Ladies Department in Conitz Dry Goods Store

Selling Underwear

in Conitz Dry Goods Store

Calvert, Texas

8.5" x 11"

pencil

The Every Day Matters Challenge #210 was to draw underwear.

I tried to think of some interesting underwear to draw, and then I remembered the panty counter at grandpa's dry goods store. All those stacks of panties! I wasn't sure I wanted to draw that and then I thought of drawing someone selling the underwear. I moved my clerk (probably "Toot") over to the bra and girdle display. And I remembered a long talk I had with a customer whose doctor had told her to wear a girdle to help her back. I thought of those miserable, hard to get into girdles of the time, and thought how hard it was for me to get one of those things on. And I thought this poor woman would have a battle to get into one of those tight undergarments. And I wondered if one might help the back trouble I was having. I wasn't willing to struggle with a girdle every day, and suffer through the heat rash and raw skin that those things always caused me.

But, I showed her what we had and talked to her about a lot of different things. I think she bought one that didn't seem so hard to get into, and she paid for it with money wadded up in her handkerchief.

In my picture, I gave the customer a friend. One who enjoyed her dip of snuff as she listened.

My little sister is shown by the counter where we measured fabric. That counter also held a display of ladies handkerchiefs and children's socks. Behind the counter were shelves with boxes of stockings and socks. On top of the shelves, there were rolls of cotton batting used for making quilts.

Barbara liked to wear boys' clothes and play with boys' toys. In this drawing, I showed her dressed in overalls with a striped polo shirt. She has a toy truck in her hand. But, she wasn't just playing with the truck. She was working! Her first job was to watch for shop lifters when the grown ups got busy waiting on customers. Mama worried about her possibly hitting her head on the corners of the counter, as she tried to run around in the store.

In the picture, I am sitting on the floor of the show window. The big plate glass windows gave an excellent view of Main Street, the picture show, and traffic passing by. I liked to get in the show windows and look out, and play with some of the merchandise-like hats! I was put to work doing things like stringing handkerchiefs and putting pin tickets on merchandise, sweeping, straightening, and waiting on customers.

As I draw, these memories and details come to me. It's similar to the mapping exercise that I have written about previously.

We had the basic kind of things in the store. For the fancy things like Merry Widows and petticoats, ladies had to go to Hazel's, or Sue's, or to Bryan, Marlin, or Waco, to the big department stores.

In the front, there was a display case, like those on the tv program, "Are You Being Served", that held things like slips, gift items, and boxes of better handkerchiefs.

Underwear for the older ladies were kept in boxes under the counter with the towels and bath items, and tablecloths. I was told that the older women would not want people to see what kind of underwear they wore. Snuggies, teddies, cotton slips and stockings in orange, pink or nude (beige).

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about selling underwear in the dry goods store!
For those of you who are familiar with Conitz Dry Goods Store, and you are old enough, you might remember the last time that the store burned. That was February 1, 1951. I'm adding a couple of photos. One of the store before it burned, one while it was still burning. And there is another that shows the interior of the store after it was rebuilt.

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Jody Powers, owner of Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches in Calvert, sent word that the segment featuring her and her shop will be on tv this coming weekend, Feb. 21st. It will also be on some stations Sunday the 22nd, too. Look at your local tv guide for times.

Jody also sent me a couple of pictures that I will post here tomorrow.

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Saturday is the big Plein Aire Painting Workshop with Virginia Vaughan in Calvert. You can see pictures on my blog from the last workshop in October. For more information and a supply list, contact me! You can see more on Virginia's blog and website, http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com and http://www.v-vaughan.com .

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

8.5" x 11"

colored pencil, ink

I hope that you are having a wonderful Valentine's Day with those you love!

I took out the earbobs (the kind that you screw on, not pierced) that a boy gave me many years ago, when we graduated from high school. I've worn them every Valentine's Day, that I went anywhere, since that time. I thought that they just look like Valentine's Day.

The earbobs are heart shaped with a pearlized background surrounded by gold. In the center, is a red rose. On each side of the heart, there are 3 blue stones, in what I call gold spokes extending from the side. There are two more little gold spokes at the top and one more larger one at the bottom.

I don't think that I had anymore dates with the boy after he gave me the earbobs. I went off to college and he went off to the service and we went on with our lives. I was very surprised that he gave me a graduation gift. That was very nice of him, and it is still appreciated. He was cute, I thought. When he died, not so long ago, I immediately remembered the earbobs in my jewelry case.

I'm not going out anywhere, but I took a picture of the earbobs and a piece of popcorn that my grandson brought me this morning. He found a kernel of corn that he thought looked like a flower. (Last year, he found a heart shaped potato chip that we took a picture of!) So our picture is called "Hearts and Flowers". I guess that was my valentine for this year.

I thought I might need to add the photo of the earbobs to our family pictures. And, I might draw them for my sketchbook.

Remembering all those handmade Valentines that I had my students make to give to veterans, people in the nursing home or hospital, and service men and women, I did the above little valentine with some old fashioned symbols, and an old fashioned saying.

Often, we just used copy machine paper, which was easy to get, and wasn't so heavy for mailing. In good years, when we had more money, we used construction paper, and things like ribbon and rick rack to decorate the cards.

The above card was done on copy paper with Prismacolors and pen. The saying on it became so trite that it was discouraged. And since it had not been used much for a long while, I thought I would add it. I think I started hearing that saying when I was about in second grade! My boyfriend printed it in his Big Chief tablet and passed the paper back to me. (The teacher had separated us, believing that we were too young to have boy friends and girl friends! I wasn't so interested in having a boy friend in my class, either, but we ended up together almost all through school. She didn't know that I had my first date at age 7! The grown ups weren't so in favor of it, though.)

I always thought that, on Valentine's Day, it would be so nice to be treated really well by someone special. That's the day to get jewelry, like diamond rings, candy, flowers, and be taken to some place really nice to eat, go out dancing in some romantic place, etc.

It usually is a disappointing day. Watching others get balloons and valentines, making them for other people, watching romance on tv. We did have one principal who gave each lady faculty member a rose on Valentine's Day. I sort of felt like it was for the ones he really liked, and the thorns were for the rest of us! But it was nice for my desk.

Ashton's class had a party at school yesterday. He only showed me one Valentine he got-a 3-D or hologram type of thing with a dog and a kitten on it. As you move the card, the animals change. He said they had ice cream sundae's at their party. He thought they should have had more. I think he was hungry. He didn't eat breakfast, and didn't like the lunch at school.

When we were in school, some students were allowed to decorate a box for all the valentines. Crepe paper and ribbon were the favorite materials used. The box sat on a table in front of the room, and valentines were added until time for our party.

I thought that the hat boxes at Grandpa's dry goods store would be ideal for a box to decorate. I begged and pleaded for a box for years! I just got a grouchy "No"! Pappy explained that they needed the box for business, but I thought that they could spare just one for our Valentine's Day party.

One year, he gave in and let me use a hat box. I was so proud and thought that was the most beautiful Valentine's box that we ever had. I still didn't get to be in the group that decorated it. But that was okay.

I don't think that we had to give a valentine to everyone, as they do today. It was war time and times were hard. We never thought about making cards, either. I think that we bought our little cards at Fink's Variety Store and, those with more money, or those who had saved to buy one for a special boy or girl, bought those at Taliaferro's drug store. Cards to our special friends were written and addressed with great care and dropped into the hole on the top of the hat box. It was nice when the sound indicated that there were a lot of cards in the box.

Parents brought cookies and punch to school for our party. Those were enjoyed quietly at our desks. We read our cards as we walked home, and, later, talked to our friends to compare notes about who had sent us a card.

The Baptists had a special Sweetheart Banquet for Valentine's Day. It wasn't for sweethearts, particularly,but for older teens. A chance to dress up and use our best manners. If anyone actually had a date for this, that was really special! Most of us just went on our own. I found a program recently from one banquet that I attended. As I recall, I only went to one, or maybe two. For one thing, we were Methodist, and, for another, I was shy and had a bit of an eating problem. I think my friends and my mother insisted I go, or I never would have gone. But, it was nice.

