Below are various
interests that I entertain ... Click to enlarge any photo.
You can read about How I Got Started In Costuming,
my cat hair donors, or my Gardening interests.
If you are wondering how I got started doing historic
costumes, you can blame it on the Girl Scouts! Yes, that's right, I was a
Senior Girl Scout. But it was a very cool scout troop, we didn't do much
of the standard Girl Scout stuff. For example, in my Girl Scout
troop I learned how to throw knives and tomahawks. The main focus of the
troop was doing community volunteer work at Sandridge Nature Center on the south
side of Chicago. Our job was to do pioneer craft demonstrations in the log
cabin which had been built there. The cabins and environment are modeled
on buildings that might have been built in northern Illinois circa 1818 - the
year Illinois became a state.
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Here's
a picture of the main log cabin - called Fenwick Place. |
This
fireplace takes up most of one wall of the cabin, which was a good thing
on the cold winter afternoons I spent huddled in it for warmth. |
This
is the large table which takes up most of the middle of the cabin.
The strange wooden thing in the foreground is a mouse-trap........no,
really |
This
is the rope bed and trundle bed which would have held most of a pioneer
family. Ropes are strung to form a sort of net and then a feather mattress
would have been put on top with linen sheets and woolen blankets. I've
slept in the bed and it's very comfortable.......I just wish we'd cleaned
the bedding better so I wasn't so badly bug bitten.....even 20 years later
I can still remember the scratching........bleh....... |
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This
is a picture of the back of the smaller, second cabin at Sandridge along
with an 18th century 'wedge tent'. |
And
here's a pretty pioneer harvest tableau from Sandridge Nature Center. |
At
Sandridge, they are doing a prairie restoration which is trying to repair
a small part of the damage done to the local eco-system. This is a tall
grass prairie, and they aren't kidding about the 'tall' part. I was
*standing* next to the prairie area when I took this picture, the grass in
the foreground is well over 6 feet tall. |
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Of course it's not really a costume if it doesn't have
cat hair on it! I am owned by two enthusiastic cat hair donors.
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This
is Isabeau. She is the world's cutest cat - just ask her, she will
tell you loudly and at length. |
For extra credit, find Isabeau in the
picture! |
This
is Sam - He's 20 pounds of pure coward! |
Just
when you think you know your cats, they do something really, really cute
that you've never seen before. Sam climbed in here all by himself, honest! |
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This
is a rare hybrid tea rose called 'Lady Sackville Night'. My friend Robin
bought this one and I'm sort of 'baby sitting' it because she doesn't have
a yard to put the rose in. The petals unfold in an unusual fashion which
is why this bloom looks a bit lobsided. The color is a deep red and the
scent is very strong. |
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