Comments on: A Taste of Americana

By: shoreacres

shoreacres — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:10:47 +0000

Andrew,

Oh dear, oh me! I found the Rat Tart skit on YouTube with no problem, and couldn’t seem to look away! It’s terrible and funny all at once – like so much of Monty Python.

Like you, I’d assumed at first that email spam got its name from the product. Then, I found the Python skit and, as they say, all was made clear. It’s been so interesting to me to find that Spam-the-product has been so popular around the world, too. Of course, tinned foods with a long shelf life travel rather well!

Yes, Mom was proud of her role in the war effort, and proud of her ability to learn a skill and not only perform well but outwork most of those around her. She and her partner consistently were at the top of the heap when it came to meeting and exceeding quotas. She loved to talk about it – and we loved to listen.

Linda

By: Andrew Graeme Gould

Andrew Graeme Gould — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 22:21:16 +0000

Interesting that your family had it’s own Rosie the Riveter in the form of you mother, Linda.

I remember Spam, the meat product, very well from my childhood, as it was just as popular in Australia back then. I’ve been a Monty Python fan since I first saw them back in the 1960s. It was natural, then, that I was getting ready to place a link to that Spam video, before I’d scrolled down, and found out that you had already done so. I never imagined that the word “spam” used to mean junk mail, might have been inspired by the video, rather than the food product. Very interesting, then.

And by the way, if Monty Python’s Spam is not enough fun for you, try looking up Rat Tart!

By: shoreacres

shoreacres — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 03:34:39 +0000

dearrosie,

This one’s been percolating for a while. I went to Minnesota and visited the Museum when I took Mom up to Iowa for burial – that was over a year ago. I processed the photos when I got back and tucked them in the files – and there they waited, until the time was right.

I suspect the same will be true for you with the Camino. A year from now you’ll suddenly have an insight about an experience, or remember something that had seemed insignificant but wasn’t, and we’ll have the pleasure of another post. Sometimes it’s not so much research, as just letting all the pieces fall into place!

Isn’t it amazing to think of all the things we didn’t talk to our parents about? So often I think, “I think I could ask Mom about that.” But I can’t, and I didn’t take seriously enough all the advice to talk!talk!talk! when she still was here. We did pretty well, though, as did you and your mom. In the end, it’s the relationships that count most.

I thought the Formica/Micarta information was fascinating. It’s such fun when someone pops in with that kind of fun fact!

Linda

By: jeanie

jeanie — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:55:31 +0000

I’ll have to see if I still have any of the spam postcards and if I do will send one along!

By: dearrosie

dearrosie — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:32:10 +0000

“mycarta” should be “Micarta” and “Formica” got its name from “for mica”. But the two share a common history.
I always wait for a time when I can come to your posts with enough time to *read* and digest all that you share with us. Thanks for another great history lesson … gosh you did an incredible amount of research for this one.
- “Formica” got its name from “for mica”?
- the two women who were the real “Rosie the Riveter”
- Your Mom was one of those women
- Spam and spam.
….I followed the links and read the articles…

I thought my mother and I had spoken about everything I needed to know but Spam! somehow never entered our discussions – so I don’t know whether my family ate it during the war years before I was born…