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Lost art of proper relaxation

Hat Dandy

One of the Regulars
Messages
239
Location
Maple, ON
Dorothea+Lange+-+Part+of+the+L.H.+Nissen+family+of+ten+living+in+a+three-room+shack.+This+is+the+living+room+and+kitchen+combined,+Iowa,+1936.jpg


"I don't care if you *can* make the kid sound like Charlie McCarthy, it ain't the same since the finance company took the radio away."

You have quite the gift for 'captioning' photographs. Well done! :)
 

swanson_eyes

Practically Family
Messages
827
Location
Wisconsin

The radio was big & made of wood . I can still hear the whistles & humming
when tuning in the dial.

My favorite was the baseball games .
With just a stick & whatever we could find that resembled a ball is all that was required.
There were no adults supervising or making us wear "baseball uniforms"
...it was fun. :)
I don't get how you saw it then. There's no way you're old enough.

I know that this is a cultural thing, but we do not wear shoes in the house. Slippers/ sandals are OK<snip>

don't wear your "sunday go to meetin'" clothes around the house, you change from your "work clothes" when you come home into your "farm clothes." Despite not having lived on a farm for fifteen years, I cannot break this habit. In fact, I'm sitting on my couch now in "farm clothes," which are typically ratty things that haven't made the rag bucket yet. If I go out (shopping, etc.) I change.

Didn't grow up on a farm. but I'm like this. House clothes double as jammies.
 

Rodney

Familiar Face
Messages
60
Location
Centralia, WA
I took this another way when I saw the title. I thought it was going to be more like this: "In our fast paced society we no longer know how to stop and relax properly." not: "We no longer say dressed up (or dress up at all) and our posture stinks while relaxing at home compared to the old days.
I think almost all old photos inside homes and the like were posed for the reasons already listed here by other members.
I really enjoy relaxing with my pipe. It's time devoted solely to that one task and gives me time to sit and basically do nothing more complicated than keeping it lit for a half hour or longer. I think that sort of time given to just yourself is sorely lacking these days.
Rodney
 

p51

One Too Many
Messages
1,119
Location
Well behind the front lines!
Everything is so individualized now. If you spent all your time holed up in your home and never interacted with anyone in the neighborhood, especially when the weather was great, your neighbors rightly considered you must be up to something.
But now? That's a social norm.
I grew up in the Deep South. But I was born in 1969, and even as a kid, it was like that, where people thought something was wrong if you weren't seen outside-
-Either that, or that you had really good air conditioning
But as for the photos, even these 'snapshot' shots were usually taken at some kind of event so people would be more dressed up there then normally. My parents, who were born in rural Tennessee in 1936, have both told me that people generally weren't nearly as "dooded up" as they seem in those old photos...
 

fashion frank

One Too Many
Messages
1,173
Location
Woonsocket Rhode Island
This is how we relax ,the front porch is great for sitting in the evenings having a cold one and listening to the radio .

http://tunein.com/radio/Radio-Swing-Worldwide-s124194/



The best thing about it is that as people walk by walking their dogs or whatever they stop to chat for a few minutes and then they go on their way.
Now a days the interaction with people with whom you live, neighbors and such is not there because they are inside on a computer, watching TV or whatever and IMHO that's whats wrong with society today no interaction and that causes people to loose their ability ( social skills ) to carry on a conversation ,especially young people who always seem to have their faces in a screen .

All the Best ,Fashion Frank
 
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swanson_eyes

Practically Family
Messages
827
Location
Wisconsin
That reminds me of my grandparents' houses in Florida. They each had porch swings also. I have to say that when I relax I should be open to interaction, but I'm not. Interaction is my whole job for 8.5 hours and it exhausts me. I need alone time to regroup. And yet, because I really am a people-person, I'll be conversing with you all on here.
 

p51

One Too Many
Messages
1,119
Location
Well behind the front lines!
That reminds me of my grandparents' houses in Florida. They each had porch swings also.
I grew up in rural Florida. When I moved away, I was always unnerved by front doors in houses in other regions for some reason.
One day, it dawned on me why; they didn't have screen doors. In Florida, every house had them. Where I live now, I can't recall the last screen front door I've seen...
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,763
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Up here we have storm doors, not screen doors. They're equipped with interchangeable panels that swap out -- screens in summer, double-thick glass in winter. If you leave the screens in over the winter, it's amazing how little time it will take before your inside door starts to rot. Don't ask me how I know this.
 

swanson_eyes

Practically Family
Messages
827
Location
Wisconsin
Lizzie, I wish I had a storm door. I do have double panel patio doors, but the front door is just the one and the weather stripping comes off every year when the door gets frozen to the frame and I have to force it open (you know, on those days when it's in the single digits). Why did I move here from California?
 

fashion frank

One Too Many
Messages
1,173
Location
Woonsocket Rhode Island
Up here we have storm doors, not screen doors. They're equipped with interchangeable panels that swap out -- screens in summer, double-thick glass in winter. If you leave the screens in over the winter, it's amazing how little time it will take before your inside door starts to rot. Don't ask me how I know this.


As always Lizzie is right on the money here ,perhaps its because we are both in the same part of the country, New England but if you can see in the picture of my front porch, the porch door has a screen panel in the top half that can be removed and you can place a screen in it for summer and a glass panel for the wintertime .

On my porch all of those screen panels get covered with a Plexiglas panel ,hence the little thumb screws that you can see in the picture.

This part of the house gets used the most in the summertime .

all the Best ,Fashion Frank
 
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LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,763
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
My porch has a system of hinged window panels that swing out and prop open with a dowel that attaches to a hook. Inside there are screen panels that swing open from the inside, so you can open the outside glass to let the breeze in, or open the screens to clean the inside of the glass. However, if you leave the the glass open on a windy night you will have much glass to replace the next morning, because they'll swing and flap in the wind like a sail until they're smashed to bits.

The other disadvantage in this system is that there is a lot of putty to replace every decade or so. I did it last summer, and it took about fifteen pounds of putty to do all the window frames. Not fun.
 

swanson_eyes

Practically Family
Messages
827
Location
Wisconsin
OK, I always want to rent, unless I get married to a handy guy. I don't think my health issues would let me do all those home projects. Lizzie, you are amazing.
 

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