May 22 Grange

The Grange in May is going to be a first person development and discussion day! If anyone is interested there is information at http://www.txcwcivilian.org/id17.html and http://henkelsquare.aceboard.com/338947-5361-4486-0-First-Person-discussion.htm

Next dress

I find I'm in need of a new "not-so-fancy" dress. I have a couple of lengths of homespun that I'm going to use up. One I purchased at Lost Tribes

I plan to use PP 812 the new sheer dress pattern. The fabric is not all that sheer but light weight enough. And of course, I'll need a new bonnet. This time a nice sunbonnet, probably corded rather than slat. I think this will be nice for the Missouri event in September.

The next dress, maybe, will be with the green/black plaid I had gotten for Piney Woods and never used. This will definitely be a working, in the garden, don't care if it stains dress.

Other projects on the board, a paletot with green or black wool, haven't decided yet and the sheer flowered cotton. How much really gets done and in what order depends on if I find some really great fabric and a really nice have to dress and how much writing I want to do...

What I've been up to

So...let's see. I have finally gotten everything put up from Henkel and the conference. I've taken a little break from sewing and living history but now getting back into the swing. The Citizen's Companion I think will be publishing an article on Henkel and Texas secession. I'm working on a version of the Texas home front paper for submission to the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, working on another proposal for a session at Harrisburg on 19th century attitudes toward death, I've been asked to assist with the rewrite of the THC's Civil War brochure and monthly Civil War briefs for the 150th, helping out at the Confederate Reunion Grounds Civil War event later this month with a school day presentation and another on Saturday, Grange coming up in May...wow...oh, and also planning to go back up to Missouri in September, so of course need a new dress or two :). I really need to win the lotto so I don't have to spend 8 hours or more of the day at work; it really eats into my hobby time :).

Staying in touch

Slowly but surely coming down off the living history high after Henkel and Harrisburg. Now to sort through all my stuff and get organized again. Kimberly and I are planning to go back up to Missouri and Boonesfield for an event in September, which is good timing as it will be at the end of the "no reenacting because it's too damn hot" session down here. I'll be ready for an event by then.

Photos added

My friend sent me photos that she took at the conference. I've added them to the slide show.

Washington DC, 2010

Pictures here.

Took the train from Harrisburg to Union Station in DC and arrived about 6:00 and was met by my friend Angie. Decided to go get something to eat in Bethesda. We went to a Spanish restaurant and had tapas. Soooo good. Had planned to go to see Young Victoria, but I was really wiped out so went to Angie’s and to bed.

Monday morning we got up, had breakfast and got ready for the day. Angie had to work but she dropped me at the Metro and I took it into DC and the Smithsonian. The day was beautiful! Not too cool and not too warm. I wondered on the mall for a bit and took pictures, saw the Pres’s helicopter flying in…at least I think it was his. First stop was the history museum. This was the first time I had been back since they reopened. I was disappointed. It seemed sterile, bathroom doors were stainless steel. There are three floors of galleries but only two gallery spaces per floor. It seemed that some of the exhibits really didn’t relate to history, let alone American history, like the semi-conductor exhibit and the science experiment lab. The gift shops were very touristy and they book selection was seriously reduced. I guess they are trying to appear less stuffy. But I didn’t like it as much as before.

I then went to the Freer. I’m not that much into Asian art but it was a nice visit. There was a Whistler exhibit as well, which was nice. The Indian art was beautiful and the Peacock room…wow! I wanted to visit the portrait gallery but just didn’t have time. I managed to get the castle, which includes pieces from the different museums.

I met up with Ang at her store about 4:30 and we went back to Bethesda for dinner and to see the movie. First stop though a specialty chocolate shop. Then to a French restaurant for dinner, very good. Young Victoria was a good movie, not great, but visually a beautiful film and the costumes were great!

Tuesday was a down day. We got out late, about 12:00 and had lunch at a Belgian restaurant. Great crepe Suzette. Angie saved the best for last, a huge discount bookstore. Bought a few and then to Starbucks for coffee before I had to get to the airport.

The flight home was uneventful. From BWI to Houston I had the whole row to myself and then to Austin only one other person. Not first class, but still plenty of room to stretch out.

I really love this trip each year! Can’t wait for 2011!

1860s Conference

Pictures here.

