Postcard Friendship Friday - A Liberal Santa

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday! This cute fellow is looking all innocent and trying his best to convince us that he is decorating the place with holly as the little rhyme suggests. He's actually raiding his Christmas stocking for the pecans and that juicy tangerine stuck in the toe by the very liberal Santa.


The card was mailed to Miss Clorinda Ramsey in Charlotte Ut - the date is faint, but it appears to be December 22, 1915.

Eighty percent of the population of Utah lives around the Great Salt Lake which is a remnant of a much larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville which at it's peak surface area, was nearly as large as Lake Michigan and significantly deeper, covering roughly ten times the area of Great Salt Lake. It was over 1,000 feet deep, and covered much of present day Utah and parts of Idaho and Nevada during the Great Ice Age. About 17,000 years ago a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock River in Idaho in a massive flood. The flood area can still be seen from the sky if you happen to fly over.

Utah is called the Beehive State. The beehive is a symbol of industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance. The beehive was chosen as the emblem for the seal of the State of Utah when it became a state in 1896.

Honey, mainly clover, alfalfa and wildflower - is an important commodity of Utah, thanks to industrious bees. It has a low moisture/high sugar content due to the arid climate.

Speaking of bees, "the bee's knees" is a popular phrase from the Roaring 20's meaning excellent or highest quality. The origin of the phrase is uncertain.

The Real Bee's Knees

One possible connection between the phrase and an actual bee relates to Bee Jackson. Ms. Jackson was a dancer in the 1920's New York and is credited with introducing the Charleston to Broadway in February, 1924 when she appeared at the Silver Slipper nightclub. She went on to become the World Champion Clarleston dancer and was quite celebrated at the time.

It's possible that the expression was coined in reference to her very active knees.

The bee's knees probably was just a rhymed catch-phrase of the day like hocus pokus, hoi paloi and hoity toity. Isn't that the cat's pajamas? Mum's the word and let's 23 skiddoo!
.

Besides honey, what might we find on the Utah Christmas buffet?
.

How about these Utah favorites: Fried Scones, Funeral Potatoes and (this is sooo 1950’s) Green Jello with grated carrots.

The fried scones, a deep fried buttermilk yeast bread, may be an Anglicanized version of Navajo fry cakes and sopapillas. They are seved with honey butter, which is a mixture of one part butter and one part honey whipped together. The scones most of the population is familliar with are leavened with baking powder and baking soda and baked in an oven.

The "Four Corners" area where Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada meet is known as the fried bread capitol of the world. Sounds like a place I need to visit!

There's Always Room For Jell-O - except Green Jello can stay in Utah for all I care.

According to Kraft Foods, Utah residents eat more Jell-O per capita than the other 49 states. Lime is a particular favorite. This Jell-O was immortalized during the 2002 Olympics, where pins depicting this dessert were sold. Apparently, Kraft underestimated the demand and they became collector's items.
.
"...in the early 90's, Salt Lake City residents became the Jell-O buying champs by eating four boxes per person per year, or about four times as much as the average American. Local food experts attribute this to the city's extensive Mormon population where large families and low alchohol consumption, compensate with high sugar intake. Salt Lake City residents also buy more lime Jell-O than all other Americans (presumably to make that most popular of local Jell-O dishes, lime Jell-O with shredded carrots." --Jell-O: A Biography, Carolyn Wyman[Harcourt: San Diego] 2001 (p. 121-2)

Well, have at it, I say. I ate enough Jell-O during the 1960's to put any Mormon to shame. This is a true statement: Jello was a fruit, vegetable and dessert back then. You'd find Jell-o molds at every meal and family gathering. Even weddings. And people would eat it, whether filled with sliced radishes, grated carrots, shredded cabbage, black olives or any kind of fruit or nut. It might have a layer of sour cream, ketsup, or Elmer's Glue. It was served like berries, with milk or cream! It was whipped, layered, molded or cut into diamonds or squares. When I think back....well, I try not to think back...erp.

And what about those Funeral Potatoes???

There are about as many recipes as there are people who prepare it. It has many other names, but it's always, really, funeral potatoes.

Here's one version:

1 Large bag of frozen, shredded hash brow potatoes (the raw ones, not the pre-cooked brown ones)

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 pint of sour cream

1 small bunch green onions cut fine

a cup or two of grated cheese such as cheddar/jack


Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, spread in a 9X13 pan that has been greased with cooking spray or butter.

Top with crushed cornblakes, bread crumbs or crushed potatoe chips that have been drizzled with a couple tablespoons of melted butter.

The recipe says to cook at 350 degrees for about 1/2 hour but that does not sound right, especially if the potatoes are still frozen. I would guess that an hour or an hour and 15 minutes will work. Just keep an eye on it, and when it's browned on top and bubbly all over, it's done.

And finally:

An admission of guilt! About half way through my research I got to thinking about the mailing address on that postcard. Somehow Charlotte didn't sound tough enough to be a city in Utah. They need names like Burley Man and Skunk Rock to keep up their image. Besides, I couldn't find a city, town, village, place or ghost town with that name. I decided that the UT might actualle be VT. Hmmm! I was right. heh heh. However, we've already talked about Vermont - you remember - maple surup, granite yatta yatta. So I made a blogecutive decision and finished researching Utah. It's a pretty interesting state.

Hope all your Christmas plans are coming along smoothly and hope your house smells like cinnamon and pine boughs!

