Comments On Article: Defense Stamps And A Game Of Bridge

If you would like to share your comments for article Defense Stamps and a Game of Bridge, this is where to do it! 

Click the Reply To This Topic button below to post yours.

I know my husband's grandparents (who died around 2000) continued to play bridge regularly in their retirement.  I believe they played weekly with the same friends for years. I doubt it would be possible to get that kind of commitment from people today. People perceive they are too busy. 

My mother always regarded a deck of cards as something special to be treated carefully. I remember she'd give my kids a deck of cards and expected them to be extra careful with them as if she just handed them a crystal vase. I never understood it. Because a deck of cards wasn't hard to come by. But now reading your post I think I get it. First of all, people did take care of their things no matter how small and wouldn't want to or might not be able to replace something because of carelessness.  Also, a deck of cards was central to social life for many people. Perhaps when mom was a child the cards only came out when company visited.

A few days ago I was at the GoodwI'll and hanging on one of the end caps was a bag with a very old, faded and discolored package with a pack of (if I remember right) Bridge cards and instructions on the game. I remember thinking, "that's likely from the 1940's". I wrestled with if I should get it or not but I was in a bit of a rush and trying to calculate finances in my head...I figured I'd wait. I wonder if it's still there? I was also thinking on how I want to have family game night again and I had heard of Bridge before but know nothing about it..maybe it would be good to get that instruction book. I will check and see if it's still there here in the next day or so if I get a chance to. I doubt there are many in the market for a set of old Bridge cards with their instruction manual. 

Games and such with family and friends sound so friendly, normal, and fun.  My mother-in-law lived in a four-plex (single two story building with four apartments) during the war.  She and her husband got to know the couples who lived there, all about their age with small children. For years  (truly years----into the 80's) the 4th street gang, as they called themselves,  would have a get-together once a year just to touch base with each other and reminisce about the old days.  So nice.

Things and relationships were much more cohesive back then.  

Looking at old cookbooks, it seems that presentation had become so important in the 40's and 50's.  You didn't just serve a frosted cake, you decorated it and had pretty things on the table.   A picture of my second birthday party in the 50's shows my mother had laid out the good dessert dishes -- she never owned china, but this was her best set of dishes -- neatly folded, white, starched cloth napkins, the silverplate utensils, and flowers.  The attendees were just my immediately family, my grandparents and an aunt or two, but the table was carefully arranged.   The celebrations and game gatherings in this post seem to be in that same vein - do it up fancy.  We never had any celebrations for days such as St. Valentine's Day, and my parents didn't even go out to eat, but there might be a tiny treat at our breakfast plates, or leftover cake, since my sister's birthday was the 12th. 

Card games other than family games such as Old Maid and Go Fish were forbidden in my family, because, the theory was, they were sometimes used for gambling - of course no one at our gatherings was gambling, but games such as bridge, poker, euchre and pinochle were still banned.  When the extended family gathered, though, we would put together puzzles that were set out, played board games such as Monopoly, played horseshoe or washer toss, badminton, whiffle ball, and played games such as the old "Password" game, based on the TV show.  And there was always, always, food!  But I did know some non-family women who met for bridge once a week for decades.

Working daily on computers and cell phones, commuting in a car that flashes a light when someone is in my blind spot and takes a cell phone call over my radio, and using a microwave to heat up my work lunches makes it hard to keep the 1940's in mind.  I'm trying to do what I can, such as hang out laundry, cook from scratch, sew, etc.   Thanks to someone's mention here, I just finished reading four of Gladys Taber's books.  Those were so interesting.

Kieva A, good luck - I hope your Bridge cards and instructions are still there when you return.  I recall my great, great-aunt having weekly Bridge parties back in the 1970s - she would have been in her 80's at the time.  Now, the PEO group I belong to here in Tennessee has a Bridge group that meets once a month.  Periodically, they take on newcomers/folks who want to learn and pair them with the seasoned players.  Am planning to join them the next time they do this, as I've never learned Bridge, but I play a mean game of Rummy!  :0)

Joan S, 

We grew up this way. Mom made every occasion a "party". All the special stuff came out. Most of the time it was just us- mom, dad & the kids. And she was very particular about how things were arranged and served on the table.

When I was younger I tried to emulate that. I wanted it to feel special to my family or other guests. But I found it didn't really matter to people any more. For example, they'd put a spoon in  the jar of salsa, open a bag of tortilla chips, drop the bag of slice turkey on the counter & hand you the bread. Another time for lunch a woman boiled up spaghetti, put it on our plates and poured cold sauce from the jar over it. That was lunch.

Growing up on a farm the food was basic, homestyle food. Everyone ate the same thing. And you could because it wasn't altered. Now everyone has special dietary needs and rightly so because of the way food is now processed.  That complicates things. My focus is often more on what can each person eat rather than is the table set up pretty.

I have changed a lot of what I do back to the 1940's, I have the time and energy so it works well for me. I have changed many meals to simpler things and less of meat.  I live alone so making for one person can be difficult, but I am trying.

I have been doing more reading for entertainment and trying to avoid watching Tv unless it is for news in the morning and evening as if it were a newspaper....we don't get papers anymore everything is going online. 

