoring thing, of course. But I guess I am just old enough to think Jello is cool, *in spite of*. So if you have a package in your cupboard (and I *know* you do!) make some tonight and have some Fun.

Things are Hoppin' at the Barn

I am late making this for Blueberry's first birthday, because I could not find my pattern. It is a barn tote bag, with ten animals inside. I made one for Alvin Fernald's first birthday, eleven years ago. Here you see the bag. Standing in front are the piggy, chicken, bunny, and cow: Not to be outdone, the goat, ducky, lamb, and horse push everybody out of the way, so they can get in the picture:

What kind of farm would you have without a gingham dog and a calico cat?

I am so proud of myself. I finished Sweet Pea's first birthday present two weeks early. It is the book Little Pea, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I made a nice, soft Little Pea out of bright green flannel:

Whew. Not another birthday until July.

E-I-E-I-O.

Nature Study

"Paul looked, with new wonder, at the blossoming cherry tree, which overhung the low stone wall of the next-door garden. For the first time he noticed, with a thrill of joy, the delicate white flowers suspended by thread-like stalks to the black tracery of the boughs. Those threads, he realized suddenly, would dangle cherries later where the flowers now danced, and he would be able to hang them over his ears and waggle his head gently from side to side for the pleasure of feeling the firm glossy berries nudging his cheek. It was a moment of poignant discovery for young Paul, and he felt a thrill of pride as he realized that he knew now exactly how the cherries came to be. In future they would be doubly beautiful, for he would remember the glory of that pendant snow even as he sensuously enjoyed the feel of the fruit against his face and the cool freshness in his mouth as he bit it."

Thrush Green by Miss Read

Magic on the Porch

Charming and I were doing devotions on the front porch this morning. It was fairly quiet--not a lot of traffic, but we could hear several kinds of birds about their morning duties. We were fascinated by the shadows cast by our spirea bush, which is sporting tiny new leaves (finally!)

Notice that some of the shadows are smudgy, and seem in the background behind the more clearly "drawn," darker ones. And here I always thought that shadows were two-dimensional. God is more creative than that, fer sure!

We went on to discuss the different shadows cast at different times of day, and different times of the year. And the fact that God chose to create shadows at all. It was really neat to find this little picture painted by the Lord, while we were discussing His word.

Our verse this morning was so wonderful--Hebrews 13:20-21:

"May the God of peace...equip you wih everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ."

This is a prayer I can pray for all of my children, and for myself as well. It was truly "magic" on the porch this Saturday morning.

First Mowing

"The first cut of the year is always the best."--Alvin Fernald:
We had a nice day earlier in the week, and Charming had Alvin *tied to his leg* for the day. They went to the old-fashioned plumbing store, where if they don't have the piece you need, they can make it--good for when you live in an older home. But they bought pieces "off the rack" to fix the leaking bathtub faucet. They also replaced light phosphorescent light bulbs, and then tag-teamed the mowing and weed-eating in the back yard. Alvin got to do both in our (smaller) front yard.

After he finished, we noticed the teeny-tiny doggie across the street, yipping at his front door:

He is about eight or ten weeks old, and should not have been without a collar and leash. So Alvin went across, looking for same, or for open doors or windows from which "Scrappy" could have escaped. No such luck, so he played with him for awhile. Then we remembered another neighbor might have an extra leash, so we used that and secured Scrappy to the porch. When his Mom and Dad got home, they found he had escaped his leash in the backyard. Alvin could not see it for the long grass.

Later, Charming grilled burgers and we had the grandkids and their parents over. Alvin was so, So, SO filthy! After a shower, I sent him to bed. He said, "After this day, I don't think I'll have any trouble falling asleep, Mom."

Truer words were never spoken.

Buried for 25 years...

My brother and his wife will be married 25 years next week. About the same time, my grandmother broke up housekeeping to move to a senior apartment. We were living 300 miles away at the time, so Robin got the bulk of Grandma's sewing treasures. She has shared with me through the years, for which I am grateful. She has always told me about a group of quilt squares Grandma gave her, "and as soon as I find them, half of them are yours." I never got too excited, as Grandma thought that double-knit polyester was God's Greatest Gift to Man, and she made a number of quilts out of that *fabulous* fabric. (By the way, those quilts are still goin' strong. I am always reminded of them when I go to a church camp...but I digress.) In the last month, she has re-done her sewing room, and they finally came to light. What she didn't tell me was that the squares were made by my grandmother's grandmother:
There were thirty of them, and Robin gave me sixteen, and she kept fourteen.

Somehow we always think of these ancient women making perfect, tiny stitches, but the quality of these is not quite "up to par" with that assumption. I don't know if maybe they were made by her in her old age, with arthritic hands. But let me tell you, they make me feel good about my *talent* or lack thereof. My Quilting Motto stands: Finished is Better than Perfect.

