Help Me Reach 100!

Hello my lovely, faithful readers! As you all know, I started a newsletter last month! Aand, I am delighted to say that I have reached 83 subscribers - which I personally think is pretty good. I mean. I have no numbers to compare it to - but it's got to be pretty good in lessContinue reading "Help Me Reach 100!"

19th Century Shoes: 1851 – 1860

1851-1860ish Men's Footwear Leather soles Round, square, and pointed toes Medium stacked heels Leather uppers halves, with fabric tops Could have button fastenings, elastic gussets, ribbon laces Women's Footwear Mostly pointed toes now Heeled shoes and boots Boots usually had elastic gussets or laced Evening shoes of stuff or taffeta Elastic sides or laced Bows,Continue reading "19th Century Shoes: 1851 – 1860"

Dinner at 1800: Rice Pudding

I know. Rice pudding? Really? Yes, really! And I didn't let Daniel know what I was making because I wanted to see his face when I placed it in front of him. But, without further ado, let's get down to it - because this was a fun one to figure out. Oh, and don't forgetContinue reading "Dinner at 1800: Rice Pudding"

Dancing Through the Forest

I feel like half of life is just surviving it. Which I hate saying because...I mean, we are supposed to enjoy life, aren't we? All the movies, all the books, all the inspirational speeches...everything talks about finding joy in life. Not letting it overwhelm you, or getting too caught up in your career, money, hardships,Continue reading "Dancing Through the Forest"

On the Trail: Causes of Death

When traveling the Oregon/California Trail, there was one thing that was consistent among all of the plaques and museums and books and guides...and that was how INCONSISTENT they were on the number of people who traveled the trail. Seriously. We saw numbers that ranged all the way from 100,000ish to half a million. Honestly, itContinue reading "On the Trail: Causes of Death"

GIVEAWAY!

I know, I know - it's Friday, not Wednesday! But I had some super exciting news to share with you all. Okay, if you have followed me for any amount of time, you know that I complain openly about the requirement to do email newsletters for writers. And, I still think that the importance ofContinue reading "GIVEAWAY!"

19th Century Shoes: 1841 – 1850

1841-1850ish Men's Footwear Leather, leather, leather! Leather soles, boots, heels Round toes Low to medium stacked heels Contrasting colors on upper boot, sometimes with ribbon pulls Trousers under foot Women's Footwear Heelless fine leather soles, mostly, with some wedge heels Square, pointed, round toes Leather toecaps and elastic side gussets Low-cut square vamps Satin ribbons,Continue reading "19th Century Shoes: 1841 – 1850"

Dinner at 1800: Fricasseed Chicken

I openly admit it - I cheated a little on this recipe. You see, the recipe said to singe the chicken and then cut it into pieces. A google search told me that singing the chicken was to help get the last of the feathers out, so that seemed an unnecessary step. And, although IContinue reading "Dinner at 1800: Fricasseed Chicken"

19th Century Shoes: 1831 – 1840

1831-1840ish Men's Footwear Leather boots, sometimes with toe caps Stirrup under foot Evening pumps with low-cut vamps Thin soles Possible trimmings might have included bows, silk linings Women's Footwear Boots, boots, and more boots; cloth, sable, silk, black velvet, short front Square or round toes Satin evening shoes, often with long silk ribbons Flat pumpsContinue reading "19th Century Shoes: 1831 – 1840"

Dinner at 1800: Hardtack

Now, I have to say...I am a little reluctant to actually call this hardtack. Because everyone who knows anything about hardtack knows it is a small, tasteless, hard cracker that can last for years. But when I ran across this recipe in my Oregon Trail cookbook, I was like, well, maybe I was mistaken. OrContinue reading "Dinner at 1800: Hardtack"