Lots of Old Wife Tales in This Town

 

You probably know lots of old wives tales ...

As I was growing up in Greenview, lots of old ladies used to get together for church meetings and other lady functions to talk and drink coffee and eat cookies, cakes and pies. Grammy told me they also talked about old wives tales....and were always exchanging information and to see who had the best old wives tales.

As both grammy and I aged, I loved to sit with her and hear her tales about everything. She was in her nineties but she was sharp. She knew lots of things so I was always curious and always had a piece of paper around to jot things down. I asked Grammy about some of these old wives tales and the following are some of the tales she told me.....and for some, she swore by them as did a lot of the older folks around Greenview.

1. If you sneeze you must put your hand over your mouth to prevent your soul from escaping. Be sure someone says "God Bless You" to drive the devil away or he will enter your body. (hmmmph...I'm gonna cover my mouth for sure)

2. The old wives sneeze tale: Sneeze once for sorrow; Sneeze twice for joy; Sneeze three times for a letter; Sneeze four times for a boy; Sneeze five times for silver; Sneeze six times for gold; Sneeze seven times for a secret that never will be told. (note: Allergies probably caused the sneezies)

3. Hold a buttercup under your chin and the color will shine on your face and this person will become rich in the near future.
(Note....I did this several times, but to no avail.)

4. If you hear the cry of an owl, someone will soon die. (false)

5. If you crack your knuckles, you will get arthritis. (Note...I asked and doc said this is not true, but he said don't crack your knuckles)

6. When you drive by a cemetery you must hold your breath or you will breathe in the spirit of someone who recently was buried. (false)

7. If a bird flies into your home, there will be a death in the family.
(false....the bird was probably following a bug or trying to build a nest in your door wreath.)

8. Touching a toad will give you warts. (Note....false)

9. Fish is brain food. (TRUE; omega 3 fatty acids fish oil boosts brain power)

10. Bad Luck caused by:

• spilling salt...throw some over your left shoulder to redeem
• putting your shirt on wrong side out
• rooster crowing at night
• bad luck all day if your left foot comes out of bed first
• 7 years bad luck for a broken mirror
• bad luck if you give away an item which was a wedding present
• bad luck to the household if umbrella opened inside the house
• bad luck to stare at the moon over left shoulder
• bad luck if you sing before breakfast
• bad luck if you find a five leaf clover

Grammy knew best so I listened and believed in some as she did. It's not always easy to ignore something you heard as a child. We were impressionable then and as far as I'm concerned, I still believe in some of these! Maybe I never grew up!

Miscellaneous Vintage Photos

(on most photos, you can click on photos to get an enlarged view)

 





 



 

 

 

This was printed in the Petersburg Observer in 2004.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pavilion at Chautauqua

 

 

 

 

This was when the old skating rink was torn down.  This

building was contracted by the Armour Packing Company in 1923 and operated as the Armour Cheese company.  Four years later, the cheese operation was moved to Wisconsin and this building became the home of the New York Dressed Chicken Company.

Later in years this became home to a dairy, a skating rink and an auction house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Marbold.  The founder of the Marbold farmstead.  John was born Johann Wernsing on May 7, 1800 in Hanover Germany.

 

Because his childless aunt could only pass her estate, without thegovernment seizing it, to a legal heir with the same surname,

the aunt adopted Johann in 1820 and his name was changed to John Marbold.  John's brother lived in Petersburg and returned to Germany to convince his brother John to moved to America.   John's wife had died in 1843 so he was apparently ready for change.   John and his children moved to Petersburg and lived there for 3 years before moving to Greenview to buy 200 acres from Charles Montgomery.  He began to build a home called Elmwood.  The home was built 1850 to 1853.  John's wife was Marie Shearborn and they had six children.

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. H. H. Marbold (Margaret Hackmann) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. F. Marbold, son of H. H. Marbold. 

 

 

 

 

 

Springfield Drive In which was off old route Business 66, otherwise known as 31st street and later known as Dirksen Parkway.  This drive in was located behind Guiffre Buick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Razydonkulous!

