Iowa's "Blind Pig Soap"

This morning a Facebook page about Iowa towns and their histories, which I follow, shared an old 1898 newspaper advertisement for Pearline Soap. I don't remember that laundry soap, but.....

.... it did prickle a memory of this soap, a bar of which was left behind on the basement shelves of the rental house we moved into near Des Moines in 1969.

I never used it, but knew the P and G stood for Proctor and Gamble - which led me to a 1917 ad for "P and G the White Naptha Soap" and an article that included part of a song written by Newfoundland folk singer.

Oh, you women folks of Newfoundland,
attend to what I say,
I mean to make it easy for you on washing day;
And when you use your washing soap,
I want you all to see,
When you’re taking off the wrapper
that it’s stamped with a “P G” 

The Proctor and Gamble Company was based in Cincinnati. In 1920 a resident there had just returned from a trip to Iowa. He reported that: "In Iowa, grocers say they sell more 'P-G' soap than any other kind. Iowa citizens call it Blind Pig Soap." Mystified as to why such a strange name would be given to the soap that made Cincinnati famous .... "because P-G soap has no I (eye)."

This 'Blind Pig Soap' story was new to me. It is the kind of factoid that I find informational and get a kick out of. 

It is also somewhat ironic - the first pig I raised after moving back home in '78 was Rupert. He really was blind.

Family Before Fireworks

We have two great-grandsons whose birthdays are June 30, Greyson, 10, and July 1, Ayden, 11, which makes them both ten years old for one day. 

Because their birthdays are close to the 4th of July celebrating them and Independence Day is usually combined.

It is always such a joy to see the little ones and mark how they have changed. Great-grandson, Henri, here with his mother, Kathryn, is the whose growth is most apparent. Last time we saw him he wasn't walking, now he is. And he just gets cuter and more personable each time we see him.

Henri's big brother, Louis, and his Dad, Travis, were enjoying some age appropriate fireworks.

Louis not only showed me his 'poppers', he shared one with me.

They didn't have to be lit, only thrown on pavement to POP.

Ten year old Greyson, always ready with a smile and hug.

 Ayden and Greyson playing in the water.

Louis and Henri doing the same thing. The slip and slide was new and they were all making the most of it.

The high temperatures and sunshine were perfect for their play.

Then Aunt Dominique got in on it.

I think she had as much fun - or more - than the boys did.

While all the fun was going on outside, Dominique's husband Ian was working away installing new ceiling tiles in his in-law's dining room.

I don't think there is much this guy can't do, and he does it willingly.

I think the young ones were going to move the fun to a pool, but it was time for the old folks to go home.

We live close enough to McKinley Lake/Park to see the fireworks from our deck.

Neither of us are big fireworks fans, see a few and that's enough. 

I took this picture through the window. 

Another birthday and 4th of July celebration in the books. 

Using Water To Make Pudding

I planned to take a couple of salads to the family 4th of July gathering tomorrow - my cauliflower and pea salad and lemon jello with crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges. Monday I bought what I needed. Yesterday I put together the pea salad except for the cheese because that doesn't get added until shortly before eating.

This morning I made the jello so it could partially set before adding the fruit.

While the water was heating, two boxes of jello went into a large bowl. I poured in two cups of boiling water and began stirring.

That's funny, the jello is already beginning to thicken.

 

That was when I realized I had purchased lemon pudding and pie filling, not gelatin.

At least I hadn't opened the cans of pineapple and oranges yet. 

Yes, I could have gone back to the store and gotten Jello gelatin, but didn't. I had said I would bring a salad or two. So one it is. Sorry kids.

In the meantime, I tasted the pudding mixture made with water instead of milk. It wasn't bad at all; edible in fact. Good to know in case I want pudding sometime and am out of milk.

I've known for some time now that I need to check and then double check everything I do before doing it. But really, those boxes look much alike, don't they? 

Hope you have a happy and safe 4th. For certain no one will be putting me in charge of the fireworks!   🎆🎇

The Path

 

The Path Through Dune and Memory (Kevin McManus)

The wind does not forget this place—

a whispering tongue in brittle grass,

where footsteps fade but never vanish,

etched in the lean of withered dune.

