Loveliest of all, the magic of this Bungalow shall remain in your heart for all the days of your life..1930s Glamour intermingled with 1940s Homefront Attitude and Style! Hubba, Hubba!
Pin Up Girls Adore Quite The Stir Bungalow!
Quite The Stir Bungalow, Gettysburg, PA
Ahh...you've happened across Quite The Stir Bungalow Blog quite unexpectedly right?
Need a break from rushing full tilt down busy city streets where all eyes are focused on the day ahead and the persons' back in front of them? Transport yourselves into history with overnight accommodations at an historical small town all-American '30s and '40s Bungalow where everyone looks you in the eyes, gives you a hearty fare-thee-well and always knows your name.
Be our guests through this Blog, as we share the attitude and style of the 1930s through the 1940s,and yes...glamour of Quite The Stir Bungalow!
"It was a beautiful clear night and you could see for miles. It hardly seemed minutes before the plane faded away over the Charleston range when I saw a flash and then big tongues of flame rising from the mountainside. The plane cracked in two like a piece of kindling wood."
Shock spread throughout the nation. War time America! Exactly when every man, woman and resource of hope, inspiration, sustenance, empowerment, humor and joy was so desperately needed on the homefront and in the campaigns....an element SIMPLY CEASED TO BE, IN THE SPAN OF A MOMENT.
Songs by Crooner Russ Columbo
Said to be Carole's Great Love
January 16, 1942, Carole Lombard, accompanied by her beloved mother, was returning home to California from a successful World War II Bond Drive Rally in Indiana at the behest of then President Roosevelt. Some say "by the toss of a coin", heads or tails, homeward bound by train or plane was determined. That's it then...determined by a simple gesture and perhaps exactly as Lombard had wished it to be... in a plane, along with fate to accompany them, they knew their last entombment of life.
As they boarded the Transcontinental and Western Airlines DC-3 airplane that would take them home, Caroles' final words to the admiring fans and crowds wishing her well and adieu were a reflection of her ever selfless dedication to her country in a time of dire need..
"Before I say goodbye to you all, come on and join me in a big cheer! V for Victory!" And the crowd blushed, cheered, applauded and bade their, indeed all of Americas' legend... goodbye.
After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off and 23 minutes later, crashed into "Double Up Peak" near the 8,300-foot (2500 m) level of Mount Potosi, 32 miles (52 km) southwest of Las Vegas. All aboard, 19 passengers and three crew, were killed.
The Great Carole Lombard haddied.
Shocked silence and devastation reverberated world wide in the wake of news announcing Carole Lombard's death. Fans, admirers, family and friends retreated into a somnabulant pose as they mourned the loss of their heroin, their legend and the girl next door.
After her death, the Van Nuys News ran an unusual front page tribute: "Down deep in their hearts, those who had chatted with her over the back fence or across a garden row knew that Carole Lombard wanted more than anything else to be a model housewife and a good neighbor. And she was just that. She was a lovable person, just as much at home in blue denims and gingham's as she was in furs and jewels.".
Gone forever to mortals, was one of the most amazing Actresses America had ever possessed. While her life was, fleeting, her stardom remains enduring and enchanting, with the bittersweet melody of the essence and epitome of a tragic ending. Carole's was a story that never made a full play unto the end...literally, some still say, by the flip of a coin.
In a world where mere written words fail emotion and are lacking inexplicably in the most part, what I actually mean to say here, communicate, or divulge, I find it best to share the aura of the woman, Carole. But remember, gentle readers? This is presented through the myopic vision of one who dearly admires her legend, is a sentimental and soft hearted sort identifying with her on so many levels. Knowing full well that there are those among us who yet inhabit today and can recollect or verify vague and indeed vivid memories of Carole Lombard far better than I, please bear with me as I am merely and only able to study her from history, and share with you, gentle readers, gleanings. In sharing, I will spare "many the's minutia" and particulars which made up her life in total, naturally. I hope to inspire, within your very hearts, a totally new emotion, the thrill of revelation and unveiling of an Iconic Legend who once inspired thousands...this woman, and unforgettable character of altogether Carole Lombard....an American Legend.