We should have taken more photographs of those things.

My "romantic" evening is going to be watching the British comedies on Houston PBS while eating supper, and having some of the yellow cake with lemon frosting that my daughter made for my mother's birthday. (She makes a cake for all the family members' birthdays, although they are no longer with us!)

Hope you have a great Valentine's evening, and, at least, have some great memories to enjoy!

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I thought that my "Rain Dance" picture wasn't going to work, but, there are clouds to the south moving toward us, and it sounds like thunder in the distance. Let's hope we get some nice gentle rain!

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If you like to draw or paint, I hope that you will be joining us Saturday for the Plein Aire Workshop in Calvert. Virginia Vaughan will be painting with us on Sunday, for a while, too.

I know it is going to be fun! And we are going to learn a lot!

Contact Cecelia at grannyc_54at yahoo.com for a supply list and information. It would help to know if you plan to come.

We've got a lot of material to work from in Calvert!

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Christmas Eve in Calvert

Christmas in Calvert

Top: Gift Wrapping in Conitz Dry Goods Store

Middle: Conitz Dry Goods Store After It Was Rebuilt The Last Time

Bottom: Keeling Grocery At Christmas After Remodeling

I was going to design a nice Christmas card to go on my blog today. But, when I started drawing in my sketchbook, the top drawing is what resulted! (Look on Virginia Vaughan's blog today, http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com/ for a nice Christmas design. Her design was used on t-shirts for her school's choral group .)

Instead of a card, I remembered Christmas at the store. In both stores, the two that I remember, one before the last fire, and the rebuilt store, we were busy at Christmas and the arrangement was basically the same. The whole family and several clerks worked. The store stayed open until all the possible customers had left Main street. So Santa Claus came to see us after the store closed and the various families could make it to our house for cookies, sandwiches, chips, and soft drinks, and egg nog. They came bearing many packages. From the store, we always got gifts wrapped in the store boxes that had once held ladies hankies, panties, slips, or, sometimes a larger box that held several pairs of snuggies, if you were getting something like a blanket. Everyone received a small thread box with money-$1 to $5.

We grew up around the store. In my drawing, I have shown two little girls behind the counter, standing by Toot. Grandma is bent over, putting ribbon on a package while another person brings items to wrap to the counter. A customer's child watches from the other side of the counter. Grandpa is sorting through a stack of blue jeans, looking for the right size, while two customers wait. Under the counter, you can see layaway packages and a box full of ribbons used to decorate the packages. We saved all the bows from our Christmas and birthday gifts and added those to the box of bows at the store. There was a roll of string, a roll of brown butcher paper, a roll of white butcher paper, assorted paper sacks, scissors, a yard stick, tape measure, scotch tape, etc. under the counter opposite the cash register, for everyday wrapping of packages.

The daybook and journal are on the counter in the foreground along with some items that were typical purchases. Handerchiefs, Atom Bomb perfume, Royal Crown hair dressing, and towels.

On top of the cash register is the little Cupie type doll that advertised Lee overalls, with a little engineers cap. (The cash register is still being used in Mud Creek Pottery!) There was another little Cupie doll that had on western jeans.

We had some standard wrappings with some strips of ribbon, taped on the back. Sometimes a flat bow was added. Irvin had a little twist of ribbon that he usually did, that reminded me of a man's tie. And then there were the pre-made bows. And another bow that was made something like a figure 8. Grandma showed me how to curl certain types of ribbon by sliding the scissors along the underside. We had to do them kind of fast, if there were a lot of customers coming in to pick up packages or shopping at the last minute when they felt they could let go of their money.

I preferred gift wrapping and decorating to waiting on customers or using the cash register. I was always afraid I would make a mistake with money, so I sweated bullets every time I had to use the cash register. And I was shy, so it was hard to wait on people. Even after all those years and growing up helping around the store. But, if I had a pleasant customer that I knew, and they were patient, and I was successful in helping them find what they wanted, and visited with them, then that was okay. Barbara remembers starting out as a tiny little girl, watching for shoplifters. We all were watching for that, along with our other duties.

As business in town declined, hours at the store were shorter. But, they still tried to stay open later to accomodate potential shoppers. And they hired less help. Some of us could stay at home and get ready for Santa Claus to come on Christmas Eve.

I still remember one cold Christmas, probably the early 60s, before Grandma died. She was deaf, and had hardening of the arteries. She loved her sweet treats, which her daughter thought was bad for her, so she didn't get any. That Christmas Eve, Grandma seated herself at our house near the kitchen door and the gas heater. We opened presents, and Toot, being a bit mischievious, brought over some Mogen David wine. She and Honey had been socializing with a couple of their relatives who introduced them to Mogan David wine for special occasions. Pappy had a fit that wine was in the house! So, Toot asked different people if they wanted some. Thelma said that Grandma couldn't have any. But Irvin and I said "Yes", and had some in one of Toot's mother's wine glasses. We went by Grandma to drink our little glass of wine, to avoid a lecture. (Everyone else had the choice of some plain grape juice with their cookies.)

We took some to Grandma. She said she really liked that grape juice and wanted more. She drank 6 glasses of it! Grandma became very lucid and awake. She had been wanting to go home to make sure her babies were tucked in bed (they were all there, of course, and grown!), but, after the wine, she was up talking and visiting and enjoying herself! (Part of her problem, it turned out, was that she was not getting enough sugar or salt!)

Thelma never did know that we sneaked that wine to Grandma! She was busy talking around the corner and didn't see us. I'm glad that Grandma got to have that small pleasure. I finally told Thelma about it last week, and she laughed.

The middle photo shows the store shortly after it opened after the last fire. This was in the late 1950s. You can see the arrangement of the store, with the cash register in the center. Shown are Irvin, Ellen Carolyn, and Emil Conitz Jr. E.C. was helping out that day. Irvin and Emil were the owners. T. J. Smith is also there. He was originally partners with Emil, then, about Depression times, he opened a grocery store in the back. After the last fire, the dry goods store was rebuilt, but Smith decided not to rebuild the grocery store. He still kept his safe in the store, and stayed around there a lot of the time. He had an outdoor rocking chair in the office area where he rested and did some business. He and Emil married sisters so they were brothers-in-law, but, also, they were life long friends.

In the bottom photo, you can see Keeling Grocery, shortly after being remodeled, and decorated for Christmas. There is an unidentified man on the left. I don't have a name for him, but he replaced Benny Gouger as a clerk when Benny went off to the Army. Also in the back are Mrs. Cloud, Mr. Gouger, and Mr. Cloud, the superintendent of Calvert ISD. Mrs. Keeling ("Toot") is in the foreground, center, and to her right is Mrs. Gouger. On the right is Mrs. Terry. The Clouds and Mrs. Terry were shopping in the store when the photographer came. Mr. Keeling, ("Honey") is leaning on the produce bin in the background.

The photo at the end of this post shows the interior of Keeling Grocery, decorated for Christmas, but looking from the back to the front of the store. You can see some of the items on the shelves, that they sold back then.

I'm sure that some of you share similar memories.

The years have become so different. This year, we decided not to do gifts, except for the grandsons. We plan to get together tonight, those of us who are left, and have presents for the boys, and have sandwiches and cookies. Tomorrow we will go over to the nursing home for cookies with Thelma, and then, possibly, Barbara and I will take our drawing materials and draw for the residents who are there. They seemed to enjoy watching us when we were sketching.

The boys are going to see that new dog movie, with the oldest grandson going back to work for a few hours. He had stitches out this morning after his ankle surgery.

So much for big family Christmas dinners and doing things that make nice memories. I guess that we didn't really think that we were doing that much when we were growing up, either. At the time, I thought that it was pretty boring and wished my friends were around to liven things up. And, I thought that our Christmas was pretty lacking of the merriment and decorations that we saw in some homes and in the movies. We seemed to spend most of our time at the store, with maybe a couple of programs and a cantata at church, a program at school or band concert to participate in, maybe something at the City Hall. But, looking back, I guess it was more like a picture than we thought it was at the time.

