TEENAGE MEMORIES

Well, we lived at 61 Maywood St. from 1941 until 1947. My ages at that time were from 11

to 17 .

A lot went on during those six years... a war started, then thankfully, ended. I grew from a little girl to a teenager, nearly an adult . My brother, Paul, was still a kid when we moved from Roxbury to the South End. He was 14 at the time.

But there are still some things I haven't mentioned that happened during those years on Maywood St.

When Fay and I were in high-school typing, which also taught us the Gregg Method of Shorthand, she and I decided one day to play hooky. It was wintertime, and we got our coats and boots from our lockers, and snuck out when the opportunity presented itself.

We thought we were so clever, running part-way down the street to one of the houses that had a small front porch, out of the weather. We put on our coats and boots there, and went on our way. Can't remember where we went, though...maybe to her house, because her folks wouldn't be at home. Mamma would have been at our house, so we didn't dare show our faces there !

Anyway, the next day, in typing class, the teacher took us aside, and informed us that she had seen us leave, and, of course, as we didn't go back to class, she knew what we had done. We were mortified at having been discovered, but that lady was really cool about it ! She told us that she wasn't going to report us, but to never do it again. Can you believe that ?!!

We were so shocked and so thankful, that we never did do it again.

We were at the age when we were crazy about boys . Girls in those days called cute boys

'dreamboats', and we would get that sappy look in our eyes whenever we thought of any of the cute boys we knew.

Next-door to our house, was another 6-family unit, a twin to our building, same yellow color, too, and on the top floor opposite us lived the Racine family. they had a son, Buster, who I thought was one of the dreamboats, and I would sit there at our bay window for long periods of time, hoping to get a glimpse of him . I used to dream about what it would be like to kiss him, and wondered if he thought about me in that way. Turns out, he didn't, and I was

crushed .

There was a boy who was just a friend, who did like me that way, Billy Showstead, but I

didn't want him for a boyfriend. We hung out, but that was as far as it went. Poor Billy, I hurt his feelings when I told him that.

I had other crushes, too, but most of those were one-sided.

I did have this one boyfriend, can't remember how and where we met, but his name was

Frankie Saracino. He was Italian, and he liked me. Took me on the streetcar and El train to Revere Beach once or twice, where we walked around, and had ice cream, and just enjoyed being together. Maybe he swam while I sat on the beach, but don't think so.

We planned to get married, at 16, no less, and he told me his father was going to pay for our

wedding . I was so excited, but, of course, Mamma and Daddy wouldn't allow that ( if I had

told them ) . We were both still in school, for goodness' sake !

At that age, probably before I knew Frankie, another boy was in my life, Sonny King. He was

the son of my parents' friends, Lily and Tom King. I didn't care for these friends, like I did

Auntie Eva and Nana Lambert. They were stiff, more sophisticated people, unbending, and they didn't pay any attention to us kids .

Well, when I turned 16, Mamma bought from Mr. Schuster, a white, 'fur' coat for my birthday,

and I had a date with Sonny . Before time for him to come and pick me up in his Model 'T' Ford, Phyllis put on my makeup, and helped me with my hairdo, a page-boy, which was the style during the 1940's . someone, probably her, had applied pale pink nail-polish to my fingernails.

This was my first time for make-up. Guess Mamma figured it was time to let me grow up .

We drove into Boston to wherever we were supposed to go...I can't remember now, but whatever this place was, it was closed. So, here I was, all dressed up, feeling so grown up in my 'fur' coat, felling really pretty, and what did Sonny do ? He just turned around and took

me home, and left ! What a disappointment ! Of course I cried, felt horrible, but then again, he probably had no social skills from his strange parents. He was a bit odd, too, poor guy !

Don't know if I ever saw him again, at least not as a 'boyfriend', but maybe he did come with his parents when they visited. I know there were times when he took some of us kids for a ride in his car, short rides.

Another Sonny, whom I had known from Dewey St. Sonny Spring, started coming around. I hadn't seen him since we were little kids, but he was about to go into the Navy, and he was cute...dark hair with a lock tumbling down his forehead. I had a sort-of crush on him, too, at that time, maybe even since we were little kids together, when he used to give me rides on his homemade scooter . We'd been real friends when we were little. We used to hang a sheet in the basement, and do shadow pictures with our hands. There were some other little kids there too, and we all took turns trying to form animals with our hands. We weren't too good at

it at the ages we were. But, it was fun, and we had snacks to eat while we played.

Anyway, Sonny and I said we'd wait for each other when he went into the Navy, but, of course, we didn't. I met Frankie, and he was the only one I cared about for a while.

Phyllis and Betty had met a couple of sailors, in 1944, and brought them home to meet the

family. Kenny, who at first told us to call him 'Hoppy', was pretty cute, only 17, a few months younger than Phyllis, and he liked her, and Marvin liked Betty. Don't recall his age, but he was young.

Before we knew what was happening, both of the sailors proposed to my sisters, maybe just a

few days, because they were both on shore leave, and due to leave soon for the war . We, and they, didn't know where they were going, because the Navy didn't tell them , or their superior

officers. Our country was at war, and the Captains were given sealed orders, to be opened only after they were underway. They had no knowledge of their destination until they

unsealed their orders.

