A Haven for Vee

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Hi Again

~Cape Cod Soft Molasses Cookies~



Is it about time for a little kaffeeklatsch around here? I think so. (Yes, I am still taking those Duolingo German classes. Slow and steady is my motto as with most things.)

The cookies are delicious. I did make them with boys who do not enjoy a lot of spices in mind. I did use the fresh ginger, but not the dry; I did not use coffee; I did not add allspice nor black pepper and I even backed off on the cinnamon. Everything else remained the same. No matter what spice combinations you might try with these, they really are yummy. Both grands groaned seeing them in the can yesterday, though they wound up eating three each.


~*~*~


Last week, my sister sent me a surprise via email titled "A Blast from Our Past." I'll say! It was a photo of our parents that I had never seen before. I recognized the room, the wreath, even the table with the products like Maxwell House instant coffee, Bordens Dutch Chocolate, and the distinctive Good Seasons Italian dressing bottle. Also, that plate of white bread that attended meals in those days. Thankfully, we do not do that anymore. 


~the original photo~

My sister's comment was that Mom always used to hang things very high on walls. You'll be happy to know that she grew out of that. Ha! I have actually shown this very corner before, but you'd not recognize it as such. I'll pop in that photo.

~Mother's tea cup collection~

Gosh that took me about half an hour to find and it's a mess (the photo not the display), but still it shows my mother's evolution in decor. I see so many of these tea cups, which I use more than she did, but do not display en masse.

What struck me most about the photo was the very different demeanor I see in my young parents. They would have been about 24 and 29 at the time and they look happy and playful. I think this is the direct result of the photographer capturing the moment. (I am not quite sure who that photographer was, but she may well have been my mother's friend who lived in my current neighborhood then. I see her former home every single day. What a tight web we are weaving.)



I just found it interesting...

Have you ever seen a new-to-you photo of your parents that surprised you in some way?

~*~*~

I was so happy to hear from our dear  Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage. Perhaps she'll pop in and tell us her community's tornado story, but I did want you to know that she and her family are well and their properties are okay. She tells me that she has been finding debris from other properties around her home. 

There's just so much weather activity out there now. Prayer is so important.


45 comments:

  1. Oh phooey. I posted a comment and it flew off somewhere. Love the new look on your blog. So pretty!
    How great that your sister found that photo of your folks. They really do look young and carefree!
    WEATHER! oh my. Glad Miss Sandy is ok. Katie and I are praying our way across the country hoping we don't meet a tornado along the way. We are in Rapid City this morning debating on when to leave the hotel as we watch snow falling sideways because of the 45mph winds. Oye. Do we make a run for it for better weather 100 miles east or stay put and wait for things to improve...if they do improve. Yes prayer is a constant right now...

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  2. I'm praying for all of those in the path of the terrible storms...which includes most of my family. My hometown in Arkansas was destroyed by a tornado a few years ago and it still makes me choke up to talk about it. I love the photo of your parents. People didn't take as many 'not posed' photos back then and it's fun to see their happy faces in an every day setting. Oh, the stack of white bread! How funny. We had a drawer in our kitchen with candy bars, too! Back in the good old days! haha! Enjoy your day! Sweet hugs and Happy blogging!

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    1. PS I LOVE your new banner! it's perfect for Spring and for May!

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  3. Love your new blog look Vee. The molasses cookies look great too! What a great picture of your parents.

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  4. Hi Vee...your new blog design is so pretty and springy! The pic of your mom and dad is so sweet...they look like they ae really enjoying each other's company! I remember the days when white bread was staple on the table at every meal too...the other items on the table also bring back memories of my past. I'm a little apprehensive today about the storms heading our way...we are supposed to have our worse ones tonight...when we are SUPPOSED to be sleeping...I may be doing more praying than sleeping...God will take care of us, I have no doubt. Oh yeah...those cookies look amazing, by the way :)

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  5. It must be Recipe Day in Blogland...lemon or not, they are everywhere! :) It's enough to make a girl hungry on this gray, rainy day. Your cookies look delicious. Unlike your grands, I love spicy cookies.

