Tuesday March 1, 1910

Ma sat up some. Clara, Bess & Kathy went to  "Beverly of Graustark". We (Monarch) beat Nettle 22 to 7. I stopped to Valentines & Hipprodrum. Met the girls on the       St. 


W. Foggy & Warm
R. 12


P.S. Kathy stayed with Clara

Oh so much information in this one!

Beverly of Graustark 

Beverly of Graustark is a novel written by  George Barr McCutcheon and published in 1904. In it,
Beverly Calhoun impersonates the Prince of Graustark to claim his birthright while he recovers from a skiing injury. In the meantime, she falls for her bodyguard Dantan.

Advertisements from Publisher's Weekly, 1904.

By phone, by wire, by mail...from all over the county orders are coming in for BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. The new novel by George Barr McCutcheon. Author of "Graustark," "Castle Craneycrow." Etc. THE BEST SELLING BOOK IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY

The Mail and Express, in a long review of this book, makes the statement, "that of all the current stories by favorites of the 'best-selling novel' period, this is by far the best and most entertaining;" that the book is eminently readable,and that it is superior to Graustark. This is also the judgement of many others. Early orders indicate that this book is to be one of the great successes of the year. We are advertising this book 'for sale everywhere"

This is the book everybody is talking about. For sale everywhere.

But sufficient to illustrate how this book is being brought to public notice. Advertising mediums in every city of any importance are being used regularly. The demand for "Beverly" continues unabated. The orders average from to 3000 copies a day. The total for a day has gone as high as 5000. The reason is plain. Given a strong, virile story by one of our most noted authors, warmly commended by the
press, perfect in mechanical execution; and strong and wide publicity. Result: Nine Large Editions in less than three months-the demand constantly exceeding the supply, and "Bevely of Graustark" THE BEST-SELLING BOOK IN THE UNITED STATES.

It was made into a movie in 1926. Clearly that is not what they went to. In my research it was also mentioned that this was made into a not-very-popular play in 1905. I'm guessing that is where the girls went.

You can read the book online HERE!!! (Guess what I'm doing tonight when after I publish this!) How exciting!!!

Basketball

Even though I know very little about basketball, I'm continually flummoxed by these scores. 7? Have you ever heard of a basketball team that scored 7?   I've been imagining that the rules of basketball must have changed greatly from then until now to allow for the difference in scores. A little research shows that I'm right, they HAVE changed a lot. However, I'm unable to tell you how the changes resulted in higher scores. Let us just imagine I'm right and move on, shall we? (And admire the vintage basketball while we are at it!)

Kathy

I love how his P.S. is about  Kathy staying with Clara. Perhaps he's getting fed up with her sleeping on the settee and wants some alone time with his bride of 5 months. I think this is the first PS. He must have had to put it in there because it's so rare!!!

Ma

Boy, there is so much info in this one I almost ignored the fact that Ma sat up... SAT UP! My goodness, she is sicker than I imagined if she could not even sit up before today. She has been sick for over a week now.

Monday February 28, 1910

Foggy. Furnace Creek flooded past Elmwood celler & struck          . Bess over with Ma all day. Ma still in bed. I stopped to supper. Snow nearly all gone. 


W. Rain Thaw
R. 9:30

I knew Bess was helping out! Even though I read this when I first got it, I have not read it since and I'm not reading ahead so this is all unfolding for me as well.  I wish I knew what was wrong with Ma.

Sunday February 27, 1910

Dave over to see Ma & Ray. Dave and I went to S.S. Mr Witham came up about 4pm. Fine rain all day and fog at night. Herkimer flooded into the Mohawk R.

W. More thaw and rain
R. 11

Saturday February 26, 1910

No Bellview cars.  (Something that I cannot read at all) burning from 3 AM to           (and he leaves this blank). Stopped to Dentist at noon & Builders Manufacturing Company. Made a Book rack. Kathy up & stayed all night.


W. Thawing
R. 11:30

So it was thawing 100 years ago today.... We're snowed in! Soon to be making a cosy fire in the fireplace!

Does anyone remember that he was at the dentist last week?  However, he lets his wives girlfriend sleep over and builds book racks. I have a crush on this man (despite his bad teeth!)

Homemade Hummus

My recent favorite snack is

 

Sabra Hummus (I like them all but prefer roasted red pepper.) This stuff is SO good.

