Postcard: Eastern Airlines Super-C Constellation over Miami Beach

Eastern Super-C Constellation over Miami Beach, Florida

I have some comments about flying and such, but will talk about the postcard first. It’s on ebay right now, item #150253300916 or you can click here and go immediately to the listing – I’m starting this one at a LOW price of $1.49 so you have a chance at a real bargain!

Wow – Eastern provided the postcard, You could write it in flight, place a stamp, and the airlines would drop it in the mail for you. This card was mailed from Arlington, VA and talks about a rough flight experience. The writer became air sick and the plane had to circle Washington DC for two hours before they could land. Not very pleasant (and waiting is still quite common 50 years later!).

Fantastic postcard and a quick look around the internet shows much higher prices for this card – and none of the ones I found had been postmarked!

The instructions to “Please affix stamp and give to your flight attendant for mailing” is printed on the reverse.

Postmarked 1953 with purple three-cent Liberty stamp
Very Good condition with minor corner wear and bumps (hey, it’s been through the Postal Service…)

Fifty years ago. Things have changed. Not only is this view markedly different, but Jets are common for passenger flights and Eastern Airlines folded. AND this is from the era when flying was still a classy way to go and service was a KEY word in the industry. Each individual was treated as an honored customer and your needs were seen to – a blanket and pillow was available, along with beverage service and FOOD. I noticed a few years ago that I began feeling like cattle rounded up and lead through the chute to an uncertain and unknown future. These days I’m beginning to wonder when the electrified cattle prods are coming out.

Food. Remember the days when you were offered a choice of meals if the flying was close to a mealtime? The latest news report stated that in coach (steerage) you won’t even be given a measly package of four pretzels.

Flying with Sis is great. We always carry food, books, and activities with us. Once there was a mechanical problem with the plane and during the delay we played Pass the Pigs (you can see the game here) and ate our balogna sandwiches (NOT the same activity). Early morning flights are the best, but the food was usually a sweet roll or danish. Neither of us thinks a sweet roll is a good way to start the day, so we like to pack boiled eggs. Couldn’t leave behind our Everglades Seasoning. (That is a mix of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and other spices and perfect for eggs, meat, and more).

The last time we did the eggs was pre-911 so I don’t know if the security standards allow boiled eggs on the flight…

Internet Archive: Ladies Worktable book

I found this on the Internet Archive, or wayback machine.

The Ladie’s Worktable book: containing clear and practical instructions in plain and fancy needlework, embroidery, knitting, netting,and crochet.

Published about 1850-something according to the notes on the description page. The image above was copied from the black and white PDF of the bookcontributed by the University of California Libraries and the Digitizing Sponsor is MSN.

The introduction is an essay about the role of women in society and the home

“Providence has, in a remarkable manner, adapted woman’s tastes and propensities to the station she was designed to occupy in the scale of being. Tender and affectionate, it is her highest bliss to minister to the wants, the convenience, or the pleasure of those she loves;…”

What I’ve read so far has been entertaining and fascinating. Our how-to “tutes,” books and instructions really take you by the hand for each step. This bookgives general guidelines…It does have illustrations, but the section on sewing leaves me nearly clueless. If I didn’t already know how to sew, I would find it difficult to follow the instructions and come away with a well-constructed item.

There are some unfamiliar terms, too. A Nail of fabric? I looked that up and it is a 1/16th of a yard or 2 1/4 inches.

The excess verbiage glorifying the status of women at the time certainly dates the book and provides a view into the idealized role of women in the mid 1850’s. I can imagine the despair that some women felt when faced with the daily realities of keeping a family fed, clean, and clothed with few resources and even less assistance. Then to open a book such as this, meant to be a helpful guide and see how they “should” be feeling. Talk about lack of validation!

Some key women in history were raised in settings such as these and they went on to change the world.

I’m looking forward to exploring this farther, not only the needlework instructions but a picture of the world in which my great-grandmothers grew up.

Crafty family

On Mother’s Day I was thinking about how Mother always had crafty ideas in her head and passed along this interest in making things. It was hard-wired into my DNA. I can prove it – she and her sister got it from their mother and passed it along to my sister and me (and our brother, but his crafty things are a BIT different). Even our niece likes to make things. We can’t swear she got it from our side of the family as my sis in law’s family is and has been quite crafty and creative for generations, too.

We were visiting Mother’s sister, Aunt C, in the wilds of West-Central Florida. Highway 19 was a four-lane road through palmetto scrub back then. She and Uncle liked to sell their creations, and were making bare-foot thongs or sandals out of crocheted metallic elastic and tri-beads. They were cute, and I learned how to make them. Then Uncle showed me the bead rope he was crocheting and I HAD to learn how to make that project. After a trip to the craft store for the beads, HOURS to string them in the precise pattern to make the swirl, crocheting the rope was the easy part. It turned out fabulous.

To crochet another one is on my lengthy to-do list.

That’s it for now. I leave you with another one of my favorite things – photography

Knitting Nancy or Crochet Part 1

One of the things I enjoy and have done for many years is crochet. Grandmother crocheted beautifully and I remember watching the silver hook flash as she worked on another medallion for a tablecloth. We (sis, bro, and me) started on spools that Daddy had driven four finishing nails into the top. I now know this is called “Spool Knitting” or using a “Knitting Nancy.”