No-one was told anything, and there were posters all over the country with the words,

'Loose Lips Sink Ships' . So the less the soldiers and sailors knew, the less chance of them accidentally telling anyone, where word could get to the enemy somehow. If they knew where

our military forces were going to go, they could attack them en route, and we might have

lost the war. So, everything was secret.

Lots of boys in uniform got married before shipping out, to have someone to think about while they were in some strange, foreign land, scared, but knowing that they'd have someone waiting for them to come home. They had their families, too, of course, but to have a girl waiting for them was special.

So, on September 30, 1944, Phyllis became Mrs. Kenneth W. Wolfe, at 18 years of age.

Two months later, on November 30, 1944, Betty married Marvin DuPont.

I must be mistaken about Marvin going to war at the same time as Kenny. He must have gone a couple of months later. Maybe he was stationed Stateside for that time, or gone for a little

while, then home, THEN went to where the action was. Whatever, my sisters were now married.

Sometime later, during one of Kenny's leaves, Phyllis got pregnant. she did alright, in spite

of having a bad kidney condition. the docs told her she shouldn't be having the baby, but

she did fine. The poor baby had the cord wrapped around her neck, though, and they had to

work quickly to save her. She survived, and today, Ena is 63 years old.

Anyway, shortly before we moved from Maywood St. Or just after we moved to the South End, Ena was born.

Just after we moved away from Maywood St. my boyfriend, Frankie showed up, knocking

furiously and calling for me to open the door and come out.

This was told to Mamma some time later by Dot Puleo, who looked to see what all the yelling was about, and she told Frankie that we had moved away. He was really angry that I hadn't told him. I think we had broken up earlier, although I don't recall what really happened.

I was so glad he didn't know where we'd moved, or he'd have come looking for me. I shudder

to think of what my life would have been like if he was drinking so heavily at 16 or 17, and

we had married .

Oleomargarine was introduced sometime during the war, and at first, it came in a package

much like how lard was packaged. It even looked like lard, white like that. with it was an orange, kind of reddish- colored round tablet. Mamma had to put it in her famous crockery bowl, and mush it all up with a big spoon, then add the tablet and work that all into the white stuff, and when she had it done, it was yellow, the color of butter.

That's what we had to use as a substitute for butter. All the butter went to the boys in uniform, like the beef had . It didn't taste very good, not at all like butter, but we tried not to complain, because we knew the boys at war had to have the best food, so they could be healthy and strong, to fight our enemies.

Some time later, the margarine tablet was replaced by a capsule, and the white stuff was in a sturdy plastic bag, similar to the plastic used to bag rice and beans. Then Mamma had to break the capsule and work that bag like mad to distribute the yellow color evenly. It didn't taste any better, but guess the manufacturers thought it would be easier to mix that way.

Soon after I turned 17, while we were still at 61 Maywood St. I asked Mamma to let me drop

out of school, and go to work, because Daddy still got sick with pneumonia every winter, and wasn't working, whenever Mamma could trick him into staying home. For some reason I can't recall now, I wanted to quit school, and used Daddy's illness to get Mamma to let me. She didn't put up much of an argument, because there wasn't much money, and so much less when Daddy couldn't work . I tried to get a job at a local shoe repair shop, typing, but was a dismal failure, and didn't get the job. Think I just gave up then, much too easily.

Phyllis and Kenny had been working at a division of B.F. Goodrich, the rubber company, and

Kenny talked to his boss, who talked to someone else, and I was hired in a different department from Phyllis and Kenny. to work putting on the rubber piece that wrapped around the heels of sneakers. I made somewhere around $ 40.00 a week. Gave half to Mamma, and kept the rest for lunches and to buy some underwear. I wasn't frivolous with my money.

Of course, you realize that Kenny was out of the Navy by then, right ? When I dropped out of school, it was at the end of January, 1947, and the war had been over for some time.

Phyllis had gotten pregnant, and worked until shortly after I started working there.

So, there I was, working at Hood Rubber Company, in Watertown, Massachusetts, and was there when I met and married a man who turned out to be my childrens' father.

Some time after we were married, I wanted to make a custard pie, like Mamma's. Well, it didn't turn out exactly like Mamma's. It tasted the same, but the crust was upside DOWN !!

It took me some years to figure out why mine always turned out that way, but, in the meantime, I was teased, especially by my sister, Anne, and her husband, Ray, whom she married nearly 2 years after Phyllis and Betty got married. She married Raymond Hadfield

on August 4, 1946 .

I married my husband on June 1, 1948.

So that's what happened during the last years on Maywood St. Many memories, some sad, but mostly happy times there. I'll never forget 61 Maywood St. I've dreamed of it many times, even after Phyllis and Kenny, after going back to that address to visit some years later, told me that it no longer existed, that our house was gone, and the one next to it, also.

That brings tears to my eyes, even now. So much happened there in that yellow house.

I miss it.

Until I can dredge up some more memories, or decide to write something else, take care

of yourselves, have fun living life, and write down some of your own memories to share with your kids and grandkids. I'm sure they'll love hearing ,or seeing, what your early lives were like.

Count your blessings daily, and show your love for your families in as many ways as you can, so they will never doubt your love .

