Back on June 16th, I listed some things I just don't see anymore--see list here (although, I HAVE seen some nuns this summer, in full habit!). Since then I have thought of a few more disappearing things:** Little old men with hats (and little old women with hats and/or fake leopard fur coats). Seems they have all died off? It was usually a little old man with a hat just visible over the steering wheel of a s-l-o-w car in front of you on the road.
** Hitchhikers. No one does that anymore. Ah...the innocent (maybe not so?) 70's and early 80's--when people (mostly males, even then, but I recall a few young ladies) with their thumbs out and/or a sign indicating where they wanted to get to were often seen by the roadsides. I never hitched, myself. My husband, however, hitched across the U.S.A. and Canada. (he really needs to write a book about it)
** Charo. Why I even thought of her the other night, I don't know. It seems like there was a time when she showed up everywhere and now she seems to have gone into hiding. I Googled her--she is still alive and looks much the same(slightly heavy on the face spackle and surely some plastic surgery because she still looks so young), and even has her own website. I did learn that she is considered one of the world's best Spanish Guitarists, too.
That's all I can think of this Saturday morning. It seems I am looking backwards lately. It seems like so much is changing and the old institutions continue to close. Ryan's Market is locked up in Wickford--such a sad sight when I was there last Tuesday peering in the windows at the bare shelves. And there is a sale this morning at the old Larchwood Inn where the owners are selling off everything from inside it. The end.
Back to the present, though-
I'm going to make some pecan pies this morning for a Labor Day weekend "Thanksgiving" cook-out some friends host annually (guests bring a traditional Thanksgiving dish). Looking forward to eating some mashed potatoes and stuffing....and pecan pie later today.
11 comments:
We still do have a few hitchhikers up here...with their cardboard signs. Not so much anymore, though. I think the world is just not as safe anymore.
My mouth is watering with the thought of some pecan pies. YUMMY!! Now I am thinking about turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes....I'm glad I live in Canada and our Thanksgiving is only a month and a half away!!
Nowadays, if you see someone hitchhiking on the side of the road, you have to worry about picking them up.
Pecan pies already, hmmm? How cool!!
Yum! What a unique way to celebrate Labor Day...with a Thanksgiving cookout. Pecan pie is my favorite. I am sure the cleanup will much easier since it is outside. That's the worst part of the November holiday. Are you having hotdogs and hamburgers too?
Enjoy! ~ Rosemary
So if you make a thanksgiving feast for Labour day do you make a Labour-intensive feast for Thanksgiving? just wondering. :-)
You are so right, now that you mention it.... we don't see those things anymore! Well they made hitchhiking illegal here at some point, and I guess it slowly simmered out... but yes, these days it's a lot harder to trust any stranger somehow. I remember many years ago I just had to slow down while going by a hitchhiker, and he just opened my door and got in my car!!! I was like oh well... guess I'm giving this guy a ride. I wasn't too worried, but I probably should have been!
My Dad used to be a guy with a hat on.... way back when. :)
And lucky you, having a Thanksgiving dinner and Pecan Pies!!!! Yum!! Hope you had a great time!! Happy Labor Day weekend!! *hugs*
Just so you know . . my husband always wears a hat but you'd better not call him old! :-)
:-)). Here the old man with the hat often was driving a small Volvo (slow indeed!).
I still do like hats though :-)). We should wear those more often.
I noticed a hitchhiker yesterday. Here there still are, but not as many as there used to be. I did not hitchhike either, but a lot of my classmates did to go to school and/or home. We did take hitchhikers though here and once on Cuba (there is a great need to hitchhike due to lack of transport). It gets a bit out of fashion because of the greater risks these days I think.
Wow the Labor Day weekend Thanksgiving cook out sounds *great*. So yummie!
You should come to Guate! (that's short for Guatemala...all Guatemalans say it like that; it's something like "USA" instead of saying the whole name)
Here there are tons of little old men with their hats or "cachucha" as we call them. Most of the elderly around my home area are retired teachers, and 90% of the men still use their hats and cachuchas.
I share your feelings, Tina. Regardless of our different cultures, things are pretty much the same over here. For instance, I still miss the little tavernas of the 80s ON the beach. We'd wait for the fisherman to stop by and choose some delicious fresh fish from the catch of the day. No menus then ...since the taverna owner didn't know what the fisherman would bring. The taverna owner would cook the fish to our liking - grilled or fried after having ..set the table on the sand : greaseproof paper roll was our table cloth, small water glasses were used for any drink, Greek coffee was made on the hot sand..Nowadays you can only see air conditioned tavernas with a sophisticated decor, immaculately dressed waiters (most of them are foreigners) will serve you fresh fish all right, but the fisherman's boat is not there ... No more hithch hikers either since , nowadays, every family owns at least 2 cars. Huge modern supermarkets have replaced our mobile grocer of the 80s....Ah well, I guess we have to move with the times.
There are plenty of little old men hunched behind their steering wheels here, they are usually hill farmers who are more used to driving a tractor, so only go out once a month to town in their beat up old jalopy lol Its always the day I'm in a hurry, stuck down country lanes.....
Ah well. I love the picture of the books btw xxx
*Manders,
My pies didn't turn out as nice as I had wanted...they got a little dark. But they were eaten up, anyway. Yes..lucky you..Thanksgiving in October, right? :-)
*Meg,
You are right about that--I would think twice and probably not pick up a hitchhiker today, when most likely that person would only be wanting a ride. But you can never be certain.
*Rosemary,
No, there weren't any hot dogs and hamburgers...we devoured ffive turkeys, though. It really was a fall/Thanksgiving food cook-out. The food tasted especially good to me since we don't normally eat that kind of food in summer.
*Sandra,
It always is Labor(one 'o'! wink, wink)-intensive for me at Thanksiving, except for the year my husband made the dinner.(hmmmm...maybe he'll do that again this year) I really don't care for all that cooking and being stuck in the kitchen early on, on Thanksgiving Day, actually. Maybe we'll just have pie this year(just kidding!)
*Sherry,
Yup, yup, my father wore a hat, too!! It was just what he grew up doing, so even into the 80's, he wore a hat each day. Very Cary Grant-ish.
*truth searcher,
(Sandra?)Okay, I won't dare call your husband 'old'(or little). What kind of hat does he wear, may I ask?
* Cessie,
I agree with you--we SHOULD wear hats ore often! (I liked the image of the little ld man in the hat behind the wheel of a Volvo)
*Claudai,
I'll have to Google a 'cachucha' to see what they look like!
*Anastasia,
I read with interest your own take on how things have changed in Cyprus, too. I felt rather sad knowing that there, too, there are supermarkets, air conditioned restaurants and people all having two cars(sounds like here!) and the old ways sounded so much better.(we used to have trucks carrying vegetables and fruit, bread and milk to our homes at one time, too)
*Hullo, C.C.,
I will just have to come to Wales then, to get my dose of little old men with hats driving slowly!! :-) That's my bedroom bookcase, by the wa.
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