Amber Watermelon Punch

In honor of the first really hot day of late spring/early summer/whatever-this-season-is in Ontario, here’s some punch seved in a whole watermelon. It’s from Good Housekeeping’s Book of Ice Creams and Cool Drinks (1958), which has plenty of things I wish someone around here, not me, would make and bring to me by the lake on the grounds of our Victorian era, renovated woodsy lakeside cottage.  Which we do not actually have.

But if we DID! Then I would be drinking this stuff – out there.

AMBER PUNCH

Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar to 2 quarts strng cold tea; stir till sugar dissolves. In watermelon punch bowl, combine tea, 2 quarts chilled apple juice, and 1 1/2 cups juice drained from maraschino cherries. Garnish with lime slices topped with whole strawberries. Add block of ice. Makes 36 punch-cup servings.

How’s your weather? And what would you like to drink – and where are you having your refreshments?

Your Nerves Are Not Made Of Steel

Especially not on a Monday morning! But at least my head hasn’t turned into a vibrating frying pan. I’m grateful for that, I must say.

Here’s another ad that shows that people were just as stressed in the 1950s as they are now, from the Winnipeg Tribune in 1953. It seems to be addressed specifically to parents. Mother had loud children (one is banging on her pan, which can’t be helping), doorbells, dirty dishes and piles of laundry.

Father had a noisy office, annoying clients, and then the “personal things: – the kitchen tap’s leaking, the coal bin’s low; the youngster needs glasses and the car needs repairs.” And also his head seems to be caught in some construction site steel beams. That’s gotta hurt!

Six weeks of taking Dr. Chase’s Nerve Food, though, and these frazzled folks are back on their game. That stuff sounds awfully Victorian, doesn’t it? Dr. Chase’s Nerve Food. As indeed it was. Here is a splendid Dr. Chase’s tin.

I have a 1919 Dr. Chase’s almanac, which heavily advertises the Nerve Food and other bracing products. This ad is from the almanac (I’ve cropped it to mostly just show the picture). Notice how the emphasis in the earlier ad is on anemia and tired blood, and the 1950s ad talks (quite vividly!) about modern stress and strain:

And look, you can still buy it. Just in case Monday puts your head in a vise or turns it into a jangling frying pan.