The Wonder Of Simple Things And A Simple Cake
Today is the last day of school for us. While we’ve been living here a few weeks, there is still so much to be done. Clothes and dishes and such are put away but the walls still lay bare and unemptied boxes litter the sunroom which is supposed to be my Southern Plate office some fine day, when I can stay home (and out of the kitchen) long enough to unpack them.
This weekend we are having the mother of all yard sales. It’s amazing how many things you acquire in ten years of living in one place. As we packed to get ready for the move, I had an ever growing box of discards. Things we didn’t need anymore or that had outlived their usefulness for the time. One of those things was a framed picture hanging at the end of our hallway. It was pretty but nothing special in my eyes. A print of a waterfall in the midst of a lush forest. I had purchased it from one of those home party shows because it was on sale and I had decided earlier that week that I needed something to hang in the bare spot at the end of the hall. Getting ready to move, I walked out of my room one day and noticed it out of the corner of my eye. A large framed print adorned with a floral swag that had been in dire need of dusting for quite some time. Both were quickly plucked down and walked into the den where I placed them in the top of a large box marked “Yard Sale” with an extra thick black sharpie.
Then I heard a gasp. Two gasps, actually. “You’re not going to sell that!? It wouldn’t be home without that picture!” My son’s tone was pure anguish and as soon as he stopped, his father chimed in. “But I love that picture!”. I lifted it out of the box and turned to face them, my eyebrows arched in wonderment. “THIS? Y’all love this? This symbolizes home for you?”
Both nodded. “Oookaaaay. I reckon we’re keepin’ it.” They both sighed in relief as I leaned it up against a wall next to a “go” pile.
Bless their hearts, Mama almost sold their memories.
When my mother was growing up, she had a similar print in her house. It was an entirely different scene but she tied it so tightly to her home and her childhood that she spent most of my childhood trying to find a copy of it. Several years back, she came across it. The print of a little cabin overlooking a lake. It’s simple, peaceful and pretty, but certainly not a work of art. Still, she loves it and it hangs in her bedroom now. When she looks at it she can’t help but tell you stories about exactly where a print just like it hung growing up and how she used to look at it and imagine fishing in that little pond, just outside of the warmth of the cabin. It’s amazing how little things like this, objects and prints and such, bind themselves so tightly to our childhoods that just looking at them takes us back in time.
For me, it was a milk glass footed planter. Mama planted a golden pothos in it (my favorite houseplant) and gave it just to me to care for. It sat in the center of our den coffee table and I named it Glenda, after the good witch on Wizard of Oz. I used to talk to that plant, stroke its leaves and will it to grow. I’d check the soil daily and hope for dryness just so that I could water it again.
Do I have a planter like that now? You’d better believe it. I found mine before Mama even found her print, saving myself the additional twenty years of searching she had to go through.
These are the simple things which have value to us, real value. Something that helps you remember, that helps you reach back and touch another part of your life so vividly that you can then pass it on just as plainly to your children as if they were living it themselves. They may not amount for much from a monetary standpoint, but they are worth more than anything else you could own.
I’ve had to think about things like this a lot lately because as we move to a new house and evaluate what we do and don’t need anymore, I don’t want to inadvertently get rid of something that my kids really value (but I bet I could have gotten at least a dollar for that print at the yard sale ~winks~). I’d love to hear some of the things you remember like this. What simple “things” make you think of home or of your childhood? Holler at us in the comments section below and lets have us a talk about simple posessions and the irreplaceable value they have in our lives.
Last night, as I hung a new shower curtain in our guest bathroom Katy asked me “Mama, what happened to your shower curtain that had all of the pretty flowers on it? I hope you still use it in your bathroom because I really love to look at that curtain. It makes me happy.” I thought to the curtain now stuffed in a laundry basket in the garage. I had bought it only because it was on sale and matched a towel I had at the time.
I guess I’ve got a shower curtain to hang later today…
Speaking of simple things, how about a simple cake which can be served plain, with a glaze, or as the perfect base for strawberries and whipped cream?
You’ll need: Cooking oil, eggs, small box vanilla instant pudding, water, and a yellow cake mix.
Su, I am sooo bringing you some cake mix when you visit the states!
Su is a reader whose been with Southern Plate for ages. She lives in Australia and cake mix isn’t as common there as it is here. But, she’s coming to the states this fall to visit Graceland with her mother and planning a stop over in Atlanta. I plan on driving over there to meet her. Can’t wait!
I dearly love to get to meet y’all!
Back to the water in this recipe. On my flight out to Los Angeles, I sat by a hydro-geologist. His job is to go to places where the ground water is being polluted and help them purify it again. I asked him, because you know we all wonder these things, what kind of water he personally drank. Know what he said? “Without question, tap water. It’s the absolute best, especially if you have kids.” He went on to extoll the virtues of flouridated water and the quality of tap versus some bottled water. ~shrugs~ I just thought that was kinda neat to hear for all of us plain old folks still getting our water out of the faucet.
Toss all ingredients in a bowl.
Whistle or dance a bit because this recipe isn’t complicated so you can occupy your mind with more lighthearted pursuits.
