Month: December 2018

Elevate Enchiladas With New Lice Flour Tortillas

1979 Cactus

Honey, I wish I knew what was going on here. I can’t fathom a reason to stack perfectly good tortillas on a fellow’s head. But it was 1979, and honestly, this yearbook is plumb full of things I can’t explain. Like this frisbee-contorting carb-deprived student.

Or this wand to his lips. I like the faces on the couple in back.

Or why grown men would be piggy-backing. 

Or doing that to their hair and bodies. Just another confirmation that clowns are evil.

This seems like a dozen too many hula hoops.

This last one shows a group of Zeta Beta Tau dudes building sets for a party at Pat O’Brien’s. But that doesn’t explain the duck. 

 

Nightskating Deserves A Quiet Night

christmasgator.net

Perhaps it is only dusk or overcast, but the lights pop and glow so shimmery, that it looks like evening to me. This is one of my favorite Christmas images, though I confess (living the entirety of my life in Texas), I’ve never ridden a sleigh nor skated on an actual lake (just a rink). In this scene, the kids to the left are dressed for a frosty night and yet the couple on the ice seems to have tossed their coats aside. Perhaps they have worked up quite a sweat.

What about you? Have you ridden in a sleigh? Was it one-horse and open? Have you skated on a lake? Did the ice break and you fell through and someone reached to grab you and administered CPR before you came to an untimely death? No, wait, that was a Hallmark movie…

On Trend Accessory For 2019: Ferns In Face

Nat Geo 1983

We’ve all seen the hibiscus worn in the hair, but this (as the carriage driver said in the Emerald City) is a horse of a different color.  Kauai-born Sherrie Hamamura is literally sporting a crown of ferns, as well as a necklace of ferns. It looks itchy and uncomfortable, to be honest, especially in a downpour.

However, her Hawaiian name is Wailana, or Peaceful Water, so she probably doesn’t sweat the small stuff. I hope that fabric is moisture-wicking and allows for movement as she performs her classical hula.

Perhaps fellow WordPress blogger and former Hawaii-dweller, Tom, may understand this Hawaiian saying printed next to her in the National Geographic: I ka olelo no ke ola; I ka olelo no ka make. “In the language is life and death.”

Evidently, fern fashion is still alive and well, as evidenced here. Long live tradition!

New Floating Ornaments All The Rage

Nat Geo 11/83

This boy would be in his 40s now, but back in 1983, his top priority was honing his soccer skills in the old section of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. These days, he might be more inclined to simply hang this ornament from his Christmas tree.

oldworldchristmas.com

 

It’s No Sleep Number

Roxie, our Hurricane Harvey rescue pooch from just over a year ago, doesn’t know how to leave a good thing alone. She keeps dragging her dog bed out into the middle of the yard, despite the 35mph winds, and curls up into it when she could be protected on the porch.

Lest you find her bed too diminutive, be aware that she chewed her dog bed up, and has now procured the bed of Tonto, our senior heeler/basset. During a water break, the wind flipped her bed over, and she decided to nest on the blue flamingo cushioned chairs instead.

I remember the vet telling us she “didn’t know how to dog.” She couldn’t take stairs, exclusively army-crawled through the house, wouldn’t get within two feet of the utility room, and leashes still freak her out (yes, we have a harness). She goes flat as a pancake on the ground and trembles at the Petco like she’s in a San Francisco earthquake. So we don’t take her. Instead, she spends her days in the back yard, free to run and play and bark at grackles, incite a weary 9-year-old Tonto into wrestling, and move any cushions/bedding/sprinkler heads/scrub brushes into the middle of the yard, sans consent. But when she gets to come inside, she curls up into my lap.

For a few minutes anyway.

Legally Drunk

It’s weird to see 1977 university staff images with EVERYONE drinking, since you could never do that now. Most students can’t drink until they’re juniors nowadays. But back when the drinking age was 18, nearly every student on campus was free to imbibe.

1977 Univ of Tx Texan Advertising Staff

Until 1981 Texas had a minimum drinking age of 18. And you bet your bippy those 18-year-olds took advantage.

drinks at the Texas Tavern on campus

But it wasn’t just pints of beer. Spiked punch made the rounds at deans’ meetings. And the dean seems pleased.

These Delta Kappa Epsilons decided they needed an entire wine cellar for the night.

Such young revelry led to poor decisions regarding hairstyles.

And poor decisions regarding fashion.

They were ugly sweater before ugly sweater was a thing.

And sometimes folks just got too greedy.

Sigma Phi Epsilon street party

 

Dear Bets (The Belle Of The Ball)

Yes, I realize we rarely read cursive anymore, and truth be told, it IS a bit of a chore to read an entire paragraph. But these words to 1941 freshman coed Betty F. make for interesting reading. First, a note from her ex to his “cute little fillie.”

Here is Betty.

Her nickname was “Tank.”

This was from her boyfriend, Dan, pouring his heart out to her, and admitting that he played his best at basketball just for her.

There’s too much to share the whole thing, but the sign-off was the best.

And this was from a boy she evidently friendzoned. However, if she were to change her mind about him, he’d return so fast, it would make her head swim.

I think we can agree that this yearbook lived up to its name.

In The Arms Of Santa

Cactus 1943

This WWII Santa doesn’t appear that much older than the doe-eyed toddler he’s holding. Volunteering from a university fraternity, he seems a bit smoother about the edges than his later counterpart in 1967, shown below.

Tipi 1967

Sideburns and skinny ties share the stage with both a plusher Santa beard and Santa suit, which appears to have been velveteened. Of course, not everyone can get the Santa gig. Some folks have to settle for holiday titles.

Ozarko 1968

Who even knew Barnwarming Queen was a thing? Are barns notoriously cold? Do queens exude that much heat?

It looks pretty toasty for these Savitar Barnwarming Queen Candidates in 1959. The only real loser here is the missing “g” in barnwarming.

cafnr.missouri.edu

Makes it sound oddly like barn-worming. But that’s another thing altogether.

The Smell Of 1978

Cactus 1978

Cars looked different 40 years ago.

There was much less traffic.

Before Uber and Lyft, folks simply hitchhiked.

It’s hard to believe, but the drinking age was only 18. 

And these girls seemed pretty keen on that.