Cod fish cakes and Swiss Chard are not so fondly remembered… by Faith R. Connors, author of Love, Midgie Hey, welcome to Same Supper Tuesday. I see you up there at the top of the honeysuckle wall. Come on down. Be careful, though. It is a challenge to get your feet planted firmly on the … Continue reading Same Supper Tuesday
The Breakfast Room by Faith R. Connors What is the story about breakfast rooms? Years ago, many houses were built to include a small room off the kitchen known as the breakfast room. Our house in Stamford, CT had just such a room. Small as it was, it had two doorways: one leading from the … Continue reading Honeysuckle Wall: The Breakfast Room
The Silhouette’s Secret: kept for 100 years The small, oval frame with a glass cover over a yellowing silhouette had hung on Cottrell and Raymond family walls for almost a century. The silhouette was created on September 12, 1916. The subject for the skilled artist was Marie Theresa Cottrell, 11 years old and the daughter … Continue reading The Silhouette’s Secret: kept for 100 years
After a 40-hour workweek at Grand Union in June 1955, a first ever for me, I received a paycheck in the amount of $40, more money than I had ever before earned at one time. Babysitting gigs paid $.50 an hour and while playing with my little charges, I’d quickly tally up my days earnings … Continue reading Dear Dollar: A letter of regret from Sweet Sixteen
A Serious Badminton Tournament by Faith R. Connors, author of Love, Midgie, Flavors of the Fjords Digital Edition, and Clark’s Hill Cat. This is the story of how a game of badminton leads to the purchase of a TV set for the Raymond family of Clark’s Hill (Stamford, CT). When other families on Clark’s Hill … Continue reading Family TV: Who put the BAD in Badminton?
An ad in the Stamford Advocate invited job seekers to visit the trailer parked on a vacant lot on Summer Street and apply for openings in a new grocery store. I went early and stood in line, along with some of my high school classmates, to wait in high hopes for an opportunity to fill … Continue reading Sweet Sixteen’s Summertime Job on Summer Street
Portraits of well-dressed women in the late 1800s often show them in hairstyles that highlighted beautiful spiral curls, ringlets in a variety of arrangements. Because they were so popular during that period, they are often called Victorian Rag Curls. The name also reflected how the curls were created. The most popular way of creating these … Continue reading Rag Curls and Broomsticks
“Slowing the spread,” through on-going covid quarantines and social distancing are leading to “insteads,” at least to author Faith Raymond Connors–many up close and personal, hands-on activities and relationships have changed. In this first “Instead,” FRC shares a hyperbolic letter from “Jenny,” the now some-time, maybe cleaning lady. Due to the Stay at Home rule, … Continue reading Jenny the Work from Home Housekeeper
Tuesday is trash day so minutes ago I was pulling fallen branches covered with Spanish moss to the street when my neighbor, Mike, out for a run, stopped to chat. Mike: “Hi Faith, Have your gardeners told you about what happened in your yard recently?” Me: “No, what happened?” Mike: “It was about three weeks … Continue reading Snake Report
[Author’s Note: Fresh cherries on sale at our neighborhood grocery brought back a memory of childhood nicknames, a neighborhood cherry tree in Stamford, Connecticut, and my Norwegian grandmother, Marie Theresa Fladvad Cottrell. A Black cherry tree, (prunus serotina) was the focus of intense childhood attention that summer day. Little Merry Mix-Up] -Anonymous Poem- The Secret … Continue reading Merry Mix-up and the Cherry Tree on Clark’s Hill