A Thrifty Dilema

I was raised to be thrifty. In past blogs I shared my father's habit of carefully using a letter opener, going around the entire envelope of letters he received, stacking the envelopes blank sides up, and stapling the stack. Those were our note pads for shopping lists and game score pads, and we had business envelope size and letter size options. My mother was also thrifty, never wasting leftover food or even the juice from the vegetables, and finding ways to recycle clothing into something new. My father and brother's slacks were just enough to make a straight skirt for me. I have inherited versions of their thriftiness. Because I quilt, it is very difficult for me to throw away fabric scraps. I do use those scraps in quilts, but I have enough fabric to make quilts into the next century!

When our mothers past away--now over a decade ago--they had boxes of unused greeting cards. Unlike today, when most of us go to the card rack to select a particular card for a particular recipient, a generation ago people bought boxes of cards--often an assortment for various occasions. Typically, they used all the birthday cards, with cards such as anniversary or congratulations unused. They would buy a new box of cards to get what they needed, and the unused cards would continue to accumulate. At our mothers' deaths, I inherited those accumulated cards. There is nothing wrong with them, except they do not look like todays' greeting cards. They are in like-new condition--except they look like they were new in the late 1900s. The messages are still appropriate. However, it is obvious that I did not go to town and select that particular card especially for the recipient. Here is my dilema: Is it an insult to send a card from decades ago that will be obvious to the person who receives it that it was not selected especially for them? What is a vintage classic vs. just something old? When does thrifty slip into cheap?!!!

Iron Man Artistry

Art is so large it filled the entire bay door

Why is it that sometimes the local treasures closest to home are overlooked as we travel to other places to admire their sites?  Such is true of my neglect to pause long enough to visit the Ironman Studios Metal Art Gallery fourteen miles from our home!

How many times have we gone into Macksville to pick up our mail since Brian Williamson's gallery was opened?  Several times a week at least.  How many times have we pulled in to pump gas at the station across the street from his gallery?  Countless times.

A display in his gallery

If others in our region have failed to visit Williamson's gallery as we had done until recently, I hope this blog alerts you to what you have missed.

Brian Williamson is a craftsman who respects both of the skills that he brings to two very different yet similar things.  He learned a lot about working with metal in his auto repair shop, and he still takes that craft very seriously when someone brings him a car that looks beyond repair.

The fact that his gallery is in what was once a filling station may trick you into overlooking that an artist is at work there.  Although he has landscaped the exterior beautifully and the gallery where his work is displayed offers a professional background for his artistry, cars and trucks rumble by without realizing they have passed an art studio.  

My husband and I knew what it was, but until we happened

Detail reveals the silverware utilized

to pass by when one of the bay doors of the former filling station shop was open and we saw the magnificent metal artistry of Williamson did we pull in to visit his studio.  Parked in front of the gallery was a severely damaged car that awaited the artist/auto repairman.

When I asked him if I might interview him and take some photographs for my blog, thinking he might enjoy a little publicity for his art, he graciously stopped his work, but he also admitted that he had about as much work as he could do to keep up with orders!  That is a wonderful problem for an artist to have.

Study the pictures of his artistic creations closely.  He uses old blades and silverware in his designs.  I asked if he used chemicals to bring out the colors in his metal works, and he said, "No, I use fire."

Enjoy the colors and light of the metal

He told me some of the places where he had shipped his art to other states, so he is clearly not an unknown, struggling artist.  But if you are a local, or someone who happens to be passing through Macksville, Kansas, don't be as neglectful as I was.  Stop in to see the amazing metal sculptures of Brian Williamson at 133 E. Broadway, Macksville, Kansas 67557.

As I write this blog, I cannot help but recall how Isaac Werner carefully saved materials to be used in new ways and with his own creative gifts designed, invented, and improved so many things that are described in his journal.  

Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them.

Prairie Recycling

Canning when produce is in season

Does anyone else get upset watching Fixer Upper on "Demolition Day" when Chip takes a sledge hammer to the kitchen cabinets?  Most of those cabinets are perfectly functional, if not for a modern kitchen then at least for a garage or workshop.  Sometimes they are almost like new and the only fault to be found is style.  It really bothers me to see them torn apart and thrown into the dumpster.  Surely someone would like to have them!

