Over the River

Tomorrow we leave for our return trip to Blue Springs. The last four days have gone by so fast!

Got to see almost all our relatives here, but unfortunately didn't get to see Kathy or Pam. Thank

you so much ladies, for being so patient with me. Some day, I'm making the trip to St.L. and

seeing only friends, no family.

This trip we discovered that Ezra wants to call my sister Aunt Diane instead of Bahboo. She

told him he can call her "Boo" which is what Bahboo's boys call her now. He's still making

that decision. Also, Levi impressed Boo, Aunt Rita and Gigi with his talking and dancing skills.

Aunt Rita brought over several pictures of the Simeones and Mussolinos. It was interesting to

see Aunt Lee and Aunt Katie and Grandpa Joe's friends who were apparently doing some

sort of dance with their arms in the air and their hats in their hands.

We ate turkey and fixings three days in a row. If we eat it tomorrow, we may start to gobble,

but it was sure delicious. Sally and John brought a gooey butter cake from Gooey Louie's.

It was great. Actually, better than Grau's Pastry Shop used to be.

Ed made the turkey to perfection. Diane's pumpkin souffle was a hit as usual. Also, Uncle

Costco brought the huge pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving

Looking forward to this Thanksgiving and recalling past years. Grandma Hilda

always made the turkey when we lived on Tholozan. It seemed as if she got up at 6:00 am

and worked steadily until 2:00 pm. When I started making the turkey, after Betty died, it

only took about an hour's worth of preparing the bird and then very little to do until gravy-

making time. Probably because I did a lot of the work the night before. I think Hilda even waited to bake the pies until the very day of Thanksgiving.

Grandma Hilda usually made a pumpkin pie and a chocolate pie, mainly for Brian. For some

reason I do the same thing. In the last few years I've branched out and now make chocolate

mini tarts. We put whipped cream on at the last minute. The first year I made them I happened to glance at the tray. A good number of them were half-eaten. The filling and cream had been sucked out with only the shell remaining. Of course, my immediate instinct was to look for Ezra. There he was, caught chocolate-handed with only the shell as evidence against him.

This year, for the second time, we will be in St. Louis, at Diane and Ed's house. Can't wait

to see them all and have them see Ezra and Levi.

Grandma Betty

Jim's mom, Betty, was a tremendous baker and cook. She had numerous recipes in her

collection. Some were written on index cards, but there were almost an equal number of them

scrawled out on small pieces of scrap paper. She also had a great many old cookbooks. The

oldest one, under the fried chicken recipe began: "After killing the chicken, soak it in warm

water until the feathers are able to be grasped easily." Betty would take delight in telling how

her grandmother wouldn't let her in the kitchen until she (Betty) was able to wring the chicken's neck and get all the feathers off, including the pin feathers. Betty said her grandmother didn't think any one should be allowed to cook in her kitchen unless they had learned the business from the ground up.

Betty's cousin, Carol, enjoyed Betty's apricot fried pies so much that when she visited her in

California she either brought a dozen with her to or was not allowed to leave until she made

them in Carol's kitchen. I remember with fondness Betty's white coconut cake with seven-

minute frosting. The remarkable thing was, I didn't think I even liked coconut until I tasted

that cake.

Jim looks forward to her graham-cracker butterscotch bars, but will only request them at

Christmas time. One year, Betty decided to follow a semi-sweet version that called for the

dark chocolate morsels to be shaken over the crackers while they were still hot, and then

spread evenly as they melted. At first Jim despised the idea of changing the original bars,

but after about 5 years, he was able to enjoy both versions.

Betty made elaborate birthday cakes for Diane and Sally every year, no matter how

outlandish the request. One year, Diane wanted a "birthday-wedding cake" with at least

four layers. Betty made it.

Veiled Prophet

The Veiled Prophet Ball was St. Louis' version of the Southern practice of introducing

debutants at a lavish "coming out party." I'm not sure how the ball was carried out, but

I do remember the Veiled Prophet Parades, also patterned after a Southern tradition of

Mardi Gras and the various "Krewes" that sponsor the various floats.

I'm not sure all the routes the parade took. I do remember we saw one parade on Hampton

Avenue, near St. Joan of Arc. We with with the Nagles at the time. Linda Nagle was Diane's

friend when we lived on Winona. It was a raw, cold evening, in the fall, and most of us had

lost interest in the parade. But Mr. Nagle promised he would take us to see the "maids'

the next day if we could tough it out for the rest of the parade.

On the day after the parade, Saturday, the Veiled Prophet and his court appeared at the

Missouri Botanical Garden (Shaw's Garden, to us). They gathered outside the Shaw

residence so that the less fortunate people could see them close up in their debutant's

gowns.

The next Saturday, I believe, was the actual ball, where the queen and her maids were

introduced to the mysterious Veiled Prophet. He was veiled, but I don't know about the

prophet part. Unless, perhaps, he prophesied who would be the queen and maids.

My father pointed out that all the maids and every queen since it began had been WASPs.