Rather be razzy than to be a stooge.

The days of fall are coming soon.  Some call that fun and wonderful while others call it work. I call it razydonkulous!  Now I'm sure you know what that means. It means epiculous.  Now I know you know what that means.  Epiculous means ridonkulous.

So do I have to explain it further.  Everyone knows what ridonkulous means.  It means the same as razydonkulous.  And, sometimes ridonkulous is spelled ridonculous or even redonculous so maybe now you recognize what I mean when I put the other spellings.

But anyhoos>>>>>>   Fall is time for weenie roasts and a bunch of clown parties.  When a bunch of clowns get together in a time of razydonkulous proportions, everyone has a heck of a good time.  There might be chilli (spelled the Springfield way of course) or some kind of soup and a bunch of hot doggers or maybe a few cheezeburgers with the works.  And every time someone bites into those massive fall sammiches, ketchup and mustard spurts across the way and lands on your neighbor sitting to the far right.  Everyone laughs, including you and the neighbor who got the "works".

Any way you look at it, fall can be a fun time.  But of course, when you look around the corner and see what's coming behind fall, you might get to feeling a bit of altered perception where one sees the world as dark and nasty and cold as heck.  Typically called depression.  But when the time following fall gets here, we might all get to feeling a bit that way.  It typically feels the same as when you get to the end of a good movie or when you complete a video game on the losing side.

So.....after you read this razzy dazzy thing today, think about how razydonkulous fall will be for you.  By the way, it also means "beyond ridiculous".  But, why not have a good time and impress your friends.  Use your new word "razydonkulous" three times this week just to have a ridonkulous time.  Using it might help ward off those feelings of old man "shhhhh" winter coming.  Bodacious!


Old Stuff

 

Petersburg - Buck and Cook Garage

From 1948 Observer ad.

 

Petersburg - 1955 - East Side of Square

 

 

 

Petersburg - 1950's - North

side of square

 

 

 

 

Greenview - First State Bank Building Postcard

The bank with time for everyone....unlike the later ones.

Then this building was the post office and later torn down as well as the building to the east.

 

 

 

Greenview Garage Sales

The fall townwide garage sales are October 6, 2012.

 

 

Quote For The Day

Go for it now.

The future is promised to no one.

--Wayne Dyer

 

 

 

I think of my blog as a one of a kind cartel.  It's a conglomerate group formed in the best interest of our home town to promote a mutual interest.   I guess it's a bunch of people who like Me and only me (just kidding) ROFLMBO. 

 

Really it's a bunch of people who like to read quasi-cartel type information and articles written by a dowdy old pantsuit woman.  So that must mean this is a "dowdy pantsuit cartel" written by a dowdy old woman bound forever to be dressed in a pantsuit of varied colors and patterns.  Everyone knows only old women wear pantsuits....well.... I wear pants and some of them are suits so I guess that fits me.  Boxy jackets like Hillary Clinton and wrinkles go together.  And, when you wear them while you are writing a blog article you become one of those dowdy old women.  So the result is a dowdy pantsuit cartel.  But that definitely is better than me writing a cheeky monkey blog.  It would be full of bananas and monkeys picking fleas. 

 

We all know that Greenview is the land of "cool".  Urban cool that is.  So this old dowdy pantsuit woman will keep on wearing her pantsuit and chistling her writings on the stone tablets of progress.  So now it's time to go for now....time to change my pantsuit.  Another day another pantsuit.

 

 

 

 

 

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Boredom Leads To .....

What do you think....does boredom lead to things?

To me boredom can cause many things which are either bad for our health or bad for us in general or downright terrible things like strange behavior......BUT....boredom can also result in creativeness and adventure and even healthy brain stimulation.

Give me a handful of gizmos or whatever and I usually can create something.....even if I'm bored.....and usually the more bored I am the better the result. 

But I know persons who bask in boredom and want even more....the more bored they are, the more bored they want to be.  To me ....if such persons don't find a healthy environment to entertain their mind, then boredom could very well lead to them becoming really stale....like an old loaf of bread.  To me, most persons who are responsible adults, can lift the life of boredom and would most likely be easily entertained in life.....doing creative things.

