Good Books, a Blanket, and a Cat

Every year, at about this time, I get the urge to read.  And not just one book, oh no, I go to the library and check out several.

My favorite genre of books, to accompany me into the fall season, are usually books based upon nostalgia.....the good old days.

The books that follow are just a few of my favorites.

 

 

I really enjoy Bob Artley's books full of childhood stories and the illustrations that accompany them.

This particular one, about the country school he attended, is one of my favorites.  It's filled with stories of walking to and from school and school programs such as the ever so exciting Christmas program.  There are stories about the noon hour, with lunchboxes full of homemade bread and butter and playground games. 

 

Looking at this book always reminds me a bit of the country schoolhouses I've gotten to visit in various museums.  It also reminds me of this diorama, in the Buffalo Trails Museum of Epping.  The diorama was made by local artist and former museum curator, Elmer Halverson.  It shows the classroom and teacher's quarters in the back.  I wish I knew the name of this school and if it was the country school Mr. Halverson attended as a child.

 

 

 

 

I also really enjoy the book Memories of a Farm Kitchen, also by Bob Artley. 

 

  

 Another book I'm fond of this time of year is Good Old Days On The Farm.

 

 

This book is also FULL of stories written by people who grew up on farms during the first half of the 20th century.  There are stories for all seasons including ones about the summer kitchen, feather beds, picking apples in the fall, Thanksgiving (which is my favorite) and Christmas celebrations.

And speaking of Christmas celebrations, I also LOVE Bob Arley's Country Christmas As Remembered by a Former Kid    This book is extra special because it was purchased at one of our favorite, locally owned bookstores, Books on Broadway. 

Above is my favorite two-page spread of an old fashioned Christmas happening at a grandparent's home, possibly a farm house.  It's amazing to me, when I tour some of these older homes in museums, how small the spaces are.  Everyone crammed into the living room or around the table, inside these not so very big houses.  Now a days, I hear people talk about how much space they need to entertain.  People did just fine back in the day with the space they had.

 

This book is full of wonderful drawings and paintings of Christmas parties at school, trips to the general store, and wintertime kitchens and chores.

 

So those are just a few of the books I've been pouring over this October and November.  Books about family, friends and the simple things in life.  They help me to remember what is important and they help me to be thankful for the things that I have.

 

That's all for today.  Until another time, grab a cozy blanket, book and comfy chair and happy reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Cornbread and Milk by Gordon H. Soles

Once again I found a great little gem hiding among the stacks in our local library, a book called Cornbread and Milk by Gordon H. Soles

I’ve always enjoyed stories of life on a farm from the olden days and Cornbread and Milk really delivers a taste of what country life was like for a young boy growing up in Kansas during (I’m guessing, the early part of the 20^th century. The author mentions threshers, farm machinery and a pickup truck, but never mentions a radio.)

To be honest, the first chapter didn’t really grab my interest, but I am glad I didn’t give up on the book.  The second chapter was better and I enjoyed the remaining chapters. Each chapter is a new, little, stand-alone story much like you would find in a vintage magazine. Each story has it’s main characters, and each story is neatly tied up in the end. Each story contains just the right balance of humor, sadness, and drama.  They sometimes even brought tears to my eyes.

As I was reading the book, I couldn’t help but to picture the Walton family from the 1970s TV show.  In Corn Bread and Milk, the grandparents lived with the family and the grandmother in the story reminded me so much of Grandma Walton from the show.  Then, in the book, there was Elmer Vessler, who one night had a little too much moonshine to drink at the barn dance, and stumbled into the cow pen. I pictured him as Yancy Tucker. And our author reminded me time and time again of John Boy.

Soles would write,

“Winter around our farm usually was a fairly quiet time….I guess we all liked it best because we got to be more of a family then. Pa wasn’t off in a field somewhere and Maw wasn’t too busy with canning and tending to her chickens to be sociable.”
I could picture John Boy writing a paragraph similar to this while sitting at his bedroom desk.