This is my favorite plain cake. I love slices of it warm all by themselves. The flavor is simple and delicious from start to finish.
Mix it all up for about two or three minutes, until well blended.
Now you can grease and flour your pan but I prefer to just spray the living mess out of it with cooking spray.
I’m a role model for laziness, I know, but doing it my way gives you at least another forty five seconds with your family 
. See? I’m actually just promoting family togetherness!
Pour all of that in your bundt pan and bake it at 350 for about an hour. Check it at about 45 minutes.
Fortunately for me, I have little oven guards.
Apparently, this was the best seat in the house.
Voila, done cake.
Two years of high school french in action, folks!
Let it sit in your pan for ten minutes before turning it out.
Ten minutes is the magic number in cakes.
You should always let them cool for that amount of time and they turn out so much nicer!
At this point you can eat the cake plain, apply a glaze, or serve it this way.
I love strawberry shortcake and a slice of this is the perfect foundation!
To learn how to make homemade whipped cream, see this post!
Simply Easy Pound Cake
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 box (3.4 oz ) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup oil
Mix all together until well blended with electric mixer. Pour batter into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 for fifty minutes to an hour. Let sit in pan ten minutes before turning out.
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
— Charles Mingus
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I guess my greatest keepsake is my grandmothers beige coin purse. Every time I stayed overnight with her.. she would get that coin purse out and give me change to go to the corner store and buy some Wax coke bottles filled with Kool-Aid or Candy Cigarettes.
During the summer we would watch her soap operas. I could tell you everything happening on The Guiding Light or As The World Turns when I was 6 or 7 years old. The Soaps were a bit more innocent back in the late 60’s or early 70’s.. we would miss them during school days but when summer vacation started we could catch up real quick. I’m reminded me of the first snow of the season when we went out and scraped the snow off of her 1962 Oldsmobile Cutlass. She and I mixed the snow with a little vanilla, milk and sugar and I had my first taste of Snow Ice Cream.
I have that coin purse in a drawer. It’s just a symbol of course. It can’t love me. It can’t hold me and stroke my hair when I’m sick or upset… but it sure can remind me of the times she did.
I have really enjoyed reading all about your memories and the things that we keep close to trigger those memories. I also remember watching all the soaps with my grandmother. I remember Jesse on General Hospital and singing into the box fan that was wedged into the open window. I guess I must have done the singing while Grandmother watched her soaps because I remember them together. I know she must have really enjoyed my performances! While I may not write much I do read your comments and enjoy them every chance I get. I am very proud of Christy’s accomplishments and hope that you continue to enjoy the stories and try the wonderful dishes. Have a great day! Talk to again soon. Janice-Better known as Christy’s Mama
I had to laugh about the plant names Glenda. That’s Mama’s name.
I guess the things that say home the most to me are my granddaddy’s empty car shaped cologne bottle. When I was little I thought they were the neatest things ever. That and this picture Mama has I think of the White House I think. Daddy didn’t let her hang up many pictures when we moved from CA so it’s packed up. But if we move I will find a spot for it.
Out of curiosity how close are you to the Madison Square Mall? Eventually I am going to make my way back up to the Huntsville area and that is one of the places I know where it’s at. Along with the Von Braun Center and Denny’s. See I know all the important places.
If you ever get to Madison Square give me a holler. I can be there in about five minutes
Lord, all the things I associate with my childhood home.
First, there’s mama’s Flour barrel and bread bowl for making up hand-made biscuits……..not cut out biscuits like my dad’s mom used to make- but REAL hand-made biscuits like Moms mom used to make. And I make’em just like she did. And yes- I said mama’s flour barrel….a big ole HUGE aluminum canister that will hold a 20 lb bag of flour….I had two brothers and two sisters growing up and nothing got cooked in small batches!!!
Another thing was Dad’s Victrola, and the big ole cedar chest that all us girls used as our hope chest and then was passed on to the next girl in line in the family.
And mama has a small black or navy blue(we could never agree on exactly what color it was) steamer trunk that mama has always kept our coming home outfits and baby blankets and trinkets and things like that in.
And Mama’s stuffed Barracuda from her and dad’s fist trip deep sea fishing!!!
Lord, I could go on and ON with the memories STILL in my parents home.
I just got the green and red pyrex bowls to complete the set that reminded me of my childhood home. Oh, how many good meals those bowls have seen! They bring back so many memories!
I can’t think of one curtain thing at the moment that was a big childhood memory attchment. Though my brother James and I are both big on tradition. For a while my family would have both ham and turkey for Thanksgiving and then my mom and dad betrayed us and went to just turkey! Or on Christmas my mom and dad desided not to spend money on a Christmas Tree. (in my family we don’t believe in fake so they HAD to be real) I guess my parents couldn’t afford it, but I think they didn’t really wanna fool with it either. So I’ve had a couple of Christmas’ without a tree!
…So those would have to be my best memories are the ones that had a tradition with them!