Carole was writ large in signifying, expressing and embodiment of one of the Greatest American Legends of All Time. She was then embued with a flavor seemingly of other worlds beyond our grasp and is now truly in every sense of the word...celestial.
Alongside any loyal coterie of Lombard fans, it can easily be agreed that Carole was a classic and timeless beauty with undefined sexual allure for her own time and history. For all intents and purposes, she was always charming and verbose, witty and intelligent, playful, capricious, hinted at intrigue and remarkably kind hearted. Admired and loved by many, as well, for her genuine sense of humor and direct language, she had won American hearts in a time when the country had been drowning in the Depression . Her High Spirits and love for the world, apparent bounce and energy coupled and tippled together have touched my heart and found me tossing back a few 'ello and oh' deah endearments. She too, was the girl next door. What an unrestrained contagious and remarkable approach to life, Carole possessed!
I Said I Wouldn't Do"An Exposé" on the 1930s and 1940s Hey Day again for just a bit.
I was actually off of the wagon for an hour or so...
then contrarily and Goodness Gracious, 'Mes amis'!
By Darn, if I am not, good and righteous, back on the wagon again!
Jeff, most debonair, handsome and fine gentleman of the Social Club,
here's to you and the wicked good inspiration...
The Paying of an Homage to the Legend and memories of Carole Lombard
all
whilst launching a
tuppence of whispered yet, "blissfully kissed memories on the brow"
to the one who dearly loved
her most tenderly of all...
Clark Gable
and only a million adoring, thronging fans.
Hitch Your Star to the Wagon
Whilst the Fireworks of Romance and Intrigue Unfolds
and soon
Let the Star Power Begin?
Carole Lombard, An American Actress
"You're getting to be a habit with me!"
For all intents and purpose
I'm not going to "Take it on the heel and toe" 1930s style, just yet!
First off the top...anyone want to get down and dirty with retro ingenuity as Jolene goes Rogue? That's right! You've heard it here for the first time! Vintage Bungalow Gal, Jolene, is going Rogue and you're invited!
Prepare for Utopian enthusiasm, global enlightenment and immersion as we get cracking again, gentle readers!
Rogue along with yet another sidelong glance, into the glamorous and attitude filled era of the 1930s and 1940s! Let's turn on the heat and fire up the range whilst you prepare to read and experience one of the most scintillating journeys you've ever taken! Shall we discover, together gentle readers... a few inventions of gadgets, gizmos, and history?!
Second off the top,...not necessarily fodder for the fainthearted, I simply hadn't known it before or perhaps had taken it for granted, but I can confidentially declare that..."History can never be pronounced dead and we shan't be surprised to find that it remains in most excellent of health and a guiding beacon to all in a plethora of ways!" .
We tend to remember the 1930s and 1940s in a plethora of ways, don't we? WWII images and reminders of the "Era of The Greatest Generation", the Dust Bowls' effect, Victory Gardens and Swinging to Big Bands, I'd suppose, are carved into and unto our remembrance of this generation. The impact of these once in a life time images and memories all too often means we fail to see so many of the amazing changes the era was experiencing in "making their world and the future more livable"! Many inventions derived of yesterday, we oft times assume always were and don't question their beginnings.
I do now know and also fully understand, after indoctrination and browsing through tons of old sepia photographs, color pictures, seeping and searching like a brew of warm liquid tea through varied portals of yesterday, all for the genuine pleasure and a wee bit of writing for this blog, that yet more surprising findings of this era often challenged of my own pre-conceived assumptions, as well! Nice run on sentence, non?
What of the "the Americans of the 30s and 40s"? I'd hazard a guess they greatly appreciated awakening from a society that once, in an earlier day, may have encouraged deep slumber in any number of ways. Awakening, pleasantly surprised, only to find themselves in a society that rained and purveyed upon them all the nuances and the multiplicity of ingenious inventions!
As we go Rogue, we'll begin to look at those beginnings,...let's start at an age when Television was in her infancy and radio still provided virtuosity, variety and giddiness when times would allow....
