Comments On Article: Pw Wednesday The Sounds Of 1940

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Donna I love hearing from you daily. Especially liked today’s column. My upbringing was a little different in a different part of the country. Still, it was during the same simpler time. Penn

Oh, it is interesting to look at genealogy when researching an era!  My grandparents were living in Los Angeles and Chicago in 1940, and my parents were born in the early 40s in those cities.  Los Angeles got its first TV broadcast station in 1931, and it is still on air!  Chicago had an early station as well, but that one didn’t stay on air.  That family moved to another city with early television as well.  But I also know about these grandparents.  My grandfather from Los Angeles was an early adopter of technology his entire life, so it’s likely he had television early on.  He used to buy things on layaway.  My mother tells of seeing TV at friends’ houses but not having one in her own home until she was a teenager in the 50s, because they were expensive and her family wasn’t well off.  Those grandparents were 20 years older than my other grandparents, which I think also makes a difference

I grew up in the city , but my parents had grown up very very rural, so we followed many of the old ways…. We raised a big garden on our city plot and I remember helping Mother can when I was four. I stood on a chair and peeled tomatoes and sat on the porch to snap bean — and I better get all those strings! We visited my grandparent and great grandparents weekly. And I have memories of my great great grandmother sitting and knitting… I have her rocking chair… and her last knit bedspread made using tobacco twine she saved from priming… I, too, prefer the quiet of my country life… even if we have had well problems at the house and in the cow pasture this week! ha! I’ll take hauling water over neighbors anyway!! 

Oh my, I’m so glad that you brought up the music of the 1940s!! I love the Big Bands of the 40s. If you have the free Pandora app, you can listen to all the Big Bands.

That is SO cool about your dad playing with such stellar musicians! I agree, we are missing community. I grew up on the tail end of it being that way but as an adult, I don't see it anymore. I think things were simpler than in as far as we didn't have such overwhelming access to bad information that is literally designed to create hostility and fear. I think we dealt more in facts and there was more of a we gotta pull together to help each other through this vs today of being pitted against one another and survival of the fittest. I fear that the next several months are going to be unbelievably difficult for everyone's mental health, as well as division of people. So, I will not engage in it, listen to it or give it space in my brain. That's about all i can do. I love all the information and tidbits you are providing! I had the music on while I typed this. Keep up the great work and thank you so much!!

I just love this post (do I say that with every post ????).  You are quite right.  I agree and have said for a long time that our communities are disintegrating.  It's so important.  The art of visiting should be a thing, because it has so much value.  This makes me wish we could be neighbors so we could chat over the fence for a few minutes about how the fruit trees are looking or how to get a certain stain out of a good shirt - you know important things like that.  Folks seem to look for differences rather than find common interests.  I've enjoyed when you have shared the journals but I understand how much work that is/was to type those out.

Thank you for sharing

I live in upstate NY which is also were my father and mother are both from. My father grew up on a farm with a hand pump in the kitchen and an outhouse for bathroom. He is 93 now. My mom grew up very poor in a family of 13 children. Slept 3 to a double bed. She had 2 dresses and 1 pair of shoes. No electricity, or in door pumping.

Grandma Donna wrote, thank you for your comments and for added information to the study, this is how we will build a mental picture of 1940's. 

I am very excited about this study and all that we will get to learn together. Like Donna I am also an old soul  and love to learn about  those who lived before us. For those of you who knit I have found some old dishcloth patterns I would like to share. The first  one pictured is from and old Needlecraft magazine July 1922 . The second pattern is from 1912 and is made with linen.  I will be writing out both patterns in an updated version as wording was different  then it is now. If anyone has a hard time figuring out the patterns. I can share my rewritten pattern with you.  
Blessings,

Sheri

I am an old soul too. Modern things have never held an attraction for me. I've been like this ever since I could walk and talk. 

Yesterday my husband and I went to a newer Old Order Mennonite community that formed in Section, Alabama. Most of them came from the established community we frequently visit in Delano, Tennessee. The picture I'll attached is of one of the houses there. I feel the need to go and visit the old order Mennonite community often because it's so peaceful there. Because they don't have electricity or use cars or phones, there is no noise! The only sound you hear is the occasional clop clop of the horses' hooves when they come down the road in their buggies. Or birds chirping. My soul needs that recharging because I live and work in a large town and even though we've made our house as simple as possible, you still have the outside world noises surrounding you when you venture out. I've even attended their church service and since they don't use air-conditioning or fans, they have the windows open and you hear the sounds of nature only.  

I often listen to https://1940sradio.com online and some other online 1940s radio stations. 

Every Thursday evening I go to a historic mansion not far from me and we watch classic movies. They are mostly from 1930s to 1950s. It's so nice being in a group of people who love these movies too!

Just a few things I try and do to live a more old fashioned life. :)

Grandma Donna Wrote,  Thank you Sheri for posting the dishcloth pattern.

Tandi S, I understand the need to recharge, thank you for sharing about how you can find that place to recharge by visiting the Mennonite community. Is that a large windmill in the photo?  Beautiful house and farm it looks to be.  

Yes, it's a large windmill that they use to pump water from the well.

Yeah, count me among the old soul group!  I was much more comfortable with my grandparents than at home.  The house was quiet, simple, etc.  Time was spent doing things rather than being entertained.  My friends used to joke that I was "most likely to run away to be Amish" ????.  I still drive around in a silent car, rarely turn on the TV, and my bestie calls me a Luddite lol.  If I'm waiting for the oven to finish, I'll grab a deck of cards and play Solitaire rather than doing it on my phone.  If my phone is even on!  If I had a good knee, I wouldn't even have it. 

I'm loving your new adventure, Donna!

I've looked several times on pandora for them. What did you type in to listen to the bigbands?

that house is beautiful and looks like many I see around virginia where we live. 

Gdonna I'm curious you had mentioned your mother moved back to Memphis. Did your father pass away or was their a divorce? I'm sorry if there was one of them. My parents divorced when I was young and it was rough till I moved out. The link with guy Lombardo was fun to listen to. Very enjoyable music. I find that nowadays I'm picky because much of it sounds like a tool box full of tools going down a highway and nothing is uplifting to listen to. I'm also a very old soul living in what feels like a new world. I would wader around my grandparents and great grandma's homes just looking at things and admiring their beauty. Can't forget sitting on the front and back porches anytime of year. 

One time I asked my grandparents for a cup of coffee. I was maybe 10. They laughed, but fixed me a cup. I drank about 2 sips and never had a cup again in my life. I'm convinced they made it extra strong so I didn't have the habit. Very neat to hear about your growing up years.