Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Why don't people dress their little girls like little girls anymore? This is my daughter Kate, she's 21 months old. The picture is from Christmas Eve when she was dressed for Church. So many people commented on how cute she looked (even after she was crying and miserable and had to be carried out of church- it was past her bedtime); it made me wonder why we ever got away from this style of dressing.

Why do people dress their little girls as if they are 21, with booty shorts and UGG boots (don't get me started on those), and Tshirts with slogans. Why would you want to cover up that innocence, that childlike wonder and the simple delight in dressing up with ads and crass messages all over your children?

And don't even tell me about how much clothing costs these days. You're paying for the privilege of promoting a brand with your child!? This coat and hat set was $2 in a thrift store (as were the shoes) and they've already served at least one generation of children and now they're on mine. They're quality made of wool and leather and made in the USA.

I say let someone else buy that Old Navy junk, that was assembled in some Chinese sweatshop, shipped halfway around the world and plastered with labels. Until my kids are old enough to protest, they'll be wearing vintage -recycled- adorable outfits like these!

A new haircut

I like to wear my hair in a short 1930s-style cut. If I'm really ambitious I'll wave it a little, but usually I don't and it passes as a modern bob most of the time.

I know I'm supposed to get it trimmed every 6 weeks or so to keep it looking nice. With my life, that usually works out to about every 6 months. It was looking really ratty today when I finally got it cut, but it looks good now!

I go to my favorite stylist, Lauren, who's about my age. Of course she has great hair- it used to be long and layered. But today when I went in, she had cut her hair in the same style as mine. We got to talking about long vs. short hair - I have had long hair at various points in my life and don't really like it. She told me this story about her haircut that really made me think about how far we women have come in just one or two generations.

She said that when the stylist was cutting all her hair off, a little old lady sitting next to her asked her if she had got her husband's permission to get it cut. When Lauren replied that she hadn't (and it hadn't occurred to her) the lady said that she hoped he didn't leave her!

We kind of had a little laugh over that, but it struck me as to how serious that might have been for someone of the older lady's generation. To have to get your husband's permission to cut your hair and hope he doesn't leave you over it is one of those small victories women have won over the past.

For someone like me, who is firmly a woman in the modern sense, but likes to look back to the past for inspiration, that is one of the few times I am glad I don't live in the 1940s 0r 50s.

Of course, on my way home I went to three antique stores and an estate sale and bought some more mid-20th C. detritus. I guess I should be glad that I don't have to get my husband's approval for that, because I probably wouldn't!

What's for dinner, honey?

Yesterday I made the most delicious soup.

We had a wild turkey for dinner on New Year's. It was shot by my husband- for those of you that have never eaten game, I highly recommend it. Not only is it all those things that people pay all kinds of money for (all-natural, organic, free-range, hormone-free, etc.) but it also allows you to see and understand how an animal lived and died to feed your family. I think that so many people take this for granted anymore, that they don't think of meat (or vegetables for that matter) as something that is part of a larger ecosystem; it is just consumption. But when you hunt, fish and forage as we do, not only is the food better quality, but you know where you are as part of the food chain and you pay much closer attention to the process of dressing, preparing and cooking food.

And by the way, a wild turkey tastes just like domestic turkey but with more dark meat, since it actually ran, walked, and flew for miles, unlike so-called free-range birds.

So, since this turkey died to feed our family, I never waste a bit of it. I saved the bones and made a stock. I froze about half of the stock in 1 c. portions to use later and had about 8 cups left to make a Vietnamese-inspired noodle soup.

To the stock I added 1 stalk of lemongrass, about six slices of fresh ginger, about 2 T. of soy sauce, some sliced scallions (from my garden) and a bundle of cellophane noodles. I added some of the cooked turkey meat back in and then salt & pepper to taste. What a delicious and healthy meal that is, and (except for the noodles) I know where every bit of it originated. I know the ground that turkey walked, I grew the vegetables for the stock- try to beat that, Martha Stewart.

Here's a drink to your health!

I've been a tea drinker all my life. I drink a pot of green or black tea almost every day- today it's Constant Comment, a favorite since it was first introduced in 1945.