The news of today can be frightening and I imagine that is how people received it back then.  My grandmother used to talk about the gold stars in the windows of some homes and how sad it was.

We do get together as a family for games, have never played Bridge but we do play euchre and poker....my son in law loves poker LOL. We also play scrabble and monopoly.

I have been using Internet archives to read women's stories during WW2, very interesting and tells how strong they had to be. 

I'm sure the habit of getting together regularly started because there was no television. I wish we all visited more today, but I know it's hard for people who work. Being a stay at home like I am makes me feel that there's more responsibility on me to open my home, because I'm the one who can do the work to make a pleasant visit so all my visitors have to do is show up! It's a goal of mine to invite people to visit more often. Not just relatives! We see those regularly, but people outside our family is what I mean. 

To create more special times in my life, I'm not making treats with sugar unless it's a special occasion. We can have honey or maple syrup for things like oatmeal or pancakes, but the cakes and pies and cookies have to be for special times. :) I don't usually dress the table even on special occasions, but we have special corn dishes for holding corn on the cob, and some old-fashioned red plastic baskets with the red and white checked papers inside them that we use to serve hot dogs with small ramekins of coleslaw and potato salad in the summer. Hot dogs are for summer only, and I want ice cream to be for summer only too, but I keep having some! :) 

Some new birds have showed up. They are all black with white tummies. My son says they are juncos from Canada here to spend the winter. We are taking good care of them. It makes me hope that whoever is taking care of my hummingbirds in the south is doing a good job too! 

My mom and her family played board games and many card games! We still have the old Monopoly game and Ouija board they had as kids.  My mom and her 2 siblings learned to play card games from my grandparents, especially pinochle and gin rummy.  They must have known how to play bridge, too, because I remember a bridge set in my grandparents' kitchen drawer.  It had a particular scent to it and was of a different material than the other cards, and there were little notepads and tiny pencils with it.  As adults, my parents would often have people over for card games - primarily pinochle. We kids would play with their kids while the adults played cards; usually board games.  Sometimes, with one particular couple, when a card game was over, the women would chat and my dad and the other dad would play chess.          

Now my kids enjoy having people over for board games, which makes me happy.  

JOAN S:  My mom did this too, for birthday parties or even Sunday gatherings. The best china came out, the nice silverware and tablecloths, and we dressed up for it.  I don't remember cloth napkins, but we may have had them.  Best dishes, best clothes, and best behavior!

When I was a child, there was a long standing tradition of relatives gathering at my grandparent's home regularly to play cards - I can remember euchre and canasta, but I've never ever in my life been interested in playing card games apart from things like 'Old Maid' and 'Snap' when I was a kid - perhaps all those intense card games turned me off.  People did get together much more often to socialise back then, and I blame the advent of television for the slow demise of society as it was then compared to what it was now.  People don't open their homes to others anymore, they're too afraid to trust anyone.  When I was a child, I could and still can, describe the interior of every home on the block and then some, as all of those places were where my friends lived and we were all one big happy family, always looking out for one another.

Luckily news of the war on the radio was only broadcast at a certain time, if we'd had the coverage then that we have now, I doubt our sanity would have survived.  We're facing those prospects again although I pray not.  Australia was at war with her fellow Commonwealth countries from the start so by 1942 it was life as normal as you could make it - my mum and dad were married in 1936 so they lived through the depression years and the war years.  She told many a tale of struggling to find a few spare pennies to get them through.

I remember my grandmother getting ready to have a bridge night at her house.  She always seemed so happy getting ready and I would help her when I was little.  I think it was mostly couples who played together, so it must have been a nice regular event for married couples to get together with other couples.  I never got to stay for the party though, it was an adults only thing which may have been why she was so clearly looking forward to it!  I did enjoy snitching the bridge mix which I think was a mix of chocolate covered nuts?

I also remember that my grandmother and her friends always used to exchange simple gifts which might have also been prizes during the bridge party.  But for other occasions as well - linen dish towels, placemats, things bought at church fairs such as knitted dishcloths and potholders.  Making those things was also an excuse to get together.  I am quite certain that for my grandmother these behaviors were habits left over from the 30s and 40s.   I rarely remember her every leaving the small town we lived in as she still had local butchers, food stores, a ten cent store, and even small department stores.  Not much had changed by the time I was little but she would have been a young married woman and mother in the 30s and 40s and kept many of the habits.  I wish I could sit and have a cup of tea with her now...

When I got married in 1960, I was gifted two sets of luncheon linens.  They were card table sized and I never used them.  I've never owned a card table.

My mother was in a bridge club for MANY years.  She was in her own home until 96 years old and was still in one bridge club and substituted in a couple others.  When visiting with a cousin last summer, I found out she is still in that same bridge club mom was in.  

When I was a young child, my parents and three other couples got together often to play cards.  I think it was bridge but I'm not sure.  Each couple had two children, the oldest was 2 years older than me, 4 of us were the same age, 1 a year younger than me and 2 two years younger.  We did not pay much attention to what the parents were doing because we were enjoying their lack of attention!!

