Tish-tosh don't forget the Piss-pot

Last week I talked about Prospecting on a Mountain and I am going to admit my weirdness and tell you something that pleased me. It was more on the view of a historian then the actual view I saw. Here is the problem we often have with a particular kind of museums. In museums that depict life we have to question ourselves, one who are the people we are trying to represent, and in trying to create a home or life experience how far is too far. For me when it comes to the daily life topics we often don’t go far enough or even put it out there for people to think about. This means when I saw a chamber pot in more than one room I may have had a complete joyful moment.

Jan Steen, Women getting ready for bed, note the chamber pot in right corner

That is right I got excited over seeing the piss-pot. Here is the thing though, when we talk about daily life, we talk about food, laundry, drinks, daily tasks, and other little bits of history. However unless, the bathroom plays into a story it often gets left out but it would very much be part of every home or hotel. I was even more excited to see that not only was there no indoor plumbing in the upstairs sections of the hotel. To top it off they had a variety, not only in shape but also type.

They had one like this one, unfortunately there was too many of us for me to get a picture of it

Even the best moments have had interpretivly was those wierd connection, birthing in an unknown place with people I didn’t know.  I personally have never had to do it but when I was playing a woman who had, I connected with a woman who had done just that, a military wife. I was asked by a child what the pot was under my bed, I told him and then asked him to check it and see if my "son" had cleaned it out that morning.  The little boy got so grossed out ran out of my house and his father looked at me laughing. He told me "That is the most realistic and best thing that has ever happened thank you. "

Ok so I might be a little weird but let us point out if there wasn’t a pot of any kinds. You are either going to become very constipated or things are going to get a little gross. So to any museums trying to make me feel at home, remind me I will need to go the bathroom, place a piss-pot under the bed or even just the room. The moments when I have made the most connections with people over history is when I was connecting them to day-to-day lives. Talking about trash, chores, poop, food and hardships makes the history not only more real but it creates a personal connection that you can’t get anywhere else.

The Romans were the first to create an idea of indoor plumbing.

Off Prospecting

Last week I took off, well at least from blogging, since my mother came down and we shared Clam Chowder made from the clams I dug a few weeks back. Other than the fact I burned the pork it turned out pretty good, or at least that is what my Grandma, my mom’s friend, my mom and later my dad assured me. A few days later however I was standing at the top of Mt. Holyoke in Hadley, Massachusetts at Skinner State Park for one of my jobs. The summit building was built in the early 1800s when people were starting to become fascinated with prospecting. No not gold searching but view searching.

Looking down over the Connecticut River Valley 

As for prospecting it gave quite the view. It was a tourist idea, to get people out and when you reached the top the mountain, you would be provided with drinks of water. This summit house grew over the years, a tram was added, and for 25 cents you could ride to the view. This gave easier access to even the handicap who couldn't see the view before. The business grew and then additions were added, a hotel and today it is part of the D.C.R (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation). Looking out over the view I was a little homesick as I saw the mountain I grew up with off shadowing in the distance. It is amazing to think that the River that wound around in quite snake like fashion. I would love to have seen how it looked throughout the years from when the Natives wondered the land, to the building and expansion of the summit house.

I would love to build a house right here

We often think of vacationing as such a modern idea but even the Kings and Queens in England were known to go on little journeys and travels to second homes to “get away”. By the 19^th Century, especially with the invention of the train, it became a bit more available for the Middleclass. By the mid-1800s with the Transcendentalist movement which was not only led by but inspired by writers like Henry David Thoreau (who was a known visitor to the Summit house), the idea of spending life communing with nature was being seen as a grand idea. I would like to point out only 200 years before the Natives had been doing just that in these areas. They of course walked it. By the time the 1800s though trains were not only made travel easier but quicker this allowed people to get out and see parts otherwise unseen to the average person. By the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s this expands to not only all over the United States but for the wealthy the word. Just as soon as Horses were forgotten for far off travelers, trains were over looked by the automobile. In the 1920s trailers became available so you could live in comfort with out depending on hotels. This idea of prospecting for knowledge and connections is nothing new. It is something that connects us all.

