Happy Halloween

 Our candy is ready...your guess is as good as mine if we will be eating a whole bunch of candy!

Pumpkins at Jen's last year.

Years ago the elderly neighbors would go out for trick or drink...Far Guy and I never were invited...we must have been the party poopers as we only drank sodas or coffee.  The elderly never went far...a mile maybe two to get a drink at their friends homes, but sometime they would pick up people as they went. 

Thursday was Far Guys usual infusion day.  I delivered some Christmas Ornaments while I waited for him.  Gravy and Dawn's new home is coming along...it is beautiful!  Right now they are fighting sheet rock dust...and waiting for flooring and trim.  

It was a rainy Thursday.  High was 45F or 7C and it was a frosty morning with a very pink sunrise. 

Supper was ribs and my baby brothers maple canned carrots...Yummy! 

Far Side

Far Side

Sorting

 I was at loose ends yesterday so I sorted through some "stuff" on my desk.  It is a work in progress.  I have a large covered  box on my desk...a very pretty box with sunflowers on it and it was crammed full of "stuff" that was out of sight out of mind.  Most of it was dealt with or is in progress of being dealt with.  

Everything has a permanent home or goes into the rummage sale tote or is recycled.  

I am in the process of scanning some older photos, some had been tucked away for safe keeping and some my Mother gave me last Spring.  

This photo appeared on my husbands Facebook page last week on my birthday.  Far Guy said "Hey there is a photo of you on Facebook that I have never seen before." 

Ha it could be a mug shot!  Just kidding.  The person who posted the photo must have been going through some newspaper archives.  The year was 1989 and I ran for School Board and lost.  I did win in a couple of Townships.  So much for that experience...the newspaper had to take photos of all the candidates. 

This one was taken in September 1953 when I was two years old.  That is my Mom helping to hold my cake.  The photo was taken at the farm where I grew up.  

So much for sorting through some old memories. 

Far Side

Shell of a Memory

 My Maternal Grandparents had a TV in their living room, I am not sure who bought the TV for them as I am certain they did not buy it for themselves.  On top of that TV was a shell that was illuminated by a small light.  There was something else displayed with the shell but I cannot recall what it was.   I did not recall the shell until our daughter Jen brought home a shell from vacation.

The light caught the shell just right and that sparked a long forgotten memory.  Can you really hear the Ocean?  I always thought I could. 

Far Side

Jello

 In pre covid times Far Guy and I liked to attend Auction Sales...and garage/rummage sales.  

I am sorting through some old photos on my Simple Save...oh it is slow going but a good trip down memory lane.  I am working in 2009 right now. In 11 years many things have changed.

This is a fun puzzle.

I  had many a jello made in those crystal bowls... my Aunt Marie like to serve jello over a lettuce leaf and topped with cottage cheese...uffda.  ( For the record Cottage Cheese will make me barf.)  I tried to graciously scoop it off to one side.   I like just plain jello...with some whipped cream on top...and Lemon,  Lime or Blue Raspberry are not my favorite flavors.... give me Orange, Black Cherry or regular Raspberry any day of the week.  My Grandmother put all kinds of fruit in her jello....sometimes more fruit than jello...I hated the grapes.  If Grandma made plain jello it was kept in a crystal refrigerator dish that had a pretty crystal lid.  

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : 1959 Desoto Explorer Station Wagon

 Far Guy's first Desoto was a nine passenger station wagon.  At the Drive In Movie Theater you could back it in...get out and fold up the seat and get in the back to watch the movie. 

I was along when the Highway Cop gave Far Guy a ticket for 92 mph...we were talking and driving along minding our own business...the local judge thought the car might have been doing 72.

I was also along the day her oil light came on and Far Guy was pretty bugged about that light being on...so I spit out my gum rolled it into a ball and stuck it in the round warning light...it did not make him feel  much better but at least he laughed.  I was just trying to be helpful! 

Now for the Explorer part. 

 A question from  a friend;

So this winter will you drive it or store it?

Far Guy's reply;

As I remember Desotos hate winter.  If they start they may just drive off on their own .... do you remember that?

A friend does have a good recall;

Yep was winter time colder then shit. I was driving my brother's red dodge cornet..  Heading down hwy 34 and saw the sea foam aircraft carrier parked in front of the citizen national bank with the motor running. One could do that back in the old days.

