Candy Cane Memories

Friday, December 11, 1914 :<<no entry>>
Readers participating in Grandma’s Bake-a-thon have shared many wonderful memories. We are giving Grandma a great send-off to live the rest of her life after the diary ends.

Today I’d like to share the awesome post that Sharon at Dirndl Skirt Gatherings did about her memories of baking Candy Cane Cookies with her mother.

One of the things that I most enjoy about Dirndl Skirt Gatherings is how Sharon infuses her art and artist’s perspective into many posts. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to see her awesome holiday drawing of a woman wearing a candy cane skirt.

Dirndl Skirt Gatherings

credit: Me and My Green Bin

Growing up in the early 1960s, and being a kind of girly-girl, I do remember I liked my food pink. And sugary. When standing in line with my mom at Acme Supermarket, the impulse buy of choice near the cash register was those awful (to me now) pink marshmallow cookies with white coconut sprinkles. This was before red dye #2 was banned.

My mother, Shirley, and me in her state-of-the-art kitchen, 1957.

But at Christmas time, we made cookies. Mom did like to bake, if not actually cook. (Hey, it was the Atomic Age, and she had better things to do, like paint!) One of my favorites from that era was candy cane cookies. We had to divide the dough, and color one half. Then keep it moist until we twisted the braids together and curved them into the cane hook. Some baking…

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The Christmas Gift that Saves Work

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, December 9, 1914: Went to Milton this afternoon on a shopping trip. Took my camera down and had the film changed. Bought some Xmas presents and had a time getting them home.

hundred-year-old kitchen gadgets — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Welcome back, Grandma-

Tell us, PLEASE. What did you buy? Maybe some of the latest kitchen and cleaning gadgets for your mother? They might be awkward to carry.

Milton’s at least four miles from your home. You didn’t walk the whole way did you? . . . Did you take the trolley from Milton to Watsontown, and then walk the last mile and a half or so?

December’s on the Way

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, December 1, 1914:

The Twenty-fifth is near, December’s on the way,

And thoughts of presents nice and dear fill every passing day.

‘I wonder what I’ll get’ is what we often think

Until the day has dawned again all rosy and pink.

The last month of the year. I must hurry and fill up the remaining pages of this diary by writing silly nothings in it.

Brought my dress home. It suits me to a T. Ma doesn’t seem to like it very well, but maybe she will when she sees it on me.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (October, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma—

WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ARE NOT SILLY NOTHINGS! I know that you can’t possibly understand, but THEY ARE IMPORTANT THOUGHTS.

In any case—Even if you think your words are silly, please be generous with them. Someone will care about them someday.

P.S. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that your mother will like the dress after you model it for her.

—

Monthly Poem in Diary

Grandma began each month of the Diary with a poem. See this previous post for more information about them:

Monthly Poem in Diary

—

Thank You!

I’d like to thank all of you who took a moment yesterday to write a comment about why you regularly visit this blog. I’m amazed by the varied reasons that you visit—and I’m humbled by your kind, heartfelt words.

And, I think that Grandma would be absolutely astounded that so many of you read her words and story—and , I also think that, in her quiet way, that she’d be thrilled that people still remember and care about her a hundred years later.

Why do you visit A Hundred Years Ago?

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, November 30, 1914: <<no entry>>

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

A few weeks ago Dirndl Skirt made the following comment:

. . . For all the work you put into this, it might be nice to get personal feedback as to why people connected with it. And a bit of introspection on the part of your readers’ would probably reveal some interesting observations as well, for you and for us.

And, I’ve been really curious ever since.

So since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I’d like ask you a question:

What brought you to A Hundred Years Ago? . . . and why have you kept coming back?

Took Photo of Sister and her Friend

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, November 29, 1914: Rufus had company today. Took their pictures over on the new bridge.

Recent photo of a small bridge near the Muffly farm

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma—Do tell, was your sister Ruth’s company male or female? (It’s been a long time since you’ve called her Rufus. Are you just a little bit jealous?)

And, did you take their picture on the bridge that goes over the creek that flows by your family’s farm? I can picture a really old bridge. Maybe it was new a hundred years ago–though I suppose that it’s been replaced several times over the course of the last hundred years.

Hundred-Year-old Soy Milk Description

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, November 28, 1914: <<no entry>>

Source: National Food Magazine (November, 1910)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I recently came across this hundred-year-old description of soy milk. Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I thought you might enjoy reading it.

Top News Story: Ships Have Sunk in Lake Superior

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, November 23, 1914: <<no entry>>

Source: Milton Evening Standard (November 23, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I always find it interesting to see what national news made headlines in central Pennsylvania. This article was the top center headline on the front page of Grandma’s local newspaper, the Milton Evening Standard, a hundred years ago today.

What a sad story—So many lives were lost due to the extreme weather. .

It makes me think about another, more recent, November maritime disaster on Lake Superior—the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975 which was memorialized in the song by Gordon Lightfoot.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

When the skies of November turn gloomy

With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more

Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty

That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed

When the gales of November came early