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I had a time getting Christmas cards done this year. I couldn't drive to get to the store to buy them. Finally got my daughter to take me to pick out cards. I did work on mailing lists and labels, while I was waiting. I am doing Thelma's for her, too, so that makes a lot of cards. And, since I don't know a lot of the people she has corresponded with, I'm not sure what to say, or which ones might have moved or, possibly, may not be alive. I went to the internet to check addresses and look for some obits! And, wouldn't you know, the computer had problems. Couldn't get on the internet for but just a few minutes at a time, for days.

So, I decided to write a general letter on the computer and insert that in with her cards, then just add a note to people who I knew needed a letter. Printed out a few pictures to send to a couple of people. But, the computer had other ideas. First, I couldn't get it to print but one copy at a time, and had to reset with each letter. Then, I couldn't get into the documents. Then the photo thing quit working. Got all those computer things working again, sort of, and started printing. Ran out of ink!

I told my daughter to just go to town and pick up the cartriges and stamps. But, no. She insisted that I had to go, when I should have been putting cards into envelopes! We got stamps at Walgreens, then went to Walmart for a two pack of cartriges. Big mistake. It took 3 hours of fighting lines and trying to get someone to open the case, to get that one little item! (No one was in the jewelry section. If I were buying gifts, I would have chosen jewelry this year, just due to the lack of long lines of impatient people!)

Then the glue wasn't sticking on the envelopes, so I used a glue stick to seal my envelopes. It's been one thing after the other! I finally finished up the last of Thelma's cards at 3 a.m. and they went in the mail this morning. I haven't even started mine, except to gather everything and make mailing labels!

I usually don't get into the Christmas mood until Christmas Eve. I kind of like the hustle and bustle, and think it is nice to write Christmas messages on Christmas Eve-by a fireplace with hot chocolate. Of course, it is usually too warm here for a fire in the fireplace! Just imagining how things should be, I guess.

So, if you are supposed to receive a card from me, I guess it will turn out to be a New Years card! I've got my cards, my labels, and stamps, so I'm going to still try for a Christmas or Christmas Eve postmark. And, those of you who read my blog, can consider my blog as my Christmas greeting to you!

Merry Christmas

to you and yours!

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Pictures from our last Calvert Trip

Here's some of what I do in the car when I am going somewhere with someone else.

In the top picture, I sketched shoppers in the parking lot while my sister went into the store. Good poses and movement of figures. People walking out of the store, in the summer heat, putting things in their cars, looking at their cell phone or game. At the grocery store, one young worker pushed a shopping cart out with his head covered with some kind of cloth or poster board on a frame. I wondered how he could see where he was going!

In the second picture, I was fiddling with the camera, thinking of taking pictures of some of the shoppers, if I saw a good pose. All that was in front of me was a sidewalk and a brick wall. I thought that I should try to figure out the camera before I got to a place that I wanted to take pictures. I thought I was trying to figure out how to turn the flash off, but, instead, one of those little doohickies on the camera was to make movies. I ended up with some pictures of myself in the car mirror. Which is kind of interesting, actually. Some possibilities for doing self portraits.

The bottom picture is a sketch I did while my sister was driving. I guess this could be called a drive by, only I sure didn't try to paint. I was doing good to get this much done with a pencil!

This is the "new" water tower at Benchly, Texas. I was looking at some tiny puffy white clouds in a cerulean blue sky, more than the water tower, but thought I would fill my space on my paper with the structure.

There are more pictures that show our sketching and our trip. But this was our start on a Friday afternoon, on our way to Calvert. Maybe I will do those as a slide show, or do another post.

Where has this week gone! In fact, where has the whole month of July gone! I think I have spent most of it trying to make the computer do something or another, usually just have to give up after a while though and wait until another day. Then, another day, another problem to try to figure out. Wish these machines were more cooperative, and simple.

Please notice a couple of changes.

*Martha Marshall has a new blog. I fixed the link to her in my sidebar.

* I added a link to another interesting site under Eye Sites. This one is Age Related Macular Degeneration Support, listed as ARMD Support.

*At the top of my page, in the upper right hand corner, there is a link to the coming Victorian Gala and Tea and Street Fair in Calvert Oct. 4.

*Check out Virginia Vaughan's blog, too, in my sidebar. She has had a really fantastic opportunity this past week, teaching a workshop to the young winners of the Houston Fat Stock Show youth art show. These are some really talented kids to have won that competition! The workshop was in Kerrville, Texas, so I know that they had a wonderful experience.

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In Calvert, they are looking for vendors for their street fair to be held Oct. 4 during the Victorian Gala and Tea. If you are a vendor and would like to participate, there is more information on the link that I put at the top of the page. Groups, or anyone that would have something that is appropriate for a Victorian event, might be interested. It could be for fund raising, or even if you make something like aprons or quilts that you would like to show. The Lions Club is one group that plans to participate and have a place where people can donate their old eye glasses.

Vendors do need to dress in Victorian costume, and there is information on that on their website.

Visitors don't have to dress up, but they are encouraged to participate, if they wish.

If you, or someone you know would like to participate, there are forms and more information on the website or you can contact Jody at Zamykal Kolache Shop in Calvert.

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It looks like summer has arrived, with all its heat and dry weather. I'm amazed that people are amazed that it has reached 100 degrees and over outside, and that it is dry with no rain in sight. The amazing thing to me is that anyone is amazed! They do it every year! So called "record setting temperatures and record low rainfall". I think I've been hearing that even before we had so much news on the radio! Like over 60 years! Now, in the '5os, we really had a drought! No rain for years. We had begun to think that nature was no longer able to produce rain! We looked eagerly at dry lightning to the east, and hoped it would rain. People had to haul water from the fire department in barrels and anything they could find. Cattle died or had to be sold. But, my great-aunt predicted that the drought would last for 7 years and then we would have 7 wet years, and we did. In the '70s, without air conditioning, the thermometer often hit 117 in the shade on the south porch. We tried keeping our aquarium on that porch and I guess the poor fish just boiled when we put them in there! They didn't last long. We even tried to cool the water down, but it didn't help. They had been accustomed to air conditioning and an even temperature.

I don't know what people expect. After all, this is Texas in the summer. It's supposed to be hot and dry. We did have a couple of years when it didn't reach 100 degrees, and we had a lot of rain in the summer, without having a hurricane. Now, it seems more normal. Not so pleasant, though, if you have to be outside.

I'm keeping water in the birdbath for the birds, but they seem to have taken off for a cooler place or something. Haven't noticed them splashing in a few days. Maybe they do when I'm not looking. There were some little rabbits hopping about the yard. I think we need to put out some water on the ground for them. But then I don't want to water the fire ants. (I hope that they will move on or die out.) A small lake near us was drained a few years ago, so those critters that hung out there, had to move on to other places.

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Edie and Peggie told me that the building that I wondered about, at the red light in Calvert, was once Molly Tucker's hamburger place. I wonder what else was in there. At one time, Miss Molly had her hamburger place next door to Conitz Dry Goods Store. I'm thinking that she probably moved when the dry goods store burned in the 1950s.

Miss Molly made the best hamburgers. In fact, the only ones I would eat. She made "sissyburgers" for me and I still eat those today.

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Stay cool and have a great weekend. I'm just so glad that we have air conditioning and fans, these days!

Popcorn and a Movie

Popcorn

9" x 12"

pencil

What would Saturday be without a good, ole fashioned "shoot em up" movie, and, of course, popcorn has to go with that. Thank goodness for the old movie and western channels on tv, and things like tapes of those wonderful old shows.

Of course, Tim Holt was, and still is, my favorite. We had some pretty good arguments about who was best, Roy Rogers or Tim Holt, when we were growing up. Tim was right up there, in the movie magazines, with Roy, and sometimes, Gene Autrey was in the top, too.

This past week, I was looking at some things on You Tube and then tried doing a search. I was so thrilled to find some clips from some of the Tim Holt movies! I hope I can figure out how to use the things I saved and can go back and watch them again.

Also found old Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers music and parts of shows. And I went on to find things like clips from "The Pirates of Penzance".

