#49617 - 08/14/05 10:54 PM
Just plain ole aging..
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Paul I
Member
Registered: 02/24/00
Posts: 7913
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Went into the grocery today to get a few items. Most were routine but a couple made me feel very old- like when did things change?
Ever try to find milk? Just plain old milk? I don't even know what it's called anymore. There's
lowfat, nonfat, 2%, 3%, skim, lactose free, and a few others. Someone could triple their sales if they labeled just one kind - Just Plain Milk.
And the next thing was ice cream. It seems like only yesterday (that's a dangerous thought at my age) that everyone loved maple walnut ice cream. Well I checked Ben and Jerrys, Hagen Das, Breyers,
Dryers, store brand, and all the others. No maple walnut? Does it still exist? There is vanilla, french vanilla, double french vanilla, vanilla bean vanilla. Couldn't we make 1.5 vanilla by a merger then using the extra shelf space for maple walnut? I tried explaining this to someone and they had never heard of maple walnut.
Oh well, I'm the guy who still thinks Nabisco Shredded Wheat is one word, Frigidaire means the same as refrigerator and Coke bottles have the
name of the town they were made in on the bottom
and if you pry the cork out of the cap- who knows?
_________________________
"...only the shadow knows"
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#49618 - 08/15/05 05:57 AM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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LASHB
Member
Registered: 05/28/03
Posts: 7213
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Hey, you didn't even mention bread. Remember when mom sent you to the store for a loaf of bread and you knew exactly what she wanted? Now it's "did she want white, enriched white, sandwich or regular loaf, whole wheat, honey whole wheat, whole grain, multigrain..." 
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#49619 - 08/15/05 10:07 AM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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Roadrunner
Member
Registered: 07/08/03
Posts: 2516
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And when Mom was baking a cake you were really lucky to get it made with cake flour........cake mixes, never heard of them!
_________________________
Beep Beep 
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#49620 - 08/15/05 10:53 AM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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MerryA
Member
Registered: 01/10/04
Posts: 10887
Loc: Tennessee
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My Mother and Dad's parents owned and ran country stores. Dad's parents lived in the back of the store (half store, half house). Mama's parents lived behind their store in a house that was not connected but was close enough to have been.
Remember when bologna came in big sticks and they would slice it for you at whatever thickness you wanted? The heel was my favorite!
And the candy was in big glass jars on the counter? Even rock candy.
And the soft drinks were kept in a big Coke cooler outside filled with melting ice? Customers helped themselves and it would just be add to the bill or tab? Remember a Yahoo or RC on a hot day with the bottle so cold and wet it almost hurt to hold it?
I remember so clearly Grandmother in her rocking chair next to the potbelly stove in the back in the winter - she was always crocheting. And I remember clearly the other Grandmother behind the counter gossiping with customers - or as she would say - getting the news.
And the smells, sights, and sounds of each store. The only things electric were the bare light bulbs and the coolers for the meat and dairy products. Dark, worn hardwood floors. Only four or five isles but there was not an inch of space for another item. In the summer it was always cooler in the store than outside. The slam of the screen door closed by an "eeeeking" spring. No shopping carts - people only got as much as they could carry because they were usually walking. Men in overalls sitting on the cooler outside or kneeling down and talking for what seemed hours. People bought groceries on credit - the amount and date written down on a page in a spiral notebook that had the customer's family name at the top of the page - and they settled up when they got some money - no interest charged. The smell of the feed room at the back, behind the meat case. The only spices and flavorings were generally salt, pepper, pickling spice and vanilla. The denim jeans and a few men's work shirts folded on the shelf with cowboy hats on an upper shelf. The fishing lures were by the register along with the tobacco products and small bags of chips and peanuts.
Thanks Paul, I also feel quite old and quite fortunate to have these memories. 
_________________________
"I was curious. Since I'm not a cat, that's not dangerous."
- Greg House
76.22.172.94
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#49622 - 08/15/05 01:27 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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dashing
Member
Registered: 08/31/01
Posts: 6633
Loc: home
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Penny candy and nickle candy bars. We could spend a Sat. morning looking for discarded bottles then eat candy all afternoon. The soda and beer cans with the aluminum disposable tabs were good to get rid of except for those who collected and made chains w/ them. dash
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#49623 - 08/15/05 02:08 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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Paul I
Member
Registered: 02/24/00
Posts: 7913
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I mulled over my post this am and thought "what a stupid thing to bother to post" but have so enjoyed hearing these little rememberances of a vanished era for most of the US.
