Remember to Stop and Smell the Roses

Sometimes a walk on a Sunday is just what the doctor ordered.  

If you look closely at the top white flower on the right, a dear little bumblebee is drinking some nectar.

Consider the lilies of the field, for Solomon dressed in royal robes had not the wealth of these. - Jesus

Have a happy week and remember to stop and smell the roses!

Be Still and Know that I am God

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10  

On Owens Creek Portsmouth, VA

This Victorian Life

So this book, This Victorian Life, has been one of the best books I've ever read. The Chrismans, Sarah and her husband Gabriel, live a Victorian life in the small town of Port Townsend, Washington.

In researching this couple, I saw a hate-filled Twitter review by an apparently angry young man, who used the "F" word 7 times in describing them. I'm not quite sure what about their choices infuriated him so much, but I daresay that his hatred of two folks he never met, spoke more about who he is than who the Chrismans are.  

Sarah's book struck a raw nerve among folks her age and got a bit out of control on the Internet.This whole non-controversy speaks a great deal to how intolerant we have become in America. 

The Chrismans support themselves. Sarah is a published author of 2 non-fiction accounts of their lives and of a late Victorian mystery series. She is also a massage therapist who feels her primary responsibility is to home duties. 

Gabriel, an expert rider of the penny farthing type of bicycles, manages a bicycle shop. Both of them provide historical interpretation of the late Victorian period for the public in various events and as consultants.

The Chrismans live the Victorian lifestyle 24/7; clothes, food, transportation, and in the make up of their home. They support themselves and do not expect others to live as they do. The vitriol, death threats, cat calls, and other antisocial behavior towards them has been unbelievable to read about.

Many folks in America claim that one political side is tolerant and the other is intolerant. Perhaps one side is tolerant in terms of progressive social issues such as accepting gay and transgendered citizens, people who use illegal drugs and alcohol to excess, and tolerance towards other like-minded folks who make choices like they do.

However, when people like the Chrismans make the choice to live like Victorians, the tolerance melts away. When Christian individuals or companies do not wish to pay for medical procedures against their value systems, they are considered hateful.  When another family chooses to have as many children as possible to live out their faith in their own way, there is no tolerance for that at all. 

What does the Bible say? 

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands,just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Sarah Chrisman has written a fascinating book about how they came to live as they do. We learn about her daily habits and read about the foraging she does in the woods for berries I never have heard of, such as salmon berries. I read it through in one day, up to 2 a.m. when I had to work the next day.  Yikes.

Do you think Sarah is so unusual? She's a strong woman living her convictions, but her desire to live in a time she prefers is not so different from many of my own practices. 

I often write and tend to dinner at the same time. I just got up and made mashed potatoes using a red World War 2 masher. 

Tomorrow's coffee was set up for brewing in a 1940's era stainless steel percolator with a bulb on the top, in which coffee bubbles up as it percolates. My re-wired chrome toaster once belonged to an elderly neighbor and dates from the 1930's.

Next to my desk is a 1940's tube radio on which I listen to AM stations. FM stations were not available when the radio was made. My desk is a Word WarII era enamel-top dinner table with a silverware drawer.

I make simple skirts from vintage sheets or fabric, hand stitching them.

Let's really be tolerant, peeps, regarding the choices of other folks, unless their choices hurt someone else or are against the law. After all, judge not, lest ye be judged.

And, hey, I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book.

For more information:

Chrisman Web Site

Sarah Alma Chrisman Facebook

What Do You See in This House?

I didn't see anything special in this house at all as I took this shot from across the street. It is in the American Four Square architectural style, just like my house. i liked the chippy texture of the paint and the vines.

I was editing this photograph recently, and thought I saw something strange. My friend Deb was looking over my shoulder and said,"What's THAT?"

She was looking at what I had just noticed. To me, it looks as though there is a man framed in the doorway, on the inside. He is standing sideways and wearing a fedora hat, with his hands clasped under his chin.

Then Deb pointed out that on the second floor left hand window that it looks as though ghostly twins are standing there.

I don't know what this means, but it is not the first time that I've seen something odd in a photograph of an old house that I didn't notice while taking the picture.

However, in the famous words of the Ghostbusters, "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"

`

Meandering in Ivor Virginia

It is the season of our constant wanderings on the back roads of Virginia and North Carolina. Late afternoon light is beautiful, the roads wind and bend, with little adventures waiting for us around every turn.

