Howdy, y'all!
Not to pretend that my posts are ever the result of laser-like focus, I'd still like to warn you in advance that this particular post is especially random and off-topic.
As most of you have tried very hard to forget, I work at a bookstore in a very small town. My days are spent in awkward extremes: I answer emails and handle customer service for our thriving online business selling new books, as well as working with "vintage" (used!) and "antique" (very used!) books that are traded and donated to the store. I won't lie... it's an incredibly glamorous life. One minute, I'm trying to explain to an elderly lady in HorseShoe Bend, Idaho that her recently purchased e-Book will not be coming in the mail anytime soon. Then a little later, I'm rummaging through a rat-chewed box of dilapidated estate-sale books donated by a grunting family of non-reading locals who insist that "ain't nobody gonna read that stuff 'cause it's boring."
And, to be fair, a lot of it is boring. But! Sometimes, there are lovely, dusty old books with the scent of sweetly aging paper. And sometimes, those wonderful old books settle into your open palm like a broody bird on a nest, and fall open with something akin to a sigh. And sometimes (more often than you'd think), something secret and sacred, committed in elegant spirals of ink upon crisp paper will flutter to the floor. I love the things people tuck inside of books. It's a such a human habit! We can't help ourselves. I've found money, love notes, wedding photos, divorce decrees, car titles, ultra-sound pictures, movie tickets, playing cards, post cards, speeding tickets, hair bows, canned food labels, handkerchiefs, swizzle sticks, canceled stamps and more. My favorites, though, are old letters.
For those of you who are still with me, what follows is a transcription of a letter I found this week inside of an 1880's children's book. It features hot n' heavy talk of family flannel-drawer making (including a pair for "Budgie" the dog?). I hope you enjoy it! (And for the quitters who can't face another wall of text, see you next time!)
Home 10-12-1891
Dear Daughter-
I am commencing thy letter with Budgie in my lap. He got hurt and feels as though he is a baby. Pa had just come home from [the] mill and he got in the hack and was on top of the sacks and slipped some way and almost fell out but hit on the wheel and cut a gash about an inch long just over the outer part of his right eye. It has bled a good deal and yet almost 2 hours since it happened is bleeding some yet. And now he has got ink all over my paper. So thee can play that is a kiss from him to thee.
Anna brought her books home this evening and isn't going to Brushwood any more. But will start to No. 1 I suppose and Emma wanted to stop to[o] and the other girls wanted to know if they might stop of Brushwood if Emma did. I told them they could but Emma would not stop. And so that nipped it all in the bud.
The Academy is having a boom this fall. I believe they have seventy pupils now. The largest number they ever had during one term. I guess I will have enough cider left to make all the pickles thee can eat for one while. I have made 1 1/2 gallons of mixed pickles and nearly 3 of Margo's and am going to make pickle lilly yet.
I got a letter from Uncle Ed the other day. He says he is very poorly and Lind has been out lately and Bruce is going to Lind's and study Telegraphy and Iona is going to school at Deming, and there was a picture of Mark in his wagon and his goats hitched to it. It looks very much like him.
And Uncle Ed said that he would watch out for thee a place. He is Principal of a ward school and has seven teachers under him. Their baby's name is Georgie. We have pumpkins like every thing. Sallie brought up three wagon loads this afternoon and there had been about 2 loads brought up before.
How are thy canton flannel drawers? I never thought to ask about them when thee was at home. We are in the business this week. We have made Pa two pairs today also Emma the same number. We wanted to make for Mary, Grace, Jessie and myself yet and make some for Budgie.
If thee has money enough I guess thee had better get thee a gossamer. I intended to have got thee one during the summer, but thee knows when we went to town what a time we would have spending money. I wish thee would come home every morning and comb my hair. Then I would give thee thy breakfast in exchange. Well I have about run out of anything to say and will close for this time. We will bring Mary home sixth day. We have about a bushel of walnuts and peck of hickory nuts. Don't know whether we will get any more or not.
Bye Bye-
Mamma
Showing posts with label Pardon my nonsense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pardon my nonsense. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Friday, September 14, 2012
A Blog Award!
So Cassidy at A Most Beguiling Accomplishment majorly lowered her standards and nominated me for a blog award: the coveted Versatile Blogger Award. (I make the rules here and I say it's coveted.)
The rules for accepting this little slice of heaven are:
* Thank the nominating party and link back to their blog
* Paste the award to your blog
* Share seven things about yourself (content not specified... yikes)
* Nominate 15 other blogs for their contribution to the action-packed world of Versatile Blogging.
Here we go!
Thank You:
I think I covered the gratitude in the last post, but you can't be too gracious. So once more for luck, Thank You, Cassidy , for the nomination!