On 

Stacy's Simply Naked Sea Salt Baked Pita Chips.

The problem with this is that both items are $3.99 at the grocery store. $8 a week for a snack of hummus and pita.... (Yes, I do remember the $20 a gallon Eggnog. It's my blog though. I get to pick and  choose.) I usually cave and buy them anyway. Then I feel guilty because for $8 I could buy yogurt for the week or a pork roast or a bag of Wegman's Belize shrimp. 

Today I thought about the fact that I have a perfectly good Hummus recipe that takes minutes to whip up and is really great. And the fact that I already had everything at home to make this. (I did buy the chips though. Perhaps next week I'll downgrade to regular pita....)

I got the recipe from a Lebanese man that I worked with. His wife would make big batches of it for special events and people always loved it. 

Hummus

1 Can Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas) rinsed. You can (and I have) make this even cheaper by buying dried beans and cooking those before making this but since I'm offering you a replacement to a store bought convienience product I'm not going to turn you off by making you start by soaking your beans the night before. A can will do just fine.

Juice 1/2 Lemon. Or, 2TBSP lemon (I like fresh but we always have a bottle of lemon juice just in case.)

2 Cloves Garlic-Just cut it up a little, it's all going in your food processor anyway. I like a little more.

2 TBSP Tahini. It's sesame paste. You can't make good hummus without it. You just cannot. The first time you make Hummus you'll be cursing me because the jar is $5. You'll be thinking that you could just buy hummus for $4. However, you can make A LOT of Hummus with a jar of tahini. And it lasts a long time. 

1 tsp Cumin-Also a requirement for good hummus. I actually like a little more than this but this is a good starting point. 

2 tsp salt 

The key here is to process all of these ingredients in a food processor or blender until it is VERY smooth. It will take you longer than you think. You can add a little water or olive oil if you think it needs a little extra wetness to get things moving. I'm only talking like 2-3TBSP though.

You can get all crazy and add  extras like roasted red pepper or roasted garlic but it's really good just like it is.

Who is Making Supper in 1910?

Over on Facebook, Stephanie posed the question if Ma is sick in bed right now, who is doing all of the cooking?

I think that's a great observation as Adam and Bessie are over there all the time for supper, including during this week when Ma is in bed all day long.

To answer that question I looked at the Census record to see who was living in each house and what they are up to during the day.

At Adam's parent's home we have:
Henry (Pa Age 52) Works in the Steel Factory
Louisa (Ma Age 52) Home in bed sick this week (and presumably, alone.)
Clara (Age 29) Grammar School Teacher -note that school is probably in session right now.
Raymond (Age 23) Works in the Steel Factory
Oscar (Age 21) Works in the Steel Factory

Adam & Bessie's House
Adam (Age 25) Works in the Typewriter Factory
Bessie (Age 25) At Home. 

It seems unlikely to me that any of the men, working in a factory all day long, are going to come home and round up supper for 7 people. Ma is (Notably) in bed. That leaves Bessie as the only other option, with  possible help from Clara. Bessie does not have a job ( For the record,  the comment section is closed to all of you who may want to comment that I don't have a job and yet, do not make supper....) Anyway, she does not  have a job and I'm wondering if perhaps they've eaten over so many times this week because she needs to cook for them.  Since women typically performed this function, it's not unusual enough for Adam to mention it in the diary.

I could also be way off but that sounds like the most plausible answer to me.

**I think I should note that I called Bess, Bessie because that is how she is listed in the Census records even though Adam refers to her as Bess.

Friday, February 25, 1910

Ma feeling better. Bess & I over to supper-Clara all alone. Came over home at 9. 


W. Colder
R. 10

I think this passage gives some credence to my cooking argument. Clara is clearly not alone if she's home and Ma is still in bed (And trust me, she is, she's in bed for days to come.) I think he's referring to the fact that Clara is alone taking care of Ma. Where are Pa and the brothers? Double shifts at the factory perhaps?

Thursday February 24, 1910

Ma in bed all day. Bess and I over to supper. Florence Hauer,---- -----, Etta Broom & Chet Samuel up for the evening. Dave stopped over for a while. 


W. Still a little cold.
R. 12:15

February 23 2010

Up home to pick up Emma. Dad on computer all day. Took car over to Webster for Supper with Diane & Paulette. Thai. Visited for a while over at Starbucks.