I clearly need a vacation now though since I have decided to write a blog on vacations.

A not so simple image

What is your least favorite task to do around your home? That is a sign of living a guess, unwanted tasks meant to keep you humble maybe, but unwanted none the less. Some of these tasks to help us stay healthy and can be almost soothing at times. When sewing there is always an unwanted consequence, laundry. I hate doing laundry but I love the outcomes, clean clothing and the look of it hanging to dry on the line. The simple image strangely is almost relaxing and a wink into time and I love that.

Norman Rockwell mid 20th century, all those task we dislike but must do

The invention of the washing machine diffidently made the task of easier but none the less it is still an almost unwanted task. Can you imagine the task before, dragging great basins, soap/lye(fine ash), sticks, battledores, never mind the laundry and perhaps chairs and something to do while you wait all the way to your laundry spot. You then need to fetch water which is why you dragged everything to the water, for it is much easier to carry everything to the water then the water to the laundry. You also need to get a fire started, boil the water. Meanwhile your largest basin you place your laundry a layer at a time, placing the clothing and then lye all the way to the top. The boiling water was then poured over top and when it came in contact with the lye it would form soap. You then would stir it, drain the water and do it again. Eventually you would take them to benches beat the cloth with wooden paddles called battledores before rinsing it in clean water and wringing it out. It would then be laid flat on the grass to beach in the sun. An all-day daunting task with a-lot of waiting, Waiting for the water to boil, waiting for the lye to sink into the clothing, waiting for it to dry. There are also images of people laying the clothing out on a green grassy knoll to bleach in the sun. Eventually the laundry was taken from the ground and hung on the line. The process changes, washboards replace stirring sticks and battledores and different soaps with more ideas of how to get rid of stains become available.

1582; A German Scene of women doing laundry. Washing and Beating with Battledores, laying it on the ground to bleach and hanging it

I have washed clothing in this method, the rinsing part is particularly enjoyable on a hot day, as you stand in cool water raising the cloth up and down, and splashing yourself in the process. Today there is not really a part as cooling to do. The image though of clothing hanging on the line is romantic, a glimpse perhaps to what is often thought of as a simpler time. Nothing was simple about it, but it was does make an amazing image.

The washing machine made the work a little easier to bare but these old style machines are a far cry from what sits in the laundry room today.

you got to go dig those holes

I didn’t post yesterday because instead I was actually had an adventure for the first time in forever. I went clamming on the Cape. I donned my swimming suit and drove down to visit a friend who had a permit (yes just like fishing and hunting you need one). This is definitely one of those things on my bucket list that I have been wanting to do. Some people want to jump out of airplanes, some want to go clamming, and others want to try both. I am in the both category but one is a start.

 

Once you find the holes you have to jump on them to make them spit.

We started by pumping out the dingy we were going to use to get there but as in adventure fashion not all went as planned. We headed out and the motor junked out halfway to our destination. We then turned around and started rowing back to the marina. It was quite the work out that only got worse when the oarlock on one of the oars snapped off. Now here we were sitting in the middle of the channel drifting but I am determined to get to the clams and to do that we need to get back to the marina and move to plan b. So I started canoeing the row boat. Both of us having bad backs though praying on our minds and neither of us wanted to spend today curled on the couch crying in pain. A phone call later and her father was going to send someone from the marina. A bit of frustration from both of us and me really wanting to get to the clams and refusal to be rescued like some damsel in distress, I somehow got the motor restarted and drove as quick as I could to the dock. It died out just before we got there but was close enough to the docks now that we could at least push the last 50 feet to the dock and tie up.

