thursday tea

one of the horn of the moon cookies made with morgan's heart shaped cookie cutter from sturbridge . . with earl grey tea. 

today's babysitting pics:

sturbridge in the snow

 so on friday morning in the 12 degree air, i was the only visitor in sturbridge. but then, thankfully, a bunch more came in the afternoon . . (only three visitors came during the storm on thursday).

 the freeman farm . .

 the friday farmers at the freeman farm . . 

the oxen and cows . . 

 at the blacksmith shop where they told me about making boot scrapers and iron forks . . 

 they needed a special hot chisel tool which was missing, so the master blacksmith made a hot chisel from a cold one . . 

 it had to be heated several times to bring it to the right hardness . . here he's waiting for the "purple" to creep down to the tip at which time he plunged it into the water to halt it's progress.

and then it was ready to split the iron . . the one on the right will be stretched and shaped into a copy of the fork on the left. the iron is softer than the chisel tool which was steel (iron mixed with carbon).

keeping warm . . 

 warm woolen mittens, a quilted bonnet, and a knitted scarf (made by morgana).

and her favorite article of clothing for the day: the purple wool cloak.

california dreaming on a winter's day

so on thursday morning we ended up driving into a winter storm . . and the trunk popped open on the cross county parkway. we had to exit and quickly shut it . . and almost got stuck in the snow. it was really coming down thick and heavy and wet. i felt lucky to find our way back onto the parkway. chanda helped me with my smartphone and google maps.

(so i titled this post "california dreaming" because i spent a good part of the trip regaling chanda with stories of my days in california (which she's already heard a hundred times practically) and talking about eva and her family and all the wonderful places they're seeing and adventures they're having in good ol' CA.)

the snow wasn't letting up so we decided to take a break in westport, connecticut where we found "neat" cafe . . and had tomato basil soup and a breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, beans and avocado).

chanda worked on her italy report for her european geography class.

finally made it to nana's . . 

chanda helped the downstairs lady refill her bird feeders . . 

the next morning we were on our way to sturbridge . . 12 degrees! it was a cold day for her . . 

and a cold day for the sheep. i found them huddled together by the barn.

it might have been incredibly cold, but it was incredibly beautiful. i sat in the miner grant store (they put in tables in the winter) and had my sandwich with a bowl of new england clam chowder. then i worked on my new knitting project and talked to the a young pregnant lady sitting at the next table. she was very sweet and was wondering what i was knitting. she said she and her husband were on a "baby moon." they were visiting sturbridge for the weekend.

a cold day at sturbridge

greg took these at sturbridge today. it only got up to 25 degrees which is rather cold for the weekend after thanksgiving. chanda bundled up with tights and legwarmers and three sweaters under her long dress. they gave her a quilted bonnet and a long cloak. she loved the cloak and said it made her feel like she was in harry potter, and she was a bit miffed that greg didn't get a pic of her in it.

she had lots of good food to eat: turkey, mince meat (leftover turkey and ham, cabbage and stuffing, carrots and some potatoes), pumpkin pie, marlborough pudding (a custard like cake with eggs, cream, apples, sugar, and lemon rind), turkey pie (a pot pie), mince meat pie (sweeter than mince meat with lamb, raisins and dried apricots), turnip sauce (basically mashed potatoes with mashed up turnips, butter and cream, salt and kitchen pepper-a mix of different spices-not really a sauce but called a sauce), pounded cheese (cheese pounded with different spices) and white bread. she says it was a delicious feast and they all ate a lot. it's now after six and she just got home and says she is still full! she also says there were no visitors until noon, and then there were more than she expected. sturbridge also hosts a thanksgiving meal that people pay for, and chanda says it is very popular.

sunny, windy and no rain!

 

it was a much pleasanter day today. here's korrina's finished bookmark. her friend conor met us at sturbridge and she headed off with him to her uu camp at ferry beach. she'll spend today through friday there with other fellow unitarian universalists at religious education week. we went for two summers when she was a eleven and twelve, and she continued going back each year on her on. we visited two summers ago for her bridging ceremony.

 

 

a pic they sent me from ferry beach . . 

 

 

and back at sturbridge at the dyepots . . 

 

 

morgana and chanda worked together this morning. they prepped the yarn with ammonia for dyeing in brazilwood. 

 

 

i sat on the bench and listened to the fife and drum . . 

do you recognize the song? it's free america; the same song the choir was singing on independence day in the meetinghouse.

 

 

in the afternoon, morgana had a very nice job: sitting and sewing in the nice cool upstairs parsonage bedroom. she loved sitting next to the window and watching everyone walk by. when i entered the house i heard a soft "mama!" call to me, but i didn't realize at first where it was coming from. then i went up the stairs and found her. the material she is hemming will be used for sturbridge weddings for baskets of bread and rolls.

 

 

the book i'm currently reading . . one of our favorite series.

 

 

morgana and her friend coming from the meetinghouse where they had just finished up a baseball game.

 

 

i had been taking my usual nap on the bench in the grape arbor when a voice kindly asked if i could move for a moment. the bride and groom had arrived for photographs. they looked lovely together.

a rainy fourth of july

 

i was not looking forward to driving I84 in the pouring rain, so i was happy to only have grey skies early this morning. it was a beautiful cloudy day, and korrina and i watched chanda do the flag raising with her co-workers. 

 

 

next was the a salute with the muskets.

 they fired three times . . i caught two of them.

 

 

it's difficult to see with these cell phone pictures, but the clouds created a soft grey light over everything.

 

 

it finally did start pouring. korrina and i had made our way to the miner grant general store when it started. we shared a piece of holiday independence cake and a cup of coffee and sat on the benches while the rain intensified. it poured and poured . . buckets. visitors came from all corners seeking shelter. george the coachman finally took his horses in for the day. the rest of the afternoon was spent going from one indoor activity to another. k and i had a fun time learning several dances in the parsonage barn . . 

 

 

and i made my way over to the meetinghouse for the reading of the declaration of independence (one of my favorite parts to this day). they also had a choir sing several songs from the time period:

free america

 

. . torn from a world of tyrants
beneath this western sky
we formed a new dominion,
  a land of liberty;
the world shall own we're freemen here,
and such will ever be,
huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza
for love and liberty.
 

lift up your hearts, my heroes,
and swear with proud disdain,
the wretch that would ensnare you
shall spread his net in vain;
should europe empty all her force,
we'd meet them in array,
and shout huzza, huzza, huzza
for brave america.

the land where freedom reigns shall still
be masters of the main,
in giving laws and freedom
to subject france and spain;
and all the isles o'er ocean spread
shall tremble and obey,
the prince who rules by freedom's laws
in north america.

the lyrics are very provocative! what rebels we were! huzza huzza!

(these words were written by dr. joseph warren of boston and put to the song british grenadiers. warren was one of the original minute men and chairman of the committee of safety of boston in 1775. he was the one who set paul revere off on his famous ride to lexington to warn john adams and john hancock of the british advance. he was commissioned a major general by the massachusetts provincial congress and killed in the battle of bunker hill.)

 

 there was also a naturalization ceremony in the meetinghouse at 11 am. about one hundred people took their citizen's oath today. it was fun to see the many countries represented . . there were supposedly thirty seven. i liked the speech given by the state court clerk. he spoke about the foreign cultures joining with the american culture to create a new mix that would benefit all.

at five o'clock it was still pouring rain and we had to drive home after listening to the fife and drum in the parsonage barn. thankfully, by the time we were halfway home, the sky cleared and we drove the rest of the way with just a drizzle. we were very happy to be home (especially since we hadn't left with sweaters and sweatshirts and we were all wet and cold).