I thought i would just pull in behind and wait for you to come out. As I started to pull in The Desoto slowly drove off.  Thought shit I missed him then noted no one was in the car. I parked got out and ran after it thinking i would hop in and hit the brakes.

That thing went down to the alley way, made a left turn across the oncoming traffic lane and perfectly into the alley, went a few feet and stopped.

The part I don't remember is if I hopped in and hit the break or if it was locked and it stopped on it's own due to the deep snow and me hanging on to the door handle swearing.

Anyway ran back to the bank and you and your dad where sitting at a desk and I told you our car drove away.  You mumbled something about it sometimes slips out of park or something and went out to get it.  I would have been more freaked out but you seemed awful casual about it.

If that happened to me it would have run over a group of small school children or something on that order. 

Far Guys reply was: 

 You have a good memory.  One of the problems is there never was a "park" same with this one.  Emergency brake was  suppose to be the park brake and that only worked if it was adjusted right.  Cold as hell which I think made the fluid thicker and so despite it being in neutral it had enough to move the car.

Fun for me to hear this story as it was one I had not heard before...it truly was an Explorer! . 

1959 Desoto Explorer Station Wagon...Sea foam Green or Willow Green or Spring Green or Birdshit Green...photo taken about 1970.  Far Guy sold it in 1972 for $100  We are not sure of the purchase price when Far Guy's Dad bought it from Bob and Mary Harris in about  1966.

Far Side 

Saturday Drive

 I drove the new old car back and forth in the yard.  Far Guy took me for a ride just to see what she could do...yes we have decided that the car is a she.   Well she made it up to 55 or 60 when we both said "good enough."   It seemed like we were going much faster than that!  We did not go far from home!  She starts easy and runs like a champ! 

Here is a view from the passenger seat.

When we got back home I carded dog fur outside whilst Far Guy tinkered with his new old car. 

Our weather was just perfect...

Far Guy needs to take it a bit slower...and rest more often... he had to agree that he isn't 17 any more. 

The new old car brings up lots of memories for both of us.  The remember whens and laughter are wonderful! 

Far Side

Tempting

 Jen and Andy were driving around.

LOOK what they found.  Andy started it for us...Far Guy told him how to start it.  Jen gave us a full tour via facetime.  It needs new brakes or they would have taken us for a ride! 

It is an awesome old car.  

Far Guy is tempted...and I support his decision what ever that will be. 

He said "What would we do with it?"  I answered...drive around on Sunday afternoons...and  make out in the backseat.

Far Side

Linnell School Corner

We drove on over to see what was happening with the road construction.  We are thankful that we are not included in that mess this year.

We are at the old corner and ahead is the new corner.  This is the old Linnell School corner. 

There you can see the Smoky Hills in the background.

The driveway where I used to wait for the School Bus is on the left...where the tall trees are. 

I rode two different School Busses over the years...Ivan Siegford's bus that started at Shell Lake (picked up Susan, Carolyn and Mary) and then Jim Hind's bus that came from the prairie.  I think the bus switch happened about Grade Five as that is when the country schools up on the prairie were closed and all the kids either went to the Osage Schools for K-6 or Park Rapids 7-12...that would have been about 1961.  The old Linnell School that was on this corner was closed in the summer of 1957 when the new Osage School was built.   I was suppose to go to First Grade at the Linnell School since we lived so close I could walk to school...instead I was a bus student!  After the school was torn down it became a baseball field. 

 I most often read books or studied on the bus...sometimes in the winter I would draw on the frosty window if I was lucky enough to sit by the window....in later years I would play cards...four of us would sit on the aisle seats holding a book on our lap and play Whist on the way to school. 

Far Side

Midway Memories: Bucky, Mitch, Freddie and Billy

The Austin Minnesota “gang.”  Bucky and Mitch Buxton were brothers.  Freddie and Billy Grover were brothers.

The Grover’s were a very large family, they lived next to a grocery store owned by Bud Butler.  In an earlier blog I wrote about Butch Butler having the largest show on the West Coast.  Billy came out first and worked the Wheel.  Al Merriam left the show one day to put up advertising in another town…while he is away Billy and another ride boy by the name of Jerry Perkel started riding the rims. ( The rims on the Ferris Wheel.)  They would grab onto the angle iron that separated two spokes and would ride all the way over the top, upside down and would let go at the ground…of course this kind of foolishness was not approved of by Al…he heard about it.  The next morning it was real hot, he set up a card table and an umbrella between the two Ferris Wheels (possibly Al had a glass of lemonade.) He gave each of them a bucket of gasoline and a rag and told them to clean his Ferris Wheels.  Four or five hours later he told them “That is a pretty good job but I don’t want to ever hear of you riding the rims again.”

