I Blame This On Mama

No, not expecting breakfast in bed,

although I do remember Daddy doing this for her.

I blame it on Mama that she taught me to love this

for breakfast....

Broiled cheese, tomato, and mayo sandwich.

Broiled on low to give the cheese time to melt...

Homegrown tomatoes peeled for a daughter who

once was a picky eater.

That's okay, Mama.

Homegrown tomatoes soon will be gone.

The Dignity of Labor

 

Doesn't this handsome male look dignified doing his job as sentinel?

He guards this old house that's been in the same family ever since it was built. 

So does his sweet mate.

They never go off duty. 

Ever so often, R.H. and our sons are called on to work on this lovely house,

for two of the nicest clients anyone could ever have.

As you can see in the above picture, lower shutters have been removed,

pots on the veranda not filled with flowers this season.

Work has been taking place.

We have worked at this much-loved family house for many years.

This time the original copper roof that was causing too much
condensation and leaks had to be replaced.

We installed Arrowline lifetime warranty steel shingles.
And it was time to replace much of the wood siding with Western cedar.

Notice where we installed snow guards over the bay window above?
This should prevent chunks of ice from falling off and breaking
the skylight again.

After the roofing and siding was completed, we replaced a unique
old skylight that had been cracked by falling ice.

Don't you love this cute skylight we installed?
We are the only company around that will warranty these old skylights.

If you look at the picture below, the room where you see the chimney is a 20 x 30 
kitchen ell that opens up to a terrace where they have breakfast.
We did the roof on the kitchen about 10 years ago of copper
that has aged to a beautiful patina.

And we just installed these new Azek Pavers decking material so that the owners now
will be able to put a table and chairs out to enjoy the view that looks 
out on their 26 acres.

Below is a beautiful garden room.

The skylights you see in the lower part of this picture we
installed years ago.

Almost forgot, it was time for a new roof on the pool house too.

It is always such a pleasure working for these nice people and helping them

with new projects. And old homes are our favorite to work on.

There are other buildings on the estate that we've worked on in the past such as 

an upper story breezeway to the garage for an office, and the barn,

but my photographer missed some shots.

He did take pictures of a few interesting areas around the property 

that I thought you might enjoy seeing. 

These steps lead to a terrace

that in turn leads to another terrace.

There are many, many terraces tucked around the house and property.

 

Isn't this a lovely path to walk?

There is a peony garden in the back

and one of the many rose gardens on the land.

Here's another garden far away from the house by the barn.

Don't you love this noble eagle?

He's made of bronze and welded with lead 

and the squirrels have nibbled on him over the years.

Ever watched Blast from the Past?

Here's the fallout shelter!

 

Now, don't ask me who these guys are.

In fact, if you know who they are, please tell me.

"In the month of September we have in New York and so many other states a holiday which everyone of us should remember. It is called Labor Day and should bring to our minds first of all the dignity of labor. It is a dignified thing to work, to pay one's way in the world through the work of one's hands or the work of one's head, and it is something in which every worker should take pride."

Eleanor Roosevelt

1934

Happy Labor Day to all of you!

  

Daddy's Girl

I happened upon some pages of back-to-school fashions for little girls in one of my vintage magazines the other day that were as beautiful as paintings. They were posing with their fathers.

I wondered what these fathers of 1961--the year R.H. and I were married--could have been saying to their daughters. I thought of my own father, and of me and my three sisters.

And of course it made me think of my own wonderful daughter who is definitely a Daddy's Girl.

From McCall's magazine, August 1961 issue,

beautifully photographed by Harold Krieger.....

 "Let's read, shall we?

A book is a window to the world."

"Think before you make a decision."

"Of course you can learn to ski.

You can learn almost anything if you

work hard enough at it."

"I'll go to the ballet with you and your little sister.

And tomorrow let's work on those math problems.

There's nothing scary about math."

 "You know you can tell me and your mother

anything, don't you?"

 

 "A sister is a friend you'll always have."

  

"Yes, you're beautiful,

and you're smart.

But you're also a very nice person."

"Let's get Mommy to teach us both to knit."

"Where do you want to travel when you grow up?

We could start learning the language now."

"You treat him with respect, honey.

But you darn sure expect him to treat you

with respect, too.
I hope you'll remember that when you're older."

 "I am so sorry.

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

I was just thinking about a problem at work.

Will you forgive me?"

"Never forget that I love you!"

This post is dedicated to all the good dads out there,

and to my sisters--we had a great one, didn't we?

And especially it is dedicated to my own Daddy's Girl

and to her daddy!

Ads That Sold - Daniel Green Slippers

[Ladies' Home Journal April 1951]

Daniel Green has been making slippers for 130 years!

