The daffodil's are blooming and where Charles and I live, this means spring even though it is not spring as of yet.
Since my last post, we have gone through another large load of items to go through. I have been washing and separating items to be donated. I have noticed all of the eras that Madge lived through by the items in her house.
It is very difficult and sad to go through another's belongings.
It has been easy to see the era of the long black gloves worn for special occasions.
The difference in how things were made long ago and the quality is very obvious.
I remember my dress gloves that I wore when we went to town to shop.
The embellishment's were so beautiful long ago.
I have tried to take care while cleaning these items and feel that I should be delicate as they would in the past.
We have donated many items and some have been very useful to some that needed them and that makes it a little easier letting go.
I aired Madge's handbags. I sat on the steps this day and watched the scarf's blow and dance around the clothesline and gave myself a moment to just sit, watch and ponder. We feel grief through all of this as it has only been four months now since she passed away.
I mended the lining of a this beautiful beaded bag.
We found Charles childhood quilt. I did not know if it would revive through washing but it came out beautiful. I look at these old quilts with awe in all of the hand stitching that was done. Charles was surprised to find this quilt in the bottom of a closet.
This past Saturday morning we made spelt pancakes and they turned out delicious. I just make the regular pancake recipe and instead of all purpose flour I used spelt flour.
I did end up getting one of the old beaters off of ebay. It was $9.00 and my curiosity really wanted to know if they worked.
It did work but was more of a dressing. Possibly had I lifted it up it towards the last of the beating it might have thickened.
I did not want to waste the mayonnaise, so to thicken it like it should be I used the immersion blender to beat it a little more. I will give it another try next time to see if lifting it up after it thickens will finish as well as the immersion. These old tools served well before there was no electricity in a home and fascination to learn what they did have that we did not know they had.
This week I am going through another load of items from Madge's house.
The paperwork seems endless, there are so many boxes we must shred and what takes the longest is going through the paperwork before we can get to shredding. This is showing us everyday to keep better order so when it is our time we do not leave so much work behind.
Last year at this time I had tomato plants a foot high because I carried them in and out of the house to keep them from freezing. This year our garden will be very simple because it would be too much work so I had to make a choice. We will grow a little but mostly use the produce market for our vegetables.
A scrambled omelet.
Once we get through sorting through Madge's belongings I will be able to dig deeper into the 1917 studies. I am reading and learning and shifting things around in the house to get ready for more handwork to be done as they would have done during 1917. I want to finish knitting a bandage roll that I started during the ww2 study and we will be in the www 1 part of the study starting April 6, because that is when The United States became involved in ww1, April 6, 1917.
I am trying to get the kitchen set up for more of the older ways of cooking and so still adjusting these things. The spelt flour is not because of the study but more for our health. However I have found spelt flour in the newspapers from the time of the study.
We are making progress up at Madge's house since we decided on a once a week haul back to our house to sort, clean etc.
We are still waiting on the carport roofers to replace the roof from hail damage. As I mentioned before, we did get the house roof replaced. The house is shingle and the carport is metal and the metal roofers are backlogged. The rotted trees at Madge's house, the bent mast pole have all been taken care of.
Cabbage leaf with leftover chicken, olives, onion and mayo. Side of cucumbers and tomatoes.
We literally must take one day at a time, and we should live a sensibly prepared life. If we have debt, it is best pay it off as soon as we can, decrease our expenses the best way we can so we can save money and pay for unexpected expenses when they happen.
Some people like to live as a minimalist and that is okay if this is what makes them feel better and happy. If someone is not a minimalist and want things around them that is okay too because that is what makes them happy.
Where we need to focus is on keeping our paperwork in order to a point that if someone needs to step in to help or take over that part it will be a easy transfer.
If we have a hard time letting go of things or just want to keep many things in our home we need to at least occasionally air them, dust them, clean them and store these items properly so that the items can be passed down, donated in good condition when the time comes that this needs to be done. I am not a minimalist so I am learning from this experience and trying to be very sensible at what we save and what we let go of. I am trying to go back through our items and discard some and make sure the stored items are better kept and properly aired.
These are my thoughts today, you can post your thoughts up in the forum that is located in the menu section here on the blog. Hope to see you there.
Grandma Donna