Next you got to dig

So adventure block number 1, 2, and 3 over. Time for plan b. We went back to her house and after a cider we got the kayak and with a little help from her dad we were directly across from where we were going to go clamming. Thirty seconds later we were pulling up on the island beach and the real work was about to begin. I was so relaxed digging in the ground for those clams. The first step was to find little holes in the sand and stomp near them and if they squirted you dug, and dug. Seriously there is a lot of digging involved. We started with gloves to help keep our hands from turning black from the sand. We eventually gave up the gloves and cared less about getting dirty. Growing your food is fun but I was so excited about finding yummy food. You would get all excited as you felt around in the sand and water as your fingers grazed the hard shell of the clam only to discover all you had found was a rock. Then you would stick your hands down deeper, pushing and pulling the sand until your fingers and hands graze something hard again. This time you pull out a clam, big round and looking beautiful. Unfortunately, some of them had soft shells and we damaged the shells in the process. Other ones we pulled out were too small but an hour later we found a half of a basket of clams, three quahogs and one razor and were paddling across the channel to the beach and dinner.

"You got to go dig those holes, diggin' aaa holes, diggin' uuhh holes diggin'"

 

An hour later a half of a basket of clams

After cleaning them in pepper, (breadcrumbs work better but it was what we had), we steamed them in beer and water with sweat potatoes, kielbasa, onions. I usually steam them by themselves but this might be my new way to cook them. We worked hard, the food was yummy and so worth the effort. We have already planned to do it again and I am looking forward to it. Though we already plan to skip the dingy and start with the kayak.

Quahog

Razor clam

Bean, beans the wonderful fruit

In a never ending quest to find peace and balance in my daily life, I have hardly found time to breath and sleep never mind write. I have been busy in the past weeks working my two jobs (I kind of cannot wait for the summer to be over) and still finding brief quiet moments to make knit hats, mittens, socks and some aprons that will be up on etsy in a month. I was rewarded on Sunday though when I got home from work and spent some time working in my garden to discover that not only would my blackberries be providing fruit in a few days but my beans would be providing part of my dinner that night.

Working in the garden can be as soothing to me as knitting and sewing unfortunately my strength wavers fast in the sun and so I have to remember to take a break as I work. It is one of those task I remember doing as a young child, helping my mom after my father had tilled the bed. I remembering help to drag the hoses and watering pots across the driveway to water our pretty decent size bed, weeding, and then harvest. I guess that sense of duty is still weighing on me a little since on Sunday I  only wanted to curl up on my couch and sleep but I pushed forward to water my garden since the little rain we got wasn’t enough to water my food.

Much to my pleasure my push was rewarded, I found beans. Beans were always something my family grew. So much my mother’s parents were called G&G Beans by us grandkids. Even at his apartment my grandpa still keeps his beans. Underrated they are beans, coming in all shapes, sized and colors, and Archaeologist have evidence of them being grown for over 7,000 years. In Native American culture the bean is brought by a crow with the corn and pumpkins. Tribes in the Northern parts would plant their corn in mounds on top of the local fish. On the coast line of New England when the herring (alewife) ran up river it was not only a sign to plant the corn but the very fish that would fertilize their food. They then would plant the beans around that and then pumpkins to cover them. It was a tradition that they taught to the first settlers that we call Pilgrims. One book I read even credited the Natives with teaching the English how to cook the beans and I will give credit where it was due but considering there were cook books with cooking recipes for beans already from England and Holland that predate the English’s arrival so that can be tossed out as a thought.

The first harvest of the year

Underrated the bean may be but tasty and vast in types it truly is. They have inspired rhymes and stories, from Jack and the Bean stock to that lovely rhyme "bean, beans the wonderful fruit the more you eat the more you toot," For my family this vegetable has held more meaning and it will often hopefully grace our garden beds for generations to come because after a long day at work on Monday coming home to fresh green beans made a tolerable day not only uplifting but superb. 

Odd Tools

Every crafter has their perfect tools. Their favorite pair of scissors, favorite seam rippers, books, and those items we just always seem to be reaching for. I have a collection of them near all of my work stations. I have the usual, scissors, needles, pins, seam rippers, a bin for trash threads and a pin cushion besides my sewing machines. Where I knit, I have stitch markers, needles, pins, scissors of varying sizes, crochet hooks, treads, a bin for trash yarn and thread and hand lotion.

