A laundress

 It is time to step back in time and look for a job. The year is 1850's. I am living in England, in a small village near the sea. It is a small community of freed slaves and tradesmen. My children are grown and have left home to see the world and to have families of their own. My husband have left to sail the seas and get rich, so he said. He has been gone for over 20 years. I known no other job then to care for my little home and family.
In these times, the only good job for me is a laundress.

It has always been a respectable job for women and young girls to bring a good days pay.

How would I go about becoming a  laundress?
http://www.nps.gov/fosc/forteachers/laundress5.htm

End of July!

The month of July is almost over. August means to me a time to slow down and relax. In the hospitality business, which I work, August is the slow mouth because people are all on vacation and mostly out of town.

Thank God!
I can now find time for enjoyment and relaxation.

I have not planned any trips nor events yet. I just want to sit back and enjoy my Victorian parlor. I will have time to read, watch my favorite movies and sip lots of tea. It the smallest and simplest things in life I want to enjoy for a while.

With work, work, work, I had no time to enjoy the birds singing and the music playing. I enjoy mostly classical and Opera.
I wish I was more cultured in playing the piano. I would truly entertain myself.

I can't remember the last time I went to the Ballet. When I was in Boston, I made sure to attend at least two Ballet a year.
Well, no need to dwell on my love lost life in Boston. One day I will tell you about that.
Time to relax!

Surrounded by beauty

I have come to fall in love with the wild flower calledQueen Anne's Lace. There is a field of it on the Chase Farm in Lincoln, R.I.


Legend of the Name:
The origin of when the plant received the Queen Anne moniker is unclear. There are several legends associated with it. One is that Queen Anne of England pricked her finger while making lace and stained it with blood. This refers to the slight reddish purple hue in the middle of each small floret contained within the flower head.

Arts, Crafts and Bouquets
The flower tops retain their lacy appearance when pressed and can be used on greeting cards, scrapbooking and other paper crafts. They make a beautiful addition to a wildflower wedding bouquet but look just as lovely by themselves in a vase.

Using Queen Anne's Lace in Food:
Queen Anne's Lace has many edible parts. The flower tops can be added to salads, made into a jelly or dipped in batter and fried as fritters. The root and seeds can be dried and used as a tea. The roots have a carrot taste and can be used in salads or cooked like a green or vegetable.

Cautions:
Extreme care must be taken in identification as the plant resembles hemlock. Pregnant women should not eat the roots or seeds of Daucus carota as they can cause uterine contractions. The leaves may also cause skin irritation.

Queen of Variety:
This hearty plant likes to take over the garden which is why many gardeners avoid it. However, for edible plant lovers and frugal crafters, Queen Anne's Lace is too valuable and versatile to be considered a weed.

A Movie you must see!

Last night I laughed and mostly cried watching the movie Glorly.
Glorly is a 1989 American drama film based on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry told from the point of view of its commanding officer, Robert Gould Shaw during the American Civil War. The 54th was one of the first formal units of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African-Amerian men (apart from the officers).











 
This movie was sad, knowledgeable and consoling. I enjoy learning history, but it sometimes can hurt my sole.
This story is a clear part of my history. The past is to live and go forwards, always to look back, learn and grow.As an reenactor of the Civil War, I get to learn, feel and live my history. I feel fortunate!

As a young girl, I just wanted to wear the beautiful Ball Gowns of the era. I dreamed of the day  attending my first Military Ball.
I would enter in grand style. After seeing this movie I realized that many before me prepair my way for a gracious life. I am free, educated and honored.

Lovely paintings by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

These lovely paintings are by James Jacques Joseph Tissot. When I sit and look at anyone of his painting, I am taken away. I can sit for hours being taken back in time to a place of complete tranquility.

James Jacques Joseph Tissot (October 15, 1836 - August 8, 1902) was a French painter.Tissot was born at Nantes. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Ingres, Flandrin and Lamothe, and exhibited in the Paris Salon for the first time at the age of twenty-three.

In 1861 he showed The Meeting of Faust and Marguerite, which was purchased by the state for the Luxembourg Gallery. His first characteristic period made him a painter of the charms of women. Demi-mondaine would be more accurate as a description of the series of studies which he called La Femme a Paris.

He fought in the Franco-Prussian War, and, falling under suspicion as a Communard, left Paris for London. Here he studied etching with Sir Seymour Haden, drew caricatures for Vanity Fair, and painted portraits as well as genre subjects. Sometime in the 1870s Tissot met a divorcee, Mrs. Kathleen Newton, who became his companion and the model for many of his paintings. Mrs. Newton moved into Tissot's household in 1876 and lived with him until her suicide in the late stages of consumption in 1882 at the age of 28. (From Wikipedia)

http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/tissot4.html

My Adventure to Brimfield

If you love Antiques as I do then you would love a trip to Brimfield, Mass.
http://www.brimfield.com/ 
Brimfield Massachusetts is the site of the largest outdoor antique show in New England,I had the pleasure of going to Brimfield yesterday, Wednesday July 14th. I walked though miles and miles of isles fulled with antiques and lots of crazy stuff.