In the 30s and 40s, rural neighborhood clubs got together monthly for a luncheon, someone would do a program, or they'd do a craft or quilting and, of course, talking the afternoon away.  I have a friendship quilt given to my grandmother by her neighborhood group when she moved to town.

Ann W, 

I've bought some of those old linens at rummage sales. Most seem to be from the  60s when most folks were not using them much any more. I use them. I overheard one woman at a rummage sale where I was snatching them up say to another they were her wedding gifts. Some looked like they'd never been used. 

Stephanie G-  Yes, your birds sound like juncos.  We only get them here in Kansas over winter.  I always think of them as wearing a black tux with tails!

I have a good collection of older table linens older than 1960 that I've purchased at auctions, thrift stores and garage sales.  One reason the older linens went out of style is they have to be ironed.  Starched and ironed.  It is a lot of work, but I don't mind as they are seldom used.  

My late dh did not want guests I believe because he always felt he had to be "on" with company and he really did not feel well enough to do so.  I'm thinking I need to start entertaining something that I haven't done in many years.  Perhaps an afternoon tea with games reflecting the 1940s.  My older cookbooks have lots of recipes and ideas for afternoon teas and I could use my fancy linens.  I might even pick up a pretty set of China from the thrift shop -- they go for very little these days -- $8 to $10.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4274JymZbY

Waves from the UK.

Can I confess that I haven’t been following the 1942 study, it was such a hard time here in Britain with rationing, children being separated from parents to avoid the bombing and the constant terror of invasion. This coupled with the awfulness of current world events means that for my peace of mind I just want to make our home a safe & peaceful haven,

I have been watching some videos that talk about British life in the 1950’s and was particularly taken with this one, it reminds me of visits to my grandparents house and how my Grandma used all of her expertise to squeeze every penny as far as she could and run her house like a frugal business. This is what I want to aim for

I confess I have not participated much  in this study, yet. I plan to re-focus after a busy holiday and January. This post reminds me so much of my family and how my parents and grandparents lived. There were always card parties, and visiting family and friends was a regular event, and always included homemade dessert, served with thoughtful presentation. 

I received as a Christmas gift  from my mom this year my grandmother’s cookbook, from the 1940’s. I’ve been reading it almost daily, as it is quite large and has many handwritten notes inside. As someone else mentioned, the cookbook is filled with a lot of information on table setting, party gatherings, etc. I love reading all of this and it makes me realize how I took for granted the ways things were done when I was younger, and I am not sure how these things changed so much over the years. Such as always “setting the table” for each meal and having friends over for dessert and making even casual gatherings special. 

I am appreciating your posts and am visiting my parents this weekend and going to ask for some of their books from this time period to read and study. 

I was studying 1944, but I feel like maybe I should study 1942 again. To join in the study... we shall see.
I was studying 1943, but changed over to 1944 for the new year. But it would be nice to have the dates line up again, like they would in 1942!
I made some notes on what people were eating in 1943. There was an emphasis on saving drippings and clarifying them for use in baked goods. The newspapers were a mix of war talk, people who died, and then promotions, birthdays, sales on clothing and furniture. It's very interesting to see, but also here in Canada we were not suffering like Britain, thankfully.
I remember my grandmother used to give me cards as a gift. It makes a lot more sense now. I went to visit her yesterday, and it made me want to ask so many questions about 'the old days'. However she was tired, so I decided to save that for another day, hopefully. She has already shared many interesting stories, of the milk man being a regular occurence. The frugal habits she had, wringer washers, cloth diapers for her children (apparently that was a special nightmare!)

Looking in the forum here it reminds me of my birthdays as a child. My sister made these lovely white chocolate petit fours. She put little flowers on top, and I felt so special being able to show them to my friends. My mother would let me invite a few friends over, and we would play games. She made us little triangle sandwiches (crusts on!), with butter and ham, the way I liked them. I felt so special having a mum who put such effort into my birthdays. (though they were simple)

I realize whenever we have company we automatically bring out the china dishes, the crystal glasses and the  tablecloth. It is like a habit for us. We even apologize if we dont have dessert forks available!
My mother has a china pattern, but some of her dishes have broken now. We actually use my grandmother's Royal Albert which she gave to us, as well as her crystal glasses. It's quite funny that my mother isn't all that old, but she still bought a china pattern, was/is a homemaker, and puts great emphasis on a clean home. She wishes our house was tidier, but with all the books and frankly, ADHD, it's quite hard to keep it that way!

Good good memories...

I have not being doing much of the 1940's!  A lot has been going on. My father had a massive stroke last month (which he is now almost 100% recovered from, thank you modern medicine!), I am in the process of converting to Judaism so I have a lot of studying to do, and my last grandparent passed this past Sunday. I have been mostly just been trying to be more present. In my own life and for other people. Community is very important to me, as it was in the 1940's, so that is my main focus. I am trying to visit with friends, attend more get-togethers at temple, and today I will be attending my first Shiva for a deceased member of our congregation. I just want to be there for people. It comforts me just as much, if not more than it comforts them!  None of us is alone.

