Farm Journal Cookbooks

I have mentioned this fabulous series of cookbooks before. We grew up with the older ones in our house. Some of Mother's favorite recipes were contained in these volumes. My parents had a subscription to Farm Journal magazine, and I'm sure that is where she first learned of their cookbooks. They also belonged to the Farm Bureau, and I have fond memories of the potluck meetings we attended and yummy food! When I grew up, I set out to amass my own collection of the cookbooks. This was their first in 1959:
The Freezing and Canning Cookbook, 1963:
Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook, 1965:
Let's Start To Cook, 1966 - we sisters cooked a lot out of this book!
Cooking For Company, 1968:
Homemade Candy, 1970:
And Homemade Cookies, 1971:

That is just a few of them. They continued to publish more books through the years; my collection now numbers at least twenty!
Like I said before - those farm ladies really knew how to cook!

Summer Fun - Barbecues

Just thought I would share some great vintage images of one of America's favorite summer pastimes today. First up - this vintage Durkee advertisement featuring Gene Kelly (I loved him, too, by the way!):
Outdoor cooking at it's best- with the family:
Chicken on the grill - looks good!
On the patio:

And don't forget: with your barbecue, "Have a Coke and a smile!"

Harve Presnell and Molly Brown

I was saddened to hear that Harve Presnell died on June 30th. I had no idea that he had grown up in the Modesto area, and they ran such a lovely article about him in the Modesto Bee. I have always loved the movie "The Unsinkable Molly Brown".
We (my sisters, our mother, and me) even had the distinct pleasure of going to see Debbie Reynolds and Mr. Presnell perform live in the musical in Sacramento back in 1989. We may have had "nosebleed" seats - but we were all so happy to see them in person!
I have had the songbook above for quite awhile. And I also had a watchable copy of the movie, only because I had recorded it years ago when it was on television. But I recently found a VHS at a thrift store! I was very happy.
And I didn't have a copy of the soundtrack, either - until I found this one at a thrift store, as well. I love the music, and it was written by Meredith Willson- whom you may be familiar with because he also wrote "The Music Man" - another favorite!

If you haven't ever seen The Unsinkable Molly Brown, then perhaps you might remember Harve Presnell from "Paint Your Wagon" - he played Rotten Luck Willie in that film, and he sang the most hauntingly beautiful version of They Call The Wind Maria. He had a gorgeous voice.
Mr. Presnell, you will be missed.

Baby Stuff

I got the cutest picture of our youngest grandson last month when they were here on Father's Day (above). He's adorable! So, inspired by his cuteness, I just felt like posting some sweet vintage baby stuff today. Like this baby book:
And this Rand McNally Junior Elf Book:
And a trio of great 1940's vintage baby cards. One in pink:
And one in blue:
And one more for good measure!

Sweet as can be.

What's Penny Wearing? #4

Penny wanted to model some of my aprons for you today. This is one of my favorites:
This one is my most recent find:
Pink roses!
More pink roses, this one in a lovely polished chintz:
And one more - green with more of my favorite roses:
When I told Penny I thought that was enough for today, she protested. But when I explained that I had to iron every one of them before she tried them on, I think she understood!
We'll show you just a few more utilitarian examples in another post.

Mary Engelbreit Magnetic Dolls

Between the years of 1998 and 2000, There were quite a few of these Mary Engelbreit magnetic paper dolls released. I think I managed to collect all but maybe one in the collection. It began with Ann Estelle:
And her wardrobe:
And more of her wardrobe:
And then some for her friends, too. (Shown here are outfits for Michael, Sophie and Georgia):
Here's Sophie with some of her own wardrobe:
And Audrey Ann with some of hers:
There were also dolls named Gracie and Tommy, and the doll sets came with great magnetic backgrounds to play on included in the package - this was Gracie's:
I love their little outfits and all of the little accessories and things.
I have told you before that I really never did grow up.
Nor do I intend to.

Summer Fun - In The Water

For fun in the water, perhaps you would like to keep your hair dry by donning a cute swim cap? Or not. (These were designed by Betty Geib and pictured in Life Magazine, 1959):
Or maybe the kids would like a fun blow-up toy to play with (1953)?
I found this one (which is very similar to one of those featured in the ad above) in a box up in a closet where it had been stored away for over 50 years!
Bulgy! My husband remembers playing with it when he was a little boy:
How about something else to float away on? For the kids:

Or for you? Now, this looks extremely relaxing:
But like it says in the article accompanying the photograph "A shady umbrella isn't enough; cover up.....Be careful."
I would burn in about a minute. But it still looks inviting.

John Denver

I was lucky enough to see John Denver at Lake Tahoe twice back in the 80's. I loved his music when I first heard it in high school, starting with "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and I still love it today.
I did (of course!) keep my LP's that I bought sometime back in the 70's, but a lot of my albums are packed away. I did save a couple of the postcards from the performances at Harrah's, like this one:
And I have just this one piece of sheet music:
I also ended up buying the CD version of some of the albums I had - so I could listen to them in the car, mostly:
The one on the bottom, below, "All Aboard" was my most recently purchased CD:
It was so sad when he died. I am certain he had a lot more music left inside, that we never got to hear.
At least we can still enjoy the musical legacy he left with us!
And, believe me, I DO.

Beloved Bob Hope - Stamps and Books

Bob Hope is yet another of my favorite entertainers. I was delighted when they released the postage stamps honoring him!! Aren't they great?
As I am wont to do when I am especially enamored of someone, I began many years ago collecting Bob Hope's books. He wrote quite a few! I don't have the number handy, but I think I may have finally gotten them all. I am only showing you a few examples here today:
It took some searching::
And I started looking way back before eBay:
Mostly I have the books he wrote himself:

But my search and my collection aren't limited to his own - nope, I will take any book written ABOUT him, as well.
Loved the man. Yep, him and Bing and me - we go way back.

My Favorite Framed Prints #26

These are really antique postcards rather than prints, as you can see - but I have framed them in vintage silver-painted wooden frames:

I showed you the one below in another post, but since I recently framed the top one, I wanted to showcase them today as the pretty pair they have become!

I like the way they look together.

The Ideal Painting Kit

This vintage painting kit was stored up high in a closet here in the house. It is dated 1945 , and it's pretty darned cool!
I imagine my husband and his brother played with it when they were little:
Other than the paint that is all dried up now (in the jars you can see at the bottom of the box), the only thing that appears to have been used is the little palette and some of the pictures :
It is fairly large, with the box measuring 14 by 21 inches.
"The Ideal Painting Kit", indeed!

What's Penny Wearing? #3

What Penny's wearing today is a vintage sun dress by Gunne Sax by Jessica (McClintock). I wore this outfit to at least two weddings in the late 70's and early 80's.


Coincidentally, the two weddings were each held at California State Parks - one at Columbia State Park, and the other at Empire Mine State Historic Park in Grass Valley. I am EXTREMELY upset about the prospect/probability that so many of our state parks may be closed to save money. I can't even go there. Because I can't bear the thought of NOT being able to "go there"! (Columbia will still be there, of course - but places are already closing, and it just won't be the same. It's really very sad.)