Historic Hell

UPDATE:  Why does it always rain on field trip days?  I think of the seven or so days of tours we've had, it's rained 6 times!!  This means damp kids (because they walk over, money being too short for a bus), lunch inside (oh, the smell of bologna sandwiches on a wet day!  It's like wet dog.), and no outdoor activities, so they don't get the full historic house experience AND are restless and extra noisy.  Do we have to make up the deficit in our annual rainfall in October???
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Okay, it's not that bad.  But we have been having a few glitches with the historic house tours this season.  Volunteer shortage is always a challenge and this year is no different, but we're filling in the slots and I'll end up doing about half of them.  Almost a chance for me to wear all my different costume pieces!  (Though, if it doesn't cool off, I'll be wearing my vest instead of my bodices and one skirt instead of two!)

But there have been other things.  The biggest challenge has been our new activity:  making butter.  We talk about prepping for the winter and storing the harvest because there were green grocers. per se.  We used to string apple slices on string and hang them in the fireplace, talking about pie for breakfast and lunch and dinner so that Americans were called "pie eaters," but this year we're making butter.  Kid are fascinated to learn than a.) butter was not available all year long because cows don't naturally produce milk all year b.)  butter was salted to preserve it because there was no refrigeration (butter is still salted as a preservative--buy unsalted; it's fresher.)  c.) butter isn't naturally golden yellow, though it does have a faint yellow hue when it separates--real gold color is obtained using marigold petals and d.) YOU can make butter yourself.

Except it hasn't been working.  In theory, you shake heavy cream (not half and half or, heaven forbid, any low-fat project--you need the fat) in a container with some kind of agitator; this mimics the old-fashioned butter churn with the plunger-stick.   We started with glass jars with screw-top lids and marbles.  I even tested it with the kiddos--voila, butter in less than five minutes.  But on the very first day of tours, in the first class, the bottom of a glass jar just sheared right off, spraying cream, but luckily not glass, everywhere.  I guess there was a flaw in the glass, though I expect better of Ball jars.

Better safe than sorry, we switched to screw-top Ziploc snack containers, the kind in which my kids take apples to school.  But the plastic can't stand up to the use--perhaps it's the marble or the dice (or sometimes the Lego) hitting the plastic, but small cracks appeared in every single container, even on the first go-round.  I even bought a second round of containers, but, still, leakage.

We were going to go back to jars today, but there were two kids with dairy allergies so we returned to stringing apples.  Besides, the class was 45 minutes late, and apples are faster.  Still, the kids are fascinated by the butter and we'll return to that tomorrow.

But the late classes these last two days has been another headache.  Docents have to trim the tour, sometimes by as much as 45 minutes!  That's hard on the fly.  Especially after the kids have been inside all day and are noisy and restless (they go to another museum before us)--with the wet weather, they can't eat outside before the tour or play outside afterwards. (Today, one of the teachers had just given up, wouldn't even try to quieten the kids.) This causes chaos.

Especially with cream flying everywhere.

Gommie's History

Gommie's visit this spring has involved a lot of colonial history, start to finish.  Last week, she followed along--and even really helped out with some of the needlecrafts--on a school tour at the historic house.  I'm not sure she had ever followed me on a tour before; luckily, it was a small and enthusiastic group of kids who made me look good!  I think she had fun helping them with their sewing and such.  It sure helped us!

Then, this morning, while I was giving a presentation at school, which she couldn't attend, she wandered around town to one of the old burying grounds and explored the headstones.

Afterwards, we went to a local museum and learned more about Connecticut history, well, local history, that is.  Connecticut is not so much a state as a collection of 140-odd towns; local identity is much stronger than state identity, unlike good ol' Texas.  Even after 10+ years here, I'm not sure I could describe the state flag--I know my town seal, though!  And I know the town tree, but not the state tree, flower, or bird.  (Texas: pecan, bluebonnet, mockingbird.)  The only reason I know the CT state song is because it's "Yankee Doodle!"  Anyway, we had a nice chat with a costumed interpreter who also does colonial reenacting--he certainly knew his stuff, from minutiae about George Washington to pedagogical issues of first vs. third-person interpreting, and even the local politics in our town!

Gommie has been reading a lot of my colonial history books while she's here (and more than usually interested in it all) because tomorrow (Tuesday) she's heading to Boston for the rest of the week before flying back to Texas.  She's never really done Boston and is very excited.  She's staying at the Parker House--for the rolls!--and doing the Freedom Trail.  We'll miss her but are glad she's off to even more historical adventures!