Now if I could just watch the whole movies on my computer! (The sound isn't too good on my bedroom tv, so, if I can get things on the computer, that's a plus.) I could go in the den and watch on the big tv, but my computer is not there.

I'm not happy with what the Western channels are doing-putting old tv programs on instead of the movies. I never did like "Big Valley", "Bat Masterson", or "The Rifleman". And I got really sick of "Gunsmoke", back in those days. Didn't care for most of the tv westerns. Of course, we had to watch because we only got about 2 stations on tv! So people watched whatever was on in the evenings, especially.

Those old 1930s-1950s westerns were the best. They should put those old tv programs on the channels that have the old tv programs, and not the movie channels.

There are a few of the newer westerns that were pretty good, but they still can't beat those old cowboy shows we used to watch at the Eloia. I like the ones with James Garner and Peter Graves. Those have sort of grown on me. I didn't care for them when they first came out, but, now, after seeing them on tv several times, I kind of enjoy them.

I thought that one of those old tv shows stations was going to have the really old shows that I enjoy like "Our Miss Brooks", "Dobie Gillis", "My Little Margie", and those kind of programs. But, it wasn't long before we got the "new" shows, like "Leave It To Beaver", "The Brady Bunch", and "I Love Lucy". Now we get those and even newer shows like "Roseanne" and "George Lopez", and "All In The Family". I guess those are okay, but others just cause my poor thumb to get tired from changing channels with the remote.

I can't think of any particular movie of Tim's that was my favorite. I loved all of his westerns. And he was so cute, I could have just watched those shows, over and over. Still could!

I think that the only movie that I didn't like was "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". The story was good, and I do appreciate it more now than I did when it came out. But I hated that beard on Tim. Hid his pretty face! (Well, I just don't like beards and mustaches on anyone.)

I used to have photo albums full of pictures of movie stars and a special album just of Tim. Also had stacks of movie magazines and comic books that my mother threw out when I went off to college.

It was such a thrill to get those movie star pictures in the mail. We could just write a fan letter, addressed to the star in Hollywood, California, with a 2 cent stamp on it, and, soon, we would get a picture, often autographed, back in the mail. I sent off letters at least every week! Sometimes, stars would send us a picture that we didn't even write for. I remember that I had one of Vera Ellen, with a nice message on it. I had not written to her. And I was so excited to find that, when I jumped off a porch into some wet shrubs, with my photo in hand, that the ink actually smeared. That was "the test" to know if someone actually signed it or if it had just been stamped. I had a similar picture from Nina Fochs, with real ink on it. (I didn't even know who she was, so I knew that I had not written a fan letter to her.) Wish I still had those wonderful albums.

One of my treasures, now, is the biography of Tim Holt. Lots of pictures and stories. I sat down, when that book came, and read it straight through. (Unlike the biography of Robert E. Lee that I have been reading a little bit of at a time for at least 10 years, and I'm only about half way through! I am determined that I am going to finish it, one of these days.)

The Eloia was catty cornered from Grandpa's dry goods store, so I would watch through the big plate glass show windows for time to go across the street to the picture show on Saturday afternoons. I could see the colorful popcorn machine, with its colored lights, reflecting against the white building , rolled out from behind a blonde wooden door for each show. Carl Jr., when he was at home, would pop and sell the popcorn, while his mother, Eloise, took up tickets, and his father, Carl Sr., would sweep and take up tickets. Carl or Carl Jr. would run the projector upstairs. They all took turns walking up and down the aisles during the show to make sure that everyone behaved and didn't leave a mess. They only sold small sacks of popcorn for a nickle. For drinks, we had a chilled water fountain. If you wanted a Coke, you had to wait and go to the drugstore or to a grocery store after the show.

Sometimes, I had to help at the store and couldn't go to the show, and, believe me, I was wanting Grandpa to tell me, "Things are slow. Here's a quarter. Go on to the show."

But, even when things were slow, there were usually jobs to be done, like stringing handkerchiefs or putting pin tickets on merchandise, or just straightening things. Sometimes I would entertain myself by trying on the hats in the three way mirror, or sit by myself in the ladies changing room, dusting or sweeping, and just dream. Or I might sit on the floor at the edge of the show window and watch the people on the street, hoping to see a friend or a cute boy go by. That was the spot where Grandma and the other ladies who worked elected to sit while they strung handkerchiefs or put prices on merchandise. When Toot worked, she would sometimes sit there and write letters, when there were no customers or jobs to do.

The men tended to sit around the center of the store near the stove and the cash register. There were chairs and a bench there. A good place to gossip and swap stories.

If someone felt bad or just got extra sleepy, there were two shoe benches in the shoe department, where people sat to try on shoes.

When I could go to the show, sometimes I made the rounds at the grocery store in back ,and the dry goods store. A nickle from each person would get me into the show and buy me some popcorn, with a nickle left over to go to the drugstore afterward for a Coke or a scoop of ice cream. If I came up a nickle short, tears would usually bring me the extra money I needed.

After I started getting actually paid to work, my 50 cents a day, and later a dollar a day, would take care of my needs for a 12 cent tube of lipstick and picture shows and drugstore for the week.

We didn't always have cowboy shows on Saturday. Sometimes we had things like "The Three Stooges", or "Tarzan" movies. Usually all black and white movies during the week, with the technicolor movies saved for Sunday.

It still doesn't seem like Saturday without a good cowboy show, though.

And, now, I have to add that, Saturday night doesn't seem right without "Last of the Summer Wine" and other British comedies.

"Popcorn", the drawing above, was done with pencil on Canson acid free paper. This is a sketch made as a preliminary work for a challenge issued by Myrna Wacknov.

The challenge is to draw popcorn, then look at it to see what you can see in it. Something like looking at clouds to see what you can find there. The boys made popcorn while they watched a movie, so I borrowed a few kernels to use for my project. I haven't completed the finished work of what I see in the popcorn, however. But I do see lots of shapes and possiblities in what I have drawn.

And, like the homework story, somehow, the dog got my little ziplock bag of popcorn that I had drawn, and tore a big hole in it, leaving me with smashed kernels on the floor. (Good thing I was not using it as a still life!) And, fortunately, I can use my imagination to complete the picture/s.

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Stork Update

I've added another stork cam under Stork Sites. This one is in Hungary. Click on Hungarian Cam to watch.

The nest in Przygodzic now has 5 eggs in it! Now we must wait patiently for them to hatch. Meanwhile, we can watch Mama and Papa stork as they take turns tending to the eggs.

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Be sure to check out the links in my sidebar. From time to time I will add new things there.

Also sign my guest book, at the bottom of the page.

You can subscribe to my blog to get updates easily. Just type your e-mail address where it says "Subscribe" and click on the button beside it. Or, you can click on the link where it says to join my group.

Let me know if you see something of interest to you. Most of the work on my blog is for sale. Barbara says that her work is for sale, too!

Thank you for sharing and for your support.

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April Fools Day

Second Grade Program

Calvert High School

Calvert, Texas

I wonder if these children played April Fools pranks

Didn't you just hate to go to school on April Fools Day? There was always some kid who would have to tell you that there was a bug on your back, or that someone liked you who really didn't.

My grandfather liked to joke around as much as anyone, no matter how old he was! One of his favorite things to do was to put his hand on someone's shoulder blade and say, "Guess whose back!" Some people would guess and guess, with no luck. He would finally tell them, "You! Isn't that your back!" And he would have a big chuckle while the poor victim would still be trying to figure out who was back.

So April Fools Day was right up his alley.

We would be concerned about what someone was going to come up with at school and then had to go to town after school and wonder what Grandpa had in store for us. There was the usual bug on the back and your shoes are untied and great fun for Grandpa with us- and the customers.

Daddy also tried with his little jokes, but we didn't fall for them, and he moved on to things he was more interested in.

Grandpa always had some little something to say. I wish that I could remember them all.

When we would measure out material for customers in Conitz Dry Goods Store, on the counter with the tape measure scotch taped to it, he would tell us, (before we cut with the big silver scissors), "Give her a good Methodist measure, now." Meaning to cut off a bit extra for the customer.

