The Ballad of the Sad Macramé

Who knew that even macramé items could feel such poignant sadness? Or anything, for that matter.

Meet the Wistful Purse and the Wistful Belt. They have been hanging off a tree since 1977, in a lovely book called Macramé Enchantment. But they are not enchanted! They are wistful. Full of wist! Longing for all the good times they used to have back inside the house, lying on the couch watching a little TV, having a snack or two, maybe even getting worn out to a few parties.

And now? They are full of nothing! They're all hung up. And if you think they're unhappy, just imagine what that tree must be feeling. You just know that all the other trees are laughing their heads off at this.

Another Friday, Another Fill-In!

 This looks like it's going to be a wonderful issue of Secret Hearts! The cover story - look - it's called "Another Face, Another Love." How many other faces? How many loves? Nobody really knows.

What on earth is going on here?

Julia says: Jed, are you going to let what Mavis said stand in our way?

And Jed replies: Yes, Julia, it's true isn't it?

You see, Jed is Green. And Julia is Yellow - her hair, her clothes and her face. But Mavis - wicked, wicked Mavis - is Blue.

And Blue plus Yellow make - Green, right? So...that means....I don't know what it means. It was an extraordinarily busy day yesterday (not Thanksgiving-wise, since I'm in Canada - but we were busy anyway, just not with turkey et al) and I was going to do some Friday Fill-Ins here but I couldn't think of a thing. They were like Zen koans. What do I want to do on Sunday? What is shadowy and ominous?

Well, Mavis, of course. Shadowy and ominous - and Blue. Wait! I know. I will do the Friday Fill-Ins with this cover as a theme (this only just occurred to me). Stay right there! The filled-in bit is the bold type, the regular type is the original question. I bet you knew that though.

1. Wait! Wait, don't forget to take your hand out of your pocket, Jed.
2. Julia knows that her plea will be followed at once by an evil cackle from Mavis.
3. The trouble is that he's torn between two primary colors.
4. And Jed wishes that he was many miles away.
5. With a faint pop Mavis' Munster wig will soon come off, if Julia has anything to say about it.
6. Mavis enjoys being shadowy and ominous.

[This last one seems to be couched in the first person so I will just do that as me. We'll leave Jed, Julia and Mavis to sort themselves out this weekend, though my hopes aren't high...]

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading a book for once , tomorrow my plans include shopping and going to a concert and Sunday, I want to not do laundry but this seems unlikely.

The Candlelight Dinner

Ah, dinner by candlelight. And dinner of candlelight, too.

This is the ultimate incarnation of the Candle Salad of the 1940s on, which, as you may recall, involved a banana, a pimiento wick and dollops of mayo. And other things, too, sometimes, like pineapple rings and cherries. But here in the super-modern 1960s, we have to do better! We must mold cranberry/mayo gel in cylinders (maybe we can use the Ocean Spray cranberry jelly cans) and then sticking birthday candles on top.

They really do look awfully realistic, don't they? Awful being the operative word, I believe. Would you love to see this at your place at Thanksgiving?

What are you looking forward to seeing, if not an edible candle at Thanksgiving? I'm in Canada now, so we had our Thanksgiving back in October, but when I was a kid in New York, I favored the stuffing and a slice of that cranberry jelly, sans mayo and birthday candle of course.

Hope you all have a splendiferous time tomorrow, whatever you're doing Thanksgiving-wise. I'll be posting a lovely Thanksgiving-themed post over at Kitchen Retro tomorrow, so I hope to see you there, maybe while you let someone else clear up and do those dishes...

[This is from Life, November 14, 1960. Here's the bigger version in case you'd like to know exactly how this magic was, er, wrought. And here's a link to the variation Chanukah Candle Salad, in advance of December.]