Monday, September 08, 2008

"I Thought We Might Visit...

to the Lake Country. Would you like to come?" (Lizzie's Aunt Gardner in P&P by Jane Austen)





I take my photographer, Beth, with me, wherever I go. My camera would not cooperate when I got here, so she takes these majestic photographs of the homestead.





This is the lily pad area of the lake where my mother used to row in the Lil Kathy, to pick a bouquet, in the morning, before "us kids" even woke up.


I just can't get enough of the reflection!


This is where we buried our cars. Was this a Nash, or a Packard?
Mother's strawberries were a special kind that grew in hanging clusters that stood well off the ground. In those days, people shared slips of strawberry plants or other plants and flowers, and I think these were a variety of strawberries that were grown in Michigan. The berry patch she had behind the house, has now grown across the road, and all over the acerage, down by the swamp, up the hill, and alongside the road. They have a delicious flavor and smell like cotton candy.


This is a pile of fishing net, still with the wooden floats, found in the forest, which was not a forest when we lived here. They were laying a-top a corrugated tin roof on the ground.


I just can't thank Beaver and Carol enough for bringing the canoe and waiting so patiently while I rowed down memory lane.


And I hope Beth hangs on to that camera!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Send me some of those strawberry plants.

Dawn said...

Thank you for taking us down memory lane with you. It's been fun!
I hope you enjoy the rest of your time reminiscing!

Have a safe week ahead. Begin your morning with our Lord!

~ Dawn

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful place to grow up! YOu certainly were blessed. I thought the fishing net was bunch of mice all together until I read the caption. EEUUUW!

Sue said...

It sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing some of your memories with us.

Cindy said...

That's pretty neat: the forest which was not a forest when we lived here.

Nature has a great way of reminding us that we humans aren't necessarily the center of God's creation.

It sounds like such a lovely trip. I am glad you are enjoying it.

Anonymous said...

I've been following your articles for several years, and although I am called to work outside the home as a professional, you keep me in touch with homemaking as the important part of my life that it is, and I learn a lot from you. My 20th wedding anniversary celebration five years ago was based on one of your articles and was so wonderful. Thank you. I'm just enjoying so much watching your joy in returning to your homeplace and walking down memory lane. Thanks for sharing.

Lydia said...

Thanks, Anonymous, for your kind remarks. I have a few more posts to make, of this wonderful trip. I hope you have many more such anniversaries!

Kelli said...

The scenery is breath taking. Beth is a talented photographer. And what a lovely walk down memory lane!

Lydia said...

You are welcome to some of those strawberries. Beth insisted that we dig some of them up, and she bagged them with water in ziplock bags inside of other bags inside of other bags. They were packed inside a very tight suitcase and still survived. I am going to plant them today.

candy said...

Lovely pictures!

Proverbs 31 Sisters said...

Oh how neat!

Laura

Anonymous said...

Cool. I just not noticed the FAQs. I just wanted to say great answers. As for Victorian clothing it gets a bad reputation because people only see pictures of the sometimes ridiculous fashions of the wealthy instead of evryday people. Here are some links to the rich

http://trulyvictorian.netfirms.com/photo19.html

http://trulyvictorian.com/catalog/296.html

http://trulyvictorian.com/catalog/455.html

http://trulyvictorian.com/catalog/243.html

http://trulyvictorian.com/catalog/304.html

http://trulyvictorian.com/catalog/305.html

The working class
http://www.shootingstarhistory.com/library/workdress.html


http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/ldresses/dressindex.html

http://www.ushist.com/american_civil_war_ladies_clothing.htm

I personally like the fashions of the working class better because the fashions were sensible and they were still pretty. Just so you know I recommend this book Reinventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet. Victorians were not always prudes they could be crazy too.

Lana

Lydia said...

Lana, thanks for those links. I looked at some of them and really liked the working clothes of pioneer women. Critics of the Victorian era do not realize they all had relatives in that time frame, and that these women couldn't help being from that time period. A lot of rumor has been spread that they all wore tight corsets and were unhappy and lacking in freedom. I found this not to be true. Just like any era, there were those who were happy and those who were unhappy. Not everyone wore a corset, and there were of course the wacky styles of the time. Who can say our fashions are any more superior or comfortable? Certainly the shoes and the undergarments of our time are not an advance in technology, and future generations will look back on this period of time as an era with the ugliest designed clothes.