A sign on the side of this weathered old building above reads, "Sycamore Cross."  I'm not sure if that refers to the old house that sits next door or perhaps it refers to the street's name.

This late afternoon, we ended up in little Ivor Virginia whose population of about 300 people has not changed much since1910.

Ivor once had a passenger railroad stop, along with other tiny Virginia communities like Waverly and Disputanta. 

Otelia Butler Mahone, wife of the owner of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad,(now Norfolk Southern) was a great fan of Sir Walter Scott's novels. Local legend says that Otelia named various stops after places in Scott's novels, such as Ivor and Waverly Virginia.  

Thanks to Find-A-Grave.com

As for Disputanta, it came about after Mr. and Mrs. Mahone couldn't agree on a stop's name, i.e. they had a dispute about it.

Ivor lives on and still is primarily agricultural.  This old grain silo was probably there back in 1910.

I don't see ghosts. However, I fancy that I hear echoes of the past in old places like Ivor.  In my mind's eye, I see women heading to a small grocery fanning themselves and saying, "I declare it is hot."

I see shoeless boys heading to a creek to swim. I hear mothers ringing large bells from the back door calling, "Supper's ready."

Can you see the checkered tablecloths and piles of cooked sweet corn, sliced tomatoes, and iced tea sweating in the sun? I see freckles, heads bowed over grace, crooked teeth, straw hats, aprons, strawberries made into jam, and ribbons in little girls' hair. In my mind, these types of "ghosts" are everywhere.

Dr. Walter Reed House Murfreesboro NC

This is Dr. Walter Reed's home in Murfreesboro, NC.  We are all familiar with this name, what with the famous Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the Washington DC area. How many of us know why he is famous?

Dr. Reed researched yellow fever, once a terrible scourge with periodic epidemics in the United States. His painstaking investigation both in the US and Cuba (the part of the US), confirmed the cause of the disease. He was a pioneering biomedical researcher using strict scientific methods and studies to confirm his theories.

Dr. Reed received his medical degree at 17 from the University of Virginia, the youngest person ever to do so.

Dr. Reed's wife, Emilie Lawrence, was born in Murfreesboro, as was Dr. Reed's mother.  His father was a circuit preacher. Walter lived in this home during his father's preaching tours and also later as an adult. 

Yellow fever hit warm locations, as it is spread by mosquitoes. Can you imagine Dr. Reed's fatigue in working with no relief from the temperature with no certainty whether he would survive exposure to it?  In 1855, ten percent of my local population died from this infectious disease. Yellow Fever

Walter Reed died in 1902 from a ruptured appendix. Medicine had not yet advanced to the point that this was a routine illness.

I thought the porch with its interesting railings and cornice decorations was lovely in the late afternoon light.

I've known about Walter Reed my entire life, what with a father who was also an Army physician.  However, I never knew that he had a distinct presence here so close to home. 

It seems so odd to have run across his house, as I just finished this book regarding Yellow Fever.  American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby was mesmerizing.

You Lead Me Beside Still Waters

He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.
Psalm 23:2-3

Like I Said - It Is Poor Grammar

I am a grammar Nazi. I admit it.

My mom, a teacher, raised us to speak properly. I remember answering the phone at Fort Monroe, VA at 5 saying, "Captain Galvin's residence, Annie speaking." My mother spent a lot of time teaching me to do that.

She drilled us in grammar and syntax.  I disliked it as a child. However, as I grew up, I appreciated her instructions very much. I ended up doing well in job interviews and in expressing myself.

So it is in that spirit that I offer this: Peeps...The term is not "LIKE I said." The proper term is "AS I said." 

I'm hearing this term often with professional newscasters. It makes me cringe. Someone used "like I said" on Friday on the Fox News noon show, "Outnumbered."

These are all smart, well-educated women (with one rotating male guest) who have no excuse for not using proper grammar.

Just to be an equal opportunity grammar snob, I also hear this term constantly on the Today Show on NBC.

Thus, my dear friend Debra's very well-written blog is As I See It Now and not Like I See it Now.