From FM radio, drive-in movies and the jet engine of the 1930s, we re-introduce:
Inventions of the 1930s
1930-The first quick-frozen vegetables, fruits, seafoods, and meat were sold to the public for the first time by Birds Eye Frosted Foods®.
1930-General Electric introduced the electric kettle with an automatic cut-out
1930- Sunbeam Mixmaster first mass marketed after patent in 1928
1930- Scotch tape
1930- First Shopping Cart which was improved for years as is any and all good in life
1930- First Television Commercial
1931- U.S. patent for World’s first electric dry shaver.
1932- First tape dispenser with a built-in cutter blade
1932- First parking meter (what were they thinking?!)
1933- The first flexible stainless steel, all-metal ice tray
1933- Polyvinylidene chloride or Saran (After World War II, met approval for food packaging)
1933- Synthetic surfactants. Each part of the "miracle molecules" executed a specific function--one pulled grease and dirt from the clothes, while the other suspended dirt until it could be rinsed away. This discovery was introduced in a detergent called"Dreft"
1933- First Drive In Theatre
1934- Monopoly claims
1934- Road Reflector or Cats Eyes
1935- First Canned Beer
1935- Automatic answering machine
1935- Scotch Brand Cellulose Tape
1935- Radar Patented
1935- In-Sink-Erator Garbage Disposal premiered after ten years in the making
1935- First automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks
1935- Prontosil, the first sulfa drug, by a German Scientist
1936- First Sun Screen
1936- Colt Revolver Patented
1937- The process called Xerography (Photocopier)
1937- CBS begins its TV development and The BBC begins high definition broadcasts in London
1938- Freeze-dried coffee was first produced in 1938 leading to the development of powdered food products
1938- LSD Synthesized
1938- Ballpoint Pen
1938- Teflon
1939- First Presidential Speech Showcased at Worlds' Fair
1939- First Successful Helicopter
1939- Electron Microscope
1939- View-Master
1939- Automated teller machine
1935/
1942- Found polyethlene, Acrylic or polymethyl, Nylon, Neoprene (silk and rubber synethics), Silicone and Polyester patents
And then along came the time of WWII when the freeze-dried process was developed commercially when it was used to preserve blood plasma and penicillin, and electric rice cookers...may we re-introduce:
Inventions of the 1940s
1940- Color television system
1940- JEEP !
1940- America’s most successful depilatory lotion, NAIR
1941- Aerosol Spray Can
1942- Bazooka Rocket Guns (I went Rogue)
1943- Tide detergent and introduced years later as the first heavy duty detergent
1943- American microbiologist made the drug streptomycin
1943- Silly Putty properties found
1944- Kidney dialysis machines
1945- Slinky
1945-Microwave oven
1945-The Atomic Bomb which turned the world in veritable madness (Rogue again!)
1946- Mobile Telephone Service
1946- The modern day espresso machine was created
1946- Bikini-Gadget, Gizmo, Electrifying, What Have You (Rogue here!)
1946- Automation
1947-Pocket calculator (four-function, mechanical)
1947-Transistor
1947-Polaroid camera
1948- Patent for a method of the mass production of penicillin (An Ounce of Rogue here!)
1948-Long Playing Record
1948-Plastic version of FRISBEE!
1948-Holography
1948-The Dream of Velcro was born, yet not patented until the 1955s. Ahhhhmm...Just saying is all!
1949-Atomic clocks
1949- Cake Mix
1949- 45 RPM Record
1949-Silly Putty ® Mass Produced, selling faster than any other toy in history with over $6 million in sales for the year. Ohhhhhh, darling...call me putty in your hands!
And here, some wicked bad prices, from across the country, both far and wide... that may look most excellent today, my gentle readers, but a fortune to the purveyors of connoisseur of yesterday...prohibitively expensive!
1930s and Prices...
Electric Toaster $9.95 1932
Electrolux gas Refrigerator $144.50 1939
(Note: With the advent of Freon, the refrigerator market enjoyed growth during the 1930s.) Separate freezers became common during the 1940s, the popular term at the time for the unit was a "deep freeze". But these devices or "appliances" did not go into mass production for use in the home until after World War II).
