Saturday, December 26, 1936

plesant day-
Made lemon pie and got dinner
Harry, Clara & Mother went to Ithaca-
Clara talked on phone to Dr. Moore-
about Mother's condition-
She may not recover-
must be kept quiet as much as possible-
Iliff and Mildred spent the evening with us-
Gave Iliff $15.00 for Mr. Booth-

Thursday, November 12, 1936

plesant all day-
I made a lemon pie and ginger bread this forenoon-
Harry raked leaves from south lawn & burned them in driveway
Harry took me to town this afternoon
I bought 3 house dresses and underwear a kid gloves and collar-
Harry treated me to Lemon soda and bought ice cream for supper-
Ella Miller called-
*Mother difficult-

Advertisement for kid gloves in the 1930s^

*This is written up the left hand, inside margin of the diary entry.

^Found on Pinterest, by way of tumblr, via flickr...
  

Sunday, October 18, 1936

Cloudy, windy, & cool-
Made a lemon pie-
Combed Mothers hair etc-
Leroy Hall came and had dinner and sawed wood about 2 hours this afternoon-
Harry Baker came for dinner-
Iliff came for me after dinner and I spent the afternoon at Searles'
Mildred brought me back for supper
Iliff left for Buffalo 4-30 P.M.
Harry left for Auburn 7-45 P.M-

Monday, October 5, 1936

plesant and cool
Harry mowed & raked off the lawn this forenoon-
We set up Auntys stove this afternoon-
I made a lemon pie for dinner-
Harry and I got a can of water over to Mrs. Evans this afternoon-
He went home
Mother had been good.
Three baby kittens gone mysteriously

Saturday, September 12, 1936

rainy by spells all day but not hard-
Made lemon pie for dinner & a molasses cake and finished canning the pears-
Combed Mothers hair etc
rec'd letter & check for $10.00 from Clara paying  fron Aug 26 to Sept. 9.
Leroy Bower brought us tea & coffee tonight.

Notice in the newspaper regarding Mildred's variety shower

"Mrs. Donald Sharpsteen gave a variety shower Saturday afternoon for her sister, Mrs. Mildred Dolton, at the home of Mrs. Dolton's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Searles. There were over 20 persons present. Mrs. Dolton was the recipient of many gifts. Ice cream and cake were served."

Friday, August 28, 1936

plesant cool but rain all evening-
I made a lemon pie and canned 4 pints of Damson plum* preserves
Leroy Hall worked all day cutting wood and relaying the walk and cleaning out rubbish in the garage-
I made muffins for supper-
Mother has been very keyed up all day-
Mary Brong Miles and daughter & Mrs. Youngs called-

Damson plums are the small, dark purple ones^

^Image attribution: By Alois Lunzer (Brown Brothers Continental Nurseries Catalog 1909) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


*Damson plums are a small European plum. The recipe below is from Ten Thousand Places blog...

Damson Plum Jam

1 quart damson plums, stemmed and washing, but still whole

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup water

Bring all ingredients to a boil, mashing the plums with a potato masher (my favorite jamming tool!).  

The  pits will mostly float to the top, but they are tiny and I found it difficult to scoop out while the jam is cooking, so: once the jam is mashed and cooking (it will seem very very juicy), pour it through a fine mesh sieve or, if you have it, a food mill, into a heat proof bowl.  With the sieve, you will have to use a spatula to press the pulp through the sieve, so some of the skins get into the jam too (they will continue to flavor the jam with their tartness).  Thrown out the remaining pulp/pit mixture, and return the jam to the pot.  If you want to be really really diligent, you can scoop out the individual pits and put the entire pulp back into the pot, but I got lazy after about ten minutes.  So long as you are using a nice flexible spatula with the sieve, you'll be able to press almost everything good out of the skins through the sieve.  A food-mill would just make it that much easier.

Boil till jelly state, continuing to stir and scrape the bottom of the pan.  You can tell this by several tests, but I usually eyeball it.  When you lift you spoon, if they jam comes off it in sheets, rather than individual drops or streams, then it is ready.  I tried to take a picture of this, but, failed.  The picture to your left is of  not-yet-jelly stage, badly out of focus.

Pour into hot sterilized jars, sealing them or covering with paraffin according to your preference.  This recipe makes about five 4oz. jars.  I successfully doubled the recipe to make to 11 4 oz jars.

Tuesday, July 21, 1936

plesant & cool
made a lemon pie and finished the ironing-
Made two sheets for Aunty and she gave me one this afternoon-
Listened to the Radio this eve-
Heard Edgar A Guest recite a poem on the Drouth* and also on the passing of the art of the man who carves the roast at the dinner table-
good

A copy of The Waste Land

*I believe the poem being referenced here is T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land from 1922. The critic Edmund Wilson wrote an article about the poem called "The Poetry of Drouth." If you would like to read either, I have provided the links.

Thursday, April 16, 1936

Cold north west wind with flurries of snow* at times-
made a lemon pie this morning and done the chores as usual-
measured the couch for tape to make a new cover and wrote a letter to Clara-
Finished the ironing this afternoon-
Mother has been very good today-

About an inch of snow fell in Greenwich, NY on April 15-16, 2014

*Well, Irene, we got more than flurries. We got an inch of snow overnight after a lovely weekend in the 70s.

Sunday, March 29, 1936

Cloudy all day-
Charles came over and used the crank* on Harry's car and it started right off-
so Harry went to Auburn-
I made a lemon pie and done the usual work-
Took my bath this afternoon-
Iliff came this eve
Mother has been some restless today but not bad-

Google map of Ludlowville to Auburn, NY

*I'm not quite sure why Harry didn't have his own crank for the car, but I'm glad Charles was able to start his car. Above is the present day trip from Ludowville, north to Auburn.

 

Sunday, March 15, 1936

Sunday-
Thawed and fine all day-
Made lemon pie this A.M.
combed Mothers hair and washed her neck and ears-
Harry Baker came for dinner
had a quiet nice day-
Mother built fire in living room*-
has been fine all day-
Iliff called this eve-


*This made me laugh. Since Mother "has been fine all day" I am assuming she started a fire in the fireplace/stove in the living room, but my first thought was a little old lady, menacingly starting a fire in the middle of a furnished room....... (Then while haphazardly looking for an image, I found this video. Basically, you have 2 minutes to get out of you house if it catches on fire.)

Sunday, January 12, 1936

Sunday
Mother has been fine all day
I combed her hair and washed her neck and ears and put a clean dress on her-
Made a lemon pie* for dinner
Took a bath this P.M.
Harry Baker came for eve
also Iliff came for eve-
Thawed to day but foggy and cloudy this P.M.
Harry brought us cottage cheese and cream-



* I don't have Irene's recipe, but this is my favorite lemon pie.