Archive for February 2012
from the pages of an old diary – illness in the community
In her diaries, my great-aunt wrote about her own health, as well as the health of others. She was a nurse, trained at McLean Hospital in Boston, so her interest in health is not surprising. Her diary entries are filled with her visits to the sick. She often brought either ginger ale or ice cream with her when she visited, and these must have soothed many a sore throat and helped to get needed fluids into the ill person.
In May of 1955, a flu went through the community. Through the diary entries, you can follow as different people become ill. On May 6, 1955, my great-aunt came down with the flu, probably contracted as she visted the sick. She was in bed for eleven days. In those days, the doctor made house calls and he came twice to see her.
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flu in the community – 1955
-response to a diary entry for May 16, 1955 and entries for the previous two weeks
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Mon cloudy cold. Katie M.
came in P.M. brought ice-cream [and] gin [ginger] ale.
I am feeling better. I cleaned up-stairs
some. R.C. called too at noon.
– A.M.W.
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1.
Sunday
visited Jesse
Tuesday
took Madge ginger ale
Wednesday
took Mrs. B. ice-cream
combed her hair, made her bed
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should stay away
but ginger is good for what ails you
and ice-cream soothes the throat
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I’m a trained nurse
it’s expected
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2.
Saturday
chills, fever 103
Doctor saw me twice
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3.
nine days, in bed
I hear comings and goings downstairs
most won’t come up, or stay
afraid of flu
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4.
Monday
better today, out of bed
puttered around upstairs
Katie came
brought me ice-cream and ginger ale
a little gossip
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remedies for the flu
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© Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – holidays
Among the events recorded in my great-aunt’s diaries were holidays.
Here are some of the activities she recorded for those special days in 1957:
New Year’s Day (Jan. 1, 1957) – they had her brother’s family to dinner.
Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 1957) – she sent her grand-daughter in Saint John a Valentine.
Easter (April 21, 1957) – they went to the Presbyterian Church in New Glasgow to see the ‘3000 Easter lilies’ on display. She also sent a box of gifts to her grand-daughter.
Canada Day (called Dominion Day before 1982) July 1, 1957 – not mentioned in her diaries.
Halloween (Oct. 31, 1957) – ‘seven children for Halloween’ Interesting … our modern conversations about Halloween are often to compare the numbers of children who came trick-or-treating!
Thanksgiving – the day before, she ‘did some cooking for Thanksgiving’ (Oct. 12, 1957) and on Sunday, she had her sister (my grandmother) and my uncle for a chicken dinner.
Christmas – my great-aunt belonged to an ‘Xmas Club’. They had their Christmas Dinner together (Dec. 2 , 1957) and exchanged gifts. My great-aunt’s gifts in 1957 were a pair of pillow cases and a pair of gloves.
Part of Christmas meant sending parcels to family and friends. In 1957, my great-aunt mailed Christmas parcels to her son’s family in Saint John on December 14, 1957 and to others on December 11 and 16.
On Christmas Day, they went to her brother’s house for Christmas Dinner.
On December 29, 1957, they went to see the Christmas pageant. There were also other community events, since on December 24, 1954, they went to see the community Christmas tree.
She makes no mention of Christmas decorations in her own home, but I still have a few of the ornaments from her tree.
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New Year’s Day 1957
-response to a diary entry for January 1, 1957
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Tues nice day, quite cold. C.
D. D. also K. J. here to
N. Years dinner. had a chicken sponge
cake for dessert. strawberry vanilla ice cream
we went for a drive after C.s left.
– A.M.W.
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new year, basket in the hall closet
empty, mending and darning
done, seven to dinner, everyone
satisfied, sponge cake and ice-cream
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no worries about tomorrow, predicted
storms, the need to stay well,
catches in clothing and worn
heels, arm sore from beating eggs
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my New Year’s resolutions:
a beater that runs on electricity
no more blue socks darned with red
the chicken was tasty
colourful with carrots
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© Jane Tims 2012
a moment of beautiful – trees and shadows
space: edge of the St. John River in winter
beautiful: mature silver maple trees and their shadows on the snow
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We went for a drive last weekend, along the St. John River. Above the ice, the river is covered in snow, a broad white plain edged by very old and very rugged silver maple trees.
In spite of a harsh environment, these trees endure. Each spring and fall, they are flooded. They are scoured by ice and subject to the eroding forces of the river. They are always at risk from people searching for a supply of firewood. A friend tells me these huge trees are usually suckers, grown from the base after the original tree was harvested.