Soles includes everything from his grandmother’s fear of cottonmouth snakes, to his little brothers fascinating hobby of collecting things to keep in his tobacco tins (including rabbit droppings). There are stories about barn dances, milk cows, outhouses, and even tornados. There were stories that made me cry, such as the one about the old dog that gets hit by a car and survives for a few days. The old tom cat comforts the dog during these days and brings him gifts of mice and rabbits. Proving that there is no such thing as a dumb animal.   

There was one paragraph in particular that I enjoyed very much and that was the one about family gatherings. It reminded me so much of family gatherings at my Grandmother’s house when I was younger.

“Us kids would begin to get excited weeks ahead of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Fourth of July because we knew we’d get to see and play with our cousins--not to mention getting to eat all the good things the aunts would fix up in the way of food.
Like at most farm gatherings, first the table would groan from the load of food and then the folks would groan because they had eaten so much. Somehow the womenfolks always fixed enough so there was a lot of food left over. Instead of dividing up whatever was left like they did at community affairs, the womenfolks would leave the food out for all-afternoon nibbling. Seemed like every time you looked around there was someone chewing on a chicken wing or chomping at a sliver of cake.”

Yeah, I totally remember my Grandma Lillian’s house being like that.  I can remember nibbling food all evening long, a turkey sandwich here, a spoonful or two of jello salad there.

Cornbread and Milk is a great little book to curl up and read on a cold, snowy evening.
It's certainly on my wish list.

That's all for today. Until another time, enjoy some time with a good book and have a vintage loving day!

Another Favorite Book

Lil's Courage is a book written by Bonnie Foell Olson the daughter of Lillian Agnew Foell.  Lillian kept a diary of her life and her daughter, Bonnie, worked very hard to edit the diaries into book form.  I'm so glad she did, because this book is a treasure. 



 

I first came across Lil's Courage in the Great Plains room of our local library.  I read the first chapter and loved it, but because it was a local history book, and the library only had one copy, I wasn't allowed to check it out.  Prices online for the book were quite a bit above my book budget.  Then, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to find one for about half the price of what others were asking!  I was tickled pink and did not hesitate in ordering it!  

 

The diaries, or stories, start in the year 1924, and take place in and area of North Dakota, near Bismarck.  We learn a little bit about Lil's teenage years, her meeting her husband-to-be and their marriage in 1932, the birth of each child and all kinds of wonderful things in between.

There are so many interesting day-to-day details of life on the farm/ranch that Lillian was able to capture in her diaries.  There are stories about her garden, canning, and butchering times.  There were many entries about the food she prepared and ate, along with dances, card games, and plenty of visitors to the ranch.  There were also times of sickness, worries about the Second World War, and letters from loved ones near and far. 

I enjoy this kind of detailed, day-to-day history.  It is a "real history" that sometimes cannot be taught or learned from the more typical history book full of dates and national events.  If you get a chance to pick one up I highly recommend it!

 

That's all for now!  Until another time, have a happy vintage day!

 

 

 

The Happy People by Sara Jenkins

Let me see....where do I start? 

First, it's not very often I choose a book without having any clue as to what it is about.  But I did with The Happy People because of its title, and because it was written in 1953.  For about the same price as a BK Whopper I figured I couldn't lose.  (Mmmm...Whoppers)

Second, it's not very often I purchase a book and finish it within 24 hours.  (The last time I did it was when I found a copy of Bridges of Madison County.)
The Happy People is 246 pages long and I devoured page after page of it, only stopping long enough to go to church and feed my family some pot roast. (Why not Whoppers...What happened to the Whoppers?)

The book is written by Sara Jenkins and after a bit of late-night research I discovered she also wrote another book called The Brand New Parson.  I found a used copy on Amazon and needless to say, the Fed X  man will be ringing my doorbell in 1 to 2 days.

In The Happy People, Jenkins introduces us to the small town of Kinsman GA and it's townsfolk.  The town was recently built by J.G. Kinsman, owner of the local cloth factory.  J.G. Kinsman is rich, powerful and...well he pretty much owns the town seeing as how he built it.  As I read the story I began to picture the ex-NASA millionaire from the TV series Northern Exposure, played by actor Barry Corbin lol. 


