The phrase Straight-laced was originally STRAIT laces. The old English word strait meant tight or narrow. In Tudor times buttons were mostly for decoration. Laces were used to hold clothes together. If a woman was STRAIT laced she was prim and proper. VINEGAR OF THE FOUR THIEVES: Recipes & curious tips from the past Check […]
King George VI was the King who had the stutter depicted in the movie The King’s Speech and the father of Queen Elizabeth II who recently had her 90th birthday. News from May 12, 1937, King George VI and Elizabeth’s coronation. From The Tuscaloosa News in Alabama of May 12, 1937 Solemn Coronation Rites Followed By Heavy […]
MANY FACETED MARCH BY INEZ MCCOLLUM We are coming up on March already. This is the last month of the first quarter of 2015. The word “March” has held many places in literature and every day conversation through out the ages. I suppose the one that dates back furtherest is “Beware of the Ides of […]
Among the Anglicans in Colonial days, Twelfth Night ( January 6) or Epiphany also known as Boxing Day, was more important than Christmas. This was the traditional date of the arrival of the magi and was celebrated by giving presents, usually a new piece of clothing or money (in a box, hence the name) to […]
This photograph of Marilyn Monroe when she was posing for photographers while filming the The Seven Year Itch in September 1954 is probably the most shared of all her photographs. However, the film below may have been inspired by the 1901 film at the bottom of this page. Watch a lady get a surprise in this 1901 film. […]
He was hard pressed to get enough to eat, and went bankrupt, but eight years later he was wealthy. Today his work is known world-wide and he is beloved from small fishing villages to the frozen North. He could have driven around in a Rolls Royce, but instead he plowed his profits back into his […]
My New Orleans Experience: My Purse was Snatched! By Jean Butterworth My son, Danny was the mascot, Big Al at the University of Alabama from 1985-87. On November 9, 1985, Bama was to play LSU, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. It was a long drive to Baton Rouge but a nurse friend, asked me […]
In olden days, women used beeswax on their faces to give them the “white look.” They mixed the beeswax with a lead compound. In order to keep their faces from melting in the hot sun, they carried a gauze mask to put over their makeup to “Save Face” In front of the fire place, they […]
Things that go bump in the night by Inez McCollum “Things that go bump in the night” is a much used term from a now infamous trial. That was a new expression to me; but I have found it to describe several events in my life. When soft drink makers changed from deposit bottles to […]
MEMORIES OF AUTUMN AND FOOD by Jean Butterworth What childhood memories do I have of Autumn I ask my self? Pulling back the years of my memories, I first thought of my Grandmother, who was as a busy bee when it came to preparing for the family’s long winter months ahead. As I child I […]
