Back in September I attended a small event at a local historic site with most of the kids. My oldest, David, decided to forgo the prospect of time-travel in favor of going to a metal workers convention with our backyard neighbor, who builds airplanes in his spare time (yes, really!) so I only had to worry about scraping together old clothes for the younger ones. Thankfully, we all had enough of everything to be outfitted appropriately for a very rural type of impression (which is my preference!).
It was a pretty last minute decision for me to go. Since it's fairly local I figured I could always leave if I needed to, at any time, and I surprised myself by really enjoying the experience and staying til the end of the day. It was a gentle, quiet, low-key event and I liked it that way. One of my favorite moments was sitting on the cabin steps with the children and reading passages of the Bible to them while Malachi sewed a button back onto his waistcoat.
Some highlights of the event for me included taking Benjamin and Rose to the outhouse mid-afternoon, and discovering that the woods around us were full of Confederate soldiers. I wasn't expecting that so the genuine feelings of surprise and unease added to a bit of a "period moment", as they say. Benjamin was intrigued by the soldiers and Rosie wanted to run back to the cover of our little camp area behind the cabin as fast as possible.
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My darling Benjamin. |
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Not a period recipe, but "inspired by". I made this with dried figs, orange marmalade,
ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, apple cider and brown sugar. |
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Brent! |
I also enjoyed taking a long walk through the woods with Malachi and Rose in the evening. The park surrounding the village has lovely trails and we had fun exploring a few of them. On our way we passed many pawpaw trees and Rosie and I sang many repetitions of "Way Down Yonder in the Paw Paw Patch", substituting Rosie's name for "Sweet Little Susie", of course. 😁
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She loved going to the water pump near the flower garden to get water. She'd recite:
"Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. . ." |
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Rosie took this one! I gave her the camera for a while and let her take whatever pictures she liked.
It's interesting to see the world from her perspective. I love it! |
It was nice to visit with a few friends I hadn't seen for a while, and perhaps the best part of the event was meeting a friend I have known online for many years, but had never met in person up til that day. He was passing through the area so stopped in to say hello. I was so surprised and so happy to finally meet him!
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A cat someone apparently left at the village! I think he found a good home with some of the volunteers! |
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Rosie and a little friend - and the cat! |
I thought about this event for a long time after it was over and felt a little bit of interest come back for reenacting. I ordered a few new patterns to make the big boys some new garments for next year and I actually have plans to make my ball gown, at last! I'll be going to a dance in a few months so it's time to get this thing made. I bought tickets so yes, I am going to go even if I decide I'd rather not. I received my package with some cotton bobbinett and lace yesterday so now to sort out a bertha design and try to make a decent silk dress out of 5 yards of fabric. 😁 All in good time.
Much love,
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
ReplyDeleteIt's so good to hear the friendly kitty found a home! Immediately thought that he or she was lost and as immediately worried about her.
The pie sounds really tasty, and perfect for this time of year.
It was fun following the event via photographs, and very best,
Natalie in KY
Dear Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are very inspiring, like a small time travel.
Happy to know your cat is back at home. I always worry when our dog runs away.
BR,
Szvetlana