SPOILER ALERT!!!!!  
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

I can't talk about a book without actually TALKING about a book.  So if you plan to read the book, and don't want to know any more about it's juicy details, then please feel free to stop reading.   Or, if you're already bored to tears and your eyes are all glazed over like mine get when hubby tries to explain spreadsheets to me, then stop reading.   Gee-wiz, life is too short and you won't hurt my feelings.





J.G. Kinsman built the town to serve his factory.  A river runs through town and on one side J.G. has built small, but comfortable homes for his factory workers.  The other side of town boasts larger homes for other inhabitants of the community such as the factory chemist, and a few other interesting characters.  There is a large home for J.G. Kinsman himself and his family, and a parsonage for our main character, the new Methodist preacher, Stephen Elliot, who lives with his widowed sister and her son in the parsonage. 

The book revolves around the growth of Stephen Elliot as a person and as a pastor.  He is plagued by personal struggle...he is in love with his ex-collage girlfriend, Claire, who just happens to pop up in Kinsman at just the right time.  She is beautiful, stylish, a good decorator....but divorced.  Being a Methodist preacher, Stephen has no choice but to leave the ministry if he wants to marry Claire.  The author is so good because throughout the first few chapters my opinion of Claire kept changing.  At first I didn't like her at all, then just as I'd start to feel sorry for her, she'd do something or say something to tick me off again.  I kept thinking, "What does he even see in this woman, she's kinda vain, stuffy and at times a bit selfish!?"  But then again, who isn't at times.
This struggle with his love for Claire begins to weigh heavily upon Stephen.

One dark and rainy evening, his gal-pal, Joey asks him, "Where are the happy people?"  It's a key question throughout the book and a question that intrigues Stephen.  It gets him to thinking about Joey and why she is not happy.  After all, she is J.G. Kinsman's daughter...she has every material possession she could ask for.  (Ah...but material possessions aren't a replacement for a father's love are they?)  Joey is mostly ignored by her family, she lives alone in the guest house and they won't let her take a job.  Joey is different from Claire in many ways, she's about the same age but more of a free spirit, trying to find her place in the world.  She is not as beautiful as Claire and I liked her for that because I felt I could relate to her in that way.  I'm sure writing Joey in this way was no accident by the author as I would venture to guess a few of us feel we are not as beautiful as the beauty queen down the street or the woman sitting in front of us in church.  This book, through Joey, reminded me that beauty isn't everything.

After three weeks of non-stop rain, Stephen's personal struggles start to affect his work, and our pastor friend is close to a nervous breakdown.  He takes a few days off, gets into his car and drives towards the Smokey Mountains having no actual destination in mind.  (We've all been there right?  I felt like singing "Jesus Take the Wheel")

He falls asleep at the wheel and "accidentally" finds himself in a village called "City of Brothers" full of welcoming people. At first I thought to myself, "this could get creepy in a 'Children of the Corn' kind of way", but thankfully, it didn't.

These welcoming villagers left the hustle and bustle of their regular, big-city lives to live off of the land and become farmers, potters, weavers and such.  They live in 300 year old farm houses and log homes and describe themselves as "normal" people as they still read the newspaper, keep up with world views, and use modern appliances.  They are well educated, well read, and have shelves upon shelves of books in their living rooms. (sounds like my kind of place).  They are deeply religious and try to "walk with God" in everything they do.

This small village was the safe haven Stephen needed.  After a few meaningful conversations  with the villagers (worth the price of the book right there) and in only two days, Stephen thinks he's found his way back to God.

He heads back to Kinsman and preaches the most emotional, eye-opening sermon of his life...and it's a good one! (again, totally worth the price of the book right there!)  But, many of the townsfolk disapprove, especially J.G. Kinsman, and even Stephen's own beloved Claire.  But he reaches Joey and we find that his sermon was exactly what Joey needed to hear. (and apparently, that's a pretty big deal for a pastor).