I love you.

D

I have a couple of corrections to make from that last entry. I think when I went to see Mother Goose, she might have been in brighter colors than I remembered. Not absolutely sure, but I do want everything I write to be as accurate as possible .

Also, it wasn't so much movies that the Harmonica Rascals were in, but TV appearances. They were on Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle's shows, and others. Funnier than I remembered, too, as evidenced by the video I watched yesterday, from the old 'Milton Berle Show' . Little Johnny

was a crack-up !! Oh, yes, another tidbit I learned yesterday is that they were first called 'Johnny Puleo and his Harmonica Gang' . Another guy, with a Russian name had the Harmonica Rascals, but somehow, J.P. adopted that name for his group. that's the only name I'd ever seen him billed under.

The one movie they were in was 'The Trapeze' , starring Burt Lancaster.

So funny, when M. Berle introduced J.P.'s appearance on his show, he pronounced it Poo-leo. It's pronounced Pu-lay-o. Struck me funny .

One more thing, the little black, patent leather shoes Mamma bought for me were called

'Mary-Jane's .

Ok, hope those are the only mistakes or corrections.

As I've mentioned before, I was a tiny little girl, and, as my folks didn't have much money, I always got into movies for the younger kids price. didn't hurt to have a babyish-looking face, either. When Mamma would take me on the El, she'd have me duck under the turnstile, to avoid having to pay the fare for me. People always mistook me for much younger than I actually was . Saw lots of free movies that way.

Once, up at the Shawmut Theater, I was with both Betty and Phyllis, to see whatever was playing that day, and somehow, as we were leaving, got my thumb caught in those really heavy doors. Of course, I was screaming, and the manager came, and when my sisters told him what happened, he gave me a nickel for an ice cream cone. I shared with them.

Ended up going to the hospital with Mamma for that, and the doctor got a bowl, put some peroxide in it, and had me place my whole hand in it for what seemed like hours. The thumbnail came off, with his help, and there was this weird looking flesh underneath it. Doctor bandaged it with a gauze bandage and tape, and I had that on for some time, until the new nail grew back.

I loved going 'in town' to Boston, seeing all the sights, and going into some of the big stores there. On three corners at one intersection, I believe, were R.H.White's, Filene's, and Jordan

Marsh. I loved seeing all the wares while Mamma shopped. I remember we went down into Filene's Bargain Basement, where all their less expensive items were. They would have special sales for a limited time, and if the clothing didn't sell after just so many markdowns, they would give them to charity. Don't know if the other two stores did or not. Probably.

At Christmas time, Mamma would take Paul and I to Jordan Marsh's to see Santa Claus, and get a present each, but also, once in a while, we got to ride on the real ponies, with a man walking beside us holding the reins . Loved that !

There were a bunch of movie theaters on that one street, forget which one, don't think it was Tremont, though. That was, and is, a main thoroughfare and the Boston Common was on that street. Famous park right there in town. Had a concert shell, in which they held special concerts for special occasions.

The movie theaters were the Paramount, with that glorious staircase I've mentioned before. and two theaters named Loew's ...one was Loew's Keith, and the other, I think, was

Loew's RKO theater. There was a cheaper theater where I think, they showed only horror movies, called the Trans-Lux theater. Think there were one or two more movie houses, but not sure. If so, can't recall their names. I think there, on that street, was 'the Latin Quarter', a night-club that was owned by Barbara Walter's Dad. I didn't know who owned it, until she mentioned it one time, on 'The View'.

At home, back when we lived on Dewey St. a man would drive a truck around the neighborhood and he had a little merry-go-round in the back of the truck, and, if Mamma had the money, we, Paul and I got to have a ride on that.

My Mamma made the most delicious bread ! It had a yellowish tinge to it, and had a dense texture. Think it might have been 'egg bread' . It was so good, but I guess none of us got the recipe for that, or, if I did, it was probably thrown away when my daughter, Linda, tried to help de-clutter my kitchen one day, when she emptied my recipe drawer. Had a few of Mamma's recipes, but they were all gone now. She didn't realize what was there, and was only trying to help. I've always been a sort-of 'pack-rat', so she was helping . Don't think any of my siblings got that bread recipe. Such a loss !

Once in a while, at Hallowe'en time, Mamma would buy us a red candy apple. Didn't have caramel ones in those days.

Did I mention that, while at parades, sometimes Pal would buy me Cracker-Jacks ? Loved that, and especially the prize inside. they were pretty good prizes, too, not the really cheap junk they put in the boxes in later years.

Another Hallowe'en memory is when I was around maybe 10, and I was walking in our neighborhood ( it was safe to walk at night back then ), and I had a piece of Mamma's brown laundry soap with me. Found a store window, and wrote a really bad word on it, the 'F' word.

thought I was really something, writing a cuss word like that. Don't think I ever said that word aloud to anyone, but thought I was some big-shot now, daring to write it there !

In seventh grade Homemaking class, we were taught to cook, sew, set a table properly, and

other things. Only girls were in the class, but the boys got to eat whatever we made. I learned to make Lemon Snow, a kind of really light sort-of pudding, or custard. It was so good, I made it at home once or twice for my family. They liked it, I seem to remember. Whatever happened to that recipe, I'll never know. Perhaps it was lost in moving.