I respected his observation even though I didn't understand it at the time. So, even though

we were white, Italian-German, Catholics, we made an annual appearance along the parade

route and once even visited Shaw's Gardens to see the debs in person.

Maybe some of the thousands of readers who are addicted to "old news" can offer observations

about their own memories of the Veiled Prophet.

School Boxes

When I was a kid, we didn't have school boxes or backpacks. Your books went in your arms and

you writing instruments in your pocket or purse. This was also the era of the leaking ball

point pens. If you were lucky, you would have a book bag that looked like a miniature brief

case. Later, I had a book bag and a pencil case. They were both functional but unattractive.

Some kids had cigar boxes that once held actual cigars. We were lucky enough to have a father

in that category.

When Diane and Sally came along the pencil cases were more glitzy, but still flat. When they

were in primary school each had a book bag. One year they had matching corduroy book

bags, one purple, one magenta. By the time Sally was in third grade the back pack had become

a bare necessity. About this same time, school boxes came on the market. They were cigar boxes, but with phony labels. Soon after that, there were cigar boxes, but instead

of cigar labels they were decorated with Scooby Do, Hello Kitty, and of course, Disney

characters.

Eventually, these cardboard boxes gave way to plastic boxes with click-lids. The original

ones were in a variety of colors and now the boxes are clear with a bright-colored tops. I

believe they cost under $1.00 which is quite a bit cheaper that the original cigar boxes.

Now that's what I call progress.

Raggedy Ann

On Diane's first Halloween she dressed as Raggedy Ann. Grandma Betty made her a dress and

apron. She also dyed a mop red to wear as a wig! We were scheduled to go to the Van Cleave's

to show her off and I remembered I forgot to buy special treats for Mary VanCleave's kids.

At that time there was an A&P store in White Oak Plaza, so we stopped there for treats.

The checkers and stockers thought Diane was adorable. (Who wouldn't?) They gave her

Halloween candy and toys.

For weeks after Halloween, Diane continued to dress up in her Halloween costume.

Little did I know that "dressing up" as various characters would become a recurring

occasion for Diane. There have been so many characters I can name about five without

giving it a second thought: waitress, several rock stars, Frank-n-Furter, cats, dogs, and

vampires

I'm just as hooked on costumes as she is. In the past I've made most of Diane's Halloween

costumes. She has gone as Dorothy Gale, Cindy Lauper, a Mardi Gras princess, a Japanese

lady in a kimono, a vampire and ghoulish bride.

Long live fantasy!

Little Devil

I'm not sure if we dressed Sally up for her first Halloween. She was only seven months old.

Now kids wear costumes even if they are only a few months old. But things were more

primitive in the 80's. The next year, Grandma Betty made a devil outfit for Sally. She was red from head to toe with a cute little helmet and thorns. Her tail was a work of art. It curled and moved with her. Another costume Betty made for Sally was a cute little mouse, also with a

head cover, this one with little ears.

One year, I was brave enough to start sewing costumes. Betty had some material that was dark blue with big white polka dots and deep red with big white polka dots. I used a right and a

left side with different colors, front and back. Also, the pointed had was divided into blue

and red sections.

Grandma Betty was such a great seamstress that she not only made Halloween coustumes

she also kept both Diane and Sally in adorable, big-sister, little-sister dresses. And what

she didn't sew, she bought. For Christmas and Easter she out-did herself. A few I can

remember are red velvet, light blue velvet, and especially the Dior dresses that didn't

match but were of the same style and color, a beautiful pink with white sheer collars. Later

that year, in July, Diane and Sally were in Lynne and Neil's wedding and wore the Dior

dresses. It was so exciting because the dresses seemed as if they were made especially to

match the other dresses in the wedding. Fond memories.

Soap

Diane dressed up as an orange net body pouf for a Halloween Party. It made me think how much things have changed, even in our bath procedures. The first soap I remember using was a bar of Ivory and, of course, every kid's hair was washed with Johnson and Johnson's "No Tears"

shampoo.

At Grandma Santa's, they used Life Buoy soap and Prell shampoo. Grandpa Joe also had a

bar of Lava soap in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. When we lived on Winona, we didn't have a shower so it was a triple thrill to bathe at Grandma's. We got to use orange soap, green shampoo and stand under the shower. I think Life Buoy was the first deodorant soap and it was

a long time before we were glad we used Dial soap and wished everybody did. "Zestfully clean"

came much later on the scrubbing time line.

My Aunt Barbara engaged in exotic cleansing. She never used soap on her face. She slathered

Noxzema on her face before she went to school and before bed. She rinsed the goop off with

cold water. Every time I saw her do it, I was mesmerized.

To keep me from trying to see every move she made, Barb taught me how to make Kleenex

carnations by folding one in pleats, accordion style, putting a bobbie pin down the middle,

tearing off each side, and separating each layer into a pouf. Ah, so, we have come full circle,

again, from net pouf to Kleenex pouf.