Planning Ahead for My Next Blog

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

Saturday, September 26, 1914: <<no entry>>

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

Many of you have asked what I plan to do when I post Grandma’s last diary entry on December 29. Since she didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I’ll share what I’m thinking, even though it’s still all a little random and unfocused.

I think that I’ve discovered my next project–and a way to continue blogging. When cleaning out my father’s attic, I found a cookbook and other artifacts of a great-aunt on the other side of my family. My Great-Aunt Marion lived on a farm in central Pennsylvania, and cared for her parents until they died. She then joined the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) during World War II at the age of 45.

I need your help. Aunt Marion’s memorabilia are very different from the diary—so I will need to create a blog that is very different from this blog. But how?

I want to keep the focus of A Hundred Years Ago on Grandma’s diary, and I need a place where people can easily find links to all of my blogs, so I’ve created an author website, Sheryl Lazarus.com. On this site I plan to explore some of my ideas for the new blog. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll visit my author website and join me in a conversation as I work to develop and design this new blog.

Attractive Ways to Curtain Door Windows

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

Friday, September 25, 1914: <<no entry>>

Glass doors are now very popular for the inside of the house. A good curtain treatment for these doors when they go from the dining room into the living room is shown here. A thin silk or net is often stretched from rods top and bottom to break the view while the dining table is being set. This treatment adds a charm and an interest to the doors.

Ladies Home Journal (October, 1914)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred-years-ago today, I thought that you might enjoy seeing some examples from 1914 of how to attractively curtain windows on doors.

A simple and pleasing treatment for the inside of a Colonial doorway is shown. Either scrim, net, or thin muslin may be used. Both the door curtains and the side-window curtains are stretched from brass rods at the top and bottom. This arrangement keeps the curtains in place. The fanlight above the door is also treated in an attractive way. The best method of arranging this is to have a heavy wire frame made to fit the semi-circular window. The material can then be easily attached to it and the wire frame adjusted to the window.

Ladies Home Journal (October, 1914)

Should I Tell Readers in Advance the Length of Gaps in the Diary?

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

Thursday, September 24, 1914: <<no entry>>

Maybe Grandma was hanging out with friends in McEwensville and was too busy to write. (Or maybe she was busy harvesting crops and was too tired to write.) — Maybe Grandma was hanging out with friends in McEwensville and was too busy to write. (Or maybe she was helping harvest crops and was too tired to write.)

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

Every time Grandma didn’t write anything in the diary for several days I face a conundrum. Should I tell readers at the start of the missing days how many days are missing? . . . or should I just proceed one day at a time and let people discover over time whether the gap is very short or relatively long.

I’ve handled this situation both ways over the course of the diary—and neither feels quite right.

The current gap in diary entries began on September 19. Several readers have commented about how long it is. For example, KerryCan commented:

Helena is making you work very hard these days, since she isn’t writing herself! We’re lucky that you keep coming up with such interesting angles!

(True, I have to work harder—though I try to see it as an opportunity to write about topics that aren’t addressed by the diary entries.)

Other readers commented that they hoped that Grandma was having fun. For example, Dianna at These Days of Mine wrote:

Hopefully Grandma was busy having fun all these days when there have been no entries, and she’ll share big news in days to come!

(I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that she was having fun. She had such a special summer, and hopefully it is continuing into the fall.)

Oh, I guess I should tell you long the gap is. Grandma didn’t write anything in the diary for 9 days. This is the sixth of those days—so you can expect me to go off on various tangents for the next three days. 🙂

Drought in Central Pennsylvania in 1914

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

Wednesday, September 23, 1914: <<no entry>>

Milton Evening Standard 9 21 14 — Source: *Milton Evening Standard* (September 21, 1914)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I’m going to share an article from Grandma’s local paper, the Milton Evening Standard.

Apparently there was a drought in central Pennsylvania during September, 1914—and the nearby town of Milton was concerned about a potential water shortage. I wonder how the well on the Muffly farm was holding up during the dry weather.

World War I in the News on September 22, 1914

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

Tuesday, September 22, 1914: <<no entry>>

Source: Milton Evening Standard (September 22, 1914) — Source: *Milton Evening Standard* (September 22, 1914)

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

Grandma has not mentioned World War I in the diary. How aware was she of the War? The Milton Evening Standard, her local newspaper, had regular stories about it. Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I thought that you might enjoy reading what the paper said on September 22, 1914 about the War.

Cow Had Fourth Male Calf

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

Wednesday, September 16, 1914: Born to Mollie, a son, and he’s a big one. While Mollie is very proud of him, I am still prouder, for he belongs to me. This is the fourth calf of Mollie’s family. The others are dead. Snapped a picture of Ruth’s school this morning.

Kimball's Dairy Farmer Magazine (June 15, 1911) — Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine (June 15, 1911)

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

Mollie was Grandma’s cow. I think that her parents gave each child a cow. When the cow had a male calf, the child got the money from the sale; when it was a female, their personal herd grew.

This was the fourth year in a row that Mollie had a male calf.

On November 20, 1913, Grandma wrote:

My Mollie’s calf over which I have been rejoicing for the past week or two on account of his bigness was sold this afternoon. He weighed 164 pounds. I had figured out a week or so ago that he would just have to weigh at least 145 pounds. Haven’t I something to be thankful for?

On December 27, 1912, Grandma wrote:

Sold Mollie’s calf today. It wasn’t a very big one and I rather feared my fortune would be pretty small, but after all it weighed one hundred and forty-four lbs. Received a neat sum of $11.56. . .

And, on August 21, 1911, she wrote:

. . . I have decided to name Mollie’s calf Wobbly as he is rather weak in his legs, but he’ll get stronger bye and bye.

It’s surprising that Mollie’s had no female calves. I’m a little foggy on how you calculate the probability, but I think that there is only a 1 out of 16 chance of this occurring.

Climbed Tree to Harvest Grapes

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

Tuesday, September 15, 1914: Climbed an old apple tree after grapes, and got well scratched up.

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

Grandma—

It sounds like harvesting grapes is challenging and dangerous work. At least you didn’t fall out of the tree.

—

Old-fashioned grape vines were much larger than more modern ones. I suppose that the apple tree served as a trellis for the grape vine—and that the grapes were Concord grapes or another similar variety with seeds and slip skins.