Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell June 26, 2007

First of all, I would like to say that I was really sad to hear that Virginia Hadley is moving. I never spent much time with Virginia, but in some way I will miss her. I know that it is good to live close to your kids. I wish her well, and hope that Texas realizes what a great woman they have living in their midst.
I was looking at different things on E-Bay and for some strange reason I found paper dolls. Then I put Betsy McCall in the search box I had not thought of her for years. When that paper doll popped up it brought back a flood of memories. I was not aware that there was a Betsy McCall doll that was not paper, but there she was for sale. Even though I was quite a tomboy- Mom always tried to find some sort of maternal instincts in me. When we went to the Grandparents house to do the laundry and it was rainy out or too yucky to play outside- Mom and Grandma would pull out the McCall’s magazine. When I asked if there was something I could do Mom would show me the Betsy McCall paper doll that came in each issue. I remember that I tried to cut her out just right but I seemed to have a little difficulty and usually cut something vital off. If it was not something on the doll - it was the tab on the dress then it would not stay on Betsy. Now I wished that I had kept some of them. I am not sure that McCall’s magazine is still being published. Grandma received all kinds of magazines - She even ordered ‘True Confessions’ but it did not take long before she stopped that periodical. If she would have lived long enough to see ‘Birds in Bloom’ or the ‘Country’ or the ‘Farm and Ranch’ she would have just loved them. I remember seeing the ‘LOOK’ and ‘Life’ I did not ever look at them often, since I was only about 4 it did not hold my attention for very long.
Grandma received ‘The Cappers Weekly’ and somehow she bought a lifetime subscription to it and she received it for many years. Even after she had died she was still getting it even though Mom had tried to stop it- they just kept sending it. I think that it is a Kansas paper and I know that it is still in publication as Mom still receiving it (her own subscription). Dad got a subscription to the ‘The Horseman’ and Bud Liggenstoffer gave me a subscription to ‘The Western Horseman’. But my favorite paper to get in the mail was the comics- I just love all of those funnies- I read my first soap opera - ‘Brenda Starr’- and ‘Rex Morgan’- I never did get ‘Gasoline Alley’ or ‘Lil’ Abner’. ‘Peanuts’ were always a preferred along with ‘Nancy’ - ‘Dennis the Menace’ and ‘Hi and Lois’. As I got older I enjoyed the ‘Lockhorns’ and they added ‘Baby Blues’ and ‘Zits’. I do not think that people enjoy the comics like they used to. When the paper came every day we would always read the comics and Ann Landers. And, of course, we would check over the obituaries. With the internet and everything else that we spend our time on, I just wonder if somewhere along the way, that maybe we have lost a little something.

1 comment:

Justin said...

Hi Vanita,

Jason here from inMedicineLodge.com I ran across your blog while searching for sites associated to medicine lodge. I'd like to put a link on the inMedicineLodge site to this blog. Hope that's ok. You can email me or contact me through the site if you have any questions or comments. Great work here! I'd like to visit with you sometime. I live on Cherry st. one house north of Norma G. F.

-jason