I know this post was more about the bridge parties, but I'm sort of puzzled about the defense stamps.  Wouldn't it have been a lot more practical to just save up the $18.75 in real money, and then buy the bond with that?  The government wouldn't have had to waste resources on the booklets and stamps themselves, and individuals wouldn't have had to waste a postage stamp and envelope to carry it in for safety. I'm also confused why anyone would carry a partially full booklet around with them rather than keeping it at home.  

I do miss that the table was presented well.  But I suppose that goes hand in hand with dressing decently if one was going out shopping even if it was for groceries!  Cards is definitely a staple as my mother and step dad both played and had people over religiously, whether it be a neighbor thing, or like my step dad, an ongoing place to attend with his buddies, daily except for the weekend.  The food table was always pretty, and we didn't just slap our food down as we do now.  Makes for a lot of dishes. LOL.  No one does any of this anymore.  Food is a serve yourself, the game/card nights are gone. It's hard enough to just chat with a neighbor. No one (at least in AZ) is remotely interested. Definitely more community oriented then.  Also reading, "Never Done" a history of housework, that once a lot of those new-found appliances, electricity, and all that "new" came to the home, the housewife lost the chatting she had with the milkman, ice delivery man, a short neighborly chat or tea with the neighbor, or chat with the grocer... Always had to give up something for technology.  

I think board and card games are making a comeback among the "younger generation." My son made many of his now-best friends at a new university by joining a (very popular) games club on campus where kids got together just to play board and card games. He and his friends love playing poker, strategy games, etc. One of my daughters has a weekly game night with a group of friends. I love seeing this sort of thing becoming more common again!

I think the Defense Stamps were a way for people to gradually purchase a war bond if they didn’t have all the funds at the same time.  The government would get the money right away, and of course, plenty of people would end up not completing the booklet and would have basically donated to the cause, yes?

I grew up with my older relatives playing all sorts of card games, but not bridge.  I do have a few card table sized hand embroidered table cloths from the generation before that.  We get into playing board and card games off and on.

It’s just three of us at home now (all adults) and we are all introverted and not so likely to spontaneously have people over or to host large gatherings.  People don’t seem to just drop by, anyway — even my youngest always tells me when she is coming over because dropping in feels very rude to her.  Like Stephanie, when I was raising children as a stay-at-home mom I often felt like I should be the one to ask people over because I had to the time and inclination to make home.

I like things simple.  I’m not super likely to fuss with foods but sometimes I will decorate cookies or a cake in a simple, occasion appropriate manner.  I have WW2 era china but we rarely use it, the everyday dishes work well enough and I find that guests find it odd to use china, silver, and crystal.  We used them more when we had more family living nearby and hosted holiday celebrations.  But overall it is nice to load the dishwasher with Corelle and enjoy time with our guests instead of hand washing everything.

When children were still home including until last foster left, we always set the table and sat down together for evening meal.  ALWAYS.  Once my grandson was visiting and I asked him to set the table, he said no, I said okay, if you don't want to eat that's okay with me.  He set the table.  Nothing fancy, just knife and spoon on right, fork on left, plate, glass and a napkin.  Depending on number of people we'd eat at kitchen table or dining room table.  Place mats instead of tablecloths.  

I also struggle with 1942 because I was born in 1943 and have early childhood memories of WWII.  I watched parent's cousins and dad's brother come home from the war with permanent injuries.  I recall Saturday nights where men filled the American Legion to overflowing.  I recall a friend whose father was a permanent resident of Veterans Hospital with what was then called shell shock.  He never recovered.  

Life was simpler then in that there was less stuff and people took care of the stuff they had.  Credit cards did not exist nor did TV.  People socialized with each other in homes.  It was perfectly fine for people to just drop in without calling first although most had phones.  In small towns Saturday night was the only time stores stayed open in the evening and that was when farmers came to town to "trade" and shop.  The streets were full of people visiting even in cold weather.  Even though we lived in town we would often go "up town" to visit.  The movie theatre was full of kids for an early show. There were band concerts during summer months.   All of that went away with TV.

Also, I washed cloth diapers by hand, then with a wringer washer and no dryer.  When I had two foster babies and used cloth diapers everyone asked why I didn't use disposables.  The answer was simply I had an automatic washer and dryer!!  I still hung diapers on the line on sunny days.  So foolish to spend hundreds on disposable diapers which then fill landfills when you can easily wash and reuse cloth for years.

I guess this long saga boils down I've already been there done that and have actually kept my life simple.  I very seldom watch TV, I cook from scratch, I set my table properly, I live a frugal life.  However, I am looking at the simple socializing at home with food and games and realizing that could in a small way help with the incivility we are seeing more and more in society today.

My maternal grandparents belonged to a card club in the 1940's (maybe even in the late 1930's) and were friends with the other couples all of their life.  I am not sure how often they met, but I am guessing once a month from my grandfather's war correspondence.  He served in the Army from January 1944 until December 1945.  He was one of the "old" draftees and hence the late entrance into the war.  The card club continued meeting all thru WWII, and there are some letters from club members which was kind of neat because I sort of got to know them, even though I never met them in real life.  The letters are also a nice snap shot of what was happening on the home front at that time .

I think the card club got together at someone's house once a month (they rotated hostessing) and there was food present, although I really do not know the details.  They also got together for a card club summer picnic, and on one occasion, had a weekend Halloween party up in the Pocono's (mountains in upstate northeastern PA).