Westinghouse Cleaner with attachment kit $39.95 1939
Westinghouse Wringer washing machine $59.95 1939
Tappan Gas Range $69.95 1939
Emmerson 5 tube bedroom radio $9.95 1938
Philco Auto Radio $24.95 1938
Electric Flat Iron $1.49 1935
Electric Movie Projector $3.95 1935
Fridge Six Cubic Feet all steel cabinet stainless steel super freezer
New GE Thrifty Six (I'll have Seven!)
Philco Radio "Complete with built in Ariel Tuning system, ultra high fidelity and able to pick up stations from countries around the world Air, and Police and shipping all in a single bound!"
1940's and Prices...
Electric heaters $8.50 1946
Record Player / Radio Combination $59.00 1946
Hearing Aid $59.95 1946
Portable Sun Lamp $32.59 1946
Tappan Gas Range $69.95 1939
Emmerson 5 tube bedroom radio $9.95 1938
Philco Auto Radio $24.95 1938
Electric Flat Iron $1.49 1935
Electric Movie Projector $3.95 1935
Kelvinator Washer Wringer "With our Washer Wringer home laundry becomes an easy task"
$54.95
Tappan Gas Range "With glass door which allows you to see your cooking , split oven and flexo speed baking"
$109.75
As I forayed many vast runs into history, expended much remarkable time and quality into the research which underpins this tome (wink)...I can say, the discovering of each detail has been enlightening and remarkable! And here too, I must add a caveat...this lovely article is not a substitute or supplement for a complete American History of Gadgets, Gizmos, Electric and Electronics or menue! But, rather a stimulus to history appreciation and a barring of impediments in our rich history.
Hope you've found this bit 'o the blog fanciful to scan about and through, comfortable to curl up with, enlightening to read, food for fodder, tickling to the funny bone and thoughtful of yesterday once more. If you like,...give me some Skin as from the singing diddy in this blog, by the remarkable Andrew Sisters! Feel free to download, access, grab your partner or Skip To The Lou as you may feel necessary.
Show me a good blog anytime, and I'll show you a thinker and a doer.
Let's Not Just Talk About It You Little Dickens!...Time To Get Cooking NOW in any number of delicious, electrifying and electrific ways!
Grab your helmets, grab your schtick, grab your aprons and holy cow, do hold on to those pin-up gal posters as we get set to bear down upon the world of appliances, gadgets, menus and gizmos of the 1930s and 1940s.
Await us will you?
We Most Heartily Promise, Gentle Readers to
return in a Gillette moment....with "Schtick Happens"...
Mon Dieu! Could Her Eminence Magnifique Scoundrel, Le Brigand....be ze dirty rotten scoundrel?
To your many queries, may we say...
Le Brigand offers a world of adventure to our gentle readers. With the determination of Amelia Earhart, with the curiosity of Anais Nin, with the forthrightness of Eleanor Roosevelt, the moxy of Katherine Hepburn, the raucousness and irreverence of Joe Dirt (best left alone), the intensity of the flaring sun and the passion of a million saints all smattered together with the wicked good humor, wit, intelligence, intrigue and mystery of the world ...
there you will find
Le Brigand.
She graciously shares our everyday lives with whimsical musings of and from her be-dazzled everyday world.
It's that time again,...easy listening pleasure from Bungalow Olde Time Radio courtesy of Quite The Stir Bungalow in Gettysburg, PA!
Things are beginning to get a wee bit suspicious around here...let's call out for some heavy and hard hitting sleuthing! Why, we need, why we need.... the Falcon!
Folks,...here in the North East, good old Gettysburg, PA and beyond....looks like it may be a cold, snowy and icy night for New Years Eve! So why not settle down, oppressed gentlemen and repressed ladies, and experience the ultimate in titanic entertainment? Enjoy an Evening with THE FALCON! A popular radio series of the 1940s!
Folks? I don't know about you, but after radio listening, this Bungalow Gal is so frightened that there may be absolutely NO stopping this knee knocking, heart hammering, thrill of the ride moment!
