Garden update

Well, we got things worked up a bit yesterday, and I thought I'd let you see how my little seedlings are coming along.

I did end up transplanting the cucumbers, and everything is doing a lot better now that I've been putting it in the natural sunlight, and not under the 100 watt light I had before.

Anyways, enjoy!

Movie Review: Sweet Land

Okay, I'm going to try this again. This comes with a slight caution. I watched this on our local movie channel, so there may be some parts I haven't seen, and I know at one point they fuzzed out a naked bum. (though I do know it had to do with cleanliness and not other things) But with these movies you can alwayys tell if they bleeped or fuzzed things out, and There was no bleeping and no other scenes that I noticed. Though they didn't put subtitles when the characters spoke German, so if any of you do and they say something that isn't very nice, I do appologise, I only know english. :D
Anyways, other than that it was perfectly clean, so on to the synopsis.
There's a bit of jumping around in the beginning and at the end. The movie starts with a man's struggles to sell his grandparent's farm, upon the death of his grandmother. It then jumps to scenes of his grandfather's death in the sixties. An finally starts in on the meat of the movie. His grandparent's story.
Around the time of WW1 Inga Otenburg came to America with a suitcase and a gramaphone, her worldly posessions, in hand. Inga was a mail order bride from Germany. She meets her soon to be husband and heads to the church, where the whole community is waiting to wittness the wedding. They step up to the alter and take a deep breath, but upon discovering that Inga is German, the pastor refuses to marry them without special papers.
This movie, in my opinion, is just like it's title, Sweet! Watching Inga and Olaf as they struggled against the government, the animosities of a post WW1 community, and sometimes their growing attachment to each other was in my opinion a joy
.
Inga is a fiery woman, who intends to have things like she planned, despite what others may tell her. Olaf on the other hand is a quiet gentle man, but throughout the movie we find that he is full of hidden spunk and courage, even a bit of stubborness himself at times.
Now, this is one of those movies that if you try to take it to heart and analyze every moment, you're going to hate it. But if you just sit back and enjoy a simply sweet story, you'll have a wonderful evening's enjoyment.
I can highly reccomend Sweet Land.

A mini vacation

Last Monday, Dad came in to lunch with an idea. He had just heard from the man we buy bags from, that he also delivered to some Amish mills in Kentucky. These feed mills were powered by horses, and needless to say, dad was raring to go.
So Thursday, we headed out.
Now, this, we found, was nothing like Ohio or even out local Muddy Pond in Crossville. This was in the tiny little Pho-dunk town of Scottsville. Not much bigger than a wink.
After we visited the little community, and located the mills which were to grind the next day, we returned to town to find a motel. Upon asking for directions, we were told that there were three in town. Two were really bad, and one was good. The two story Spanish style building we were directed to seemed to be entirely deserted. But no, we acquired a room. And it appeared to be clean and tidy. It had Internet, and cable, and a closed outdoor pool.

At this point, dad reached for the phone. No service. Now, we use straight talk, and I'm pretty sure we're on Verizon towers, but alas, nothing. He told me to keep an eye on it.
We spent a few hours just relaxing, and I enjoyed the free wifi. But all too soon our road snacks seemed to be hours away, and it was time to locate supper.
Downtown was a quaint little place, with a modified roundabout square, and one red light. We circled and circled, but found no place to go. You see with Dad's Gluten intolerance our choices are limited. We passed a Sonic,a Pizza Hut, and a McDonalds and finally stopped at a Dollar Store to ask. (okay and mom needed eye drops)
The Lady we spoke to had an accent just like Reba MacEntire! No joke. She told us there were three other places that we had missed. "Thars a place 'cross the street thar, makes the best burgers. Now, I An't sayin they don't make nuthin else, they're burgers is just good. Then thar's that, oh what's the name, sumthin bout dumplins. But me n' my husband got got mad at 'em. Went down there a'fore work to eat breakfast an they wouldn't serve us. Course then thar's that place up the road that makes great catfish." Now that got Dad's attention. Catfish is his middle name. ;D "You go out a town an up a hill an it sorter drops off beside the road and down in a holler."
So we took that advise and drove out of town. We drove and drove, and then turned back around and around again, before we found it. Down in a holler just like she said.
It looked like a hole-in-the-wall. Not much more that a glorified double-wide. Everything had a 1970's decor with wood panel walls, and everything else was a mustard yellow. Now here in Tennessee, they passed a law that you could no longer smoke in restaurants. It's been a blessing to me, who gets terrible migraines around cigarette smoke. But here that obviously wasn't the case. The restaurant was separated into several rooms, one in the front by the register, one hallway type place with a salad bar in it, and a large room in the back with larger tables for evening. Now to me it was odd to see ashtrays on tables again, especially in the main parts of the restaurant. As we passed the salad bar, to the left was a tiny room with a small basement window. Taped to the open door was a cardboard sign "Non Smoking"
Needless to say we walked into the larger open dining area. For some people this could have been a nightmare. Like a city slicker in Mayberry. But luckily, I like Mayberry, and this place was a blast! I was glad to find that only a few people were smoking and they were on the far side of the room. Watching the people in this place was so fun! In this small town, everybody knew everybody, and it was a jovial atmosphere. We loved it!
Food came, and the waitress had advised us to go for the child's portion, Hooweee were we glad! The plate was HEAPED with catfish and the biggest potato I think I've ever seen! Even then I had to take some with me.
Then it was back to the motel where I got to watch all the production video blogs from the upcoming "Hobbit" movie! (Hooray!!) And finished my dress for the next day (Pictures coming soon)
Sadly I didn't get any pictures of all this... the only time I had my camera was at the mills. And then I was limited because of the Amish beliefs on photos.
The next morning early we went out to watch the grind. Ten big Belgian horses pulled it, walking in circles and turning gears. It was pretty neat to watch. Here's the pictures of that.
　
　
　
And after a little bit we went on, not wanting to be a nuisance.
We drove home on back highways and it was a good thing we did. We got on top of the mountains halfway home and one of my truck tires flattened. (Dry rot :(
But we were so glad we had elected to go that way, and it hadn't happened on the interstate.
So here we are, We had an absolutely lovely time! All of us just chatting in the car, or listening to audiobooks (Louis lamour... tradition. :D) And despite the flaws, I do believe I'll be going back to Scottsville again sometime. :D And if you want a getaway where you don't have to worry about the phone, or fast food joints, I highly recommend it. :D

