Sunday, January 29, 2023

January CupboardScape

 

Hello friends! 
Today's cupboardscape is a Winter memory.
While my mom was here for her last visit,
we reminisced about this.

My mom's mom which I call my gramma B
had a two story farmhouse.
Although she had electricity,
there was no running water or heat inside.
The upstairs did not even have any insulation.
Thus in the Summer in was very HOT.
While the Winter months it was COLD.


When we would spend any Winter evening,
my sister and I would get into our pj's downstairs.
We wore footed pj's until we outgrew them.
Then we would wear our slippers to bed.

Before going to bed, my mom would take
a soapstone by the handle and place it on the wood stove.
(gray soapstone similar to the one above)
Once it was hot enough, she would grab
a heavy towel, grab the soapstone from the stove.
Then she walked upstairs and placed it in between
the feather bed and sheets in our bed upstairs.
Mom always came back down and waited a bit.
Then she would bring the soapstone back down,
and we quickly ran upstairs and jumped into a warm bed.


We never got out of bed until morning.
However by morning our noses were cold.
We really did not want to get out of bed...
but we did.
When I say there was no insulation, 
I meant just that.
You could see all of the wood joints in the walls.
There was no drywall on the walls or ceiling.
Just a wood floor. 
Very primitive indeed.


This was life in our gramma B's farmhouse.
My gramma made all of her feather beds
with feathers from her geese and ducks.
We also had feather pillows.


I added in the black sad irons because these are
also what my gramma B used.
She would also need to put these on the stove
to heat up before ironing.

The big blue tick fabric hanging is an actual
casing for a twin feather bed.
The person I bought this from thought it would
sell faster if she removed all of the feathers from it.
I wish she had not done that.

You can also see other blue tick patterns in some 
of the pillows I have.

In other news.
Today is my sister's 60 birthday.
I will call her in a bit and tell her she s an old lady now. LOL

We are also in store for either another 5 inches,
or a wintry mix this morning.
I just hope we have customers.
Well if not, I will be working on finishing up
my hooked eggs.

Then if I have time,
will work on a poodle skirt ornament.
This will be part of one of my vintage trees.
Am going to have a 1950's themed one.
My mom helped with this.
Am getting excited for this theme!

What's on tap for the remainder of your weekend?

Winter Memory Blessings To All!
Janice








11 comments:

  1. I remember my grandfather's feather mattress as well. When my brother and I stayed overnight we loved getting in bed and the feathers would encompass. We also had blankets and quilt on top.
    We didn't get out of bed all night either and would wake up to the smell of bacon or sausage cooking on his wood stove. So we'd quickly get out of bed, run downstairs and get between the stove and back wall to warm up.

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  2. Feather mattresses must have been a luxury back then as a lot of folks had straw mattresses. When I was young, our house had no insulation upstairs, and like you said, it was cold in winter and hot in the summer and single glazed windows but we had regular mattresses. The only heat upstairs was from the stove pipe going through the floor and the roof. People were tough back then.
    Have a happy week, hugs.
    Julia




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  3. First of all I apologize to you - I thought I was following you already - just saw I wasn't.
    I was looking to see where you were from and how old you were. It was like Little House on the Prairie!
    I just loved this story of your childhood memories. Loved it.
    sandie

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  4. oh my I have ticking envy! I love your story as well! I still sometimes sleep with slippers on - must be a WI MI thing?

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  5. Hi, oh my, I love you taking us down memory lane.
    Happy Birthday to your sister. :-)
    Did you get much for snow?
    Love, Carla

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  6. Yes a great trip back to yesteryear. I was told that neither set of my grandparents had electricity nor indoor plumbing. My mother would tell me about rolling a wagon to go buy a chunk of ice, and about grandma washing clothes on a rub board. I actually still have one of the old cast iron black irons that I use as a doorstop. ' Love the ticking also.

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  7. Oh I love the stories of your grandmother's farmhouse...I know, I live in a dream world sometimes thinking I was born in the wrong time, but I bet I'd be grumbling...oh how cold and hot it must have been. I'd have to look at some of my older family photos...I wonder if it was proper to wear short sleeves "back then?" You have the makings of a great book...all those sweet memories!

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  8. I love this story of the soapstone and how you celebrated these memories in your display, which is charming. (It also reminded me that I often microwave my beanbags and put them in bed by my feet, even now!)

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  9. Hi Janice. Good memories!! My grandparents home, when I was small, was just a two room little shack, there was electricity but the wringer washing machine was out side in the front yard and they cooked and heated on a wood stove. I never felt cold sleeping there because of the load of quilts on the bed with the addition of a hot water bottle at our feet. I love your story about the soap stone..Happy Tuesday..xxoJudy

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  10. There was no heat in the bedrooms where I grew up, but there were double board walls. My hubby's bedroom was an attic room very much like the one you describe. We all had army surplus wool blankets which were so warm, but scratchy. Good memories!

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  11. Happy belated birthday wishes to your sister. Your memories jogged me back in time to how I grew up. The house we lived in until I was 3 had no indoor water or heat either, but did have electricity. When we moved to the family farm, we still had no central heating - just a wood stove in the living room and an electric stove in the dining area...and the upstairs was just like your grandmum's. I remember those mornings when my nose was so cold I was certain it had frozen in the night. Nice collection of ticking. ~Robin~

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