History

What is history to you? Is it the exciting adventure of people who lived before you? Was it a text book you had to read in high school? Is it dreary, uninteresting facts that mean nothing to you? History is fascinating to me in all forms. I enjoy reading history books, researching my own family history, visiting living history sites and museums.




















I was introduced this week to a couple of new and interesting ways of learning history. My cousin, Becki Redwine Buchmann and her husband, Tom, came for a visit. They're on their way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where they will participate as reenactors at the Battle of Gettysburg which originally took place on July 1-3, 1863. Becki showed my sister, Grace, and I the clothes that she and Tom wear when reenacting. She explained how she made some of their clothes and why they were made that way. The dress above is one of her favorites. She took the bodice to the dry cleaners to have it cleaned before she was to make a TV appearance. When she went to pick it up she was horrified to find that it turned a faded green color. What was she going to do? One of her reenactor friends ask her how many yards she had in the skirt. There were 8 yards of material in the skirt. She was able to take 2 yards of material out of the skirt and use for the bodice. The inside of the garment has been beautifully finished.
In the second photo you can the antique beads she added to the bodice. Although the dress is cotton it is quite heavy. The third photo shows the gauging on the skirt. She showed this technique to Abigail who has already made two dresses for her Barbie doll. Something else that the dresses in her collection have in common is the binding on the hem. Because the dresses are long and touch the ground the binding prevents the hem from becoming frayed. When the binding does become worn the skirt is taken apart and turned upside down. The hem now becomes the waist and the waist becomes the hem with new binding. Grace asked her about washing the clothes. They are not washed to often. They are spot cleaned. I wondered about body odor. Many of these reenactments are done in the summer in high temperatures. Becki wears full cotton under garments which keeps the body odor and body oils away from the clothes. The clothes that Becki sews or buys have been made using sewing techniques from the 1860's period. She and Tom have 12 years of experience as reenactors and she was able to answer ours questions with ease.

Thursday night, June 05, 2008 Mike and Anna were hard at work decorating the church and the reception hall. They found a lovely old church in town to have their wedding. Anna had spent the past two years buying things on sale to use as decorations for the wedding. It all paid off. The decorations were simple and lovely. The above video clip shows the inside of the church. The music in the background is from Samuel's CD.

Anna and Mike's Wedding, June 07, 2008

Can't Sleep

I'm wide awake and it's 4:10 am. I got all snug in the bed and laid there for an hour and a half with my eyes closed and it didn't work. I went to the kitchen and made myself some Raisin Bread toast and drank some milk. This is not the time for me to be wide awake. I go to see my hospice patient in a few hours. I need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed! I have errands to run later in the day. My oldest daughter, Anna, is getting married Saturday and there are a lot of things to do. I'm listening to my Thunderstorm CD hoping it will relax me and help me to fall asleep.

Being awake at this hour is not uncommon. I think it has something to do with menopause. My sister is also having this same problem. She's a very routine person but she's finding herself waking in the early hours not being able to sleep either. Our mother had the same problem. She would go to the living room and watch a little TV, sew or read a book.

Brent always called me a hoot owl. Many were the times he would call for me to come to bed. He told me he couldn't sleep until I came to bed. Sometimes I would lie there waiting for him to start snoring then get out of bed and quietly go to the living room and busy myself with something.

MySpace, Facebook, Blogs and CarePages

Facebook.com
I had a friend send me an invitation to Facebook. I accepted and thought I wouldn't use it much. Oh, I'm having a great time with it. It is a mindless way to occupy your time and yet keep in touch with friends and relatives who live far and wide. For you older folks (of course, this includes me) it is a great way to relate to your children, nieces and nephews, and young adult friends. Great for cousins who might live far apart. Facebook allows you to load as many photos as you would like. My favorite application on Facebook has turned out to be "Pieces of Flair". You can select from hundreds of buttons with sayings, photos, cartoons, Bible verses and so many more. You send them to your friends and they can post them to their bulletin board. I admit with embarrassment that I spent a good deal of time yesterday making my own "Pieces of Flair". My favorite flair was the one I made from a photo of Brent. I sent it to my friends who knew him. I also made one from a photo of a panda that I took at the zoo. You can list flairs in the directory for everyone to use or in the case of the photo flair of Brent I kept that one to myself and can send it to the people I choose. To my surprise I've had 16 people choose my panda to send to their friends. Guess what? It feels good that the flair I created was chosen by someone else.

MySpace.com
My oldest daughter, Anna, has had a MySpace page for a long time. She decided to set one up for Brent before he went to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She said it would be a great way to let people know about his leukemia and what was going on with him. I just couldn't get into it. Well, after spending all this time with Facebook, Anna tells me MySpace is just as good as Facebook. Okay, so now I'm spending this evening setting up a MySpace account. I'll see how I like it.

Blogs
The diarist in me loves to write on my blog. I enjoy writing life stories/moments and sharing them with others hoping they will be encouraged. My friend Liz is an avid blogger. She rarely misses putting something on her blog on a daily basis. I freeze when I begin thinking about writing on my blog. I begin thinking about how long it will take me to write my thoughts, or I think "Nobody wants to read about so and so or this and that." Liz will send me ideas, or tell me to just post a photo or a joke. I feel guilty, as all diarist, when I don't write something everyday. I'm a big procrastinator and it is easy to find an excuse. I'm not even moved by the fact that my visitor counter hasn't moved for several days. But, my blog is here for me whenever I need it.

Grandma and Grandpa set up a blog for your grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Write family stories and add photos.

CarePages.com
What a blessing CarePages was for me. The spouse of a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD told me about the CarePages. They are free pages where you can share updates about your loved ones illness or hospital stay. You can post up to the minutes updates and photos to hundreds of friends and family. Your friends can send you messages of encouragement and let you know they are praying for you and your loved one. CarePages was my lifeline to friends and family back home. In the evening when I came back home to the apartment I could write an update about Brent and send photos. It helped me to keep my thoughts together and keep me sane for the 4 months we were there.

It may be hard for the older generation to relate to these electronic ways of communicating, but it is certainly something that young people embrace. RSVP's, long hand written letters, and thank you notes are all but gone. The days of spending my summers writing 15 page letters, to pen pals and classmates who had moved away, are long gone.

The above web sites are great ways to keep in contact with family and friends who are near or far away. They all provide you with the option of only sharing your page with "friends only". I hope you'll try one.