Friday, February 20, 2009

oh ... A Childhood Memory ...

MISS ANN died . She was 80. I remember her well. She was a great childhood friend. I watched her when I was a kid. I always wanted her to see me at the end of the show in her mirror. Never did. But I know she knew I was there & was being good ... at home and play. I envied all those little kids who were on the show ... sitting on the floor, staring in awe at Miss Ann. And, at the end of the show, they all got LOAVES of BREAD to take home !!! Sunny Bee I think. And that makes me remember how fun bread was then ... not like now. Now the bag just tells us how the white bread is fooling us as it is actually whole wheat DISGUISED as white. And all that nutritional jabber. But ... back in the day ... the bags had these awesome BEES on them. They were all dressed as different characters and you cut them out & stuck them to the fridge. All the cool kids did it ...
Another cool thing about bread bags was that kids wore them in their boots to school. Now, to me , THAT WAS COOL !!! I always wanted to do it but my Mom wouldn't let me. I know now it was because their boots were leaky but back then it just seemed SOOOO cool !!
And now ... one more bread /childhood story. No . actually, there will be a little bread saying after this bread story. But the story. In elementary school , there was always a field trip at year end. Not to Egypt or Ottawa or any of the places kids go now. No, we went to the fire hall or a swimming pool ... something just as exciting to us. (We were such low maintenance kids ...) But one year, we HIT THE JACKPOT !!! We went to Berwick (yep, ALL the WAY to Berwick !!) and went to the ... oh sigh - such happy memories ... BEN'S BREAD FACTORY. We saw how they made the bread, watched it bake, and then ... almost like being on Miss Ann's show ... we WERE GIVEN A LOAF TO TAKE HOME !!!! It was THE best bread I have ever eaten !!! Never again has Ben's Bread tasted so good. Hmm ... Every time we go to Berwick I mention to Charlie - in a bragging, I-am-so-cool way - that I "was in that building ... the old Ben's factory. Even got a loaf of bread ..."
And now for the bread saying ... you know the saying "Better than sliced bread " ? Well my brother had his own interpretation. He was really mad at a girl one day whom he felt was showing off. He sputtered to my Mom "She thinks she's better than a loaf of bread !!". It's a standard in our house now.
And now in parting ... SING ALONG !! ... "Sunny Bee Bread is made with honey. Boys & girls, they think that's funny ..."
Rest in Peace Miss Ann. Thanks for all the great memories .

2 comments:

Just Plain Happy said...

My fondest memories of childhood, bread and otherwise are of my Mom's homemade bread. I LOVED arriving home from school to the smell of it baking. I knew if it was brown bread there would be Baked Beans and applesauce...
no,no! you don't eat those together. It was just what Mom made when she made brown bread. I loved the inside piece, you know the part between a double loaf, where they come together. Thanks for triggering that memory.

Taryn said...

Oh yes, I too was a huge Miss Ann fan! And I remember Sunny Bee bread, too! Do you remember the nativity scene they used to print on the bread bags at Christmas time???


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