Fearless Females: Favorite Recipe

 

(I started this blogging prompt late in the month so will try to catch up!)
Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist has listed blogging prompts for each day of March to celebrate Women’s History Month. The blog prompt for March 7: “Share a favorite recipe from your mother or grandmother’s kitchen. Why is this dish your favorite? If you don’t have one that’s been passed down, describe a favorite holiday or other meal you shared with your family.”

There aren’t that many “real” recipes that came from my mom. Most of her cooking was “little of this, little of that” because she “never measured.” In order for me to duplicate her spaghetti sauce, I had to stand next to her and write everything down as she made it. Since I didn’t have exact measurements of spices, I had to guess. I also added my own spin on it. My favorite pie was Mom’s butterscotch pie! Yum! So after I was grown and was cooking for my own family, I asked her for the recipe. Imagine my surprise when I found out it came from the red and white Better Homes and Gardens cookbook!

My mother-in-law used to send me recipes or write them down for me so I have many of those: cinnamon rolls, homemade biscuits, deletable desserts, beef jerky, salads, and other wonderful dishes. My sister has fixed some scrumptious lunches when I have gone to visit her, and I’m always asking her for the recipe. I hope I can pass down some of the recipes that I have either created, found, or “tweaked” to my four kids.

(Public domain picture of Cookbook cover from Wikimedia Commons)

 

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Fearless Females: Heirlooms

(I started this blogging prompt late in the month so will try to catch up!)
Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist has listed blogging prompts for each day of March to celebrate Women’s History Month. The blog prompt for March 6:” Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)”

My most treasured heirlooms include some jewelry I received after both my mom and grandmother passed away. I have my grandparents’ wedding bands and her engagement ring that I wear on my right hand. After my grandmother passed away, I received one of her small Hummel’s. I have a china set that I received after my mom passed away. While my sister and I were cleaning out my mom’s home, I found some heirloom recipes with all the other cookbooks. One was from my great-grandmother, Martha Clawson. I also have photos and books that belonged to my grandparents.

The photo above is a small dish that came to me from my grandparents. Obviously it is something they picked up when they lived in Germany.

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The Box

Back in May when my sister and I were going through our Mom’s things, I found the box (above) in an old footlocker.  There isn’t a footlocker, crate, or box that can keep me out when I think there might be a treasure inside.  So I opened the box.

Inside there was something wrapped in tissue paper.  And I glimpsed something pink as well.  Obviously it was something very fragile or old that needed to be kept insulated somehow.  So then I unwrapped the treasure.

It was a very small bonnet.  I exclaimed to those who were around me that I bet it had been Mom’s baby sister’s.  Would there be more clues beneath the tissue paper in the bottom of the box?

 

Yes!  A calendar!  And not just any calendar.  It was from 1927.  The year my grandparents’ youngest daughter, Lois Evelyn, was born – and died.

As I carefully perused the calendar, I saw my grandmother’s handwritten notes on different dates.  What unfolded was truly heartbreaking.

To Be Continued in The Calendar

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The Christening Gown

One of the items that I treasure is the Christening Gown my great-grandmother Katie J. (Blazer) Johnson hand made.  I first saw this gown when I was in high school and needed something that had been passed down through the family for an oral report.  Mom dug it out of the storage trunk and handed me the box.  Inside was this off-white gown and some pictures.  In the old photos were babies wearing this gown: my grandfather – Glen R. Johnson; his son – Glen R. Johnson, Jr.; my aunt – Genevieve; and my mother.  I’m not really sure they were all actually baptized or “christened” in this gown as I have other documents and oral histories about each one being baptized as an older child.

The gown is actually in 2 parts.  The slip which is plain gets put on the baby first and then the “dress” goes over that.  It has hand tatted lace and exquisite handiwork.  There are been some rust stains scattered here and there and Mom actually soaked the dress is carbonated water to remove most of them (old laundry hint!).

The dress remained at my mother’s and when it was time for my nephew’s first child to be baptized, the gown came out of storage and used.  When my first born grandson was to be baptized at six weeks, my mother shipped the box from Ohio to Texas to me.  Then my youngest grandson also wore the gown at 2 months when he was baptized.  The Christening Gown has been worn by 3 out of five generations (I don’t believe any of us – children of my mom, aunt or uncle or our children – have worn the gown).  It truly is a treasure that I will keep for future babies to use.

(Picture is of my youngest grandson wearing the gown at his baptism in October 2006.)

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