Christy – I just LOVE this site. We always have a houseful of people (’cause we are those people) and I usually make something quick, lots of times from your site. When someone says somethin’ – and they do when it came from you – I just send them on over. Without a doubt the thing that says home to me is my Mamaw’s “blue willa” china. Now, it sits in my china cabinet so I can look at it all the time. This is not really “blue willa”. This came from Community Cash ( and old grocery chain here is SC) with Green Stamps. Remember Green Stamps? I actually remember her collecting them and going to trade them in on pieces of this stuff. I love every piece of it because she was so proud of it. She grew up in the depression, and this was really the first time she “bought” something nice for herself. Every time I look at it, it reminds me how selfless she was, and makes me want to give just a little bit more to someone.
it is hard to narrow the list-several are favorite bowls, but if I have to pick I think it is my mom’s handkerchief basket. It was a flat, maybe 3 inches deep and 15 inches in diameter, dark colored woven reed basket. That is not the significance though. She used only real cloth handkerchiefs in our house-no paper tisues. She would go grab a handkerchief if we had tears, hand you one as you left for school, especially if you had a cold. That same cold would mean your chest would be greased at night with Vicks Salve and one of dad’s handkerciefs safety pinned around your neck. The handkechiefs were of varying degrees of good.Don’t take a good one to school. There are two other memories that this triggers. One is that a new handercief for mom made a fine mother’s day or birthday gift as they were a dime at the time. The other is sitting at the mangle iron as we were “allowed ” to do flat work which we thought was a fun thing , not realizing it was a chore. Now some of the younger readers are probably wondering what in the heck is a mangle!
My favorite chilhood treasure is a rag doll made just for me by my great gradmother before I was born. She knew she wouldn’t live long enough to meet all her great-grandchildren. Before her passing she she made a bunch of dolls to make sure there would be enough for each of us as to have one as we came along. She was right, she passed on before I was born, but becuase of that doll, she has always been one of my cherished relatives.
When I was about three my mom gave me my doll. I fell in love! I carried her everywhere! She had a soft, plain cotton body, a long dress made of colorful quilted squares, and perfect white legs stiffed with cotton batting, and she wore stark white petticoats. She had a simple, pretty, smile on her face, big brown eyes, and long yarn hair that she tied back in a pnonytail with a white silk ribbon. Perfection!
My mother is more “clean the house” motivated than sentimental so one day when I came home from school she told me that now that I was eleven I was too old for dolls and she had donoted her to goodwill. I cried, and cried, and cried. I lost a friend that day. I still wonder where she ended up and if the next little girl loved her like I did.
One day, if I ever find one close, I’ll purchase her in remebereance of my, “Sally.” I’ll make sure to pass her along to my future grandchildren with the simple request that she never be given away.
Odd, I hadn’t thought of her in a long time until reading your post Christy. It’s true, of course, that things can’t love you back. But sometimes that’s OK. Just loving is it’s own special joy!
Have a fantatic Wednesday! Love reading everyone’s comments. Thank you for allowing us this great opportunity!
Blessings,
Maralee
AWWW!!!! I have a hand made ragdoll from my grandmother as well!!
Lord I love that doll so much-. Granma made her for me when I was 6 years old. I named her Rhonda(a couple of years later I found my BFF, ironically her name is also Rhonda, and we have been BFFs for over 40 years now) and that doll went thru all my various childhood diseases, boyfriend breakups, divorces, and deaths in my arms feeling my tears fall.
When my kids came along, I could always tell when they were about to get sick, because they would go drag my Rhonda off the bed and drag her around with them before curling up in a chair with her to nap.
I’m 49 years old now- and she is in a chest now, her skin thin and fragile, retired except for the days when I remember my Dad and Son who have passed away. Those days, she still comes out and comforts me and drys my tears on her soft shoulder.
My kids have actually had mock (I think)arguments over who will inherit Rhonda when I pass away-I may have to give them each a years custody and alternate years……or I may be buried with her- who knows.
Every five years or so- I go out to Babies-R-Us and buy her a new little dress. Odd, I know- but it’s the least I can do for someone who has given us all so much comfort.
As in the story of the Velveteen Rabbit- if LOVE could bring an inanimate object to life, she would be the odd looking little child running around my house giving everyone hugs in their hour of need.
My kitchen radio -the sound of Mama always singing to WSB radio…..we ALWAYS had music on in our home and I loved how it added a dimension of “home” to my senses and hearing old songs takes me back…..Ray Stevens, Johnny Cash (A Boy named Sue) Perry Como, Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass, Andy Williams and BRAVES baseball games. The whole family watched Walt Disney on Sunday nights on our Black/White TV w/3 whole channels. Our old stereo……old records from West Side Story, Hiawatha and On Top of Spaghetti/Puff the Magic Dragon are treasures too.
I love our old decorations for every holiday that was a wreath on the front & back door w/a fun centerpiece on the table. Holidays were SUCH a big deal…Halloween was craaazy. Laughter, hugs, and encouraging words filled in the non-holiDAYS. Kitchen memories of a big pot of Chicken & Dumplins, a cast iron skillet of cornbread, wooden rolling pins, cookie cutters and boxed Chef Boyardee pizza on a cookie sheet.
Keepsakes are a Smokey the Bear clock we always had in above our dinner table (Daddy was a Ga. Forester), a bottle of Chanel #5 perfume, Mama’s frosted Avon lipsticks/matching nail polish in soft pink.