W. Mild
R. 12:00 (This is speculation as I am not currently ready to retire and it is 11:11 pm.)

Wednesday February 23, 1910

A hard ----- storm in early morning. Went to Leaders Class & test & over to A.A.U. Meet at Armory & stopped in to Amusement Parlor & to Cooper & Bess & I walked home. Ma not well.


W. Cold
R. 12.15

This leaves me with a lot of questions. What is AAU? What test? What did he do at the Amusement Parlor. ANSWER ME ADAM!!!

This seems like a busy day for a work day.

Split Pea Soup

Today I made one of my favorite soups, split pea.   I have already posted this recipe but it was back in 2007 (I could hardly believe that myself!) It's something I make a lot  in the wintertime and new readers may not have seen it.

I only use yellow peas because the green makes it look like, well, split pea soup. And no one likes that visual. Look how nice it looks with yellow peas! The key to making this really great is having a ham bone with a nice amount of meat still on it, so be generous when carving your ham.  I love this soup because there are hardly any ingredients in it and it's simply wonderful. It also makes use of something that you would normally discard and an entire pot can be made for under $2.

I'm  the only person in the house who eats this. (Please do not let this be seen as a reflection of the quality of the soup. )  I don't understand what scares people about making a large batch of something if you are the only one eating it. I don't want to eat this soup all week so I freeze it in 1-2 serving size portions and take some out when I want some. I do this all the time with leftovers.

My brother also happens to love this soup so I packaged up half of it to take to him tomorrow.

Tuesday February 22, 1910

Up home to supper. Bertha and Mable there. Ma very sick & alone. Bess and I came home early and stayed until 9:45. Snowed nearly all day. 


W. Colder
R. 10:45

Bertha and Mable. No one names a child Mable anymore. When was the last time you met a baby named Mable?  Why is Ma alone? He just played cards with Pa a few days ago...

Vacation Musings & A Stranger on the Plane

I'm back from a week long trip to Florida. Did you even know I was gone? I found a  feature on the blog setup page that enabled me to schedule all of the posts for last week. Neat huh?

Like the rest of the country, Florida was unseasonably cold last week which curtailed many of our usual activities. We hardly spent any time at the pool and when we went to our favorite park, the spray part was completely unused. Our trip to the beach was nice but we all wore hooded sweatshirts. Still, an afternoon walking in the ocean surf looking for shells while drinking an Earl Grey Latte from Starbucks (my non-coffee favorite there) still beats snow shoveling (ok, I actually don't shovel snow often but you get the picture.) We got a visitor's library card, spent time at the awesome park, went to the farmers market, found a new breakfast place, First Watch,  courtesy of my friend Karley, explored Naples at night and ate at The Mangove Cafe. All was well. I can pretty much have fun anytime I get a chance to go somewhere else. (I used to love going on business trips, even if I was alone. ) Anyhow, I caught a terrible cold there and the pressure in my ears was so bad landing on our first flight yesterday that I was rendered half deaf for most of the day. That combined with my child's speech impediment made communication between the two of us nearly impossible.

After a 2 1/2 hour flight we had a 3 hour layover at JFK. Finally they called  us to board. Because we have a child I always board when they say people with children can board. Not because we need to do that because of her mind you, but because I like to get settled in my seat quickly with a book. I don't  mind flying too much but I try and read to ignore the fact that I'm taking off, landing or hurtling through the air at however many miles an hour however many feet above ground. The denial usually helps me manage my fear.

There were only 2 seats per side so I opted  won the bid, to sit alone in peace and quiet (having used the "I can't hear anything our child is saying" argument.") However, I was unable to get my book out fast enough before my fellow traveler arrived. He said hello and asked how I was and how my trip was and where I had been. ("Damn" I thought, "a chatty one"...) Now, I like to consider myself a friendly gal but I'm really NOT the one who wants to chat up strangers on a plane. I really just want to read.   But this man was having none of that. I felt compelled to ask him where he had been. He whipped out his CAMERA and when he turned it on I could sense my husband's amused grin at the irony of my quiet reading time evaporating. 

