From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Remember when people didn’t toss something just because it was old or wasn’t working correctly? We fixed it. We resoled shoes; we saved gift wrappings and ribbons from presents, ironed them so they were no longer creased. Then  we wrapped gifts with that recycled wrapping paper. We didn’t throw old clothes if a younger brother or sister could wear it when we outgrew the item. Hand-me-downs from older kids were treasured by many of us. Inez Husom gifted her wool skirts and sweaters to me when she either outgrew them or tired of them. I felt so grown up when I got to wear her outfits.

If the fabric of a shirt, dress, robe or coat was still good, without holes from so much wear, Mom would keep the item, cut it into smaller pieces and stitch circle pieces to be made into a doily or a quilt topping. Sometimes she sewed various fabric pieces together with a flannel backing and some worn quilt inside to make a new quilt. If the shirt or dress could be reused and made into something else, we carefully cut off the buttons to fill a button box or a button jar, usually a glass canning jar with a screw off lid. Mom even saved the hooks and eyes from well-worn brasseries for future sewing projects. Torn blue jeans weren’t tossed, and we certainly didn’t wear the jeans with holes or tears like folks do today. We mended them with iron-on patches. Though that patched area was a color darker and a bit stiff for awhile, after numerous washings it softened.

In her sewing drawer, Mom had a darning egg made out of smooth wood which she inserted into our socks that had holes. She stretched the sock’s hole around the egg and darned the hole with a needle and thread. When our wool socks got holes, she used yarn to darn the holes with fatter needles.

I remember helping Mom rewind window shades that would snap, come loose and fall open to the floor. The shades came in brown and creamy white. It was a matter of resetting that little metal part on the wooden roller and rewinding the shade, clamping it into the sockets and presto! It worked once more.

We couldn’t afford new screens, and they were important to keep out the flies and mosquitos. In the fifties and even sixties, few folks had air conditioning so we opened all the windows to get a breeze and cool off in the summertimes. Dad bought new screens at the hardware store and stapled the screen to the frame. It worked the same with broken windows. Glass was purchased and reset into the window frame. Things were fixed at home most often. Handy men were valued. My brother-in-law, Fast Eddie, set himself up in a thriving handyman business for awhile. He was super busy, but dealing with cars was his big interest.

At times, back in my kid days, I wanted just once or twice to be wasteful. Why couldn’t we throw things away when they didn’t work any more or were worn out? Waste meant that we could afford to buy new, not fix things over and over again. Throwing things away meant I knew there’d always be more.

To this day, I still hang my sheet out on a retractable clothes line on our deck. I even wash and reuse plastic bags. Why throw it when it still can be used? Is that going too far with keeping things?

Silver dollars were KEEPERS for Mom. The silver dollars made special birthday presents to favorite folks, tucked into a birthday card along with a cotton hanky. She saved those large silver coins in her bureau drawer next to her Lady Esther face cream, Camphor Ice and Cloverine Salve, known to cure cuts and dry skin. That same drawer held her collection of costume jewelry, much of it gifts from her brother Arthur, the jewelry salesman from Minneapolis who traveled the state in his white linen suit during summers. That jewelry was a keeper; I can’t part with the jewelry. It has too many good memories

Marble agates and steelies were KEEPERS. Their pretty swirling colors and heavy steel roundness were pocketed in a string bag to be tied to our belt loops or carried in bicycle baskets to the playground. Elementary school kids would lie on the asphalt grounds of the school’s playground, draw a chalk circle and shoot marbles. Kids would trade marbles or win them from each other in a game. Martha Achter was especially good at marbles. What a collection she must have!

That same school on the hill has become a KEEPER too. Today, the school has been converted into apartment living units, beauty and barber shops and a theatre for the community. It’s a community gathering place, just like in past years when the entire town would attend band and choir concerts, school plays and basketball games. The brick school on the hill carries many memories for anybody who attended school there.

Best friends and family are KEEPERS, whether they move away or remain close by. Emails, cards, letters and phone calls keep us in touch as well as occasional visits. Some things make life more treasured like the people we know who are extra special.

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.