A beautiful day. Blue skies, puffy little white clouds, and a perfect temperature of 75 degrees. I don't care for heat. Heat means wearing a bonnet, or getting sunburned because of my fair Scottish skin. Today? I didn't care about a sun burn, and I refused to wear a bonnet. I spent most of the day outside. I love to hike about the area where Blake's ranch is located. The mountains are almost in the backyard.
Now that I live in town with Will and Lucy, the mountains are a little further away. Today, the three of us went for a picnic. Will is always so busy. Lucy and I talked him into taking a day off. I wanted them to see Fern Falls, and the mysterious place that John Stone, Blake, and I found above the falls. I warned them that it was a long drive, but none of us cared. We told tall tales, laughed, sang silly songs, and laughed some more.
Lucy and I had made fried chicken, and a potato salad. We also ate some bottled peaches. The dessert was Red's amazing chocolate cake. I finally convinced him to give me the recipe. I can't believe that I managed to make it myself....with some help from Lucy. She's an amazing cook. She has tried to help me to understand how to gauge the heat caused by wood stoves. Honestly, I wish that someone would figure out how to make an oven cook at the temperature you want! It's hard when you're adding wood, and stoking the fire to keep it just right.
Anyway, Will and Lucy were just as amazed at Fern Falls as I am. After we ate our delicious lunch, the three of us trooped up to the circle room. Lucy was fascinated by the art work. Will not quite as much the art work as the sliding door to get into the space.
I still wonder, "Who were these people? I have never heard of any Indian tribes that lived in this area. I know that when Astoria was first settled, there were several tribes of Indians that lived in this area, at the mouth of the Columbia river. They were very wealthy because so many tribes would travel the Columbia to come here and trade.
It's awful to me how poorly many of the native tribes have been treated. It seems like the fur trappers marry the women, and then who did the native men marry?
I feel asleep in the back of the wagon traveling home. Lucy had to work hard to wake me up and get me to bed. It was truly a wonderful day!
Monday, May 28, 2018
Monday, May 14, 2018
Ardis Journal
Lucy and Will are so crazy in love with each other. It's hard to live with them for two main reasons.
1. I miss Blake and Red like crazy. OK, I miss Blake in a different way than Red.
2. It's really hard to witness Will and Lucy's affection while I'm stuck in limbo. I don't know if Tom is alive or dead, and I'm in love with another man than my husband. OK, there may actually be more like three reasons.
This place is so very beautiful. The excess of rain that we have had this last year has created a green that seems to explode in intensity from the inside to the out. There are many different shades of green, and together they seem woven in a most beautiful tapestry.
I once saw a tapestry when I was in Astoria. I don't remember any more who it was that showed it to me. I do remember that it was amazing to me, a weaving of colors, patterns, and even textures that created art work. There were young girls cavorting about a field. They were all dressed in an old fashioned way. I think they said that the tapestry was from the late 1700's. It was definitely not from America. The girls wore high curled wigs that were the whitest white I've ever seen. It seemed an odd fashion for young girls to have old lady WHITE hair?
I have spun fabric before. My mother felt that every young lady should know how to spin her own fabric. She especially wanted me to have the skill to use after I was married. She would say with a gleam of excitement in her eye (she LOVED to spin) "Ardis Kay...spinning is a wonderful skill for a woman to have. There may be times of poverty in your life. I, of course, hope not. Nonetheless, part of the reason that your father and I have prospered economically is that I could spin our fabric, and sew our own clothes. I could do the same for others in the community as well. I feel that its a very important skillset."
Granted, spinning and sewing is a bit different from the weaving of a tapestry but they have many features in common. You spin wool to turn it into thread. You then use the thread to sew with, or your weave it in to fabric. Most of the fabric that you handcraft you do not weave artwork in. That is far beyond my skills.
Yet both weaving fabric, and weaving tapestry involves threads, a loom, needles and a great deal of training. I can't imagine that anyone could train themselves to spin, or to weave...and definitely not to design and create patterns, let alone sew garments from all of that process.
It is a marvel to me that many women no longer even do these processes. They either go to a seamstress, or purchase ready made clothing. I enjoy the designing and sewing part of that process. I do not enjoy the shearing of sheep, the carding and cleaning of the wool, and then the spinning and weaving. I love figuring out how to create pattern pieces to create a dress just the way that I want it.
A tapestry is created by interwoven threads that craft art, pictures of life. I often wonder if God has his angels busily spinning and weaving the tapestries of each of our lives. My goodness, that would be a very large tapestry! Imagine depicting just one day of life, now we add different colors representing another life woven through mine, and then the images, and all of the adventure and challenge that I've faced....that would be a most interesting picture!
Well now I'm going to weave myself into a tapestry of slumber!
1. I miss Blake and Red like crazy. OK, I miss Blake in a different way than Red.
2. It's really hard to witness Will and Lucy's affection while I'm stuck in limbo. I don't know if Tom is alive or dead, and I'm in love with another man than my husband. OK, there may actually be more like three reasons.
