A Summer Road Trip, part 2 - The Oldest Store Museum

Today, I am visiting a museum called "The Oldest Store Museum" here in St. Augustine, Florida. It is a museum the recreates a store started by C.F. Hamblen in 1908. It was not only the first store in St. Augustine, but also the first store in the United States since St. Augustine was also the first city.

Let's go back in time and see what they sell in this store!

Do you recognize any of the products on this shelf? Do any of the brand names look familiar to you? Try to see how many you can find here.

The store clerk let me sit in the measuring scale. And yes, I'd like a bar of that chocolate also, please!

You could also buy machines in this store. There were a lot of machines and gadgets for the kitchen that made life easier. This machine is for shucking corn. You spin the large wheel on the side to get it going, then the corn kernels were collected in a bucket underneath. As for the empty corn cob? Well, it was used as toilet paper! Yikes, that's a bit rough for my bum.

And how about this device? Does it look familiar? It is a phonograph by the famous Thomas Edison.

Stick candy was very popular back then. There are free candies for going on this tour, so help yourself! These are fresh and not from 1908, so don't worry...

This is a cash register from back in the day. But if you were a woman back in those days, you probably didn't have much money to your name. Ladies would often buy things from the store on credit, then their husbands would pay for it.

There were all sorts of medicines and remedies that were sold at this store. Some of them were not exactly, umm... effective, approved, or even a good idea. But somebody did invent them and people did try them. Just think of all the advancements in medicine that we enjoy today.

Ladies, this is your place to get fancy boots or hats. Of course no one wants to look the same, so dress up your hats and shoes with all sorts of embellishments, custom made right here in this store.

Of course someone had to do the bookkeeping for the merchandise in this store. Here is a hard working accountant looking over the company books.

And here is the friendly butcher chopping up meat for sale. I don't see any fish though. Where is the fisherman?

We are moving to the back of the museum where there is an even bigger warehouse of antiques. The owner of this store, C.F. Hamblen, collected a lot of things. He supposedly kept one item in his archives of everything the he ever sold in the store. The museum currently has several more warehouses full of antiques which they rotate.

These are oxen yokes, so the oxen will pull together.

The store clerk is demonstrating the challenges of mothers during that time. How do you churn butter and take care of a baby at the same time? It's very difficult to do.

That's why some enterprising individual came up with this baby rocker butter churner. You just put your baby in the basket on top, then rock it while the butter churns inside.

Wow! Just look at all these bicycles!

This one has the big wheel in the back and is called a high wheeler. It is similar to its cousin the penny farther, but was designed to have more stability with the large wheel in back. I'll try riding it!

The museum also had a display of old laundry machines. From washing to drying, we certainly have come a long way to solve the common problem of dirty clothes, haven't we? Remember, stuffies should always be hand washed and never put in the washing machine. 😉

And here we have some antique typewriters! No emails, no backspace, no delete button here, folks --

"THIS MUSEUM IS AMAZING!" said a familiar voice.

"Okay, who is your travel agent, Droopy?" I said.

I hope you enjoyed this museum visit!

Stick around for our next stop..,

A Summer Road Trip, Part 1 - Castillo de San Marcos

Hey everyone, it's the summer so you know what that means - ROAD TRIP! I am taking some lucky humans on a road trip and our first stop happens to be St. Augustine, FL.

Here I am in Castillo de San Marcos - Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle" - which is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. The city of St. Augustine was founded in 1565 for the Spanish Crown. The city was repeatedly attacked and its wooden forts were burned to the ground numerous times - er, like 9 times.

So this fort was built out of something different, stone made of crushed sea shells to form a rock similar to limestone, called coquina. I guess that was a good idea, because the fort is well preserved even today!

Oh, and they have volunteers doing reenactments so in the background here, you can see people walking around in Spanish soldier uniforms. On certain days, they will do cannon firings, but not today as they are still in training.

Soldiers in training. Let's keep our distance as they don't seem to know what they are doing yet with those cannons.

The walls of the fort were very good at absorbing the impact of cannonballs. The cannonballs would sort of sink into the walls instead of shattering them.

"HEY AJDIN!" said someone.

