Dean Martin - Christmas Blues

Christmas with Dean Martin. You can't go wrong!

ALERT!

Please Help Me Find These Lyrics!

I'm looking for the words to a childrens song or poem that my Grandfather used to sing to my Mother and then later, to me. I'm hoping someone can help...I will post the words I know and if you've heard it before or know of it, I would LOVE to hear from you...
please remember that these words could be totally mixed up but I'm posting them as my memory permits..


Pa, he got him a great big Billy Goat,
Ma, She washed most every day,
She Hung the wash out on the line
and the gosh darn goat he came
that way!

Now I know darn well there have to be more verses to the song. My mother can't remember them either.

If Only I'd Known!

Christmas at Grandmas House

 True Story c0ver January 1954-Cover Girl: Myrna Hansen, Miss True Story of 1954. Miss Hansen is wearing
DuBarry's new Flatter-Glo make-up----the shade; Champagne Beige. Her lipstick is DuBarry's Rose Geranium. Photo by Ozzy Sweet.

Ahhh, beauty. Why have women stopped looking like this? We've exchanged beautiful, smooth stockinged legs for tramp stamps and visible thongs. YUCKY! My grandmother never went anywhere in public without her coral lipstick and matching pantsuit. She had her hair "Set" at the salon at least four times a month. A "Set" consisted of a shampoo, a roller set, a sit under the dryer, a comb out and a style. She had a wonderful

collection of make up and beauty products that went back to the 40's, maybe even further, that I spent hours examining and experimenting with as a girl. She had the greatest collection of shoes that I clicked around the house in (isn't that every little girls dream, big girl shoes that make real, big girl noise?) and that I mixed and matched with her many purses, hats, bead strands, etc. I really wish that I could wiggle my nose and I could go back to my grandmas bathroom beauty cupboard
before she decided to clean it all out...just for a while!




Bermuda for CHRISTMAS! I would love to go to Bermuda for christmas...all expenses paid of course. Especially if I could ride in one of those long-range "Pressurized"planes. Well I sure as heck hope the damned things are "Pressurized" or we'd be in one heck of a Christmas Pickle now, wouldn't we?
BOAC inaugurated the world's first commercial jet service on May 2, 1952 with the "Comet".

Vintage Sleep and other stuff

I seriously enjoy hanging out at Square America. I can spend the whole evening just indulging in  the sweet vintage/vernacular photos that are so marvelously set to the creative beat in Nicholas Osborns mind. I LOVE this place! If you havent checked it out yet, I'm horribly ashamed of you. It's been around awhile now but I swear, every single time I visit feels like the first time. The above photo is part of a selection of photos that depict people in various stages of sleep.

John Garfield...One handome dude!

Wow! John Garfield was one darn good looking actor. I can guarantee that I would have tried really hard to dig up two bits for a Garfield movie back then.  Where have all the good looking men gone? OH, I know, I know, they're still out there but it seems like men these days are missing something. I know that's only an opinion but I've run into a whole heck of a lot of women that feel exactly the same way.




Now, back to Mr. Garfield! This guy struggled.  He fought his way straight up out of the squalor and wrechedness of New York Citys Lower East Side during the great Depression. New York City was one of the hardest hit areas of the country during this time. The grief Mr. Garfield faced in the early part of his life was more than any child should have to bear, but bear it he did. A detailed biography of John Garfields life can be found HERE. A great site for true Garfield lovers.

I must say that John Garfield is one of my very favorite actors. I love his movies and will force my eyes to stay open and watch the entire picture if it happens to be showing at 2 a.m. So what if I look hungover the next day.I quit drinking ten years ago, so it's the good kind of hangover, I deserve it!  Look at those eyes! Look at that brooding face! What woman wouldn't want to fall straight into those manly arms and have him carry her through the crashing waves like he did to Cora (Lana Turner) in "The Postman Always Rings Twice"?







Mr. Garfield gave us 32 movies to choose from today...I think. I'm not absolutely sure of that one so if anyone out there knows differently, please enlighten me. I don't like being wrong, it's a terrible aspect of my personality.

