Shirley McMurtrie

Yours till Niagara Falls

“Yours till Niagara Falls” or is it “Yours till the Statue of Liberty sits down?” Maybe it's “Yours till the United States drinks Canada Dry.” Could it be “Yours till they feed the corn on your toes to the calves of your legs?” No, that doesn't sound very nice. I know. It's “Yours till the barn dances and the fire escapes.”

Litany of Shame

Litany of Shame

Whenever Mother and Dad had an argument, usually in bed at night, Mother had a litany of offenses Dad had been guilty of in the past. She never forgave him and she certainly never forgot. First on the list was when Dad punched Mother's brother, Uncle Johnny, in the nose and knocked him down. The second offense was the one I will now describe. Dad was officially listed as AWOL at the end of World War l. That sounds worse than what it was. I will explain.

Carnival Chili

Carnival Chili

Back in the 30's and the 40's small carnivals cross-crossed the country. It was before television and the Internet. Amusements were simpler back in the day. I'm not talking about the circus, just a carnival with some rides and a midway. They are gone forever.

I remember them. Dad allowed us one ride, a walk through the midway and a hot dog. What sights! What sounds! What smells! That was what childhood memories were made of. We went once.

Come Join Us

Come Join Us

The old rocking chair is empty on Thursday;
Grandma is no longer in it.
She is off in her car to the Senior Center, not far,
And buzzes around every minute.

You won't see her trudging off early to bed
From her place by her warm fireside nook.
Her computer's click-clicking long into the night,
Grandma is writing her book.

Grandma ne'er takes a backward glance
To slow her steady advancing.
She won't tend the babies for you anymore
For Grandma has taken up dancing -

SCREWS AND NAILS

SCREWS AND NAILS

Why write about screws and nails, you ask? Why not? They are a necessary part of life. I remember growing up during the Great Depression and during WW ll when good ones were hard to find.

Let's look back at screws, first. Phillips screws were unheard of. If they were around, we never saw any. All we had were the slotted ones and it seemed we seldom had new ones. A box full of assorted screws, nails and small fittings was a joy to sort through.

Oleomargarine

Oleomargarine

Oleomargarine. My, that is a long word. We call it margarine, nowadays. Back before WW ll, we called it oleo. You will find that name in old cook books.

Pineapple Pie

Pineapple Pie

I think most everybody likes pineapple. There's Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Pineapple Casserole and last but not least, Pineapple Pie. I like pineapple any way you fix it. Of course, fresh pineapple is the best, but that is only available part of the year.

Grocery Shopping During the Great Depression

Grocery Shopping During the Great Depression

There are jigsaw puzzles that depict a general store with goods displayed on shelves as well as placed around the store. A few steps into the door and you were at the counter. That's the way it used to be. “Well, hello there, Mrs. Stimer. How are you today?” The grocer knew all his customers.

Mother only shopped once a month. That was the way Dad was paid by the farmer he worked for milking cows twice a day and doing field work. Forty dollars a month and a tenant house to live in. We had it better than most in those dreary days of the Great Depression.

Our Ole Cook Stove

Our Ole Cook Stove

Adapted by Shirley McMurtrie

I look back to the days what are gone
When living was simple and plain.
We rushed to the ole stove to be warmed
When chilled by the frost and the rain.

To the end of our days, we'll never forget
Our regular Saturday scrub.
Needed or not, the water not hot,
By the ole cook stove, in the tub.

We loved that ole stove for the things that it made:
The puddings, the pies and the cake,
The jelly and jam and savory ham,
Roast chicken and tasty Swiss steak.

Easy Fondant

Easy Fondant

Mother's favorite candy was a vanilla fondant cone dipped in chocolate, but making it was beyond her expertise. No matter, she could buy a small bag of it whenever she went to town. Other than the infamous Hersey Bar, it was the only candy I knew in those years. I can still see her at the counter in Woolworth's pointing to her favorite candy and saying, “I'll take ten cents worth of those, please.” The clerk would hand her five or six in a small brown paper sack. On the way home, one piece for each of us was a special treat.

