Latest Additions to the Museum of the Baronesque

     The Museum of the Baronesque has added some new kitchen items to the repertoire. My recent fondue party in March was so much fun that a retro fondue pot seemed an appropriate and necessary purchase. For my birthday I went over the Cambridge Antiques Market and wandered around for several hours. Here are my new finds. The fondue pot is definitely the highlight! Not only is it black and white, and retro 60s, but it was made and designed in Norway.

1.  Cherry juice Glasses. Too cute for words! 

2. Refrigerator Glass- For Keeping leftovers. What leftovers?

3. Cathrineholm Fondue Pot 

Zach Playing LaCrosse

Literary Sojourns

I saw an interesting posting online, suggesting several homes and museums of famous authors to visit. Here are some that I highlighted, which I have either have already visited, would like to visit again, or that I would love to visit. 

1. Willa Cather home in Red Cloud, Nebraska

I have not visited any Willa Cather historical sites and would like to very much. I have a signed copy of one of her books, published in 1940. What a great name for a mid-western Nebraska town! Red Cloud. 

2. Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA.

I have visited the Dickinson home and everything about that trip was wondrous. I definitely want to go again. What I recall most vividly is the preservation of Emily's white dress, and the little pocket she had sewn on the side. As she went about the house doing chores, she would stash snatches of poetry. I also learned that she was an avid baker. She would bake things for her nephews and niece and lower the goodies down from her bedroom window in a basket. 

3. Edith Wharton House in Lenox, MA

Wow, pretty opulent. Edith Wharton was clearly upper middle class. I would like to visit her house. Also that area of Massachusetts is gorgeous. 

4. Bronte Parsonage, Haworth, England
I went to see the Bronte Parsonage this past summer, during my archeological trip to England. I wrote about the parsonage in an earlier post (October 14, 2013). It was wonderful and a long awaited dream fulfilled!

 

5. Edgar Allan Poe Museum, Richmond Virginia.

I have not been here; in fact I have never been to Virginia. This would be a nice place to visit with Jonathan. 

6. Edward Gorey House, Yarmouthport, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Despite the fact that Edward Gorey's house is so close, Jonathan and I just recently visited in October of 2013. It was a great treat and there was so much to see I'd like to visit again. 

7. Henry Miller House, Big Sur, California 

I am interested in the scenery as much as I am interested in seeing the museum. Hopefully I'll get to visit some day. It would be cool to see some rare first editions and photographs.

8. Jane Austen's House, Hampshire, England

Oh yes, it would be great to visit Jane Austen's house. She is so popular these days, though, I bet it would be a mob scene. I love it when authors of yesteryear maintain their popularity!

 

9. Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Holland

I visited the Anne Frank House when I was in Holland in 1999. I really enjoyed the experience, and I remember there was a long line! Well worth the wait. I recall I was most impressed by the copies of all the translations of Anne Frank's diary in a glass display, in almost every language! Also, I remember that in the neighborhood that Anne lived- which was predominantly Jewish- eighty percent of the inhabitants perished by the end of the war. It is amazing that her father Otto survived at all. He was the only survivor in his family. Seems like divine providence.

10. Louisa May Alcott House, Concord, Massachusetts

Shame on me. I've never been to the Louisa May Alcott house, and it's located 7 miles from my house! I've got to plan a trip this summer. It's time to play tourist in my own town!

Languages Spoken in the United States

     I love the following maps, created by Ben Blatt on Slate Magazine. He obtained the data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey website. The first map is no surprise, as it shows that Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the U.S. today (actually in some states it's French or German). It is interesting, though, to see what happens when you remove Spanish and English from the database. What about Native American languages, or Scandinavian languages? I was surprised that Swedish was dominant, though I am still confused about whether Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish are the same language. Ben Blatt has more maps in the original article.

Basement Dogs - Introvert Explosion

Those crazy dogs are at it again, singing about introvert angst. Oh, what do they know about isolation and misery?

Mary, Lisa, Jennifer, Emily, Madison, Sophia

Check out these great graphics, featuring over six decades of the most popular girls'  names by state in the United States. I have many questions:
1. What emerges in society to make a name popular? 2. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to have a popular name? 3. What causes the popularity of one name to fade and another to emerge? 4. Are some names always in the top ten? 

If you want to see the full graphic, click here:
http://jezebel.com/map-sixty-years-of-the-most-popular-names-for-girls-s-1443501909

Crimson and Clover with the Basement Dogs

My friends are way too cool for school!

Where the Wild Things Are

Here is fantastic artwork by some of the younger children that I work with. I love these!

Raccoon Dinner

The Raccoon Dinner will be happening this Friday somewhere in Newton Mass., so say ye all. 

Sorry I have not written in such a long time. Will try to be back soon.....

Retro Barbie

Bell Bottoms!

I never owned Barbie dolls when I was a little girl, but now I appreciate Barbie for her 'camp'. My friend Steph had some retro Barbie dolls and clothes she wanted to get rid of. Needless to say I was delighted to take them. Here is a sampling of an early 1970s Barbie.

With those feet? 

Hula Hooping

Molly a hula-hooping at Jenny's 50th birthday party. BTW, I could never hula-hoop when I was a kid. 

