NANA'S MEMORIES

Well people, I have been without a computer for days. Computer is okay but no modem. I refuse to buy one when I pay so much monthly for Internet service anyway. While I have been waiting, I sorted my 3K photos into folders and also cataloged all my documents. Then I put them all on a memory stick...just in case. We got some rain with cooler temps and burn bans were lifted. Our kids have started back to school. My niece starts college classes today. She is excited and I am nervous. My son hung my mermaid lady in my bedroom. I can open the curtains and let her gaze out toward the river. I'll try to attach picture from my phone. Hope all is well with my friends. Will try to catch up with your news weekend. Love, Nana

Have you been getting those e-mail and Facebook "Do Your Remember This" pictures? So far there has not been one posted that I have not been able to remember. Saw one today about these cookie cutters.  I have had these very cookie cutters since my kids were little. Maybe I bought them at a home Stanley party in the 1970s. My kids and now my grandchildren have used them to make Christmas cookies.  I always use the following recipe. They are soft and thick. Grandma called them tea cakes and dipped them in her Postum. Now that's probably something not many remember. Christmas Cookies 3 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 and 1/4 cup sugar 1 cup shortening 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla Cream shortening, sugar, eggs, vanilla in large mixing bowl. Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed ingredients. Form into 2 balls and chill in refrigerator. On floured surface roll dough out 1/4 inch thick and cut i...

John Wayne as "The Shootist" After watching The Shootist again, I am finishing up AMC's John Wayne marathon with Big Jake. I'm not sure which of The Duke's movies I like the best. I sure did like Dean Martin's little tune in Rio Bravo. The script in The Shootist called for John Wayne's character to shoot a man in the back. His response was,  "I've made over 250 pictures and have never shot a guy in the back. Change it."  Integrity...hard to find nowadays.

Fine hand sewn buttonhole made by Norman Norell Do you see how this buttonhole is made? You cannot find buttonholes made like this in today's ready-to-wear. My Oklahoma City Grandma made them perfectly. She was a seamstress supreme. Although she made a lot of my clothes, I remember two outfits in particular. One was made of a soft green linen like fabric with hand sewn buttonholes down the front. They were made somewhat like a men's suit buttonhole but oh so pretty. The other outfit I remember was a white dress with red polka-dots and a bolero jacket. I felt pretty in it and wore it forever. Grandma always saved her McCalls magazines for me to cut out the Betsy McCall paper dolls. I think all of the grandchildren played with the wooden thread spools she saved. We often ran across straight pins in the carpet of her bedroom/sewing room. She always gave us money when we heard the ice cream truck coming down the street. We never had an ice cream truck in Clarksv...

This picture has nothing to do with anything. It is the first image that pulled up in my library list. For some reason, I am so tired. I just got back from vacation and should be rested. Do you think it may be that I have been watching all these Olympic events? There have been several things about the Olympics that I have had to Google. Like the kineseo tape. I even had to look up decathlon.  I finally got all that but I am still trying to figure out why all the women athletes have those strange grooves in their abdomens. I am going to bed...worry about that tomorrow.

I will probably never own a couture gown. If I were to buy one though it would be one of Balmain's lovely appliqued designs. Maybe in a pretty, cherry-printed fabric. Or glittery sequins. Courtesy of TheFrock.com But today I am longing for this gorgeous Balenciaga Brooch I found in the Cristobal Balenciaga Museoa. Cristobal Balenciaga Museoa I have never in my life had an occasion to wear either one but to me they are both works of art.

We just returned from our usual summer vacation at Gulf Shores, Alabama. I have no idea why it was so crowded this year. We plan to go back in the fall after the weather cools down. I never plan ahead well enough to get a tan before going and usually end up with a sunburn. How I have managed to avoid skin cancer this long, I will never know. I am very fair skinned and have had several severe sunburns. I went camping with my Aunt and Uncle during one of the summers I spent with my OKC Grandma. I think they brought their oldest baby too. Grandma bought me a new swimsuit from Street's Department Store where she worked. It was constructed like a girdle and lasted forever.                    Image Courtesy of Aqua Velvet Vintage Etsy Shop I was having fun and did not realize I was burning until I got back to Grandma's house with water filled blisters on my back. Grandma gave me aspirin for the pain and dipped brown...

Remember the mermaid painting I have grieved a whole year over leaving in that little shop in Gulf Shores, Alabama? She was still there when we went back last week. I brought her home with me this time. Her name is Anna. The fish beneath her is still scary looking. Anna is a little thicker in the middle than I remembered but she still has the loveliest arms. I am envious of pretty-armed people. Why do "things" bring us pleasure?

  August 6 has been declared National Root Beer Float Day.  Root beer always makes me remember The Frosty Mug. Although they served burgers, hot dogs, and fries, I only remember having the huge frosty mugs of root beer capped with frothy bubbles. The car hops would bring them on a tray that attached to the car window glass. Just like in the movies.  We rarely enjoyed sodas when we were young so if we did stop after a hot summer car ride, it was especially enjoyable. Daddy didn't always get us the treat when we asked for one. For some reason, whether we stopped or not depended on whether Mama wanted one. What was up with that? She never wanted a root beer as often as my brother and I did. I wonder what kids today will be remembering from their childhood? I am sure it won't be a soda.  It probably won't be a drive-in/drive-through restaurant either. And do any families just drive around in their car without a set destination anymore? Why am I so ...