Settler Sayings

A dear friend of mine introduced me to a book a while back entitled Settler Sayings.

It is part of the Historic Communities series by Bobbie Kalman. My friend thought it was something I would enjoy and boy was she right! I've always been fascinated with old sayings and their origins and/or meanings. Not all of the sayings in the book were made up by settlers but settlers used them often. Many of the sayings in the book I had  heard before but never knew their origins. Some, though I had never heard and found quite interesting.

I have shared some of the sayings in the book below.

"Apple Of One's Eye"- Today this means someone we value greatly or treasure.Long ago, the black circular center of the eye was referred to as the apple of the eye because people thought it looked like an apple. Have you ever been called the apple of someone's eye?

"Goose Bumps" - Today we say we have goose bumps or pimples if we develop bumps on our skin when we are cold or afraid. In old times, settlers would pluck geese and use their feathers to stuff pillows or mattresses or linens. When a goose has its feathers plucked it develops raised bumps on its skin. These are  tiny muscles in their skin to keep them warm.

"Nest Egg" - We've probably all heard the expression nest egg and know it refers to money saved for the future. Early settlers relied on chickens for their survival. Settlers put fake eggs in hens' nests to encourage them to lay eggs. These eggs were made of clay and whitewashed. They were saved and used over and over again as needed.

"Upper Crust" - In old times, wheat flour was considered better than other types of flour and was more expensive. Women who wanted to impress others would use the best flour for the upper crust of their pies because it would be seen and admired. Today, upper crust means something or someone who is fancy or rich.

"Apple- Pie Order" - This is by far my favorite saying from the book! Settler women  when baking pies made sure they cut the apple slices in equal sizes. They were careful to arrange them in even rows inside the pie and the crusts were joined with perfectly spaced pinches. Today  apple-pie order describes something that is very tidy.

Check out the book for other neat sayings and their meanings/origins including

"Bought the farm"

"Fly off the handle"

"Mind your P's and Q's"

"Pull the wool over his eyes"

and many more!

Your local library should own a copy! There are other very interesting books in The Historic Communities Series.

Imagine a settler's surprise  at some of the sayings we have today?

One Of My Favorite Poems

Even though this is a bit late I still wanted to post.




Something Told the Wild Geese



by Rachel Field





Something told the wild geese

It was time to go.

Though the fields lay golden

Something whispered,--"Snow."



Leaves were green and stirring,

Berries luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers

Something cautioned--"Frost."



All the sagging orchards

Steamed with amber spice,

But each wild breast stiffened

At remembered ice.



Something told the wild geese

It was time to fly,--

Summer sun was on their wings,

Winter in their cry.

My Dream Job In A Picture

I have never made it a secret how I wished I had gone to college for Education instead of Accounting.But be that as it may I still have my subbing and I had some wonderful children I babysat for over the years.Everything happens for a reason and I never would have traded staying home with my children all those years. I came across this picture and this would have been my dream job. Too bad I was born too late!

      
                                    Sigh........


So I'm thinking Big Dale should build this in our back woods complete with a kitchen and then I would be satisfied.

Some More Summer

Even though I have been mumbling about these last several days of  grueling hot weather, I really am enjoying summer. My flowers have been doing fairly well and we have been using the pool a lot! Here's a few shots I took around the house. You can click any image to make it larger.

My favorite wildflower from the neighboring field.   I wanted to snag them before they hayed the field.

Britt enjoying the pool.

                                                   

I never tire of the view in the background. Swimming on a hot day and looking at that view is like heaven on Earth!

                                     I hope everyone is having a  great summer!!

                                      Hugs,

                                      Cindy

Hot, Hot Sizzling Summer !!

I'm not sure what the weather is like where you live but here we are having a heatwave! The temps are predicted to be in the 90's all week. I think Thursday they are saying 97 degrees! I can remember hardly being able to wait for summer to arrive when I was a child. We didn't have much growing up and how I longed for a pool to swim in on those hot hot days. The next best thing though was the sprinkler. I have so many memories of running through it. My mom would sometimes also bring out a piece of clear plastic(I'm sure that went over some window or door in winter) and we would have our own homemade slip and slide. Oh the fun we had putting that plastic on an incline! I can still feel that cold cold well water coming out of that hose.

 I remember too as a child swimming in creeks or brooks with slippery rocks covered with moss. We would dam up sections of the brook at our childhood home and make our own swimming hole.


I also have fond memories of swimming in my grandma's pond at her farm in Franklin. It's funny because I hear so many kids today say they would never swim in a pond. We loved it(and it was our only choice). I remember that deep squishy mud between my toes when you first went in and floating around on the huge black tractor tire tubes.I can also remember my grandma's voice calling us from the house telling us not to go out so far.

Other memories I have of summer long ago are mostly from my grandma's farm as that is where I would stay most summers. I can remember counting the days till summer break so that we could go spend the summer there. I'm telling you if there was a choice between Disney World or the farm(which there was no  choice) we would have chosen the farm! I can remember so many fun times! But we were also expected to work. I remember weeding grandma's huge garden, helping the guys "hay it" as we say here and milking chores.
I can remember my grandpa and dad at different times coming through the door on a hot summer day and saying things like"It's'hotter than the blazes out there" or " It's hot as the dickens" , "hotter than Hades" , "hot as all get out"or "I'm hotter than a hen in a wool blanket". Another expression I remember later on was "It's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk".

Besides swimming I recall vividly that sight and sound of the Good Humor Ice Cream truck barreling through our neighborhood. We would run real fast so as not to miss him and I remember "bomb pops " as being my favorite. They were red, white and blue popsicles.

Do you remember the old  Tupperware popsicle  makers?

These were another fond memory of summers gone by.Going to get ice cream was not a luxury we enjoyed as much as families do today. I think my favorite pop to make was cherry Kool-Aid. I still have a set of these in my own home today. My own kids loved these too.

There's no doubt there's no ignoring summer. It is definately a strong season. So whether we like it or not we must make the best of this hot spell. Here is a link for some ideas to stay cool. Some are very obvious.

http://mysuperchargedlife.com/blog/25-ideas-to-stay-cool-and-beat-the-heat-this-summer/

I will leave you with some summery thoughts and quotes.

"What dreadful hot weather we have. It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance"~ Jane Austen

You know it is hot when you realize asphalt has a liquid state.

Ah, summer what power you have to make us suffer and like it~ Russel Baker

"Summer breeze makes me feel fine

Blowin through the jasmine in my mind"~ Seals And Croft 1972

                               A life without love is like a year without summer.

                               -- Swedish Proverb


                             A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are
                             singing, and the lawn mower is broken.

                            -- James Dent


                              Celebrate Summer - Sun drenched days and starlit night -- Gooseberry Patch

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.

-- Sam Keen

Heat, ma'am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones.

-- Sydney Smith


I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.

-- L. M. Montgomery

 
 
Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.

-- Henry James



Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world.

-- Ada Louise Huxtable


You can never appreciate the shade of a tree unless you sweat in the sun.-- Author Unknown
 
 
And finally we can't forget Nat King Cole
 
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer


Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer



Just fill your basket full of sandwiches and weenies

Then lock the house up, now you're set

And on the beach you'll see the girls in their bikinis

As cute as ever but they never get 'em wet



Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

You'll wish that summer could always be here



Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer



Don't hafta tell a girl and fella about a drive-in

Or some romantic movie seen

Right from the moment that those lovers start arrivin'

You'll see more kissin' in the cars than on the screen



Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

You'll wish that summer could always be here



You'll wish that summer could always be here

You'll wish that summer could always be here