January • 2011 • NEWSLETTER

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Dear ##firstname[Friend]##,

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Whether you’re a snowbird still enjoying golf and gardening or a northern mammal weathering winter in a snowy setting, you may be turning back to reading after a busy holiday season. I am the latter species, and I truly enjoy hibernating with a good book. In this light, I’ve begun a department in your newsletter called “Off the Shelf” in which I’ll suggest some good reading, much of which will relate to nostalgia or history.

As always, feel free to forward our newsletter on to a friend or family member. If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you’d like a copy of your own each month, just clink this link to sign up yourself.

—John Burlingham at Reminisce

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In this issue:

• The Old Black-and-Whites
• Picture from the Past
• Stirring Up Memories
• Off the Bookshelf
• Time Capsule Trivia
• A Thought to Remember

West Virginia’s Mountain Railroads

All aboard! Rail fans will love this trip through the mountains of West Virginia on five historic railroads: Cass Scenic Railroad, Durbin Rocket, Cheat Mountain Salamander, Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad and Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. Get an up-close look at mining at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine and learn about horse-drawn vehicles at the Thrasher Carriage Museum. Revel in the scenic beauty of the area and marvel at the spectacular New River Gorge Bridge. Relax at the luxurious Stonewall Resort in Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. Come join us for a relaxing and fascinating rail adventure!

Reserve by Feb. 10 and you’ll save $50 per person on your trip. That’s $100 per couple in savings! Just mention promotion code RENS when you reserve to claim your savings.

Click here for more information .

The Old Black-and-Whites

By Pamela Foster
Ripley, Tennessee

December 31, 1966, proved to be a turning point in my life. At the age of 16, I was too young to celebrate New Year’s Eve, so I stayed home alone and watched a movie. It was Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney. I loved it! Watching it made me realize that the old black and white films are truly special. I started looking for the older movies from that day on.

To me, movies were magic back then because there were no special effects, no color, no bad language and no nudity. There was nothing to distract you from the story. And there had to be a story, a plot, good actors and talented directors.

The scenes in Yankee Doodle Dandy on that cold night made me forget that I was sitting home alone on New Year’s Eve! I learned about early vaudeville, saw some amazing dancing, heard music I would never forget and cried my heart out with Jimmy Cagney when Jerry Cohan died.

When my kids were growing up, they’d pass through the living room and groan when they’d see Mom watching one of her “ancient” movies and scoot out of there in a hurry. However, once they all left home, we started a tradition—once a month we’d all get together for a meal on a Sunday and watch two movies. One would be chosen by me, and the “kids” took turns choosing. Between Gina, Adrienne, Anthony, Alex and their various sidekicks, we had a large group taking turns.

The rule of the house was this: any movie had to be watched by all for 20 minutes. If anyone truly didn’t enjoy it, the movie would be stopped and ejected. This actually happened several times over the years—but never once with one of Mom’s ancient movies!

I would always pause my movie choice after 20 minutes and they’d always get annoyed. I’d ask them if I should take the movie out and there would be a loud chorus of “No!” Afterward, they would all be—once again—amazed. They would make comments: “Wow, that was great!” and “I really liked that Mom.”
 
Once when I visited my daughter over the holidays, she was trying to convince her daughter, Samantha, to watch the film Heidi. We left my granddaughter and sat down in the kitchen to enjoy our coffee and chat. A couple of hours later, Samantha came in and said, “Mom that movie was awesome!”
The tradition continues.

Click here for nostalgic stories .

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Pictures from the Past

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The year 1949 was the first I could remember Forest Home Avenue in the Town of Greenfield being shut down. A winter storm lasted all day and all night, leaving 21 inches of drifting snow. My dad used snowshoes to walk 12 miles to work at the Fulton Co. that day. He never missed a day of work—strong Polish genes, I guess—because the boilers in the buildings needed tending. Other people were seen using skis on the main road.

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In the pictures, my wife, Merle, and I have smiles on our faces despite a lot of shoveling. My family had a 60-foot driveway, so there was plenty of snow to clear with our big coal shovels. We made square blocks of snow, like the Eskimos did to build igloos, then piled the blocks about 4 or 5 feet high along the driveway. I remember that temperatures got to 20 degrees below zero that week. So if you’re wondering why I moved to California, these are just some of the reasons!

—Richard Spencer
West Covina, California

Click here to see more Pictures From the Past.