Thank you, Christy, for sharing your childhood memory and prompting the SP folks to go down “Memory Lane”. WEEEEEEEE! Love ya!
Hi Christy!
I love nothing more than remembering my childhood and also hearing about others memories and traditions with their families, so thank you for asking this. I’ll be looking forward to reading all the comments.
I think one of the most favorite objects from my childhood, was an old picnic basket, that sat (most of the year) on the landing going to our basement. It was there for a quick place for my mom to grab it and put the fried chicken and baked beans in for our weekend picnic. We were “fried chicken” picninc people, even tho we were from the north–LOL. I don’t know that anyone up here (northwest) “makes” their own chicken to take anymore…picking it up from KFC, sure, but frying their own? I don’t know.
Anyway…that old picnic basket was there, kind of in our way, everytime we went to the basement. It’s a wonder someone didn’t trip over it. It was not all that pretty, just your commen wicker basket, but I always just loved it, sitting there, reminding me that there was always a family picnic just around the corner.
This is about one of our son’s memories. We cleaned out our garage and since he was about 8 yrs old, my husband took his bouncing horse and piled it on top of the heap for the trash man to pick up. Well, we saw him go to the pile and stare at it for awhile. Then he comes marching over to where we are working, his face red and his eyes glistening with tears and says as he points to the horsey “Does anybody know how long that horse has been in my life???” and bangs on his chest when he says ‘my’. My husband said ‘well, go get it!’ He stomped off and climbed to the top, dragged it down and jumped on it and bounced and said ’see, it still works!’
We have laughed at that so many times and the bouncy horse hangs in our garage to this day–he’ll be 20 next month.
Hmm… Well, I guess it would probably have to be cookware, like the big Pyrex and Fire King mixing bowls my mother used to use for mixing up cakes and cookies. I bought a couple of Fire King bowls on eBay a few months back. They were nothing fancy, just a bright orange and a pale green mixing bowl, but they reminded me of home cooking!
When my maternal grandmother died, my aunt wanted me to take her old aluminum salt and pepper shakers. I’m not sure why, but I do keep them in the kitchen and use them when I’m cooking. I also took a slightly chipped enamel pan and I think about my grandmother sometimes when I heat up something on it. My mother has her old “rolling pin.” It’s a long, skinny glass bottle that medicine might have come in decades ago. My mother remembers her putting ice water in it and using it to roll out biscuits and pie crusts. I’m amazed it survived all these years, especially in a house with six kids! When my husband’s grandmother died, she didn’t have anything especially valuable either, but we all went through her house for little odds and ends to take. I found an avocado green hand mixer from the ’70s which was just like the one my mother used growing up (with those big bowls) so I had to take that!
Dang, that cake looks good! I can almost taste the moist vanilla flavor and the ripe strawberries! *sigh*
When we moved I put our metal cannister set in the garage sale, and when my daughter found out that it was gone, she threw a fit. My best friend had a sale not too much after that and when I saw that she was selling hers that was just like mine, I had to go and buy it just for my little girl! ( little, as in 23 or so! )…who know her childhood memories were stuffed in that ugly cannister set. The next time we moved, she watched me like a hawk to make sure I didn’t get rid of anything “important”!
When my Alabama grandmother died years ago, my being the oldest grandchild, I got to choose whatever keepsake I wanted first after her children’s choices. Without pondering for a second, it had to be the red ruby tumblers she’d had as long as I could remember. Thank goodness none of her children had claimed them first. I’ll never forget Mama Ward serving me Canada Dry gingerale in a red ruby tumbler whenever we’d travel from home in Eufaula to Geneva to visit. It was the only time I ever got gingerale as a child, and I’ve noticed over the years that gingerale just doesn’t taste as good as it did then. Wonder why? Anyway, I proudly use those tumblers every day–about 12 of them they are. Soon after I got them, I noticed ones exactly like them in an antique store with a high price tag! Little did I know they are collector’s items! To me, they’re a symbol of my childhood–Mama Ward’s ruby red glass tumblers.
Wow what beautiful memories all of them… I am fortunate to have lots of my mamas and my grandmas things.. so its really hard to pick. But like you Christy, there was an old picture that hung in our kitchen.. it was dark, like a rainy day of a maid, like a milkmaid going in a wooden kitchen door of an old rock house.. and it was small maybe `11×14.. I don’t know why my mother liked it, but when she passed away it was the one thing I wanted for sure, although I got most all of her things as I am an only child.. And my grandmothers things, I have so many of her kitchen things.. her big crockery bowl to make home made bread in, and that big tin can to hold 25 pounds of flour, like the other lady spoke us.. I have tried to teach my children and grand children the value of having these things and passing them on down…becuase so many things can just disapear over the years.. I am 62 so its been a while since my granny made bread in that bowl, but I always think about her when I look at it…
hugs
jo in Sapulpa Oklahoma
Christy,
I’m still new to your website but absolutely love it! I live in Southeast Texas and most of my memories from childhood revolve somehow around food and the kitchen. I cherish the pots, pans and casserole dishes I have from both of my Grandmothers who are now both in Heaven! I miss them dearly. One of my favorites is the large pot my Mammaw cooked new potatoes from. My grandfather grew them and she made them with a white sauce with the best homemade cornbread ever. I love that pot!!