I've always had the habit of making a face when I'd hear a food mentioned that I didn't like, or even THOUGHT I wouldn't like, and in Homemaking class, if the teacher caught me doing it,

she'd say, "Boyden, stop turning up your nose". they always called us by our last names in Junior High. Sometimes, I thought it was Doris Bowden who was getting scolded .

We girls got to eat the ice-cream we made in the old-fashioned ice-cream tub. It had a crank handle, and we all took turns winding it. We shared that with the boys, too.

The one dress I made, with the teacher's help, was a princess dress, which was a popular style

back then. Fay and I had gone shopping together, and got the same material and pattern. For some reason, I don't know, or remember, if I, or we, ever finished them .

Mamma used to bake a lot when we were young, and she would put the finished pies, cakes, turnovers, or whatever she'd made, on the big, round oak dining room table, and cover each one with a clean dish towel.

She'd always ask Daddy if he'd like some of whatever it was, and he always declined. Well, sometimes, later on, Mamma or one of us kids would see Daddy sneaking some. He thought we didn't see him, and Mamma would kid, 'Must taste better when he steals it." We'd all laugh.

Have I mentioned before about the time I had Thanksgiving dinner with another family from our church ? I was eleven, and the church asked some families to take an under-privileged child for Thanksgiving. I was chosen for this particular family.

I'd never eaten a stalk of celery, but they placed one at each place on the table, so I took a bite. Instant dislike---yuck, patooey !! Have never gotten to like it, plain like that, but if I cut it up really fine to mix with tuna, along with onions. then I can tolerate it.

They had this little six-year old girl, and she showed me her bedroom. While we were in there, she picked up a brush, and started brushing her hair. I asked her if she did her own hair, and she said yes, she did. I was amazed ! I didn't do my own hair, Mamma did. She also washed me with a washcloth from head to toe, as she did Paul, also. She brushed and combed my hair until I was maybe 13 or 14 . She would curl it, too, using an old-fashioned curling iron, non-electric, that she had to put in the stove after removing one of the lids, holding it by the handle until she thought it was hot enough. then, she'd start curling, and when the iron started cooling down, back into the stove it would go, until she finished. I got a few burns when she'd accidentally roll the hair a little too close to my neck, or ear. Only hurt for a short while, tho'. I loved having curly hair. Little did I know that, years later, I would discover that my hair was naturally curly.

Speaking of non-electric appliances, Mamma also had a clothes iron that she had to heat on the stove, too. On the top of the stove, not in it, as with the curling iron.

I loved watching Mamma preparing clothes for ironing. She didn't have a soda bottle with a shaker top to dampen the clothes. She would take them over to the sink, and lay them on the counter, run water, put her hand under it and shake her hand over the clothes, then roll each piece, and on to the next piece, until they were all sufficiently dampened, and rolled, then put them all in a bushel basket, and leave them for a while, to let the water absorb enough, so the clothes would iron smoothly. Then, after a while, she'd heat up the iron and start ironing the clothes. she did a darn good job, too. Our clothes were all neatly pressed, and mended.

Our 'Auntie Eva', not a real aunt, lived across and down the street from us, with her husband. Fred. They had a small dog, too, and they spoiled him by giving him only hamburger. No canned dog food for him ! Wonder if she gave him horsemeat when we made the switch during the war.

I loved her, too, just like 'Nana' Lambert. She was funny, pretty outrageous, actually. She's the one who would throw her breast up on the mantelpiece behind her. she also was very kind to us kids. She tried to teach me to crochet when I was 16, but I didn't stick to it, and never did anything about it.

She also sometimes cut my toenails for me. That has always been difficult to do, b/c the bone disease made them thick and really hard to cut.

She would say to Mamma, that although we didn't have much money, Mamma kept us clean and our clothes neat, clean and mended. Mamma liked that compliment, and would now and then bring it up in conversation. She had a right to be proud of that fact, she and Daddy both. He would scrub clothes on a washboard right beside her. He was a good husband.

I'll go more into my teen years next time.

For now, I'll say bye, count your blessings. We all have many more than we know.

Love you all.

D

MORE MAYWOOD ST. MEMORIES

Since this is the house that we lived in the longest, six years, most of my childhood memories take place there. I loved that house, and our street, and that big Catholic church on Blue Hill Ave., that faced Maywood St. It was St. John's church.

When Paul had his paper route, probably at around ten years of age, he would go down to the corner, across from the church on Sundays, at about the time for the service to be over, and got to sell a few papers to some of the men coming out of the church. The Sunday paper was 5 cents, while the daily edition went for 2 cents. His regular route was partly on our own street, and sometimes I would go with him.

When Anne took me into downtown Boston, she often went to a ladies apparel store, Lerner's, where she bought a lot of her wardrobe. There were times when she let me stay outside and look in at the live mannequin turning around in the center section of window. Think she was on a turntable, maybe. I would stare at her to see if she would blink or smile or something, anything, but that gal (or gals, if there was more than one) had such good control of her muscles ... amazing ! I was fascinated !! She sometimes had on a fur coat, real fur, because there weren't any animal activists in those days, that I ever heard about .

