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Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House
Cheryl Mendelson
Illustrated by Harry Bates
884 Pages
Review From Chinaberry Books and Gifts
Order from Chinaberry Books and Gifts
I somehow missed learning all the finer details of homemaking as a child. My mother knew them; but, for some reason or another, she neglected to pass them along to me. About all I learned was how to sort the laundry (that one I learned by mistake) and how to take fruit stains out of white shirts. (My grandmother taught me that when she bought me a beautiful new shirt and that very day I proceeded to deposit a huge strawberry blob right on the front. Just in case you don't know, place the shirt over a bowl and pour boiling water through it until the stain is gone.) You don't know how much I needed this book. I have always known how comforting homemaking is, both to do with love and to live in a home where it is a priority; but, I have never known the little tricks to make things come out right. HOME COMFORTS is an astonishing collection of household tips and information that I only wish I had learned at the hands of my mother. (Now, the trick is to start passing this on to my children!)
HOME COMFORTS is the most exhaustive treatise on homemaking published in almost a century!!! Written by a lawyer with a secret passion for homemaking, this book contains information about everything you can possibly think of that has anything to do with running a home. I could take two columns of the catalog making just a short list of all the topics she covers - everything from stain removal, food storage, cleaning hints about anything you might own, care of every type of cloth, proper insurance coverage and domestic employment laws. Really, you will just have to trust me that this woman is thorough. With her impeccable research skills, she tracks down the minute details of everything - like what those labels on the back of your clothes mean (surprising things, as you will find out if you read her explanation). And best of all, besides this incredible bastion of information, there is her philosophy of homemaking; a philosophy of care and consideration, of loving moderation and choice that is peppered throughout the book. Anytime I need a little inspiration to want to confront the mess around here, all I need do is read a few pages of HOME COMFORTS and I will be ready to tackle any cleaning job, all to make my home a nicer place to be.
In this day and age, it is almost a sin to enjoy caring for your home. But many of us know that caring for our homes offers us much more than just a clean house. A lovingly cared for house is a home, a place of respite in this hurried, hectic world of ours. It gives us a place to come home to where our souls can relax and renew themselves before we head back out to fight our battles in the world. And for our children, our homes become a loving embrace. HOME COMFORTS is a truly remarkable compendium, one that you will surely refer to for the rest of your life. (And I believe that you will be happy to own it in hardcover so the binding will last you through the decades!)
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SeptemberLady "Born and have lived in Southern MD most of my life. My husband and I just finished building a new home on the family farm, where I hope to retire in the near future.
My interests: Doll collecting, cookbook collector (especially old ones), antiques, family/friend get-togethers, cooking/baking, flower and vegetable gardening, bird-watching."
Memorial Day: Backyard Grilling Memorial Day signals the start of barbecue season. Everyone wants to light that fire and charcoal that first meal. A few tips might pre- vent your entree from becoming a "Burnt Offering."
Read these tips for plenty of grilling ideas, make this year's barbecue perfect!
Growing and Using Garlic Chives Garlic chives, Allium tuberosum, is a hardy perennial (Zones 3-9) that will grow to about 12 inches high. The stems are skinnier and flat, instead of hollow as are regular chives, with greenish white blooms that are about an inch wide and not as rounded. They bloom in the summer rather than spring. The bloom stalks grow much taller than the leaves, sometimes up to 30 inches.
The stems and blooms are both edible and have a mild garlic onion taste. I've noticed many writers will list this as primarily as an Asian herb, as they are also known as Chinese chives, Chinese leeks, ku chai (China) or Nira (Japan), but it has many other uses as well!
The Perfect Porch Swing Perhaps it is the soothing rhythm or the reassuring creak of the porch swing that attracts us. Perhaps it is the companionable silence or quiet conversation. Or maybe swings simply remind us of more genteel times.
Although porch swings can be purchased in a wide range of materials, the most common are wicker and wood. You can also make your own porch swing from one of the myriad of woodworking patterns available at garden centers, hardware stores, or on the Internet.
Memorial Day: Backyard Grilling
Growing and Using Garlic Chives
The Perfect Porch Swing