Billy and Margaret

The great Cambridge Fight: The ride boys and the jointees never really got along until later years.  So Red and George (jointees) are in the hotel in Cambridge so Billy and another guy went to their room and a fight broke out, a chair was busted over Billy’s head and a certain relative was thrown down the stairs.  Billy spent two weeks in the hospital, once he got out of there he was supposed to go to jail but Al went and talked to the authorities and told them “Billy is a pretty good kid, if you let him off, give him to me and I will make sure he doesn’t cause anymore problems in town.”  We are not sure why a certain relative didn’t end up in jail…perhaps Al put in a good word for him too…afterall he was a kid from Ogden.
Freddie was great. He had the greatest sense of humor.  Far Guy says “He was happy go lucky but bad luck seemed to follow him around.”  For instance one night after he had finished a bottle of soda he tossed it over his shoulder and it hit a kid in the mouth and busted his teeth out.
Bucky was out on the road when Far Guy got his electric guitar in 1965. A fun loving guy, that first night with a electric guitar Far Guy only knew how to play a few songs, Bucky requested Boney Maronie…Far Guy didn’t know it so he played Wipeout whilst Bucky sang Boney Maronie. Bucky and Mitch worked joints.

Bucky on the right in 2005

Mitch in a Skee Ball Joint in 2005

Freddie and Mitch started their own game, going into business for themselves.  They wanted to frame up a joint, they needed 2 x 4’s but it was Sunday and no lumber yards were open.  They showed up with lumber and Al Merriam asked then where they got the lumber on a Sunday…Freddie said “ What lumber?” Al said “The lumber with the cement on it.”  Most likely it came from some construction project somewhere.

Freddie in 2005

When the Merry Go Round Foreman was unable to take the Merry Go Round apart which was quite often…Al would come and get Freddie to do it…Freddie would try to hide from Al on tear down night.

One of the joints that Freddie and Mitch had was a Paint Spin Joint.  I ran it for them one afternoon in Algona Iowa.  It was pretty easy, you took the money and put a piece of paper on a wheel and let people squirt paint on the paper as it spun on the wheel and hung it up to dry….this was in 1968.  They had important business someplace and I think I made a quarter for every fifty cent picture. What kind of important business…who knows..might have been for whacky tobacky.

Bucky died in 2007, he was a Vietnam Veteran.   Mitch died in 2012.   Both were liver transplant recipients.  Both spent most of their lives out on the road.  Mitch was known as “Concessionaire extraordinaire.” 

Billy and Freddie are both still living.  We see Freddie from time to time, he has a string of joints out on a show that stays in Minnesota for the most part. One of Danny Suber’s sons works for Freddie.  Freddie lives in Louisiana in the winter.  Billy gave up the show business, he had no college education but wrote computer programs for a living.

Either you have Sawdust flowing through your veins or not.  
 

Busy Man

My husband was a busy man whilst I was gone, he washed the windows and totally took apart the screendoor windows and washed them.  He carried away most of the lawn furniture and folded up tables in my garage.  He sprayed weeds!  Chance got a new batch of pumpkin treats too.  Perhaps I should leave more often!

I stopped at this tree on the way home and took a few photos.  It was windy.

It stands near the Erie Town Hall.

This tree is a ways East of the old Highway 34 Club.  That was a dinner/bar/dance place called Erie 34.  There was also an Erie Junior located in Detroit Lakes out on Highway 10 east of town, Far Guy and I went there one year for supper before prom probably in 1968 or 1969. I am not sure what happened to the place in town…but the Erie 34 Club was bought and sold and the name changed to The Broken Wheel and it eventually burned down.  I recall once when Rhonda called me and said “The Chippendales are going to be at The Broken Wheel want to go?”  I wish I had gone.

Midway Memories : Double Wheels

Back in the hay day of carnival business having two popular high rides was a big deal.  They could been seen from a long ways away which made for good advertizing and the capacity was fairly good.  A good wheel man was very important. 

Promotional photos were taken so a booking agent could show the Fair Board the double wheels.  We think this is Far Guys Dad in the photo.