Let me get the following other issues off my chest:

1.  Your - belonging to you
     You're - contraction for you are.

2.  There - at that place
     Their - belonging to them
     They're - contraction for they are

3.  To - preposition indicating direction of motion
     Too - also
     Two - the number after one

4.  Using the term "I seen" when you mean "I saw."

5.   Here - at this place
      Hear - what your ears do

6.  Using the word "like" as an oral connector for no
     apparent reason.

     So like I went to the store and there weren't any 
     avocados and like I was jonesn' so much for 
     some guac. So my Mom was like all up in 
     my grill and like she said to just like move on 
     and like get some clam dip instead.  Like, I don't
     have needs?

7.  Here's a favorite: "He don't know any better." Please 
     peeps it is "He doesn't know any better."

8.  Its - belonging to it
     It's - contraction for it is.

Finally, we need to remember that "apostrophe s" after a word ('s) as in the word pump's above, means "that which belongs to the pump" as in "That pump's notice is grammatically incorrect with poor spelling."  Pumps, no apostrophe, means more than one pump.

How about:

The pumps are not taking debit cards. Please pay inside with your debit card and then pump gas. Credit cards can be used right at the pump. Thank you. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

My husband is a great writer with excellent grammar and syntax.

And God help me if I made any mistakes in this post!

Laura Ingalls Wilder and Great-Grandma Delphenia Hurd

This is Bruce's great-grandmother Delphenia "Della,"above but I think she looks like a lot like Laura Ingalls Wilder pictured below.

Many similarities exist between Great-Grandma Della and Laura. They were homesteaders on the prairies. They both cut their bangs in what was then called, "the lunatic fringe" by older adults who criticized this new style. These adorable little bangs are curled around their foreheads almost identically.  According to Laura, they used pencils heated up over a kerosene lamp to achieve this style.

Both girls have the typical high-necked and proper dresses of the period. Laura and Della are wearing their best (and probably only) piece of jewelry.  

Pa Ingalls and John Hurd must have had a lot in common. He must have had that wanderlust like Pa. John, Bruce's second great grandfather, started out in Ohio and ended up in Thedford, Nebraska territory. This was the time when the federal government was encouraging homesteading.

As an aside, and in what I think is one of the coolest things EVER, my mother-in-law, Della's granddaughter, grew up in a sod house like the Little House book, "On the Banks of Plum Creek."  

Della's daughter Irma taught in a one-room schoolhouse on the prairie, just like Laura. Only Irma supervised recess with a rifle over her lap ready to kill rattlesnakes if need be. 

Irma's grandson and my husband, Bruce, teaches Alternative Energy Systems on the college level, among other courses. One topic explored is modern uses of sod houses to conserve energy.  It's just in his DNA, I guess.

I think Della was just a tiny bit prettier in her picture, but I'm not objective.

Buddha's Hand

How peculiar looking is this citrus fruit? The label at Fresh Market said, "Buddha's Hand."

They had a lovely aroma, despite their rather creepy appearance. Buddha's Hand fruit can be used to impart a flavor to sugar and is used in mixed alcoholic drinks.  

You can take part of a Buddha's Hand and add it to vodka, infusing it with a lemony flavor.

According to the Smithsonian, five varieties of Buddha's Hand are cultivated by farmers in China.

Buddha's Hand is definitely the most unusual kind of produce that I've ever seen.

To learn more:

Kitchn.com Buddha's Hand

Smithsonian - Buddha's Hand

Bloom Where You're Planted

Does the ground feel rocky?  Do you think you'd do better if only you had: more time, more money, a better place to live, better health, a better job, or a million and one other "if only's?"

Bloom where you're planted baby!

The "if onlies", notions of future perfection, and lots of money may never come so love your life right now.

God uses nature to show us that one may bloom even in the rockiest of environments.

So do something today, right now, this minute to improve your situation.  Pick a free bouquet of flowers right outside. Pray intensely for someone. Create something, fix something, paint something, DO something to make things better.

Send an email to a friend,ride your bike, go to a river or the ocean and let it soothe your soul,take a walk, cook a lovely meal, make your bed, throw out the trash, play with the dog, pull some weeds, etc.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.  1 Tim 6:6

Cow Swimming Pool

Talk about the life of Reilly, or Daisy, or Old Bossy...these cows have some fabulous owners who damned up a pool for them, diverting a little nearby stream.

It was so beastly hot and there they were, lowing softly and just standing around in the cool water in the later afternoon.

I almost wanted to jump in too!