I confess, my shelves contain too many recycled plastic containers, and almost every scrap of fabric, unless it is too small for the tiniest quilt piece, is saved for a quilt I will probably never make.  I was raised to be thrifty by parents who went through the Depression when they were young, and being wasteful in my home was practically a crime.  Mother's best soups and stews always had not only left-over meat and vegetables but the left-over juice when all the vegetables had been eaten.  There was always a jar in the refrigerator for scraps awaiting the next soup.

Finding entertainment at home instead of going out

Consequently, I appreciate the entries in Isaac's journal about utilizing scraps and recycling and repurposing items when their original usefulness changed.

One of my favorite entries describes Isaac getting the wooden boxes in which coffee was shipped to Doc Dix's store and using them to make an incubator.  Unfortunately, he didn't describe the details--did he set the incubator on a shelf over his stove to keep the eggs warm or did he use a candle?  Did he plaster the boxes to keep them from burning or scorching?  Did he make wire shelves for the eggs?  I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I do know that neighbors brought him eggs, which he marked somehow to know to whom the chicks would belong when they hatched.  I learned not to mark hard-boiled eggs with a lead pencil because that might cause lead poisoning to leach through the shell, but would Isaac have used a pencil to identify the chicks?  I also know he took the incubator to a neighbor to turn the eggs regularly when he was busy in the field and couldn't do that.

Using Mother Nature's Bounty

Getting wood was a long trip to town and expensive for homesteaders, so anything that could be salvaged was saved.  As a bachelor, he didn't have a wife to preserve things from his garden.  When the sandhill plums and the peaches from his garden were ripe, he sometimes ate so much he gave himself a belly ache.  Watermelon was another annual treat.

Our ancestors definitely believed in "Waste Not, Want Not," and that was certainly passed to me.  I remember telling my niece when she stayed with us for a few days as a little girl that it was better to wait and save for items of quality than to impatiently buy something cheaper that would not last.  I wonder if she remembers my telling her that.  The American economy would probably suffer if all Americans followed that advice, but there might be more repair shops along our Main Streets like there once were if we followed that advice today.

One of the pleasures of reading Isaac Werner's journal is learning about his ingenuity as he builds things and repairs what he has.  I fear that is becoming a lost art.  I hope some of you share your own family's "Waste Not, Want Not" inventiveness.

Playing Dress-up

Isaac Werner wrote in his journal about dressing up for a special Farmers' Alliance Meeting, and that made me think of the changes from decade to decade in fashion rules.  As I often do in preparing these blogs, I went to the internet in search of fashion rules for both men and women.  Since this blog was inspired by Isaac's fashion sense, I'll start with my visit to RMRS/Real Men Real Style.  (I've put an asterisk beside Isaac's fashion judgement dressing up for a farmers' meeting.)

1.  Care about your appearance.*  (He occasionally shaved...)

2.  Be aware of the menswear that came before yours.

3.  Know that sometimes you'll be the best-dressed man in the room.*  (He must have known that, since he went to all of the meetings.)

4.  Realize that "rules" are there for a reason, even if they can sometimes be broken.*  

5.  A good fit should always be your first priority when purchasing new clothing.

6.  Avoid temporary trends and fluctuations of fashion.*  (It was the first time he had dressed up since arriving in Kansas ten years earlier!)

7.  Treat your clothing like an investment, and shop slowly but smart.*  (He did buy a rain slicker for making long potato-selling trips, but he didn't mention any other clothing shopping.)

8.  Make excuses to wear the good stuff, instead of letting it get dusty in the closet.*  (Or, in his case, a trunk.)

9.  Dress appropriately, whether that means dressing up or dressing down.  (Well, it was a special meeting, and he was a speaker.)