Boredom....is it for you????  In today's environment of high gas prices, high food prices and everything else that's expensive, just managing your finances should keep everyone from being wrapped in the embraces of boredom.  Life should never be boring....it should be exhilarating.  So go for it....crawl out of your boredom hole if you're there!!!

Vintage Area things.....

(you can click on most pictures to get an enlarged view)

1901 Building Springfield Lincoln Library

1879 Illinois legislature in session.

Lincoln....Sheers Buggies with the

court house in back

Area corn shelling in 1964.  Corn shelling at that date was still

a viable business, however, it wasn't long after that farmers began buying columbines which would not only pick corn but also shell it.  My father did custom corn shelling .... farmers would hire him

to shell their corn from their grain bins.

Petersburg New Salem.  Lincoln-Berry Store

Quote For The Day

Honesty is the first chapter

of the book of wisdom.

--Thomas Jefferson



I understand that internet dating is becoming really popular... and even on church internet dating sites... That's not anything I would want to do......maybe someone who finds a jerk on the internet dating site can use this "Love" (??) poem.

I thought I loved you, even tho I don't know you

Let me count the 10 ways you killed my internet love

Way one....your filthy mouth stinks

Way two......you fart too much and I can hear it on skype

Way three.....you're too fat

Way four.....your mouth is too large

Way five.....you're too short

Way six.....you don't have enuf money

Way seven.....you think you're smart but you aren't

Way eight.....your feet stink and I can smell them through skype they are so bad

Way nine......you need to wise up

Way ten.....find someone else, do I need to say more?

Hope that internet admirer got the message!!??

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Counting Down to Resolution Time

One and a Two and a Three.....

We all know that the week after Christmas is when you start thinking about the many resolutions you will swear you will stick to come New Year's Day.  Just like Santa says HO HO HO.....what a bunch of malarkey because you know you won't stick to the list lying on your kitchen table.  At least I won't.....but we all mean well!!!

First of all there will be the "I swear I will not eat Chocolate".  How horrible this is for me......being a chocoholic!  I know I will write this down on my list and will try to do this and, probably at the stroke of midnight, if you would sneak into my house I will probably be chomping on the Hershey's bar that's in the refrigerator because it goes so well with a nice glass of Merlot.

The next will most likely be "Stop Buying So Many Shoes"!  The closet is full, the top of the closet is full.  The downstairs closet is full.  Now is the time to quit this shoe buying....."STOP!"

Next....the barbeque sauce.  Chicken breast, chicken wings, pork ribs,  pork chops, all slathered in barbeque sauce.....the kind that is sticky sweet and not only sticks to your face and napkin but also sticks to your butt as the more you eat this sweet concoction your old hiney gets bigger and bigger  ..... if you like to eat as much as some people do....me! (I'm surprised I don't just drink it out of the bottle!!)  Stop the salivating right now!!

Here it comes.....a writer always makes a resolution to become a better writer......now how does one do that????  But,  I WILL put it on the list.  If you remember a few months ago,  I told you some one commented on this blog (which I erased) that I wrote Trailer Park Humor......I guess I need to upgrade my humor a bit...to at least a mobile home park....or maybe condominium complex humor.  It makes the list look longer.....

Next on the list is to rewrite my personal definition of "stupid people".....so, that I can become more understanding and more tolerant of this class of persons.  It's hard to be able to open your mind and accept those who make life so difficult so I figure if I write my own definition of what a stupid person is, maybe I can become more tolerant.  Maybe?

Jiminy Cricket....that's only a few resolutions.....I need to google and see who the heck was the person who said we need to do resolutions. 


Next is one of the most important.  When I accidentally (ha ha) let a fart, I swear I won't blame it on the dog.  Everyone thinks the poor dog has a severe case of flatulence since I'm always blaming those really nasty farts on her.