Whatever shall I do?
Will madness and mayhem never cease?
Looks as though we're left to embrace our fears and in doing so....
Join me for Hot Toddies on the Gettysburg Square on New Years' Eve? Non-Alcoholic of course!
It is the perfect time to pack the 1940s vintage roadster, bring the family, or travel solo and take an evening to visit Gettysburg! Join in the New Year' Eve festivities on the Square!
Never too late to book your reservations for an overnight stay anywhere in Gettysburg!
See you there? Tell them Jolene of Quite The Stir Bungalow sent you!
"All the rich requisites are brought from far: the table from Japan, the tea from China, the sugar from Amazonia, or the West Indies, but that 'Scotia does no such costly tribute bring, only some kettles full of Todian spring.'"Allan Ramsay 1721
I'm fond of saying that the true "Kitsch" of the 1930s and 1940s is well...Earthy!Uninhibited! Robust! Lusty!
The word Kitsch has become a bit synonymous with items, things, people, attributes...and so on...being of poor quality and taste. Some do dispute the total reference to the word... Stop! Was that you? Say what...never ever heard of Kitsch?!
"Well, you're about to hear of Kitsch" says Jolene "if you've the bravery, the temerity, foolhardy disregard of danger, recklessness, and the stomach to follow along with us in a Kitsch Hunt"!
"Kitschy aren't I?"
I thought we could ring in the New Year discovering Kitsch together, Gentle Readers.Byoccasion, and from time to time, let's do go a wandering through the marvelous vintage era of the 1930s and 1940s! Let's take a closer moment to observe trinkets and treasures, and every day items or objets 'd Arte!
Most of the items you'll be catching a rare glimpse of are indeed fond little treasures (or Kitsch) of Quite The Stir Bungalow (yours truly) in Gettysburg, PA. Most items have been recovered from darling, quaint antique shops in or near the historic and lovely 'burg of Gettysburg, PA. However, and Ho! Credit where credit is due, please...road tripping has been a boon in providing other treasures (or Kitsch) from the entire Eastern Seaboard and beyond!
Let's ponder various and sundry items and discern if they're Kitsch, Vintage, Treasure or Koo! And, one more thing...don't hesitate to post us your own treasured photo of vintage 30s and 40s memorabilia for a closer look too! "Now, Now then", she croons...."When posting us, please remember to be stalwart for...What is another man's (or woman's) treasure may not necessarily be yours or ours...but you never know!"
IT'S ALMOST TWILIGHT...TIME FOR THE DRIVE-IN MOVIES?!
Will you indulge me, momentarily... to use sleight of hand, wicked bad convolution and imagery to introduce, co-mingle and interweave the popular Drive-In Theaters of yesteryear together with the concept of good family entertainment and old-fashioned parenting? (Keep in mind, Gentle Readers, that parallels are intended to be drawn, right here, from yesterdays' 1930-40s for use today. Wink!)
Imagery begins now: Imagine (or recall) your typical Saturday evening all American living room of the 1940's. Floral chair, overstuffed couch, drapes, doilies, Life Magazine, four children's bored silly and kinda down in the blue faces? MEET four older wiser eyes of unsuspecting, weary fed up to there, caught in the glare of headlights all American parents.....picture developed yet?
Yes, the unsuspecting Brown parents didn't know then..., but the Brown children (their very own children, no less) were about to relentlessly upset hierarchical family dynamics and pursue its Board Of Directors (their very own parents, again no less), to approve a momentary request of $0.02 per mile as part of an entertainment bid to cover their increasing need for thrills a minute!
Go on now, for you grow inquisitive?
However, it had been a known and established fact to the Brown children, the Board Of Directors (Brown parents) had firmly expressed that the $ .15 initial fee for hiring a babysitter for the howling youngest Brown child or bringing in consultant (aka grandma) for purposes of entertainment, would not change in near foreseeable future. Further, price of a baby sitter at that wage was unacceptable, and particularly more the pity, if the cost of sitter would rise to $.20 in following consecutive days, months and years! The dwindling alternative for babysitting by grandma, was quickly becoming history as she was gaining notoriety among townsfolk for sleeping far too often and too soon after reporting for babysitting duty on the frontlines.