10. Expand your wardrobe with clothes that work together, not standalone pieces.

The photo at the top of the page was taken about 1950 of three cousins playing dress-up one Sunday after church, wearing their mothers' hats, purses, and shoes.  All three of us felt very grownup, assuming that when we were grown ladies we would also wear dresses, gloves and heels with a hat when we went to church.  Here is the advice I found for ladies at one website regarding current church wear.  "Women are suggested to wear a skirt that is below the knee, cardigans or nice khakis with no shoulder or back visible.  Stay away from low-cut or clingy outfits as they can be offending in such places."  No mention of gloves or hats!

Fancy Nancy series, Glasser ill., O'Connor author

I was inspired to write this blog after reading an essay by Jane O'Connor in the New York Times, announcing her retirement of the Fancy Nancy series.  The character of Nancy loves uncommon words, and she likes to dress everything up, especially with her signature accessory of a boa.  Imagine!--A book series that inspires young girls to write letters to the author like this one:  "I like Fancy Nancy and the fancy words because I'm unconventional too (that's fancy for different)."  Or, this one:  "Some days when I feel gloomy (that's fancy for sad), I read one of your books and automatically it cheers me up."  Obviously, I'm all for books that make girls want to expand their vocabularies and appreciate the significance of what they choose to wear.  Bravo to O'Connor and to illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser who won the 6th annual Children's Choice Book Awards 2013 Illustrator of the Year when more than a million kids voted for her.  Helping children to love reading and to learn to use words appropriately is worth cheering.

Am I the only one who has noticed how often I see little girls dressed adorably and appropriately when their mother has chosen jeans for the occasion?  According to many of the fashion websites I consulted, women can choose jeans for many occasions.  Apparently young daughters see those events as requiring a dress, even when their mothers prefer trendy jeans.

Women do care about fashion, based on the number of websites offering fashion advice for women and the apparent interest in what Meghan Markle is wearing!  One bit of fashion advice for women seems to make good sense to me--"Dress for the occasion"--but I struggle to decipher exactly what fashion experts regard as too elaborate or too casual.  

Worn-out or Fashionable

A couple of years ago, my husband threw a pair of my favorite jeans in with a load of wash he was doing for his jeans, and mine somehow got tangled around the ringer and were torn in several places in the process of freeing them.  Last week I found them folded on the back of a shelf, and when I unfolded them they looked fashion ready!  I had saved them to wear when I was painting and needed something I wouldn't mind ruining if they got paint on them.  Obviously, I'm out of touch with fashion trends.

Does anyone else remember coming home from school and immediately changing into 'play clothes,' which were actually former school clothes that were too faded or worn to continue wearing to school?  Recycling is not a new concept for those of us familiar with hand-me-downs and play clothes.

As a bachelor, Isaac had to mend his own clothing, and he mentioned borrowing a sewing machine from a neighbor.  He didn't indicate what he was planning to sew.  Although he never mentions darning his socks, I suspect that he did quite a bit of mending in those thrifty times.

I'm not sure how the conversation came up during an office visit with our investment advisor, but my husband mentioned that I darn his socks.  The man is considerably younger than we are, and he looked at us with a blank expression.  "Darn?" he said.  "You know, when you get a hole in the toe or heel of your sock and you need to darn it," my husband explained.  The younger man's expression didn't change.  "She mends it," my husband said, adding,  "Sometimes I've done it myself."  "Why don't you just throw those socks away and buy new ones?" he asked.  "Well, I really like those socks," was my husband's reply.

I learned to darn in my 4-H sewing class.  I was taught to use a light bulb to spread the area of the sock and then carefully weave through the worn area of the sock to build up a web of stitches to reinforce the area without making an uncomfortable lump in the sock.  Among my mother-in-law's sewing notions that I inherited was an egg-shaped stone form which I believe is a darning egg.  Notice the indentations at the larger end of the egg, presumably created by needles repeatedly being poked into the egg.  Also in the picture is a burned-out light bulb which I use for darning.  I keep both of them in the labeled tin shown in the photograph.  It's a good thing I saved that light blub, since the newer blubs lack that shape.

Times change.  Styles change.  What is considered thrifty and what is deemed wasteful change.

Certain standards should never change.  Honesty.  Integrity.  Respect.  And, books that teach children the delight of language.  And just maybe, learning how to darn a sock!