From cleaning, to health remedies to food prep, my grandmother knew everything. Read a couple of pieces in The Globe today that made me nostalgic for her vinegar solutions for cleaning and mustard baths for colds.
"Many of us don't cook anymore. Only half of us spend any time cooking in a given day," writes Sarah Elton in her article, 'Grandmother knows best'. How can any self-respecting mother run a household and not cook?? My grandparents didn't run to Walmart or the Dollar Store when they needed to replace some little gadget. They fixed it themselves.
Not to be romantic, but I well remember those mustard wraps my grandmother would twist around my chest when I had a cold. Progress took the form of Vick's Vapo-Rub, which my mother used and at which my grandmother disapprovingly sniffed. Vaseline was the cure-all for every scrape and chapped lip, glycerine and rosewater the remedy for rough hands and rubbing alcohol the cleanser for any wound. Vitamins? It was cod liver oil or nothing.
When it came to food, she canned every summer -- now a middle-class fad -- and never put anything on the table that wasn't in season. Salad in February? Forget it. Money tight? It was onion pie -- the most delicious dish on the planet. Oh sure, we had dreadful boiled-to-death cabbage, but now and then Grandma would throw precious sugar into the water to transform it into a very sweet side. Throw potato peelings into the garbage, are you kidding? One night it would be mashed potatoes, the next we dined on fried peels from the night before. Absolutely delicious.
"While many women I know love doing homey stuff for fun -- baking cookies and drafting DIY home décor -- being good at "woman (sic) skills has definitely decreased," echoes Kate Carraway in her article, 'Struggling with the guilt of not having enough "woman skills"'. By "woman skills", Carraway means the hard skills our grandmothers deployed to ensure their families survived nutritionally on nothing.
All I can say is, bring back home ec.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Hard to believe, but then again..........
I remember them vividly, performing at the Rockpile on the corner of Yonge and Davenport in Toronto. The venue had been the old Masonic Temple, transformed at that time into a grungy concert hall, complete with all sorts of "activities" which took place on the top floor -- or so dodgy rumour had it. (The building is still there, by the way.) It was Sunday, February 2, 1969. I was 22 and went with some guy or other. Had never heard of the group we were going to see and neither had hardly anyone else, but this guy was really "into" the British music scene, so I went.
I was completely blown away. It was Led Zeppelin's first Canadian appearance and they were like nothing I had ever heard. I guess they still are like nothing anyone has ever heard because they remain, 46 years later, one of the most played and venerated groups in the world. This all came back to me this morning when I was driving to the pool. "Hard to believe," said a local DJ, "but Jimmy Page turns 70 today." Nearly drove off the road. 70! When I saw him at the Rockpile he had just turned 25 and was as wild as his band mate, Robert Plant.
What a performance. It was rough and raw and unpolished, but the talent! It just screamed from the stage. Even I, completely clueless, knew they were going to be huge. They were electric. Of course, the rest is history. Just googled that performance, which is how I know the exact day and date, and there is a "YouTube" of the whole thing. Think I'll watch it. Who knows? Might even be able to pick up my own voice screaming from the audience.
I was completely blown away. It was Led Zeppelin's first Canadian appearance and they were like nothing I had ever heard. I guess they still are like nothing anyone has ever heard because they remain, 46 years later, one of the most played and venerated groups in the world. This all came back to me this morning when I was driving to the pool. "Hard to believe," said a local DJ, "but Jimmy Page turns 70 today." Nearly drove off the road. 70! When I saw him at the Rockpile he had just turned 25 and was as wild as his band mate, Robert Plant.
What a performance. It was rough and raw and unpolished, but the talent! It just screamed from the stage. Even I, completely clueless, knew they were going to be huge. They were electric. Of course, the rest is history. Just googled that performance, which is how I know the exact day and date, and there is a "YouTube" of the whole thing. Think I'll watch it. Who knows? Might even be able to pick up my own voice screaming from the audience.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
The penny finally dropped
It was because men couldn't do it, that's why bottle feeding was pushed so hard in the fifties and sixties. Thanks to the likes of Dr. Spock and his cronies in the male-dominated medical and formula companies, the powdered variety was the answer.