"Hi Droopy," I said. Can you spot Droopy in the picture? I pretty much expect Droopy to show up on every trip I take from now on since we have the same travel agent.

In 1763, the British took control of the fort as part of the Treaty of Paris. This agreement gave Britain all of Spanish Florida in exchange for returning Havana and Manila to Spain. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, the fort was used as a military prison during the war.

In 1933, the fort was transferred to the National Park Service where it is now a popular tourist destination!

Stay tuned for the next part of our road trip!

Ducksitting

 Hey everyone, today I thought I would talk about --

"Quack quack quack! Excuse me, are you Ajdin?" a voice called out.

"Yes, I am," I replied. "May I help you?"

"My name is Ms. Quackers and my good friend Arthur Tibbs said that you are an excellent babysitter! Well, I was wondering if you would mind watching my little ones while I go to the store."

"He said that about me, huh..." I began to recall the last time I babysat.

"Yes, he says you are very patient," she said.

"Ah, well... I guess... yeah, sure. Why not?" I talked myself into saying yes.

"Terrific, thank you!" Ms. Quackers replied. "Time to get out, kiddos!"

I looked to her back where she had a convenient carry pouch for her ducklings.

"Oh, how cute! Yes, I can definitely handle one," I said.

"Well, I actually have more than one duckling," she said.

"Oh?"

POP!

A second duckling popped out.

"Oh, twins! Ok, well... I think I handle two. That's not that much harder than babysitting one, right? That's just a little more attention and care..."

POP!

A third duckling appeared.

"Triplets? Uh... wait a second..."

"Ms. Quackers, I've never babysat three babies before," I said. "I don't know if I can..."

Before I could finish my sentence, a fourth duckling appeared.

"I think you'll do a great job, Ajdin! See, they are already warming up to you," she said.

"But but but --" I stammered.

POP!

Finally, the 5th and last duckling popped out.

"Oh yes, they like you very much already! I'm sure you all will have a good time together. Thank you again for doing this, Ajdin. Now be good, kids. I'm off to the store..."

"Ms. Quackers, wait!" I called, but she was already gone.

The ducklings looked at me. I looked at them.

QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK!

Help me, someone? Anyone?

Bagels

Hmm, I feel like having a snack. A nice toasted everything bagel with lox on it would be perfect.

But... there are no bagels left in the fridge! (I noted the chocolate bar and will be eating that later, however).

Ah well, this stinks! What am I gonna do? UGH! I was really looking forward to having a bagel.  *pouting* Maybe I'll just order something from UberEats...

Hey, what are you doing? What are you putting on my ---

*POOF!*

Excusez-moi, mon ami!

It is I, your friend and le boulanger Ajdin. It has been far too long since we last met in zee kitchen, non? Please forgive that slight hunger tantrum just now. It happens to the best of us, non?

Not to worry, my friends. We will be making fresh bagels from a recipe today. More delicious than the ones you buy from the store, that's for sure!

Today, we will have the help of this wonderful bread machine. How lovely it is to make fresh baked goods at home!

My assistant baker has measured out the ingredients and put them in the mixing container. It is a bit of flour, water, yeast, salt, and butter.

I will select the dough setting and then press zee magic button.

Yes, it is getting mixed very well!

We will let the dough rise and then shape it into bagels. Then we will let it rise some more. Isn't this exciting? Passionnant!

After 50 minutes, we will boil the bagels for 1 minutes per side. This pot is full of hot water - be careful!

The bagels are finished boiling and we have fished them out of the water. They are looking a little bigger and fluffier.

Now, we will sprinkle everything bagel seasoning on the bagels. Oui, it smells so good! And we will be generous with the seasoning on zee bagels.

Then we will bake the bagels until they are golden brown. Oui oui! Yes, there you are, you delicious and scrumptious bagels.

Well, there we have it, my friends! Some delicious and freshly made bagels. Please take one to enjoy and put your favorite topping on it.

Merci beaucoup for joining me in the kitchen today! Remember, when life tastes a bit sour, just sprinkle a little sugar on it! You - yes, you - can create something delicious! *chef's kiss*

Bon appétit!