Mamma would take Paul and I down to Dudley St. I loved that area. there was one department store, Timothy Smith's, and, at Christmas time, We'd get to see Mother Goose, a woman with a black dress or robe and a pointed hat ( sort of the same outfit 'witches' wore, but I knew it was just Mother Goose, and she operated just like Santa. We kids would go up to her, and don't recall if she asked what we wanted for Christmas...don't think so, because that was Santa's job.

Anyway, whatever we talked about ended up in getting a present. That was so great !

Someone bought me a bright yellow dress there, very inexpensive, and that's the dress I wore on the church stage that time when I was 3, and was presented as 'The Duchess of Candyland' , and sang 'On the Good ship, Lollipop' .

Anne says she bought that dress for me, but when I was 3, she was only 11, so maybe she's mistaken on that one. Anyway, Mamma did buy me black, patent leather shoes at a shoe store close to our church, for $ 1.69 . I was told about it when I was older.

Dudley St. had other stores, a millinery, and a store called Beacon. We didn't shop there much. I forget what else was there, except the movie theater, right close to the church, called the Rivoli, and we kids sometimes got in free, because the manager liked Phyllis. This is when we were a little older.

Then there was the 'EL' station. We used to get on the train there to go almost anywhere . It went from Everett on one end, to Roxbury, at least on the other end, and maybe farther than that. We could get to Boston proper, or Revere Beach, or many other stops along the line. I loved the 'EL'.

There was an Irish family living in one of the houses across the street, forget their name, but the man had a paper route and drove to wherever he worked. I think he probably picked up the bundles at the newspaper office, then dropped them off at kids' homes for their individual routes,and at newspaper stands, too.

when that man died, his family had the coffin right there in the parlor (living room) . I went across to see him.

The same thing happened to the Grandmother of the Puleo family who lived on the floor under our flat. She died, and they had her coffin in the parlor, too. So we got to see her, also. I didn't particularly want to see her, but we really loved the Puleo's, so we did it for them, out of respect. The grandfather lived with them, too, and the kids called him 'Bumpy' .

The Puleo's. O, what nice people they were. Johnny was Italian, don't know if Dot was, but she cooked Italian food. Sometimes she would send or bring a plate of spaghetti for Mamma, and it smelled heavenly. I think Mamma shared some with us. Yummy !

I already mentioned that Johnny's cousin, who was a 'Little Person', had a band, called 'The

Harmonica Rascals' in an earlier post, but don't think I mentioned that this cousin was also

named Johnny Puleo. I really enjoyed that band when they were in movies. Think that's where I saw them. Never met them, though.

We liked them and they liked us, too. Their kids were, Jackie, a boy, Eleanor, Carolyn and Susie, in that order, from oldest to youngest.

Once, Susie had to be rushed to the hospital, because she had been running in the house with a toothbrush in her mouth, tripped and fell and the toothbrush went through the roof of her mouth. She turned out ok, but what a fright for her family !!

Many years, later, when I went back to Boston to attend my brother's funeral, I was happily surprised to see Dot Puleo there, and Jackie, and one or two of his sisters, also ! Hadn't seen them since we moved away, when I was 17, back in 1947 . It was wonderful to see them, and as it turns out, they and Paul and his wife, Muriel, had had contact with them for all those years !

Paul had never mentioned that to me ! I tried to contact them since, but, sadly, no luck.

Mamma would let us kids poke her chocolates when she received a box of them as a gift from someone . To this day, I still like to poke them to see what the filling is.

My sisters, Betty and Phyllis had friends who lived on our street. Betty's friend was Hazel DeWolfe, and her sister, Helen, or maybe it was Eleanor DeWolfe, who was Phyllis's friend.

Don't think they were real close friends, but one girl who lived someplace else, was Phyllis's best friend Renee, pronounced like teenie. Renee would come over and she and Phyllis would turn the radio on, and the two of them would jitterbug like crazy to the music. They both wore loafers, not sure if they were penny loafers or not, and, of course, skirts and blouses. No pants for girls in those days, as I've mentioned before.

Anne did buy and wear slacks when she was either an older teen, or a bit older, I forget which.

Seemed strange to see a girl in pants !

Well, stopping for now... more to come.

Enjoy, and be good to each other, and don't forget to always count your blessings, and smile.

I love you all.

D

MEMORIES OF MAMMA'S COOKING

WARNING, WARNING !!

EAT before reading this !

Mamma had a way with food that gets me salivating just thinking of all the wonderful meals and baked goods she made over the years.

She made a Dutch Apple cake that I have never found in any bakery anywhere, nor any recipe book. Don't know what kind of cake it was, possibly something like a coffee cake, then she layered slice after slice of apples, thinly cut, over the whole thing, and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon, and put some bits of butter here and there, like those pie-crust cookies I mentioned before, and baked it. Mmm-mmm, good ! The aroma was heavenly !

I never much cared for bread pudding, but she made a chocolate one, with raisins that was absolutely delicious ! I ate that, but never anyone else's.

Loved her custard, too. Mamma had this big crockery bowl, sort of a light yellow color with two or three brown stripes around the top, in which she mixed, then baked her custard. Perfect every time . My custard sometimes turns out like hers, with the sweet juice at the bottom, that I always enjoyed and do to this day.