This obvious reality finally dawned on me this morning as I was reading yet another article on the vast benefits of breastfeeding. "Why hadn't they figured this out decades ago," I wondered. But back then it was "Father Knows Best" all 'round-for-everything-everywhere so breast milk was scorned. Every one of my mother's friends bottle-fed and looked down on the "primitive" and suspisciously "dirty" practice of breastfeeding. When I had my own children in the late seventies, I desperately wanted to breastfeed, but my mother -- because she didn't know any better -- kept insisting that I go the bottle route.
Sitting crying along with my first-born at midnight one night, trying to figure it all out before I gave in and actually dug out one of the bottles and formula the hospital had given me, I called the La Leche League's number. Surprisingly, a very kind young woman answered. She talked me through it and the mysteries began finally to click into place. What a wonderful relief!
The La Leche League has been around forever, consistently encouraging and helping women learn how to breastfeed. Basics such as feeding on demand and not worrying if the baby is getting enough, as long as the poops are regular and plentiful. They held rotating gatherings in young mothers' homes so we could all learn from each other and share what was working and what wasn't. One thing I learned was that it is extremely rare for a mother to not be able to produce enough milk. The whole thing operates on the perfection of "supply and demand". If the baby suckles, the milk gets produced. I suspect those mothers who claim to not have enough are trying to keep to a schedule, hence not enough suckling for proper production. I have to bite my tongue when I overhear a young mother say that, as she gives the kid a bottle.
"You have to switch this baby to a bottle," said a young doctor when he weighed him at about two months. I was shocked because this guy was around my age. Weren't they starting to realize that breastfeeding was best? Guess not. I promptly went home and sent the know-it-all a bunch of pamphlets from La Leche, telling him that all babies had different weights and that as long as pooping was normal and the kid was healthy, everything was fine. Didn't hear back.
Back then doctors didn't learn about breastfeeding because it wasn't a disease. That, coupled with the money the industry would have been giving hospitals, meant that formula ruled. Today those companies are back at it, adding probiotics and other ingredients to formula and advertising the products as "as good as breast milk." Except they ain't by a long shot.
Thankfully, the medical profession has finally caught on and is now fighting back.
This obvious reality finally dawned on me this morning as I was reading yet another article on the vast benefits of breastfeeding. "Why hadn't they figured this out decades ago," I wondered. But back then it was "Father Knows Best" all 'round-for-everything-everywhere so breast milk was scorned. Every one of my mother's friends bottle-fed and looked down on the "primitive" and suspisciously "dirty" practice of breastfeeding. When I had my own children in the late seventies, I desperately wanted to breastfeed, but my mother -- because she didn't know any better -- kept insisting that I go the bottle route.
Sitting crying along with my first-born at midnight one night, trying to figure it all out before I gave in and actually dug out one of the bottles and formula the hospital had given me, I called the La Leche League's number. Surprisingly, a very kind young woman answered. She talked me through it and the mysteries began finally to click into place. What a wonderful relief!
The La Leche League has been around forever, consistently encouraging and helping women learn how to breastfeed. Basics such as feeding on demand and not worrying if the baby is getting enough, as long as the poops are regular and plentiful. They held rotating gatherings in young mothers' homes so we could all learn from each other and share what was working and what wasn't. One thing I learned was that it is extremely rare for a mother to not be able to produce enough milk. The whole thing operates on the perfection of "supply and demand". If the baby suckles, the milk gets produced. I suspect those mothers who claim to not have enough are trying to keep to a schedule, hence not enough suckling for proper production. I have to bite my tongue when I overhear a young mother say that, as she gives the kid a bottle.
"You have to switch this baby to a bottle," said a young doctor when he weighed him at about two months. I was shocked because this guy was around my age. Weren't they starting to realize that breastfeeding was best? Guess not. I promptly went home and sent the know-it-all a bunch of pamphlets from La Leche, telling him that all babies had different weights and that as long as pooping was normal and the kid was healthy, everything was fine. Didn't hear back.
Back then doctors didn't learn about breastfeeding because it wasn't a disease. That, coupled with the money the industry would have been giving hospitals, meant that formula ruled. Today those companies are back at it, adding probiotics and other ingredients to formula and advertising the products as "as good as breast milk." Except they ain't by a long shot.