Be sure and stop by Marie's at Voila Vintage Postcards for more Postcard Friendship Friday Fun! The link is on my side bar. no, the right. Up a little further...up...uuuup. Yes! There. Just click and you'll be transported to France! Magic!

The Stuff That Urban Legends Are Made Of

Paleoanthropology Division
Smithsonian Institute

207 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20078

Dear Sir:

Thank you for your latest submission to the Institute, labeled "211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull." We have given this specimen a careful and detailed examination, and regret to inform you that we disagree with your theory that it represents "conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in Charleston County two million years ago." Rather, it appears that what you have found is the head of a Barbie doll, of the variety one of our staff, who has small children, believes to be the "Malibu Barbie".

It is evident that you have given a great deal of thought to the analysis of this specimen, and you may be quite certain that those of us who are familiar with your prior work in the field were loathe to come to contradiction with your findings. However, we do feel that there are a number of physical attributes of the specimen which might have tipped you off to it's modern origin:

1. The material is molded plastic. Ancient hominid remains are typically fossilized bone.
2. The cranial capacity of the specimen is approximately 9 cubic centimeters, well below the threshold of even the earliest identified proto-hominids.
3. The dentition pattern evident on the "skull" is more consistent with the common domesticated dog than it is with the "ravenous man-eating Pliocene clams" you speculate roamed the wetlands during that time. This latter finding is certainly one of the most intriguing hypotheses you have submitted in your history with this institution, but the evidence seems to weigh rather heavily against it.

Without going into too much detail, let us say that:
A. The specimen looks like the head of a Barbie doll that a dog has chewed on.
B. Clams don't have teeth.

It is with feelings tinged with melancholy that we must deny your request to have the specimen carbon dated. This is partially due to the heavy load our lab must bear in it's normal operation, and partly due to carbon dating's notorious inaccuracy in fossils of recent geologic record. To the best of our knowledge, no Barbie dolls were produced prior to 1956 AD, and carbon dating is likely to produce wildly inaccurate results.

Sadly, we must also deny your request that we approach the National Science Foundation's Phylogeny Department with the concept of assigning your specimen the scientific name "Australopithecus spiff-arino." Speaking personally, I, for one, fought tenaciously for the acceptance of your proposed taxonomy, but was ultimately voted down because the species name you selected was hyphenated, and didn't really sound like it might be Latin.

However, we gladly accept your generous donation of this fascinating specimen to the museum. While it is undoubtedly not a hominid fossil, it is, nonetheless, yet another riveting example of the great body of work you seem to accumulate here so effortlessly. You should know that our Director has reserved a special shelf in his own office for the display of the specimens you have previously submitted to the Institution, and the entire staff speculates daily on what you will happen upon next in your digs at the site you have discovered in your back yard. We eagerly anticipate your trip to our nation's capital that you proposed in your last letter, and several of us are pressing the Director to pay for it.

We are particularly interested in hearing you expand on your theories surrounding the "trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in a structural matrix" that makes the excellent juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex femur you recently discovered take on the deceptive appearance of a rusty 9-mm Sears Craftsman automotive crescent wrench.

Yours in Science,

Harvey Rowe

Curator, Antiquities

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above letter is, by far, the most endearing, droll and entertaining of all Urban Legends. It was written in 1994 by Harvey Rowe - who has no connection whatsoever with the Smithsonian. He sent it to several friends, just for fun, who sent it to several friends, etc. And 14 years later the Smithsonian is still getting calls from gullible American's asking to speak with Harvey Rowe. Check it out: http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/smithsonian.asp I am forever indebted to my friend, Kathy H. for cluing me into the existence of this letter. Not because she believed it, but be cause she believed I would get a good laugh out of it. I still do 7 years later.



We've all gotten e-mails from well intentioned acquaintances filled with weird facts, catastrophic food ingredients, conspiracy theories with a panicked request to forward it IMMEDIATELY to 2,106 of your closest friends to avoid calamities, major disasters, world crisis beyond imagining or save an individual who is dying of cancer, leukemia, curiosity or any of a dozen other terrible illnesses.

The thing that amazes me is people believe these things without question. I think some thrive on them. They live in Cyberville and have lost touch with reality. Other than watching soap operas and serving Hamburger Helper there's nothing going on in their real lives.
When you get your copy of the life or death request you see 94 names listed along with yours. Most of the other e-mail names read like a sleaze dating ad: HotMama, Whosyodaddy, Bestinbed, Fuzzytiger, Handsomdude243. Do you like your name sitting there big as life in between Pinkpanties and Sexybob? I don't. I get creeped out. After I delete the e-mail I usually take a shower. Or gargle. Or wash my hands at least.


I check out requests that seem plausable, probable, vaguely or partially true at my favorite Urban Legends site, http://www.snopes.com/. Snopes is the sanity check of the cyber-nation They will tell you if it's true, partially true or not even close. You'll usually find your latest warning among the 25 hottest legends. http://www.snopes.com/info/top25uls.asp

I get a certain amount of satisfaction by copying the url debunking the urban legend in question and replying to my best and dearest concerned friend, leopardskinzdoll. I'm always so very sorry to burst his/her little catastrophic bubble with truth and logic, but hey. They just made me take an extra shower.

The usual result: They decide I'm no fun anymore and delete me from their e-mail list.


Whatever.