Then tragedy strikes.  Four weeks of steady rain, plus a town with a river running through it...well...you do the math.  Let's just say lives are changed.  Points of view are changed, and people are seen in new ways.

I'll leave the rest to you...if you have the opportunity to read it, please do.  It is full of little life lessons about what we think we want, what God thinks we need and the ability to just let God be God.

".....He had prayed in the City of Brothers, "Thy will be done, and may I be shown the way I can do it."  He prayed it once more now, humbly, a he walked toward the parsonage, adding, "Keep her happy, Lord.  and the Kinsmans, and all of the lost, and misguided, and contrary.  All of us are so--so--"  He could think of no better words than "Stupid and weak."  He wasn't satisfied but he was sure God knew what he meant...."


Until Tomorrow,
Have a Happy Day!

Where The Heart Is by Janet Lambert

Books have a funny way of finding me.  Sometimes just the right book comes to me at just the right time.  Lately, I've been missing the quietness of the country, and the small town life from which I came.  I've been looking for a book to divert my attention from where I actually am, in a town growing faster than it can handle, in a neighborhood surrounded by strangers.

So when I found Where the Heart Is by Janet Lambert at the local public library's Spring book sale I felt it was luck, with maybe a bit more than luck sprinkled in.  For a mere fifty-cents, this little green book with its worn cover and bent corners was exactly what I needed to help me slip away to the country life for 30 minutes every evening.

My well loved copy was printed in 1949, and it is a children's book, geared more towards teenage girls of that time.  It's about a family who temporarily moves from the city to the country. 

Because it is a children's book, the story is quite simple and easy to read.  It's the type of book I'd read on a rainy day, while sitting on a front porch swing (if I had one) with a warm quilt draped across my lap and a cup of tea on the side table. 

Mmmm, this would do, but it needs more cushions and maybe a cat. 

...The story revolves around 14 year old Christy Drayton, the youngest daughter of the Drayton family. Christy is one of those high spirited characters whose attitude is so sunshiny positive it almost makes you wanna barf.  But she is likable and as the story unfolds we find that the family is in a bit of a predicament.  The new house they've purchased in Philadelphia is still occupied and is not move-in-ready.  They've been living in hotels for weeks and have finally gotten permission from an old Aunt to use her son's (Cousin Edwin's) house in the country while he is away.  Clear as mud, I know, but it gets better.  They don't have keys to the house, so they set up house in the livable part of the huge barn that houses Cousin Edwin's prized horses. (This is New England and living in barns was apparently considered a trendy, artistic way to live at that time). 

This is kind of what I envision Cousin Edwin's farm to be like, except with more trees and the house would be farther away from the barn.  Uncle Edwin lives in the house and Christy and her family live in the barn.  They do his house cleaning and bring him breakfast every morning.

The barn is comfortable with a living room area, complete with a bump out window and cushioned window seat, kitchen and a bathroom down the stable hall (past the horses).  And much to the mother's chagrin, they must climb a ladder every night to sleep in a loft.  The mom is not very good at climbing ladders, but eventually gets the hang of it.
Christy becomes friends with Roger, the stable boy who lives down the lane.  Roger introduces Christy to the "whole gang" and together they have a summer filled with trips into the local village, hay rides, picnics, and bicycle rides down country lanes.  But then, Cousin Edwin comes home early (dun dun dun).  Will he kick them out of the barn leaving them homeless?  Will their house in the city ever be ready for them, or will they stay in the country?  Will Cousin Edwin ever smile!?  The ending is all very neat and tidy *sigh* and they all live happily ever after. 

Janet Lambert did write a second Christy Drayton book called Treasure Trouble and I hope to read that one as well if I can find it.  That's one of the hard parts about these great old books, they are sometimes difficult to find and even more difficult to purchase.

Autumn would like this book and if I can tear her away from her Nancy Drew Mysteries I will read it to her this summer. 
Have a Happy Day!