Thankfully, the medical profession has finally caught on and is now fighting back.
Monday, January 6, 2014
4.54 billion years, versus Al Gore
The planet will prevail, contrary to what Al Gore and David Suzuki bleat. Earth is 4.54 billion years old. Every day 24 species go extinct. Humans will be next.
I am so tired of people and groups who think "global warming" is serious. The entirety of North America is in the grip of a freeze that breaks records of......wait for it........a paltry 20 years. Twenty years??!! How about 4.54 billion? Twenty years isn't even 20 seconds, or even .0000000002 seconds. Where's global warming when we need it? Calgary is routinely - 40 C these days. So what. It's all so temporary.
And the hilarity of the ice-bound Russian ice breaker, carrying a bunch of scientists studying global warming in the Arctic, is perfect. "We didn't know how cold it was here," said one dazzlingly brilliant mind when rescued by the Americans and the Chinese.
The environmentalists are having a field day and making a killing without any credibility whatsoever. As I said, the planet will prevail.
I am so tired of people and groups who think "global warming" is serious. The entirety of North America is in the grip of a freeze that breaks records of......wait for it........a paltry 20 years. Twenty years??!! How about 4.54 billion? Twenty years isn't even 20 seconds, or even .0000000002 seconds. Where's global warming when we need it? Calgary is routinely - 40 C these days. So what. It's all so temporary.
And the hilarity of the ice-bound Russian ice breaker, carrying a bunch of scientists studying global warming in the Arctic, is perfect. "We didn't know how cold it was here," said one dazzlingly brilliant mind when rescued by the Americans and the Chinese.
The environmentalists are having a field day and making a killing without any credibility whatsoever. As I said, the planet will prevail.
Friday, January 3, 2014
T'was ever thus
Hearing about yet another 'empty nester' wife and mother who is lost, now that her boys have left home, brought it back to me....again. Women must have their own careers and money. It's essential for self-esteem in the long haul.
The woman to whom I refer was trained as a lawyer, but never did anything with her degree. She married well, i.e. money, so thought it would be wonderful to be a stay-at-home mom. "Hey, I have a law degree so I can pick up my career anytime."
Except that she can't. And no one -- regardless of sex -- can pick up a career in their sixties when they, oops, forgot to have one in the first place! As I have said, society does not value child care, witness the dismal wages paid to daycare workers. Thus it follows that society does not value stay-at-home mothers. Sorry, but it's true.
I am eternally grateful that economics and my own determined sense of independence gave me a job and the little status that went with it. Girls, all I can say is...........
.............get a job before it's too late.
The woman to whom I refer was trained as a lawyer, but never did anything with her degree. She married well, i.e. money, so thought it would be wonderful to be a stay-at-home mom. "Hey, I have a law degree so I can pick up my career anytime."
Except that she can't. And no one -- regardless of sex -- can pick up a career in their sixties when they, oops, forgot to have one in the first place! As I have said, society does not value child care, witness the dismal wages paid to daycare workers. Thus it follows that society does not value stay-at-home mothers. Sorry, but it's true.
I am eternally grateful that economics and my own determined sense of independence gave me a job and the little status that went with it. Girls, all I can say is...........
.............get a job before it's too late.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
My Mother would turn
Ariel Sharon has been in a coma.........wait for it........for eight years. He's.........wait for it.........85 years old and his family is still keeping him alive with a feeding tube. How ridiculous. The guy is basically dead, a blob of flesh in a bed. Let him go.
As I said, my Mother would turn. "I'm trying to die, but I won't die," she said, sitting up in her Maycourt Hospice bed in 2001 before she died. She hated "fuss" and regarded her own death as "too much fuss". After paying taxes for a million years and donating a bunch of money to the Maycourt, she still worried....."who is paying for all this?" You are and you have, I told her. She was the classiest lady-like lady I have ever known. Never put a foot wrong -- including how she dealt with her own demise.
"I have to go to the hospital," she said, calling me one evening. I remember it was a Thursday in early November and I was making sandwiches for some bazaar at the church, I told her when she asked if she were disturbing me. I dropped everything and took her to the General. She was admitted and stayed for a month before they transferred her to the Maycourt. Another month later, she was dead. That's the way to do it, live on your own, get sick at 92, ignore it and then die within two months. No fuss, no muss.