This old barn with the wonderful texture and rusted implements is beautiful to me. Maybe I am kin to Oscar the Grouch who used to sing, "Oh I love trash. Anything dirty or dingy or dusty.  Anything ragged or rotten or rusty."

Well, okay, I don't like anything rotten.

I love this abandoned farm house, which we passed after the cow pool. I don't find such a house spooky or scary. Maybe the house is a bit sad, as it thinks of the lives once sheltered there with only mice, hoot owls, and other furry creatures to keep it company now. 

I always wonder who was the last person to close the door, to take down the curtains, and to say goodbye. What was the last meal eaten 'round the table? Cornbread and beans? A Sunday chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and sweet corn? Was it during the Depression or during World War II - so hard to say.

Five Frugal Things

Here's the glamour shot!

Frugal Girl is a favorite blogger who writes an occasional column entitled Five Frugal Things.  

Here are my Five Frugs for today:

1.  I made a pasta salad as I cleaned out the fridge. So tail ends of feta and mozzie cheeses, almost empty bottles of Italian dressing, lemon juice, a quarter of a bag of frozen mixed veggies, half a green pepper, black olives, a couple of ribs of celery, whole wheat elbows bought for under a dollar, some black olives, and leftover chicken all went in. I took a little taste and it is YUM-O. Easiest way to save on food? Use every bit of what you purchase.The Atlantic reports that 50% of all American produce is thrown away.  Second easiest way? Cook and eat at home: cheaper, healthier, and more environmentally friendly.

2.  A fellow church member is affiliated with a famous and rather expensive chain of restaurants which uses "clean" foods.  This person brings in the bread that will be discarded. I used part of that bread for "Philly Cheese Steak" sandwiches with leftover cooked beef with grilled onions, green peppers, and a few mushrooms. I normally take home several loaves. It pleases me that my church reuses food that would be thrown away in a world with millions of hungry children.

3.  I folded ten ziplock bags I had washed and hung in the laundry room on a multiple skirt hanger. Hence that beautiful pic above.

4.  I took a military shower which is both frugal and good environmental practice. For the uninitiated, here's how: Turn the water on and get all wet. This time of year, I don't even use hot water, as it is coming up from the ground lukewarm. Once wet, turn off the water. Scrub yourself. Wash hair. Turn water back on. Rinse off. This practice saves amazing amounts of water.  A regular shower uses 60 gallons; a military shower uses 3. You get just as clean.

5.  I put a bucket in the bath to catch the running shower water and used for a few flushes. Why pay for something you let run down the drain?

To learn more:

The Atlantic - Food Waste

Washington Post Water Wasted

Huffington Post - Military Shower

Calling for Take Out

So early this morning I had an in-depth conversation with Lulu. She was standing on my celly and looking at me, well, like this:

I said, "Um do you have a call to make?  You're standing on my cell phone."

Bruce, who I did not notice come in to the room said,

"Yes, I need to call for take out because neither of the two of you have put breakfast in my dish."  

This is her "Give the dog some food" face.

Radium Girls - A Book Review

Radium Girls is a difficult book to read at times, but completely worthwhile. The author, Kate Moore, researched extensively in writing this book and it shows. I defy you to put it down once you begin reading.  

One can barely comprehend the hubris and callousness of an industry which knew its workers were being harmed terribly by industrial materials, but did nothing to protect them.

Radium girls worked in factories painting watch faces with radium to make them glow in the dark. The young woman were trained to make a point in the paint brush with their tongues. Around and around they went on each watch face, over and over again, all day long. Each time the paintbrush was dipped, the girls ingested deadly radium.

Early on, companies like the U.S. Radium Corporation did not know that the radium paint was harming these young women. 

Radium was first touted as a healthful substance. As unbelievable as it seems today, one could purchase radium toothpaste, radium drinks, radium face cream and other radium-laced products.  Yikes!

The danger soon became clear, but the companies continued to hire young women and continued to use the radium paint which they knew to be exceptionally dangerous. Companies denied the truth they knew and refused to pay damages.

Not surprisingly, the problems seen first occurred in the women's mouths.  One of the first Radium Girls described in Kate Moore's fascinating and very well written book consulted a dentist. The radium damage was so severe that when the dentist pulled her tooth, her jaw bone came out with it.