We all also have some random weird tools that we keep by use when we work. Here are some of mine

My knitting work space by my couch

• Flashlight - getting a closer look at the machine when it is being weird.
• Q-tips - for cleaning out lint
• Tweezers – for spaces that my fingers don’t fit
• Toe spacers – perfect for holding my bobbins without having to worry about thread tangling
• Safety pins – they are just handy for keeping around
• Purple Thang – I have talked about this before in a previous blog, I still love it.
• A pen, and paper because you never know when you need to jot yourself a note.
• A screwdriver – if you have an old machine or even a new one, (new ones usually comes with one) and changing the needle is easier if you have one. For older machines you sometimes need one to get to all the spots that need oiling.
• An emery board for when you break, accidently cut or sew through your nail.
• Lotion because when working with softer materials I don't like the feeling that my hand is snagging the fabric.
• A place to put scrap fabric, yarns and threads

My current work space on my dinning room table. These need to be kept organized to be moved when mom comes to visit.

Got any useful tools you keep near your work space that have proven helpful? Would love to hear.

Work space near my vintage machines, screws, fashion discs for the easy touch, q-tips and a pill bottle for old needles.

Kitchen cooking hack : eggs

When I was little my brother and I spent a lot of time watching PBS, “Are you being served?”, The bucket woman, This Old House, Norm’s work shop, the best of the Ed Sullivan show, the many children’s shows available during our childhood and one wise woman named, Juliet Child. Everyone knows when she married she couldn’t even boil an egg. I will also be honest with you, four years ago neither could I. I had three eggs, scrabbled, omelet and omelet scrambled. Then four years ago I was at a job interview and they were asking about my gardening skill, my sewing skills but although they told me I would have to cook they asked me nothing about my cooking skills. I remember praying that they didn’t ask me if I knew how to cook or bake. I didn’t know how to tell them I knew how to do a blind hem stitch but couldn’t even boil an egg.

Once training began though I told my trainer I didn’t know one thing about cooking. I knew how to follow directions but other than that forget it. She smiled and told me I would be alright like other things she would be there to teach me. One of the first things she did get to teach me was how to boil eggs and she showed me a really simple and easy way not only to time it but also how to tell they’re done. Simple words place eggs in water, bring to boil for 5 minutes, let sit in hot water for 30 minutes, pull out and watch the steam rise, if the water the wicks away from the eggs with-in few seconds they’re done.

In modern words because this was us using an open fire, I have it down to this and you will always come up with perfect eggs.

Place eggs in water and bring to a hard boil. If you are in the kitchen you will hear it.

Set the timer for 4 minutes. When the timer goes off turn off the burner.

Set the timer for another 4 minutes.  Meanwhile set up a bowl filled with cold water. I add a little ice to my water.

When the timer goes off, scoop the eggs out of the boiling water and if you have kids around it can be fun to let them watch water steam off the eggs. Place them in the ice water and let them sit for 30 minutes.

Congrats, perfect hard boil eggs.

Maybe my next food blog will be my egg salad.

Sewing wisdoms

In light that I recently did a bit on wisdoms I had discovered with knitting, I thought I would share some of my sewing ones...

1. Cloth makes everything better
2. Cloth has a mind of its own
3. Cloth is as expensive as yarn so apparently I can't pick a cheep hobby
4. The feel of cloth is called the hand
5. If the sewing machine and you have a fight, it is always your fault so walk away do something else to clear your head, you have lost and it is telling you that you are tired
6. A shot of whiskey after said fight will help calm you but it won't solve the problem only a cleared head will do that.
7.  Throwing bobbins and needles across the room doesn't help but it make you feel better
      7.5 until you  step on the needles.
8. Keep experimenting till you find a method that works
9. Seriously no one notices too much if you make a mistake, they end up thinking it was intentional
10. Have fun and it is ok to u-tube and Pinterest it.

A wedding gift for a friend from college, with a beautiful quote.