Crafty pod has some illustrated instructions on how to do this

http://www.craftypod.com/?p=100

There is a free e book available at Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22029

This is a great website. The author is an engineer and brings his willingness to test and evaluate every step of the process. He begins with a detailed history of the various implements and proceeds to reviews of the modern craft and toy tools. A little more than half down the page is a section on using a toilet paper roll, Popsicle sticks, a rubber band and some yarn to make a knitting nancy that is safe to use in school.

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/knittingnancys.html

If you have some time, check out his other articles. They are fascinating and you can really loose yourself in the analysis. The section on the ultimate super-soaker was memorable…

Back to the main topic. Spool Knitting was fun, and soon we were ready for the next step, actual crochet. The foundation of all crochet is the chain stitch and is very simple to do. We each practiced to become proficient and of course our competitive nature kicked in. Racing to see who could crochet the fastest was our next challenge. I remember sitting there with my eye on the second hand on the clock so I could call time for one of my siblings. Then we started the World’s Longest Chain. Our goal was to crochet a strand of chains long enough to wrap around our house. I remember holding one end and running around the side of the house to see how far we had gotten. It is funny; I remember working on it, and seeing if it went around the house, but not if we ever finished it. The same with racing; I don’t remember who was the fastest. I’ll have to consult Sis, as she seems to remember a lot of these things better than I do.

After we had exhausted these challenges, I was interested in actually making something different. Grandmother taught me single and double crochet. We were using cotton thread so it started tiny. As I progressed I found my tension was loosening and I produced a trapezoid. I used it as a Barbie Doll apron.

I didn’t crochet a lot as a child because I spent as much time as possible reading. I started crocheting again in college and my first project was an afghan for my dorm room bed. It was a lot of fun, and I crocheted one for my sister at Christmas and another for my brother the next year. In the years since then I’ve started a lot of projects and even finished some! Each time I pick up the thread and crochet hook I think of my Grandmother and how she not only taught me a life-time hobby but left a legacy of beautiful crocheted lace tablecloths, bedspreads, and other items she made for family. They are a marvelous and true treasure.

Sushi

Sis loves sushi and has introduced me to that lovely morsel of most anything wrapped in seaweed and rice. Amazing flavor in just a bite. I know there are all different types including a little block of rice with a bit of raw fish draped over the top (sashimi). But I prefer the complex and intriguing mixes of modern American sushi rolls.

A new restaurant has opened up near her home and on my last visit we went twice – once with bro and sis-in-law and then we went back a second night. Wow. It was so good you could hardly stand it. On our repeat visit it was just the two of us and we sat at the sushi bar and chatted with one of the chefs. It is a small, family owned restaurant and I hope it succeeds as we can always use another place to get Good Food. I would be hard to pick a favorite – they had something called “Passion Roll” with tuna, Kani, Avo, and tempura battered to deep fry. This was sooo good – they wouldn’t even have to fry the thing to get me to eat it. Another one is the yamagata roll with asparagus, shitake, avo and spicy mayonaise.

There is always somewhere to get sushi – you can get small boxes of it premade in grocery store deli’s. All-you-can-eat chinese buffets have a few selections on their menus. One of my neighborhood stops has a sushi on their buffet – three types: 1-fried shrimp, mayo and a raw green bean; 2-fried fish, mayo, and a raw green bean; and 3-Krab, mayo, and a raw green bean rolled in the tiny (and delicious) orange egg things. Gotta look up the correct teminology…LOL Not bad, but does get monotonous.

Then we ate at the sushi restaurant near Sis’s house. I don’t think I can go back to really enjoying my neighborhood sushi. It is like eating a fine steak and then a Happy Meal. No comparison. Definitely time to explore and find another sushi outlet! But my neighborhood hangout is used to me coming in solo and claiming a booth to read and eat, so I shall be back.

Anyway

This brings me back to how this train of thought started. I was checking out one of the crafty blogs I enjoy and noticed Spam Sushi. Really. No Joke. http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2008/04/spam-musubi-101.html.

Doesn’t this look delicious? Go check it out as it includes the recipe and pictures to guide you through the assembly process. The Blogger is an excellent writer and so creative. A nice person, too, as she is allowing me to post her photo on my modest blog.

I’m new at sushi, but an old hat at spam. Nothing like pan-fried spam sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise…sends your salt levels over the weekly limit, but a handy way to eat the spam from last year’s hurricane supplies. Didn’t think there was spam sushi as we usually see precisely sliced slivers of quality fish.

Then I remember that you could get Spam almost everywhere in Hawaii – Sis and I visited there a LONG time ago and had one of the best vacations EVER. Seeing Spam used in all the Pacific cuisines was kind of a shock and we were told it became part of the culture during WWII.

We even made sushi at bro’s house during one visit years ago, and it was FUN. One of those nice meals where each person can select from dishes of sliced and chopped veggies and strips of COOKED meat (no spam) to compile into a sushi roll. My niece was the teacher, and guided us in the proper techniques. She was pretty good, and my roll held together and sliced nicely. I went back for seconds.

In order not to sound like a total ignorant person, I googled and found a sushi and sashimi FAQ. Very interesting reading.

Hmmm. Must be hungry to be talking about food again! (family joke) and supper is almost ready.

Night all.