And yet they grow old, a part of the hardwood floodplain forest. On a sunny day, they lean over the snow-covered river and spread their shadows across its surface. They have the beauty of their symmetry, solidity, grace, and fortitude.
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the line of animal tracks crossing the snow are probably from a Red Fox
Copyright Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – making a quilt
My great-aunt’s diary often records her activities as part of her Red Cross group. In the years from 1954 to 1957, and beyond, this group of 4 to 9 women met every Friday to work together on a community project. They worked quickly. On September 17, 1957 they put on two crib quilts and finished them by October 1, 1957 (three meetings).
Sometimes they worked on a layette for a new mother and her baby (February 8, 1957). Most often, they worked on a quilt (for example, March 22, 1957), doing the piecing and quilting as a group. In addition, my great-aunt often took a quilt home ‘to bind’ (for example, March 29, 1957).
Sometimes the group made money for a local cause by selling quilt ‘squares’. On April 12, 1957, my great-aunt wrote: ‘…we took a quilt out. we are going to make one to sell. money for hosp [hospital]. to work on its 10¢ a name.’ The next evening, she called at a neighbour’s house and sold 5 squares. On May 3, 1957, she wrote, ‘…we worked on our quilt blocks – working the names. I took three blocks home.’
More often they made a quilt for someone in the community. On February 8, 1957, she wrote, ‘I took a quilt up to Mrs. C. from R. Cross.’
In 1954, the group worked on a ‘flower garden quilt’, and the story of the quilt can be followed in the diary.
The first step was to piece the quilt. My great-aunt worked on this stage at home, from March 15, 1954 to March 23, 1954, sometimes with a friend. On March 19, she even missed the Red Cross meeting to work on the quilt. On March 23, she wrote, ‘I worked on R.C. flower garden quilt all day. J.B. here in eve. we finished it. ready to be quilted. very pretty quilt…’
'flower garden quilt' made by my grandmother, my great-aunt's sister
The group began quilting the flower garden quilt on June 4, and finished it at a meeting three weeks later (June 25, 1954). My great-aunt brought the quilted quilt home to bind and had help with the binding from another woman (June 28, 1954). On July 12, 1954, she wrote, ‘J. [and] M.D. called to see the flower garden quilt.’ Unfortunately, there is no record of who received the finished quilt.
The ‘flower garden’ is a well-known heritage quilt pattern. It is made up of many hexagonal pieces, laid out in a pattern of concentric circles. I have two quilts made by my grandmother (my great-aunt’s sister) and one of these is a flower garden quilt. The quilt is well-named since the final pattern resembles a garden full of bright and colourful flowers. The individual pieces in my grandmother’s quilt are from diverse fabrics, likely recycled from remnants and old clothes.
In 1957, the women made another flower garden quilt. My great-aunt must have loved working on it, since on March 27, she records going down to the Red Cross rooms after a funeral and working on the quilt by herself. On March 29, 1957, she wrote, ‘…I went to R.C. brought home the hosp. [hospital] flower garden quilt to bind.’ She finished the binding on April 3.
Women still make quilts today, of course, either alone or as a group. I have made lots of lap-sized quilts, best for me due to my short interest span!
Have you ever made a quilt and did you work alone or with others?
- my grandmother’s flower garden quilt – I love the variety of fabrics used
© Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – writing letters
Letter writing has become an orphan communication in our world of emails and Facebook and Tweets. But in the past, when these forms of communication did not yet exist, and long-distance phone calls were so expensive they were only used for emergencies, people kept in touch by letter.
My Mom and I wrote to one another regularly for 30 years, even after I had my ‘family calling telephone plan’. I still have all her letters and looking at her handwriting makes me feel near to her. Her words, the beautiful way she formed her letters, and the stories they tell, are concrete evidence of her life and interests and her love for her family.
My great-aunt’s diaries show she also considered letters to be an important part of her daily life. In her diaries, letters received and written were an activity she recorded regularly. The mail arrived twice per day in the community where she lived and her diaries tell they went for the mail daily.
post cards were part of the mail... this funny post card was sent to my great-aunt in 1908 when she attended nursing school
Letters from her son or daughter-in-law were recorded with tangible joy. She wrote to them regularly, approximately three times per month, and they wrote as regularly to her. She records her letters as, ‘I wrote to St. John today’ (she is referring to the place where they lived, Saint John, New Brunswick).
During World War II, letters from her son had taken on a particular importance since they signalled he was alive and well.
