Old-Style Hacking

When I was a little girl, our 'sidewalks' were made out of wood.

To be more exact, the sidewalk was made out of what my Mom and Dad called "grain doors".

When it rained, they were as slippery as snot, which I found out by running on them, only to slip and fall hard on my backside.

Before my folks put the grain doors down, there was no sidewalk at all.  The doors were what people nowadays would call a hack - a creative solution to a need, often using recycled products.  Back then it was called common sense and making do.

Hanging Clothes

We dried everything on the line when I was growing up.¹

Today, I'm hanging clothes out for the first time this spring. The weather is iffy, but I'm going for it. I figure if they get wet, it's rain water, the best there is...and they'll dry eventually.

Nothing stopped Grandma Fitzpatrick
from hanging clothes - not even floods!

I love it all out on the line. And I actually LIKE the stiffness line drying can put in things like sheets. At least the old-fashioned heavy cotton white ones. The ones you buy now are so limp and wimpy - they are not as heavy and don't last as long. I decided to find some and did (online) - linen, heavy weight, white, and a bit pricey. But they will be well worth it if they are as advertised.  They'll last, and we'll enjoy them while they do.

Once again, I will jump into a bed made with freshly dried sheets - not just the smell of the outdoors but the stiff crisp FEELING of them.




















¹ - We used to find twigs and worms and other bugs snuggled into the creases as we took items out of the basket and folded them. All part of the process.

Once in, the clothes that required ironing would be separated from the rest.  They were never ironed immediately but a bit later on, on another 'ironing day'.  Until then they lived in a wood bushel basket, each layer sprinkled to prep for ironing.  I loved the smell of freshly line-dried cotton, sprinkled with water, then the hissing of the iron as it glides over it. Wrinkles disappearing like magic. You get into a rhythm, it becomes meditative. It gives the mind times to relax, heal...go on vacation.

 

Mom's Sewing Machine

I learned to sew on this machine... 
[Photo:  Betty Jean Short Thorsvig]

Earlier today, my sister Betty posted about our mother's old Singer sewing machine.  Mom passed it on to Betty, and over the years it has served (and still does) her well.  They don't make 'em like that anymore. It's the one I learned on.

Workhorses, that's what the old Singers are.  Solid metal throughout, working parts made with clockwork precision.  My Mom always said, keep it clean and well-oiled, and it'll serve you all your life.  But they're more than workhorses - they are things of beauty.

I remember when I joined the Humboldt Stick-to-It 4-H club.  I was 9 years old, and I did two projects - food and sewing.  For sewing, I had to demonstrate I had learned the goals of the project by sewing a simple garment;  I chose an apron.  I was entering the strange world where you had to measure once then measure again, and precision was preached.  Exactness was the gospel, and nothing less than aspiring to (and hopefully achieving) excellence would do.  There were right and wrong sides to fabric, you did not 'go against the grain'.  If you were daring enough to choose a complex pattern, you soon learned the art of matching  so a pocket would blend in like camouflage.  Inset sleeves and zippers were years away.

I completed that apron - a purple, green and white floral calico print - on my mother's old Singer.

"Make a wish..."

From our recent chicken 
dinner roast - Bill won!

A tradition my family practiced, not only at Thanksgiving, but whenever we had a chicken throughout the year, was drying the wishbone, then later pulling it for a wish.

1917 Recipe

Hand-written recipe by Elizabeth Jane (Fitzgerald) Fitzpatrick,
my grandmother - used in the "Economy Cookbook" of 1917,
put out by the Ladies of St. Vincent...

Transcription of text in document

War Cake (Eggless, Butterless, Milkless)

Put in a saucepan 1 cup raisins, 1 cup sugar, scant 1/2 cup lard, 1 1/2 cups water, 2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoonful of cloves and nutmeg, pinch salt.

Boil them for five minutes and when cool add teasponful soda dissolved in little warm water, then add 2 cups of well-sifted flour with 1 teaspoonful of baking powder.

Bake in a shallow greased pan for 30 minutes in a moderate oven.

Hinterland's Who's Who

I grew up listening to Hinterland's Who's Who on CBC television.  These nature viginettes were spellbinding to me, because they were focused and short.  Ahead of their time, really.  The haunting theme¹ immediately catches your attention, and you never forget it.


¹ - The original Hinterland Who's Who music is called "Flute Poem" and was composed by John Cacavas

MN90: The Greatest Minnesota Athlete to Run on Four Legs

MN90: The Greatest Minnesota Athlete to Run on Four Legs

My father often talked about Dan Patch, the great harness racing horse. His father saw him race, and he grew up hearing about him. We had a love of horses in common and often watching horse racing on TV (I began following the Kentucky Derby in 1970) and we tried to attend the harness races every summer at the Pembina County Fair in Hamilton, ND...