That was easy for me! My cuts were so crooked, usually giving the customer a lot more than they asked for, in a big triangular shape! Eventually, I got better at cutting a reasonably straight line. But, I sure did hate for anyone to see those pieces that I cut so crooked. Especially Grandpa! But I had the excuse that I was giving them a "good old Methodist measure"!

As a teacher, I was always glad when April Fools Day came on a weekend! I was so relieved when I could go home where I knew I was safe from any jokes. The kids always managed to work it in, although we tried to keep things pretty tight and busy on that day to keep everyone out of trouble. I just tried to be serious and act like I was not amused the whole day.

I had to laugh at Paul Hutchison's website today. He really pulled a good one! Usually, he posts small paintings of everyday objects like burned matches. Yesterday, he posted a photo of himself in his studio with a huge painting that he said he was thinking about going to rather than the small ones. And he asked people what they thought. He got a good response to that as the painting was really striking (can I say that about a painting of a huge burned match!).

Today he said that it was an April Fools joke. The painting was actually small, but, with the help of his computer, he made it look like it was a large painting in his studio.

Postcard From Puniho

I can never think of clever things or jokes. And, sadly, I can't remember but a few of the things that Grandpa used to say and do.

Hope that you had a good chuckle or two today, not at someone else's expense of course.

The old movie station has been showing old movies with the word Fool in them. I liked "My Foolish Heart" with Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews. They had some really old ones from the 1930s that were good, but, when they had silent movies, I just had to turn those off. I can't read what they say unless I sit right in front of the tv. That makes it too hard to keep up with from across the room.

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If you are in this area, be sure to go by the P. David Romei Art Center in College Station to see the art show, "Extracurricular". These are works by area art teachers. There are outstanding artists in this group. The show runs through the month of April.

The reception is Thursday April 3 at 5:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

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I only know one person, for sure, in the photo above. So, if you recognize the others, or if you have a copy that is labeled, I certainly would appreciate knowing who the rest of the members of this class are. This was probably in the 1930s.

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To see the results of the local 18th World Wide Sketch Crawl last Saturday, scroll down to my Sunday posts and read upward through Monday. I finally was able to get some of our pictures on through a slide show. You can see more of what people did worldwide by going to the Sketch Crawl website. Look under Forums, and click on 18th Sketch Crawl. Look at each post and click where it says results to see what was done. There is some really interesting work on there. Lots of humor too!

Go to http://www.sketchcrawl.com/

I'm anxious to know when the next one will be!

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Thanks for your comments and for sharing. Don't forget to sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page and join my group, if you haven't already.

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Wow! I'm so excited! I see by the counter in my sidebar that over 5,000 people around the world have now viewed my blog!

Thanks, everyone, for reading and sharing!

I'm really thrilled that so many people have looked at my art and writing. It is nice to know that someone out there looks at what I am doing.

Hope that you enjoy what you see and will come back,

and share this with others.

Good Friday

Good Friday

8.5" x 11"

sepia ink

Artists:

or

If you know an artist: in your area, you might pass this on :

I recently learned about the worldwide Sketch Crawl that is going to happen on Saturday March 29th. For more information, you can google Sketch Crawl, or you can go to http://www.sketchcrawl.com/ . It sounds like a really neat idea.

I'm trying to contact some of the artists in this area, and see if anyone is interested in making a day of it. You might like to get together with other artists in your area and see what you can come up with. Or you can just do it on your own. There is no cost involved.

They are trying to get together a special deal on some moleskin sketchbooks, if you want to do that. But it is not required.

My idea is to get a group together who would like to draw that day. Meet somewhere in the morning, then spread out and draw Bryan/College Station (Calvert? Hearne? Franklin? Robertson/Brazos counties? ) during the day. Then have everyone come back together to share. Spectators might even be interested in buying some of those sketches, or the finished work later.

You could post some of those drawings on the SketchCrawl site, your own site, or whatever you might think of.

I thought that it might be something a bit different to do.

Let me know if your are interested, or if you need more information.

And, if you want to join me, let me know.

(No, we don't have to do it as a group. And, no, we don't have to all go to one place and work together, unless we just want to.) I was thinking that there might be a bit of fun as a group, some fellowship and opportunity for a critique or sharing time, and a bit of power, as well as safety, in numbers. It's not always a good idea to be out drawing or painting alone.

We might even get a little publicity, if we get it together in time.

Anyone else interested?

You can click on Czs_Izs03@yahoo.com to get in touch with me.

I put a link to Sketch Crawl on my sidebar under Art Helpers so you can check it whenever you want.

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Good Friday

I did this drawing a while back, thinking of a look of wood carving and German Expressionism. I got my idea from a brown ink drawing that I did while in my room during my first year of college, many years ago. I used sepia ink and an old fashioned dip style drawing pen.

I hope that this is a good Easter season for you and yours. Be mindful of why we are observing this holiday.

There was a time when we searched for weeks, for the perfect Easter outfit, dress, shoes, hat, shoes, socks or stockings, a purse, undies, and even special hankies. We used to get a pastel coat to match our dresses and a sweater, in case it wasn't all that cold that year. Without all the sophisticated weather forecasting that we have now, it was really a dilemma to plan what kind of Easter frock to wear.

Some years, we didn't get the coat or sweater, just the spring frock. And, then, along would come an "Easter Snap", and people would, at the last minute, have to bring out the winter coats and sweaters, which didn't match, or rush from the car to church and back, shivering in a cold wind. We haven't needed those coats or sweaters in quite a few years.

In fact, we haven't needed a pretty dress, hat, or coat in a few years. It hasn't been that cold. (But, it looks like some areas are getting plenty of snow and bad weather this year. Not so here. Fairly warm and very sunny, in these parts.) Some churches are having outdoor services now, and encouraging people to bring blankets to sit on. People just wear jeans or even shorts, to some churches, now. Some do carry out the traditional Easter outfits and church services indoors. A lot of places also have a breakfast following early or sunrise services.

We used to go to the city to shop at Cox's or Jack and Jill for our Easter outfits.

But, at Conitz Dry Goods Store, we also sold hats, dresses, shirts, ties, shoes, ribbon, hankies, lingerie, socks, stockings, and all that people would need for their Easter outfits, and more. The fun part was not so much in helping people find what they needed, but we got to examine all the new merchandise that came in, and get first pick of the new things as we put prices on and organized the items. I could entertain myself for a whole day, looking at the new hats and dresses, and then trying on things in the three way mirror.

Another thing that I loved to do was to decorate the big show windows that faced Highway 6. It was kind of fun to be working in there, and, at the same time, check out the cars that passed through, and wave at some that looked like they might have cute boys or Aggies in them!

By this time, Mama (playing the organ) and the choir at church, were practicing for the big Easter Contata and their special music for Easter Sunday. The Easter ham was bought, along with a roast, and other goodies for a family meal.

My sister and I , and Poochie, our dog, looked forward to an early morning Easter Egg hunt in the park and again in the yard, depending on the weather. On Saturday night, the aroma of ham and pineapple filled the house, along with the smell of vinegar for egg dyeing.

This year will be different. Gas is too high to be traveling anywhere. My last older relative is in a nursing home. One grandson is working. The other is past the Easter Egg hunting as a pre-teen. But he won't turn down some ham or cupcakes and candy! We don't have the big family anymore for a big dinner. But we may have some ham anyway. I hope it is one of those good hams like my mother used to make, with pineapple, and cherries and cloves. I'm not that crazy about ham, but those are good, and my daughter likes to bake them, some years. But, since there are so few of us, we may just have some sliced, cold ham from the grocery store. Tasteless and tough, like salty, greasy cardboard. I would rather have our good old traditional red roast and red gravy.

I lost my liking for pork when I was little and my dad gave my sister and me two of the cutest little black and white pigs that looked like puppies! He built a pen for them out in the country at one of the pastures and we would sometimes go and visit them while he fed cattle or worked on fences. The pigs grew into big black and white "dogs", to us.

Then it got cold and we quit going out to the pasture. We begged to go back and see our pet pigs, but Daddy said it was too cold, or we would make too much noise and make the cows lose weight.