Debbie In Humble, TX
My all time favorite keepsake (at the moment) is a white and red Bleeding Heart plant that my Daddy gave to me a couple of years ago. I had lusted after it for about 5 years before he finally gave in and let me bring it to my home in Florida. It didn’t bloom for me for the first 2 years, and to be honest, I had decided it would be making the trip back to Mobile this spring. But, all of a sudden I started seeing what I remembered from years ago…the first signs of those gorgeous blooms. Today it is covered with beautiful white flowers with the red heart. It’s not in a fancy pot. My Daddy isn’t a fancy man. The last time he repotted it he used a green plastic hanging basket pot and that is what it is still in. The only thing I’ve added was a tomato cage that my husband cut off on the bottom to fit. For the last two years I have twisted the plant all through the cage. Even my Daddy is proud of the way it looks this year. By his estimates the plant in now about 16 years old. Christy, you have inspired me to name her….because yes, it’s definitely a her. Only a female could be this beautiful!
There are so many things that make me think of “home”. My parents had to move out of their house a couple of years ago and into a small trailer, with a majority of their stuff in storage. This past year they finally got to buy a house and get all of their stuff put back where it belongs. I am looking forward to rediscovering all of the goodies from childhood when I go home to visit tomorrow. Colorado just isn’t home like Alabama! I guess we will be passing through your neck of the woods Friday on our way there! I am most excited about all of the yummy food of home. You just can’t get that here!
Well, this really strikes a nerve. At the risk (forgive me, Christy) of injecting a sour note among all the recollections of lovely childhoods, let me tell you about the time I garage-saled a ragged t-shirt that both my children had worn (so long as it fit). I had bought it in a garage sale to begin with because my household allowance wasn’t big enough to buy from regular stores and my intention in selling it was NOT to cause them trauma but to supplement that household allowance. It WAS a cute shirt – there was a picture of Scooby Do on the front and a flap of fabric represented his tongue. The “tongue” could be tucked into a small pocket (mouth) or allowed to flap. I no sooner pocketed the few coins I got for the little shirt than BOTH my kids screamed, “YOU DID NOT SELL SCOOBY!!!” and burst into bitter tears.
You would think I had rolled their now grown up (and mysteriously missing) purple Easter chick in corn flakes and fried it up for their birthday dinner – oh, wait…that was MY chick and MY birthday (I was 8). Even so, I never wailed at my mother for that the way I caught it for the t-shirt. I don’t think either one of them has ever truly forgiven me for having no idea that the stupid shirt embodied everything that was precious in their childhoods. They were similarly horrified (but no longer as surprised after the Scooby incident) when they learned that I had not saved each and every one of their baby teeth that the “Tooth Fairy” paid for. By then I guess they realized that I must be just lacking in motherly genes. But to this day half my garage is dedicated to storage of hundreds of boxes filled with their broken and worn out toys – many from Happy Meals, worn out clothes, old school papers, unfavorite children’s books, partially used pencils, games with pieces missing, etc., lest I – yet again – get rid of something VITAL.
You are just lucky that they stopped you when they did, Christy.
In my opinion…as fun as it may be to think back to things that remind us of good times or people passed on, those things should not take the place of the real relationships. Even memories themselves can get in the way of real, ongoing, imperfect relationships. Especially if one party in the relationship doesn’t really GET that the other party is a human with all the difficulties, problems, shortcomings, and blind spots that they themselves are prone to. At some point, it seems to me, children should begin to grow up and realize that parents are NOT just there to maintain the sacred environment and legacy of children. Somewhere along the line children need to step out of the spotlight where they expect everyone (parents especially) to make any sacrifice, bear any burden, carry any load so that the little darlin’s can have anything and everything just the way they want it. And somewhere on that road parents should be freed from the guilt that any little thing (like a t-shirt sale) is going to put the child on the therapist’s couch for the entire future.
Many, many things in my house were handed down from parents and grandparents and most of the time I’m glad I have them. But to our family’s shame there have been bitter arguments about who got what particular thing (in one case it was a rock!) and, somehow, the family just isn’t what it once was because of the resulting hard feelings. That was a really bad trade, in my opinion.
I am certainly not claiming to be above and beyond this or even innocent. Consider that my grandparents stayed in a remote farm house without indoor plumbing years after their advancing age had changed its quirks to real hindrances…all because their grandchildren (including me, I am very sorry to say) didn’t want them to sell the farm where we had all spent so many carefree summer afternoons and wonderful Christmas Eves. Not only did we not consider that Gramma and Grampa were living (24/7/365) in a drafty old house that was difficult to get to, impossible to heat, very far from medical services, and seriously uncomfortable, we had also apparently forgotten that it was their hard work and sacrifice that made those visits we remembered so magical. They could ill afford guests and the extra work involved must have been a real burden at times. The inconvenience of that old house didn’t help a bit.
It’s not really the THINGS, is it? Surely it’s the people and experiences they remind us of.
~hugs~
Bless your heart. I know the family bitterness over objects had to be rough. I’m sorry to hear about it.