In 1957, perhaps the favourite letter received was from her little grand-daughter: on November 26, 1957, she wrote, ‘had a letter from b. a.’
The poem below was inspired by that letter, although I do not have the letter itself and the account is from my head.
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letter from her grand-daughter
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she watches for your
letter, your definite
hand, the dog-eared page
of a book begun, unfinished
creases in paper once folded
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as if an envelope could
revive the creak in the upstairs hall
re-clatter the spoon in an empty
jar of jam, jangle the telephone
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the trouble is, of course,
you grew, learned numbers
the difference between
‘b’ and ‘d’,developed your signature
went to war
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of course, all that
made possible this envelope, addressed
to Grabma, the stamp
licked on sideways, sweet stick-men
and baby words in pencil
pressed, float
from the page
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~
© Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – entertainment
One of the themes included in my great-aunt’s diaries is entertainment, to balance all the housework and community work.
T.V. was a new source of amusement. Before my great-aunt and great-uncle got their first T.V. on May 7, 1957, her diary includes many visits to friend’s houses to watch their televisions. For example on March 10, 1957, she watched a program at a friend’s home on the famous Anna Swan (Anna Haining Swan, 1846 – 1888, was born in Nova Scotia and grew to a height of 8 feet).
After they bought their own T.V. , my great-aunt recorded the names of friends and family who came in to watch T.V., often to see the fights (Sept. 28, 1957) or wrestling (Sept. 21, 1957) with her husband.
Other at-home entertainment, especially during winter, included playing cards (Feb. 28, 1957), bridge (March 2, 1957), or Chinese Checkers (Feb. 4, 1954).
Another pass-time was watching ‘slides’. These were 35 mm slides, taken with a camera, mounted in cardboard, and projected on a screen or on the wall. In our first house in Medicine Hat, my Dad installed a pull-down screen so we could project our vacation slides. I still have a rickety slide projector which invariably ‘sticks’ during each use, making for an annoying experience.
Several times a year, they went to the ‘show’. She records seeing “Anne of Green Gables” [various versions were available by 1955] on January 1, 1955, “High Society” [1956] with Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong on May 28, 1957, and a “A Man Called Peter” [1955] on June 25, 1956. On July 2, 1956, she stayed home all day to read Catherine Marshall’s book A Man Called Peter (1951)! Other shows they saw included “Gone With the Wind” [1939] with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh on March 22, 1955 ( ‘…was 55 [cents] beautiful scenery.’) and “White Christmas” (1954) with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen on March 6, 1956.
They also attended live shows from time to time. On June 25, 1957 she wrote about Don Messer and the Islanders giving their last performance before the summer. Don Messer was a band leader and fiddler with a popular television show called Don Messer’s Jubilee. The show was broadcast from CBC in Halifax, Nova Scotia from August 1957 to 1969.
They also attended community-based events: graduations, funerals, weddings, and baby showers. There were events on the ‘Festival grounds’ and ‘entertainment at church by the Men’s Club’.
The other form of entertainment was the ‘drive’. My great-aunt loved to go for drives and recorded trips to various communities in the region, to New Glasgow or Truro for shopping, or to River John (Aug. 28, 1957) or Wallace (Aug. 25, 1957). Sometimes, they bought lobster on these drives. Two or three times a year there would be a longer, over-night trip, to Saint John in New Brunswick to see her son’s family, or to Annapolis in Nova Scotia.
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slide show
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the fan whirrs
the bulb blares
and fingers burn
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a turn, a click and a push
and there they are
three kids on a beach at Advocate
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pull, turn, push and click
grandmother
and grandson
him in a Shear Tip
apple crate
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pull, turn, push and click
and the cardboard sticks
and sticks
and sticks
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© Jane Tims 2012
on the rink
Ice rinks are a part of all our lives in New Brunswick. My son did not play hockey, but I know from friends how demanding the pursuit of ice-time and practice can be.
My ice skating experiences have been a little tamer, but definitely part of the fun side of life.
When my son was young, we had a backyard ‘rink’ for a couple of years. Although we had fun pouring water and trying not to fall, my best memories are of skating with him on ‘Hoot-and-Hollow Pond’, the postage-stamp pond in our back woods.
In my teenaged years, my family had a big pond where the ice was only smooth enough for skating during a few winters. I called it ‘Singing Glass Pond’ because of the sound made when stones were skipped across the ice. I remember skating there with my Mom who always sang as she skated and the oldest of my brothers who could jump up and do a spin from a position of standing still!