Playing in the Swamp

Playing in the Swamp

We lived near a swamp. Not just any swamp. This one seemed to go on forever. The tenant house we lived in, next to an old cottonwood tree, was at the foot of a steep hill. If we stood in the driveway and looked across the road, the swamp ran to the horizon. On our side of the road, the same swamp continued on. It was our playground. In the spring the swamp would be flooded with the heavy spring rains. We didn't venture out there then, but when the swamp dried up, we would be off and running. It was our playground.

Mother's Custard Pie

Do you need a dessert for supper? And you can't find a recipe that doesn't need a trip to the store? Custard pie would fit the bill. The ingredients are in every kitchen.

I have a story about one special custard pie. It happened long ago when I was still a teenager and living at home in the 1940s

Union County Memoir Class

Union County Memoir Class

The Union County Memoir Class will begin Thursday, February 8 at 9:30 A.M. at the Union County Senior Center, 298 Main Street, behind the Union County Library, in Maynardville. We will meet on the second and fourth Thursdays at 9:30 A.M. The first class will be concerned with how-to-do's and discussion of story topics. We will begin writing stories February 22. If you have questions, please contact me: Shirley McMurtrie, 865-992-1056 or email my at follow8me@aol.com

Farmhouse Pancakes

When I was growing up during the Great Depression years, there was no cake mix, no Bisquick and no pancake mix. It was like my dad with his cigarettes; he rolled his own. We made our own. I don't have Mother's pancake recipe. Like I said before, she seldom used a recipe. Anyway, I was too young to watch and write down the measurements.

Writing Episodes

Writing Episodes

Last week I put out a call for those interested in writing their memoirs. Beginning with “It was a dark and stormy night” as Snoopy did in the Peanuts cartoon series is NOT the way to go. It is too easy to get bogged down and lose interest in the project. Plus it might be repetitious and boring. Writing in episodes is the way. Each story of about five hundred words would be about one situation. In writing the story of your life, you are painting scenes, one story at a time. This is a proven method, tested with everyday adults writing about their lives.

Cigarettes

Cigarettes

Do you smoke? I did. I quit on my thirtieth birthday sixty years ago. That is longer ago than most people are old. I started during the war, World War ll, that is. Most everything seemed to be rationed, but cigarettes weren't.

My dad smoked. During the Great Depression, he smoked a pipe. Cigarettes were around then, but pipe tobacco was cheaper than cigarettes. As a child I enjoyed the aroma when Dad lit up his pipe. His tobacco came in a small bag with a drawstring.

Philippino Egg Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Philippino Egg Rolls with Sweet Sour Sauce

This recipe is from Lita, Jamie Porter's Filipino wife. They came to Tennessee to visit us a year ago. Lita made these for us. I wanted to chop the veggies in my food processor. She was horrified. They must be chopped by hand, she told me. Sorry, Lita. It's the food processor for me.

You can find the egg roll wrappers in the frozen food section of the grocery store. Or you can go to West Knoxville to an Asian store and buy the fresh ones. They are in a package, too, so I don't see any difference except taking more gas for the car to buy them from an exotic Asian store.

Memoir Writing Class

Memoir Writing Class

Several years ago a memoir writing class was offered at the Senior Citizen Center at Halls Crossroads. I had been trying to write about my past and needed someone to critique my efforts. I figured this would be a good place to start. I had no idea how much it would help. The classes met the first and third Tuesday of the month. Bob Farmer was the moderator. They ended when the class reduced in size because of deaths, relocations and other interests.

Scorched Gravy

Scorched Gravy

Have you ever heard of Scorched Gravy? It doesn't sound like much, but it's tasty. I fix it now, even when there are meat drippings for flavor. Scorched Gravy is another recipe from my childhood. Mother made it often during the Great Depression. We always had potatoes to build a meal around. Meat was another thing. With no refrigeration, fresh meat was a delicacy, not often on our table. Potatoes and gravy were.

New Year's Traditions

New Year's Traditions

Here it is New Year's Eve. I have experienced a lot of them. The earliest ones I remember were during World War ll. Being a teenager during wartime was no fun. Celebrations had changed, were cut back or eliminated. My folks tried to keep some in place to give us a normal home life. Dad, in his forties, hadn't been drafted since he worked in a defense plant. Our family was intact, but not much else was.

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