Gettin' stuff done

Sat., November 23, 1935 - Mom and I went to Norfolk in Ray's car this p.m.  Mom bought new slippers and I got some material for smocks and a woolen dress.  Martha and Chris here tonite.
Sun. November 24, 1935 - Finished smock and made school curtains.  Hans, Willie and Louis here after church.  They had dinner with us.  Helen I. here about 5:30.  She brought back some charts she had been using.  Mom and Ray went out to Ola's tonite.  Howard was here this evening.  Brought me a box of candy.
Mon., November 25, 1935 - Clear and warm.  Went to the Ladies Aid chicken supper at the lodge hall.  Howard here a few minutes.  He said the special Rebekah meeting at Carroll tomorrow nite is called off because the lady who was coming broke her arm in an auto accident.

No messing around -- fabric purchased on Saturday, smock finished on Sunday.  Ah, the days when I used to be able to make something like that happen.

That's a somewhat scary candy box from the 1930s in the photo (found on Pinterest). 

Happy 50th birthday to Grandma Anna

Thurs., April 18, 1935 - Helen went today to spend several days at Lindsey [sic].  Warm today.  Irene came after me and we went to Ethel's party.  Rews, Nuss, Lefler, Gladys Reichert were the other guests.  Played Hearts - had a good time and good lunch.
Fri., April 19, 1935 - Mom's fiftieth birthday.  Donald and Allen brought cars and took us to Dist. 40.  Warm today, had a good time.  Into town at 4:30, fixed dessert for club tomorrow nite.  Went to church tonite -- took Holy Communion.  After church Ray, Willie, Lillie, Louis, Martha and baby, Harry and Mary Kahler and Grandma Ruschmann came up to our place.  We had a midnight lunch.
Sat., April 20, 1935 - Worked like the dickens getting ready for card club tonite.  Only 8 members were there and they didn't come until 10:00!  Brr!  Nuss, Ethel, Rews were here by 8:30.

I am finding it difficult to imagine Grandma Anna at 50 years old.  I just realized that on this particular birthday, Grandma Anna had a 23-year-old daughter and when I was 50, my baby boy was 21-years-old.  I never did the math before to realize Grandma Anna had her firstborn at around the same age I did.  I found that the median age of brides when Grandma Anna got married was 21.6, whereas she was 25.  So, she had children a little later than others in her time, I am thinking.  All this doesn't mean anything really, just a bit of rambling on my part.  Here she is with Grandma and Uncle Ray, probably shy of 50, but I love the attitude:

I am guessing Grandma meant Aunt Helen went to Lindsay, a town in Nebraska, although I am confused as to why she would spend several days there.  So far as I know, we do not have family in that area.  This is what wikipedia says about Lindsay:

     In 1862, subject to the provisions of the Homestead Act, families began settling in the fertile land near Shell Creek. Lindsay was platted in 1886.  A large share of the early settlers being natives of Lindsay, Ontario, Canada caused the name to be selected. Lindsay was incorporated as a village on March 7, 1888.  By the early 20th century, Lindsay had an electric utility and water system comprising a 100-ft well and a 60,000-gallon tank.  The Chicago and North Western Railroad's Albion Line consisted of 115 miles of tracks through Lindsay, on which were operated four freight trains and two passenger trains daily. By 1917, the population of Lindsay had grown to almost 500 people.  What is now the Lindsay Corporation was founded in the village in 1955 by Paul Zimmerer as the Lindsay Manufacturing Company to be a maker of irrigation and farm automation equipment. The company has retained a manufacturing facility in Lindsay, but is now headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange with a ticker symbol of LNN.  In 2005, the company accounted for 80% of employment in Lindsay, employing about 460 persons of the village's total employment of 577.  As of the census of 2010, there were 255 people, 111 households, and 77 families residing in the village.

Two things . . . Canadians?  And a business started in a little Nebraska village is now traded on the NYSE.  Nicely done, Lindsay.  (That's a photo of Lindsay above.)

Grandpa at a convention?

Fri., April 12, 1935 - Cleared up today.  Warm outside.  Went to lodge tonite.  I'm on the next lunch committee with Alma.
Sat., April 13, 1935 - To Wayne this a.m.  Had a ride there with Chas. Misfeldt's.  To Sewell's office and at Aunt M.  Went on the noon train through to Norfolk.  Got new white slippers, some things for my party also.
Sun., April 14, 1935 - Confirmation services today, Louis B. one to be confirmed.  Had to stand in the hall.  Howard went to a W.O.W. convention at Lincoln this a.m.  Mom, Irene, Helen and I saw Will Rogers in "Life Begins at 40" at Wayne tonite.

I did not know that Grandpa ever went to anything close to a convention, but I'm glad to learn that he did.  I know he was a young man then and I knew him only as a grandfather, but I am imagining him having a difficult time sitting still for speeches and conferences and such.  It would have kept him inside too long.

I am a bit intrigued by the movie Grandma and the others went to see.  Here's a plot summary from IMDB:

     Kenesaw H. Clark (Will Rogers), owner and editor of the local small-town newspaper where the subscriptions are usually paid off in farm produce, comes upon young Lee Austin (Richard Cromwell), just out of jail and about to commit a crime. Clark takes him under his wing to put him on the straight and narrow, and also serves as Cupid in Lee's courtship of Adele Anderson, and gets himself in wrong with Colonel Joseph Abercrombie, the town banker and political boss. Losing his paper, Clark picks out the laziest man in town, T. Watterson Meriwether and runs him as a opposition candidate against Abercrombie. Believing that there is something strange about the hatred that Abercrombie and his son Joe have for Lee, Clark digs up the files of the crime that sent Lee to jail. Clark, with the aid of Meriwether and his hog-calling relatives, breaks up the Colonel's hog show/political rally, and then learns and proves that young Joe Abercrombie had stolen the money instead of Lee.

That all sounds like a fun story, but I learned from wikipedia that the movie is based on a non-fiction self-help book which is not at all what the plot would infer.  Wikipedia explains the book was "written during a time of rapid increase in life expectancy (at the time of its publication American life expectancy at birth was around 60 and climbing fast, from being only at age 40 fifty years before), it was very popular and influential.  More an extended essay and exhortation than a detailed self-help book in the modern sense, the general thrust of the book is that, given the current conditions of the world, one could look forward to many years of fulfilling and happy existence after age 40, provided that one maintained the proper positive attitude."  So, maybe the movie and its characters are drawn from a story in the book that was used as an example to make a point.  In any event, I hope they had a good time.