Waukon Iowa

The wheels would have a first man, a second man and sometimes a third man..and set up help.  Men who worked the wheel over the years were Perkel, Jerry Leper, Billy Grover, Dale Merriam, Ron Zwald, Stan the Black Man, Hubert Heeren and Virgil Landgraft. Perkel was a tall guy the spitting image of John Wayne, and he had a good sense of humor.

Hubert Heeren was one of the best wheel men ever.  Far Guy worked the wheel on set up/tear down day/night.  I would find a spot out of the way, settle in and watch.  Far Guy worked the top.  Which meant he would climb up one of the towers once it was set and raised and then balance on the top and attach all the spokes.  There was a series of ropes, the spoke was assembled on the ground and then the ropes were pulled and it rose to the center where Far Guy put in the bolts. He would slide down the cable, put together another spoke and climb up the tower and pin another spoke in place until they were all in place. It was a dangerous job, but with Hubert in control all the time injuries were minor.  Far Guy used to call it fighting the pig iron.  I learned alot by watching…and didn’t get involved other than to get them water and once in awhile searching for a cotter pin in the dark.  Far Guy fell out of the top once, hit his shins, ribs and head and bled all over in Staples Minnesota, Lois (Hubert’s wife) helped doctor him up and that was the last time he ever set up a wheel. ( Hubert calls us every once in awhile, he lives in Oklahoma and is a widower…when he gets lonesome he calls us.)

Half of the wheel seats were taken off each night and covers put on over all the seats.  If the weather turned stormy the seats would come off and four ropes were tied from the wheel to trucks. 

Sometimes that didn’t work.  Columbus Nebraska 1956

Hubert Heeren, Al Merriam, Dale Merriam and Marvin Henderson.

This wheel had the old wooden seats.  That is possibly Hubert Heeren in the photo.

The wheels were a total loss. New wheels were purchased.

This is Northfield Iowa a number of years later.   Eventually one of the wheels was sold, with the advent of other more exciting carnival rides.

When I was about 12 years old, Far Guys Dad told him to take me on some rides.  Needless to say he stood there with his hands in his pockets and his head down and mumbled “You don’t want to go on any rides do you?”  Far Guy says he said “You wanna go on some rides?”  I said “No” “No thanks.” But I relented and went on the Ferris Wheel with him.

So we have a wheel seat in our yard. 

Midway

A good old fashioned Carnival Midway brings back many good memories for both of us.

The smell of freshly mowed grass, mingling with popcorn and candy floss. 

We are old school and think that every Midway should have a Merry Go Round and Calliope music. This Midway had neither.

Now a days it is all about the thrill rides…bigger and faster and taller.

I usually deposit at least $10 here while waiting for Far Guy to finish his rounds. Today I just wander along and recall times long ago.

I hear the High Striker Bell…

I am taken back in time…fifty years.  I can almost see the Carnie that had this joint.  I remember the crowd that used to gather as rivals kept trying to best one another…cheering…booing when the bell was not rung… but when it was a guy headed down the Midway with a gal on one arm and a huge stuffed animal in the other.  I am not sure what town it is in…after awhile they all look alike only distinguishable by their food, movie theaters, bathrooms or some unforgettable event so long ago.

Perhaps I will write about it someday.

Sidetracked

As you know, my husband is the Class Babysitter Historian for his Class of 1968.

I don’t get too involved…especially when the popular wenches girls won’t let him scan their precious grade school photos.  He gets upset when he shares so much and a few of the cheerleader types won’t share a thing.  Then one finally came through while cleaning out a bunch of “stuff.” She had a photo of one of the Kindergarten class of 1955-1956.  There were three sections.  Far Guy has photos of two sections. He is missing the section that he was in….that is a bummer.  Maybe someday!

Na na na na prissy little Mary M in the front row with the polka dot shirt can just keep her old photos.
 
School was a lot different back then…you could bring your cap pistol to school. One of the little boys in the front row has a long rifle…probably a BB gun.

I am only the tech person.  I deciphered the Class Roll from Kindergarten Graduation, the children were not listed in alphabetical order???  So I made notes from the other photo we have and discovered that they are listed by class.   That makes the identification much easier.  I also said save the photo here and print it there…high tech “stuff.”


Since we know who was in the last photo that remains elusive, perhaps an email here or there will yield some results.  Never give up hope. Who knows I may find the photo in an antique shop someday.