Not so important but this one has bugged me for a long time....it's setting the clock ahead 10 minutes.  Why do I do this....everyone knows that the clock is 10 minutes fast so why do it....so it's time to stop.  Just hope everyone knows that I will be setting the clock back to "au naturel".

Dryer shrinkage is my next resolution.  These clothes I buy keep shrinking in the dryer (ha ha ha).  So I need to either set the dryer to a lower temperature (maybe cold)  or just lose some weight.  I guess it's the dryer....or could it be the 20 pounds that I found on the sidewalk and picked it up and am now carrying it around??

Since the dryer resolution is high on my list maybe I should put my losing weight  resolution right here.  I think if I quit eating the chocolate in the first resolution and cut down on the barbeque sauce in my BBQ resolution or at least change to a less sticky one (check out  Sweet Baby Rays - low calorie if they have one) and if I keep on a truckin and a walkin maybe the I could lose a little weight??? 

Last but surely not least.  I need to make a resolution to cut down on my sitting in front of the computer so dang much.  So for the next year I am making a resolution to stand half the time and sit the other half.....that will surely meet the resolution.

I've done it.  My list is complete.  And now it's time my friend for you to get yours done.  And no copying either!

Vintage Photos Around The Area

Abraham Lincoln Springfield hotel lobby 1951.

Lincoln - Gullets Huge Greenhouse 1942 era -

hail and fire destroyed it.

Petersburg  Menard County Court House 1910 era.

Springfield Sangamo Electric

1941 Indianapolis Raceway Pace Car

visiting Springfield.

Springfield Court House Downtown 1946

Thought For The Day

The secret of your future is

hidden in your daily routine.

--Mike Murdock

Have you spent a bit of time reading greeting card messages?  Some of those are so bizarre I am just astounded.  I read the message and don't know whether to throw the card or laugh or just put it back quietly and pretend I didn't just read that card.  Of course some of them match my humor so I just about roll on the floor laughing.

Yesterday I saw one which got me hooting and snorting.....it said "stupidity is contagious, stand back, I don't want to catch yours".  Then there was this one ..... "your specialness is getting on my nerves".    (I could buy multiples of this one to send to my many "friends".)

Of course I don't know on what occasion some of these would be sent.  Like this one...."If I tell you to have a nice day, Run!"

Vintage New Years Greeting postcard from 1916 era.

Have a grand day.  Come again.

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What If Black Friday Was Cancelled?

What is Black Friday Anyway?

When Santa's Sleigh is the last thing to roll down New York's famous 34th Street during the Macy's parade, the CEO's at all department stores begin to salivate heavily.  They wring their greedy little hands in joy and anticipation of opening their doors either late Thanksgiving or super early on Black Friday. 

These CEO's know that their store, which has been in the red all year, might finally be in the black after one day's shopping.  All year they plan the advertising to give a glimpse of those super bargains.  Sure they spend a lot on advertising.  A one page colored ad in the Wall Street Journal costs between $210, 300 and $248,000.  Wow that is some dough.  The New York Times would be about $24,000.

Around Springfield, it might not be that high, but coupled with the $3.00 per paper that the SJ-R now charges, do we now know which other CEO wrings their hands in joy prior to the Thanksgiving Day's advertising?  Me thinks it might be Gate House Media...the owner of SJ-R.  Sure they had extra costs involved in moving the printing operations from Springfield to Peoria back a while ago, but $3.00 for papers on Sunday and Thanksgiving?????

The stores show these wonderful super cheap bargains.....but they conveniently forget to tell you that there are only 3 to maybe 4 and 10 items if you're really lucky of each super cheap item.  You get there thinking you are the one who will get the bargain of the day.... only to find the line stretches down the street, around the corner and 15 blocks down the dirtiest alley you've ever seen.  All for the sake of getting one of the cheap 3 or 4 items.

But the store got you in the store....so, might as well do some other shopping.  Some items of which, they most likely have marked up to cover their sale prices.  (Just like the myriad of closeout sale items I've seen on businesses going out of business.....they mark the prices up to mark them down.) 