I left Thursday morning from Austin to Houston. Met up with Nancy in Houston and we flew onto Philadelphia. Nancy was upgraded at the last minute and gave the seat to me. I was so excited to fly first class and will be ever grateful to her for the gift. We arrived in Philadelphia and took a taxi to the train station to take the train to Harrisburg. I love taking the train even if it was full and we ended up sitting in different rows. We took the hotel shuttle from the train station to Camp Hill and checked in. Once settled, we went down to the reception to check out all the wrappers and men’s jackets. To bed early as it had been a long day and tomorrow would be the beginning of a couple of full days.

Friday morning we checked in and got our binders and badges, went to breakfast and checked out the Marketplace. There was great stuff this year. So much I wanted and not enough money for it all. It was really hard to choose. But we had workshops so off we went. My first workshop was for a needle book. I didn’t finish it though. But I now know how to couch. We had lunch and then I went to practice with the projector clicker and find out how things would be set up for the presentation.

My second workshop was fabric flowers. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I’m not sure I’ll be able to do this on my own as it requires specialized tools that are hard to find or no longer available. Martha McCain’s husband made the tools for her for the workshop.

In the evening there was a staff and faculty supper so Nancy and I went. Had some interesting conversations with other presenters. The conference began with a presentation on material culture with “Senator Galliday”. It was so funny and included wonderful photos of material culture items. Following that presentation I attended a presentation on period sanitary protection. That was interesting to hear about the how things were done. I knew a bit but there were some interesting photos of patents for belts and such. Also a discussion on “is this a knitted pad or knitted suspenders?”. And of course the originals on display!

Saturday morning started with the showing of the conference dresses and vests. Nancy has these photos on her camera so I will have to post them after she gets them to me. Everyone did a great job. Following that I attended a session on special clothes such as riding habits and traveling clothes by K Krewer. It was very interesting. The interesting point was trying to figure out just what was meant by traveling dresses. It was really hard to figure out; it was almost an arbitrary classification. Following K was Anna Worden’s very interesting talk on period ribbons and how to duplicate the look with what is available now. After lunch was a talk on Francis “Frank” Johnson and some dancing demonstrations by Karen and Briant Bohleke. Following that was the Wildcat Brass Band performance. I love brass bands! I purchased their CD and was able to get the band leader’s autograph on it.

Dinner was very nice and everyone looked beautiful in their ball gowns. Unfortunately I did not finish mine and so attended in my conference dress. Not only were the 1860s represented but the early 1800s and one last 1800s dress were worn for the ball. Before the conference K Krewer joked on a forum about dressing in her husband’s frock coat. I answered back she should as men were usually at a premium thinking she would not seriously do such a thing. She did!! It was hilarious. Right down to the 5:00 shadow! And she made sure everyone lady who wished to danced. Such a gentleman. After dinner we retired to the lobby of the conference center while the ball was being set up. The ball was lovely, dance cards, great music by the Wildcat Band, great dance masters. I didn’t want to dance much but it was great fun to listen to the music and watch all the beautiful gowns and dances. We left the dance about 11:00 as my presentation was the next morning and I wanted to get a good night’s sleep. But as is usual with me and Nancy we stayed up until about 1:00.

Sunday. My presentation was first thing in the morning. I really wasn’t nervous, more apprehensive not knowing how interesting my presentation on Texas would be to an audience made up mostly of easterners. But it went over splendidly. They got the joke about Frau Blucher from Young Frankenstein, laughed and clapped for the Carol Burnet curtain dress photo and I heard comments about other pieces such as the price of things and the delay in freeing the slaves. I added some comment about Elizabeth Neblet as well. One of the quotes I used from Kate Stone was about men wearing knitted suspenders, which allowed for a comment about the presentation on the knitted sanitary pads. Several people came up to tell me how much they enjoyed the presentation. One participant, a professional military historian who works with the pentagon, told me that the presentation was a graduate level paper and that it could have been presented the pentagon. Others stated they really had no interest in Texas but found my presentation interesting none the less and enjoyed it very much. Following my presentation was Carolann’s on genre painting. I loved it! The pieces were lovely and now I’m on the look out for genre paintings.

After the conference ended Beth Chamberlain took me to the train station to catch the train for Philadelphia to DC to visit Angie. I have a separate blog entry for the DC visit.