The Wily Moors

     While I was in England I completed my long awaited and long anticipated pilgrimage to the Bronte Parsonage. As is often the case, the actual journey from South Shields to Haworth took a lot longer than it appeared on the map-- but of course it was worth it! 

     I was surprised by Haworth and how large and modern a town it was. Locals had told me it was a small town with nothing much to see. Perhaps the town has grown tremendously in the past years, because I actually got lost and also got a ticket for parking illegally! The town looked kind of ordinary, and did not seem to highlight the Bronte parsonage. As I drove around I thought: Don't these people appreciate the holy genius that once walked the streets here! 

     When I posted about my journey on Facebook Jonathan made the comment about the 'wily moors,' in reference to Kate Bush's brilliant song "Wuthering Heights." I always thought the word was 'wild' in the song, having never heard the word 'wily.' I looked it up and it means cunning, sly, or deceitful, but I guess it is somewhat archaic. At times the lyrics of the song have listed the word as 'wild,' 'winding,' or 'windy.'

     My greatest impressions of the Bronte home are as follows. I could not take pictures, but walked around the place with the greatest attention, trying to suck in every detail. 

1. Charlotte Bronte's Dress- It reminded me of Emily Dickinson's dress at her house in Amherst, MA. Emily had a small pocket sewn on her dress, so she could stow away small snatches of poetry as she went about her daily household chores. What struck me about Charlotte's dress was how small she was. 


2. The 5 little books- The tiny "juvenilia' books that all the Bronte children wrote, are quite amazing to see. I can't imagine how they wrote in such a small script. 


3. First precious editions of 'Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre."
 

4. The portrait Branwell painted of his three sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. He originally included himself, but removed himself later. 

Girl Power!

Here is my niece Natalie playing with her soccer team. She is old enough now to definitely experience team camaraderie. They are so cute and so supportive of each other. And they win most of their games too!

Walk on Hardrian's Wall

On Sunday of our first week at Fort Arbeia, we went out and explored Hadrian's Wall. Nick gave us a tour of the sites, and explained the history of the wall. The Romans started building the wall in AD 122. The purpose of the wall was to provide a military barrier, so that the 'heathen' tribes of Scotland would be less inclined to attack. Along the wall are several forts and turrets.The wall is an amazing 72 miles long.

We hiked from Homesteads Fort west for about 2 1/2 miles, through very windy but very beautiful country on both sides.

After lunch we visited a fort called Vindolanda, which had a fantastic museum. Vindolanda has been excavated since the 1970's. The site is especially unique compared to other Roman sites because the chemical composition of the soil allowed for the survival of items such as leather, wood, and cloth. 

The most amazing items in the museum were the hundreds of excavated Roman shoes---soldiers and citizens, women, men, and children. Also there were leather items such as horses' harnesses and bridles. By far the most exciting finds at Vindolanda are written tablets, of ink on very thin wood. The written correspondences depict the day to day life of the fort.

Most exciting from my feminist perspective is the discovery of a woman named Claudia Severa's letter to her friend Sulpicia Lepidina, inviting her to a birthday party.

Apparently this is one of first known examples of a woman's writing to survive from ancient times.

Second Day at Fort Arbeia

Heather & Diane at the dig

Today was our second day digging at Fort Arbeia. Yesterday we dug as well but we really didn't get started until 1:30. When we first arrived on Monday we had an orientation and tour. The Arbeia site has been excavated by archaeologists since 1875, so there's lots to see. I learned that a typical Roman fortress consisted of four gates, walls, barracks, the principia, (headquarters with vault), religious shrines, and granaries. Arbeia is unique because for certain periods it was used principally for grain storage. At one time there were 24 granaries.

Romans typically built their forts near rivers, and Arbeia is situated at the entrance of the River Tyne. This gave the Romans the ability to transport goods all along the Northern frontier of the Roman occupation, or along Hadrian's Wall.

Fort Arbeia has several reconstructed buildings, such as the West Gate, the soldiers' barracks, the centurion's quarters, a latrine for the foot soldiers, and the commander's house. We toured all these on Monday.

Yesterday soon after we began digging a little girl local volunteer found a coin from 350 AD.

It had an the Emperor Constantine on one side and wheat sheaves on the other. It was quite amazing to see. Another volunteer found the tip of a bone needle, and someone

found a small buckle from a horse's bridle, and a hairpin.

Today was a less exciting day, but I felt more comfortable. We did not find anything of import but I found a piece of an amphora. Interestingly I had just watched a program about these common Roman vessels- frequently used to carry wine or olive oil- on a tv program just before I left for England.

Acquisitions in the Museum of the Baronesque

The Museum of the Baronesque has been somewhat quiet these days. Money and space are the constants. If only the Baron had more room, (and lots of extra money) there would be an ever-growing collection of goodies. In some ways, thank goddess space limitations keep the Baron in check. Otherwise her apartment might turn into a landslide. 

Here are some newbies in the Museum of the Baronesque. My favorite is definitely the Amish Man and Lady salt and pepper shakers. 

1. Happy Amish Man and Lady Salt and Peppers Shakers

                                                             

2. Avocado Salt and Pepper Shaker

3. Owl Plate

4. Fab Juice Glasses