This place is so very beautiful. The excess of rain that we have had this last year has created a green that seems to explode in intensity from the inside to the out. There are many different shades of green, and together they seem woven in a most beautiful tapestry.
I once saw a tapestry when I was in Astoria. I don't remember any more who it was that showed it to me. I do remember that it was amazing to me, a weaving of colors, patterns, and even textures that created art work. There were young girls cavorting about a field. They were all dressed in an old fashioned way. I think they said that the tapestry was from the late 1700's. It was definitely not from America. The girls wore high curled wigs that were the whitest white I've ever seen. It seemed an odd fashion for young girls to have old lady WHITE hair?
I have spun fabric before. My mother felt that every young lady should know how to spin her own fabric. She especially wanted me to have the skill to use after I was married. She would say with a gleam of excitement in her eye (she LOVED to spin) "Ardis Kay...spinning is a wonderful skill for a woman to have. There may be times of poverty in your life. I, of course, hope not. Nonetheless, part of the reason that your father and I have prospered economically is that I could spin our fabric, and sew our own clothes. I could do the same for others in the community as well. I feel that its a very important skillset."
Granted, spinning and sewing is a bit different from the weaving of a tapestry but they have many features in common. You spin wool to turn it into thread. You then use the thread to sew with, or your weave it in to fabric. Most of the fabric that you handcraft you do not weave artwork in. That is far beyond my skills.
Yet both weaving fabric, and weaving tapestry involves threads, a loom, needles and a great deal of training. I can't imagine that anyone could train themselves to spin, or to weave...and definitely not to design and create patterns, let alone sew garments from all of that process.
It is a marvel to me that many women no longer even do these processes. They either go to a seamstress, or purchase ready made clothing. I enjoy the designing and sewing part of that process. I do not enjoy the shearing of sheep, the carding and cleaning of the wool, and then the spinning and weaving. I love figuring out how to create pattern pieces to create a dress just the way that I want it.
A tapestry is created by interwoven threads that craft art, pictures of life. I often wonder if God has his angels busily spinning and weaving the tapestries of each of our lives. My goodness, that would be a very large tapestry! Imagine depicting just one day of life, now we add different colors representing another life woven through mine, and then the images, and all of the adventure and challenge that I've faced....that would be a most interesting picture!
Well now I'm going to weave myself into a tapestry of slumber!
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Ardis
Red is helping me to understand the vagaries of Blake's wood stove. I really don't care for cooking. It annoys me that three times a day food must be prepared and eaten, then cleaned up after. It feels as though this takes the majority of the day.
Getting a wood stove to stay at a consistent temperature is not pleasant, but it is marginally easier than cooking over an open fire as we did in our travels from Tennessee. It was so beastly hot in the plains as we crossed, but we still had to burn a fire to cook with.
As a young girl I enjoyed eating. I didn't have to cook to create the food. I DID have to help my ma clean up after the meal. I didn't mind that too much. Ma and I would talk and laugh, and sing songs. Sometimes she would sit in a chair and keep me company while I did the dishes.
I have been making a fruit crisp lately that Red has taught me how to make. You can make it with any type of fruit, but if you use berries you may need to add a Tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it.
FRUIT CRISP
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup sugar (I prefer to use brown sugar)
1 cup sweet cream butter
Blend all of these things together, creaming the butter into the other ingredients. If you're using fresh apples peel them, core them, and slice them. Place them on the bottom of your pan. Add vanilla, or lavender water, or rosehip water on top, and then sprinkle cinnamon over the fruit. Next add the other ingredients over the top.
Bake at 400 degrees (the hottest you can make your woodburning stove) for forty five minutes, or until the crust is golden.
Serve with sweet cream, or ice cream.
This is a dish that I actually enjoy making. I think I enjoy making it because I enjoy eating it so very much!
Getting a wood stove to stay at a consistent temperature is not pleasant, but it is marginally easier than cooking over an open fire as we did in our travels from Tennessee. It was so beastly hot in the plains as we crossed, but we still had to burn a fire to cook with.
As a young girl I enjoyed eating. I didn't have to cook to create the food. I DID have to help my ma clean up after the meal. I didn't mind that too much. Ma and I would talk and laugh, and sing songs. Sometimes she would sit in a chair and keep me company while I did the dishes.
I have been making a fruit crisp lately that Red has taught me how to make. You can make it with any type of fruit, but if you use berries you may need to add a Tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it.
FRUIT CRISP
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup sugar (I prefer to use brown sugar)
1 cup sweet cream butter
Blend all of these things together, creaming the butter into the other ingredients. If you're using fresh apples peel them, core them, and slice them. Place them on the bottom of your pan. Add vanilla, or lavender water, or rosehip water on top, and then sprinkle cinnamon over the fruit. Next add the other ingredients over the top.
Bake at 400 degrees (the hottest you can make your woodburning stove) for forty five minutes, or until the crust is golden.
Serve with sweet cream, or ice cream.
This is a dish that I actually enjoy making. I think I enjoy making it because I enjoy eating it so very much!
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