At the table one day, someone mentioned that they were getting tired of all the pork we were having lately. (It could have been me.) I looked at my parents, carefully, when I realized that this was true. We were having sausage, bacon, ham, pork chops, pork roast, an awful lot.

Daddy said he liked it. But I got the sinking feeling about where that pork came from and I pushed my plate back and refused to eat anymore pork.

"Daddy, where is my pig?"

"Daddy, where did this meat come from?"

I got no answer, but I knew. Our pigs were in the freezer at the meat market. We were eating those cute little things. And we never even got to know them very well!

We were at the pasture, climbing on the fence of the empty pig pen, when Daddy asked if we each wanted a calf. We could start our own herd, and save the money for college.

No way was I going to have a calf and know that it was going to be killed and I would be expected to eat it, like the pigs. I insisted that I would stick with my cats. I knew that no one was going to eat those scrawny little things!

My sister gave in and Daddy started her herd.

When time for college came, she had a herd and a bank account. I had lots of cats.

It wasn't until recent years that I could comfortably eat pork. It still isn't my favorite, but I got over thinking of those cute little black and white pigs every time I looked at a piece of ham or a pork chop.

I don't tell that story to my grandsons, though. I just take my piece of ham and act like it is the best thing I have ever eaten.

Hope that you are planning a big weekend with your family and friends.

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What a gorgeous sunset and full moon we are having!

I may have to plant something. My great-aunt always said that you were supposed to plant things on Good Friday and by a full moon.

Warming Up

Warming Up

8.5" x 11"

colored pencil

It finally feels like winter here. No snow, ice, or extreme temperatures. But, it has drizzled a bit and, at night, has reached freezing, leaving the trees bare and the grass dead.

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In Conitz Dry Goods Store, there was a large, black, double sided metal gas heater in the center of the store, near the cash register. Another large gas heater, popped and hummed in the office area in the back of the store. This was all the heat in the building.

The stoves were stored in the summer, until more recent years, when they were left up all year, and just checked for leaks before they were turned on. That meant turning the gas on, striking a match near the hoses and the stove to see if there were leaks. Sometimes, in the closed building, there would be a bit of a smell of gas, but those old stoves served the store and its customers well. On a really cold day, frost might soon form on the big plate glass show windows in the front.

The big black metal box of the center heater held two sheets of a material that looked like cotton, one one each side of the stove. Round holes in rows, on both sides, top and bottom, allowed the heat to escape, and it also provided a place where you could watch the cotton-like material "burn". Only, it never really burned. It might singe or scorch, and seem like it was going to ignite, but it never did. I guess that was asbestos inside the stove.

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The stove in the back was a one sided, open front stove, with wire across the front so you couldn't reach in. It had a cotton-like backing behind the burners like the black stove.

It was hypnotic in the quiet of the buidling, to hear the noises from the stoves, and to feel the warmth that they radiated. Sometimes it was extremely hard to stay awake while the heaters were going.

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As people came into the store, on a cold day, they first headed for the stove, where they held their hands for a few minutes, then turned themselves to warm up on their front and back, then back again until they felt comfortable enough to shop or do business.

Not too many ladies or girls were wearing slacks or jeans in those days. So ladies came in with their dresses, sweaters, jackets, coats, scarves, and wearing stockings held up with garter belts or girdles, and sometimes socks on top of the stockings, their shoes, and maybe galoshes, if it was wet outside. Older ladies might wear knit underwear and cotton stockings, but the younger ladies had stockings and thin underwear. Stockings with a seam in back were the vogue and, when stockings were hard to get during the war, ladies might use an eyebrow pencil to draw that line directly on their leg. Sunbathing was also popular and the tan made it look like the ladies were wearing stockings with that line up their leg.

Ladies, with their bare legs, tended to back up to the stove. For best results, the skirt was lifted up a bit in back, so that they could get the warmth on cold bodies. Of course, they had to be sure there were no other customers, or that the men were occupied elsewhere while they took advantage of the stove.

Sometimes, my great-aunts, grandmother, aunt, mother, sister, and I , and any company we might have, would line up in front of the stove, dresses hiked up in the back, warming away. There might be too many to get full benefit from the stove, so we were glad when a man or customer came in, and someone had to move to go wait on that person. Gave the rest of us more exposure to the heat.

At times, we would have to warn someone who was enjoying the stove too much, to move away from the stove, or to put their skirt down some. Men were in the store and about to come to that area.

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I don't remember that anyone ever got burned on the stove, but, at certain ages, we had to warn children of a certain height to be careful so that they didn't hit their head on the corner of the stove if they should not be watching. Fortunately, the stove was not on when children of that height were being a bit rambunctious.

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We've heard the old stories of stores with pot-bellied wood stoves, and the cracker barrel, with men sitting around telling stories and playing checkers.

Well, we had "the stove", where people gathered around and visited and talked. Some people made their daily rounds, to visit in the stores on Main Street, stop in for coffee somewhere, or piece of pie, then visit some more on their way to and from the Post Office, or to pay a bill or buy some needed item. People could walk all over town, but most did drive their car, or even a tractor, or pick up, to town. And, as they visited, news and stories were spread through town quickly. People came from all over to visit with Grandpa, to interview him, and to hear his stories, especially in his later years. Grandpa started that store in 1901 and worked in it even on the day he died at age 96. After he died, friends came by to visit with his son and daughter.

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The two foot stools used for measuring feet from the shoe department, were placed near the stove. There was a rocking chair, a folding chair, a couple of lawn chairs, and a leather and chrome chair, that stayed around the stove. A couple of worn wooden benches were placed near the stove. These pieces of furniture remained in the warm weather when the stoves were taken across the street to a building Grandpa rented for a warehouse.

Grandpa would work, but, when he was finished with his customer and the books, he would sit in the leather and chrome chair between the counter that held baby things and gift items, and another counter that held towels, tablecloths, bath sets, and cup towels. Here he would sit silently, share a story, listen to the problems that people brought to him, or discuss politics and the news.

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Central heating, now, is nice. But it sure would be nice to be able to hike my dress up and warm myself by a real heater in this cold weather. I just can't get that close to the vents in the ceiling to get nice and toasty warm!

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I used Derwent Colored pencils in the drawing above. Pictured are "the stove", with someone's hands reaching over it from the right side of the page. Between the stove and the counter with the cash register, a woman with a green jacket and a black plaid dress is hiking up her skirt to get warm. One of the footstools from the shoe department is in front of the counter. On the next counter, on the left, there are some sweaters, folded. On the counter to the right, is the cash register, done in a fucshia color. You can see the glow from the fire inside the stove through the double row of holes near the top. There were more holes in the bottom of the stove.

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Thank you for reading, and for your interest.

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Don't forget to sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page.

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Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child

Sculpture Idea

8" x 10"

Acrylic on Paper

The full moon shines on a cold winter night, like tonight, casting cool light and shadows on stone. Perhaps in a cemetery? A park? Or even floating in the night?

I thought of this piece as a rounded stone, carved just enough to hint at a mother holding a baby. Or, possibly, it could be done in clay with just a hint of blue glaze to give it the feeling of cold moonlight falling over it.

I like to do sculpture, with my hands, touching the clay and modeling it by feel. I haven't tried to carve in stone but I don't think that I would like it as much as I do the soft clay. That's funny because, before I started doing some clay heads, I hated getting my hands, and everything else, dirty. I think that it really helped me to be able to get better form into my two dimensional work.

Creating those large heads of 25 to 50 pounds of clay was an exciting project. Unfortunately, my strength has waned, and I can't do all the lifting and pounding required to work clay, and I no longer have access to a kiln. So, I have to think in terms of something smaller like papier mache, or some sort of other material. I have quite a few ideas for sculpture that I would like to complete, one of these days.

Since it is now Christmas Day, I thought that my "Madonna and Child", with a moonlit night, would be appropriate to share. On Christmas Eve, my youngest grandson and I watched the full moon rise, and he was excited to spy a planet that he had been hearing about. I'm not sure it it was Mars or Saturn as I had not heard about it.

