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Paula Alexandra Santos wrote

Hi, Grandma Donna!
Reading your posts and seing pictures of your home, always makes my heart happy and longfull for a time I didn't live in. But that is a time I always loved to read about and see in the movies, due to the way people were, dressed, cared for each other and prioritized. I know the movies aren't the real deal, but stil...
I believe that most of them would be shocked to see what we did to the world they left... :(
I was brought up in the 80's and 90's, so it was a very different era, but still I find it was much simpler (at least here, in Portugal) than the era we are living in.
Today everything is complicated, people make a big fuss out of everything... it gets tiresome, doesn't it?
Nuno and I are also turning to simpler foods, entertaining and ways of living. We have board games (Monopoly, also!), books, old tv shows...
We have a tv channel called Memória, wich means Memory and it's kind of like your TV Land. It's one of my favorite channels! We are slowly getting off of this train. It's moving way too fast and I believe that it's bound to derail one of these days.
I wish you and G. Charles a blessed weekend and I hope you received my emails. I know you two have been very busy at Myrtles!
:)

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Laura wrote

Hello Donna

I love to read about your life with Charles. I hope he gets to enjoy a long retirement when it comes. I bet his work don't want to see him retire. Thank you for sharing the pie plates. My Ex MIL has a lot of them around the size of the smallest one you showed.

Laura

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Tandi wrote

Dear Grandma Donna,
I really enjoyed this post as always. I've also been going back and re-reading your older post and keep learning new things. I would encourage people to read your cooking from scratch posts as there are many meal ideas. It's been my goal to go back to eating simple meals, so it doesn't take up so much time in the kitchen and in keeping with the way generations before us ate. (I'm a 911 dispatcher and we've been having to work a lot of overtime so my time is limited. But I still want to keep a home as they did in the previous decades.) Thanks so much again for all you do to show us how we can do it too.

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Grandma Donna wrote

Paula, I do agree that our generations now gone would be shocked to see what we have done to the world, I do crave a life that resembles the better time I remember.
Laura, there is quite a difference in size of the pie plates and dinnerware when you can see it in person as you have and I have.
Tandi, I feel that food has become a competition, especially for tv and blogs. Just basic whole food is what is important. :) Thank you for your work as a 911 operator, you have a very important job.

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Teresa Pittman wrote

In the 1943 diary I own, the writer makes cakes. I suspect the family had a British background and maybe these were for tea. I do know that cakes of the time were not as sweet as what we make today. If you ever run across one, get the Searchlight cookbook from the mid 40s. The recipes are good and use much less sugar that today's

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Grandma Donna wrote

Thank you Teresa for you comment. :)

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Susan Setzer from Garner, NC wrote

If you like backgammon, I would like to suggest Acey-Deucey, it's played on the same board. My mom (born 1938) loves this game and we play every chance we get. Here are the rules:
http://www.backgammon-game.eu/ms/game_american_acey_deucey.html

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Hilogene in Az wrote

G’Donna,
I so much enjoy your posts, thank you for sharing what you learn. I found the photos of the different size pie plates astonishing. No wonder we are getting wider ;). I have been working on getting my pantry in better shape, we eat at home 95% of the time, so the cooking and pantry skills I have learned have helped us. We retired six years ago and I have made a huge effort to learn more and spend less. As I do next year’s budget, and increase all the costs we can’t avoid, I agree that minimizing recurring costs is a huge item!

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Jackie wrote

I love this post as always. I try not to watch or listen to the news or spend much time on social media but sometimes I find myself being sucked in and I'm usually the worse for it. We have become so used to constant noise and busy-ness, we don't feel comfortable in silence and rest. We have become so used to instant information via the web. Sometimes it's nice as in being able to Google most anything but I think it's mostly a time waster. I try to think back to the years before computers and the internet became such a major part of our lives and what did I do then? Well I had a home, husband and children to care for so there wasn't a lot of spare time. Now, I'm in my 70's, live alone in a remote area and have no family in the state. Training myself not to reach for my smart phone or tablet whenever I don't know what else to do. I feel so much better when I avoid the internet (except for your blogs and videos ????).

Also, I have collected Fire-King Blue Sapphire kitchen ware for years and have 3 pie plates like the small one you have. I have a couple of different sizes and a large one. I just love them. i hope you're having a beautiful, healthy day.

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Rhonda Oliver wrote

About pie, my grandparents were farmers, born in 1894 and 1900. Grandpa went out and started chores early every morning. Grandma went to the kitchen and the first thing she cooked every morning was 1 or 2 pies, then she made breakfast that was usually biscuits, gravy, small pieces of fried round steak and oatmeal. They raised 6 children and lived to be 89 and 99.
She started making pies with lard in the crust but once Crisco shortening came out, she used Crisco in her crusts and never went back to lard.
I know nutritionists would freak out about their diet, but they were healthy and certainly lived a long time.
Pie was a common food and everyday dessert in the last century, especially for people that worked hard.

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Grandma Donna wrote

Susan, thank you I printed out the instructions and we are looking forward to learning to play acey-duecey. :)
Hilogene, thank you for your comment.
Jackie, I feel we are getting addicted to having something making sound or visual stimulation. It is getting difficult to listen to the quiet.
Rhonda Oliver, very good points, Charles and I read your comment together and we started nodding our heads yes and our Grands made pies with lard and crisco and lived very long lives. It is so confusing what to know anymore. Thank you all for your comments.

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Julie wrote

Enjoy your posts and following you and Charles with your modified modern/living history. I believe the Gilded Age's start can go back to the ending of the Civil War and ending at the start of WWI. I love the smaller pie plates and I think there are many things we can learn from our past that would benefit us today.

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Pat wrote

What a wonderful blog! I just this morning discovered your blog through Jennifer of Elefantz's blog. I am about your age, born between VE Day and VJ Day. I feel like the world has gotten too unfamiliar and, I would like to go back to the 1940s. Thank you for all the historical information you post. I will be reading past posts and have subscribed to your youtube channel.

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Andrea wrote

Thank you all for the information on the pies especially GDonna for showing the size of the pie plates. The 3 pie plates I have are quite older pieces and are definitely on the small size. I can still cut many pieces out of each, but when we do have company on those rare occasions they always say "That's it?" It sure explains why everyone is so much wider and combine that with a lack of exercise it's bound to happen. A game we played with neighbors many years ago uses dominoes and it's called chicken feet. Not sure how to play it anymore, but we used to in the darkest months in Oregon for fun things to not be depressed not seeing the sun.

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