On the paternal side, i don't believe there were any card clubs, but my Grandpop was a social kind of guy and I believe the families got together frequently.  Growing up, we were at both my grandparents homes regularly, either to visit or for dinner or a picnic. 

 Unfortunately, none of the social gene passed down to my parents, as we rarely had people over to our home growing up.   I never much liked having people over either, but I have really been trying to do things differently lately. As our family is getting smaller, and people are moving away, I have become really the only one in our family to host dinners.  It's a little exhausting, but I really enjoy creating good memories.

Some of my friends actually belong to a game night group, but I cannot join because the rule is you also have to host.  That is a little challenging for me because my husband does not enjoy board or card games, and he is an early to bed kind of guy.  So....it may not "be in the cards"  (ha ha) for me to be part of such a group, but I would enjoy it!  Believe it or not, we had card club in high school, with games like bridge or rummy.  I have forgotten how to play, but I like playing games. 

As I recall some of the card clubs would meet in a back/party room of the local restaurant.  I don't know if there was a charge for using the room, but they would order food so perhaps not.  You might make inquiries which would allow you to entertain albeit not at home. 

This is a very interesting read. Thank you, Donna. 

My mother was very addicted to playing Canasta. I read where it was developed in Uruguay by two men who wanted a shorter version of play than Bridge. The article I read said it took a while for them to perfect it and in 1949, ten years after they started working on it, it was released.

I grew up playing canasta as, I said, my mother was a huge fan. In her older years she lived in an apartment with friends in the same apartment building as she was. They would get together once a week for Canasta.

My Dad was born in 1915 and my mother in 1924. They both experienced the Depression and WW11. My Dad was a MedTech in the Phillipines and surrounding islands. I have a couple of letters that he wrote my grandparents in 1942, when he was stationed overseas. I don't think the Depression or the War were pleasant subjects for anyone who lived through them.

 My grandparents spoke often of the past but never once did anyone mention either of the subjects mentioned above. I had two grandmothers and a grandfather in my life continually. One grandmother lived in our home and the other set lived across the street. In hindsight, I wish I would have asked alot more questions growing up.

My father was born in 1909, mum in 1912 - so they saw everything that happened from a distant point of view - two world wars although both were still young during the first one, plus the depression and so on.  I still have my mum's war time cook book released in 1943 and as well as frugal recipes, it also has a lot of handwritten recipes from various sources, so lots of different writing as well.  I treasure this book, and have actually used it for basic recipes at times.  I've also got a similar issue of a Pear's Cyclopaedia plus my Dad's huge old Websters Dictionary from those early eras where it states that one day perhaps there will be such a thing as a jet plane!

When I had my children, there was no such thing as disposable nappies (diapers) so we just used terry towelling cloth napkins and washed them every single day - no washing machine either to start with either and I'd take them out to Mum's and boil them up in the copper every Saturday - always hanging them on the line, we didn't have dryers and there were none on the market as they are to-day.  We didn't have a phone until mid-1960, we walked around the road to the post office to call my dad who worked on a tropical island off the coastline.  Life was much simpler then, and dare I say it, much happier.

With events getting worse by the minute in this horrible world of to-day, I'm more than happy to be able to just concentrate on my own little family and hope that things don't get worse.  Neighbours rarely talk to each other these days and aren't interested in doing so, and I'm getting too old to really want to socialise now - we both find we're exhausted if people are here so we're happier just muddling along as we best can.  We don't 'do' coffee mornings at all as seems to be the norm either (I don't drink the stuff anyway, it doesn't agree with me so I'm a cup of tea girl every time).

My library has game nights in which you can just show up and find someone to play a game with. There's a night for kids and on another night it's teens and adults. I think that could be fun if there's a regular group of folks who show up that you could get to know.

For years, my parents had a monthly pinocle night with two other couples.  They would meet on a rotating basis at each couple's home.  The hosting couple would provide a nice dinner, and the group would play cards after dinner.  When it was at our home, my mother would get out her china and silver, along with nice table linens and glassware.  She would study cookbooks and pick out several courses to serve.  We kids were fed early and sent downstairs to entertain ourselves.  These get togethers lasted through their retirement years, until ill health for some individuals caused an end to the monthly gatherings.  There were no prizes given, but the group had such a fun time together.  

Canasta was the game we played a lot starting when I was maybe 11 or 12.  My great-great-aunt's stepdaughter used to come visit at my grandmothers after the g-g-aunt passed away.  Grandma used to phone and draft three granddaughters to come play canasta with the stepdaughter mainly because the lady was driving grandma around the bend.  None of us were thrilled be we never considered refusing grandma.  Some of the longest summer afternoons in history were spent at that card table.  

We played as adults too, but it's been so long I no longer remember how it goes.  I do still have the plastic holder used for the cards.  Cribbage my late dh and I taught ourselves using the book According to Hoyle.  Just glancing at it, it has the rules for Canasta too.  That book would be good to have if you're considering card games.

People were asked to put as much as they could into National Savings because it was life or death. These were adverts in The Times in 1940, after Dunkirk, when invasion seemed imminent, and during the London Blitz.