It turned out that this man is a physician who had spent the whole week in the Dominican Republic traveling to different villages and treating people in a makeshift doctor's office that they would set up in schools. He slept in bunk houses and ate local foods. The thing about him was, that he was completely GLOWING from the experience of the whole thing. It was his first time doing something like this and he had volunteered  on a whim. He said if he thought too much about it he would have backed out. He has a private practice and a wife and 16 year old daughter. He was a pretty normal looking, unassuming guy. He didn't look like a risk taker to me. BUT, He LOVED it. He's going next year. It was inspiring. And it was inspiring not just because of his contribution, but because he pushed himself out of his comfort level and challenged himself. And he was changed because of it. And happy. And proud.

We spoke the entire flight. He was a very engaging man with a kind exterior. He asked me real questions about myself and was really interested in my answers. He kept apologizing for telling me about his trip but the man was practically bursting to share this with someone.

I'm glad I got to be that person for a little while.

Monday February 21, 1910

After supper Bess & I went over home. Ma sick in bed. George Hoffman up. 


W. Thaw
R. 11

Sunday February 20, 1910

Slept till 10. Stayed at home all day till 5 & up to Kathy. Very stormy, cars held up and did not get home till 10:30. 


W. Very Windy Night Cold
R. 11

Well at least get got to sleep in after his late night last night.

Saturday February 19, 1910

Started to work Sat AM. To dentist at noon. 5:45 Sleigh ride to see Bess Aunt at Cicero. Marha, Uri, ---- Eve, Dan, Beatrice, Ethel & E---Ray & ---Clara & Oscar, George Hoffman, Margaret Mar---, Bess & I caught the last car home. Fine time. 

I cannot read the weather at all
R. 2  This is the latest he's gone to bed yet!

I bet it was a fine time!! And a SLEIGH RIDE!!! Holy Cow!!! And it's nice to see that we found Oscar.... I wonderd if he was still alive. He must just be living somewhere else. I would never have known those were his siblings (though I wondered) if I didn't have those census records.

Friday February 18, 1910

I fell to sleep after shutting off alarm & overslept & stayed home all AM. Bess came home on west car after me and we had supper over home. Ray, Pa & I played dominoes & I taught them Pedro

Cold
R.10

See what I mean-What a nice family spending evenings playing games together. I love it. And who gets to stay home all morning from their job if they oversleep?

Note on Pedro:

Pedro (pronounced "peedro") was developed in the United States in the nineteenth century as a variation of Pitch. 

Pedro was extremely widely played in the US at the end of the nineteenth century, but during the twentieth century it gradually declined in popularity. Nevertheless it is still extensively played in the southern USA and on the West Coast.  Surprisingly, a very similar game is played under the name Pidro in Österbotten, which is a Swedish speaking region in the west of Finland. Pedro or Pidro is also played in parts of Italy and in the Azores. It seems likely that the game originated in America and traveled from there to parts of Europe rather than vice versa.

Thursday February 17, 1910

I won the $1.00 on the time of the pay-mars (or maro). Met Johnson at 6 and he came up to supper with me. 


W. Snowy. Fine.
R. 10:30

I have no idea how he won the $1 but I looked it up and $1 in 1910 was worth $23.38 in 2008 (that was as long as they had data for.)

Wednesday February 16, 1910

Kathy up to supper and I teased Bess at the table & she went upstairs mad.  Bess & I went to social meeting at her church & Clara came over & stayed with Kathy. (R.) Stayed all night. 


W. Colder
R 12

I like this. I think it's sweet that he teased her and she went upstairs mad. I like to think he's writing about whatever it is that stands out about his day. Apparentlty that was on his mind. I love it.

One of the things I also find fascinating about this is how often they dine with other people and how many things they do. They are newly weds without children so that may account for some of it. But it seems like they are always visiting or doing something interesting... It's a wonder what lack of TV, Internet & Cell phones can do for your social life...

I wish I lived in a world where more people just "visited".

Tuesday February15, 1910

Bess went up home & I walked to supper with Jack Shore. We (Monarch) beat Franklin 17 to 13 in a clean fast game. Met Bess at 10:15. 

W.Thaw & Rain
R. 12

Apparently practice is paying off. Or else Franklin is just a really bad team-They lost to Smith Bros as well.

Monday February 14th, 1910

Are stuck so I took D------. I stayed home at night & changed the furniture around in the living room.


