Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Some girls never grow up, so I played early in the morning with my dolls' house

Another girl, I'm not sure if she is a grown up girl or not, played with this dolls' house which I saw later on a drive.

It sits on the porch of this venerable old house:

Queen Mary of Great Britain was a great curator of Royal Family history and objects associated with the family.

We normally see Queen Mary as an imperious old woman, but I love this picture of her during the early days of her marriage.

Here is the dressing table from her dolls' house, an exact replica of the one she used for her toilette in real life:

Perhaps you'll enjoy this video of Queen Mary's Dolls' House:

Queen Mary's Dolls' House

Even royalty loves playing with a dolls' house. Queen Mary was quite elderly when this was completed and it delighted her.

You're as young as you feel. The Bible confirms this in Psalm 92:14: "They will still yield fruit in old age.  They shall be full of sap and very green."

Stay green and sappy!

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.