32 movies just isn't enough. It's not fair. There should have been a whole heap-load more but alas, there wasn't. There isn't. There never will be because Mr. Garfield was horribly screwed by our government when the House UnAmerican Activities Committee or HUAC for short, went on their shameful witch hunt and finally, inevitably, zeroed in on him.  John was one of hundreds of people who were ruined by blacklisting. John suffered from a heart condition which he had been stricken with in childhood. The severe strain of the HUAC trials and the ensuing blacklisting is thought to have literally broken John; mentally as well as physically. In the final part of his life he struggled as well. John spent all of his time trying to find proof; proof of his love for America and proof that he had never in any way hurt the country that he truly loved. The devastation that he felt finally killed him. At the very young age of 39 on May 21st 1952, John succumbed to a heartattack.

Favorite Childhood Poems and Shirley Temple!

When I think of Curly tops from days gone by, I can't help but think of the sweet, cherubic face of Shirley Temple. What little girl didn't want those wonderful curls bouncing down around her ears at one time...at least during what I call the 'Princess Years', between the ages of 5 and 6 and a half. A short window to be sure. I have a great pic of myself around that very age getting all dolled up for my very first day of Kindergarden, my hair all set in pin curls. I asked my mother to scan the photo for me so I can post it here.

There was a little girl  
who had a little curl
right in the middle of
her forehead,
and when she was good
she was very, very good
and when she was bad,
she was horrid.

Dear GOD, look at those DENTURES!

I have to admit as one of nearly 40 million denture wearers in the USA, I was somewhat taken aback by this photo! The HORROR!
Can you imagine this terrible contraption in your mouth? Honestly. I can't get it out of my mind that I've seen those teeth somewhere before...hmmmm. Wait a minute! Here they are!





I began to wonder about the history of dentistry and have learned many a thing since then...mainly that I'm grateful that it's the year 2009, when it comes to teeth anyway.

I've also learned these things;


a) your barber was also your dentist in the 1800's. Not always, sometimes
he was your GODFORSAKEN BLACKSMITH!!!!!!





b) Going to the Dentist/Barber/Blacksmith hurt sump'n fierce!
sump'n reeeaaaaallllll fierce!!





c) I thought my grandma's dentures were old!
dentures found fitted snugly in the 200 year
old corpse of an Archbishop! Arthur Richard Dillon
of Narbonne, France who died in 1806. WOW!

The Best Damned Glorified Rice Recipe you will ever taste! (Moms Cherry Pink Cloud)

I was specifically searching for a perfect vintage add
for Maraschino Cherries. I've looked high and low and have had no luck whatsoever. I've decided to post some other great old cherry stuff instead but I'm really, really searching for a true Maraschino cherry advertisement. Anyone out there have one? Let me know, I'd sure love to share it here.

Why Cherries?
I have just made one of my favorite treats, full of pineapple and yummy maraschino cherries! A delicious recipe that my mother made when I was a kid in the 70's and 80's. I'm guessing it originated from one of the wonderful cookbook recipes that find there way here, but then just about everything I ate as a kid came from one of those swell cookbooks. I collect them now. The recipe I made is one my Mom calls "Glorified Rice", it consists of cool whip, pineapple, marachino cherries and cold rice. When I was a kid mom used minute rice, regular cool whip, whole marachino cherries and that was that..sometimes she used a can of fruit cocktail. I have changed the recipe around a bit and renamed it "Moms Ultra Heavenly Cherry Pink Cloud". It is Soooo yummy that I lie awake thinking about it when I know it's in the fridge.  It consists of these simple, yet memory inducing ingredients:



Moms Ultra Heavenly Cherry Pink Cloud Recipe


3 cups cold cooked Arborio rice*
(Arborio is a must as other rices seem to harden in this particular recipe after more than a day in the fridge. The taste and consistency is perfect with arborio)

2 tubs of extra creamy style cool whip

1 can crushed and drained pineapple


10 or more finely chopped maraschino cherries
(to taste)

1/4 cup of the maraschino cherry syrup

1/2 cup granulated sugar



cook and cool your rice. put it in a large mixing bowl and

add the remaining ingredients above. Mix well and

refrigerate for an hour or so. The colder it is, the better.

The maraschino cherries and the maraschino

syrup give it a wonderful pink glow.  I have used up to a half cup of the syrup. It's really a personal taste thing.

I think it's perfect to round out a summer meal or just to

munch on any time. My husband absolutely loves it and is always asking for 'That cloud stuff!'

My kids love it too. The stuff keeps well covered for up to 5 days in a nice cold fridge. It never lasts that long here.