I’m also sorry to hear about the boxes of happy meal toys! Goodness, my children love those but I have a tendency to sneak them out of the house once they are forgotten.
Hope you’re having a good day regardless!!!
Gratefully,
Christy
Love that Oven Guard!! By the way, that pretty lidded tulip bowl on top of your stove wouldn’t be concealing your stash of bacon grease, would it? Happy new home to you and your family! Thanks for all the great recipes. Have a great day!
hehe, isn’t she a cute one? Kinda like a garden gnome for my kitchen!
I keep my bacon grease in a mason jar. I’d love to keep it in this pretty little grease jar but I’m scared to because I paid too much for it! lol
I hope you’re having a fabulous day, too!!!
My favorite object from the “old” days was a little plastic Santa in his plastic sleight with 8 tiny plastic reindeer. I LOVED that thing and sure wish I had it now! Weren’t the sixties wonderfully plastic! LeAnn
Oh no okay people are going to think I live in a backward country or something. Haha we have cake mix but we just don’t have Duncan Hines and very little Betty Crocker. BUT I can tell you right now that I have a tub of Betty Crocker chocolate fudge frosting in my fridge which really should be thrown out. I’ve had it for awhile!
I tell you Christy I don’t think you’d be impressed with our supermarkets. No baking mixes, no frozen biscuits or Rotel. I already have plans to stock up on food items to send home. Last time it was Crest flavoured toothpastes
I was very blessed when I was younger to have 3 grandmothers all living at the same time. My dad’s mom had 16 children and she was always cooking seems like. Can you imagine having that many children. Lets just say I have lots of relatives. But I do remember her always having a pan of homemade biscuits under a cake plate on the stove and she always took the middle out of the biscuit before she ate it. Now my mom’s mom, my Nannie is still here with me. She is a wonderfully cook she use to always make sweet and sour ham balls for easter. I have her class ring. We have 4 generations to graduate from the same high school. My grandmother in in the 1948 class. My great grandmother it was just being with her at her home. She would cook and manage all her affairs on just a little bit of money. How she did it I do not know. It was very peaceful and I had no worries when I was with her. She always kept vicks vapor rub on her somewhere. After she passed I was out standing near our water garden and I kept smelling this aroma. I told my husband, that Mamaw was with us becuase I could smell her. Come to find out it was some lillys that my husband planted. Now everytime I smell them I know that my grandmother is smiling down on me from heaven. I have some of her jewelry and a coke bottle with a shaker top on it that she used when ironing and her pie plate. Thanks for the easy pound cake recipe.
I’m smiling at the memories but with “watery eyes”! My Mom would bake a “simple” box cake mix (yellow), ALWAYS in a 9×13 clear glass baking dish. It would not be turned out on a platter, just frosted with canned chocolate frosting. She would serve this for family on Sunday afternoons at 4:00pm coffee time! This tradition continued even as my children were growing up. I can’t serve any other flavor of cake in the baking dish this way or make the same yellow cake with chocolate frosting in any other shape (just doesn’t taste the same)!!!
Blessings and the joy of simple things to you!!
Hey! I have a tulip just like you have on your stove! And matching salt and pepper shakers. They were my husband’s mother’s – who passed away when he was 6 mo. old. I’d love to know more about it – it’s fireking I think?
I love your site…your writings, your recipes, your great humor and attitude for life! Thanks for all you do!
addition to above..that’s a tulip bowl. a grease bowl I think?
More clarification on my comment (ROFL! I’m on a roll today!) What I would like to know more about the tulip greasebowl…how do you use it? Is it safe to save grease? What kind of grease? What kind of uses for saved grease? Do you have to refrigerate it? Probably dumb questions…but hey…isn’t the only dumb question the one that you don’t ask? Or something like that….thanks!!
Hey Debby!
What you have was sold as a “Range Set”, meant to sit atop your stove. I have the grease jar with lid (as shown in the pic) and a set of splash proof mixing bowls. You’re right, they’re all Fire King!
I would dearly love to own the salt and pepper shakers but they are SO expensive to come by that I’d have to sell a kidney to get them! The grease jar is very difficult to come by intact, and with a lid. You’ve got yourself a real hard to find treasure in that set, not only from a monetary standpoint but also that it belonged to someone so special and you were fortunate enough to have it as a remembrance of her!
I don’t put grease in my jar, although I could. Fire King was made exceptionally well but its just too valuable for me to risk it. I have actually taken to using mine as a salt crock on the stove. Back in the old days women always had a little box or crock of salt handy to season the cooking with.
One thing to be aware of, if you wash any of your pieces in the dishwasher it will mar not only the pretty finish on the glassware but also scratch up the tulips on the design.
I hope you enjoy yours! If you do decide to use it as a grease pot, I’d put an empty tin can inside to use as the actual vessel that holds your grease.
It’s so cool that we both have these!
Gratefully,
Christy
P.S. Your Range Set was manufactured in the fifties.
Lots of good people were manufactured in the fifties too!