You go down the aisles with your Christmas list.  A shirt and a truck for Billy and  socks and a bee bee gun for Johnny.  Jimmy gets a new coat and three books he wanted.  Sally wants that new doll which eats, drinks, sleeps, and poops.  Ginger, being the teenager she is, wants that wonderful and costly newly designed LCD television which you could have gotten for the super low price of $98.00 on the super deals but they were all out when you got there so now you must pay $248.00.  Your cart runneth over.  And your billfold will be empty....but you are smiling because you went to the Black Friday sales and made some store CEO happy.  His store will now be in the black.

What if Black Friday was cancelled?  Employers could quit giving this Friday off as an extra holiday.....that would save production and money.  The department stores could save money on advertising but they would really be in the red come the end of the year.  You could save gas getting to the store and your wallet would be fatter until you went shopping on another day....but you might get some bargains going shopping where sales are on the items you have on your list instead of shopping where you went first.  You could sleep in if you still had the day off.  You could stay home and eat leftovers instead of having to buy lunch out on Black Friday. 

See there are myriads of answers and reasonings to that question.  Am I out shopping this early morning at 6:30 am??????  No, I'm still in my frog pajamas.  Let me tell you I'm getting tired of wearing these frog pajamas so a new pair is on my list....maybe some nice new pair with a turkey on it .... just my style!  Today is still today later today so I might venture out...who knows.  Maybe they will have that one lone sale item I really wanted but decided it just wasn't worth it at 2:00 a.m. this morning.  Maybe I'll see you out shopping today or later this season.  We can have coffee....you buy!

Area Pictures

Petersburg Harris High School

1940-1950's era

Downtown Petersburg.  This

picture appeared in the Petersburg

Observer 9-4-2004.  Unknown date of the picture.

An old advertisement for the Elkhart Elevator

which was operated by Allison, which also ran the

Greenview elevator.

1937-39

Oliver tractor with a Grain Master Combine

Logan County

Illinois State Fair Happy Hallow Postcard

Springfield....unsure of date

Recipe

The holiday season is officially here so it's time to start planning your  "to make" list of candy and cookies.  High on my list is Peppermint Bark.  It's easy and people love this sweet yet minty concoction.

Peppermint Bark

2 pounds of white chocolate ( the real stuff is always the best)

30 small candy canes

Line a jelly roll size pan with foil or parchment paper.  Place candy canes in heavy plastic freezer bags and pound with a meat mallet or a rolling pin until crushed.   Put chocolate in a glass bowl and put in the microwave for 4 to 5 minutes....always watch closely and take out every minute or so starting with the second minute and stir the chocolate.  Take from microwave and stir in the peppermint pieces.  Then spread evenly in the jelly roll pan.  Cool for at least an hour.  Break it up by slamming the pan on the counter.  Store in a tightly covered container.

Quote Of the Day

My health is good,

it's my age that's bad.

--Roy Acuff

I bet some of you are sitting in your desk chair reading this blog with an extended bloated stomach from the 7,000 calorie meal you ate yesterday.  And you don't know why but you're hungry this morning and thinking about going to get a big turkey sandwich for breakfast.  Well...that's better than a piece of that leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast.

When we're sitting at the Thanksgiving table with the plate that really needed sideboards, we don't really care that the 7,000 calories are going into our tiny little stomach to later become a big wad of fat on our getting bigger hiney.  Just think, there are 3,500 calories in one pound so you just ate 2 pounds of ugly body weight.

I always picture a two pound of hamburger to see what 2 pounds of ugly body weight looks like.  So if you gain 10 pounds of body weight, and look at a 10 pound package of hamburger....you will find by looking at 10 pounds of beef that you are in real trouble, because you're going to need some new clothes.....and a diet.

So today as you sit at your computer.....get up every once in a while and do five jumping jacks, 6 leg lifts on each leg, get two cans of vegetables and lift them above your head and down to your shoulders 10 times each, and go outside and walk to the mailbox 8 times.  You have just done a bit of good for getting those hamburger look-a-like pounds off your old hiney. 

Let's work out today because we have another HUGE meal to go through in just 30 days from today......Happy day!

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