The Joy of Books

My love affair with books started in my childhood; I blogged about it, (click here), a couple of years ago.  Two summers ago I found this old sign at a flea market, for the princely sum of $2.

Yep, two dollars.  It resides on one of those awkward plant niches, 9 feet up, in my living room. Hence the extra-awful photos.  (I risked life and limb standing on a bench to try to capture it on this dreary day.) It's one of the few things in my home that will never be for sale. I love it.

It's made of plywood; the flaking paint is 'accented' by the random flowers. 

It works well with some of my old leather-bound books.  Contrary to what everyone says, I think you can judge a book by it's cover.  If it looks good, I love it and could care less what's inside!  (Wow, that sounds a little shallow doesn't it? Just so you know, metaphorically speaking, I do subscribe to the "can't judge..." adage when it comes to people!) 

I'm linking up with Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday...check it out!

...and if you adore books as much as I do, I know that you will love watching this amazing video.

Recipe or Receipt? To Roast A Pig's Head

Warne's Every-Day Cookery, 1900 Receipts, With Coloured Illustrations.
I recently ran across this great old cookbook; it's undated but appears to be from the 1890's. The first paragraph gives you a peek at life for the lady of the house.  "The mistress of a family commands daily a small realm of which she is queen.  Let her rule with justice, meekness, and quietness....we should have fewer bad servants if they were all under the firm and patient training of an employer who understood what their duties really were..."

Further reading takes you to a section covering the "Duties of the Housemaid", "Duties of the Housekeeper" and "Duties of the Footman".  The housemaid "is required to be a nice-mannered, respectable-looking woman. She should be a tolerably good dressmaker..."

The duties of a housekeeper "require early rising, both to get business over well, and as an example to the servants."  As for the footman, he "is required to make himself generally useful, though, of course the number of men kept will diminish or increase his work."


The recipes or "receipts" are most interesting - here's a sampling of the titles:
Baked Eels
To Roast a Pig's Head
Pig's Pettitoes
Pie of Larks or Sparrows
Cottage Soup - A Very Cheap Soup
To Bake A Pig
To Prepare the Brains of a Lamb's Head for Serving Under It
To Fricassee Rabbits Brown
To Collar a Calf's Head

Are you hungry yet? Once we get past the meat section, things look a bit more "normal". Desserts look downright appetizing. I was going to try making the sponge cake until I read the directions:

Take half a pound of sifted loaf sugar, break five eggs over it, and beat for full half an hour with a steel fork..." My arm was tired just thinking about that!

The book concludes with "Useful Receipts for Housekeepers and Servants".  Below are two which might be helpful in dealing with vintage garments.

"To Take Stains Out of Silk or Cloth"
Pound some French chalk fine, and mix it with warm water to the thickness of mustard. Put it on the spots, rub it lightly with your finger or the palm of your hand. Put a sheet of blotting, and of brown paper over the spots and press it with a warm iron.

"To Clean An Old Silk Dress"
Unpick the dress and brush it with a velvet brush. Then grate two large potatoes into a quart of water; let it stand to settle; strain it off quite clear, and sponge the dress with it. Iron it on the wrong side, as the ironed side will be shiny. 

There's no housekeeper, housemaid or footman here, and so I'm very thankful for my freezer, my microwave and the occasional dinner out!

Falling In Love With the Library

Holding Mom's hand, I walked up the steps and into the most wonderful building I'd ever seen. Wood floors, high ceilings, and books everywhere. I must have been about six years old when Mom took me into the public library for the first time. It was amazing to learn that I could get all the books I wanted, whenever I wanted, for FREE!

That first visit to the library was the start of hundreds more over the next ten years. I loved the children's section in the cool, dark basement, and read every Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew ever written.

Growing up in a small farm town, I was a child of the most "old-fashioned" parents in town. (At least I thought so.) In my elementary years we had no TV and never went anywhere for fun. Reading was my escape. I learned that life could be different. There were towns with skating rinks, huge department stores with escalators, drive-ins, boardwalks and endless possibilities for fun. I knew that when I was grown I would not stay in Willows.

Browsing eBay a few years ago, I saw a postcard of the Willows Library and purchased it. The library was built in 1910 and the postcard is from that era. In my memory, the library was a huge building; the photo shows the reality! Today, the public library is in a more modern building, and the old library site is used as a museum. It's good to know that a building that holds such great memories for me has been preserved to showcase the heritage of a small town.