Are we using our homes as they did in the past? If I take a trip down memory lane, it is full of memories of warm meals, blankets on the beds, robes and bedroom shoes during the winter. We ate many bowls of stew or Chili , soup, greens such as collards and corn bread, hot chocolate and warm pudding.
In the summer curtains were blowing from the windows being open and pies sitting on the window seal. We had to open the windows because there was no air conditioning. The sound of children playing and occasionally a trip to the first aid kit to locate a bandage for a skinned knee. There were board games and laughter, When we embrace our home it gives back to us.
What I cannot explain very well is that it was a wonderful time to live and home was so much more. Maybe because those we love were still there. What is important that we are creating memories for those that will grow up and think back how much home was so much more.
Our home is what we make it to be, and right now we are living in a time that we need for our home to be more practical than our homes have been in a very long time.
The white cabinet in this bedroom is full of sewing notions, fabric and even one shelf holds canned pears. Yes pears, I ran out of space to put my home canned pears this year.
I have been organizing our home this year and have our home to where it is more comfortable when family comes for a visit and I also I remember the past when family members had difficult times and had to live for awhile with another family. Charles family had four generations that lived together during the great depression and also through ww2. On my side of the family my Great Grands took in boarders. We could see another time like this, and I feel better knowing that I can make my home all that it needs to be.
We have wash up bowls tucked around in our home. They are usable and practical in a small home for bedrooms.
We can hope that we do not get back to a very bad time but I personally know that families are struggling and adult children are staying home longer and there are a lot of people feeling the pinch to the point that it feels like a whop instead of a pinch. Our home needs to be a place where we can be resourceful and with proper planning we have the tools and our cupboards thoughtfully prepared to get us over the bumps in the road.
Charles and I have a morning routine, before breakfast we take our vital signs each morning and record them. One of our doctors was a more old fashioned doctor and asked us to do this. We do this because we know what normal is and we can tell when something is brewing by keeping a log. We take our blood pressure, temperature and oxygen level every morning and then go about our business of the day. In one of my recent posts I shared that we turned our kitchen and dining area into a studio apartment/flat to try out for the winter so that we do not heat the whole house. It has been working very well and has reduced our heating costs. We will most likely continue this in the summer as well.
Chicken, sweet potatoes and a small serving of sauté Swiss chard fresh from the garden. We are eating small amounts from what is growing in our garden while waiting for the seeds that have germinated start growing. There is not a lot out there due to the cold weather but we are working on it. Today is warmer than we have been for several weeks.
Our temperatures have been a bit like a yoyo and we have dipped several times below freezing. So far here, our lowest temperature has been 28 degrees / Fahrenheit. -2.222 degrees Celsius. So we are YoYo gardening here in our backyard.
Parsley is still doing good, I keep a frost cover over the sides and have a top piece I put on when it is very cold.
Each day, depending on the temperature I cover or uncover the grow beds.
This bed is snow peas and mustard greens, or they will be as soon as they start growing. We have strawberries flourishing, we are not letting them produce strawberries right now because the berries would freeze.
This Pecan Tree has been the source of our garden leaves and I am happy that it is about to finish shedding it's leaves.
We are still working on the walls in the hallway as we are making the hallway more stable from storms. Charles reinforced the ceiling and put in a second ceiling, a lot of brackets and 2x4's and a wood ceiling. The walls have wood planks over the sheet rock. We do not know how safe this will make us but with all of the crazy storms we get today at least we will feel safer. We cannot afford a storm shelter so this is at least something. I will show more about it when it is finished.
Charles put new handles on our wheelbarrow since the wood handles broke. I have been very impressed with use of steel and the unique design.
I would have never thought of this and he made it easier for us to pick up the wheelbarrow. Thank you Charles!
I made some queens cakes but forgot to take pictures of them after they were baked. My brother and sister-in-law came for a visit and spent the night so I did some baking.
I kept the desserts light and made this sponge as well.
I love when the seasons change and sunlight peeks in and area where it seldom does as the sun rotates. I told Charles that I should write down the date of when the sun reached this area in next years calendar and see if it is in the same place at the same time. It keeps life interesting and something to look forward to.
Charles marks in his journal when he will see birds that migrated and have come back such as a wax wings. On February 11th of 2024 the wax wings arrived in the Pecan tree at 2:20 P.M. They flew over and ate from a tree that has berries from the side yard that has small berries. The flock is usually very large and we love to hear them with all of the commotion of the flying and feeding frenzy. We plan on taking a small branch with the berries to our county extension office to find out what kind of trees these are because we have never know.
We have a tree with larger berries that the Robbins know is here in our backyard and each year their flock pays us a visit and we have purple splat everywhere. The Robins flew in on February 25 2024, they ate the berries from our from our back yard tree that has berries. They come through in different times because the Robins came in 2023 on January 28th. On January 31, 2021 the wax wings and Robbins appeared and their flocks were eating the berries on all of the trees. The notation was "Lots and Lots and Lots of them!" We have noted when our wrens lay eggs and how many eggs were laid in a nest and when the babies fledge the nest, this depends on if we find them.
We saw our first lightening bug in years on May 14, 2023 at 8:06 P.M. It happened to be Mothers day.
We mark down when our hurricanes come through, when we plant seeds, how much rain we get each time it rains. He reads the outside thermometers. Charles also writes other notations such as the day an Eagle paid us a visit, I was in the shower and Charles scared me so badly as he was yelling, "Eagle, Eagle, Eagle" he kept saying Camera! we need the camera! We were fortunate that Charles was out there wen the Eagle flew up the driveway, right over Charles and flew over and perched on a pole in our side yard. I managed to get out of the shower and get the camera to get a picture of the Eagle. Charles was so emotional because he cares so much for nature, I feel that God knows this about him. I cannot find the Eagle photo so I will link the blog post that the Eagle photo is in.
So if you want to make life more interesting, start writing in a journal or notebook with your sightings or finds and jotting them into next years calendar to compare with the year before. All it takes is noticing and noting. Our ancestors knew much more about the weather patterns and all of these facts than we do today, sometimes common sense become valuable in a world when everything depends on Internet which is not completely a sure thing.
The washbowl area reminds me of a video that Ruth Goodman did about using a washbowl. I will put at the bottom of this post to show how to take a proper stand up washbowl bath. If you have never watched the shows that Ruth Goodman has been in then you are really missing out.
I hope you are all well and have some fun projects going on where you live. We will start the season of winter in four days (winter starts December 21, 2024) here in the U.S., some of you that are reading this are in the season of Summer. I am going to hang on to all the winter I can because I have blankets for Charles and I and frost covers for the plants and the Summers have become brutal!
Is your home practical where you feel safe and comfortable? Can you get through the bumps in the road? The forum is linked in the top menu bar, I would like to see you there, we learn much more in the forum.
Here is the link I mentioned. Historian Ruth Goodman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ncn_LoAQXk&t=207s
Eagle Post 2018
https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/past-present/
Grandma Donna