The former Prime Minister of Israel's family should do exactly that. Send him off.
As I said, my Mother would turn. "I'm trying to die, but I won't die," she said, sitting up in her Maycourt Hospice bed in 2001 before she died. She hated "fuss" and regarded her own death as "too much fuss". After paying taxes for a million years and donating a bunch of money to the Maycourt, she still worried....."who is paying for all this?" You are and you have, I told her. She was the classiest lady-like lady I have ever known. Never put a foot wrong -- including how she dealt with her own demise.
"I have to go to the hospital," she said, calling me one evening. I remember it was a Thursday in early November and I was making sandwiches for some bazaar at the church, I told her when she asked if she were disturbing me. I dropped everything and took her to the General. She was admitted and stayed for a month before they transferred her to the Maycourt. Another month later, she was dead. That's the way to do it, live on your own, get sick at 92, ignore it and then die within two months. No fuss, no muss.
The former Prime Minister of Israel's family should do exactly that. Send him off.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Orange suede high heels
Never seen anything like them. Santa came for New Year's this year instead of Christmas because Santa was in Houston with the grandchildren there. But when the jolly, old elf finally arrived last night he had quite the haul in his rucksack!
The crowning glory for a shoe-adorer such as I was a pair of stunning, orange suede high heels. I have orange heels and I have suede heels, but not a pair of orange suede. They are absolutely gorgeous! I am sure my step-daughter had a hand in finding them in DSW, so thanks to her too. By the way, never pass up a chance to hit a DSW if ever you are in the US. It is peerless if you are a kindred shoe-a-holic.
The other place Santa hit was 'Charming Charlie's'. Why they don't have this chain in Canada I have no clue? It is crammed full of the most gorgeous accessories on the planet -- earrings, necklaces, hats, tops, broaches -- you name it, they have it. The key, with apologies to the sweat-shop employees who must be making them, is their price. They are disarmingly inexpensive. You can usually get a fabulous necklace with matching earrings for $20 or less. As readers know, I am a devotee of accessories which in my opinion make or break any outfit. That was the reason I used to love 'Shepherd's' in Ottawa, but her prices were through the roof. Have a google at the Charlie website, you can order online.
So, here we are in 2014. Hard to believe?! And here I am in the 'Wild West' which is Calgary. On the way home from the airport last night, we stopped at our local Crowfoot watering hole for a quick bite. It was jammed to the rafters and humming. As usual, we were greeted like long-lost family by the cute young men and women who are the staff and treated to food and beverage while we waited the few minutes for a couple of stools to free up at the bar.
All that being said, we were home and in bed by 10. Needless to say, I am not a fan of insane New Year's Eve.
The crowning glory for a shoe-adorer such as I was a pair of stunning, orange suede high heels. I have orange heels and I have suede heels, but not a pair of orange suede. They are absolutely gorgeous! I am sure my step-daughter had a hand in finding them in DSW, so thanks to her too. By the way, never pass up a chance to hit a DSW if ever you are in the US. It is peerless if you are a kindred shoe-a-holic.
The other place Santa hit was 'Charming Charlie's'. Why they don't have this chain in Canada I have no clue? It is crammed full of the most gorgeous accessories on the planet -- earrings, necklaces, hats, tops, broaches -- you name it, they have it. The key, with apologies to the sweat-shop employees who must be making them, is their price. They are disarmingly inexpensive. You can usually get a fabulous necklace with matching earrings for $20 or less. As readers know, I am a devotee of accessories which in my opinion make or break any outfit. That was the reason I used to love 'Shepherd's' in Ottawa, but her prices were through the roof. Have a google at the Charlie website, you can order online.
So, here we are in 2014. Hard to believe?! And here I am in the 'Wild West' which is Calgary. On the way home from the airport last night, we stopped at our local Crowfoot watering hole for a quick bite. It was jammed to the rafters and humming. As usual, we were greeted like long-lost family by the cute young men and women who are the staff and treated to food and beverage while we waited the few minutes for a couple of stools to free up at the bar.
All that being said, we were home and in bed by 10. Needless to say, I am not a fan of insane New Year's Eve.
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