Of Paste:
Done and done. Not that it was easy or anything. Nooooo.... I am apparently the last human on earth who can't figure out how to cut and paste something outside of a "Word 97" document. But there! There it is! Over there! (Somewhere to the right, I think.)
Seven Things of Wonder and Delight about me:
1. I am just under six feet tall in my stockings. Add any kind of shoe to the mix and suddenly, I'm the Jolly Red Giant.
2. Sometimes, I make little puppets. My favorite is Jim the snake:
3. I was born in North Carolina and currently live in South Carolina, yet I have virtually no trace of a Southern accent. Why? I have no clue. It must have been a conscious act, but I don't remember dropping it. (When I was a wee child, the accent was intense, y'all.)
4. I am on the cover art of an e-book for a New York Times best-selling author. (In very, very, VERY heavy make-up. And where the make-up failed, I used duct tape. And where even duct tape could not prevail, photo-shop picked up the slack.)
5. The title of my blog is a play on words from the Anne of Green Gables books. (Specifically, Anne of Avonlea I think, but who's counting? Oh yeah.... I am.) She is referred to as a "red-headed snippet" by a truculent neighbor to the Cuthbert farm. Weirdly, I have been called this in real life by a disgruntled older gentleman at a previous job.
6. I have three cats, but only BatMan: Destroyer of Sofas lives indoors.
7. My lovely assistant, Headless June the dress-form was named after an antique doll I have been steward of for the past decade, "Headless Lou." Headless June now has a friend, though! Thanks to a work buddy I am the proud new owner of a gently used, but slightly neglected dress-form. She's currently gray, but that is likely to change soon. But the damage has been done: her name is now Headless Jane, i.e. "Jane Gray." Don't judge me. By my standards, this is clever.
Fifteen Bloggers Who You Should Be Following Instead Of Me:
Cassidy went all classy and thoughtful and picked people that she thought hadn't received the award in the past. I tried to follow her example, but there may be a duplicate nominee or two. If you're one of the duplicates, you'll just have to suffer the outrage and indignity of being complimented twice. These are in no particular order, except for Annabelle, who has been a heap of fun since I discovered this whole blogging thing and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. In gratitude for all the awesomeness and "versatility" they've brought to the world, I'd like to nominate the following bloggers:
Annabelle at Genteel Musings
Sarah Jane at Romantic History
Laura at Unconvinced and Stubborn
Nabby at This Old Life
Isabella at All The Pretty Dresses
Caroline at Dressed in Time
Jen at Festive Attyre
Kate at Madam Novice: Adventures in Costuming
Jo at Bridges on the Body
Sarah at The Petulant Needle
Susan at The Dress Diaries
sfcdyer at Serena Dyer (older entries here: Serena Dyer at Serena Dyer)
Lindsey at Stitcher Baby
Sarah at Historical Personality Disorder
Atlanta at The Story of a Seamstress
Don't worry. This "sharing" and "being nice" crap is coming to a close soon. I'll be back to my usual bitter, twisted self as soon as I quit clomping around the house in my Pompadours and reliving the moment of receiving the Versatile Blogger Award over and over again in my mind.
Happy Blogging, Y'all!
The rules for accepting this little slice of heaven are:
* Thank the nominating party and link back to their blog
* Paste the award to your blog
* Share seven things about yourself (content not specified... yikes)
* Nominate 15 other blogs for their contribution to the action-packed world of Versatile Blogging.
Here we go!
Thank You:
I think I covered the gratitude in the last post, but you can't be too gracious. So once more for luck, Thank You, Cassidy , for the nomination!
Of Paste:
Done and done. Not that it was easy or anything. Nooooo.... I am apparently the last human on earth who can't figure out how to cut and paste something outside of a "Word 97" document. But there! There it is! Over there! (Somewhere to the right, I think.)
Seven Things of Wonder and Delight about me:
1. I am just under six feet tall in my stockings. Add any kind of shoe to the mix and suddenly, I'm the Jolly Red Giant.
2. Sometimes, I make little puppets. My favorite is Jim the snake:
Sssssssssssssssssssssuper!
3. I was born in North Carolina and currently live in South Carolina, yet I have virtually no trace of a Southern accent. Why? I have no clue. It must have been a conscious act, but I don't remember dropping it. (When I was a wee child, the accent was intense, y'all.)
4. I am on the cover art of an e-book for a New York Times best-selling author. (In very, very, VERY heavy make-up. And where the make-up failed, I used duct tape. And where even duct tape could not prevail, photo-shop picked up the slack.)