W. Snow Thawing
R. 10

My goodness, he has no idea how his penmanship is messing with my eyes. I think if he knew I was goimg to post this that perhaps he would have written a little more clearly... Actually, most of it is  pertty clear buut it's so frustrating when the word you can't read is the one that would give the most meaning to the sentence.

Sunday February 13, 1910

Cora and family up to dinner. Ma, Pa & Kathy were all over home to supper. The kids had a fun time. I helped Dan. Snow very deep. 


W. ------Snow Stormy
R. 10:30 

You'll see that he does a lot of eating "Up to dinner" or "Over home to supper" One of the most interesting things that I found on the 1910 census was that his family, including his parents, and brothers & sisters-Clara, Cora, Raymond all live in the next house on the census page. They live on a different street, but they are the next one on the list so I imagine they are perhaps the first house on the next street or that the streets ajoin somehow. It's hard to read the writing but I should probably look at a Syracuse map though and try and figure it out. (not tonight though!)

Through the whole diary he goes to dinner  there and I often wondered how far it was. Turns out it's not very far at all.

As for his siblings, Raymond works in the steel factory and Cora is a teacher. (This is in the census record.) His father also works at the Steel factory. He has another brother, Oscar, but I don't know where he is. He was living with the family as of the 1900 census, but as of the 1910 he is not.

Vanilla Chai Tea

For  those of you who may be getting tired of the diary, I made this instant Vanilla Chai tea mix today & enjoyed it while I browsed the diary and Ancestry.com this evening.... 

The first time I made this I omitted the non-dairy creamer... I hate non-dairy creamer (in theory anyway). Originally I used just straight powdered milk. Well the finished product was good but not as good as one I recently had. So I added it today. And it was just like the one I recently had. And it was delicious.... (I know, I'm a terrible hypocrite. Hate me...)  

 

The spices for this are kind of steep  if you don't already have them.  I had to buy Cardamom which was $11 a bottle. (What the heck is in this stuff? Cardamom, yes, I know that.....) And you only use 1 tsp. (which means I won't run out for a long time thank goodness. ) It's a lovely lovely spice though and I can only describe as smelling faintly like spicy lavender. I'm  going to look for some recipes which showcase this new found gem. 

 

Please note this recipe needs a sweetener.  The original recipe called for sugar but I left it out so that people can control what and how much they use. I also used decaff tea so that I can cosy up with a mug of this at night.

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 cups French vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine milk powder, non-dairy creamer, vanilla flavored creamer,  and instant tea. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup at a time, until mixture is the consistency of fine powder.(I did not do the blender part this evening as it seemed unnecessary. I don't think the end product suffered.  I may just keep mixing it together and be done with it.)
2. To serve: Stir 4 heaping teaspoons Chai tea mixture into a mug of hot water. (I mean the teaspoons from your silverware drawer, not an actual unit of measure.) Add sweetener of your choice. 
3. Send me a mental thank you for this lovely drink.

Saturday February 12, 1910

Stayed home all day. St--- cars did not run till 2. My ------club up to supper & Kathy slept all night on the settee.  I made a mantle for the fireplace. 


W.Stormy
R. 12

It's a good thing he put the new springs in the new settee the other day since Kathy slept on it all night.  And he made a mantle?   Leadership classes and woodworking skills, I think I love this man.

I don't know what the words are that have the blanks but I do know from the rest of the diary that the cars that he is referencing are the trolley cars that ran in Syracuse at that time. He lives in the actual city of Syracuse.

His Name is Adam

So I joined Ancestry.com for their free 2 week  trial. It's ridiculous really because I don't have the time to be spending hours doing this over the next 2 weeks but I just could not resist!!! And I CAN spend hours doing this kind of thing....

If you are not  familiar with what Ancestry does, they have all of the census information (as long as the census is older than 70 years, this is exciting because it means that this year the government will release the 1940 census information-Trust me, this IS exciting!) You can obtain this information for free but it usually involves visiting a library and then looking up on microfilm and index and then finding the appropriate roll that you need. Try and look for more than one person or through more than one census and it will take you all morning and you'll get motion sick from the microfilm (at least I do). At $155 a year, this service is worth EVERY penny. They also have tons of other info such as birth, death & marriage records, old newspapers and more.... If you are ever interested in genealogy, this is the place to go. The Mormons also have a pretty super site which is completely free. (Familysearch.org) It's not as good, but it will get you started.

