Woodville, Ms

While in-route to see a prison (more on that in the next post!) on our 3 day mini trip, we drove through a tiny town called Woodville, Ms., population 961.
The small downtown area was almost frozen in time looking!
The Planter's Hardware building dates from 1900.  It's interior was very dark so I wasn't able to get any good photos but it still had many of it's original fixtures and wood work.  It is now home to an upscale gift shop with fancy handmade soaps and new shabby chic home decor. Which was odd to me, since...

...across the street are these tin roof rusted ramshackle buildings.

Near the downtown park, a block away is Polk's Meat Market, also dating from 1900.

A sidewalk view of downtown Woodville,  Check out the great water tower!

All of the businesses have neat hand painted signs.

This setting would be frozen in time amazing looking if it wasn't for that hideous modern coke machine, but let's focus on the positive here!

Like this adorable fortune telling scale right on the sidewalk!

Inside the Planter's building the owner set up one of the original store display cases with old merchandise items they actually found in the building!
I LOVED the Pabco bottle and graphic!
💕Housewifery!💕

Mammy's Cupboard

Another sight I always looked forward to seeing on long drives to visit family when I was a little kid was driving past this amazon antebellum woman which happens to have a restaurant under her hoop skirt.
We never stopped to eat here back then because we had our trusty bag o' baloney sandwiches and a jug of kool-aid we lugged from home.

Mammy's Cupboard, located in Natchez, Mississippi, was
built in 1940 to capitalize on the nationwide popularity of the Academy Award winning motion picture,
Gone With the Wind.

I read somewhere that she originally had horse shoes for earrings and her eyes glowed red at night to attract customers, which I find odd.  For several decades there were a couple of gas pumps in front, the posts that the banner is hanging from are remnants of that section.

Mr. Husband Sir and I posing with Mammy. 
We ate here for lunch and also had a slice of hummingbird cake which was all tasty (though a bit pricey).  

As you can see from my photos Mammy needs a spa day or something.  She has been working so hard her right arm is missing, her skirt needs tending to, her baking sheet is gone, and she also has a little something on her chin (bird poop?).  Here is a photo of her in better shape that I came across which was taken 20 years ago or so.  I guess nearly 80 years of cooking and baking can really take a toll on a gal.

The Myrtles Plantation

Part of the attraction of this trip was I wanted to see or visit some of the sites I remember oogling at when I was a little kid while riding in the car on trips to visit family.
This sign always had my interest, even passing it at 65 miles a hour, while sitting in a backseat barely tall enough to see out the window.
 The Myrtles Plantation, circa 1796.
The home of mystery and intrigue, one of America's most haunted houses.  

Oh how I remember the ghost stories I was told when we would drive by.  One of the elder family members sitting in the front seat would slowly turn around and face us kids in the back, having a sinister look in their eye.  They would then go into the story of the slave chambermaid, Chloe, who as a punishment for eaves dropping had her ear cut off, and if you stay the night at the Myrtles Plantation you may awaken to find her ghost at the foot of your bed!!!!
I loved that kind of ghost story stuff when I was a kid, and still do today.  

When we got into town it was too late to take a tour but we did get to walk around the grounds. On the weekends there is a night tour with a more ghostly feel to it, but we were in town on a weekday, so we will have to aim for that one next time.
They have lodging but for the really good and haunted rooms, it's pricey, so we didn't get to meet up with Chloe this time!

The Myrtles Plantation
7747 US Highway 61
St. Francisville, La 70775
225-635-0565

Grace Episcopal Church 1827

While in St. Francisville, La, we stopped by to see the National Registry of Historic Places building:
Grace Episcopal Church, founded in 1827.
During the Civil War the church was damaged by union fire in 1863.  The current church building was repaired/rebuilt in 1893.  At least that is what Wikipedia says.

Gorgeous Gothic architecture...

....and lovely antique grave markers.

The church is still active and we thought about attending service on Wednesday night to get a chance to see the interior (the organ dates to 1860!), but it didn't fit into our sight seeing tight schedule we were on.  Maybe if there is a next time!

Grace Episcopal Church
11621 Ferdinand St.
St. Francisville, La 70775

3V Tourist Court

For our lodging during our 3-day excursion, Mr. Husband Sir and I stayed at the 3V Tourist Courts located in St. Francisville, La.  The Tourist Court was originally built in 1938 and consists of several adorable cabins attached to each other with carports.

Also on the premises is a little restaurant called The Magnolia, hence the unfortunate changed sign seen above.  The current owners have also landscaped the parking area and placed outside seating for the restaurant so the fun little carports are not able to be used anymore.

The outside of the cabins are quite adorable!

Here we are in front of our little cabin.



The inside of our cabin.  I was truly appalled to see the hard wood floors had been tiled over.  Luckily there were still several architectural features still in tact, such as the wood planked walls and ceilings.



The bathroom had a fantastic door with a glass knob, along with a cutie vintage sink and medicine cabinet, possibly both original.



My favorite room was the kitchen area! I even loved the ample rustic galvanized metal trashcan.



Check out this ultra adorable primitive double spigot sink!  The vintage crewel embroidery pieces on the wall are a nice touch too.



The light fixture in the kitchen had a pull cord, love it.  On the opposite wall of the sink was a small  fridge and a microwave.  I bet originally there was a mini gorgeous gas stove there.



You can see behind me that originally the doors were locked by way of skeleton keys, which also means you got to cover up the "peep hole"!

Mr. Husband happen to find this vintage sign for the cabins around the corner, it's the best we could get as far as signage.

