Much better
Jun. 28th, 2009 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoLast night's storms split and went to the north and south of us. Hardly a drop of rain here, just a quick splatter, and no high winds, though Gary and Rob did drive back here with the storm front on their tail and dust-raising winds for the first half of the trip.
Today was beautiful, except for gusty winds. Blue skies all day, temperatures just slightly warmer than normal indoor air, and humidity greatly reduced.
As planned, we went to the "Day at Petersen Farm" over near Ringwood. I joined with the spinning guild demonstrating spinning techniques while Gary and Rob performed 19th century music beside the horse barn.
The crowd was larger by several hundred visitors over last year's event, but we received far fewer of the really "off-base" questions than last year. Most people seemed to have at least some idea of what we were doing and what the purpose was. Many are badly confused about the distinctions between spinning, weaving, sewing, knitting, etc. but at least they have some vague notion that it all has to do with making clothing and that the raw fiber comes from animal hairs or plants.
I did have one older man who expressed shock that I was sitting there with the women "knitting" as he put it. Actually, I was doing Tunisian crochet at the time, something none of the women in the group know how to do, but that's a fine point. He was immediately corrected by the women in the group and then apologized to me. I told him I wasn't offended and was used to hearing it, but in fact I have been the county fair judge for knitting and crochet for several years now and am a knitting instructor. He didn't seem to know what to make of that, especially after I said that I've been doing this stuff for nearly half a century.
Since this year is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, of course, there were many things focused on that. They had a Lincoln impersonator walking around, and I must admit he really did have a striking facial resemblance to the 16th President, though he wasn't quite tall enough. He gave several presentations on the farmhouse porch in which he told anecdotes and stories in Lincoln's voice, and though I didn't get to hear him, I imagine he was pretty good.
We were all amused when there was an announcement that anyone interested could come to the farmhouse kitchen to "see a woman bake a cherry pie using lard." I don't think the lard itself was the novelty, but just the idea of making pastry from flour and shortening would be. Once we discussed it, we agreed that the vast majority of people in this country today would have no idea how to do that, simple as it might be. Sad, really.
Today was beautiful, except for gusty winds. Blue skies all day, temperatures just slightly warmer than normal indoor air, and humidity greatly reduced.
As planned, we went to the "Day at Petersen Farm" over near Ringwood. I joined with the spinning guild demonstrating spinning techniques while Gary and Rob performed 19th century music beside the horse barn.
The crowd was larger by several hundred visitors over last year's event, but we received far fewer of the really "off-base" questions than last year. Most people seemed to have at least some idea of what we were doing and what the purpose was. Many are badly confused about the distinctions between spinning, weaving, sewing, knitting, etc. but at least they have some vague notion that it all has to do with making clothing and that the raw fiber comes from animal hairs or plants.
I did have one older man who expressed shock that I was sitting there with the women "knitting" as he put it. Actually, I was doing Tunisian crochet at the time, something none of the women in the group know how to do, but that's a fine point. He was immediately corrected by the women in the group and then apologized to me. I told him I wasn't offended and was used to hearing it, but in fact I have been the county fair judge for knitting and crochet for several years now and am a knitting instructor. He didn't seem to know what to make of that, especially after I said that I've been doing this stuff for nearly half a century.
Since this year is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, of course, there were many things focused on that. They had a Lincoln impersonator walking around, and I must admit he really did have a striking facial resemblance to the 16th President, though he wasn't quite tall enough. He gave several presentations on the farmhouse porch in which he told anecdotes and stories in Lincoln's voice, and though I didn't get to hear him, I imagine he was pretty good.
We were all amused when there was an announcement that anyone interested could come to the farmhouse kitchen to "see a woman bake a cherry pie using lard." I don't think the lard itself was the novelty, but just the idea of making pastry from flour and shortening would be. Once we discussed it, we agreed that the vast majority of people in this country today would have no idea how to do that, simple as it might be. Sad, really.
