By Mary Ellen Shaw Shopping for food in Rutland back in the ’50s was an entirely different experience than it is today. The Rutland Directory for 1955 has 50 listings under the heading of “Grocer.” Only two of those stores were large chain stores. One of them was the A & P (Atlantic and Pacific…

By Mary Ellen Shaw The morning host of a local radio station who is fairly new to Rutland said he sees signs on buildings for businesses that are no longer open. He named a few of them and invited people to tell him what they miss about not being able to go to these places.…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Once you have lived through several decades you will realize that various aromas have a connection to a certain time period in your life. One of the earliest aromas that I can remember was the delicious scent of a pot roast that my Aunt Nora cooked for Sunday dinners. Back in…

By Mary Ellen Shaw When I read that Seward’s Restaurant is closing my mind went to memories that began in childhood. When you have been around for more than of a century it’s rare to have an existing business that has shared that same time span with you. I was 3 years old when the…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Well, how did your garden grow this summer? Did you try anything new? Experimenting with new plants is one of my favorite things to do. When the calendar tells me that Labor Day has arrived I know that the gardening season is coming to an end. Summer goes by way too…

By Mary Ellen Shaw When I submitted my column to Polly recently I added a comment about how much I dislike hot weather. I told her I had much rather have it cold. I also gave her permission to remind me of those words when freezing temperatures come back to bite us! Polly responded that…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Many of us had pets growing up. Dogs and cats were the most common pets but goldfish, turtles and birds also had a place in many of our homes. On my street three of my closest friends had dogs and I had a cat. The dogs wanted to spend time with…

By Mary Ellen Shaw I realized that I am “stuck” in the '50s when Venetian blinds are still my choice for privacy and keeping out the sun. Apparently, the majority of consumers have moved on to more modern options! About a year ago my husband picked up a replacement blind for one of our living…

By Mary Ellen Shaw As adults we have occasions to observe how small something actually is that seemed large to us when we were children. That happened to me just before the school year came to an end at Christ the King School. I drove by as students were taking part in an activity on…

We recently had some work done on our car and one of the staff members said that he had tried to reach me but the call “didn’t go anywhere!" I asked if he had dialed 802 before our landline number and he said he did. The only logical explanation for a call that “didn’t go…

By Mary Ellen Shaw When I was a kid “back in the day” and the school year ended many of us recited the phrase, “No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks!” We were free at last. We had been planning how we would spend our summer days long before that last…

By Mary Ellen Shaw I get to take a trip back in time whenever I stand at the counter of Beauchamp & O’Rourke Pharmacy on Woodstock Avenue in Rutland. To the right of the register is a photo from 1959 of the store owners, Fred Beauchamp and William O’Rourke, as well as the pharmacists who…

By Mary Ellen Shaw I met some friends for lunch recently and one of them brought some old photos from the '80s... '90s. Among them were pictures of events showing people we had worked with. You know that a vast amount of time has passed when you don’t recognize some of the people! All of…

By Mary Ellen Shaw If you have been waiting for color in your gardens that time is here! It will only get better as the weeks move forward. The first blossoms we see are from bulb flowers. They offer wonderful and varied colors. They begin to pop up and bloom in April and continue into…

By Mary Ellen Shaw I recently came across an online article in which various people wrote about the way they remembered life from the 1930s into the '50s. The general consensus is that everything was a lot more work back then. Today’s conveniences make many of the routine things in our lives easier but I…