5. The title of my blog is a play on words from the Anne of Green Gables books. (Specifically, Anne of Avonlea I think, but who's counting? Oh yeah.... I am.) She is referred to as a "red-headed snippet" by a truculent neighbor to the Cuthbert farm. Weirdly, I have been called this in real life by a disgruntled older gentleman at a previous job.
6. I have three cats, but only BatMan: Destroyer of Sofas lives indoors.
Yes, that's dried paint on my floor. I have better things to do than live in a clean, safe environment.
7. My lovely assistant, Headless June the dress-form was named after an antique doll I have been steward of for the past decade, "Headless Lou." Headless June now has a friend, though! Thanks to a work buddy I am the proud new owner of a gently used, but slightly neglected dress-form. She's currently gray, but that is likely to change soon. But the damage has been done: her name is now Headless Jane, i.e. "Jane Gray." Don't judge me. By my standards, this is clever.
Fifteen Bloggers Who You Should Be Following Instead Of Me:
Cassidy went all classy and thoughtful and picked people that she thought hadn't received the award in the past. I tried to follow her example, but there may be a duplicate nominee or two. If you're one of the duplicates, you'll just have to suffer the outrage and indignity of being complimented twice. These are in no particular order, except for Annabelle, who has been a heap of fun since I discovered this whole blogging thing and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. In gratitude for all the awesomeness and "versatility" they've brought to the world, I'd like to nominate the following bloggers:
Annabelle at Genteel Musings
Sarah Jane at Romantic History
Laura at Unconvinced and Stubborn
Nabby at This Old Life
Isabella at All The Pretty Dresses
Caroline at Dressed in Time
Jen at Festive Attyre
Kate at Madam Novice: Adventures in Costuming
Jo at Bridges on the Body
Sarah at The Petulant Needle
Susan at The Dress Diaries
sfcdyer at Serena Dyer (older entries here: Serena Dyer at Serena Dyer)
Lindsey at Stitcher Baby
Sarah at Historical Personality Disorder
Atlanta at The Story of a Seamstress
Don't worry. This "sharing" and "being nice" crap is coming to a close soon. I'll be back to my usual bitter, twisted self as soon as I quit clomping around the house in my Pompadours and reliving the moment of receiving the Versatile Blogger Award over and over again in my mind.
Happy Blogging, Y'all!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
I am a creature of grace and elegance
WARNING! This has absolutely nothing to do with history, sewing or anything anyone cares about.
The most remarkable part of this past week was the discovery that my valance box is trying to kill me.
It's never pleasant to find a traitorous murderer in your midst, but I can honestly say that I NEVER suspected the valance box. It's been hanging on the same bloody window right above my computin' area for like, THREE YEARS. During this time, I've treated it like every other surface in the house: auxiliary book, dust and flotsam storage. It's been idling away, content to sit above the window on two shaky screws because, you know, it was just temporary.*
* In my home, "temporary" refers to the state of things that will never actually be changed because I'm too lazy. Example: "Alison said that the dress-form would only be in the living room temporarily, but it was still there when Social Services found her body under a pile of cats and fabric 34 years later."
So on the Fourth of July this year, I made time and got out tools and actually hung the stupid valance box on REAL brackets with screws and anchors and lots of exaggerated grunts because I like to make a big deal of things when I actually do something around the house. Then I covered it with the same stuff that has been on it for ages. And I felt pretty pleased with myself because after three years, I could cross hanging the valance box off the "to do" list.
Cut ahead to the following Monday, which was a week ago. I sat down and turned on my computer that morning, predictably got bored watching the "load" screen, and decided to go get a cup of coffee. I got about 10 feet away from the chair when I heard the crash. Sure enough, the valance box was laying IN MY CHAIR, jagged screws sticking out of the back while the books and assorted flotsam rolled around on the floor and table.
I have no idea how the physics of this works. Nor do I want to think about it. But that was my "warning" apparently. I put the stupid valence box in the floor where I would be safe from getting brained by it and went about my day. Cut ahead to Thursday night, when I did this:
Since I'm all about tutorials, here's how to make this all by yourself at home:
1. Lay something in the floor that usually doesn't belong there.
2. Tell someone in the home that there is an unexpected object in the floor, and beseech them not to trip over it.
3. Trip over it yourself 20 minutes later.
So now, I'm torn between hanging the valance box back up with railroad spikes or just burning it in the hopes that the fire will purify the evil. Or maybe a nice exorcism?
The most remarkable part of this past week was the discovery that my valance box is trying to kill me.
