Sometimes the internet really frustrates me. Due to yesterdays Watkins Vanilla memories I also sparked myself another nostalgia trip. Actually a comment did it. It's about all the things that housewives in the 50's and early 60's could buy from the comfort of their own homes. The companies that I remember, other than the standard morning dairy delivery are:

1. Stanley Home Products
2. Fuller Brush Company, which is now a division of Stanley Home Products
3. Jewel Tea Company
4. Charlies Chips
5. Avon, which is still in business

For the purpose of this post I went looking for information on what exactly each company sold then, and of course any graphics of their products or whatever else I could find. I can find current information, a history of the formation of Jewel Tea Company and how it developed stores to shop in, and one battered and expensive Charlies Chips can. I probably could keep hunting through pages of information to see if I can glean something that will spark a solid memory of something, but that might take years. Sometimes there really is Too Much Information, and NONE of it useful. So I am doing this post from my own and probably somewhat flawed memory.

I have learned somewhat to my dismay that Stanley Home products sold the absolute best brooms. I had one that belonged to my Mom. Hubby used it outdoors, got it wet and ruined it. The broom I purchased to replace it is only 2 years old and falling apart. I definitely remember their brooms, and the floor wax remover and degreaser that Grandma used to buy. She didn't have 409 or Fantastic in spray bottles. She had Ammonia, Spic and Span, Pinesol, Mr Clean or Ajax. I believe even Ajax was a later product. None of them were all that good at grease cutting. I can tell you that we as housecleaners today have no idea how much better our products are than they were then. The joys of modern technology actually are joys in the housecleaning area.

Fuller Brush company was where Grandma purchased clothes brushes, scrub brushes and hair brushes. I remember that to get the hair out of the hair brushes she had this tool that looked a bit like a fine fork or rake. She'd use that to pull hair out. I believe that was a Fuller item as well. Once she had most of the hair out she would soak the brushes in a basin of water and ammonia. Until the brushes dried we would comb the "rats" out of our hair with combs.

Jewel Tea Company sold coffee, tea, spices and other drygoods door to door. I have a memory of a payment plan of some sort similar to Spiegel or other mail order houses that were popular back in the day. As a teenager I had a Madras plaid spring coat which I loved that Grandma bought through their catalogue. Payments were small unless you really made a lot of purchases. I believe she paid for the coffee and tea when it was delivered but other items were placed on a time payment plan. I've often wondered if this isn't where the phrase "a dollar down and a dollar a week" originated.

I don't remember much about Charlies Chips. You bought them by the big can and I can't really remember who it was in my family that actually did purchase them. I like potato chips as well as the next person does, but I can't imagine them being in any household as a staple item which was what Charlies Chips pretended to be. They were good potato chips but how many of them could any one person or family eat?

Grandma sold Avon. I wanted to be an Avon saleslady at one point in my life. I believe that was about the age of 5 or 6. Oddly, I haven't had an Avon product in my home since I was in my early 20's. I imagine that having lived with them through all of my childhood and teen years I grew out of the Avon product stage.

Home delivery, at that time, was a very successful business. Largely because those were the days of housewives with no drivers licenses or one car families with the Dad needing to use the car for his work. It was practically impossible to purchase everything you needed during the Saturday shopping trip, and many corner grocery stores didn't carry all of the products you wished to use. Brand name shopping was at it's peak during those years, and companies could count on the loyalty of their consumers. I would be willing to bet that now more than half of our purchases are of generic brands. Loyalty today can break the pocketbook.

I have this sudden craving for gingerbread with vanilla sauce and since Grandma isn't here to bake it I'll have to do it myself. I did find a recipe online that appears similar to Grandma's. I might let you know later how it tasted. If you have any "Home Delivery" memories share them with me, I'd love to hear them.

Winter in Upstate New York is not for the faint of heart. Although I have been blessed with some fairly decent weather here, north of me, the storm total for the earlier part of this past week was as much as 4 feet. White out conditions, putting as much as 3 inches per hour prevailed. On Thursday I got to see my morning weather forecast include scenes taken from the newschannel van. The van was stuck in the road in Pulaski, New York, along with tractor trailers and other foolhardy individuals who had braved the weather. With accumulations as high as they were, the highway department was simply unable to keep up. The culprit was a slow moving lake effect storm from Lake Ontario which had stalled out across a large portion of Oswego, Jefferson and Lewis counties. Pulaski is approximately 30 miles from me.

For 4 months of the year we must contend with the possibilities of subzero temperatures, snow accumulation, and days shortened by what feels like hours. It's not a good situation for people who may suffer from depression or something called seasonal affective disorder. We do have days of sun and blue skies, but the bulk of our days are gray, overcast and miserable. So why do we live here? Well, there's the view for one. Since this is a somewhat mountainous region the views are spectacular. There's skiing, both downhill and cross country, sledding and ice skating. Nothing tastes as good as a cup of hot chocolate with real whipped cream, heavy on the vanilla, at the end of ones day outside in the cold.