When I painted this, I thought of the old cemetery where my son, and much of my family is buried. A beautiful park-like place near the home that I grew up in. I thought of monuments in the moonlight, over the lawn where so many now rest. A place that is still and quiet, except for the occasional rustling in the branches of ancient trees as night creatures prowl about.

We took our Mock Stained Glass Windows over to the nursing home and showed them to my aunt Christmas Eve afternoon. The sun was pouring in through the big windows in the dining room where we opened our gifts and enjoyed cookies and cold drinks. As we were holding them up to the light, I discovered that, by placing the angel over the star window, I had a completely different, and very interesting design. The rays from the star and the overlapping colors and shapes broke the angel design down even more and created more colors. That was kind of fun. My grandson didn't want to leave the windows there, so we brought them home. My aunt doesn't have a window in her room, so she wouldn't be able to enjoy the window. There isn't enough room to even hang all her Christmas cards, so I guess the windows are going to go in my own windows, or they may go in with all the other things that I am saving, created by my grandson.

Today we will have Christmas dinner with red roast and red gravy and a small ham. My daughter is cooking. She baked an orange cake and a chocolate cake for dessert last night. The orange cake still will not come out of the Bundt pan! We may have to put icing on it in the pan, and dig it out with a spoon! I thought sure that gravity would eventually take care of it, so it is still upside down on a plate. We both tried using knives to loosen the sides, but it is still stuck. I think it is a little too sticky. It seems done inside, according to the toothpick test, but, to touch it, it is really sticky.

Then the grandsons will open their gifts and we will all go back to see my aunt at the nursing home for the afternoon.

It is so different from the Christmases of the past, with a large family around. We always wanted more children around, though, since my sister and I were the children. We couldn't wait to get out and play with our friends.

My family had the dry goods store, and other men in the family had grocery stores. They stayed open as late as there were customers on the street. As the years passed, that time became earlier and earlier, so that, by supper time, the stores were closed and everyone came to our house for the Christmas tree. People came to town to buy, even in wagons, and they stayed around to socialize or to go to church the next day.

When I was growing up, the family worked at the stores on busy days. Even the kids helped out. And other people were hired to help wait on customers. We had to cashier, wait on customers, put things on the books, gift wrap, stock, put price tags on merchandise, decorate the show windows, sweep, dust, clean the restrooms, and watch for shoplifters. My favorite things were to decorate the show windows and to gift wrap. But, it was a little nerve shattering, being told to not use too much ribbon or too much tape, or paper, or string on packages. I was interested in creating a really nice looking package, but some customers just wanted their packages fast and didn't care if they had fancy ribbons or not. We made a kind of a loop out of ribbon and taped it, with a card on top. Another method was to make something that looked a bit like a man's tie, to me. And there were several strips of ribbon brought from the back side to the front, the cut in points at different lengths. Those were good for stacking on top of each other, or for mailing. And then there were bows. We didn't have to make most of them, we bought them in a big package. Or, each year, at our Christmas tree, we all saved our bows and paper to be used again at the store.

After the stores closed, a weary crew went to our house to have the family Christmas tree. It was really hard to wait for Santa, when it got to be really late. But, the store came first. Once everyone gathered, Santa made his way from the garage to the front porch with any special gifts, like bikes or wagons, or doll buggies and little tables and chairs. "Look what Santa left out here!" Daddy would tell us. "I thought I heard him!" he would add.

"I heard him, too!" others would say, trying to make us believe.

One Christmas, Santa brought my sister the pair of cowboy boots she always wanted. We were still pretty small then. My sister would not take off her cowboy boots, for days, and even slept in them, and I wouldn't move my dolls over. We shared a three quarter size bed, so it was pretty crowded in bed. And, then, the cats joined us! But, those cowboy boots. I can feel them still. They had sharp pointed toes, and were really stiff, especially in my back! She loved those boots!

We usually got things like underwear from the store, and a thread box with dollar bills in it. (No fancy wrapping for the family. But, they didn't have time to shop, they said, and so they just put the money into an empty thread box, and gave that out while presents were being passed out.) Mama, and one great-aunt always made sure that we got some nice clothes, toys, and books.

While the great-aunts were receiving things like jewelry, or furniture, or pieces to their crystal, china, or silver patterns, Daddy gave my mother gifts that just upset her. She just clenched her teeth, and held her little presents, and everyone said that he should be ashamed of himself. Of course, he laughed and thought it was so funny. He gave gifts like a Lady Gillette double edge razor and a slop jar. You may remember that happened in "All In The Family" on tv, when Archie Bunker gave Edith her own razor. Well, my dad did it years before that! His sense of humor.

The men all got things like pajamas, shirts, ties, cuff links and tie clasps-things that stayed in their boxes and were saved. Long after they died, we are still finding boxes of things that were gifts that were saved. One thought was that they would save the good things in case they should ever have to go to the hospital.

At our family Christmas tree, we would always have some sort of refreshments, cookies, cake, tuna fish sandwiches and potato chips, and, if it was cold, Mama would make hot chocolate. In later years, when you could buy it in the store, we added egg nog to the menu. One year, my great-aunt, who lived across the street, brought over some Mogan David wine in her mother's lead crystal decanter. Her sister in law had served them wind during a visit, and she wanted to do the same. The other great-aunt acted shocked. Everyone refused the wine except my uncle and I. We asked my grandmother if she wanted some wine and we thought she said she did. However, Grandma was deaf and had hardening of the arteries. When she came to the Christmas tree that night, all she wanted to do was to go home because her babies were there. She couldn't figure out that her children were grown and were there with her. My aunt had said not to give her any refreshments because it might have sugar in it, or salt, and she had read that those things were bad for people. So, she went around making sure that no one ate anything that had the bad things in it. We learned to pass the sugar and the salt under the table, so she wouldn't see us, and throw a fit. My uncle said that we should let Grandma have a little wine, so he kept my aunt busy while my great-aunt and I gave her a tiny wine glass full of wine. When my aunt discovered us, we told her that it was grape juice, and she was satisfied with that. Grandma kept wanting more of those little glasses of wine. Pretty soon, she perked up, and was talking normally, and enjoying herself. She recognized her children and was more lucid than she had been in a long time. The lack of sugar and salt had actually hurt her, and she ended up having to go to the hospital and getting IVs to put some of those things back. My aunt never would concede that people need some salt and some sugar.

Sometimes, on Christmas Day, we would drive to my mother's parents to have Chirstmas dinner with them. It didn't seem right to be away from home, and the family that I was accustomed to on Christmas. And I was eager to share with my friends what we had received for gifts on Christmas Eve.

There was a little longing for a fireplace for Santa to come down, the custom of opening presents on Christmas morning, and a big, roasted goose on a platter for Christmas dinner. Instead, we got Santa bringing gifts to our front porch, having the Christmas tree after the store closed, and turkey and red roast and red gravy for Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas! And I hope that you are having a wonderful, memorable time with friends and family!

Be sure to look at my guest book. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find it.

If you haven't read yesterday's post, you might like to read it, including a poem by Elaine Winters.

Let me know if you see something of interest to you. Thanks for reading and for sharing.

Christmas Angel

Mock Stained Glass Window

Angel

Construction Paper and Tissue Paper

8.75" x 11.50"

(See the slide show below for steps and the post below that for instructions )

The Light Is Upon Us At Christmas

Elaine Winter (Steszewski)

Crystal blue sparkling evening stars

A full moon shining brightly in the heavens lighting our path

Bright candles in the churches all over the land

This must be Christmas!

Church choirs, children's Christmas plays, Christmas Parades

Welcoming the Savior's Birth

Welcome Jesus to the earth!

A gift from God for us forever.

I asked Elaine for permission to use her poem on my blog and she kindly agreed. As I worked to finish the Christmas angel "stained glass window", I thought that Elaine's words would go very well with my art work. Thank you, Elaine!

I thought of so many things when I first saw Elaine's poem on the Polish_Genius genealogy list.