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

My Mother is such a good book-picker-outer.  She recently bought and read the book Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster and it's now my turn to read it.  What a wonderful book!  I love this line from page 49.

"It isn't the big troubles in life that require character.  Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh--I really think that requires spirit." 

Hmmm, that's true enough.

In the book we meet Jerusha Abbott (Judy), an orphan who has had a rough life growing up in the John Grier Home (an orphanage).  She's been treated like a Cinderella and is not treated well by Mrs. Lippett the home's matron.  Jerusha is eighteen and should be moving on but has no where to go.   Until, a generous man sends her to college on his dime.  The man wishes to remain anonymous, the only thing he asks of her is for her to write him a letter once a month about her studies, but she may not know who he is or ask him any questions (she does anyway).  She writes to him often, sometimes weekly and through her letters we enjoy her college adventures as if we were right along side her.

So far, Daddy Long Legs is an excellent book.  The girl's letters to "Daddy Long Legs" are witty and full of details about college life in the early 1900's.  I'm looking forward to finding out how she fairs in school and who this mysterious "Daddy Long Legs" really is!

     "I'm going to be good and sweet and kind to everybody because I'm so happy.  And this summer I'm going to write and write and write and begin to be a great author.  Isn't that an exalted stand to take?  Oh, I'm developing a beautiful character!  It droops a bit under cold and frost, but it does grow fast when the sun shines. 

     That's the way with everybody.  I don't agree with the theory that adversity and sorrow and disappointment develop moral strength.  the happy people are the ones who are bubbling over with kindliness."----from Daddy Long Legs pg. 52

Later............Well, I have finished the book and it too has become another favorite.  The ending is a sweet surprise!  I won't spoil the plot for all of you that might go on to read it yourselves, but I will share some of my favorite passages and ideas from the book.   My copy (thank you Mom) has a rainbow of paper tags hanging out of the side as I marked each favorite passage with a sticky note. 

This book would probably be best suited for 12 year olds and up, but it would depend upon the maturity level of the reader.  Judy uses some difficult vocabulary-type words in her letters that I had to look up (she is a writer after all).  But there is nothing "bad" in it really,  Especially when you compare it to all the vampire-loving, boy crazy, way-too-old-for pre-teens trash (that no ten year old should even know about let alone be reading) that is found on the young-adult shelves nowadays (yuck).  This book is such a better choice for pre-teens and even teens. 

Here are just a couple of my favorite paragraphs from this wonderful book...

"I think that the most necessary quality for any parson to have is imagination  It makes people able to put themselves in other people's places.  It makes them kind and sympathetic and understanding.  It ought to be cultivated in children.  But the John Grier Home instantly stamped out the slightest flicker that appeared.  Duty was the one quality that was encouraged.  I don't think children ought to know the meaning of the word; it's odious, detestable.  They ought to do everything from love."--pg 96

The paragraph above seemed familiar to me in a paralleling kind of way.  Maybe some Law and Gospel?  We love not because it is our duty, we love because we are loved unconditionally by Christ.  We love not out of obligation, or out of fear of burning in hell, for how can anyone love under those conditions?  Instead we are like children encouraged to live with imagination.  We love because He loved us so much that he died for us.  The connection is in my brain..I'm just not sure it's coming across on paper (or screen) in a coherent way.

Here's another of my favorites...

"It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most;  it's making a great deal out of the little ones--I've discovered the true secret of happiness, and that is to live in the now.  Not to be forever regretting the past, or anticipating the future;  but to get the most that you can out of this very instant.......I'm going to enjoy every second, and I'm going to know I'm enjoying it while I'm enjoying it.  Most people don't live;  they just race.  They are trying to reach some goal far away on the horizon, and in the heat of the going they get so breathless and panting that they lose all sight of the beautiful, tranquil country they are passing through;  and then the first thing they know, they are old and worn out, and it doesn't make any difference whether they've reached the goal or not."--pg 134

Because I stay at home, I tend to enjoy a slow paced, life.  I'm never rushed to meet a deadline, I'm my own boss so I'm never striving for a promotion.  I have time to look at the sunrise every morning (at least in the winter) or a sunbeam shining through the window.  I usually see my Nemesis, dust, floating in the sunbeam, but, even that can be interesting?  I get to enjoy a child's giggle or their amazement at how a simple glass of water plus sunlight can make a rainbow. "Jen!!!  There's a rainbow on the floor!!!"   We all have these magical moments happening around us, even if we have a goal we are rushing towards, we just have to take the time to stop and see them.