Pondering Halloween

The rain held off so that it was a dark but not stormy night.  In fact, it was quite temperate for a New England Halloween and the kids didn't even need jackets or long sleeves as they wandered out into the night.  They trick or treated alone this year, in that they didn't join any neighbor groups but went door to door together as we stood at the curb.  They did all the neighborhood houses--including the three near us that have been dark and candyless for the decade we've lived in Connecticut but are now inhabited by young families and Halloween participants--after first driving to a special chosen few.  Interestingly, few people tonight, or last night at Mama's office Halloween party for kids, recognized Sis's Quidditch robes or Bud's Camp Half-Blood shirt as belonging to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson respectively.  The few who did know, however, were appropriately excited.  Sis and Bud in turn were excited to see a colleague of Mama's in a T.A.R.D.I.S. shirt and Sis proudly told him that she was going to be the Doctor next year, the Tenth Doctor.  He approved.

Of course, their favorite part, both last night and tonight, isn't so much the gathering of candy, which is merely a means to an end, namely the eating of candy.  First, they sort their haul by type, then they engage in the all-important swap whereby one gives all of his Hershey bars in exchange for all of her Skittles and the other gives up all of  her mini-Crunch bars for all of his Whoppers.  It is a family ritual.  So is giving all of the nutty candies--Snickers, Almond Joys, peanut M&Ms, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups--to Mama and me.  We let them eat til they'd had their fill tonight and will be generous with the eating of candy for the next few days, until Mama does a candy buy-back program this weekend, another ritual.

I asked the kids about family rituals and traditions, as I was cutting out rounds of Soul Cakes this evening.  The spiced cookies were pretty good, actually, thicker and more tender than shortbread with a lot more spice (plus we used balsamic vinegar instead of white wine vinegar, which we didn't have.)  Anyway, I realized that oftentimes I don't repeat activities like Soul Cakes.  This year it's Soul Cakes (we played the song all afternoon); a few years ago it was roasted pumpkin seeds.  Next year, who knows?  Sis said she liked that we did new things each year as long as we kept some of the same traditions, like the great candy swap and drawing their costume for the year on their trick or treat bags and hanging up "Ghostie" in our tree.  For Thanksgiving, she said, we had to have turkey and gravy but she didn't feel like we had to do the same gratitude activity every year.  Christmas, among many other things, means the sock Advent calendar.  I'm glad we're all on the same page about holidays, with something old and something new.

Today during my (awful) school tour (I wasn't awful; the kids were crazed, as I expected them to be--my own Sis was, in her own words, "hysterically happy" about Halloween and Bud was dancing everywhere), I realized (again) how even a relatively widely celebrated holiday like Halloween can be controversial.  We were talking about fall and its holidays when a girl raised her hand and said, "Halloween is the Devil's birthday.  Christmas is God's birthday."  Gulp.  Of course, both personally and intellectually, I believe this is completely unfounded (see our research on Samhain here) and untrue.  But school tours are no place for theological discussions, especially with eight-year-olds, so I merely said that I understood that some people believe that but that the people who lived in the house in the colonial times wouldn't have believed that and nor would they have celebrated either one.  (No wonder our kids can't wear Halloween costumes to school!)  And then, true to form, I asked Sis and Bud what they thought of that later.  Sis said outright that she didn't believe in the Devil.  So I asked her how she would talk to a friend who said such things (and there are a few who would, as they are not allowed to celebrate Halloween because it's not in the Bible.)  "I have a different religion," she decided.  I told her that sometimes it was hard to disagree with friends, but she raised her hand for a high-five and said, "I'm a strong girl."  We also talked about how you can agree to disagree, how different people can believe different things.  And that belief and truth are not always the same thing, not by a long shot, regardless of how firmly someone (including us) believes something to be true.

On a lighter note, another girl on the tour asked if I would wear my colonial costume that night to trick or treat.  No, I said, these were my work clothes.  And she looked at me incredulously and asked, "This is your job?"  She was so shocked, so earnest, even though I'd already answered the question of how I'd learned all this stuff (years and years in school and then more studying afterwards!)  I do feel lucky to dress up in costumes for my day "job."  And in truth, my colonial outfit does make a great costume, but I leave the trick or treating to the kids.

Tomorrow is All Saints' Day and then All Souls' Day for some, Samhain for others.  And we'll be eating Soul Cakes and candy, singing a song used for both All Souls' and Christmas, planning our rituals and traditions (to express our beliefs, to overburden this wrap-up!) as we get ready for the trio of big winter holidays.  I love this time of year.

Happy Halloween!

