Life was different. Things were slower. Things were simple.
My goal is to live a lot like we did then. I want simple, slow and calm. I don't need to be hurry scurrying around, dealing with fancy smancy stuff. I want simple.
I came across this picture the other day and boy was it right on the mark. See what you think.
*Momma used lard or Crisco for frying and baking - we didn't have oil in a bottle!
*Healthy food at our house was anything that grew in the garden and anything that Mom made (from scratch).
*Water was the drink of choice along with brewed ice tea and MAYBE Kool-aid. I still don't buy water - just can't male myself spend money on it!!!
*Grilled food was over an old grate which was over a fire in the yard - then it was chicken or something simple like hotdogs.
*We had oatmeal - no fancy mixed up grains for us. It wasn't instant either!!!
* I didn't "eat out" until I was a teenager and could afford to 'waste' my own money of fast food - which was just becoming a thing! I remember Burger Chef was my first!!
*Once in a great while in the heat of summer Daddy would take us to get a frosted mug of root beer. What a treat!
*Mom made our potato chips - again I think I was a young teen before I had store bought. I remember someone gave us a Charles Chips tin of chips as a gift - that was fun!
*My first pizza was on a date.
I have surely dated myself!! LOL
Oh the things we remember.
A Sunday afternoon, was coming home from church to a lovely noon tine dinner (our big Sunday meal was at 1:00), which often had many extended family members joining in. Then we either went out back and played croquet or horses shoes (the guys) or we just sat on the front porch in the swing watching the world go by.
My friends and I often had 'picnics' on the front porch during the summer. We would have PBJ's and milk or Kool-aid. Then we would play Jacks.
I loved 'helping' Dad in the garden because he always carried a salt shaker in his bibbers and we would eat fresh picked tomatoes right from the vines. To this day I love a warm fresh tomato.
I would also sit behind the chicken house with my friends and we would gorge ourselves on sour green apples. Many a tummy ache was had from that - but we kept doing it!
Loved going out back and filling up on grapes. Mom would always come a stop me, because she had to use them for juice and jelly.
Bed sheets always smelled so good after laundry day. Loved helping to take the laundry off the line - it always smelled so good. It brings back memories every time today.
Boy did I wonder a drift on this post. It started out being about foods of the past!
I just wish I could go back for a while and visit! I miss those days so much.
This is why I want my life to be simple and calm - it was heavenly. I try hard to give myself some of those special things today and I try to remind all the younger family what it was like. They just can't imagine.
As John Denver used to sing "take me home country road, take me home".
Spring does this to me every time!!!!!!
Thanks for taking a journey back in time with me.
I was a child of the 50's and 60's too. We left the house after we did our chores in the summer and we didn't have to be home until the street lights came on. I don't even remember eating during the day except sometimes I would buy a can of tuna on the way to my best friend's house and we would make tuna sandwiches and drink an RC cola. That was my idea of "eating out".
ReplyDeleteLove it!!!! I remember using allowance to go to the hardware and get one of those little bottles of cokes from the ice water! I think it was a nickel - maybe a dime!
DeleteWhat good times we all had!
Are bibbers overalls?
ReplyDeleteYep - bib overalls. We just called them bibbers and I still do.
DeleteCall me old fashioned!
Such good memories.
ReplyDeleteSure enough. Sometimes my mind really wonders down a lot of roads!
DeleteI remember playing with the fireflies, my first DQ I was a teenager and a neighbor bought it for me, I got the least expensive thing as I was a little embarrassed, a slushie which was the rage with 7-11 back then, hand me down clothes, first eating out was in college (!), first kiss the summer I was 16 at the swimming pool (!), all birthday parties had a cake (homemade of course) and a few friends, no matter the ages, nothing planned except it would be a surprise as no one ever tracked a birthday on the calendar or anything, we ate the cake off napkins not fancy paper plates, and no themes, just a happy time to have cake and eat it too!
ReplyDeleteLove it. I still like fire flies - look forward to them each year.
DeleteI have to admit my first kiss was behind the grade school in 6th grade! Just a smooch.
I wish I still got homemade birthday cakes from my Momma. She always made us one until she got too sick.
I had one birthday party with friends. Family always.
Aren't you glad you have such fun things to remember? Life was simple but good!
Thanks for sharing!!!
We loved and played many games of croquet and horses shoes. My grandparents had a sour apple tree in there yard too, they were so tart. What a great blog post, Cheryl. :)
ReplyDeleteThose days were sure fun. Mom could make a wonderful pie from those apples - but man were they sour!
DeleteSimple fun.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the journey back in time. I loved every minute of it!
ReplyDeleteAaaahhh thanks. Honestly I did too!
DeleteHow fun! Love the memories! Thank you for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteI remember many of the same things in the 70's. We had a black and white tv that got 2 channels, so I could watch HeeHaw or Lawrence Welk on saturday nights. Sundays were the Wonderful world of Disney and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Do you remember those?