When I was in grade school, our teachers took us to the public rink where I skated in endless circles next to the boards and learned to do a ‘toes-out circle’, my single figure-skating ‘move’ to this day. When they were young, I used to watch my two nieces figure skate and was amazed at their fluidity and skill.
Today my knees are arthritic and my balance is pitiful, so my skates are put away. But on the frozen marsh at the lake, I can still ‘skate’ with my boots and do a parody of a ‘toes-out circle’!
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a string of light bulbs
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a string
of fifty
100 watt
bulbs
casts shadows
along plywood walls
exposes gouges and splinters
collisions of small bodies
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Charlie, caretaker, solidifies
light and water
lays down rainbows
and new ice
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© Jane Tims 2001
from the pages of an old diary – visiting
One of the most obvious activities in my great-aunt’s diaries is ‘visiting’. Almost every day brought visitors and visits to family or friends.
In 1957, there are only 30 days when my great-aunt did not either visit or receive visitors and several of these were when extremely stormy weather kept everyone inside.
Visits often involved food. On February 6, 1957, my great-aunt wrote the following: ‘I had I. and M. to tea. pot [potato] scallop, cold ham, tomatoes, pickles and jelly. coffee rolls. dough-nuts, lemon sq. [squares] and fruit.’ Wow!
Many of the visits were between family members. I love to see entries about visits with my grandmother and my uncle and aunt. They lived in Dartmouth but often came to ‘the old home place’ for weekends. My great-aunt had a definite opinion about their tendency to stay at the old home instead of with her. On April 19, 1957, she writes ‘K. and J. came this p.m. up to their own house and stayed all night. was too cold and damp to stay in’.
Other visits she recorded were from my own family. We lived in Alberta and almost every summer we came to Nova Scotia to visit Mom’s and Dad’s families (see posts under the category ‘on my grandfather’s farm’). In 1957, she records our leaving for Medicine Hat, when I was three years old (August 25, 1957). Once, when I was a teenager, we visited her and she gave me the bracelet shown in the drawing below. It has a motif of oak leaves and acorns and I cherish it still.
Other visits were with friends. Some of the visits had to do with watching T.V. at other people’s houses. After May 7, 1957, when my great-aunt and great-uncle got their own T.V., people would come to her house to watch!
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curtains, freshly pressed
-response to a diary entry for October 2, 1957
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Wed nice fine. I did a big wash.
washed – my kitchen curtains did them up.
Katie M. here all p.m
– A.M.W.
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fine day says Katie hard to say goodbye to September.
I rock and nod, beyond
her shoulder, curtains, freshly pressed
hung this morning
cold, yesterday. more like November.
light plaits shadow
green window glass, re-imagined
last May seems a minute ago. at the Festival. that girl with the blue dress
should have won.
first autumn days
and an open casement
breeze busy at the curtain’s edge
time flies. almost four years now since he died.
the white fabric looks well
against varnished wood
we missed you at Red Cross. numbers are down.
blue sky and oak trees, bare of leaves
twigs slash rectangles of window
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I rock and ask her
did you know?
last evening, L. had a son
8 pounds, 3 ounces
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© Jane Tims 2012
Copyright Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – community
It is obvious from my great-aunt’s diaries, her community activities were as important to her as any other aspect of her work. This work was about people… about spending time with her friends and pursuing the idea of ‘many hands make light work’. She also had specific skills to contribute to the community. She loved to bake, sew, quilt and visit.
She belonged to three community groups:
- the Women’s Missionary Society (W.M.S.) – met on Tuesdays (about 23 women)
- the Red Cross – met on Fridays (about 9 women)
- the Xmas Club – met once per month (about 10 women)
The Red Cross worked on specific projects, for example a baby layette for a new mother, or a quilt for a family in need. The Red Cross had a room, perhaps in the Presbyterian church (on March 27, 1957 my great-aunt wrote, ‘ … I went to A.C.’s funeral up at our church. then went down to R.C. room and quilted for a while…’). She often mentions ‘binding’ a quilt at home as part of her contribution. The clubs also made quilts to raise money (a ‘square’ could be bought for $.10, April 12, 1957), and held rummage sales (June 1 and June 8, 1957).
The W.M.S. was associated with the Presbyterian Church and had a program each week. My great-aunt mentions preparing the ‘lesson’ with another woman. The group worked with the Red Cross to make quilts for charity (Dec. 3, 1954), and sent flowers to funerals (Nov. 18, 1954). They also interacted with the CGIT group (Canadian Girls in Training), a church-based program for girls 11-17 (April 2, 1957). I remember attending CGIT when I was in Junior High and according to the Internet, it continues today. When she writes about the W.M.S., my aunt always writes the ‘S’ as a dollar sign ($), suggesting she associated the group with money. She does not do this for her references to the R.H.S. [Regional High School)!