These little kids all turn 66 this year.

Minnesota Lakes and Magic Ice

Yesterday after errands we went down to the public access on Fishhook Lake.

Canada Geese were flying in from the east..going west to find open water.  The lake is pretty much frozen.

Don’t let that small patch of blue sky fool you…that was it for the ENTIRE day.  The white stuff you see is snow.  The rest of the lake is frozen.

There has been talk about who is out fishing on the ice…in my opinion only idiots or people with a death wish.

When we headed home it was noticed that there are two portable fish houses on the millpond.   I did not get a photo but I can guess who they belonged to.

A few more days and we might have magic ice… we will see.  It is way cool.  I wrote about it one year.

November 23, 2008 in fact.  Just incase you missed it here it is.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Magic Ice

If the weather holds cold with no snow the lakes will soon be perfect. Maybe the magic ice will arrive. Ice that only comes every ten years or so here in Minnesota, perfect ice for skaters on the lake.

The teenage girls, would check the ice everyday after school. "Mom do you think it is safe yet?" NO, not yet, be patient girls." Then one day I say they can skate but only along the shore, and only in front of our place, and only when I am there, watching... ready to haul them out should the ice crack and they were to take an icy dip. Magic Ice, sometimes this ice would then be defiled by icy rains and heavy snows, disappointment..patience was not rewarded its full due.

Once in a great while, for a few days it is the true magic ice. The magic ice you wait years for. After school the teenage girls run down the drive arriving breathless with excitement. "It didn't snow! Lets go MOM!" I have checked the ice, it is safe, they can skate out further in the lake today, maybe today will be the day that they can skate across the entire lake. The lure of being able to skate across this magic ice has a pull on them like Norwegians to a Lutefisk dinner.

The ice is clear, stretching out across the lake, clear and spooky. You can lay on your belly and shield out the light with your mittened hands and stare into the murky depths. You can see the weed beds, the submerged logs, ancient trees, and the black drop offs. The dogs would lick my face and rouse me from my under ice explorations ..as if to say "Pay attention to the girls." The ice would be like a huge frozen mirror, with a series of cracks and fissures that must be there every year, but only visible in magic ice years.
The girls would skate, sometimes chasing each other in a game of tag, sometimes hand in hand. Giggling, cheeks bright red, eyes sparkling. "Mom the ice is great! Can we skip school tomorrow? Ice as great as this shouldn't be wasted." "NO, you have to go to school, what kind of Mother lets their kids skip school to go ice skating anyway."

Only a few years was the ice perfect..to make it safely across the lake, I would watch them on the opposite shore, specks skating along. Specks growing larger as they skated toward me and the safety of home..on Magic Ice:)

Wistful Wednesday : Pullet Eggs

Recently my other baby brother called me and said “Sis you want some pullet eggs?”  Absolutely!  Nothing better than those first eggs that are laid, the practice eggs, some are different shapes more round than oval, it takes a young hen a bit of practice to get it right!

Those eggs were really good, flavorful and the yolks were golden orange.  I have not had good eggs like that in years.

It brought back lots of memories: Gathering eggs, faking out the mean hens to get their eggs, washing eggs and putting them in flats…I think 2 1/2 dozen would fit in a flat.  Some of the flats were a gray color and some were purple and you could stack them up.  From there they would be packaged into the customers egg cartons.  My Mom raised chickens and eggs were sold at our house to friends and neighbors.

My Dad would cook me up an egg or two for breakfast in the winter…over hard or a broken yoke either suits me just fine.  It beat the heck out of porridge..which at our house was Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat.

When I think of someone washing eggs I think of my Mother’s Father sitting on the porch washing eggs.  I sometimes helped him, grabbing a soft cloth to wipe the poop smears off the eggs.  Poop wasn’t so bad, bits of straw stuck to the poop and then to the egg was like removing a piece of cement.  You had to be really careful with those eggs…they would easily crack.  Grandma used up all the cracked eggs mostly in baked goodies.  Nowadays I wouldn’t use a cracked egg…but back them we didn’t think anything of it.