This week I made a "gig bag" for my autoharp. Charming bought me this instrument 15+ years ago. It came in a chipboard (read: cheap) case, and within the first year the handle came loose. Over the next years the case has ripped and been taped and re-taped. Not that I even play it very often; it usually comes out only at Christmas.
I was going to throw away the old case at first, but the bag is not the most adequate protection for the instrument, which is pretty heavy, so I kept the case as added security. Here you see the lining, a pretty, vintage-looking blue:

On to another front:

Well, it has been almost a month since we got our new car, and I braved the license bureau to title it and get plates. Indiana is offering an alternate plate bearing the words In God We Trust:

Words to live by, as the trip to the Bureau set me back $387.00 and change. But kudos to Indiana for offering the plate. Might not see this in California or New York...gotta love us *provincial* Midwesterners.

Well, the sun is out again, after a week of 1) four days of snow and 2) three days of rain. Should hit 50 degrees, too. Our poor daffodils--all over town they were laying on the ground. Hope my lilacs survive....more on that later!

Happy Blackeyed Susan Day!

Blackeyed Susan turned fourteen today. This has been a year of great physical and emotional growth for her. More importantly, Susan knows the Lord, which will be the key to navigating her way through the sometimes stormy waters of teenage-hood.

Absent-mindedly, I didn't remember until the night before that I had the responsibility of a birthday cake. Hello. We have celebrated One Hundred Eighty-Seven birthdays in this family already, [not counting Charming's and mine] yet somehow I forgot. How timely that just this morning I read of a very cute, cute cake idea here:

I used fourteen lollipops instead of candles.

Now to the presents! In our family, the privilege of drinking coffee is reserved for those over the magic age of 14, so this was the "morning" gift: Then Daddy and Alvin Fernald went shopping for this baby: Don't fail to note the Cubs-logo baseball.

This gift would have gotten more use if the weather had reached thirty degrees here. Hello--April?

Susan assured herself of full family attendance at dinner by choosing Steak and Mushrooms for her meal. Her older brothers marveled that they had chosen things like hot-ham-and-cheese sandwiches and pizza when they were coming along the pike. Can Susan help it if she's a little more savvy than they? I think not.

Susan finished her wonderful day by having brother/sister friends overnight. She and Alvin and they played cards and Apples to Apples till about 11:30 pm. It is now 1:30 am and they are still talking in their sleeping bags.

Good. Maybe I'll have a little time for myself in the morning.

Yo-yos are taking over!

I've spent a couple of nights making yo-yos out of 30's reproduction fabrics:
Here are a few more of the fabrics. I need several more, but not to worry; I have a rubbermaid tub-ful:

These little wheels are addictive--just a few minutes to make, and they all look so-o-o cute. I'm using them for a future project.

Spring break here--where the deer and the antelope play children are not heard from, from morning till dark, and the skies are not cloudy all day the weather has been lovely yesterday and today, but will drop forty degrees by tomorrow, and maybe snow on Friday...

This is so Cool!

The gals over at 5 Minutes for Mom are sponsoring a contest! The prize is a Dyson Slim Vacuum--super cool. Go Here to find the details. Be sure and enter soon--and you don't have to have a blog to enter, so tell your friends!

While you're at it, go visit Dyson to learn more about the vacuum that everybody is talking about!

Whee!

Oh. My. Goodness! Look what was delivered to me yesterday morning:
These gorgeous things arrived with a card reading "to the greatest Mom a son could have." They are from my darling son-in-love Rocky Balboa. I knew he had great taste (he chose my daughter, after all) but the guy is a Total Package of Taste. Thanks to him so, so much!

I finally made a summer purse for myself out of a cute vintage-sewing-themed print I purchased last year (or the year before...):

I made some pockets, but forgot and put them all the way to the bottom of the bag, so there is not really a "floor" to the purse. I usually just make this homemade pattern as a tote, with maybe the key/cellphone pocket, but no others. I feel kinda dumb, but, oh, well:

This was actually the second laying-around project I finished this week. I had some cutie-cute froggy fabric to make Violet some drink coasters for her office desk. (she is rector of a women's dorm). I put them in a little basket with a tag: How long must I kiss frogs before I meet The Prince? She loved them, but took them away before I got a photo.

So it has been a week of clearing out old projects. Not that this actually makes even a dent in the mountain pile...

The very next thing I need to do is to clean the refrigerator. It is "calling my name nose, so to speak...

What is on your plate this weekend?

Fab Finds Thrifting

I went thrifting a few days ago, and found these fabulous pink Etienne Aigner shoes:
They have Kitten Heels. They will fit Blackeyed Susan (as seen here) or she may have to fight Violet for them.

I also found three 100% wool blazers for $2.12 apiece: (sorry for the dark photo)

After a nice hot water bath and drying cycle, I cut them up to reveal a big pile of felted wool:

This will come in handy for future projects. I will be keeping my eyes open for different colors of wool blazers. One of our stores is 50% off clothing on Thursdays--I need to put that on my calendar!