Peace and Quiet

I'm learning a lot of new ways to quieten a class as part of my work as a docent at the historic house.  There is the standard raised-hand-in-the-air (one GS leader said once, "Imagine a string running from your toes through your mouth--you pull it closed when you raise your hand."  Ick.)  When they raise a hand with two fingers up (peace sign) and  put the index finger of their other hand to their lips, it's "Peace and Quiet."  In Brownies, we use the Girl Scout three-finger sign in the air.  Some teachers have a clapping pattern that they start and the kids complete.  Last week, the teacher counted down from 5.  On Friday, they completed a few different sing songs:  "Stop, look and listen!" - "Okay!"; "123, eyes on me!" - "1, 2, eyes on you!"; and finally, "Hocus, Pocus.  Everybody focus!"  And I even suggested, on the spot, that when I said something really interesting they could, instead of shouting out (of which they were doing a lot), wave their fingers as you do for ASL applause.

And most of the time it works, for a bit, until the teacher has to trot out a new one.

Getting Ready

It's almost time for tours to start up again at the historic house.  So today, volunteers and I were prepping the house by setting up activities, clearing away the extra stuff, and even hanging some fresh herbs from our colonial-inspired herb gardens.  There's rosemary, lavender, winter savory, and sage, making the house smell so fresh.  Of course, colonists wouldn't have hung herbs inside the fireplace where they would burn, more likely hanging them from the rafters.  But, as we lecture from the hearth, we hung them there.  There's also our new candle mold on the mantle for us to discuss nighttime and the ways colonists created light.  It's going to be a great (but busy) season, especially because all my Brownies plus Sis and Bud will be coming on the tours in October.  

Living History Today

Sis practicing her yarn sewing at the historic house.

I was as giddy as a child on Christmas Eve yesterday as I prepared for our open house event at the historic house.  I gathered supplies, bringing along faux food for children to cook in the 18th-century fireplace as well as real cookies to share with the volunteers.  I checked and double-checked clothing, both our costumes (I wore my maroon long-sleeved bodice with my yellow floral skirt and a new navy overskirt, with all the proper accoutrements like pockets, mop cap, and shift) and our extra clothes for afterwards.  I printed copies of our mailing list and family workshop sign-up sheets, which I had totally forgotten to do until late last not--I definitely felt out of practice in presenting a museum program.  And I packed my basket.  Have you ever noticed that costumed historical interpreters carry around baskets with all of their things?  I had a little bit of knitting, some embroidery floss in case I needed to dress my paddle loom again, and a bit of yarn sewing I'd started years ago at Old Sturbridge Village but had never finished.  You know, just some fun stuff to do and demonstrate if the time arose.

See, it was my first non-tour-based experience at costumed interpreting, in other words, inhabiting an historical space and casually conversing with visitors about the time, place, lifestyle, activities (as opposed to lecturing on a prescribed tour route.)  I was so excited because I have always loved costumed interpreters.  The interpretation is third person, meaning I'm a 21st-century educator explaining another time period, not someone in the first-person pretending actually to inhabit another time period as a real individual.  I'd like to try that sometime.  Later.  It takes a lot more knowledge of a specific character and their unique historical point of view as well as considerable acting skills.

We had lots of volunteers at the house today, which was good because the trickle of visitors while not overwhelming was relatively constant, picking up as the day wore on.  We had volunteers out front welcoming visitors, docents giving shortened tours of the house, and Sis and Bud (though mostly Sis because Bud had kung fu for the first half) demonstrating games like graces and hoops outside and cat's cradle inside as well as playing with the faux food in the fireplace with the young visitors. They were both naturals as docents!  Sis tried her hand at yarn sewing and paddle loom weaving but preferred to play kitchen or graces (i.e. 2 people playing catch using little hoops and sticks.)  Bud liked showing everyone cat's cradle.  We had instructions and cat's cradle strings to give away, as well as self-guided house tour pamphlets, colonial activities pamphlet for kids, docent recruitment flyers, and summer family workshop flyers.  We had a fair number of visitors, several of them friends and neighbors of ours, which delighted us all.

Mama was, as usual, immensely helpful behind the scenes, lugging the cooler with ice and water plus all the above-mentioned items, as well as taking the kids for lunch, and keeping an eye on them when they were outside and I was inside.  And no, she didn't have a costume.  Not yet, anyway.

The only downside was my back, which chose the day to be testy, probably after last Sunday's spasm and Thursday's extraordinarily busy day.  I found I couldn't sit comfortably to demonstrate any of the fun things in my basket but was more comfortable walking around.  In fact, I think my favorite part was actually demonstrating the yarn sewing to Sis, who then tried her hand at it independently, as shown above.  It was great fun to play with her in the house--with the sewing, at the fireplace, out watering the herb garden, and playing graces out front.  I think she really enjoyed it, too.

Because I'm pretty sure she's caught the history bug.