The Xmas (Christmas) Club met once a month at a member’s home. They held a summer picnic (July 22, 1954 and July 17, 1957) and a Christmas Dinner in early December where they exchanged presents (Dec. 6, 1954 and Dec. 2, 1957).
My great-aunt was also interested in the administrative side of these groups. She made note of how many attended and who missed each meeting, as well as attendance at community events and how much money was made.
In addition to her clubs, my great-aunt also did personal charity work, taking ginger ale to sick people on many occasions, making rolls and squares for various teas and meetings, and hemming sheets for the hospital (May 28, 1957). She was also a good neighbor, sharing a buttercup root with a friend, for example (May 19, 1954). It is noticable from the diaries that community members helped one another to get around, giving each other ‘lifts’. For example, she writes, ‘R. took M., M., [and] I down to Xmas Club… B. came for us.’
Another important weekly activity was going to church. My great-aunt and great-uncle attended church regularly, and sometimes went to other community churches for special occasions. At Easter in 1957, they drove to the Presbyterian Church in New Glasgow to see the 3000 white Easter lilies on display. She also attended the World Day of Prayer services (May 5, 1954, and May 8, 1957) and ‘read a piece’.
Reading my great-aunt’s diaries, I am left with an image of her place within the small community where she lived and the importance of the daily interactions among people. These interactions were the community life-blood, enabling people to keep communication going, to support community economies and to keep the population healthy and supported.
Compared to this, how do we contribute to our communities today?
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reckoning the day
-respose to a diary entry for March 28, 1957
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Thurs cold snow flurries. I finished cleaning kitchen. hemmed 4 sheets for hosp. I. G. here got my blue dress to fix. Mrs. C. called got sheets. H. B. here for Red Cross money. S. M. house burned.
– A.M.W.
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they wait to collect
your phial of tears
chill at the doorstep
outside the heat dome
where snowflakes sizzle
a moment before they melt
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twisted metal hangers, closet a shell
lined with ashes, empty of dresses
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quilts and bed-sheets blackened, edges
hemmed in charcoal
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kitchen the worst, paint curled
against metal, china charred
crockery smashed, the tines of forks
splayed every way
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pattern on linoleum
scoured clean beneath layers
of flammable wax
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© Jane Tims 2012
from the pages of an old diary – technology
The 1950’s were changing times. Families in North America were experiencing a post-war boom and the first influx of new technology. My great-aunt records some of this change in her diary.
Here are some of the entries for 1957:
Jan. 3 ‘car wouldn’t start’
Feb. 23 ‘I got my electric egg beater to-day’
March 10 ‘went over to A.J. in evening to see T.V.’
(her diary has several references to going to friend’s homes to watch T.V.)
May 1 ‘Electric men here from Pictou grounding the telephone.
will be safe from lightning.’
May 7 ‘… our T.V. came to Drug store through Simpson’s. $269.95′
May 11 ‘ B. [and] A. set the T.V. up. K., J. [and] I went to Forbes [a store]
they stayed til after 11 to see T.V.’ – after this, friends come regularly to watch
‘the fights’ (Aug. 3, 1957) or ‘wrestling’ (Sept. 21, 1957)
Aug 31 ‘…car not working…’
Sept. 3 ‘…took the car to a garage.’
Sept. 4 ‘…car not working…’
Sept.5 ‘…Dad [her husband] took car up to L.S. to fix…’
Oct. 13 ‘…Our T.V. went on the blink’ ( after this she has several entries where her nephew,
my uncle, drops in to fix the T.V., for example Oct. 20, 1957)
Oct. 27 ‘…were home alone all eve. listening to T.V.’
(note the used of the word ‘listening’ – they had listened to the radio)
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A couple of entries for 1954 caught my eye:
Jan 4. ‘…lights were out a lot in eve.’
Aug. 16 ‘Did a big wash. wringer not working right…’
Sept. 27 ‘… did a small wash by hand…’
Oct. 4 ‘… S.M. came in eve [and] put new roller in washer.’
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Today, our innovations come fast and furious. I sometimes wonder what the next really ‘new’ technology will be and how my great-aunt would have recorded it in her diary.
What are your technology milestones?
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Copyright Jane Tims 2012
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