Patricia Broman
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More story chips from Patricia Broman

Favorite Foods Of Younger Days

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 17 Jul 2017 20:43

I guess I was a little different as far as my favorite foods and treats went as a child. My mother had studied dietetics and was also an excellent cook so my favorite dishes were some of her specials like lamb croquettes and apple tapioca. I also loved a bowl of spinach topped with hard boiled egg. My grandmother who lived with us, had a stomach problem and we used to order acidophilus from the milkman. It was expensive and came as a very smooth cultured buttermilk. I loved it and was allowed small portions once in a great while. It was for Grandma so it became a very special treat for me. I told you I was different.

Visits to New York During the Depression

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 01 Feb 2017 16:21

When I was a little girl living in the New York suburbs, my favorite treat was going with my father into the City. This was during the thirties. It was exciting as I held tight to my father’s hand, taking in all the sights, smells, and sounds of bustling New York. We would visit his office at Snyder and Black, an advertising company where I was given a large block of white paper for future drawings. Later we would go to Brentano’s or Scribner where I could choose a book to take home. They had paperback books even then and I had fun browsing. It was hard to leave.

Elections

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 16 Jan 2017 04:51

The subject for today is elections and after the 2016 Presidential election, I’m pretty well done with the whole thing. I will, however, try to recall past political experiences.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 16 Jan 2017 04:09

I was in college when the war ended. Gradually, the men came back to resume their education, some as soon as the war was over and some much later. One man’s schooling was so interrupted he was in his thirties when he appeared in our university.

Travel Memories

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 08 Jun 2016 23:05

It seems as if I have always been traveling away from home - if I really know where home is. I was born in New York City and went to live in Mt. Vernon, N. Y. when I was about 5. We lived in a house at 36 Harding Parkway and I went to Lincoln School. I also remember an apartment we lived in where I had many friends and we played Terry And The Pirates in the vacant lot next to the apartment building. My little Italian friend, Joy Bonodono - hurried home when her mother called from an upper window: “Joy, come getta you bath. We go down Fort Ave, see Shirley Temple.”

Senior Prom in Sarasota

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 19 May 2016 03:49

A Night To Remember

Women's Rights

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 05 May 2016 03:01

One Woman's Story

Hooray For The Red, White and Blue!

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 05 May 2016 02:55

We are all American citizens but many of us were born in other countries, and all of us can trace our roots to other countries. Maybe our parents or our grandparents were born across the sea or maybe our family has been here for many generations, making up the melting pot that is America. The diversity of people and cultures, bringing their knowledge and expertise have made our country the great place that it is. Of course if you are a full blooded American Indian your ancestors welcomed the first settlers to our shores.

Hair Care in the Nineteen Thirties

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 17 Nov 2015 05:30

When I was a young child living in New York and Westchester County my mother would take me in to New York City to Best & Co. on Fifth Ave. Our destination was the “Lilliputian Bazaar”, a department for children with clothing and a barber shop. I still remember my mother telling the barber that, “my daughter has painfully straight hair” and indeed it was straight and was cut in the short bob with bangs so frequently worn by little girls in the 20s and 30s. I always got a balloon after the cut, with Best & Co. written on it.

The Joy Of Books

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 13 Oct 2015 04:49

This is my favorite topic - books! As a very young child I loved my books: indeed, all I ever wanted for Christmas was more books. My parents subscribed to the Junior Literary Guild for me and every month or so a book would arrive in the mail. It was the Pick of the Month by the Junior Literary Guild and I can remember how its special binding smelled and looked and what a thrill it was to open the package just for me.

A New Life -- After The War

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 13 Aug 2015 04:07

It was 1944. My high school boy friend went off to be part of the occupation in Hokaido, an island off the coast of Japan. Our carefree days in Sarasota, Florida were over, the war news had matured everyone. Our suffering during the war was mostly worry about our men overseas. Many women were “holding down the fort” and also working in factory jobs; of course there was some rationing. I remember that awful white margarine that required an addition of yellow food coloring kneaded into it to make a kind of ersatz butter. Mother stood in a rationing line to get a small amount of real butter. I felt rather ashamed because our problems were so small next to all the real suffering in Europe.

Radio Cake - High School Memories of Sarasota, Florida in the Early 40s

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 01 Aug 2015 04:24

Our world was holding its breath in 1940. We were recuperating from the effects of the Depression and now we were hoping the rumblings of war would only be as distant thunder on a summer day. It was a golden bit of time in southwest Florida. Life was slow and peaceful. There were no malls, no brightly lit strips, no urban sprawl. There was, in Sarasota, the area called “Five Points”, the hub of the small town where people shopped and enjoyed the movie theatre with its banner which boasted “Air Cooled”. We later suspected this to be accomplished by a fan aimed at a cake of ice. The boys hung around the corner drugstore, waiting - not for drugs - but for a girl they knew they could tease and who might join the crowd for a milkshake or coke. The milkshake would be thick and delicious, the remainder bestowed upon the customer in the metal container in which it was blended-cool and so generous one could share easily. Down at The Smack, the local drive-in, after school drop-ins played the juke box and sipped cherry cokes while girls on roller skates took food orders from occupants of cars, fitting metal trays to the open car windows.

Music And Memories

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 24 Feb 2015 22:54

I love music - all kinds: early rock and roll of the 60s, classical music with thrilling symphonic melodies, standard ballads of the 40s and 50s, swing and big bands.

Books - My First Love

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 15 Jan 2015 05:41

Oh, that wonderful Christmas when I made it known that I only wanted books! They were my first love, my best friends - no other gift would do. My mother had decreed that there was no Santa Claus. She wanted me to appreciate the things that were given to me and the persons who gave them. Therefore, I didn’t have to depend on a nebulous fantasy figure. I could use my wiles on flesh and blood relatives.

On Aging

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 27 Sep 2014 23:56

“I have arthritis” my mother said. “I need bed rest.” That was the cure for most of my mother’s aging ailments - complete rest - certainly no exercise. Indeed she was a a rather frail lady, but her generation did not usually believe in walking, fresh air and exercise as beneficial Now we are told by every media the importance of exercise in our healthy lives. With all this however obesity is a nation problem. In u both and my parents’ generation, there were no “fast foods” and most foods were enjoyed in season and there were fewer choices.

Food Storage Before Plastic

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 24 Sep 2014 13:20

Let’s see - way back then - in the 20’s and the 30’s, those dreary Depression years. What did we do without “Saran Wrap”, “Tupperware”, plastic bottles - all those non-biodegradable items that will be here far into the future after our very biodegradable selves are long gone - unless of course we have plastic parts!

Sunshine and Clouds - 10 Memorable Years

by Jean McGavinJean McGavin 16 Jul 2014 21:44

The decade of the [19]40’s was one of contrasts – laughter and sorrow – good and evil. It was a time, for me, of good movies, good music, fun in high school and college, but always present were the clouds of war and vivid in my memory is the Sunday when President Roosevelt announced that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. I was chattering on the phone to a school friend with the radio in the background. Suddenly the announcement came on and everything we had said seemed very trivial.

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