(07-22-2014 07:49 AM)ReignetteC Wrote:  . . . but then we weren't as glued to the TV as we are today . . . BTW, do kids ride bikes today, or does it take too much time away from their computer games?

Yes, here they do. As for the TV: Till the late 80ies we had only 3 channels, and they didn't broadcast during the night.

We have many bookmobiles to supply especially the kids in rural areas, and from Denmark come "bogbusserne" for the Danish people living here:
   
Herb: Ice-man - yes (still tours the villages), coalman - yes (also steam engines for regular trains), milkman - I was sent to the next farm each second day to get milk. But early each morning came the baker to drop fresh buns on the people's doormats. And I still get the newspaper on my doormat each morning!

Roger: We, too, had a grinderman coming around every now and then.

And I still appreciate my record player and vinyl collection!
One thing I'd definetly not like to have back: school on Saturdays!

I have a lot of vinyl records, too! And yes, I remember Green Stamps - and Topps Bubble Gum Cards! Remember those, and the prizes in the Cracker Jack Box? Remember Jiffy Pop Popcorn? It came in a tin pan with a long handle and had aluminum wrap on top that expanded with the popped corn when you put it over the stove burner?

Herb struck a familiar chord for me when he mentioned the neighbor who made his own wine. We did too, except not with grapes. Locust trees grow like wildfire around here (the Garrett farm was even named Locust Hill Farm). My mother would gather the white blossoms from those trees right at the peak of bloom. Out came huge crocks left over from my great-grandmother's kitchen. The blossoms were boiled down, put in the crocks, and lots of sugar was added along with lemon slices, orange slices, and seeded muscat raisins. Finally, a yeast cake was added.

Our kitchen had a metal work table over a radiator, so the crocks sat on the table over the heat for about two weeks for fermentation to occur. Each day, I'd come in from school and smell it getting stronger. It also "talked" to you - sort of a slushing sound. When ready, Mom strained it and poured it into dark wine bottles without corks until all fermenting was complete. She then corked the bottles and stored them in cool, dark places (like the back of a closet or on steps leading to the basement). Each year, the new batch was brought out in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a light amber color and bubbly. She called it "Farmers' Champagne," and boy was it good -- especially when we found an overlooked bottle from the year before.

We lived with my grandmother who was a tee-totaler (raised in a good Methodist family who belonged to the Sons of Jonadab, a temperance group). She forgot about her upbringing, however, whenever the Locust Blossom Wine came out. She also was a sucker for Mogen David and Christian Brothers wines, but she blamed that on her husband converting her to his Episcopal faith and forcing her to drink wine at the altar!

We also had a huge persimmon tree in our yard that produced tons of the little, native persimmons. Mom made Persimmon Beer with those. She also made Persimmon Pudding with some, and it was delicious. Of course, the persimmons were best once they had been touched with the first heavy frost.

I'm continuing to read Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen, and some of the recipes are bringing back fond memories. BTW: The author cites numerous occasions where Mrs. Lincoln entertained guests or the whole family served dinner to visitors. She was noted as an excellent cook, and no one seems to have made any comment about her being in bad humors.

(07-22-2014 07:49 AM)ReignetteC Wrote:  Remember the kid's magazine, "Highlights?" And how about "Boy's Life?" (I think that was the title.) I always looked forwarded to reading them, even though Boy's Life was for my brother. Anyone remember the stingray bicycle? I remember riding my brother's bike - without a helmet. My how times have changed! Oh, and it wasn't too long ago when one had to get UP and change the channel on the television . . . but then we weren't as glued to the TV as we are today . . . but that's another story. BTW, do kids ride bikes today, or does it take too much time away from their computer games?

"HIGHLIGHTS"!! Is that the magazine that had the lovely wolf couple? The male wolf was named "Samuel-Samuel", and the his lady love was named "Widow Wanda?" Gosh...I adored them!!

I also remember milk deliveries to our Ohio home from the Lawson's truck. I detested milk, then as now, but I remember those dark brown half gallon bottles very well!

Laurie-

I am glad to see that you are enjoying the Lincoln cookbook. I think it's very revealing that the great majority of the people who talked about Mrs. Lincoln's bad temper were never inside her home.....

(07-22-2014 05:09 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Oh yes - the Fuller Brush Man!

From Wikipedia:

"The company also inspired two comedy films, The Fuller Brush Man, a 1948 movie starring Red Skelton and Janet Blair, and The Fuller Brush Girl, a 1950 movie starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert."

Here's a very brief video of a lady reminiscing about the fun experience of having the Fuller Brush Man visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDnWwZV-bHM

Highlights "for children" is still being published out of an old Victorian home near me in Honesdale, PA.

"Boy's-Life" is still published by the Scout's but not as large.Remember "Look Mag", "Sat- Ev-? Post",and of-course,Norman Rockwell paintings.

I can actually remember when our family doctor, Dr. Chasnoff, would make house calls.
Of course this was back in the fifties, and I was a small child.....

Quote:I can actually remember when our family doctor, Dr. Chasnoff, would make house calls.
Of course this was back in the fifties, and I was a small child.....

