Cabin Journal: Homemaking
I grew up in the 50s and 60s. In junior and high school, classes in sewing, cooking and homemaking were "electives" girls had to take.
When I was working, homemaking was farther from my mind than algebra. I did the minimum possible and Wayne shared in the duties. Now I enjoy homemaking, especially up at the float cabin. You'll find me sewing, cooking, baking, canning, gardening and even housework.
June 27, 2019
With cooler weather we had a fire in the woodstove and I turned on our battery powered inside decorative lights. It's the first time since we've been home that it was dark enough to enjoy them. Unless we stay up past 10:00, there's plenty of sunlight to keep the cabin bright. I used the indoor time to do some hand sewing. I patched a cloth grocery bag and covered new holes and thin spots in my work sweat pants. I had them before I met Wayne, so they must be pushing 40 years old. Wow!
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| I call my sweatpants Patches for obvious reasons. |
Click here to read "The Story of Patches".
July 2, 2019
We are running low on fresh food. Yesterday was the last doughnut and the bread ran out on Saturday when I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our breakfast while driving the barge to the Shinglemill. I had a banana and a half going brown, so I looked up a recipe online for banana bread. I was short some mashed banana so I settled on a recipe or pineapple banana bread. I didn't have any crushed pineapple, but I did have some tidbits left over in the fridge from our fruit bowls. I diced them finer and had everything needed to make a late breakfast with fruit, a hard boiled egg for Wayne and yogurt for me. Yum! Plus we have extra for dessert or breakfast tomorrow.
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| Cooking and baking are now fun. |
Click here for the recipe and directions to make Pineapple Banana Bread with Pecans.
Did you take homemaking classes in school? Or were you a lucky guy who got shop? Educational offerings have changed a lot over the years. More classes are co-ed, but unfortunately many of the home arts and shop classes have been eliminated. -- Margy
Labels:
Cooking,
Float Cabin Journal,
Float Cabin Living
Posts
I did home ec. Not well, mind you!
ReplyDeleteMy best memory of cooking class was making a batch of cookies while the teacher went to a meeting and left us "good girls" alone for a whole period. A food fight ended up with dough stuck on the ceiling and hoping she couldn't see it or smell the baked cookie smell when she returned. - Margy
DeleteI did home ec. and recall learning to make creamed tuna on toast and baked Alaska! Such useful recipes. Had to make a dress once and remember wishing the earth would open and swallow me before I got done! A fun post!!
ReplyDeleteMy parents were teachers and my junior high school teachers knew them. The first day of sewing during roll call the teacher said,"I remember when you were a baby" complete with the arm rocking motion. That was when I wished the earth would open and swallow me.
DeleteMy mother was old school. We kids had to do our share of housework by the time we entered first grade. Then, when I was 11 (and until I was 15) I took over all the indoor housekeeping when Mom went into hospital. Then at 16, we moved to the US, and I had to take home ec. They tried to teach me to make mashed potatoes and boiled eggs and to run an automatic washing machine. (I had been using a wringer washer for 5 years.)
ReplyDeleteI did make myself a dress in the sewing segment, so that was useful. I made most of my kids clothes later.
That must have been quite the culture shock moving from the BC coast to the States. I remember gramma's wringer machine and the liquid bluing she added to the whites. My grandparents were farmers and kept to most of the old ways even when there were newer options. - Margy
DeleteOh my gosh, yes I remember Home Ec (and the teacher, whose name was Mrs Holmes, something I found hilarious back then.) Bill actually taught shop, but fortunately for the lucky kids a generation younger than us, girls were encouraged (required) to try it and boys had to do home ec ... at least for part of the year. But later, I think home ec bit the dust before shop did ...both expensive programs and most school budgets sadly no longer cover learning real-life skills.
ReplyDeleteMany of the wood and metal shops became technology workshops when I was a school administrator. And our auto shop became a childcare facility for high school girls with babies and toddlers. Leaving the city for a small town I've learned how important those shop skills can be. At least here they are an important part of the curriculum still. We need people with trade skills as well as doctors, teachers, etc. - Margy
DeleteFun post today. I had to smile at the patches on the sweatpants, I have pyjamas that I can't part with and they are in a similar condition, and the newer ones just stay in the closet! Happy PPF, hugs, Valerie
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear I'm not the only one. - Margy
DeleteIt's funny how some things we learned in our youth and didn't care for, make a lot more sense as we get older. I love the charming illustrations in your journal. Thanks for visiting my blog and Happy PPF!
ReplyDeleteI loved school all the way through graduate school, but you are right, some things didn't seen as important until it came time to put them into action. - Margy
DeleteI love how you document everything in your float cabin journal, so tidy with words and design. So true about not being drawn to home making when we are young but I have to confess I can not get enough of it now.. Happy PPF Tracey.
ReplyDeleteBefore we got the cabin I would write journals for vacations, but now they feel more important. I want to have them to remind me of the good times when age makes living here no longer possible. - Margy
DeleteOh I love your Patches sweatpants ~ what a creative and wonderful idea ~ and your journal pages are delightful ~ simple pleasures are the best when we choose them ~
ReplyDeleteHappy Day to You,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Thanks so much. Just wore Patches today to cut firewood for the coming winter. She gets lots of opportunities to work here up the lake. - Margy
DeleteLuv where your art takes you. Lovely journal pages.
ReplyDeleteHappy you dropped by my blog
Much❤🖼❤love
My art tends to be practical. Journal arts works for me. - Margy
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. We did have Home Ec when I was in high school in the 80s. I remember learning to sew mostly and made some fairly cool things in that class. I teach at a high school now. While we don't have sewing classes, they do have a Culinary Arts class that the kids love! They bake many types of foods and even have things like Cupcake Wars and Food Truck Wars! There's also wood tech classes and the kids make some really cool things there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your journal pages, I enjoyed them as well as your illustrations. Absolutely lovely post! Patches sounds like one comfy pair of pants.
I'm glad to hear your high school has some practical classes for students. Even in the 90s the ones at the high school in the district where I worked were gone. - Margy
DeleteSame here! I was not much of a domestic minded girl, but now I like puttering around the kitchen. I mostly love to bake. Love your list of baked goods and the sketchbook page. Your cooler weather made me a bit jealous today as we are facing very hot weather. I would love to wear those comfy and colourful sweatpants.
ReplyDelete-Soma