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My interests include veganism and vegetarianism, health, ethics, politics and culture, media, and the environment. I have three kids; I teach college part-time, study piano and attempt to garden. I knit. I blog on just about anything, but many posts are related to my somewhat pathetic quest to eat better, be more mindful of the environment, and be a more responsible news consumer. Sometimes I write about parenting, but, like so many Mommy bloggers, my kids have recently told me not to. :) Thanks for reading.

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Eastmoreland Chicken and Pig Lady

I haven't thought about stenciling in a L-O-N-G time.  

But, as so often happens, a silly discussion on Facebook got me taking  a trip down memory lane.

A friend posted that there are ELEVEN Starbucks in Lake Oswego, Oregon, but none of them have a drive-thru. (Depending on your POV, this is either a tragedy or a travesty.)  My sister responded that the lack of drive-thrus at Lake Oswego (Lake No Negro?) Starbucks are explainable by the population that frequents them:  the jogging SAHMs who stop in after their exercise to drink coffee, chat and eat scones (hence necessitating the need for exercise in the first place).

John (childless and not a resident of Lake Oswego) then asked, "What's a SAHM?"

Somebody filled him in, to which he replied, "Is that the equivalent of the Eastmoreland Chicken and Pig Lady?"

Now, I was not aware of the ECPL, but apparently, back in the 1980s, when (cough) John, my sister and I were in high school, the ECPLs were the SAHMs of their era and neighborhood, busily decorating their kitchens with stenciled patterns of chickens and pigs.

Yes, indeed, the contemporary Starbucks-going, jogging SAHMs are most likely the descendants of the ECPLs.  I'm not sure if they stencil too.  Seems scrap booking is more "in" these days.

The image of stenciling made me remember the spring break of 1983, when my sister and I decided we'd completely re-paint and stencil our room.  Mom and Dad were happy to hear we had such ambitious plans for our room and happily bought us the needed paint, paintbrushes, drop cloths and stencils.

We had a French exchange student spending the week with us (ostensibly to escape the family she was actually living with).  She must have returned to France to regale her family and friends with the reality that she'd had the most boring Americans EVER to live with.  After all, she spent spring break painting a bedroom with me and my sister.

We didn't choose pigs and chickens.

Flowers and vines.  Clearly, we were not residents of Eastmoreland.

Thanks, Francoise!
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1 comment:

  1. ElaineApril 1, 2011 at 1:47 PM

    Got a tweet that some people not familiar with "SAHM": it stands for "stay at home Mom".

    ReplyDelete

Politeness is always appreciated.

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