A New Hat

"Anyways I shall pull it to pieces as soon as we get home, and see if I can't make it up any better"~Lydia Bennet (1995)

Val from "Time Traveling in Costume" has created a new facebook page Called "Costume Pattern Reviews" This has been an excellent resource so far! It's chock full of people just waiting to give you advise, and they are using patterns from the smaller companies as well as "The big three" (Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls)

Anyways, to get an invite, simply request one from Val, there's a link on the Facebook page.
So what does this have to do with a hat?

Well a lot actually. I've been in a quandary for a long time trying to get my hands on a 1910's Downton Abbey style hat at any kind of a reasonable price. So I asked over there if anyone knew of any. Bot did I ever get an answer!! Link after link! Patterns AND ready made. They reccomended This one, a ready made from a millinery shop. It was exactly what I had been looking for... or so I thought...
When it arrived this is what it looked like.

No exaggerating. This is exactly how it fit.
The look on my dad's face was hilarious when he saw me "Pull it to pieces" :D
I took the brim off and shortened the hat by a good two inches, and the brim nearly the same. I made the brim uneven to give it a bit of that wild teens flair. But something still wasn't right. So I pulled one side up and tacked it in place. I think it looks really good, though maybe not perfect. Any advise on what else it needs? Thanks!!

Well what do you think?
Much love
Meggie

Ps. Please ignore the cornmeal in my coat, it has since been beaten and brushed within an inch of it's life....

A New Look! (For me!)

Well,

As most of you well know, I've had a long love affair with Red hair. I've always wanted that Irish tone, but never had the courage to take that leap.

Well... I did. I chose something that just had more of a hint of red, rather than something that would blow people away by the change.

Personally, it's the color I've always dreamed of having.

What do you think?

1940's radio!

Mrs. V. of "The Quiet Pleasures of Home" Posted about this recently, and I have been sitting here listening to it for the past few hours.

This is AWESOME!

It's like litterally stepping back in time, with vintage comercials too!!

I've had this nigh insatiable urge to dance! Even though I'm in the library... :D

Have fun listening!

Book review: Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist

I've struggled with whether to post this or not, but this is my honest opinion. Please don't be angry with me if you read the book and don't agree. You will be fairly warned by the time you've read my post...

Okay, I know, this is different than what I normally do, but this is special. On a lark I picked up this novel at "books a million," Namely because it was set at one of my favourite places in the world, Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. It was on sale for just $2 so I figured what's the harm.

I was extremely skeptical throughout reading it, knowing what modern romances can entail. But I reached the end of the book, and it was completely clean! I was so excited!

It wasn't until later I found out this was a christian author... :/ Which is a mixed blessing. After reading some of the best authors in the world I sometimes find Christian authors to be sadly sub-par. Not so with Deeanne Gist. No she doesn't reach the heights of Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters, but in the world of Modern Christian authors, she's toward the top of the list.
Anyhoo, a little about the book so as to grab your attention;

A young Parlour maid, Tillie Resse, is set for a promotion. A promotion to one of the most prestigious positions in the whole house, ladies maid. A position that would occupy her entire young life. A position that would put her high up on the social pedestal, and set her for life among the wealthy.

You see, the ladies maid could wear expensive clothes, eat rich foods, and travel the world. But it still had it's downsides, as ladies maid she could never marry, and when she was older, usually when the first grey hairs appeared, she would be asked to step down.

But what did she care? She had wanted this her entire life, and she was determined to get it. Until Wild, mountain man Mack Danver stepped into service.

So there's the basics, and I won't tell more for fear of giving too much away.

Now, there is a bit of a warning that goes with this. This isn't a book to be read in grammar school. There is violence and passion alike. So if you're looking for an entirely Salvation centered, Biblically based romance, Read Grace Livingston Hill. (Whom I love by the by, so it's not a degrading remark) This is for someone who wants to read a realistic, relatable romance set in the gilded age.

The best part is, she knows her history, and she knows how to write. I believe, though she may deal with modern, human problems, that she deals with them in a godly manner.
So, if you want to read a book that's like watching a movie, Go pick up a copy of "Maid to Match"

Much Love!
Meggie

Ps, I read once that books are like food, some are to be devoured (like cake), others chewed over thoughtfully. (Like a roast.) I'm paraphrasing naturally, but this book is definitely a cake book. Don't take it to heart, it's not philosophically grand, like Jane Eyre. This is a book to be enjoyed, and moved on from... though I have read it three times since I bought it...