April’s thirty days
Filled with uncertainty
Are history
Senryu
Goodbye April 2020. You can claim you were the first full month of the pandemic.
Tag: history
The Summer of ‘48
In my
Grandpa’s kitchen
A Sarsaparilla
As my reward, I sit kneading
Oleo
Cinquain
I was 4 years old, and it was my delight to have grandpa ask me if I wanted to come inside his old country kitchen and knead his package of margarine for him.
As a treat, he would reward me with a bottle of sarsaparilla from his refrigerator.
During World War II there was a shortage of butter in the United States, and oleomargarine (later called Oleo) became popular, except the dairy farmers banned the artificial colorings put in it that made it look like butter, therefore it was not yellow looking like butter, it had a whitish un-appetizing look kind of like lard. So to get around that law and enable a change to its looks, to make it more marketable, margarine makers created a capsule of yellow dye and placed it inside inside the plastic package of margarine.
After purchasing, the consumer could break the capsule that was inside the package, and then knead the package to distribute the dye, thus turning the margarine to a yellow color.
Around 1955, the artificial coloring laws were repealed, and margarine could once again be sold colored like butter.
That is when Oleo became very popular and was banned in many dairy states across the US.
I grew up in Lake County,
Illinois, just one mile from the Illinois-Wisconsin state border.
In Illinois Oleo was legal, in the dairy state of Wisconsin, it was not legal.
During the early 60’s there was a lot of illegal Oleo buying going on across state lines. People would come from Wisconsin into Illinois to buy cases of Oleo.
Many of the Truck Stops and gas stations along the border would sell Oleo and thus “Oleo Wars” took place as businesses would compete with each other to have the lowest prices.
NaPoWriMo-Facebook Page–Day 6–Prompt: Grandparent’s Kitchen
Margarine–
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine
Sarsaparilla Soft Drink–
“The Age of Innocence”
Oh that we could grasp
An inkling of the nescience
Known as the Guilded Age
Long vanished naivety
In a time long ago
Tanka
Reading the book/ watching the DVD of “The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton set in the 1870’s.
I first heard of “The Age of Innocence” from my neighbor who used to be involved in English Country Dancing and period costume making.
I had been considering attending a Literary Ball in the area and inquired of my neighbor if she might have a costume I could wear, as I was thinking I might go as Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind or Lisbeth from Pride and Prejudice, my two most favorite literary characters, but my neighbor said the only costumes she presently had on hand were from “The Age of Innocence.”
So she helped me try on “Ellen’s Red Evening Gown” she had made. It was then I realized why women needed maids to help them dress!
After trying to get into 5 layers of clothing, plus a bustle, and adding two top pieces and a hat, I declined! There is no way I could survive that much clothing outside on a summer day in July, much less try to dance in it!!
I have a newfound appreciation for the ladies who lived in the 1870’s!
Palimpsest
Has it been so long
That we have forgotten
The New Year challenge?
80 days have quietly passed,
What’s your new year story say?
Tanka
Dictionary.com Word Of The Day
Palimpsest
noun
1. a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.
Quotes
All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.
— George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four,
Presidental Proverb
“Speak softly”
Said Roosevelt
“And carry a big stick”
Passive-Agressive acumen
Old adage
Cinquain
On my walk today I met a gentleman who, in actuality, was walking with a big stick.
As we passed by one another and nodded a greeting, I spoke the quote to him and he smiled. “ Teddy Roosevelt” he said.
“ Oh, I thought it was Snoopy!” I said laughing.
When I got home a Google search proved the stick walker was right!
Guess I got my history lesson for the day!
Plus, a poem inspiration. 😊
A Point of View
Memorialized
For years of dedication
Oversees the sea
Senryu
Andersons View Point in Tillamok County Oregon is a beautiful scenic roadside stop that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. This place memorializes Billy Anderson who was a dedicated surveyor for Tillamok County for many years. His surveyor’s transit tripod still stands on the banks overlooking the sea.
It is a great roadside stop with fantastic views of the ocean.
Roadside America Memorial to a Surveyor
History of Tillamok County Surveyor Dept
Evolution of Writing
A human Finger writes in the sand,
Words a heart needs to say.
And a dry Bone held in a hand,
Draws word pictures in moist clay.
A Reed blowing in a Egypt’s land,
Is used to scribe events of the day.
And Romans, in their culture so grand,
Invent the Stylus, so they say.
Anglo-Saxons cleverly planned,
To write books using a Quill as a way.
Then upon the world’s Grand-Stand,
The lead Pencil’s design is put on display,
Yet, Pencil writing was undermanned,
So ink Pens were created in various array.
But, for all those invented, both great and bland,
The Finger is still used to text and sign today.
Rhyme
History
A journey
Of everyday
Victories
Tragedies
Life moments that are faced
Recorded for others
Shadorma
Culture Collision
Gilkey Covered Bridge–built in 1939–Crosses Thomas Creek near Scio, Oregon
A railroad bridge is right next to it, that used to be covered also until 1960.
Sweet Treat–National Doughnut Day
Leonas Lines--Poetry Plus 