Everyone had to do their bit. Unless they were caring for family or were in work, women would be conscripted to the forces, to factories and munitions. 

The extra pay was not to be wasted. There were adverts against, “The Squander Bug.”

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/meet-the-squander-bug

There was less time for social activities. There were First Aid courses, Fire fighting and other emergency courses, and fire watching to tackle incendiary bombs. 

Volunteers were needed for so many necessary tasks. Women were encouraged to join the Women’s Voluntary Service. Nella Last joined a group sewing hospital clothing and she volunteered in the WVS charity shop raising money to send Red Cross Parcels to Prisoners of War. Volunteers from my school continued the tradition and did a term helping to deliver the lunchtime Meals on Wheels from the kitchens at WVS Centre to the elderly housebound in the town.

https://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/about-us/our-history/fact-sheets/

On the Home Front, everyone was encouraged to Dig For Victory, turning over lawns and flower beds for growing fruit and vegetables, and taking on allotments. Able bodied people of all ages were encouraged to Lend a Hand on the Land, to get in the harvest instead of taking a holiday. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-49715638

Women and girls were encouraged to knit comforts for the forces. The photograph shows members of the National Federation of Women’s Institute all busily knitting. The WI set up local centres to collect surplus fruit to make jam for the National Rations. 

Janet W  I always appreciate your posts reflecting on what was happening in the UK.  I checked out your link regarding the squander bug...I might print that out as a reminder to myself!  LOL!  Also,I checked out the section on rationing below the Squander Bug info...loved the picture of people lining up to purchase goods at the grocer, with the babies in their prams parked in a line as well.  I saw the "Grow Your Own Food" poster in person this summer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, part of a larger exhibition of art from the late 30's into the '40s.  There was a second poster with a warship "Use Spades Not Ships-Grow Your Own Food and Supply Your Own Cookhouse from the same artist, Abram Games, done between 1939-1943

I haven't read this article yet, but I wanted to make sure to get this posted. Someone had asked about the soaked pancake recipe and then Grandma Donna couldn't find hers. I found in my notes for the history studies GDonna's recipe that I had saved because I want to try them sometime when I get a chance. 

Grandma Donna Wrote, Misty K, I soak the whole wheat after it is ground or I purchased whole wheat flour from the store, which I use for the pancakes. I soak the flour.

I have never soaked wheat berries, I soak the flour.

For the soak the night before making pancakes.

I add to a large bowl 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 cups of filtered water, and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. I stir that around a bit and cover and let it sit overnight up to 12 hours. There is normally a liquid on top the next morning I call hooch because with sourdough the film they call it hooch. Anyway it forms a liquid film that I skim off with a spoon. I skim it off because the batter for the pancakes would be too thin if I did not. Then I add the other ingredients that next morning after I have skimmed of the top film, liquid.

For pancakes I will add

2 large eggs or 3 regular or small eggs depending on the size. (beaten Eggs) 1 tablespoon heavy cream ( I use whipping cream that comes in a carton)

1 tablespoon honey

5 tablespoons gently melted butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Those were the liquid ingredients that were put in the soaked flour

Now add the dry ingredients 1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt and last add 1 teaspoon baking soda.

After you add the soda and start stirring it will lift up because the soda reacts with the baking powder and the liquids. Then cook your pancakes with this batter like you would normally cook pancakes. Make sure to oil or butter your skillet. Shaye Elliott has a recipe on google for bread using soaked flour. Just type in google search, Shaye Elliott, soaked whole wheat bread. I hope this helps, Donna

If you separate your eggs adding the yolks to the whole wheat batter, then beat egg white stiff and fold into the batter, you get lighter pancakes.  If your family is not used to whole wheat pancakes, this might make a big difference.  Also, works with waffles.

Those asking about the 2¢ to 5¢ saving stamps, those were primarily for children to purchase at school.  In those days a nickel was a lot of money for a child so the 2¢ stamps would likely have been their choice.   My allowance in the late 1940's was 25¢ per week with 5¢ for Sunday School, 15¢ for a movie and a whole 10¢ for treats.  Candy bars, Coke, ice cream cones or popcorn at the movie were 5¢.  Only popcorn was available at the movie.  Fountain cokes and hard dipped ice cream cones were available at the drug store on the corner and candy bars at the grocery stores.

Grandma Donna wrote, 

Andrea B, thank you for posting the lost pancake recipe. :)  

All of you, thank you so much for the wonderful information and photos, it helps us so much in understanding this time in history.  (Big Hugs)  Donna

My parents were born in 1931 so were youngsters during the Depression. I remember my Mom telling us stories about the rations and going to the movies each week with her grandfather.  I think that’s where they would get news from the war?  They lived in a small city (Norristown PA) and they walked everywhere.  Her father served in WWII and I still have letters that he would send to her from Europe when she was a girl.  He was one of the older soldiers and they called him Pops. My grandmother had a victory garden and grew an amazing amount of food.  I so wish I had paid better attention to her stories and wrote them down.  My older siblings remember much more and asked more questions I guess

I love to use my vintage linen tablecloths and napkins, along with our family china.  Our daughters and their families come home most Sundays for Sunday dinner, so they get a lot of use!  The girls clean up after dinner and I sometimes need to remind them not to put the china in the dishwasher but I still often set the table with china.

