Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Sadly, this past reenactment season was really disappointing to me. It was partially the lack of spectators in most of the events we participated and probably partially due to how I have unrealistic expectations of the events. Oh, and the heat, the unbearable sweltering days where one moved in slow motion due to the temperature. Woe is me.
There were a few first's for me:
At Reynoldsburg, I participated in a ladies tea! I always shied away from the tea as I never really had a nice dress to get all dressed up and join the pretty ladies for the event. The other ladies encouraged me to go and one of our young women even french braided my hair! (Thank You Elizabeth!) So I put on a clean laundry lady dress and had myself a lovely time eating cookies and cakes and sipping tea. We got in a line to select a tea we liked from a basked filled with teas and a tea infuser! How very thoughtful! We also sipped from pretty flowered tea cups that we were to take home as a souvenir! How nice was that? I'm so glad I went! Most reenactments I've been to have had a ladies tea. From now on I'll be there.
Another event I never go to is the dance. However this year at Reynoldsburg, I went to the dance because my son wanted to go. I thought I'd go and watch. How surprised was I that I was asked to dance 3 times! Once by a young boy! Wasn't that nice? Still, I was all laundressy sitting there in my mucho faded work dress, apron and bonnet. Truly, it was such fun. Sadly, I left after 3 dances because how winded and out of breath I was, but I will try it again! Too funny! That's it for now!
Highest Regards,
Mrs Peters
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Starch, so its not as easy as I thought...
Wow, I got up today and decided to master starching and ironing. I achieved success in neither task.
I keep my skillet and irons oiled while I'm not using them and since I never use them I forgot that I keep them oiled. So imagine what happened when I put the skillet on the stove and fluttered around the house. Yep, smoke. Sux doesn't it? Like the lazy sloth that I am I decided to just let it burn off. No biggie, and yes the smoke and smell stopped and I was able to continue on in comfort.
Using squares of cotton fabric, I made 4 examples of starches: light, medium, heavy and extra heavy. I think I have no short term memory. Making different batches of starch was a little bit time consuming then, I forgot that I had to boil the stuff accordingly and after that I kept forgetting which level of stiffness I'd just completed and the more I re-starched, the more frustrated I got, and the more frustrated I got the messier my workspace What a mess! It was a winter wonderland of cornstarch by the time I finished! Finally I finished my 4 masterpieces and hung them out in the trees. While damp I collected them from the trees and with excitement, put iron to cotton. I scorched the fabric on my first 3 tries. That didn't happen the last time I experimented with the irons!
This time, because I have to go to work tonight, I put the skillet on the stove and the irons were unbelievably hot. Way hotter than last time. And not only were the over-the-top hot, my sloppiness in 'letting the oil burn off' came back to bite me in the bustle. The irons left dark greasy stains on the fabric. Guess that shows me huh? Bad, bad lazy laundress! I kept ironing anyway as I realized that I needed a lot more practice to become one with the irons and to judge heat, movement and the feel for what I'm doing. I mean seriously, even the ironing pad was wrong and I ended up taking it off and ironing on the bare table.
Oh well, I learned lessons and I'm confident the next time I try, it will be a more positive experience.
Regards, Mrs Peters
I keep my skillet and irons oiled while I'm not using them and since I never use them I forgot that I keep them oiled. So imagine what happened when I put the skillet on the stove and fluttered around the house. Yep, smoke. Sux doesn't it? Like the lazy sloth that I am I decided to just let it burn off. No biggie, and yes the smoke and smell stopped and I was able to continue on in comfort.
Using squares of cotton fabric, I made 4 examples of starches: light, medium, heavy and extra heavy. I think I have no short term memory. Making different batches of starch was a little bit time consuming then, I forgot that I had to boil the stuff accordingly and after that I kept forgetting which level of stiffness I'd just completed and the more I re-starched, the more frustrated I got, and the more frustrated I got the messier my workspace What a mess! It was a winter wonderland of cornstarch by the time I finished! Finally I finished my 4 masterpieces and hung them out in the trees. While damp I collected them from the trees and with excitement, put iron to cotton. I scorched the fabric on my first 3 tries. That didn't happen the last time I experimented with the irons!
This time, because I have to go to work tonight, I put the skillet on the stove and the irons were unbelievably hot. Way hotter than last time. And not only were the over-the-top hot, my sloppiness in 'letting the oil burn off' came back to bite me in the bustle. The irons left dark greasy stains on the fabric. Guess that shows me huh? Bad, bad lazy laundress! I kept ironing anyway as I realized that I needed a lot more practice to become one with the irons and to judge heat, movement and the feel for what I'm doing. I mean seriously, even the ironing pad was wrong and I ended up taking it off and ironing on the bare table.
Oh well, I learned lessons and I'm confident the next time I try, it will be a more positive experience.
Regards, Mrs Peters
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