These facts, not unlike today, in combination with a myriad of other problematic issues, known as insurmountable heretofore, resulted in "the Board" not taking into consideration further additional measures or alternatives for entertainment other than those already in existence. Looked bleak for Brown children, then.
Ahhh, but there was the rub Brown parents and Brown children (thank you Shakespeare)....in their pending ever increasing desperate approach, the Brown children had developed another new strategy and campaign as a way and means to weaken, integrate, attract and direct "the Board" to any and all parallels inentertainment ! (How was it then, as today, that children learn bribery and manipulation in a minute and parents take a lifetime to ferret out and master?...Othello-esque homage thrown in for dash there!) Scratch, oops, trouble in all American 1940s' Family Land?! NOT!!!!!Read aloud for booming tunnel effect, the following: Brown Children?The Brown parents, had at long last found the wise affordable family entertainment... the DRIVE-IN THEATERS! So, there, reap ye no more havoc!
Let's talk Drive-In Movies...from the very beginning! Whilst you wait for us to return with the full "news reel", do make haste and headway to the refreshment stand for buttery popcorn, thirst quenching sodas and All-American hot dogs!
Don't forget to attach that window speaker to your fine 1948 Chrysler! Turn the volume up now! Oh, and "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are." Richard Milton Hollingshead, Jr. and heartily endorsed by Jolene, as well, for Blog reading! Hubba!
The era of radio voices wisped into WWII homes with regularity during the 1940s. The Red, White and Blue American family gathered together, with kith and kin, around their living rooms and kitchens to listen to the radio news. GI Joes or Janes and Rosie The Riveter would tune in, when time would allow, by the lights of dingy factory break room or nightly by a comforting radio glow.
Americans listened, intently, as history unfolded a swathe of grandeur or milieu of terror across radio airways. Every man, woman and child of the 1940s was enlightened of sorrow, joy, hope, laughter, tragedy and war. Astounding events that shaped our very lives today were sent to them yesterday. A link to the outside world could be had by simply listening to radio and the confident assuring radio broadcasters of The Greatest Generation.
Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.
General Douglas MacArthur
On the whispered wings of golden silence, I left my vigil at Ema Mims bedside. Ever so tenderly, I closed the door to her familiar, warm bedroom leaving behind the scent of talcom and liniment.
Somewhere from the depths of this gracious old home of my childhood memories, the willing ancient boiler could be heard gently purring whilst sending a swirling brew of warmth through the flooring grates. As I moved forward, at once deeply entrenched in my reveries, I gingerly sidestepped the scattered long loved ancient rugs that lay upon the wooded floor. Their weave unmistakably bore the intricately worn and woven footsteps of Emas' life well loved and lived.
Here too, within this room sheltered from the dark of the night beyond, there was no escaping the sounds of a howling winter storm breathing heavily unto Gettysburg, with a fervor worthy of the horses of the apocalypse. I acutely feared the Gettysburg roads leading both inward and outward to town were closed, most certainly by now. Gettysburg was isolated and on her own.
I lingered a moment beside the small upright blonde piano before pressing onward to the kitchen beyond. There, propped stalwart upon a tediously and delicately embroided runner and amidst dried rose petals, lying haphazardly upon the piano, were the faces of my past and Emas' yesterdays' singing out to me. My eyes alighted, in particular, upon a fading to white sepia picture of Ema and her young sister, Claire. Ema, her back to the cameras' eye was poised, pulling Claire through mountains and mounds of snow in a gay rustic child's sleigh. Ema was dressed in a high collared, fine woolen coat and gloves and a durable knitted and bobbed hat. The household budget would only strain so far for utility and rarely ever vanity and fashion, I had recalled Ema remarking in the past.