Don Quixote's birthday

Yesterday was Don Quixote's birthday. He turned 30. That's THIRTY, people. Well, Mommy, who was twenty-one years old thirty years ago, won't dwell on that fact anymore.

Don requested red velvet cake. Now, I made this from scratch once, and it required an entire bottle of red food coloring. (this is why I only made it once--I had children) Yesterday, Alvin Fernald made a mix cake. He guarded the beaters with his hand to prevent splatter, and this is what happened:
That is the color of the batter. It stained a lot of things before I got it all cleaned up. So I told DonQuixote that this was a one-time deal. (I also made a regular cake for the children and those of us who were just tired of cleaning up red-batter mess...)

Forget-me-not brought Blueberry over to enjoy the grass as it is really greening up. Love his curls:

At dinner, he enjoyed the hamburger and greeny-beany bites, but Forget-me-not let him have a bun that was not chopped up. Now, that is living high:

Here is my darling Don Quixote, with Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot:

Did I tell you he was my smallest baby, at 6 lbs. 3 oz. and 18 1/2 inches tall? My father calls him my "scrawniest" baby. My other claim to fame is the fact that I walked to the hospital to have him. We lived two blocks away, and thought it would make a good story for the grandkids. When we got to the intersection across from the hospital, I got a contraction and asked Charming to wait to cross. (it was a four-lane main street) As my contraction passed, the light turned red. When it turned green again, another contraction was beginning, so again we waited. We finally figured out that my contractions were two minutes apart, which was the same amount of time it took the light to change. Charming literally dragged me across the street, and Don was born 30 minutes later.

Yep. The story gets better as time goes on.

Happy birthday, baby one!

Lipstick Stains

I finished another quilt top! This makes four since Christmas--and four of five tops for a special two-year project. This one is mostly black-and-white fabrics. I wanted to put in just a "dash" of color. I decided on hot pink, and there are only eight pieces in the entire quilt.
This close-up looks like a black-and-white photo with the color photo-shopped in:

Daughter Violet came up with the perfect name: Film Noir with Lipstick Stains.

It is already a hit! Joe Hardy said it is his favorite of all the quilts I have ever made. Alvin Fernald proclaimed it "ultra-cool": he liked the way the circles are "off-center." Charming said it was definitely "artsy."

But I definitely have some clean-up to do! You have never seen so many ravelings! (now there's a word my mother used that I seldom do, anymore. I usually just say "lint" or "threads.") I think I'll start a campaign to bring back "ravelings" because it is such a descriptive word. What do you think?

Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel

My Daddy's nursing home had a "field trip" to the Cracker Barrel this week, so Charming and I, Alvin and Susan, and Lily and children met him there. He was *so* looking forward to this: he wanted fried eggs, (the home only serves scrambled made with EggBeaters [not real eggs, according to Dad], and occasionally a boiled egg) sausage, biscuits'n'gravy, and grits. He was not disappointed. Here he is with Alvin Fernald:
The highlight of his day, Four Generations at one table, including:

himself, daughter Barbie, grandson Alvin, great-granddaughter Sweet Pea.

Of course, when you go to Cracker Barrel, it is important to improve your skills in the peg game. Laura Carrot was pretty upset for awhile that there was a blank hole, and couldn't understand its purpose. So she took them all out and lined them up by color:

Junior Asparagus, satisfied after a scrambly egg meal, and bits of cheesy hashbrowns and pancakes from other plates:

Blackeyed Susan and Laura, sportin' 'tudes:

Anything the girls can do, Alvin and Junior try to do better:

All in all, a very precious time. There will not be very many more "four-generation" moments in my family, I'm sure. This was a treasure.

Easy Sausage Soup

This reminds me of the sausage soup at Olive Garden:

1 lb. italian sausage, browned in the soup pan
*about 4* potatoes, diced, boiled and drained
2 cans mushroom soup, plus two cans water
1 can corn plus its liquid

Brown the sausage. Add potatoes, mushroom soup (plus water) and the can of corn. Add liquid if desired. Heat and serve. Serves--6? (I think)

This is so great because it is not labor-intensive. If you start the potatoes before you brown the sausage, it saves even more time. I also find that it doesn't need seasoning, because of the sausage.

We will have this for lunch, and have enough for the next day!

Car Love

We bought a new car yesterday! Here are a couple of stats:

Old Car: full-sized van, mpg 11 city, 15 highway
Price to fill tank last week: $75.00

New Car: Dodge Grand Caravan, 2007 lease turn-in (so no depreciation woes) with Stow-n-Go
seats (you may drool now)
mpg unknown at this time (first tank of gas)
Price to fill tank this morning: $41.00

This is going to be fun!