    That is such a sweet photo of your parents. How interesting to find one that you've never seen before. Isn't it bittersweet to find such a thing? I find it pulls at the heartstrings to see photos of parents/grandparents in a different time. It sometimes makes me see them with new perspective. Pictures are priceless. I never regret taking lots of pictures and I'm glad that my mother did the same.

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    1. And I love your beautiful new header!! Spring is springing on your blog, whether it is springing in Maine or not!

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    2. I should have mentioned that this photo showed up on someone else's Facebook page. So odd to have THAT happen, too. The blog look is a nod to my mother's love of pink. Once Mother's Day has passed, I'll go back to blah. ☺

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  6. Oh my, those cookies have me drooling all over the computer! I know, that's not very lady-like, but they look amazing :)

    The photo of your parents it just too precious and their looks speak of sweet love :)

    Enjoy your Tuesday! Hugs

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  7. People looked older in those days, didn't they? Guess they matured faster. Look at that instant coffee and the other familiar things. I get a lot out of old photos now--partially because you can use the computer to enlarge the details. As I continue to go through my parents' things I am getting interesting surprises…through photos and letters and so on.

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  8. I LOVE the new look you have here Vee! And the picture is just priceless. I agree, your parents look so carefree and happy. I remember my parents going through the instant coffee faze, but I really remember them being hooked on the instant ice tea, lol. How I love discovering old photos of days gone by. The cookies look delicious. And for me, NOTHING better then a SUPER spicy oatmeal raisin cookie (I know that's not what you have pictured, just dreaming, lol) The storms are soo scary and I too am praying for all those affected. Enjoy your day Vee!

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  9. We went to the farm this past weekend to clean out grandma's house. We came across so many memories! I love the old photos and our son has had a great time using some of this information to continue researching the families history. Your photo is such a treasure and those cookies look amazing. Too bad I'm on a diet or at least "trying" to eat healthier.

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  10. I just came over from your Pinterest and could have stated there most of the day looking and reading.
    Great post today of family.

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  11. Hi Vee. That is a great photo of your parents. I think photos like that, which are uncropped, tell a lot about the times and era they were taken. The various items on the table, the tablecloth, wall paper and even the wreath, tell you a lot about your parents. And look at the sweet smiles on their faces. I wonder what is on that page of looseleaf in your father's hand that perhaps caused them to smile so. Yes, I remember the plate of white bread on the table and am glad that's not the 'norm' now. Although in lean times it was a great filler for empty stomachs! Your mother had a beautiful teacup collection. I love your new header and wallpaper! So pretty. The storms down south are just terrible. I guess I'll be content with the cold here.

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  12. Hi Vee, happy you are back. What a lovely photo of your parents! Great fun looking at all the "stuff" on the table too!

    Yes, keeping folks in other parts of the country in my prayers, one of my cousins was in a tornado warning last night in the Carolina's, thankfully they were unharmed.

    Have a lovely week and pray for SPRING!!!

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  13. Your cookies look great! I love molasses cookies. Your blog look is feminine and full of pretty pink - I like it! Great to reminisce and I enjoyed the teacups on the wall.

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  14. The photo of your parents is beautiful and yes, my cousin in Michigan sent me some pictures of my mom and dad that i hadn't seen before. The cookies look delicious!

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  15. Sweet photo of your parents. They look so cute and happy. Funny you should mention the bread on the table. I haven't thought of that in years. But I do remember, now you that you mentioned it, my mother always served bread that way, too. You have a pretty spring look going on here at The Haven!