During the week the restaurant closes early at 4 pm, which is great for the lodgers.  Meaning we can use the sitting area (or even better it's just unoccupied), have a parking space, and peace and quiet.  But Thursday-Sat they stay open til 10 pm with bands performing outside and those sitting areas being taken up by smokers and drunkards until who knows how late.  Luckily we happen to leave on a Thursday morning in time to miss this buffoonery.


3V Tourist Court
5687 Commerce Street
St, Francisville, La 70775
225-721-7003

Mini Road Trip

This year Mr. Husband Sir and I celebrated our 5th wedding anny by taking a mini 3 day road trip.  We packed a lot of stuff into those 3 days and 3 states (Al, Ms, La)!

In Alabama we stopped by to gawk at a ginormous gas station, deli, and gift shop called Buc-ee's which has an adorable beaver as it's mascot.

In Louisiana we slept in an old travel court, visited a prison, saw a real haunted mansion, explored a cemetery dated before the Civil War and swung by our favorite folk art menagerie.  In Mississippi we ate in a 28 foot woman's skirt and visited a little town time has forgotten.

Here are a couple of cool vintage signs we saw during our trip.  We like to take the original state hwys instead of the interstate when we travel so we can find neat old bits like these.

Stay tuned for your virtual version of the trip!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies with Banana Butter Frosting

Here is something you all can munch on while I am still in the midst of squeezing in as much yard work I can handle in this heat (along with all the regular housework, errand running, house projects, and of course the most important: hitting up thrift stores and estate sales!).  Speaking of estate sales, I picked up this super cute Chiquita Banana Recipe Book(let) recently and threw a couple of the recipes together, with some add-ins of my own, to make the best cookies I have ever had!

 Is it obscene that she has no shirt on even if she has nothing to flaunt?

Well, either way, Chiquita is really rocking her flat banana chest!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies are good....but Banana Oatmeal Cookies with Banana Butter Frosting are even better!

And then, if you top the cookies with shredded coconut and/or chopped nuts, that's when you try to shove as many of these noms into your mouth while resembling an overstuffed cheeked chipmunk!

They are sooooo good!
Additional note about frosting recipe: I added about 4 drops of yellow food coloring as to increase their banana hue and to have a bit of a color contrast against the coconut topping.

In the back of the booklet there is a section with banana boasting propaganda:

OLD FOLKS!  That cracks me up.

Well I'm off to contend with the weeds again.  I have been clearing out areas of our yard that none of us have ever stepped foot into since we moved in 8 years ago (they were weeded up even then!) .
I'll be back around here eventually once I either finish up the forsaken jungle hell or need something to do while recuperating from heat stroke.

They See Me Mowing....

...my front lawn!  

Peoples I am busy right now trying to get my yard work done while the temperatures outside are favorable for human life.  I only have maybe two weeks left before the summer heat and horrific humidity take hold rendering life outside inhabitable.  After that point the best I can do for my yard is mow it once a week at dusk to avoid heat stoke and sun poisoning.

  

At the local small engine shop where I go to get my piddly pruning shears and other dull bits of metal sharpened I always enjoy seeing this vintage Lawn Boy mower that hangs out in the lobby:

Gosh it's gorgeous!  I love it's wonky misaligned front wheels. The plaid clad man on the cover of the Household Magazine (March 1957) seen above up top, is using a Lawn Boy for leaning.

Here is an ad I came across on the nets promoting the mowing luxury of a Lawn Boy!

And this gal looks quite fetching with her extremely cinched belt while pushing her Lawn Boy...with teeth!

I can't stand yard work.  You just can't fight Mother Nature.  I have surely tried.  We have an immensely invasive weed, greenbrier, that we have not been able to defeat no matter how many we pull, dig up, or poison.  

I would love to be able to show you all a pristine manicured yard when I am finished but truthfully my "after" picture would be most people's "before".  I am just doing my best to keep away the code enforcement folks.

So, with all that being said, I will be away from this here blog for a bit, dealing with my weeds...which is what my whole yard is really...one big weedy mess.

Sometimes I think the best solve for it is a can of gasoline and a match.

1960's Craft Patterns

Simplicity 5767 (1964)

Here is the last of my 1960's patterns. Just a couple of crafty ones.

The little stuffed toys are missing several of their pals.  It only has the rabbit, dog, and kangaroo.

I really wanted to make the elephant and the cat.  I think this pattern was given to me by a friend years ago.  It kinda looks like across the top of the envelope it says "Slut".  A nickname perhaps?  

McCall's 2461 (1961)

This is a pattern for a set of five different pajama bags or pillows.  The cat is really cute.  It would make a fun purse!

But any kid that brings one of those square people goofy looking PJ bags is going to be the one to have their hand put in a bowl of warm water when they fall asleep.

1960's Children Patterns

Butterick 3023

Here are the 1960's patterns I have for children.  Most are for little girls of which I do not have one.

But some of these patterns are just too cute and are mine for gazing at.

My favorite is "The Skimmy".  The font is fun and the illustrations are adorable.  The little girl on the left looks like my mom when she was little.

Simplicity 5603 (1964)

Cute little artist girls in smocks!

Simplicity 5477(1964)

Cute cloaked gals!

Simplicity 5202

I love this look.  It reminds me of dresses my mom made for me when I was little.

Simplicity 5854 (1964)

I bought this pattern from an antique mall (only 1 buck) with the intentions of making PB that shorts and suit jacket look, but he was more of a t-shirt  kinda kid.  Not one looking to go on a job interview while in kindergarten.

Simplicity 6468 (1966)

 This one also reminds me of clothes my mom made for me.  Such a cute classic style.

Simplicity 8301 (1969)

Oh gosh, so cute.  

I hang on to these patterns (especially) the last one, to make as baby shower gifts.  I also want to make them for my (w-a-y!!) future grandchildren.