Aunt Claire, much younger than Ema, clutched a blanket in her toddlers' stout arms, as she laughingly embraced the cool sting of the winter air and the sluice of snow parting beneath the sled blades. Claire, Ema had said, was a naturally, all precocious child and her smile captured a million hearts in the luminous glow of her exhilaration. These innocents, I thought, tis a blessing that they did not know all that life had held in store for them in their years to come. Claire was spared the knowledge that her young life would be cut short in her blossoming womanhood, more's the pity, for I would have loved to have met this vivacious, adventurous and unyielding woman of Ema Mims recollections.
Absently, moved by unbidden and powerful emotion, with a slow sweeping movement, I reached forward to caress the unyielding glass frame picture of these sisters engaged in the serious business of play.
Emas' words, echoed to me from another treasured day and cherished moments spent together. While she harvested a summer gardens bounty,I ...as ever, watched on in undying devotion and love. It was a brilliantly white sunny day then, as we sat near the smoke bushes in the rear yard. The ever industrious bees could be heard buzzing monotonously amidst the old fashioned cabbage roses. The cloying scents of Bee Balm and Lavender intermingled with the curious, but familiar sound of the occasional whish snap of freshly laundered crisp cotton sheets drying where they hang swirling in the ocassional breeze. This grandeur of setting altogether painted a beautiful memory for me.
And so it began, as always before. Ema Mims and I huddled together in the sheltered comfort and warmth of her bedroom as the winter winds whipped a cresendo of frightening chill and fury upon us. Her porcelain hand rested cooly in my own youthful hand. As I had always done, I sat still upon the vinyled green hassock at her side, while the warm glow of lamp light danced upon her fine silvered hair.
Except for the ticking of the now ancient enameled clock at her bedside and the shifting of logs within the fireplace, the only sound was that of Emas' soft and weakened voice punctuated by the raspiness that age often imbues upon each of us.
Her entire countenance was transformed and her face grew slack as she prepared to answer. She visibly relaxed into repose as she slowly and bit by bit, unwound the gossamer threaded reel of her cherished memories. Those lovely hazel eyes, dimmer now, were yet sequined with gold and the moments of history known uniquely and only unto her...
It seems that I can recall it was so very cold back then, those winters of 1941. I was fourteen, let's see, yes, I was fourteen just that year in August, 1941. The wind that night wasn't unlike this night Jolene. But there was snow, oh my that snow...she rasped. It reached right to the window sills of our out kitchen where mother kept the lard. That old man winter reached into our very soul, it seemed and rattled the bones. And, I can remember now as though it were yesterday. Mother , herself, had done her best to block the windows and doorways from the draft. Of course, I had held the bulk of the weight of those quilts.
Father was gone that winter for quite a spell at a time, what with the war just starting and him headed out to find a job, just any work would do. He'd taken one of the last trains out of Gettysburg in 1941 headed for Baltimore, because we so needed the money to tide us over. I'll remember that the next December, 1942, if I recall correctly yes, yes... it was the last that old train blew out of town. Wasn't easy at all for mother to see him go. It was so hard Jolene, you can't understand the hardships we endured then. We didn't have anything to speak of, the four of us, we were just humbled to have warmth at night and mighty blessed for any dinner of roasted beef and turnips from the cold cellar.
It's so cold, isn't it? Ema began to fret and listlessly fumbled for the natted afghan resting upon her stomach. Gently, I drew the afgan closer to her frail chest. It was a blessing that mother had hung the worn patchwork quilts to keep the draft out and a blessing to have those old quilts too.You remember your Aunt Claire don't you, Jolene? I nodded for I knew well the story, told and retold, but Ema did not notice my gesture, so lost in her reveries she was.
Yes, that December or was it January, Aunt Claire had the croup. Fact was, the whole town was dealing with some ailment or another, it seems. Oh, the chest liniment and Castor oil flew heavy that winter. Wasn't any use to visit the doctor then, Jolene. Unless we were on our death bed or in labor, as mother said, we weren't making any pricey visits to the doctor. So, at fourteen, and with no prospects in sight, or was it fifteen, and Claire seven, we didn't see us going into labor anytime soon then...she smiled that old glorious smile of her youth ... but there were manys the times we were on our death bed, or so we thought.