Oh my goodness. Yes I do. I had forgotten about those shows.
DeleteHeehaw and Lawrence Welk were 2 of my parents favorites. Disney was so neat.
Kids today have no idea! 2 or 3 channels - or play outside.
Thanks.
I love this. Especially, the root beer treat! Now a days kids expect things like this so they don't appreciate ANYthing! I think it is so sad. Thankfully, my grandson likes to spend tie with me outside. We explore all 9 acres of land we have and hunt pirates and fish a lot, haha. I love him and hope to keep instilling simplicity in his life.
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I went to the library and got to get my own library card too! It was the best feeling! Kids these days won't experience those feelings....just wants. :(
I am so glad you are giving your grandson those experiences. OBVIOUSLY they won't even be forgotten. We sure didn't forget.
DeleteI remember getting books at the school library, but I was in my 30's before I got a public library card!!! I was thrilled.
Wouldn't I love to get a frosted mug with Daddy now? You bet.
Thank you for helping to keep the simple things alive!!
I am a child of the 50's and 60's as well and you speak the truth. The only difference with me was that I was raised in a large city and by the time I was 8 my "porch time" was spent with my nose in a library book! I am trying to live simpler too and no, I don't buy water.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't live in the country nor the city. Kind of like the suburbs - but it was quiet. Today the area is so different. Lots of retail around.
DeleteGlad you are a lover of books - they take you so many places!
It warms my heart that there are so many trying to preserve the simple life.
A lot of good old memories . . . The tomato straight out of the garden - for one. I've always preferred to eat my tomatoes warm. My husband DISAGREES! I tell him if God had intended for fruits and vegetables to be eaten cold He would have them growing in WINTER instead of summer! My grandmother (who was Polish) didn't try pizza until she was in her 80's. She DID NOT LIKE IT!!! We have some of the best well water around! We'd never think of buying bottled water! Don't think I want to know what the world will be like when my great grandkids grow up! My grandmother was born in 1889 so she saw a lot of changes in her time. If she thought something was "strange" she'd just shrug her shoulders and walk away shaking her head. I find myself doing that now. Little by little, I'm trying to make my life simpler by making my own cleaning products, vanilla, brown sugar, seasoning mixes, growing and dehydrating my own herbs, hanging the laundry on the line in nice weather, etc. Thanks for a look down "memory lane"!
ReplyDeleteKris I agree. No cold tomatoes for me. I have read you should never refrigerate - it changes the good chemical compounds.
DeleteMy brother has a well and the water is wonderful.
I love all the things you are doing to simplify. Me too. It is scary to think of how the world will be in 2o - 30 years.
Glad you enjoyed the journey!
I love this and I love that Dad carried a salt shaker in his bibs. I asked my mom why we never had broccoli when we were growing up. She replied that it had not been invented then. LOL
ReplyDeleteLOL - now that is funny!!!! I think Daddy grew about everything there was to grow. So much I wouldn't even try back then. Now I would be game.
DeleteI even remember pulling a carrot or two and washing it off under the hose and eating them outside. Good times.
Amen - so true. Was even safe enough back then for all us kids to go out after dinner in the summer and catch fireflies, play tag, and duck the bats flying in the yard. By the time we came in for bed, we were so exhausted and slept well from good fresh air and physical play. To sleep in those air dried sheets was a dream, so I didn't mind having to make up my bed! My favourite from the garden to eat fresh was peas from the pod and crunchy beans. They seemed to have lost their flavour when cooked. I find today's fruit and vegetables from the store are very bland and go bad easily. We also found out that some of the farm markets we went to also get their inventory from warehouses, so not very fresh unless you grow them yourself. Unless I drive way out to Amish country, I don't see people sitting on the porch at the end of the day enjoying the rest and sunset, or see grandmas wearing their aprons picking in the garden, or mothers hanging up laundry. As I drive by I see people inside the house watching those humongous televisions sending out not only gamma rays but garbage. I could go on and on because I am not a fan of this new technical world but I have to stop somewhere. It's really nice just to reminisce.
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you!!!!
DeleteYou are so correct. Food tasted better, we were safer, no techno., just good clean life.
We could go out and play and weren't expected to be back till dinner. All parents kept an eye out. I am sure there were pervs back then, but sure didn't here about them and parents didn't worry.
I love aprons.
Front porch sitting is where I love to be! There or my garden
Thanks
It sounds wonderful to me, Cheryl. I feel we've lost so much since I was a child in the '70s. I can only imagine what you've lost since the '50s and '60s. I imagine it must have been a bit like going to my grandma's house in a little town. It was slow and boring at times, but it was good.
ReplyDeleteLaura
I think you might like this blog about living like the old days.
ReplyDeleteGDonna's. http://gdonna.com