1966: Country Life

I'm in Vermont for a few days of R&R and found a few books at a used bookshop in Brattleboro:

Lao Russell's Love; a scientific and living philosophy of love and sex;

A 1980 reprint of the 1768 The delights of wisdom concerning conjugial love: after which follow, the pleasures of insanity concerning scortatory love by Emanuel Swedenborg;

and

Sex after Forty, which could come in handy now that I'm of that age.

To give you a taste, and to follow up on the nature theme, and since I'm in Vermont enjoying it's beauty, here's an excerpt from Russell's book. It's from a little section called "Country Life."

~~
One who loves country life always feels sorry for those who have not discovered the exciting and beautiful world of Nature. No one can ever be lonely as he walks in the woods and discovers the pulsing, singing, courageous, growing trees, and the bright, glowing beauty of wild flowers--an endless array of them. Each month you discover another species. Did you know that there are actually about twenty-five kinds of chickweeds? Their little white flowers contain tiny capsules of small seeds that songbirds love.

Nature is far more exciting than odor-filled cities whose streets are filled with raucous noises, instead of the sound of the songs of birds, the rustle of leaves, falling twigs, and the "chatter" of wildlife both far and near. . . .

No life is as exciting as forest life, and yet man crowds into cities where there is tension created by man who all too often desires to build transitory wealth for his body, instead of permanent wealth for his Soul.
~~

Ah, with that, I'll head back out into the woods. I've been on the computer way too long!

1964: Boys Are Different!

A special thank you to Sherri Baer, who just sent me two fabulous little pink books by Ruth Vaughn: It's Fun to Be a Girl ("in which she tells how 'sugar and spice and everything nice' can be made a dream come true," so says the cover) and the follow-up Dreams Can Come True ("because of her unquestioned faith in this fact, she reminds her readers that it is fun to be a girl").

This little excerpt, titled "Boys are Different!" is from Dreams Can Come True. I find this fascinating. Who knew that girls and boys could be so different, yet still get along! This explains a lot.

~~
You will just have to admit that it's true. Their whole thought processes are different. Their whole outlook upon life is different! Their interests, dreams, and ambitions are different.

Girls like security and warmth. Boys are freespirited. Girls want to leave quickly any scene of unhappiness. Boys can implulsively knock another boy across the room. Girls want praise, attention. Boys are happy just to have you in the same room with them while they devote all of their attention elsewhere. (It certainly isn't much fun for you when Steve comes to see you and spends all evening discussing baseball talk with your father. But Steve is happy just because you are near!)

Girls love poetic, beautiful, dreaming things: orchids, very soft blue satin the color of the morning sky, "Rhapsody in Blue," soft candleglow, bubble bath. Boys love plain, common, everyday things: baseball, the sports page, digging in the garden, greasy motors, carpenters' saws. Girls always prefer a date with Steve to congealing at a girls' party. Boys often prefer to just "be with the boys."
~~

1961: Eyeglasses

I did a stupid thing this weekend--I lost my glasses! I had my sunglasses on at the time, and my regular frames somehow fell out of my pocket while I was out walking the dogs. I retraced my steps and looked high and low for them but they are gone gone gone. So since Saturday I've been wearing an old pair that has an outdated prescription which hurts my head, and my regular prescription sunglasses whenever I can get away with that without looking too ridiculous.

I ordered a cool new pair yesterday that should arrive shortly, but in the meantime I thought I would see what the advice gods had to say about wearing glasses. The following is from Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, written in 1960 by Gayelord Hauser. The section on eyeglasses starts out by talking about doing eye drills and eye relaxation, enough to strengthen your eyes so you don't need glasses. But then Hauser brushes aside that quackery and writes:

~~
I definitely do not belong to the school that says: "Throw away your glasses." Unless you are willing to work on your eyes constantly and daily, I suggest that you consult the best eye doctor in your city and let him decide, after a thorough examination, whether or not you need glasses. There are few things so damaging to a woman's looks as her straining, squinting effort to see. It is not only detrimental to the eyes, for tissues around the eyes become a mass of fine, squinting lines. Along with the muscles of the eyes, your whole face and even the muscles of your neck and shoulders become tense in the struggle to see.
~~

Exactly how I'm feeling! Let's continue:

~~
The decision rests entirely with you and your eye doctor. If you need glasses, wear them boldly and confidently. Today women treat eyeglasses not as a handicap to good looks but as an accessory. You no longer need to change frames and shapes that will make the glasses inconspicuous. Quite the contrary--the bolder the better.
~~

My new ones are slightly diamond shaped. I hope that's bold enough.

1967: Personal Products

Apologies for not posting lately, been a bit busy at work and with the social life. One of my recent activities has been planning my trip to Paris -- I'm going for work but hopefully will have a little time to see the city. Already stressing about what to pack (I tend to overpack normally, but got a smaller suitcase this weekend so need to be good this time), I turned to a new book in my collection for help. There are plenty of packing tips in Frances Koltun's Complete Book for the Intelligent Woman Traveler, published in 1967, but I thought this advice about "personal products" was more fun to share with you. After reading these, I bet you ladies will be glad times have changed just a bit since the 60s. I am, particularly when thinking about those sanitary towels.

~~
Even women who are normally level-headed about snakes, how much to tip a mahout or what to do for impetigo, find themselves at a loss about how much to pack in the way of personal products, the beauty industry's euphemism for sanitary napkins, et al. I still remember a traveling companion on a trip to Europe who filled one of her two suitcases with boxes of Kotex because she was sure she'd never find any abroad.

Her apprehension belonged to the era of steamer trunks, motoring veils, and 10-day ocean crossings. Today, American products such as Kotex and Tampax are found in nearly every major country of the world. You have only to walk into a large, centrally located drugstore to find them. . . .

There are some local variations you may want to know about: In England, sanitary napkins are called sanitary towels, and have loops at either end. As these are exported to several countries in the world, you may run into them from time to time. In French, they're called garnitures périodiques; in Spanish, they're toallas sanitarias or higiénicas; in German, damenbinden; in Italian, assorbenti igienici; in Swedish, sanitets bindan; in Japanese seiritai. With these languages at your command, you can manage anywhere should an "English-speaking" pharmacy be unavailable, or should the chambermaid in your hotel not speak English. (If a sudden need arises, she's the one to ring for.) . . .

If you'd like to start out armed with some sort of protection, Kotex puts out a box of individually wrapped napkins -- eight for 39 cents -- that's fine for traveling. Or break up a larger box, wrap each napkin in Kleenex and stuff it into corners of your suitcase or among the layers of your underwear. Don't be embarrassed or have nightmares about going through customs (which does happen to young women going abroad for the first time) with Kotex or Tampax in your luggage. You can be sure that the officials are thoroughly familiar with these products and won't even give them a passing glance.