I enjoy reading everyone’s comments and am fascinated with this time period. Thank you Grandma Donna for this wonderful space to learn and connect!!!

Mary

Ann W, we still set the dining room table and sit down together for dinner every night!  At home it is my husband, my adult son, and me, and eating together is such an entrenched part of our lives that I can’t imagine ever not doing it.  It’s so important to us that we eat dinner a little later to accommodate my son’s work schedule.  Even when both of our children were away at university my husband and I would set the table and eat together.  If the night is dark, we light candles and turn on our twinkling lights.  We use cork-backed place mats instead of a tablecloth, since they can be wiped clean and don’t need laundering.

We finally had a week that felt like we were settling into our new retired rhythm.  Just the basics so far — cleaning, cooking, and errands.  We need to work in times for physical activity (other than walking after dinner) and for projects.  I’m trying to set us up to time block, using the mornings for tasks and chores and leaving the afternoons free for hobbies, reading, etc.  It seems like it would be very easy to fill our days with nothing but tasks!

After taking a break over the holiday season, I did a bi kitchen day yesterday.  I baked bread, whole wheat applesauce muffins, and whole wheat biscuits.  My bread has been mushrooming in my cast iron pans compared to the pans I used before, so I used less dough per loaf and made two nice burger buns with what I didn’t put in the pans.  If I do the same thing next week I’ll have four buns, which is enough for one meal for the three of us.  I put in 900 grams of dough per loaf instead of 980 and that was pretty much perfect.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a minimal amount of unbiased news without spending any money.  As frightening as WW2 most certainly was, at least people weren’t doomscrolling all day — I can’t imagine getting updates every few minutes or hours.  I think the physical word helps us release stress and cope with worry — so many of us start cleaning when we are anxious about an immediate situation!  As I get older, I just don’t want so much information.  I don’t know how much time I have left but I do know the way to make it feel like it’s going slower and lasting longer is to go analog most of the time.  This morning I cooked myself a good breakfast, eggs and a whole wheat biscuit (from the freezer), plus some reheated zucchini from last night’s dinner.  Then I spent some time outside in the sun, finishing a dish cloth and casting on another one straight away, while listening to an audiobook from the library.  I’ve had a small amount of device time, and now I’ll be disconnecting for the rest of today, with the exception of following a master class for my sewing machine on YouTube.

This thread answered a question I've always had!  I have a pretty embroidered tablecloth that's way too small for a dining room and way too big for an end table.  A square.  It's for a card table!  We don't have one so it never occurred to me.  Thanks for solving my mystery!!  It was my mom's, but I never thought to ask her about it.  I do know that she played pinochle every month.  I don't recall ever seeing anyone cover a card table, but I may have been too young to notice.  I just remember her bringing home a little paper cup of butter mints and Spanish peanuts.  Yum!!

I was delighted to have an old-fashioned time with friends this past Christmas season. After a delicious meal, our hostess got out a game of bingo. To our surprise, she had a bag of wrapped gifts for prizes! The prizes included things like a mug, notepads, and candy. My family had a memorable time doing this with her.

 I realize that many people are required to have smartphones for various reasons, but I really hope I never have to get one. Such stress from all the messages and notifications! There are so many complaints about them that I would rather not have one. I see that grocery stores in our area are now demanding that people check in for grocery pickups with some sort of bar code on their phone, so I will now have to just go into the stores. That's fine with me! It's old-fashioned!

Elizabeth M_2, you can switch off all those excessive features on the smart phones - most are 'smart' phones these days anyway as all it really means is that it can connect to the internet and thus able to access almost anything - but you don't have to use those things.  The same applies to a 'smart' TV, we don't stream anything nor do we have a subscription service, just use free to air television for the small amount of time we watch it, so we just turned off the connection to the internet. 

I fought off a smartphone for years.  I finally got one last year.  But we kept our landline.  Right now, I feel like it's the best of both worlds.  I use the landline for talking and appt. calls.  I use my cell primarily for texts and emergencies.  It might ring once a month, if that!  My husband.  Otherwise, only a handful of people have the number.  Note, I don't have kids so my husband would be the only emergency I would need to get to immediately.

Elizabeth M_2 -- Your Christmas event sounds like it was so much fun! :)

I had a laptop and a smartphone until my laptop's operating system became obsolete. Internet access devices are so expensive and need constant upgrades! Now I just have my smartphone for accessing the internet. My son has a smartphone and a gaming desktop computer. He needs the internet access on his phone for directions and looking things up when he's out. My husband had two laptops, a desktop, and a smartphone. One of the laptops we gave to a relative who needed one. The other laptop became obsolete too. His desktop computer just became obsolete, and we're considering whether it's worth it to replace or not. He needs his smartphone for work because he needs to use those QR codes you mentioned on his job. He has to use them to scan different information or for processing payments. The long and the short of it is that, for us, smartphones are the most useful and cheapest option. I only have notifications for texts on my phone. If my phone ever tries to notify me of anything else, I immediately go into settings and turn it off! I tried to find a talk and text only phone, but decided I needed to be able to access the internet for shopping and things too often to get rid of my smartphone.