Anyone remember when you had to mix the orange stuff with the white stuff and mix it forever to make margarine? How about department stores with tramway/pulleys that went up to the mezzanine for paying and getting receipts? Then later, the pneumatic tubes.
_________________________
"...only the shadow knows"
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#49624 - 08/15/05 02:17 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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LASHB
Member
Registered: 05/28/03
Posts: 7213
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My mother and my grandmother made jams and jellies every summer. My mother died when I was almost 12 and my grandmother a few years later. My stepmother canned a lot, but mostly fruit and veggies. So last summer when I made my first batch of jam in almost 30 years, I was taken right back to my grandmother's kitchen. I could almost feel my mother and grandmother there with me. When I was a kid, I hated skimming the hot jam and still do! But I'm hooked for sure on making jams and jellies now. 
My mom always seemed to have an old white sheet we could have too. We'd gather up natural dyes like berries (red), onions (yellow and brown) and something for green. We'd dye little pieces of fabric different colors and then sew them together. Wonder what ever happened to them?
Used to swim out back in the swimming hole all summer long. The county fair was literally at the end of our road so we went down every day of it. Candy apples were my favorite! And Fowler's taffy. They still come to our county fair and I got some of their taffy last summer.
Wonder if I have an old white sheet somewhere? Maybe tomorrow or the next day when it's a gazillion degrees out, my boys and I might just have to do some dyeing!
Cool thread.
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#49625 - 08/15/05 02:51 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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flicka
Member
Registered: 04/06/00
Posts: 24616
Loc: SLO County, CA - 66.122.77.142
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Originally posted by Paul I:
Then later, the pneumatic tubes.
Great post!
_________________________
"A lot of things were acceptable--until we stopped accepting it." -- Al Sharpton '12
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#49626 - 08/15/05 03:38 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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dashing
Member
Registered: 08/31/01
Posts: 6633
Loc: home
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Before school pictures, Easter Sunday, etc., my Mom would send one of the 4 sis's to find an old white sheet. She'd tear it into strips then use them as hair rollers.Occasionally, one of us will still ask her to "rag" set our hair.
I also remember Navy blankets from WWII. We used them camping in the back yard. dash
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#49628 - 08/15/05 04:45 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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Paul I
Member
Registered: 02/24/00
Posts: 7913
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White sheets had a lot of lives, didn't they?
Over the clothesline for a tent, straining liquids,
tying up the tomatoes, and even fashioned into inexpensive curtains for the lesser used room. My Mom and Dad used to fold the sheets in the living room. One at each end, stretch them, snap them a few times to get out some wrinkles then fold them. My sis and I would sit underneath.
Eventually, my Mom would actually iron them! Permanent press changed a lot of lives, eh?
_________________________
"...only the shadow knows"
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#49630 - 08/15/05 05:04 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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MerryA
Member
Registered: 01/10/04
Posts: 10887
Loc: Tennessee
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Originally posted by Paul I:
Eventually, my Mom would actually iron them! Permanent press changed a lot of lives, eh?
We also used to have milk delivered twice a week - he would put it in the frig. We never locked our doors during the day so he would just come on in.
_________________________
"I was curious. Since I'm not a cat, that's not dangerous."
- Greg House
76.22.172.94
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#49631 - 08/15/05 05:06 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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Nancie
Member
Registered: 10/21/02
Posts: 3362
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"the waltons" was based on all you ppl, right? 
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#49632 - 08/15/05 06:56 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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Paul I
Member
Registered: 02/24/00
Posts: 7913
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Of course not. By the way, Goodnight LashB, goodnight Roadrunner, goodnight Merry A, goodnight dashing, good night Nancie, goodnight Sylvana,
good night sis, I mean Flicka.
_________________________
"...only the shadow knows"
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#49633 - 08/15/05 07:01 PM
Re: Just plain ole aging..
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Nancie
Member
Registered: 10/21/02
Posts: 3362
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lol
nite paul-boy
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