She walks the crooked, salt-blown path

as if returning from a dream,

the hem of night clinging to her coat,

hair swept like smoke toward forgotten skies.

Above, the crows rise in a scattered psalm,

a black benediction cast in flight.

They do not mourn, not truly—

only echo what has passed beneath.

No names are spoken here aloud,

only thought, half-formed and frail

like the bones of sea-washed driftwood

that line the trail with silent grace.

And still she walks—

not forward, not quite back,

but into that thin, wind-worn space

where the dead speak softest

and the living listen best

Kevin McManus is an Irish poet.

The photo is one I took on South Padre Island.

June '25 Books

 Only six books read this month.

Tell Me by Lisa Jackson is a book I picked up at a garage sale. It was an okay murder mystery, but not great.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler is a warm, witty, and wise story about second chances. Tyler's books are always great. 

The World's Fair Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini is the latest novel in her Elm Creek Quilts series. The story alternates between present day and the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Sisters Sylvia and Claudia Bergstrom decide to enter a quilt in the Sears National Quilt Contest which is part of the Worlds' Fair.

I have only read some of the Elm Creek Quilts series preferring Chiaverini's historical novels, but I did enjoy this book. I totally understood the rivalry between the two sisters. It reminded me of my own with my sister.

Thick As Thieves and ricochet are two more of the Sandra Brown mysteries I've been working my way through. 

Yesterday was the 125th anniversary of  the birth of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry which prompted me to reread The Little Prince - this one the 50th anniversary edition gifted me by my daughter on my 50th birthday. It has been years since my last reading - I had forgotten a lot. 

Summer is definitely upon us. I hope you are enjoying your summer days. 😊

The Ceremonies Of Our Passage

 "The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince)

Today is the quasquicentennial (125th) anniversary of the birth of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince - a book high on the list of my favorites but the only one of his books I've read. I had not realized he also wrote poetry - until today....

Generation To Generation

In a house which becomes a home,

one hands down and another takes up

the heritage of mind and heart,

laughter and tears, musings and deeds.

Love, like a carefully loaded ship,

crosses the gulf between the generations.

Therefore, we do not neglect the ceremonies

of our passage: when we wed, when we die,

and when we are blessed with a child;

When we depart and when we return;

When we plant and when we harvest.

Let us bring up our children. It is not

the place of some official to hand to them

their heritage.

If others impart to our children our knowledge

and ideals, they will lose all of us that is

wordless and full of wonder.

Let us build memories in our children,

lest they drag out joyless lives,

lest they allow treasures to be lost because

they have not been given the keys.

We live, not by things, but by the meanings

of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords

from generation to generation.

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My first copy of The Little Prince looked like this:

I got it in the 1970's and hope I still have it somewhere though I can't put my hands on it right now. It is, I hope, in one of my boxes of books around here.

In 1993 this 50th anniversary edition of The Little Prince was released and I received a copy of it from my daughter because .....

....it was also the 50th anniversary of my birth.

And now, more than 80 years later, his warning rings truer, and louder, than ever. If you've never read The Little Prince, read it.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Why I Always Keep Ginger Ale on Hand

I'm posting this in case there are others who have the same problem I have, which is swallowing food - mostly meat, bread and raw carrots. It may or may not run in families, but my Mother had it and so does one of my great-grandsons, so it is not just an age related problem, though it seems mine didn't get really bad until I was older.

About a year ago I was eating a carrot and it got stuck on the way down. I tried to drink water, but could not even swallow that. I tried doing the finger down the throat to bring it back up and that didn't work. I wasn't choking, I just could not swallow. 

This went on for several hours. All I could do as the saliva built up was spit it out. I had just about decided I had to go to the ER and hope they could help me when Bud thought about seeing what the internet might suggest. Whether it said soda, carbonation or Ginger Ale, he suggested I try the Ginger Ale I had to see if I could swallow that. It worked! What was stuck went down. I was so relieved. 😌

How it works or why it works, I don't know and don't care - it just does! A sandwich is still what gives me the most problem, but all I have to do is drink some Ginger Ale and I'm fine.

This may seem like a strange thing to blog about, but if it helps even one other person, it is worth it. 😌