Apparently you should not get me started....Genealogy is one of the subjects that I can easily kill 3 hours with. I can be working on it and look up and really wonder where the time went. I started doing this before I had my daughter though and it was easy to find 3 hours to spare. Since I had her I've let my Ancestry subscription lapse as I can never seem to justify the cost for the time I'll be able to do it. It's silly really. But I know how it sucks me in. Each year I use my free 2 week trial and think  "I really should renew this.." Maybe this year...

Anyway, recently I started to wonder if possibly FE's initials were not, in fact, AE.

 

I've had quite a hard time finding anyone with the name F E Filsinger. I knew the 1910 census would be helpful because I know where my guy lived. 

Sure enough. On the 1910 census, at 504 Stinard Ave, Adam E Filsinger lives with his wife Bessie Filsinger!!! I think I almost shouted when I found it. I also found him in the 1880, 1900, 1910 & 1920 censuses. It was like a goldmine. Along with that I found a TON of other information about him.  I can't tell you how tickled I am over this! This guy was easier to find than a good many of my own relatives. 

Henceforth, I shall call him Adam! 

PS. I do plan on writing about more than just this diary but I've had a busy week!

Friday February 11, 1910

Late for work 7:30. Firm let Basket Ball team off at 4 pm to practice. Up to K to supper. 


W. Cold
R. 10:30 (This is a time I guess as its the first one written like that.)

Hmm... It must be nice to get off work early to practice Basketball. Of course after that score the other day the firm probably thinks they need it.... 

Thursday February 10, 1910

Before I get to today's entry I want to tell you something that you would not find out until October if you were reading this for the first time. However, the information makes reading the diary that much more sweet.  This diary actually takes place the 1st year of F and Bess's marriage. So they are newlyweds! At this point they have only been married for 5 months.

Stayed home at night & put coil springs under the spring for my settee. The Hot water would not run up stairs. 


W. Cold
R. 11

Please also note that all caps and grammar are his.

A Little Diary Housekeeping

A little housekeeping note on the diary. Originally I figured I would post the entry on the exact date that it happened 100 years ago. That seemed nice and neat and poetic.

However, I usually blog at night (It's 11:16 pm right now) which means that there is a very short time frame in which most readers will read about what happened exactly 100 years ago. Most of you will read it tomorrow.

Keeping that in mind I'll probably post the entries the evening before so the dates will be one day off. However, that means that when you read it (tomorrow) it will be the date the event actually happened 100 years ago. Do you follow?

So, in order to catch up, I'll post 2 entries tonight. Today's and Tomorrow's.

Wednesday February 9, 1910

Went to Leaders Class & practiced marching & dancing.  Met Bess from home. 


W. Colder 
R.11

I like this guy. In 4 days he's been to 2 classes and played (albeit it not very well) in one basketball game...

Tuesday February 8th, 1910

To Gym & Aluminum  team beat us (Monarch) 22 to 8 & Smith Bros beat Franklin.


W. Cold
R. 11

In case you're wondering, he plays basketball. I did not figure that out for a few more entries so I thought I'd tell you.  I don't know much about basketball, however, a score of 8 did not scream basketball to me.

This is going to be way more fun than I thought!

After I wrote the above entry I decided to do a little research on Monarch, Franklin and Smith Bros in Syracuse NY.   Monarch and Smith Bros (the pre-cursor to Smith-Corona) were both typewriter factories. Franklin produced the Franklin Automobile. Monarch had its factory in Franklin Square.I even found one article that referred to it as the 1910 Monarch Typewriter Factory! SCORE!

Apparently F worked in The Monarch Typewriter Factory.

Yes, this is possibly the neatest thing I've ever found online. (I know, my true inner geek is really showing tonight isn't it?)

When I first read the diary I read a few pages each evening  laying in bed before turning off the light.  Reading with the internet at my fingertips is proving to be a far more interesting prospect!

In A One Horse Open Sleigh

Today Deanna and I took our girls  to the Granger Homestead for a ride in a one horse open sleigh!!!

I went alone last year as my daughter was sick so this year I wanted to share the experience.  Deanna's daughter Liv is as much of a Laura Ingalls fan as I am so I was thrilled they could make it. She even reminded us that today was Laura's 143rd Birthday! What a perfect way to celebrate it!