That same bowl was used to make Mamma's homemade Boston baked beans, with a chunk of salt pork in them, that we all liked, as I've mentioned before. Hers was better than the canned variety.

She sometimes would make a bowl of those beans especially for our cousin, Herb. He was crazy about them.

That bowl was also used for Shepherd's pie, a lamb stew with a biscuit crust. Yummy.

Pal often was treated to a whole bowl of rice pudding with raisins, just for him.

She made it for the family, too, but when it was designated for Pal, we didn't get any of it.

That bowl had many purposes . She'd beat eggs in it with an egg beater, a sort of pre-cursor to the hand-held electric mixer. Egg beaters ran by manual power, turning the handle faster and faster, if you were beating egg-whites for meringue, or whipping up some heavy cream .

Pie crust was mixed in it, then rolled out on a floured board. Mamma's pie crust was perfect, too, flaky and delicious.

Cakes were mixed in there, too, no cake mixes in a box. they hadn't been thought of, until some time after I'd had Linda, at least, because, I, too, made all my cakes from scratch . I don't recall just when cake mixes were invented.

Everything that had to do with baking was started from that one crockery bowl.

I used to sit in the kitchen whenever I could, to watch Mamma cook and bake. Loved to watch her peel apples all in one piece, and there was always a little apple left on the peel, that I got to nibble, sometimes my siblings, too, if they were present. They seldom were, being that the girls were older and off doing whatever it was that they did, perhaps when they worked, and Paul was always out with his friends. I was always the homebody, so I reaped the rewards and benefits of being there when Mamma was getting food ready.

I loved raw potatoes, and got an occasional piece of uncooked spaghetti to chew on. How I ever

could have liked uncooked spaghetti is beyond me. Just a weird kid, I guess !

Mamma made Toll House cookies that were scrumptious ! Mine have never turned out like hers . Dang ! She would put the spoonsful of cookie dough on the cookie sheet, then take a drinking glass, put a dampened dish towel over the bottom, and flatten the cookies. they always turned out great. Mine have always spread out, and didn't look or taste quite like hers. She used the Nestle's morsels, and the recipe on the package, as did I, but she had better luck. Or maybe she just had a way with it that made the cookies turn out better than mine ever did.

Mamma would buy stewing hens for her chicken fricasee. That was a sort of soup, but better than plain soup. The broth was thickened some. With the added yumminess of dumplings !

Sometimes she would buy Capons, a different type of chicken, and she'd roast those, and serve them with potatoes, mashed, or new potatoes, boiled in their jackets, then peeled at the table, and maybe creamed corn, and green beans.

Mamma always gave Paul and I the raw chicken legs, because we liked to play with them. There was no flesh on them, though. We'd press our thumbs somewhere on the foot and the claws would then spread out, and we got a kick out of that. Dumb, but we liked running around, pretending to be monsters and trying to scare our sisters with the claws .

A summer meal we always enjoyed was Mamma's Shrimp Louie, or sometimes it was made with tuna. She would layer a large platter with iceberg lettuce leaves, then tomato slices, overlapping, then cucumber slices, then hard-boiled egg slices, then canned shrimp, broken into smaller pieces with her fingers, to stretch further than just leaving the shrimp whole. She must have used two or three cans for all of us, and sometimes Pal. We'd have bread and butter to go with it. Oh, yes, salt and pepper, and then mixed with mayo on our plates. Soooooo good !!

Daddy and Betty loved steamed clams, so sometimes Mamma would make a heaping platter of those for them. I never cared for those, neither did anyone else. Yuck ! I don't know for sure if she used the ones we kids dug up from the sand at the beach, where, as we walked along, a little squirt of water would alert us to where the clam was, and we would dig there, and sure enough, there was at least one clam ! Think we brought them home, and, as I said, don't know if those were the ones Mamma steamed, but I kinda think they were.

She'd make a pan of baked lima beans for Phyllis . Double yuck !!

Some of my favorites were baked macaroni and cheese, baked pork chops, with mustard, salt and pepper and a slice of onion on each one. I still make mine that way. Mamma always used center cut pork chops, and I usually do, too. Bone in .

Paul had steak fairly often, and he was spoiled, being the only boy. Sometimes, while the rest of us had hot dogs, there he'd be, gnawing on a lovely piece of steak. I don't remember getting upset about that, though. I enjoyed beans, brown bread, and hot dogs.

Don't recall if Anne had a favorite dish, but probably.

Mamma made a mean leg of lamb ! She'd rub seasoned flour all over the outside of it, and that lamb was sooo tasty. She'd often serve mint jelly with it, too. Delicious !

Mamma's steamed pudding was special. I never knew everything that went into it, but I saw her use raisins, and maybe, mincemeat, that she bought in a jar, made by Nonesuch, a brand in those days. She also put either real meat, or suet, something like that, in addition to the regular ingredients, like flour, salt, whatever. When it was all mixed, she would spoon it into an empty,

clean Brown bread can, then tie a piece of cheesecloth around the whole thing, wrap string around it and suspend it somehow over a large pot of boiling water. It took a long time to cook, and when it was done, and cooled enough to remove from the can, it had molded itself into the shape of the can. She'd then slice it and put a piece on each of our saucers, and spoon a white, sweet sauce that she called 'hard sauce' over the pudding. Yum-yum-yummy !!! I'm not sure if that was for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, but that's the only time she made it all year. so it was a really special treat !