My obstetrician also made house calls. I can still remember hiding at age 2, underneath a big barrel back chair in the living room once when he came , afraid that Dr. Hoffman was going to give me a shot (he did!) and he pulled me out by the legs. We still have that chair and every time I look at it, I can't believe that I was ever small enough to FIT under it - the seat is about a foot off the floor!

(07-23-2014 05:17 PM)BettyO Wrote:  

Quote:I can actually remember when our family doctor, Dr. Chasnoff, would make house calls.
Of course this was back in the fifties, and I was a small child.....

My obstetrician also made house calls. I can still remember hiding at age 2, underneath a big barrel back chair in the living room once when he came , afraid that Dr. Hoffman was going to give me a shot (he did!) and he pulled me out by the legs.

I remember hiding behind the sofa once as a child - for exactly the same reason! (BTW, family docs still do make house calls here, as a matter of routine.)

I don't remember ever having a doctor who made house calls. I think I did once when I was about four. I was very sick, and my parents drove me to a DC hospital, where I was diagnosed with croup and sent home. I got worse, so Mom bit the bullet and called a retired country doctor who lived in the village. I guess he came over and diagnosed me as having diphtheria. He prescribed something that worked!

I just learned of something new. A friend's landlord is very ill with cancer and has a "concierge doctor" who will go to the hospital or the home to consult on his treatment. The man's sister-in-law is an RN and thinks the doctor is a quack, but the wife thinks he's fine. It must be something new in the Affordable Health Care Act (and I will now shut up!).

How about the drive-in movie theater? I remember seeing "Planet of the Apes" starring Charlton Heston at the drive in. I think they faded away in the late '70s.

(07-22-2014 07:45 PM)L Verge Wrote:  The author cites numerous occasions where Mrs. Lincoln entertained guests or the whole family served dinner to visitors.

This and the neighbor's wine reminded me of two of my favorite accounts/stories.

Admittedly, Lincoln was an avowed teetotaler. The same goes for me for exactly the same reasons: according to John Hay, A. L. "drank nothing but water – not from principle, but because he did not like wine or spirits." I was glad to learn I'm not the only one!!! (My "spirit(s)" is coffee - I'm an avowed coffee-total-er! Simply don't like the taste of wine & co, can't swallow it...don't even like the smell.) My impression is that in our (German at least) society it's sometimes quite difficult to socialize without drinking alcohol, especially at younger age. I was once even not in- but ex-vited by a friend because taking part in high%drinking was expected at her "cocktail evening".

1. Albert Beveridge recalled the following dialogue between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas: At a reception hosting Douglas during the congressional campaigns of 1854, Lincoln declined a drink, whereupon Douglas exclaimed: "Why! are you a member of the Temperance Society?" Lincoln replied: "No! I am not a member of any Temperance Society ... but I am temperate in this, that I don't drink anything."

2. When hearing that Lincoln only served "Adam's ale" (cold water) to the committee (headed by George Ashmun, on May 19, 1860) notifying him of his nomination as presidential candidate of the Republican Party, a journalist and temperance advocate inquired of Lincoln's temperance sentiments. In a letter, Lincoln stated: "Having kept house sixteen years, and having never held the 'cup' to the lips of my friends then, my judgment was that I should not, in my new position, change my habit in this respect." (Very firm attitude!)

D. Donald added the remark to the second story that right before this visit, the Lincolns had a struggle over whether liquor should be served to the visitors.

What about his New Salem times?

I mostly avoid alcohol because I really dislike the taste, but I do love an occasional pitcher of frozen daiquiris on a hot summer evening!

As for the Lincoln's no liquor rule, what about elaborate State dinners in the WH? Surely they must have served champagne and other spirits at those?

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(07-23-2014 06:24 PM)ReignetteC Wrote:  How about the drive-in movie theater? I remember seeing "Planet of the Apes" starring Charlton Heston at the drive in. I think they faded away in the late '70s.

LOL!! My Dad was a big sci-fi freak and had read the best-selling book "Planet of the Apes" in the late 1960's. He was stuck baby sitting us four kids on the night it came to the local drive-in...mom was at work. He was determined to see the film so he threw us into the back seat and off we went to the drive-in one fine evening in 1969 in Columbus, OH.

We kids laughed, giggled and snickered in the backseat throughout the entire movie. I became hysterical every time Zara and Cornelius(the lover apes) would kiss. I think Kim Hunter played Zara? Anyway, my father was totally into it and he was furious with us for laughing...kept threatening to ground us and worse but we couldn't help it, it was a hoot to us!

The Planet of the Apes has become a huge moneymaking franchise in the 40+ years since the original one. I saw the latest one just last week, but for all the high tech wizardry they use for the apes now, nothing beats when they had human actors in the ape roles.

Wow..you folks are dredging up some good old happy memories!

My father's doctor came to the house in the late 60's. When I was a kid, the pediatrician made a house call leaving his dachshund in his car. After the visit was over my mother went to say hello to the dog and he bit her!