My tea pot is a vintage gold-colored anodized aluminum pot. I collect anodized aluminum and use some of it just about every day. You're probably most familiar with the colorful cups and pitchers of the 1950s, but it seems as though just about everything for the kitchen was made in the material. In addition to the teapot, I have cups, pitchers, cake carriers, cream & sugar sets, etc. It's a great, durable, kid-friendly material. It doesn't bother me if the cups get a dent or ding now and then- because it sure beats cleaning up cheap broken plastic stuff.

Hey there, fellow reader (by now there can't be more than one of you!) Time does fly, doesn't it?

So I knew when I started this blog it would be hard to keep up with it, and as usual, my suspicions were correct.

But I promise to update it a little more in 2010.

That's not exactly a resolution, but I do want to give myself a little more "me time" and I think this qualifies. I also want to lose 40 pounds and we all know how likely that is to happen....

But the point of all this is, I want to live a better life through vintage- whether it be spending more time as a mother and housewife with my family, making healthier meals from scratch or losing some weight to fit into all my fabulous vintage clothes that haven't seen the light of day in a couple of years. (The museum curator in me thinks, "Hey, isn't that better for their long-term preservation?" LOL)

I've accumluated a lot of paraphernaila (my husband might call it junk, I call it "artifacts" ;) ) to live a vintage lifestyle over the years and I use a lot of it on a daily basis. I will try to share some of my experiences with my re-cycled, re-purposed and re-used vintage items over the coming year.

And I promise to post at least twice during baseball season this year. (Trying not to set the bar too high...)

Harry Kalas 1936-2009

Harry Kalas, the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, is gone. More than just a baseball announcer, Harry was with me for my entire life as a baseball fan. Long nights laying in bed, listening to him call an extra-inning game. Drives in the car, breaking my curfew during high school. Long trips far away from home, getting that twinge of excitement when atmospheric conditions permitted me to pick up 1210 AM in some far-off place. It was just that voice, the measured call of every ball and strike, and the excitement of every "Long drive- watch that baby- Way OUTTA HERE!"

I guess I just figured he'd be there forever.

He was with me more than some of my own family. Every night for 6 months out of the year, we lived and died with Harry the K. We shared his enthusiasm for the game through its ups and downs. We took him with us into our homes, our cars, our lives. He was always there- that voice, that personality, that genuine love for the game. He was baseball; he was the Philadelphia fan. And now the voice is silent.

I think I've cried more in the past 24 hours than I did when my own grandmother passed away. And the reason is simple. More than anyone else outside my family, Harry Kalas was always there. He was always a part of my life, from a kid poring over the stats in the daily paper to a parent finally celebrating a World Series Championship last fall. The baseball game went on and it will still go on. But it will never be the same without Harry Kalas.

RE-Use, RE-Cycle

I recently read about a woman who has been trying to live without plastic. No plastic bags, no plastic packaging, no plastic containers, no plastic anything. If it comes in a plastic bag or wrapper, she won't buy it. She won't buy clothes on a plastic hangar or cosmetics, household goods, etc. if they come wrapped in plastic. She even carries her own glass straw and (presumably) glass take-out containers when she goes out to eat. (Seems to me she should look into getting some paper straws (above) on eBay!)

It occurred to me that she's living like our grandparents did before WWII. Simply by forsaking plastic, imagine the change that would take place in your life. We'd all be eating better and living better, but it would take a lot of getting used to.

Since reading about this woman, I've been consciously trying to limit my consumption of plastic. I've carried my own shopping bag to stores for awhile now, but now I'm trying to purchase items with a minimum of packaging. And when I get them home, I'm doing my best to store/use things without plastic. Vintage glass refrigerator dishes, mason jars, pyrex bowls, etc. are all things that I use which are better for the environment, and mesh with my love of vintage living.

Another thing I use a lot of is waxed paper, a favorite of homemakers for over 75 years. Recently, my brother-in-law was astonished that I wrapped up a sandwich for him to take home in waxed paper rather than use a "baggie". He was even more astounded when I told him that I didn't even have a sandwich bag in the house and I haven't used them for years.

Yet another reason vintage living is better for the environment!