I looked for a photo.  I found one of my maternal grandparents chicken coop and grainery.  That is my grandfather in the photograph along with his chickens and several of his  kitty cats:)

First Bingo

For you tried and true Bingo players out there..do you remember your first Bingo?   I think mine was on a fairground at a huge tent.  You picked a stool and a runner came over and sold you a card for 10 cents.  You covered your spots with hard kernels of corn that were up in the top section of the counter you sat at.  I loved looking at all the prizes you could win all stacked in the middle.  If you won you got a ticket.. and all the prizes were different amounts of tickets.

Then I played with the cards that had the little red windows that you slipped sideways to cover a called number.  It was less messy than the corn.  Then came the paper cards and the daubers.

I think I have had the same two daubers for over ten years now..how about 14 years.  I think we were building the house and still living in the camper when I bought one green dauber and one red one.  I don’t go to Bingo every week that’s for sure.

When we lived in Buxton North Dakota I had a part time job..you guessed it.  Bingo caller and Black Jack Dealer in the little bar on main street. I had previous Black Jack Dealer experience but being a Bingo caller was something I had never done before.  I really enjoyed it!

Last night my sister and my nephew were here so we all went to Bingo with my parents.  My Dad goes to Bingo just about every week.  He has a friend who is blind and plays with braille cards..Dad faithfully picks Darrell up and drives him to Bingo.  My Mother often times stays home and sews while Dad is gone.

I won once, Mom won twice and nephew Jake hollered “BINGO” for his very first time.

My sister Julie and her son Jacob or Jake.

Jake came to visit because he is leaving shortly for Ohi Japan where he will be teaching English. He speaks and writes Japanese. He spend part of last year studying in Japan. He is very excited about this upcoming year.  He told me that Saki tastes a little like vodka mixed with wine and he likes sushi…both things I have never tried.  His apartment is all set up and waiting for his arrival..it should be a wonderful adventure for him:)

Grandma’s Fish and Flowers

I scanned a bunch of older photos yesterday.  I ran onto a photo of my Maternal Grandmother that shows her love of fish and flowers.

I know I have written before about the windows just off the kitchen that faced south. There were tables there right up next to the windows.  There were four windows.  That is where Grandma kept her African Violets, geraniums and some ferns and a philodendron that grew up the wall and went over the ceiling.  When the room was painted the philodendron roots had to be dug from the plaster.

I had forgotten about the extra chairs that she used to shove under the flower tables until they were needed. They were Avocado Green. I had forgotten the stool between the tables..you had to make the most of your space for plants and that Croton looks like it thrived there. Above the Croton on the stool is a mirror and above the mirror was a thermometer and possibly one of those old strips that turned colors in the humidity. I am not sure how well they worked..I recall the strips turning blue and staying that color.

Grandma grew stuff good.

I am not so sure about her fish.  This was a Five Pound Six Ounce Bass that she caught in February of 1983. Grandma would have been 72 years old in this photo.

Someone took a Polaroid of the fish and wrote it’s statistics on the back.

I like to fish for Bass too..using a top water bait in May or Early June..Bass are kinda feisty and they will hit the bait as soon as it hits the water and then fight for their freedom.  My experience with Bass is that they are always have little black spots on their bellies and are wormy..so I always have caught them and then released them back into the lake.

Apparently Grandma kept her big old Bass and she most likely fillet it out and fried it up in a pan:)

Wistful Wednesday : Cookies, Cakes and Ice Cold Drinks

When I was little it was a real treat to go visiting.  We went to Roy and Lorraine's just a little ways down the road, they were our next door neighbors in the country. They had two children, both older than me.

This is Lorraine, she made me many birthday cakes, and what was so great about her cakes is that she made two of them..a big one to share and a little one that was all yours.  This photo was taken at our farm when I was four years old in 1955. She must have been very busy baking cakes..as her husband Roy and I shared the same birthday.

Lorraine always had cookies..always. What goes better with cookies in the summertime than a cold, icy drink. Now not everyone had ice cubes..ice cubes were lots of work. The refrigerators had room for one ice cube tray...maybe two if you were really lucky.  So you had to be on top of the ice making at all times. 

  Lorraine had a set of aluminum glasses very similar to these.  She had jewel colors..I remember asking for the ruby red glass and the sapphire blue glass. When it was handed to you, the glass was very cold..you could hold it up to your cheek and feel the cold. The outside of the glass would get all wet as the glass warmed up.

These glasses were made by Color Craft of Indianapolis, Indiana.  I bought these at an Antique Shop over the weekend. I will serve some Kool-aid to the Grands this summer in these old glasses that have many good memories associated with them:)