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Stirring Up Memories

Crab Football Spread

With the football playoffs here and the Super Bowl not far off, here are an NFL championship story for your reading pleasure and a delightful crab spread that looks like the ol’ pigskin.

Check out more super recipes for the Super Bowl and the games leading up to it at Taste of Home.

By Peter Trapuzzano
Washington, Pennsylvania

My older brother, Joe, had begun playing youth football in 1967, but I knew nothing of the game as a 10-year-old. However, I found that football was something my father enjoyed and wanted to share with me.

Little by little that fall, I learned the rules and how the game was played and watched the one National Football League game we could get on TV each Sunday. As the regular football season ended and the pro playoffs began, my father, my brother and I were glued to the TV set.

On New Year’s Eve of 1967, we were watching Vince Lombardi’s Packers play the visiting Dallas Cowboys for the NFL championship at Lambeau Field—the legendary game that has become known as the “Ice Bowl.” The Packers, trailing 17-14, had stalled at the Dallas one yard line and used their last timeout with 17 seconds left. They were on the sidelines deciding what play to call.

I decided to join in the discussion about what play would be run and blurted out, “I bet they do a quarterback sneak.” My brother laughed and my father scoffed, “They don’t do quarterback sneaks.”

The rest is history, both for the Packers and a young boy learning a new game. Quarterback Bart Starr ran the sneak into the end zone to clinch Green Bay’s third straight NFL title. Instead of cheering, an eerie silence fell over our living room as my father and brother stared at me, dumbfounded. I had trouble making eye contact in the fearful silence until my father began laughing and my brother joined in.

We laughed and celebrated not only the victory, but the event shared. From then on, football was our connection until my father passed away in 1989. Occasionally, while watching a game, I look to his rocking chair and expect to see him. In a way, he’s still there with me.

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Off the Bookshelf

By John Burlingham
Senior Editor

While it may seem that this discussion is a bit late for Christmas, I read Christmas Remembered by Ben Logan—out of publication for nearly a decade—in the days leading up to the season and found that it was about so much more than the holiday.

Mr. Logan recounts the warm memories and tough times of a Depression childhood, the struggles of coming all the way home from a war and the lessons learned while he entered adulthood. But most of all, it’s about what we carry with us from the land and the people we meet as we make our way in the world.

When Mr. Logan was asked if he regretted living so far from his Wisconsin roots, he replied, “There is no separation. I am always there. … Perhaps even I did not realize how often I drew on the values of my parents and the community of my younger years.”

So it is with all of us, I believe, making this book a valuable resource for nearly any reader. Mr. Logan’s insightful writing roused many a memory I’d long ago put into sleep mode, experiences that I can draw on for comfort and self-understanding. I finally stopped counting the many bits of true wisdom relayed in the author’s words.

Of his first book, Mr. Logan notes, “By now every chapter in The Land Remembers has been championed by someone as the best in the book. Why? Because some trigger in that chapter allowed the reader to become a personal participant and make it a part of the reader’s own story.”

This truly is at the core of his writing. Christmas Remembered is available at many retail and online book outlets, through a toll-free phone call to 1-800-458-0454 and through the Voyageur Press website at voyageurpress.com.(just type “Christmas Remembered” in the Search box at left).

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Time Capsule Trivia

Having a snowy January? Well, see if you can guess these six songs with “snow” in the title by using the clues below.

1. The four main stars of 1954’s White Christmas sing this on a train in the film while a server pours snowy-looking drinks into cocktail glasses. The lyrics just make you go “Brrr!”

2. Created and composed in 1945, this tune has become one of the most popular songs of the Christmas season but never mentions the word Christmas. One of the best-known versions is one by Bing Crosby. However, Vaughn Monroe was the first to record it, and his version plays during the credits of the first two Diehard films starring Bruce Willis.

3. Magic surrounded the stout star of this song sung to popular heights by Burl Ives.

4. Popularized by Rosemary Clooney in 1951, this tune describes a little gal creating frost everywhere. A cartoon short based on the character and created with stop-action animation was made the same year.

5. Most notably recorded by Elvis Presley, this 1971 song features the lyrics “Mother Nature wears a bridal gown, for the world is dressed in white.”

6. As a No. 1 hit by Anne Murray in 1970, this song begins, “Beneath its snowy mantle cold and clean, the unborn grass lies waiting for its coat to turn green.”

Click here for the answer to Time Capsule Trivia.

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A Thought to Remember

The truth never hurts unless it ought to.

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