Friday, October 16, 1936

Mothers birthday
I made a birthday cake and decorated it very pretty with Voguls decorations^-
I dug a pail of potatoes-
Clara and Lloyd sent a bouquet of crysianthemums beautiful things-
Mother was pleased and liked her cake & flowers
Aunty has had stomach trouble today-
vomited terribly-
feels better this eve-
Mother has been good today
*Harry did not come

Cake by Heather Dolton, Irene's great-granddaughter^

^I can't seem to find anything about Vogul's or Vogel's cake decorations, but I did find this site about birthday cakes. About half way down it mentions (children's) birthdays in 1936. Another site is The Food Timeline: cake history. <image by Heather Dolton, Pastry Chef. Check out her Facebook page >

*This line was written vertically up the left hand side of the diary entry.

Friday, October 2, 1936

Frost this A.M. plesant and cool-
Made Jello-
swept and dusted my bedroom and kitchen-
Combed Mothers hair etc.
Mrs. Evans came & brought us cottage cheese and dahlias-
Ella Miller and Leroy Lobdell came for afternoon-
Harry Baker came this eve to stay all night-

Saturday, June 13, 1936

plesant all day
made ginger bread and done usual Saturday cleaning and mopped south porch this forenoon and weeded all the small vegetables in the garden this afternoon-
Susie Haring called at tea time and showed us her moths
Luna Moth and the Peacock Moth-
Harry came this eve and brought us pink & white peonys beautifull

White and pink peonies from my mother's garden

Friday, June 5, 1936

plesant all day
Iliff came and took Mother & I to Ithaca this forenoon
Met Lottie Hamblin in town had a nice chat with her.
Finished mowing the lawn this afternoon and hoed the two rows of peas and four rows of corn in the garden.
Chas, wife & baby called and Mort Hilyard came & we bought petunia^ plants of him-
Harry Baker came this eve-
*Mother pretty good today
*she hid in the closet-

Old-fashioned petunias with a bit of larkspur^

*Both lines was written up the outer, left-hand side of the entry.

^Petunia image from Texas A&M Aggie Horticulture website. 

Saturday, May 30, 1936

Cloudy and damp all day
Sprinkled rain this morning-
Harry took Mother & Clara to the cemetery and to the hot house gardens (Lockwoods) for flowers and came home for dinner and Aunty went with them to the cemetery again after dinner-
They called on Vera
I made a cake and stewed rubarb and made strawberry shortcake* and fried fish for dinner-
dressed a chicken this afternoon for tomorrow
Mother good all day-



*I don't know about you, but I was getting worried that Irene hadn't baked in a while. LOL

Monday, May 11, 1936

plesant all day warm
Charles plowed the garden
Harry set out hollyhock* plants and sowed the grass seed and took Mother and I to Ithaca this afternoon-
He bought a qt of ice cream for supper-
I made pie plant** pie and stewed sauce and cooked dandelion greens and made a cake-
Mother nervous and difficult all day
Harry left this eve-
^Got a Mothers Day card from Geo & Bertha & family-

Rhubarb pie recipe from the rhubarb capital of the world**

*Hollyhocks are biennials, so Harry is planting them to bloom next summer.

**Pie plant (or pieplant) refers to rhubarb. For everything rhubarb, checkout the website for Sumner, WA: The Rhubarb Capital of the World. The above recipe image came from HERE.

^This sentence was written up the left, outside edge of the diary entry.

Thursday, April 9, 1936

plesant all day but rain this evening-
Clara came 9-30 last eve and brought an Azalia tree and a Hydrangia for Easter-
brought curtains for front south room and material for kitchen curtains and Mothers chair-
Harry came 2 P.M. after lunch and brought Easter lillies and Hyacinth* and strawberries
Mother has been happy all day

Azaleas in bloom- summer

*That's a whole lot of plants. How about looking at the "meaning" behind these flowers- Language of Flowers

• Azalea: Temperance
• Hyacinth: Sport, Game, Play
• Hyacinth, Blue: Constancy
• Hyacinth, White: Unobtrusive loveliness
• Hydrangea (Hortensia): A boaster, Heartlessness, You are cold
• Lily: Beauty, Elegance, Sweetness