When I did research on the author of Daddy Long Legs, Alice Jane Chandler Webster, I found that she lived a very short life.  She was born in 1876 and had a privileged upbringing.  She did charity work with children and this was her basis for Daddy Long Legs, written in 1912 under the pen name, Jean Webster. In 1915 she married Glenn Ford McKinney, but tragically died the following year.  She died of "childbirth fever" on June 11th 1916, a day after giving birth to a daughter.  (June 11th is my birthday).  I feel bad she didn't get to raise her daughter.  After reading her book it seems she would've been a wonderful mother.

Alice Jane Chandler Webster whose pen name was Jean Webster

Well, I've gone on long enough about this wonderful book.  I encourage anyone, young or old, to pick it up for yourself and read all of the little tid-bits about life that it offers.
Until later,
Have a happy day!

Betsy's Wedding

It's no secret that I love children's picture books.  But as Autumn is getting older, I find myself browsing the chapter book section in our library a bit more.  In the past couple of years I have found that there are some excellent chapter books out there for children and for those who are children at heart.

While I grew up on Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, I tend to like the older books better.
Autumn and I have read The Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink, The Betsy and Eddie Books by Carolyn Haywood, and all of the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  There are books like Sarah, Plain and Tall and Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan, and Mandy by Julie Andrews.  There are also the Besy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace.

My mother was telling me about the Betsy-Tacy books one afternoon, and I'd told her I'd heard of them but had never read one.  I thought they would be too simple for Autumn.  But then she told me something I didn't know (mothers do that often, you know).  She said that the Betsy-Tacy books were written over time.  Little girls who started reading Betsy-Tacy in the first grade grew with the books as they were published.  So the stories and the writing grew more complex to read as the readers grew with the books.  How brilliant!  So when I spotted Betsy's Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace, I read it on my own.  It is the last book in the Betsy-Tacy series (leave it to me to start at the end.), but really sounded like the one I would enjoy the most.
Betsy is newly married to a wonderful man and they begin their life together.  The book is beautifully written and goes into great detail how Betsy learns to keep house, keep a budget, and still find time for her writing career.  She learns to cook and decorate their little apartment, and learns to weather little bumps in their marriage, with grace and a loving heart.  By the end of the book I felt as though I had become Betsy's friend and learned with her along the way. 

The book is set in the nineteen-teens, just prior to WWI.  It paints a picture of the simple ways of life during that time period. There were sleighing parties and get togethers and quiet evenings at home.  Many stories started at the breakfast table with just Betsy and her husband getting ready for their day.  And often we could find them in the evening, each in their own chair, quietly reading or chatting with each other.

Betsy's Wedding is a wonderful book for 10 year olds and up.  I'm way older than that and I loved it!  So much so that I had to purchase one for myself.  It's a must have for those blue, rainy days, when the world seems so discouraging and harsh.  It transports me to a happy place.. Betsy's warmly lit kitchen in the evening, with it's welcoming back screen door letting in an evening breeze, and the smell of a pot-pie baking in the oven.  (Can't you just hear the crickets through the screen?) That's what a good book can do.

Just a little house off the web that gives that quiet, evening feeling.

Maud Hart Lovelace was born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota.  Her childhood home has been restored and is now operated as a museum.

Maud Hart Lovelace's childhood home.

Maud Hart Lovelace

http://www.betsy-tacysociety.org/home  is a wonderful website dedicated to Maud Hart Lovelace and the Betsy-Tacy series of books.  Here you can see pictures of the her childhood home's restoration and also the home of Tacy.