A salt crock…that is PERFECT!! Believe it or not – I’ve been thinking I wanted something to keep salt in like that for cooking…and wondering what to use – with a lid, easy to get to. I’ve seen those used on cooking shows and thought they seemed so handy. And here I had the perfect thing all along. So glad you mentioned that! I want to use that bowl, but didn’t really want to keep grease like that. We are in the process of moving, and I believe I will start using it as a salt crock in my new house! THANK YOU!!
My thoughts went immediately to a doll who has been with me in every move since childhood. Her legs have long since disappeared, her “skin” is discolored, but she is as beautiful as ever, even tho’ she is somewhere around 62 years of age. She “speaks” a
language of love … of parents, home, growing pains, choices…of memories….. all of which she was a part of…..because she was never left behind and makes them more wonderfully real!
I love the little oven watcher! Treasure these days, Christy. My granny was my main loving memory, we could do no wrong with her. She may be gone for 10 years but anyone who knew her will never forget her. She showed love to whoever walked in her door giving food to each one. Her kitchen was nothing like my mother’s meticulous “Better Homes” style where you were afraid to make a mess. The dishes were clean and sanitary, but there was flour hiding behind the cannisters and in the corners that was shed there as she baked and cooked for us. So a messy kitchen drives me crazy ’cause of Mom but it also reminds me of my Granny and love. Messy kitchens, YEAH!
We moved alot, and things always change, I don’t have many things I cherish. One of them is the table my grandfather built for my grandmother. It was a long thick wood table and had bench seats. Momma and I both cried when he sold it. We spent alot of time there as a family It was the most solid wood table I have ever seen. When she passed away and he moved he didn’t have room for it. He kept it in the garage for a while, but then when he moved out of state he sold it or gave it away.
I’m not overly sentimental about most “things”, but I do treasure the photos. I always want the photos. I do have an old secretary (desk with fold down part) that belonged to my grandfather and great grandfather before him, and both my grandmother’s wedding rings.
My dad is pretty sentimental about “stuff”. He has his grandmothers sewing machine, and he remembers sewing with her when he was a little boy. She was his favorite person in the whole world and you can still tell when he shares his memories even though she’s been gone over 40 years now. He also has her old cooking spoon and several other treasured keepsakes that belonged to family memebers. I think it’s really wonderful that he connects to all those memories, but I am going to feel terrible one day when he’s gone and some of this stuff passes on to me. I have nowhere to keep it and no desire to actually put it in my own home, but I’m going to feel guilty just the same if I get rid of any of it!
I collect old kitchen items because of all the great memories I haveof my g mothers. Nannie had an aluminum tumbler and pitcher set that we drank lemonade from. The tumblers and pitcher were all different colors. When the metal got cold you could see the glasses “sweat”. I later found a new set and ordered it. Nannie also had some plastic black memorabilia salt & pepper shakers & syrup pitcher. You pulled back the head of the “Aunt Jemima” to pour your syrup. I don’t know what happened to them but on ebay they are priceless. She also had a Felix the cat clock (the one whose eyes& tail go back & forth)and I always looked for the clock when I first arrived. I have bought several bowls from antique shops & ebay that I remember my g mothers using. Everytime I use them (and yes I use them) I think of them. Talked to my sister and she looked for and found a picture that she remembers Grannie had hanging on the wall-a dog in the snow. We all have things that do bring back memories and hopefully they are good ones.
I use my two grandmothers’ and my Mama’s old aluminum cookware from the 40’s. My kids all say that everything tastes better cooked in them. I also try to have homemade bread of some kind every day like one of my grandmothers did. Her house always smelled so delicious and since my mother was still at work when I got home from school, our house didn’t smell like that when I came home, so I tried to have something cooking when our kids got home from school. They are all grown now, but look forward to coming home and seeing what is waiting for them.
Hi Christy!
Mama passed away a little over 7 years ago (COPD) but I have many things of her’s we both treasured. I have the crystal bells we both collected for many years, the milk glass stuff (which was her mother’s first), my Mama’s portrait (taken when she was a WAC, back in the 1940’s), the dress she wore to my wedding 14 years ago, and even the old knit headbands she wore when I was very young (I wear them now).
But the main thing I cherish are the Sandwich glass dessert plates she gave me when I was a teenager. They, too, had belonged to her mother first (Granny Winey passed away the year before I was born) and Mama decided they had collected enough dust in her dining room & had to go. She was actually considering throwing them out (all 12) — I told her if she didn’t want them, I’d take them and she said I could have them as long as I moved them out of the dining room. Well, that started something; I now have a collection of about 50 pieces of Sandwich glass, including dinner plates, a cookie jar, serving bowls, and even a punch bowl & glasses. One of the days, after my little boys grow up, I hope to have a granddaughter to pass the collection on to!
A picture of Jesus knocking on a door that hung in my Granny’s house. My aunt has it now. My daughter got me a print of the same picture, but somehow it isn’t the same. I sure do miss my Granny! I love your site!
Hi Christy,
I’ve been thinking about what reminds me of my mom and home, and this is going to sound nuts, but it is an ironing board. My mom always had an ironing board up in the kitchen as she always used it. I remember her singing while ironing and also complaining about ironing. I also remember using the ironing board to stash my books when I came home from high school. While I never iron, well almost never, I do have an ironing board. LOL Since I am or is it was an only child, I do have several things that are important to me but my mother wasn’t sentimental; she was a thrower outer, LOL, but I managed to salvage the wicker picnic basket my parents used when we went on family picnics (aunts, uncles, cousins) when I was a baby and as I was growing up.
