Recommended Reading

The Blue Cat of Castle Town, if only for the illustrations.

Notes on a Wedding

--It is absolutely true that weddings and funerals bring out both the best and the worst in families.

--While we were getting dressed in the hotel, the spousal unit sliced his finger open on his safety razor (so-called). I remarked as I was bandaging him that since all four of his brothers were going to be at the wedding, I anticipated bloodshed, just not this soon.

--The wedding was held in the meadow behind the bride’s parents’ house. Fortunately their property backs up against several acres owned by a professional landscaper. Even more fortunately, he’s a good friend of the family. The setting was idyllic for an open-air ceremony, followed by eating, drinking and dancing under a marquee tent.

--I am not a fan of middle-class WASP weddings (why can't everyone be Ukrainian or Greek?) but this one was full of sweet, homey touches. The dinner was prepared by a neighbor and included the bride and groom’s favorite dishes; macaroni and cheese, pulled pork, and green-bean casserole. Instead of a fancy wedding cake there was cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies.

--There were only three bridesmaids and their dresses were, mirabile dictu, pretty and wearable.

--The bride’s dress was beautiful and wrong. She is pocket dynamite, a curvy little redhead…a very curvy little redhead, the only thing that saves her from pin-up status is a healthy crop of freckles and an irrepressible chuckle. The dress would have been stunning on a taller, darker, bride, but it made her look like an upside-down ice cream cone.

--The weather cooperated, for the most part. During the reception, the sky suddenly darkened and the heavens opened in a brief, violent cloudburst. Then just as suddenly, the skies cleared, the sun came out, and we stepped out of the tent to see an improbably wide and beautiful rainbow painting itself across the sky at the far end of the meadow.

--A lady of mature years whose relationship to the groom we never did decipher (great-aunt? grandma’s best friend? third-grade teacher?) danced every single dance, running partners one-third her age into the ground. Her performance of “Whip It” with one of the groomsmen was impressive.

--The bouquet tossing featured the usual baker’s dozen of reluctant young women bullied into lining up on the dance floor. The bride threw the bouquet in a perfect arc back over her shoulder (she was a phys-ed major) and it landed on the floor directly in front of the assembled spinsters with a loud thump. Not one of them made an attempt to pick it up, let alone catch it (Holy matrimony is evidently no longer a goal for Michigan maidens, and I am sure someone will figure out a way to blame this on activist judges, gay marriage, and the forces of godless communism).

--The wedding ended as it had begun, with bloodshed. Just before sunset, the bride’s twin brother drove a John Deere Gator up to the tent, jumped out, seized her and tossed her in the back, and roared off.

While wearing a gorilla costume.

She realized who it was when they were halfway across the field and screamed his name in tones of such outrage that were I he, I'd be contemplating a run for the border about the time she gets back from the honeymoon. He's a head taller but she's got the family temper.

The groom eventually got her back but not before she gashed her foot on the back of the John Deere. I hope her tetanus shot is current.

Knitting-Pattern for a 1953 Angora Bolero

An interesting combination of Angora and metallic yarn. For some reason the model's hairdo looks more 30's than 50's to me. The instructions are on the same page as yesterday's hat and bag but a slightly larger scan is here.

Crochet-Pattern for a Hat and Bag, 1953

This sailor hat and matching bag are from Smart Knitting, 1953. Instructions can be downloaded here.

The original pattern called for Dritz Luxury Belastraw. I have no idea what the modern equivalent might be, but perhaps some experienced crochet-hands out there can help?

Vintage Book Covers - Tam O' Shanter

(From Project Gutenberg).

Cucumber Sandwiches

I attended a family wedding this weekend (and more about that later), which got me thinking about the kind of food that used to be served at post-wedding gatherings. Tea sandwiches and chicken croquettes and that sort of thing, which is fine when people are standing around being polite for half an hour and then get to go home and take their shoes off, which is how wedding receptions used to be. Nowadays with all the bouquet-tossing and garter-removing and dancing and other strenuous exercise, a full meal has become the norm.

Checking my copy of Joy of Cooking (the 1964 version and my favorite because opera creams and opossum are next to each other in the index), I found this take on cucumber sandwiches. I am going to have to try it in about three weeks, when the cucumber population in our vegetable garden really gets going, but with horseradish instead of hot pepper sauce. The recipe style is Mrs Rombauer's own.

Mash with a fork:
2 packages cream cheese, 6 oz.