There's something down home comforting about the scent of vanilla in the winter. My favorite candle is called Hot Cinnamon Bun and it is redolent of vanilla and of course cinnamon. It really does smell of the cinnamon buns and breads that Grandma used to bake. A large bottle of Watkin's Pure Vanilla was a staple in the kitchens of both of my grandmothers in the winter. The scent of a vanilla candle will evoke a memory of Grandma's Gingerbread with warm vanilla sauce, or the sugar cookies both of them baked. Sometimes they were intended to be Half Moon Cookies, rich with vanilla and chocolate flavored icing.

When I was a child, hot chocolate wasn't made with a mix. Good old Hershey's cocoa, sugar, whole milk and vanilla were cooked in a pan on the stove. No heating the water in a cup in the microwave back then. She always knew it was ready when the smell of the chocolate blended with the vanilla to just the right aroma. A good cup of hot chocolate and a vanilla sugar cookie were the perfect after school snack on a cold wet winter day. Another favorite winter treat was a slice of warm apple pie with french vanilla ice cream melting on top.

As an adult who was raised with the comforting scent of vanilla in the winter, I know that it is of benefit on those really dreary days. When I come inside from the outdoors after shoveling and am cold and wet, I fix myself a cup of hot chocolate and top it off with an extra drop or two of vanilla. It's not the big bottle of Watkin's that Grandma kept in her kitchen, but it will do. Light the Hot Cinnamon Bun candle, take a seat near the woodstove and smell the aroma of chocolate and vanilla cooling in the cup used to warm my hands. A few sips while watching the colors of the fire in the stove and letting the heat slowly warm the cold body. There's nothing like the heat of a wood fire and the scent of vanilla in the winter.

I am far too tempted to say something that would be stirring up the stuff here which would make it stink more. Well, OK, in the interest of letting it go I won't say anything beyond this.

Pretty Rubble has deactivated.

Zanes Zen, a new and refreshing blogger has deactivated.

Queen Blogship had deactivated but decided to reopen her blog. I'm glad because she was ONLY responding to an attack on HER.

Oh, and don't get your hopes up folks, I WILL be back. Vanilla blog and all.

Talking with my hairdresser Linda today about different things has me somewhat amused. We are close to the same age, I don't think she's more than 5 years older than I am. We were raised pretty much by the same type of parents, from similar economic backgrounds and we went to the same schools. Our interests and opinions are very widely divergent, and that was never more apparent than today.

She asked me if I watch American Idol. Sorry, no I don't. I know what goes on because of Ellen Degeneris. I watch her program, and she talks a lot about it. She usually has the rejected contestants on after they've been voted out. I said that and I was rather curious about the expression on Linda's face, which I could see clearly in the mirror. She seemed rather uncomfortable. I didn't say anything and she went on to say that she doesn't watch Ellen, she has a problem with gay people. She doesn't mean to be biased, but she can't help herself. In her opinion they are sinning and she even has serious difficulty with sexual reassignment cases. I know a lot of women that I think are attractive, but I've never had any desire towards them. I figure I'm average, and if it's a choice, why isn't it one that I have to make? I've heard her reasoning, which doesn't make sense, but nothing would be gained by arguing it. I have a family member who is gay and none of Linda's reasons would apply to her. Even when I asked Linda if she ever found someone attractive on that level, she said no, but still doesn't see that she's not someone who has to make that choice either.

She kept bringing up her church and what she has learned as a member there. She's normally a very positive, very serene person. She tells me that her church and their bible studies help to keep her on an even keel when things don't go well in her life. I'm glad for her, it's always good to have something to help you in times of trouble. She was saying that it was such a shame that more people don't attend church. I mentioned to her my conversations with many people online and their turning away from organised religion to Home Churches because of the political rhetoric that too many ministers are engaging in. She told me that her church doesn't engage in politics and then went on to tell about an explanation pamphlet that was handed out in her church.

The pamphlet explained all the candidates and their platforms, where known. It went on to tell the parishoners what issues were important in their lives and whose political record indicated they may be worthy of their vote. The pastor never addressed the issue beyond an admonition that it was everyones duty to vote. He, she said, never told anyone who to vote for. Did I miss something? If he isn't telling anyone who to vote for, what was the purpose of this pamphlet? Doesn't he trust his parishoners to inform themselves and make these decisions without his guidance? I always thought that a minister should wait until he's asked before he provides counsel on matters pertaining to our secular lives.

To interpret the Bible and show us how to apply Christian ethics to our secular lives is one thing. We believers, at any given point, could use a little help there. To use his pulpit to advocate on behalf of a political candidate is a bit more than I care to be subjected to on any level. I said nothing about it to Linda because she isn't going to see the issue the way I see it. For someone who embraces their religion in the manner that Linda does, the minister is an authority figure. He can do no wrong. He is advising, not ordering in hr mind. The only order is to vote and while I tend to agree with that, I would rather that it not come from a minister of the gospel. He should be above involving himself with the politics of the day. The Bible advocates for the separation of church and state. Too bad that some interpreters of that book don't see it applies to them as well.