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  16. Wow, what a pretty blog you have!
    I came over from The Enchanting Rose.
    I just love that photo of your parents - how happy they look.
    We always have bread for meals, as I grew up with that as well. I so love bread but don't eat it as often as I would like.
    :)Hope

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  17. HI Vee,

    Its been so long, I am so sorry I have been absent from blogging. Life has kept me so busy. Anyway I love the pics of your Mom and Dad it is fun to see pics of our parents and the rooms we grew up in.
    The cookies look amazing, I am such a cookie monster! I love a good homemade cookie.
    It was great to visit with you today, Sending hugs, Elizabeth

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  18. I am happier than I can say to see something from you today. The cookies look wonderful. I wouldn't dare to try to make any cookies unless it were guaranteed that they tasted so bad I would never eat them! But I will be making an apple ginger cake for my daughter Alice's birthday tomorrow.

    Love the photo of your parents looking so happy and loving, especially your Dad, but really both of them.

    The tornadoes were so scary. But the one so close to Little Rock might have been even worse. But they are all so bad that my Pollyanna powers feel near to failing.

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  19. Nice to see you back. : )
    Your mom and dad look very happy.
    What a nice tea cup collection!!
    I love soft cookies.
    No surprise pictures of my parents but I did see one of my gramma playing horseshoes!! : )

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  20. The cookies look delicious. Interesting china display.

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  21. Thanks for sharing the picture of your parents. They do look happy and playful. I love it when a picture turns up that I haven't seen before. Cookies look great, I don't know of any boy who would turn away from a homemade cookie, I bet they surprised themselves by eating three. ~ Abby

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  22. No, no, no Vee ... it has to be chocolate to hold my interest! *grin* I'm with the boys, too much spice for my Irish blood.
    The new look on the blog is so pretty. Fits the season perfectly.
    I enjoy old photos. Your folks made a cute couple. I found a "new" one of my parents several months ago also. They looked so young but that was such a long time ago (mid-1950s).
    Glad your muse has returned and you put her to work. It gets lonely out here in bloggyland when people we like disappear for awhile. Don't do that. *lol* ~:)

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  23. VEE!!! So nice to see you again. I did pop in the other day,but you had comments closed..anyways..lovely photo. I just love your new blog header. Blessings

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  24. Such a nice photo. Your parents do look loving and happy. I love all the items you noticed in the photo. These bring back good memories take us to a time in our lives that was very pleasant.
    The cookies sound real good. I sure would like them. Blessings dear and thank you for sharing. Catherine xo

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  25. What a nice photo of your parents! They do look so sweetly young and happy in it. I did find some photos of my parents in old photo books my Mother had, that I never saw before when I cleared out her house and a cousin sent some of my Dad from when he was a young man that my Aunt had among her photos. It is fun to see new photos of them like that. I wish I had even more!

    Those cookies look good! I love ginger and molasses --yum!

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  26. PS: I love you new Spring blog look! Pink is such a soothing color. I know what you mean about needing to refresh the blogging batteries. I have been having trouble with my less than one year old pc not connecting well to wifi, that I often just give up and read a book or watch tv (rare for me to watch tv!). I finally have HP sending me a box to send it in for repair under warranty. I don't like using the iPad for answering comments and never figured how to blog from it (do you know how to do that?) so if I'm quiet for awhile you'll know why. Plus, watching grandkids--no matter how much we love them--is also draining. I know why God gives children to the young and not the old--lol!
    I'm sure you will get your muse back soon, Vee! xoxo

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  27. Holy Cow!! I remember a tiled kitchen very much like that when we were small.
    We just went through a bunch of old pictures to display at Mom's 90th birthday in December and there were some that I don't recall seeing before.
    Glad you had fun with the grands. They are little for such a short time.

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  28. Well, all of a sudden I have this terrible hankering for an old-fashioned molasses cookie. lol
    Love that photo of your parents and we had that tile in our kitchen (it was faux tile that came in a sheet I think) and ours was a pale aqua-green color. My mother always hung things very high, too. I think most people did back in the 40s and 50s. xo Diana

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  29. Love the picture of your parents. They do look so happy. I've been going through all of my mother's old photos and scanning and organizing them and just got to the ones where my parents were first married. The cookies look delicious!