I used to give ones like the Fifi style above at lingerie showers
for my girlfriends when I was a young married woman. 

They were always a big hit.

But I still wear Daniel Green Slippers today.

I don't think they make honeymoon slippers anymore.

But if you want a comfy slipper, Daniel Green Slippers make me happy--

and Otis likes them too.

 

Classroom or Beach?

[Woman's Home Companion August 1943]

Aren't they darling?

I wonder if they're getting ready for school?

The children today are already back at school.

I just hate that.

Do they really learn anymore than if they started after Labor Day?

I complained about that last year, HERE,

so this year I'll just say that all children should be doing this in August...

instead of sitting in a classroom. 

What do you think?

Classroom or beach?

Classroom or beach?

 Classroom or beach?

 

Be A Good Boy

At 24 years old, he was the youngest member of the Tennessee Legislature on 
August 18, 1920.

Harry Burn stood up to cast his vote.

He wore a red rose, not a yellow rose, in his lapel, signifying that he stood with the men who planned to vote Nay to the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

In one hand was a letter he had received that morning from his mother.

It read:

Dear Son,

 Hurrah and vote for suffrage!

Don't keep them in doubt!

I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter.

I have been watching to see how you stood, 

but have not noticed anything yet.

Don't forget to be a good boy

and help Mrs. Catt put the "rat" in ratification.

Your mother

Harry Burns voted Aye to the ratification of the 19th Amendment,

Tennessee becoming the needed 36th state for the Amendment to become law

and for women of the United States of America to be given the right to vote.

 

Harry said he changed his vote because--

"A good boy always does what his mother asks him to do."  

[Our daughter-in-law stands before the Woman Suffrage Memorial

when we visited it, depicting Lizzie Crozier French of Knoxville,

Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville,

and Elizabeth Avery Meriwether of Memphis,

leaders of the women's suffrage movement in Tennessee.]

For the Price of a Bowl of Soup

"For the price of a bowl of soup I bought today at an old bookshop

a volume to me infinitely valuable--

a boon, a prize, a priceless possession.

All the way home on the train I read it:

I was enlarged, I acquired merit, I added to my life."

 David Grayson in The Countryman's Year
 

Have you ever felt that way about a book?

This old 1943 book, Richardson Wright's The Bed-Book of Eating and Drinking, found "for the price of a bowl of soup," has been a real treasure to me. In it he does for the table what he did for the garden in his classic The Gardener's Bed-Book.

This old first edition, while missing its dustjacket, is full of helpful tidbits from the longtime Editor in chief of House and Garden. And all from a man's viewpoint, or at least from the viewpoint of a man of his time. I honestly can't see R.H. caring whether his soup is served from a soup tureen or not, but Mr. Wright surely cared.

 

"Now the purpose of using a tureen at table,

apart from displaying a charming vessel, is to keep the soup hot...

Further, I believe that the soup should be a surprise,

the kind to come shouldn't be announced beforehand."

Richardson Wright

Do any of you have a soup tureen? Do you use it? I would love to have one like the Spode's Pink Tower above, or in any of the Spode patterns that I collect but wonder if I would actually use it.

 I like what Mr. Wright says about keeping the soup a surprise. Sometimes we give away all the fun of a meal by telling what's for supper, when it would be more dramatic to bring a soup tureen to the table and lift the lid. 

I'm not sure I would even have room for a soup tureen so I'll continue to use my favorite Le Cruset soup pot to serve from. 

We all have favorite chicken soup recipes so I won't put mine here but I do have a new favorite ingredient. Five minutes before serving the soup I stir in chopped baby bok choy. It is so much better than the large bok choy in soup.

I served mine with finely cut basil in two Mikasa "Chelsea Vine" bowls found at Goodwill. The placemats and napkins are from there too. 

This soup started off the night before as Roast Chicken, Pat Conroy's recipe--found HERE 
at my old blog--except that this time I included Richardson Wright's suggestion:

"Before you tuck away a chicken to roast,

rub it with this mixture:

1/2 powdered ginger and 1/4 mustard and 1/4 salt.

Things happen to that chicken's flavor."

I assumed he meant teaspoons here and dry mustard and it very definitely added to the flavor and color of the chicken.

I always save the leftover skin and bones and scraps to make broth the next morning, which is the basis of several different kinds of chicken soup the next day with the leftover chicken added. 

Maybe someday I'll find a soup tureen at Goodwill with my name on it. Meanwhile I always find other hidden treasures in the book aisle. Choose the sticker of the day color and their books are half price. 

"For the price of a bowl of soup" you might find a book to read or to read to someone else that is priceless.

Even magical?