Brimfield is considered the largest outdoor antique show in the country.  There are approximately 5000 dealers in 21 different show venues (often referred to as fields).  The show geographically covers one mile on each side of Route 20.  The show runs Tuesday through Sunday 3 times a year in May, July, and September.

There is no central point of contact for the show as it is operated by promoters that lease booth space to dealers from all over the world.   I can say it was an adventure.

My girls friends who attened this with me had a list of what they were looking for.
Being this was my first time being there, I had no clue what to look for.

 Well, after being there over 2 hours, I found it or it found me. "It was a beautiful Victorian union".

I found this lovely Black Velvet Victorian Hat. I would say late 1880's. This is truly a great find! It is a little tatted and torn, but wears well. As You can see here

I can't wait to make my first grand entrance wearing this hat.

They say the women makes the hat, but I say "this hat makes me"!

BRIMFIELD ANTIQUE
AND FLEA MARKET SHOWS

Show Dates for 2010

May 11-16   July 13-18  Sept 7-12

Show Dates for 2011

May 10-15   July 12-17  Sept 6-11

Scrap Booking

What a wonderful past time. I started scrap booking 2 years ago. I always had all my old photos in a shoe box under the bed. I think that is where you will find most peoples old photos. What to do with them? It takes time, but I like the crafting of it. Times goes by so fast and I find it relaxing. It also help with my Victorian clutter.

This are a few photo of my dear friend from PA. I was on a delightful Victorian Vacation there that year. I meet this lovely Lady on the internet and decided I must go out to meet her. It was a splendid weekend. I am to this day impressed.

Victorian Leisure!

Victorian pride themselves on the position of leisure. It was a sign of statue. Leisure in ones attitude and it was the decorum of the day.

http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/leisure.html

Enjoy your summer and your short days of leisure!

4th of july Weekend!

The 4th of July weekend in very long, so enjoy and be safe. I hope you are taking this time for family and to explore this great country we live in. Spend some time seeing and learning some of American's great history, to appreciate where we have been and where we are going!
God bless America and it's History!

The Friends Of Hearthside and myself marched in the Historic Arnold Mill Parade.

All came out, even though the day was hot and humored.

It has been a tradition for over 40 years. I was so nice to see the spectators and here their cheers for us.
We were so proud and all the walking in the heat paid off. We came in second place for our float and costumes. It was an honor the win the Presidents Award.

A Hot day in July!

I love the summer, but today I am having a hard time. I do not own an air conditioner, just large ceiling fans. Today, the temperature is in the high 90's again. It is a good day for the beach, but I am not a beach kind of girl. I much like the lake, with waterfalls and  lots of trees for shade.
But here is New England, my favorite beach is Ockland Beach.
Oakland Beach is a neighborhood located in the South Central area of Warwick, Rhode Island, on Greenwich Bay, a tributary of Narragansett Bay. This densely populated community of small cottages was developed after World War I as a summer colony, largely for nearby Providence's middle-class Irish and Italian communities. Oakland Beach reached its heyday in the 1930s when it boasted a bathing beach, boat docks and restaurants, as well as a Ferris wheel, and rail service to Providence and other nearby summer colonies.
The New England Hurricane of 1938, however, destroyed much of Oakland Beach. The area never quite recovered, and Hurricane Carol in 1954 sent the neighborhood into further decline. By the late 1960s and into the 1970s the area had fallen into decline and became notorious for street fights, drug dealing, and house breaks. Today, Oakland Beach shows many signs of revitalization as several upscale homes have been built near the shore & others have been updated. In the summer, people flock to Oakland Beach's shore and seafood restaurants. The most notable being Iggy's, where patrons enjoy doughboys and other local favorites. A popular local moniker, offered always in a spirit of love and affection, and long available on t-shirts, is "Oakland Beach...where the debris meets the sea"

Great Speech by Frederick Douglas about the 4th of july Celebration!

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"

On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall. It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"


Within the now-famous address is what historian Philip S. Foner has called "probably the most moving passage in all of Douglass' speeches."

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Very interesting reading :
http://www1.assumption.edu/users/mcclymer/His130/neh%20curricular/prototype.html

Celebration of Independence!

Independence Day, commonly known as July 4th or the Fourth of July, commemorates the Continental Congress’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The document, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, served as a formal announcement that the 13 American colonies were no longer part of the British Empire and would henceforth be free and independent states. Regarded as the birthday of the United States of America, the day is typically celebrated with parades, fireworks, ceremonies, barbecues and family gatherings.
http://www.history.com/videos/fourth-of-july-history