We stayed inside this beautiful (heated)  building and enjoyed complimentary hot cocoa/tea  and cookies while we waited for our ride. The girls also got a "sleigh" bell.

The rides were 10 minutes long and we went around the homestead and through the woods. It was 20 degrees out today and there was no wind. We had lap blankets and a lot of layers on and it was still  quite cold. Our driver told us that we were in actual antique sleighs, not reproductions, which tickled me to no end... She told us the history of jingle bells on the horses but our particular horse did not have bells as it was her first day on the job!

It was a wonderful ride.

We had to drive about 40 min to get there so we packed lunches for the car. The cost of the ride for me was $5 and it was $3 for my daughter. For $8 we had a pretty awesome afternoon doing something you don't get to do every day!

I'm really thankful that there are people in the world who make things like this accessible to the general public. At $8 per ride, no one is getting rich doing this for 2 hours. In addition, the woman who manned the tickets inside told me that the horse owners had probably started at 8am this morning brushing the horses and getting them ready and transporting them to the museum for the 1pm rides. Our driver told us her fingers were numb and at that point she had only been driving for about 45 minutes. (The rides are from 1-3 on Sunday afternoons). And yet they do all of this because they love it and so my girl and I get a little slice of the past. Amazing! Inspiring!

Tonight we read the Laura Ingalls First Little House Books, Dance At Grandpa's because they ride there in a one horse open sleigh!  It was neat to be able to read the book and think about what it felt like today.

Monday February 7, 1910

Went to Autonomy class at gym. Dave, Ray, Art & I played pool. Met Bess from home. 


W. Cold
R. 10

Sunday February 6, 1910

Today begins the diary of F.E. Filsinger, from 100 years ago.

Just a little background. F is 25 years old and lives at 504 Stinard Ave in Syracuse NY. He works in a factory and has a wife named Bess. That's all I'm telling for now. On to our first entry. Don't worry, they get better and day by day you can piece his life together.

Up home to dinner. Pearse Smich from the factory was up to dinner. 


W. Cold
R. 11

His penmanship is pretty and small. This is written in a small leather bound pocket diary and there are 3 days per page which tells you how much room he has to write.

Hmmm.......

Sometimes when I look at this blog I try and come up with things to write about based on what generates the most comments.

A lot of times, I find however, that what I'm really passionate about rarely generates as many comments as the things I throw out on a whim.

Case in point.... A scant 2 people have commented on the fact that I am in possession of a 100 year old diary, came into possession of it in an unusual way, and now want to share it with you all.....Seriously, have you met me. (well some of you have).. This is big stuff....   However, there are 15 comments in the post where I basically berate the scrambled egg recipes of everyone I know. You all loved the fact that I want a leopard print Snuggie (8 comments) but did not care that I made my own cherry liqueur or that I have baked bread over an open hearth (0 comments, both) .... I see a disconnect between us....(or perhaps it's between me and the rest of the world.) I don't even want to think about what this means about all of you.....

There is no accounting for taste I suppose. Yours or mine....

We all did come to some common ground in my Surveyor's House post but that was because some nice people from the SD tourism bureau happened upon it.

Facebook commentors you are exempt from this tirade* commentary as you all comment on everything. (Thank you Toni Lynn, Stella, Diana & Krista!) although I do like it when you visit me over here... And Michael, you could get a sign on and start posting comments rather than just randomly emailing me your thoughts.... (Ha-worked you in again!) Remember though, I approve all comments before they are published.

There I am again

In case you want to witness more of my pioneer prowess, I direct you to this link, which is on the Genesee Country Village & Museum website under classes you can take.

This picture is next to the cheese making class, although I am making, what else.....BUTTER. (Shhhhh.... Don't tell anyone.)

Yes, even as a pioneer I am all about butter.....

I'm straining the whey/buttemilk from the butter before I wash it with that butter paddle. After I was done, I fed the buttermilk to hogs that came charging at me when they realized I  had food for them. (Don't worry there was a fence between us, but it was a little surprising nonetheless.)

My husband looked way better than I dressed as a pioneer.  Therefore it is surprising to keep finding myself like this.

Apparently there are no classes for squirrel skinning, oxen driving, fence building, mattress stuffing or dancing with pretty young girls at the barn dance while your wife is in the final stages of consumption.