{Out on the town}

Yesterday we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see a film about the Mayan 2012 prophecies.

It was neat; we learned how they developed their calenders and used them with the stars to predict the future.

After the film we walked around downtown Houston (it wasn't too terribly hot luckily) and stopped at a taco shop for some drinks.

1930's frock: Replay on 19th

1950's birdcage pillbox hat: Replay on 19th

1930's purse: Flea market in Elizabethtown, KY

{Some memories}

I'm excited to go back into nursing.

My favorite field has been and will always be geriatrics (old people).

In addition to the fact that I enjoy taking care of ill people and making others comfortable, they tell the best stories and offer a look into what life was like "back then".

A couple of weeks ago it was really slow at work and I talked with an elderly couple (in their 80's) for a good hour and a half.

They were both born in 1926 in Mississipi.

The wife (I can't recall her name) told me that:

 

"I had a very strong immune system and didn't contract any childhood diseases.

I even went to visit a friend with chicken pox to be exposed just to get it over with.. and didn't get chicken pox at all.

However, I did develop a case of mumps in the late 1920's."

"Growing up during the depression", she told me, "was difficult."

"It was a different world and a different time.

Middle class families didn't have enough money anymore.

People didn't have enough to eat.

I had one friend whose family only had oatmeal to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Families couldn't spent money on their children.

That's a vast difference from today!"

"At the time, it cost 11 cents to go see a movie.

I remember when Gone with the Wind first came to movie theaters, in 1939.

It cost 39 cents to go.

I wanted to go so bad but we didn't have any extra money for me to go see a movie.

My mother knew that a badly wanted to go.

She was part of a bridge club and would get together with other ladies and play for money.

She was an excellent player and won $1 and gave it to me so I could go see Gone with the Wind!"

"In the summer of 1936 I was 10 years old.

I was to go visit some relatives in Alabama.

I traveled 500 miles all by myself on a Greyhound bus.

It was safe back then.. things wouldn't happen to girls like they do now a days.

Strangers were helpful.

There was a 2 hour layover.

While waiting I went to a movie theater and saw Tarzan!

My mother sure was upset when I told her that upon returning home!"

I asked how they met and they told me:

"We met at a junior/senior picnic in high school.

Then we got married when we were 20 years old."

The wife told me that the secret to living to old age is lots of exercise and the fact that it's okay to have dessert!

"I'm in my 80's and I still play tennis!"

The husband told me that his mother was a teacher in 1910 and had to drive a horse and buggy to the school 25 miles away from her home.

{Nice}

Great-grandmother Minnie Edna Tuck in Camargo, OK circa the late 1930's/early 1940's.

{White}

Great-grandmother Minnie Edna Tuck in Camargo, OK circa the late 1930's.

{In the country}

Great-grandfather Elzie Virgil Henxeson (born in 1909, Ft. Cobb, OK) and Great-grandmother Minnie Edna Tuck (born 1912, Arnett, OK) and grandfather Elzie Leroy Henexson circa 1933 in Camargo, OK.

I remember meeting my great-grandfather once, in a nursing home.

I wasn't very old- somewhere in grade school. 

We were looking at an aviary filled with colorful birds.

He was very kind.

I learned from my mom that my great-grandmother passed away while they were on vacation in New Mexico.

My Grandma Shirley told me that my great-grandma Minnie was a very shy, easily embarrassed woman.

Now I know where I get that from!

{On the farm}

Great-grandmother Minnie Edna Tuck in Camargo, OK circa 1930's.

 

{The car}

Great-grandfather Albert Puffenberger, great-grandmother Chloe and grandma Shirley in Washington D.C. circa 1937.

{Fountain}

Great-grandfather Albert Puffenberger, great-grandmother Chloe and grandma Shirley in Washington D.C. circa 1935.

{Steps}

Great-grandfather Albert Puffenberger, great-grandmother Chloe and grandma Shirley in Washington D.C. circa 1935.

{Truck}

Great-grandfather Albert Puffenberger, great-grandmother Chloe and grandma Shirley in Washington D.C. circa 1935.

{Winter-time}

Great-grandmother Chloe Puffenberger (née Varner) in Washington D.C. circa 1933.

{Swimmin' Hole}

Great-grandmother Chloe Puffenberger (née Varner) in Washington D.C. circa 1932.

{Dita}

On July 30th we went to see Dita Von Teese in Strip Strip Hooray at the Houston House of Blues.

It was completely fabulous and glamorous!

I wore my sapphire blue silk 1930's dress.

{I'm alive!}

Is it not freaky how much I look like my great-grandmother Marit Reitan!?

{Disconnected}

Oh my, I missed the internet so much!
A new 1930's dress:

{Old wooden chair}

This is my great-great-great grandmother Martha Jane Fox.
She was born on August 21, 1847 and died October 29th, 1930.

{I'm home part III}

On the 28th Travis and I went out on a fancy date!
He took me to Ouzos in downtown Kalamazoo.
I wore my 1930's Neiman Marcus dress.
He wore the suspenders I got him (plus other clothes too)!


The restaurant was in a 150 year old building.
The only light was produced from candles.
The original pressed tin ceiling was present as well as a hand carved bar from the 1920's.
The food was delicious- we both ordered gyros.
Mine had veggies and his lamb.
We also had a bottle of Red Rock to drink.

{Merry}

My Christmas present to myself this year: a vintage 1930's Neiman Marcus dress, found at Elizabeth's Timeless Attire.
Well it's actually a peignoir, but I just wear a white silk slip underneath and call it a dress.
Right now it's snowing outside.
I have a steaming cup of coffee and cranberry-orange muffins I baked earlier.
My kidney infection is slowly getting better.