Into a fine sieve or cheesecloth bag, grate:
1 medium-sized cucumber
1 onion

Press out the juice and combine with the cream cheese. Add:
Salt to taste
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce.

Now add until of spreading consistency:
Mayonnaise.

Caturday!

see more crazy cat pics

Quote of the Day

"There they stood in a row, sleek as if they had been curried—and I have heard that she did curry them herself—all switching natural tails except one. And, as sure as you live, that cow had a false tail that Mrs. Gunning had made for her!

She took hold of it and showed it to us. It did not seem very funny to Dr. McCurdy, but he had to listen to what she said.

"Spotty was a fine cow, but by some accident she had lost her tail, and I got her cheaper on that account," says Mrs. Gunning. "You don't know how distressing it was to see her switching a stump. So I made her a tail of whalebone and India-rubber and yarn. I knit it myself."

The poor fellow looked up at the fort and said: "Yes. It is very interesting, Mrs. Gunning."

"I am aware," says she, "that the expedient was never hit upon before. But Spotty's brush is a great success. It used to make me unhappy to think of leaving this post. All the other cows might find good homes with new owners; but who would care for Spotty? Since I have supplied her deficiency, however, and know that the supply can constantly be renewed, my mind is easy about her. If you ever have to knit a cow's tail, doctor, remember the foundations are whalebone and India-rubber; and I would advise you to use the coarsest yarn you can find for the brush."

"I will, Mrs. Gunning," he says, like a man who wanted to lie down in the straw and die."

A British Islander by Mary Hartwell Catherwood

(cow mask courtesy Patrice at Agence Eureka)

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

...who has slept until 0630 for five days in a row!

(There's something about being waked up at 0545 that prevents me from being able to fall asleep again).

Knitting-Pattern for A Doily

This is from a 1953 Smart Knitting magazine, and a few more rows could be added to make it a tablecloth. Instructions are here.

Vintage Advertising-Nescafe

(image courtesy of Patricia at Agence Eureka).

Oh, to be in England

From the May, 1955 Woman and Home, a British magazine that I just bought on eBay. Left click to get a larger picture or go to my Flickr account for a download.

And because someone asked for it, here are several cherry gelatin recipes from a 60's-70's advertising cookbook called The Joy of Jello.

Caturday!

(Image courtesy of the LOLCats).

Quote of the Day

"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility." Theodore Roosevelt

Things You Don't Want to Hear as You're Walking Into The House

"Before you hear about it from somebody else, I have to tell you that I fell off the ladder today."

Knitting-A 1914 Coat Set

This knitted set, consisting of collar, cuffs, and bag, is from one of my 1914 Home Needlework magazines. In addition to adding a little variety to one's best Sunday coat (which, in those days, was usually one's only coat), the collar and cuffs helped protect the coat fabric from dirt and wear.


The scan did not come out as well as I would have liked, but if you download the three pages of instructions from my Flickr account, you can save it in the largest size, at which it is perfectly legible.

"May you live in interesting times"

Yesterday was interesting.

(edited to add).

We were not harmed, unless you count about fifty cents' worth of molding that blew off the garage window.

"At the corners of North and Center Streets, a tin roof was peeled back on a building. It looked like a tin can lid peeled off with a can opener."

This was one block away. Half a block away, a 75 year old oak tree snapped in half and took out the power line.

"It may have been the happiest Father's Day yet for Scott Tongate who hugged his son, Alexander, 8, after an apparent tornado ripped about one-third the roof off their home.."

To add insult to injury, after the wind tore the roof off, it dropped what was left on his pickup.

We were very... very... very... lucky.

Vintage Sheet Music-Only Make Believe

Another recipe from those nice folks at Knox Gelatin

The rather unappetizing title of the cookbook whence comes this gelatin salad is "On Camera Gel-Cookery from Knox." The recipes are laid out in a series of photographs, as though taken during a cooking show and although there are a number of monstrosities (including the ever-popular canned tomato soup aspic), the cold desserts are quite nice. I'll post the recipe for the Chocolate Bavarian one of these days.

This salad is one I ate as a child and although I'm not sure I would touch it today (oh hell, yes I would, I love Jello salads), it got me to eat carrots without whining. There is no date on the cookbook but the full-skirted shirtwaist dress that the cook is wearing places it in the last half of the 1950's. Left-click to get a larger image or go to my Flickr account.

I don't like surprises, and even if I did, I wouldn't like these surprises

After making great progress on the house-breaking front, someone has had a relapse. She is now being referred to as the Stealth Pooper.