The big Christmas tree that used to be placed in the middle of highway 6 in Calvert, for the community Christmas program, and for the enjoyment of people driving through town. The big cedar tree had to be moved back off the highway, thanks to the highway department rules and increased traffic, further into the intersection on Mitchell street. After that, people didn't come out as much as they did for the event, which included the singing of Christmas carols and a visit from Santa. The wind sometimes blew the tree over.

Nearby Hearne had a similar program, but they had an intersection downtown, off the highway. After their tree was blown over, too, they drilled a hole in the street where the tree could be secured better each year. They haven't had the tree in Calvert for years, and, more recently the buildings were outlined with white lights. That looked really nice. Like a story book town. Unfortunately, they have lost some old buildings. The park is now decorated, unlike in the past. That is another place that is like a storybook.

I thought of the Christmas programs at the Sneed Memorial Methodist Church. The Christmas tree there in the basement. Mama would play the piano, and we had a little program and refreshments. Santa would come, and, when we got older, we tried to guess who he was. It had to be someone in town, but who? The black rubber rainboots were always a giveaway that this was not Santa from the North Pole. His boots would have been fur lined for the snow up north. Mr. Ford would always bring apples or oranges from his grocery store, or, in good years, both, and everyone got one. I think I remember one Christmas that we were given the delicacies of a tangerine. I don't remember that we got presents, but I remember the fruit, and, sometimes, a candy cane, and some nuts. I remember that, one year, especially, Charles' father came to play his guitar and sing for us.

There would be a Christmas program upstairs, too, and Mama played the organ for that. "Miss Immie" (Miss Imogene), would sing and direct the choir and a program, while she was still living. And we would have to sing or recite something, perhaps read from the Bible. One year, when my sister was very small, she was coaxed into wearing a dress and singing "Away In A Manger". She was very tiny, and very shy, but she made it through that song like a little angel.

There were Christmas plays at school and at the City Hall auditorium upstairs, when we dressed in costumes. White gowns, with fabric wings lined with golden ropes of Christmas tinsel and halos fashioned of the same golden material. And, some years, our little group of Calvert girls who were taking ballet and tap dancing lessons at the country club in Hearne, were called on to put on costumes and dance. I loved the glittery sparkle, but I was so bashful that I would cry and have to be coaxed out by my friends.

I remember one Christmas, not so many years ago, when Reba and I talked about going to Midnight Mass at the Catholic Church in Bremond. We couldn't get anyone else to go with us, so we went alone. I went to pick her up and was amazed that she left a large candle burning on her piano. It looked very pretty through the big window. But, I was concerned about the safety of leaving it. She explained that she had taken precautions and it would be safe. The candle was for solidarity and the people in Poland who were going through so much and were fighting for their freedom at that time. Lech Walesa was spoken of a lot in the news. She felt that we should go to the largely Polish community and church to show our support. And, her candle in the window was in response to the request for people to light candles all over the world in support of solidarity. We weren't Catholic, and she wasn't Polish, and I didn't know at that time that my great-grandfather had come from Poland (Prussia at the time that he came over). But, we joined many others that Christmas Eve with the little that we could do for freedom and to worship as we chose. I didn't know how memorable that night would be. I had left my children at my parents' home, where we were all living, after we had our Christmas tree and presents, and everyone had gone to bed, to drive to another town and join in their Christmas Eve service. We did often stay up and watch Midnight Mass on tv, but this was different. The Mass was in Latin and Polish, so we didn't understand a lot of it, but we did enjoy the music, and just being in this different atmosphere. It was special and moving.

Then there was the Christmas , about that same time, when the old hotel, where I had grown up playing around and visiting my cousins and their grandmother there, had been converted to a hotel and dinner theatre. I was still shy, but I went to the produtions to write them up for the newspapers. They convinced me to take part in the Christmas play, "A Christmas Carol". Now, I really dreaded it because I was really bashful, but, the worst part was that I never could remember things I had to memorize. The first few lines would stay with me, but, after that, it all disappeared. But, I did like to dress up and play around with makeup. I went over and over my lines, but only the first part seemed to stick. We had a good time rehearsing, and I thought a lot about the days when we played around the hotel. I thought that I knew every nook and cranny of the place.

There was an opening play before "A Christmas Carol" started, about a Sunday School class Christmas party, and I got to play the part of the teacher. My daughter was one of the Sunday School students. She was scared stiff! But we just tried to ignore the audience and pay attention to what we were supposed to be doing on stage. I had a pretty white satin blouse and a long white satin skirt with quilted velvet squares for that part.

Then, the fun began when the director played Scrooge. He powdered his hair until it was gray and drew wrinkles on his face with an eyebrow pencil. And, when we went out on the stage, I was a little shocked at him wearing long handles! Larry was a hoot!

Everyone dressed up and got into the mood. We got together at rehearsal and made tape recordings of moaning and chains rattling. The hotel owner was Marley, dressed in Victorian finery. I can't remember who the young man was who played the ghost of Christmas to come, but he was frightening to see. Looked like death. He had a hooded robe, and you couldn't see his face. He was tall and just seemed to float.

I was the ghost of Christmas past, and couldn't really afford a costume, so I used a long white dress that I had. Then I used some remnants of blue sheer material, that were long enough to wrap around me and trail. I layered those and made a train and a veil. On top of my head, I wore a piece of blue lace. Then Larry powdered my face to make me look pale.

Larry was so good at his lines, but, then he started improvising on stage. He told me that he was going to , but to just follow him. He led me around that stage and I was so relieved that my lines fit!

It was almost over and I was about to exit off the back of the stage into the lobby. I tried to float gracefully off the stage, and, as I got into the lobby, so relieved to be off stage, someone told me to wait. One of my trains of material had caught on a nail, and I had left it behind, draped across the stage! Someone had to go get it for me, and I about collapsed into a puddle on the floor with embarassment. But, I survived, and so did everyone else. Unfortunately, the dinner theatre didn't, and the hotel was sold.

The Calvert High School band had concerts in the auditorium at Christmas, Easter, spring, and anytime we could. The choir sang for programs and, in music appreciation class, we sang.

I remember cold, clear star filled nights, looking for the Christmas star in the dark blue sky.

There were Christmas parades from the school to downtown, and I watched from Conitz Dry Goods Store, until I was old enough to march in the band with my flute. Merchants hoped that visitors to the parade would come in the stores and shop. Eventually, we would go to the Christmas parade in Hearne, too, and those merchants were also hoping for more trade. The towns were in competiton to see who could have the biggest and best parade. Floats became more numerous and complex and awards were given.

We always hoped for some snow, and nights of going caroling, followed by refreshments and hot chocolate. A picture perfect Christmas. That never happened. Snow and ice seem to only come in January or February in our area, if at all. (I do remember a little snow for Thanksgiving a couple of times.) I think that I remember going caroling one time, and then going in for refreshments at the big Foster home, where "Miss Immie", and her sisters lived.

We didn't have lighted plastic or blow up yard displays. But there were tastefully done lights, and maybe candles or bows, around town in the homes and businesses. Deep, red light glowed from the ruby glass windows at the Presbyterian Church, and from the stained glass windows in the other churches in town. Riding around to look at the Christmas lights was something that had to be done often during the Christmas season. It wasn't a matter of who had the biggest or best display, but to just take it all in and enjoy each decorated home and public place.

We heard the story of Christmas everywhere. One year, my mother bought me a beautiful book with pictures from the story of Jesus' birth. The paintings were all in delicate pastel colors, but the halos and everything that should have been gold, appeared to be painted in gold. I took my book to Sunday School to show my teacher and my class. I remember that Miss Rita told us that Mary was a young girl, about our ages, when Jesus was born. One girl asked if that was true. And everyone was shocked. The bell rang and we went upstairs to church, shaking our heads in wonder. There was more discussion from my book the next Sunday morning. I still have my book, but it is now tattered and worn.

I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, and that the weather is not too bad where you are. As they say, remember the reason for the season.

Scroll down and check out the Guest Book that I have added at the bottom of my page. You have to go all the way down to the bottom of the page to see it. Add your name, where you live, and a picture, if you would like. It's interesting to hear from everyone. And, if you are an artist, you might like to show a piece of your work in the picture area.

Merry Christmas!