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Wednesday, May 5, 2021

hOnEySuCkLe tHyMe

Showing my age again, and my roots way back when blogging was new! It was common on "prim and rustic" blogs to use the mixed capitalization. For some reason, it reminds me of when "knee warmers" and "cummerbunds" were popular, but that was in the 1970s.

Anyone remember that, the knee warmers? Ringing any bells among the belles who read my little bloggie? I had a little pair of red acrylic knee warmers, of knitted fine-guage acrylic, but still; scritchy-scratchy acrylic yarn of the day. And I had a red cummerbund that matched, but of a fine-guage material. Oh, I was so thin. But the advantage was I could wear anything. I was so thin that people felt I had an eating disorder, as I did. Eating disorders were just getting known then, in the 1970s. But I looked well in clothes and I bought the "display" clothing from fine stores in size 3, and took them up. The display clothes were sold for a song at the end of the season, as were the shoes. I had tiny feet, size 5 narrow, the usual display size.

My mind is off and running now! White sales! The White Sales -- we would wait for them and then get our linens. And the department stores had whole floors of china and stoneware and flatware, and so many pretty silver things. The peasant in me chose a Mikasa stoneware design for my first wedding: Strawberry Festival. Funny, I don't have a single piece left and I loved that pattern so much. Strawberries have always made me smile. And my flatware pattern was Oneida American Colonial. Gosh, haven't thought of that in years. 

In New Orleans, we had a beloved department store, D.H. Holmes. Its colors were a light cream and dark chocolate brown. The bags, the boxes, the giftwrap, the name tags were all that color combination. I loved those stores, especially the big store on Canal Street. At the very top floor, there were hats and wigs and the offices. We would take the escalators up and up and up. It always made my heart race a little bit to step on the escalator and start rising. One of my aunts was a "window dresser" for a local department store in a smaller city. She had such style, and store windows in those days were glorious things. 

If I have been slow to comment on your blog, I apologize. I have been very tired and I am also racing back and forth from work taking care of my husband, who has had some procedures done. He's pretty independent in general, but anything out of the ordinary hits him hard, making him more oppositional and not do the things he needs to do to heal and stay healthy. And yesterday I drove a teacher from school to the ER and stayed with her for hours, as I could tell with one look that she had cellulitis starting on her leg, and indeed it was so. She is deeply hypochondriac, but sometimes she does get sick for real. But it all makes for long days and I have little energy, sometimes just falling asleep with my head on the desk where the computer is. 

But I did go see if I could get a cutting from a wild Queen's Wreath vine and a Silver Lace vine. [Success! And I saw a pretty old-fashioned fence it was growing up!] And then I stopped by the church to light some candles.

If you have read this far, you are probably saying, "Cough up the honeysuckle! Where is it?" This honeysuckle vine surprised me! It is growing all mixed in with the wisteria vines at church! Right now it is smothered in blossoms and I did allow myself to stand there and pull off about a dozen blossoms, pinching the end off and pulling the stamen through, carrying that tiny drop of nectar that we dab on our tongues. 

honeysuckle blossoms in cracker barrel syrup bottle


Then of course, just as if I were ten again, I have to suck the open end and get the rest of the nectar out. I can think of so many "wild foods" we ate as children! Gosh, the list is just forever. Pepper plant, honeysuckle, wild onions, wild garlic, grapes, figs, plums, loquats, maypops, rabbit grass, elderberries, blackberries, huckleberries (which I disliked), digging sassafrass roots, climbing to get at pawpaws and persimmons. I know I'm forgetting a lot. 

silver lace vine in las cruces


May the rest of your week be "just as you like it." See you around the blogs!

old fasioned fence child and pail


Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

11 comments :

  1. Wow, so many memories here, and I loved every minute of it, except for the poor lady with the cellulitis. I hope she is getting good care. How wonderful of you to stick with her...but how do you have the time for all of this, and I assume you are still working as well? Amazing lady! I loved the descriptions of the department stores/windows/escalator, etc. Brings back memories of yesteryear. And honeysuckle! Oh, I am missing it here at this house. Where we lived before this we had it and Confederate Jasmine and wisteria vines all over our privacy fence and I loved it so much! I may have to go find some and pull some out to get some starters to grow on my fence here. And oh my! You were a tiny little thing! I can't imagine a size 3 except when I was 3 years old. LOL. Knee warmers? Did they go down all the way to your ankle? I had some when we lived in Ohio and I worked at a school and had to stand outside for recess duty every day, so I would put those on over my stockings under my dress and big coat and scarf and mittens, etc., and I still caught pneumonia! LOL. A florida girl living in Ohio in the winter took some getting used to! LOL. I enjoyed your post today. Thank you and have a blessed day. I am still running behind...no post yet today, but maybe later.

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  2. I do not remember women wearing cummerbunds ore knee warmers. I do remember leg warmers that went the whole length of your leg. We ate mostly berries and wild pears always good. You have a lot on your plate no wonder you are tired.
    Cathy

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  3. I love the photo of the honeysuckle, love the fonts of the title, love the bottle the honeysuckle is in. have never even seen knee warmers, or a cummerbund except on the movie stars on TV in their Tux. raised in the deep and oh so hot south, it is no surprise about the knee warmers.

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  4. I've been in blogland a long time, and I remember when people used that mixed capitalization. Some still do.

    I'm obviously not from the 70s and have never heard of knee warmers, although I have heard of cummerbunds, but not for women.

    I am 4'11" tall, so I used to buy young girls Size 14 clothes. Adult even size 3 was too big for me because the waist never fit right. I can relate to size 5 shoes, though. I don't think people realize when you gain weight, even your shoe size changes.

    Thanks for this look back and for a photo of the honeysuckle.

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  5. I don't think we had cummerbunds over here in the U.S., but we did have leg warmers. The honeysuckle part of your post reminded me of my childhood in Texas. We had honeysuckle bush near our house and we did the same thing; drinking the drop of nectar. I remember stealing (gasp) rhubarb from a neighbor's garden (reaching through the fence) and munching it raw! Yuck! Good memories! :)

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  6. Your blog is a delight. My husband was from New Orleans and loved to cook, so you know I was eating wonderful things while he was alive. It sounds like you have been very busy, and you write so well about it all.

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  7. I enjoyed your reminiscences a lot. I only remember eating the flowers of the Nasturtiums. They tasted spicy.
    It was so kind of you to drive your co-worker to the ER and stay with her. Cellulitis can be very serious I've heard. I hope she'll be okay.
    I've always been a little leery of escalators. I'm afraid my shoe will get caught somehow ( but then I tend to worry about strange things happening).

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  8. Such a nostalgic post. Sometimes it feels good to sit and remember things that are comforting. You need some serious rest. Hope your husband is better soon.

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  9. I certainly remember D.H. Holmes and meeting under the clock and having lunch in their restaurant with my mother. The smell of honeysuckle takes me back to my childhood yard.

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  10. Remember when papers would publish when things were on sale. Whites in February, and I don't remember most of the rest. Cars at year's end. Now everything is on sale every day.

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  11. We had a nice 3 story department store in the town I grew up in. All wooden floors. It was nice in there. Remined me of Selfridge's in London England. Oh the good ole days. Hope you hubby is on the mend. Janice

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