Think I'll end on that delicious note. Are you sufficiently hungry by now ? I was smart, and

ate my macaroni and cheese, and a large milkshake before starting this. Just reminiscing about

Mamma's wonderful cooking makes me hungry for some of the great meals she made.

Okay, go and eat now, and hope whatever you have is a tenth as good as my Mamma's food

was !

Blessings to all of you.

D

MORE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

When we lived at 13 Maywood St., I went to Vacation Bible School during the summertime. That was at another church, Elliot Congregational Church. Our own Baptist church maybe didn't have that program, or maybe we went there, because it was closer than our own church.

Can't recall how often that was. don't think it was daily, but not sure. Whatever, it was only for a short while, no more than 2 hours, if that.

I liked it, because I learned how to do fun things. One I especially liked was when we had a piece of heavy paper, perhaps poster board, and one thing we learned was how to cut the colored paper into strips, then form a circle with it, a small circle, and glue the ends together, then making more of them and linking them together to form a chain. Another favorite was a plain piece of poster board, and I would place a pretty maple or oak leaf on it, then suspend a piece of screening over it and brush paint across the screen and it would make an outline of the leaf .

That was so pretty, I thought ! All of us in class would bring our treasures home. I was so excited to show them to my parents ! Another thing I remember doing was tracings of some of the fancy letterings in some big old Bible. The first letter of the first word of each chapter of the Bible were large letters, Olde English style, and in color, so after I traced all I wanted to, I'd then color in the letters with whatever colors I liked. Sounds boring now, but at the time, being 9 years old, I really liked doing that.

I gave my first kiss there at VBS. This really cute black boy named Roy was in class, and he was so nice, and handsome, that I went over to him as he sat in his tiny chair and just leaned

over and kissed him on the cheek ! Don't think he did anything but smile at me. Think that

was my first crush, or puppy love. We were nine years old .

Paul must have gone to those classes, too, I'm sure, but don't recall what he did. Maybe he and the other younger kids had a different class. Oh, he was more than 3 and a half years my junior, so maybe he didn't even go to the vacation Bible school .

I liked coloring so much, and was very good at staying within the lines. Loved choosing which colors to color the kids in my coloring books. Chose green and yellow for little girls' dresses, or sometimes another favorite combination, orange and yellow.

Daddy would sit and color the cardboard divider that came in the box of Nabisco shredded wheat, to keep the biscuits apart. They had nice pictures, just like the ones in coloring books, so Daddy would sit with me and help color them in. I loved getting his attention that way.

He did the same thing with Paul, too, sometimes. Loved those cardboard dividers. Wonder when they stopped using them.

Anne used to take me into downtown Boston, as I've mentioned before, and I had a little greyish fur coat, hat and muffler set, that Mamma would dress me up in during cold weather

so I'd look nice, going 'in town' , as we used to say.

Well, I don't actually remember this incident, but big sister, Anne, has spoken of it several times. She said that on one of our forays into Boston, ants somehow got on my fur coat. This must have been after she let me have some candy or ice cream, and it probably got on the coat, thereby attracting ants. Anyway, when we got home, she relates how our mother scolded and scolded her for allowing that to happen. Poor Anne !

We ate a lot of cereal for breakfasts. Kellogg's stuff was what we liked, corn flakes, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, too, I think, and Puffed Rice. That was not Kellogg's, though. Oh, yes, and the shredded wheat. Loved how Daddy would pour hot tap water onto the biscuits, then take the back of a large spoon and press the biscuits and squeeze all that water out, then put sugar and milk on it, and mmmmm, good !

In the cold weather, cereal was oatmeal, and cornmeal, or Farina. That last one was Phyllis's favorite. I never much cared for hot cereal, unless it was super-smooth, no lumps, and had a lot of sugar on it.

We never were given an allowance. Never heard of such a thing back then. I didn't even hear any of the kids from more affluent families speak of an 'allowance' . If they did have one, I didn't know anything about it. The kids in our neighborhood all seemed to be in the same situation we were in...families struggling to make ends meet. We kids all felt rich on the few occasions when we had a nickel. Mine would mostly come from singing for company we had in our home.

Mamma would have me come into the parlor or kitchen and tell me to sing for whoever it was. I seldom wanted to, didn't like that attention, but she would make me. Sometimes, 'whoever' would give me a nickel for singing, and then the pain and embarrassment would disappear soon, because now, I was rich !! But I never got over my shyness, and she would always have to practically drag me over to sing.

I did have a good singing voice when young, and into my young adult years, but for a long time now, can't sing worth a darn. Used to love to, and, even now, sitting in front of the TV, sometimes I'll attempt to sing along, but, between the voice and having to stop for running short of breath, it's not the same. I still enjoy the songs, though, and just mouth the words when it's too much for me. Doesn't take away my enjoyment of hearing someone else sing.

