John Resnik

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: My Favorite Foods
 
I was amused this past Easter that one of my kids wanted to make a yeast bread I’ve passed down from a recipe my own grandmother had, back in a day when flour was white flour, and real cream and butter were assumed. He called me from the natural foods store and asked if his proposed substitutions for flour, cream and butter would work. Oh dear! Look how far we’ve come! 

Most families have traditional foods that are served for particular holidays. You know, St. Patrick’s Day: green beer, corned beef with cabbage. Hot dogs on July 4th. Black-eyed peas for good luck on New Years day. If you haven’t made mention of these customs on your StorySite, you should, even if you never particularly like these foods, because it’s good information to pass along.

You could also include a list of your favorite foods, so that when you need help with meals some day, people know right where to look to cook up a smile for you.  

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We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Not Since the Hogs Ate Willy

My grandparents used the expression, “since the hogs ate Willy,” when I was a child, but I didn’t know where it came from. Then one day I saw it on a sign in a natural foods store. “What?!” I thought. “Someone stole our family’s saying?!” Even with some research, I only know it’s probably something from the rural South and common enough in some form that lots of folks have heard it too. In our family some unclear location “over there” was called “Hadley’s Peach Orchard” or “Dick’s Bean Patch.” I doubt I’ll ever know the origins of such phrases, but that doesn’t keep me from using them to get a smile from my knowing family members.

What funny sayings did — or does — our family use that would amuse your readers? Do you know why these things were said and who started them? If you don’t know, no matter. Record them on your StorySite as they come to you. 

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We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Weather or Not
 
Do you have memories of weather events that would be amazing and interesting to your grandchildren? For example, though most homes now have air conditioning, what did the “dog days” of summer in your early life feel like to you? Did your family have fans or a swamp cooler? Did you lie awake at night trying to fall asleep in your sweaty pajamas, turning your pillow over and over for a cool spot?

In the past, staying warm in the winter might have been challenging in a way modern people would have trouble understanding. Or perhaps there was that blizzard and the problems it caused. Tornadoes, hurricanes, derecos, lightning strikes, floods, hail storms, ice storms, dust storms — what part of nature’s fury left an impression on you that you should write about on your StorySite? 

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We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week:
 
The folks at Porch Swing wish you and your family a joyous, delicious, and maybe loud Fourth of July celebration, hopefully getting back to the parades, backyard barbecues, and fireworks displays that have become the usual way we commemorate our country’s birthday. Here are a few facts about July 4th when you can toss out to impress your friends and family:

* In honor of our country’s second anniversary of independence in 1778, George Washington issued double rations of rum to his troops. 

* John Adams thought Americans should celebrate on July 2 because that’s when the Continental Congress voted for independence from England, not July 4 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. 

* After George Washington read the Declaration of Independence in front of City Hall in New York City on July 9, 1776, a riot broke out and a statue of King George III was torn down. The statue was later melted to make 42,000 musket balls for the revolutionary army. 

* Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July4, 1872. 

Enjoy the festivities, and Happy 245th Birthday, America! 


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We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week:
 
Many of us have recently attended graduation ceremonies for family members and friends. Do graduations make you think of your own experience after high school, preparing for your life’s work? Now would be a great time to write a chapter about that training. How did you decide what to do after high school?  Who was influential to you during that decision? Did you have goals and dreams – and how did they turn out for you? Although they may already know where and what you studied, your readers may want to hear about background things like where you hung out, your favorite (or least favorite) class, activities you participated in that helped relieve the stress of study, or other courses of study you considered but abandoned – and why.  

Stories about what was going on in the world during those years and the effect the culture had on you will help your readers understand you better. Include what motivated your success and any words of wisdom you have for your grandchildren embarking on that adventure. 

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: Simpler Times

The next time you pick up some complicated device that aggravates you, think about your personal history with “things.” Because of the very nature of technology, all of us have lived through simpler times. You surely could tell your family members about the changes you’ve experienced over your lifetime. What did you do as a child for fun and entertainment? Were there simple games you and your friends played that needed no special equipment — and no batteries or electricity? Write about labor-saving devices that revolutionized how you lived. Or drove you nuts! 

Consider this facet of modern life: the telephone. According to an AARP report from June of 2019, only 2.5% of adults had phone service through a land line only with no cell phone. Are you in that tiny fraction? Or is there other newfangled stuff that you’ve chosen to forego, instead preferring the old-fashioned and old-school? Tell what motivates your preference. When your readers understand where you’re coming from, perhaps they’ll applaud your retro choice! 
 
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We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week:
 
“Well, When I was Your Age…”  Most of us have started a sentence with that phrase because there is something important from the past to relate. Over the course of your lifetime, there’s been so much change; your grandchildren, especially, cannot fathom “going down the path” to the outdoor toilet, or chopping kindling and bringing in wood so your mother could cook a meal. If you don’t believe the newest generation of young adults is clueless about how their parents and grandparents lived, just try an internet search for videos of millenials tying to use a rotary phone. (You won’t feel so bad when you have to ask them to help you with your iPhone.) 

Think through the “technology” of your past and include information on your StorySite to amaze and inform your readers about how you and your family functioned. Things like: hand tools on the workbench that didn’t have a cord or battery; heating water in the wash boiler on the wood stove for your Saturday night bath (and the order in which the members of the family took their turns); how your phone operated (crank, operator, party lines, long cords, long distance calls); transportation, both local and distant. Your readers will have a new appreciation for what you lived through and how much you’ve had to adjust throughout your life. 

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: My High School Years

It’s May and graduation season is just beginning. Have you remembered to write down the stories about your own high school experience? For many of us, this period of life was very memorable. Where was your high school? How big was your graduating class? Include information about your favorite subjects and teachers. What clubs or organizations, sports or athletic activities, were you involved in? Did you have a car? Tell us about it and how you came to own it. 

 Your readers will enjoy learning about the popular music and clothing styles of that day. What are some fond memories of your parents during your high school years? What world events were happening and how did they affect you? Be sure to include stories about the mischief you got into — your children and grandchildren will enjoy contemplating the teenage You. 

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We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team

Porch Swing Tip of the Week: My Relatives
 
Recently I spoke with a couple who spent their two-week vacation researching the man’s great, great, great (I don’t remember how many greats.) Grandfather, who came to America on the Mayflower. They visited Plymouth Rock, the National Monument to the Forefathers, and other special sites in New England, and are excited to apply for membership in a society of Mayflower descendents.

Have you written about your relatives? They don’t have to be famous or important to anyone but you! Write about your parents’ brothers and sisters, and share a memory of an aunt or uncle. Do you feel you have common traits with your cousins? Tell us about a trip to visit relatives. Describe favorite memories with nieces and/or nephews. Feel free to include family members who were rascals, ragamuffins, or rats– and change their names, if it makes you feel better. (Like the crazy aunt everyone warned you about. We’ve all got’em!)

Need additional help? Contact us at 833-767-2411 or inquiries@porchswingstories.com 

We’re always here to help.
 
Jayme & John Resnik and the Porch Swing Team