Every woman should read this book which provides an astonishing look at the treatment of females in the work place in the past.  Along with abuses of mine, garment, and textile workers, this is a part of our past would should not be forgotten.  Do these girls (actually women) receive justice? You'll have to read to find out!



To learn more:
Interview with the last Radium Girl

Interview with Kate Moore Author of Radium Girls

/Thanks to National Public Radio (NPR) for the historic picture of Radium Girls featured above.

Thanks to MentalFlosscom for the old radium toothpaste ad.

My Cousin Arline Lost in Time

Gosh but doing ancestral research can get frustrating.

This is my cousin (3x removed) Arline McCullough Rondeau. I was told that she died very young and that her family loved her dearly.  A very nice distant relative on Ancestry.com provided me with her picture.

I can find scant information about her, my great grandmother Ella's cousin. She was a stenographer and then a clerk at The Travelers Insurance Company. 

Arline is in the Hartford City Directory records until 1926, still with her maiden name. I recognize the East Hartford homes in the background of this photo and the general area of the city where such houses are located.

Clearly this is Arline's wedding photo when she married Philippe Rondeau. He was a dough boy who served in World War One as a sergeant.

I love her flapper era dress and hat and her pensive face looking back at me through the years and years between us.

Who were you Arline? Were you mad for love for Philippe and waiting to have a wedding lunch or dinner with your family? Did you enjoy your job at the Travelers? Did you take the street car to work, your smart shoes tapping along the sidewalk as you exited? 

Did you make a good New England boiled dinner? Was Charlie Chaplain your favorite movie star? Did you have to give up your job because you married? 

When did you die and why are no death records available? Why is there no account of you in any U.S. newspaper? You survived the Great Flu pandemic only to die soon after with your information buried so deep in the records that I cannot find you.

NYC Roof Top Cottage

There are many amazing things in the City That Never Sleeps.  

This adorable cottage looks like many cedar shake clad summer places I saw as a kid at the Connecticut Shore.

There's one catch, which you can see on the extreme right-hand side of the picture above.  This sweet little cottage is on top of a New York City building.

This place is breathtaking.  Check out the listing on Apartment Therapy's website below:

Learn more here:

NYC Roof Top Cottage for Sale

Lookin' Out My Front Door

After days of 100 degree temps, the weather "broke" a little last night. We had hours of thunderstorms which made the dog tremble and hide her eyes under the covers so as not to see the lightening flash. First the Independence Day celebration with loud, scary noises and then three hours (on and off) of thunderous boomers. What is a little white dog to do?

It may seem like a strange choice in the heat, but I had a hankering for minestrone this morning.  I bought a London broil at half price manager's special and cooked it in a slow cooker with half price, store brand dry onion soup mix and water for dinner last night. Superb and the kitchen doesn't heat up.

I made the minestrone with some of the leftover beef which I shredded vs. the traditional ground beef and set it in the slower cooker for dinner this evening.

All my windows are fogged over this morning and it looks like the temperature will be 6 degrees cooler today. I'll take that.

About this time each year, I refresh some of the tired looking plants and do something new at the front door. Bruce found the empty bird's nest. Using thrift store finds and some plants on sale, I made a happy place right next to the entrance.

The ancient Hebrews of the Bible mentioned front door posts frequently. Gpd commanded them to place a small receptacle (called a mezuzah in Yiddish) at the front door area. A mezuzah contains the 10 Commandments. I have one on the other side of the door jamb.

The door post area was considered important, I think, because it reminded ancient people who they were in God and let others outside their faith know the same.

My front door and porch area are important to me.  I hope that the pretty things from nature arranged out there are a witness to others who pass by. Above the new arrangement, I have a little chalk board on which I've written, "God is love."

Those black-eyed Susans also remind me that God expects me to be productive, create, and to bring beauty into my home.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being]. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind. You shall teach them diligently to your children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up...You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Fields of Gold

Issue number 5,234 of Bruce and Annie's travels...in which we find a field of sunflowers while meandering in Bertie County NC near the Chowan River. I was so excited to see a field of them that I ran out of the car.  The Chowan was named by explorers in 1584. Wikipedia tells me that it is one of the three oldest surviving place names in America.

Aren't they just the friendliest flower with their faces turned to the sun and so useful with tasty seeds?

And our lovely state road ended here...

at the Chowan River.

What a spectacular late weekday afternoon!