Mamma and Daddy had always wanted a chicken farm. Maybe that's how come Paul and I

were each given a baby chick once. Must have been Easter time. Anyway, guess Mamma was the one who fed and took care of them, and those little chicks would follow Mamma all over the house, peeping as they went. Thought she was their mother. Loved watching that. I don't know whatever happened to those chicks. They didn't get very big...maybe they died.

Anyway, our poor parents never realized their dream. There was never any money to save toward buying a home in the country.

I had a cat once. Had her for a couple of years, anyway. Don't remember her name, but she seemed to be a nice cat, until one day, she crawled under Mamma's bed, and when I tried to pull her out, she bit me, so soon she was gone, too.

Paul had a brown terrier dog, too, for a while, Boots. He got distemper, and it was so horrible to see him throw himself from the top landing across into the wall, over and over, until someone, probably Daddy, caught him and somehow calmed him down, I guess. Because then, Paul and I had him in Paul's wagon, and we were walking down to Northampton to the Humane Society, so they could put him to sleep, pulling him along in the wagon, when suddenly his eyes started looking really weird, like a film came over them or something, and we soon realized he was dead. We cried, but finished the walk and turned him over to the people there. That was so sad.

We didn't have any more animals after that . Except those tiny little turtles, think they're called 'box turtles' ? We liked them, also, loved any animals .

Mamma used to give us Ex-lax now and then, to keep us cleaned out, I guess. She also gave us

regular doses of cod-liver oil. I sometimes liked it and would try to get more, but only sometimes.

Lucky me, I also got doses of some kind of lime, lyme juice put into my milk, to strengthen my

bones, because of my being born with a bone disease. The only one in our family !

In those days, they didn't have a name for that disease. They called it' malformation of the bones'.

When Mamma would take me to Mass Memorial Hospital for checkups on it, the doctors would ask me to put my shoulders together, and when I was really young, it seemed as if my shoulders came close to touching each other. They would have me do that every time I saw them.

Mamma was told that my teeth would always rot, and so there was no sense in having me brush them. Can you imagine ?!!. They said my baby teeth would stay with me for years, and I might never get my second set, because of so many being in my jaw.

Anyway, due to their interest in my case, they had me stay in the hospital for 2 weeks, to observe this bone condition. I wasn't sick or anything. they just wanted to study it, being a hereditary disease, and congenital. so, there I was, at age 11, in the hospital for 2 long weeks. They took X-rays, they pumped my stomach ( what that was for, I was never told ), took blood from my fingers every day. Those hurt, and I got to hiding, when I saw the redheaded nurse coming in the ward. I'd hide behind the big pillars in that room, to try and avoid the finger-pricking. That hurt so much, but I didn't mind when they took blood from my arms. Got used to that, but to this day, don't like the finger-poking.

Once, they had poured something stinky over my head, because I had head lice at the time, and they wrapped my head in a towel. I was sitting in a wheelchair waiting for an X-ray that day, when some woman passed by, and when she saw the towel, and probably smelled what was on my head, she said, 'What's the matter, kid, got cooties?' . Oh, I was so embarrassed, and it made me cry.

In those days, we kids, most kids, seemed to get them over and over, they were so prevalent.

Our mother was very clean, so it wasn't anything she did or didn't do that caused them to come so often. Mothers everywhere had to fight the darn things, often. They were just a fact

of life in those days.

Anyway, back to my stay in the hospital. I did have some fun, because the nurses took a liking to me, and would show mw how to make a bed, hospital corners and all, and I loved learning that. It was sweet of them to take the time to teach me.

I never did hear what they learned about the bone disease, if anything. All I know is I was forbidden to run, because I might fall and hit my head, and that could be fatal. So, no more

tag, or any other game involving running. Of course, being a kid, I sometimes did, out of Mamma's sight.

Once, after school, I was still in the schoolyard for some reason, and I ran. why, I don't know,

all I remember is, I was running in the yard, nobody else around, and I tripped and fell, right on my face ! I started bawling, and hurrying home, all bloody, crying all the way, and when

Mamma saw me, she started yelling, accusing me of running, and that made me cry all the more, because it was hurting, and I was bleeding, and all Mamma could do was yell at me.

I could have DIED !! That's what I was thinking, and she didn't love me, because she was supposed to take me in her arms and make it all better, and here she was, yelling at me !!

Of course, she did take me in her arms, then, and got me all cleaned up.

I knew years later that the only reason she yelled was because it scared the bejeepers out of her, thinking of how close I maybe came to dying. That's what those stupid doctors did, made her afraid to let me act like a normal kid, because I might die from a fall on my head !

Geez, how backward thinking they were in those days.

And, of course, when I later had my first child, Linda, who inherited the same bone disease, I had those same fears for her.

I was told by her doctors that she might have to wear a helmet to protect her head, but I didn't want her to have to do that, and be 'different' from the other kids, and neither did she, so they gave us the option of her going to a 'handicapped' school, and not have to wear a helmet. So, we chose that. She only had to go for one year, because her fontanelles closed sufficiently for her to go to regular school.

Well, think this is enough for today. Have some more thoughts and memories to write here, and will do that soon, maybe tomorrow.

Hope you're still enjoying childhood exploits .

Stay well, count your blessings, and tune in again.

Love you.

D