It's never pleasant to find a traitorous murderer in your midst, but I can honestly say that I NEVER suspected the valance box. It's been hanging on the same bloody window right above my computin' area for like, THREE YEARS. During this time, I've treated it like every other surface in the house: auxiliary book, dust and flotsam storage. It's been idling away, content to sit above the window on two shaky screws because, you know, it was just temporary.*
* In my home, "temporary" refers to the state of things that will never actually be changed because I'm too lazy. Example: "Alison said that the dress-form would only be in the living room temporarily, but it was still there when Social Services found her body under a pile of cats and fabric 34 years later."
So on the Fourth of July this year, I made time and got out tools and actually hung the stupid valance box on REAL brackets with screws and anchors and lots of exaggerated grunts because I like to make a big deal of things when I actually do something around the house. Then I covered it with the same stuff that has been on it for ages. And I felt pretty pleased with myself because after three years, I could cross hanging the valance box off the "to do" list.
Cut ahead to the following Monday, which was a week ago. I sat down and turned on my computer that morning, predictably got bored watching the "load" screen, and decided to go get a cup of coffee. I got about 10 feet away from the chair when I heard the crash. Sure enough, the valance box was laying IN MY CHAIR, jagged screws sticking out of the back while the books and assorted flotsam rolled around on the floor and table.
I have no idea how the physics of this works. Nor do I want to think about it. But that was my "warning" apparently. I put the stupid valence box in the floor where I would be safe from getting brained by it and went about my day. Cut ahead to Thursday night, when I did this:
Yes, I have some super janky toes. But we're talking about the trouble-makers in third and fourth place, respectively.
Since I'm all about tutorials, here's how to make this all by yourself at home:
1. Lay something in the floor that usually doesn't belong there.
2. Tell someone in the home that there is an unexpected object in the floor, and beseech them not to trip over it.
3. Trip over it yourself 20 minutes later.
So now, I'm torn between hanging the valance box back up with railroad spikes or just burning it in the hopes that the fire will purify the evil. Or maybe a nice exorcism?
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Yeah, I got yer new coat right here...
This is a charming photograph for oh, so many reasons:
First, you are gazing upon the buxom second-hand clothes dealer of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Accept no substitutes. Second, this looks a great place to be. It's squalid and ramshackle, sure, but clearly you can get soap, booze and "good beds" without much difficulty. Plus, after choking down all the McEwen's Special you can handle, you can always stagger into the street and trade a pint for some fancy long trousers with 'ole Mary Two-Times there in the alley.
Mary Two-Times: because clothing isn't the only thing that can be second-handed.
I am astonished at how clean everything looks, though. Somehow, this is upsetting my visions of gritty, urban Victoriana. Isn't the detail incredible? More information available The Guardian.
Whatchoo lookin' at, Guvna?!
First, you are gazing upon the buxom second-hand clothes dealer of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Accept no substitutes. Second, this looks a great place to be. It's squalid and ramshackle, sure, but clearly you can get soap, booze and "good beds" without much difficulty. Plus, after choking down all the McEwen's Special you can handle, you can always stagger into the street and trade a pint for some fancy long trousers with 'ole Mary Two-Times there in the alley.
Mary Two-Times: because clothing isn't the only thing that can be second-handed.
I am astonished at how clean everything looks, though. Somehow, this is upsetting my visions of gritty, urban Victoriana. Isn't the detail incredible? More information available The Guardian.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
If you are one of the 6-10 people who read this blog, you may have noticed that for the past day or so, tremendous and confusing things have been happening in terms of the "look" of the blog.
I can explain. (Mostly.)
As it will become increasingly clear, I don't really understand anything at all about computers, technology or the invisible elves that somehow keep my laptop running. Consequently, when Blogger offered the updated interface, I ran screaming for the hills. And yet I managed to "upgrade" to the new format the other day by accident... and now I can't figure out how to make it go away. (insert dramatic whining.) I use Linux as an operating system, so I can't "see" the blog the way it actually looks most of the time anyway. (Blogger doesn't love Linux.) It's been challenging to fix things back as I have no object for comparison AND I can't actually see what I'm doing to the blog on my own computer.
Hopefully, I'll have everything sorted out by the weekend. In the meantime, pardon the mess.
I can explain. (Mostly.)
As it will become increasingly clear, I don't really understand anything at all about computers, technology or the invisible elves that somehow keep my laptop running. Consequently, when Blogger offered the updated interface, I ran screaming for the hills. And yet I managed to "upgrade" to the new format the other day by accident... and now I can't figure out how to make it go away. (insert dramatic whining.) I use Linux as an operating system, so I can't "see" the blog the way it actually looks most of the time anyway. (Blogger doesn't love Linux.) It's been challenging to fix things back as I have no object for comparison AND I can't actually see what I'm doing to the blog on my own computer.
Hopefully, I'll have everything sorted out by the weekend. In the meantime, pardon the mess.
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