Karen S.
I love this topic! My MawMaw is my best friend in the world. I’m so lucky to still have her, and that my daughter gets to know her. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and given 6 months to live… that was 12+ years ago!!! She is a rockstar and my hero.
But, there are three things from her that are some of my prized possessions. One is a beautiful picture of her when she was about 22… 1950 or so.
The second, an oil lamp with a lady in the middle, and when it’s on, it looks like it’s raining… hard to explain. It was my FAVORITE thing growing up. I used to sit and stare at it for hours. I call her my goddess, and she lives in the middle of my great room now.
The piece de resistance… my MawMaw saved all my dresses from when I was a little girl. She made them all into a beautiful star-patterned quilt and gave it to me for my 21st bday. I told her that I was going to treasure it forever, and keep in sealed up tight in the cedar chest she gave me from her wedding day. She said, “Ami Jane… you’d better not! Quilts are meant to be loved and slept with!” So, I have, in fact, slept with it everyday. I just got it back from her, actually, because it was in for “repairs”.
Memories are amazing. MawMaws are priceless.
Thanks for bringing this up!
Amelia
When my husband was little, he used to go to his grandma’s house and look at the pretty picture on the wall with the dog and the little girl & boy. When he grew up, his grandma gave it to us. It hung in our home for years in New York. Since we have moved to Florida it has banged around a bit but we would never part with it. It is a print from the top of a calendar – framed in England over 100 years ago by his great-grandmother and brought to America.
It is a snowy picture with a collie dog, a little girl hiding behind the dog and the little boy has a snowball in his hand in the throwing position and the saying below is “YOU DURSN’T. We all love that picture – guess the first child who asks for it will “inherit” it.
Barbara P.
Hi – I think it’s nice when something from our past triggers a good memory. Whether its a dish, a quilt, a piece of jewelry — I would love to have something like that. Most of my memories are in my heart. Unfortunately, too much family strife. Keepsakes aren’t always worth a lot of money, just a lot of memories. I do have a dresser set that belonged to one grandma and a kraut cutter that belonged to my other. The best part is I’ve used the kraut cutter to make homemade kraut—just like me and Grandma did.
I have a few items that I still hold dear because of the memories – I still have my “Domino Cinnamon/Sugar” glass bear-shaped container, complete with plastic top with tiny holes so you can mix up your cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on your toast (toasted in the regular oven, not in a toaster, of course) – and I have a metal tray that my grandmother used, I remember her tea cakes and molasses cookies (made with Brer Rabbit Molasses, I think) – oh, to be able to go back in time and sit on the porch with her “helping” her string beans, silk corn, or shell peas!
Nice! I love strawberries.
http://www.ahcook.com
The item I have that brings back memories is one of my great grandmother’s apron. She always wore an apron – everyday and everywhere. When she passed away, I asked my Mom to get me one her aprons and not one of the new ones (she had so many of them given to her because she wore them so often – she’d put them under the bed saving them for when her old ones wore out!) but I wanted a worn homemade apron one that she used often. She was a tough cookie! She chopped firewood, worked gardens, cleaned floors on her hands and knees, cooked on a wood burning stove, washed clothes in a tub and hung them on a line all while raising a huge family. No electricty or inside water until she was already elderly – a great grandmother. Miss Carrie was one of a kind! I’m blessed by being born into a line of strong women – my grandmother and mom fell close to the tree! Kathy
I guess we just take for granted all the wonderful things our supermarkets stock!
I have many favorite serving dishes from my late Grandmom who lived to be 101, and also from my mother-in-law. One in my hutch is my husband’s great-grandmother’s favorite depression cake serving dish. I use it for special occasions.
We use tap water, but I use a Brita Filter.
Lovely article.
Same. I have a Brita filter jug. It doesn’t filter out the fluoride and I prefer the taste of filtered water. Sometimes water straight from the tap can have a funny taste to it.
But in my new house I am having an undersink filter installed, that only requires a filter change every 6 months.
I love your writing (and your cooking). You do both beautifully.
One of my favorite memory items is an old ceramic milk bottle with a matching crock. Both of them are cream colored and have a country style light blue cow painted on the side and a light blue speckled trim top. My mom purchased them when she and my dad were building our family cabin up north. I always admired how simply beautiful they were.
Years later when my parents were selling the cabin, my mom was getting everything together in boxes to sell at a garage sale. When I saw those 2 items in a box, I asked my mom if I could have them. Of course she said yes, and I now have them both sitting next to my stove. The large crock keeps a bunch of cooking utensils at the ready. I don’t know what it is about those 2 things, but they make me feel peaceful. Perhaps that’s how I felt the day I first saw them.
Thank you Christy.
You write the most amazing and touching stories. You truly have a gift. Keep it up!
I am making this tonight to go along with fried pork chops, au gratin potatoes, and some green beans — My DH is going to be thrilled!!!
Mrs. J~