Donna,

            Thank you for another fine post! My parents did not have a lot of people over. Mostly, people stopped by around the holidays. My mother had a friend with whom she could talk on the phone for hours, but I never remember them actually getting together, even though they lived only about five houses apart.  Maybe they were both too busy raising kids to have time for in-person socializing. My parents once had some friends over to play penny poker when I was about six. They taught me to play, and I was thrilled to win some pennies. My mother's favorite game was Scrabble since she was an avid reader. Even when she was in her 80s, she could beat me at Scrabble.

          I wanted to thank those who posted links, especially the video link. It is so interesting to see how things were done in other places. I always enjoy checking out the links.

          I was at Dollar General the other day and noticed they have packs of Burpee heirloom vegetable seeds for only $1 each. That was an encouraging sign that Spring will be here in a few months. Right now, it's very cold, and it is going to be bitterly cold this weekend. I have an old-style refrigerator that needs to be defrosted, so I did that today, while I can set the food on my enclosed porch to keep it cold. This weekend, I plan to defrost and reorganize my chest freezer. I also like to do a canning project when it gets bitterly cold outside. Since I heat with wood, it doesn't keep the whole house evenly warm, and canning really helps warm up the kitchen when it is cold outside. Also, it is supposed to snow, so I will take my rugs outside to be cleaned. I lay them face down in the clean snow, then walk on the back of the rug until it's clean.

          I finally got a much-needed water heater last Friday, and so now I can clean more easily. I've been in a flurry of work getting things done. It is sort of strange that you can never have the same level of appreciation for something unless you have been deprived of it. I was without a water heater for about six years, and no one can probably imagine how good that first shower felt. Yet in a couple of weeks, I will be used to having hot running water again, and I won't have the same appreciation for it either. Now I want to get an automatic washing machine so I can wash clothes more easily. I currently have a Maytag wringer washer that is about 72 years old. It is still going strong, and I don't plan to ever get rid of it, but it is more time-consuming, and it doesn't dry the clothes enough to put them in the dryer if I need to. I have been thinking lately about an unpleasant reality of life: that someday someone might need to come into our home to care for us and clean it, etc. I started thinking that whether the help is paid or free, people would likely be more willing to help us and accomplish more if we have modern tools they are used to. It occurred to me that not many people know how to use a wringer washer, and they probably wouldn't want to learn. I'm hoping to not be in that situation any time soon, but you never know what will happen to you, so it is probably best to be prepared just in case. Also, if something happens and you can get by without outside assistance, it's easier on yourself if you have modern appliances.

Have A Good Day Y'all

Becky Sue

Becky Sue K -- your comments about modern appliances reminded me of my mother's remarks when she learned that I had put up a clothesline instead of buying a dryer, after we moved several years ago. She wanted to know what I would do when I could no longer hang out the wash. I told her that I would either buy a dryer then, or visit a laundromat, or  pay someone to help me.  

So far, I still enjoy hanging out the laundry. However, those other options are all still out there as possible for the future!

gDonna and others -- I am not living the new study, but I am following along and really appreciating the discussions. The recent examination of soap, its uses, how it is made, what can be substituted -- this has been both interesting and enlightening. Thank you to all who contributed thoughts and information!  

We had visitors for a few weeks over the holidays, so I got behind on reading here. So happy to be caught up now!  

-Amy in MS

Amy W, I have received the same question many times since giving up having a clothes dryer — everyone expects it will get too hard to hang the laundry as I get older.  But our neighbor growing up hung her clothes into her late 80s, and only started using a dryer when my dad insisted on giving her one he had picked up for free.  Until then she used a rack in the house most of the time, and said that draping clothes over the rack took no more effort than putting them into the dryer and taking them back out again.  She wasn’t inclined to wash things she had only worn once or twice, and her loads were small.

Most of the time if we have an appliance fail we will spend some time without it, the exception being the washing machine and refrigerator.  But we went more than a year without a dishwasher, and more than a year without a microwave.  We even spent more than a month without an oven, but decided we really did want one.  These days I have no plans to replace the dishwasher again when it breaks (we did replace the last one that broke because we had a house full of young adults), but I will happily replace the microwave when the times comes.  Once you are using your own generated solar for electricity you appreciate a power saving appliance!  Right now with lower generation we’ve determined it is less expensive to buy a baguette from Trader Joe’s than to pay for electricity to bake one if we aren’t making enough on our own (taking into account ingredients and electricity).  In a month or two that will be completely different and we will have plenty of electricity until the very hot weather comes and we need the solar to power the A/C

All of you make very valid points.  As to a dryer, if the time ever comes when I can't hang my washing on the line anymore, I'll have a rack that I can use outside - I'd hate to have to use a dryer full time for my laundry.  As well as chewing up the power at a great rate, they are quite hard on clothes generally and although handy at times, I doubt I'd ever buy another.  I haven't had one for more than twenty years and certainly don't miss it at all.  I have a large clothesline outside and another fold-down one under the back verandah so if it rains, the breeze still dries the clothes.  My dad was 93 and still hanging the washing on the line every washing day before he died.