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  30. Love your fresh banner dear - and your parents looked so happy and natural at the table. My parents were never cuddly that I can recall - they both worked long hours trying to keep us going after the war, early pics I have of them were in their Royal Air Force uniforms. We had very little but always good, nutritious food which my mum thought so important for our health. Of course English food was much different then, just coming out of rationing there weren't many choices, just the basics. We purchased fresh veg daily from right across the street where it was grown - perhaps that's why I'm a vegetarian and love every vegetable!

    Hope all is going better for you this week - love, Mary

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  31. How pretty your blog looks today with the floral wall paper and pink touches. The photo of your parents is a glimpse back in time - the brands and foods on the table, the hair styles, even the artwork hung high. How lovely to have the memory of your parents' early happy years together. When I see similar photos of my own parents, I am helped to think of them as full of youthful hopes and dreams just as I once was.
    I am glad to see you post once again. I thought of emailing you, but didn't, thinking that you maybe wanted a little space and quiet time.

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  32. Beautiful header. Want some cookies.
    The picture of your parents is priceless. Love your dad's expression as he gazes at your mom.

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  33. Despite the fact that I just finished dinner, those cookies are calling my name. Rather loudly I might add. :)
    I love a soft ginger or molasses cookie. The other members of my family don't so I rarely make them. Yours look picture perfect.
    Oh, that picture of your parents is wonderful! They look so happy and I love the food items on the table. I think it helps tell the story of that exact moment in time. Now, I am wondering what is on that piece of paper your dad is holding. I guess that was for them to know.
    What I remember about pictures back then was that we were usually supposed to say "cheese" and smile in a very posed fashion. I think because they paid good money to process that roll of film we were often stuck with horrid shots because we didn't want to waste those pictures that we paid good money for. At least that's how it was at my house. Thank goodness for digital photos. It gives me great satisfaction to be able to delete to my heart's content. Having said all of this I do have one candid shot of my mom and her dearest friends sharing a cup of coffee. It was probably taken in the early 50s. It reminds me so much of the good times they shared together laughing and talking. I have it on a shelf in my kitchen and it makes me smile.

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  34. A very nice spring makeover on the blog. I have not been surprised by any photos of my parents but the stacked white bread on the plate with yours brought back memories. It was in my mind just recently about the bread we ate growing up, there couldn't have been whole wheat back then, or at least I don't remember it. Today, I detest plain white bread and love something with grains, seeds etc. - healthier for sure. Not my hubby though, plain white bread, every day...
    Your dad sure has a loving look beaming down on your mother, doesn't he? :-)

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  35. So good to hear from you Vee!!! Your new header is beautiful. Those soft molasses cookies look lovely and I'll bet they are delish!!! Oh I love that picture of your parents - what a treasure!

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  36. The cookies caught my attention, they put me in mind of cookies my paternal grandmother made called Joe Froggers, real old New England favorites. Love the photo of your parents, I wonder if that bit of paper is some special, or good news? It certainly is a special moment. Don't have a photo of my parents like that, but do of my grandparents, they have the same sort of expression on their faces.

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  37. Your blog looks so nice, and the cookies look delicious. I love molasses. When I was growing up I used to like a hot buttered bisquit with some molasses. Mom used to make buckwheat pancakes and serve molasses. Don't like that one! Your parents were very attractive and looked happy. I never saw a picture of my parents interacting in any way, though I grew up hearing them shortly before they divorced. Happy couples were such an enigma to me. I can see why you'd be excited to see a new photo of them. I laughed at your comment about decorating evolution. Isn't that the truth! My home looks very different from my moms. I grew up in true 'simplicity'. :D

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  38. And what exactly have you got against white bread? :) I had to ask since I have some French bread baking as we speak. As for the vintage photo of your folks...it is a treasure!

    Yummy looking cookies!

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