Bi-Monthly Book Look - July/August

I'm still having trouble finding as much time to read for pleasure as I would like.  I've been reading a lot of homesteading magazines and online-articles, which I also enjoy, but it's not the same as picking up a book simply because it sounds interesting.

I was able to finish three books in July and August, which is amazing considering I fell asleep most nights after just a few pages.

Arcadia - Lauren Groff
My Rating: 4 out of 5.  This novel follows the life of flower child Bit Stone from before his birth to late adulthood, as he both sheds and desperately hangs on to the hippie ideals of his commune-living parents.

A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest J. Gaines
My Rating:  4 out of 5.  This is an Oprah's Book Club book from the 1990s, reminiscent of To Kill a Mockinbird.  When a young man is wrongly convicted of murder, his former teacher is called upon to convince him of his self-worth before he dies.  When I picked it up and started reading, I remembered the story, but having finished it, I still can't say whether I had read it before or if I saw the film version.

Folks, This Ain't Normal:  A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World - Joel Salatin
My Rating: 5 out of 5. I loved this book, which is as much about child-rearing and personal responsibility as it is about farming.  I enjoy Salatin's tone, and learned quite a lot from this book.

Goodreads synopsis:  From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In FOLKS, THIS AIN'T NORMAL, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love. Salatin has many thoughts on what normal is and shares practical and philosophical ideas for changing our lives in small ways that have big impact.

Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking -  Susan Cain
My Rating: 4 out of 5.  This in an important book for introverts like me, but maybe even a more important read for the extroverted majority to read.  The book explains how introverts and extroverts process information and seek stimulation differently, while sharing valuable insight on how we can all contribute and relate to one another better.

A Look Back in Time

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I was so excited when, a few days ago, I found these photos on a historical society website.  These photos weren't dated, but must have been taken in the early 1900s.

My first memory of this store is as a patron when I was 4 or 5 years old, in the late 60s.  I have many more memories of it from roughly the mid-70s through the mid-80s, when my parents owned it. 

They were the third owners of this store, and although times had changed, the store really had not.  It was very much the same as in these photos. On the outside, the awning no longer wrapped around the side, and the color scheme was more monochromatic, as in this photo... 

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rather than the contrasting colors of this shot...

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Inside was a also very similar.  As in the photo below, cut-to-order fabric was on the left side, shoes were on the right side, but by then the shelves went to the ceiling, or nearly so, with attached rolling ladders to reach the uppermost shelves. 

Many of the fixtures were the same.  The suspended gas lamp had been replaced with several electric lamps, but the store still had a wood stove as it's only source of heat (I do not think it was the one in the picture, however).  Box fans and screened doors were the only way to cool the store; there was never any air conditioning in the building.

On the left side you'll notice a rectangular glass display sitting on the counter, and if you look closely (and know what to look for) on the right side, near the arched doorway, there is a curved-front glass display case.  Both of these were still in the store when my parents owned it, although they were situated on counters in the center of the store in front of the wood stove.  I suspect many of the other counters I remember were also the originals.

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In addition to fabric and shoes, my parents sold sewing notions, small costume jewelery, knick-knacks, useful household items (think clocks, curtains, feather dusters, brooms, etc.) and a few toys.  In the room to the right side with the arched doorway, they sold Levi's jeans and Key overalls.  You can't see it in the photos, but there was a door near the back left of the store for entry from the side street.

The entire back portion of the store, beyond the wood stove, contained groceries.  Canned goods, baking staples and the like were on the shelves, but there was also a counter where they sold custom-sliced deli meats and cheese by the pound, and bottles of pop (not "soda", but "pop" on this side of the state).  Not the new-fangled screw-top plastic bottles, but the old-fashioned pop-top kind.  And oh, the candy!  There were a couple of yards of countertop devoted just to candy!  I'm told the original owners sold plows and other larger farm implements in the grassy lot behind the store.  My parents didn't sell those kinds of things, but in the spring, they sold garden seed in bulk, then in the fall, apples by the bushel, often stacked outside near the front windows. 

I helped out at the store once in a while, but I was in my teens and early 20s then and it was in the next town up the road from where we lived, so I didn't work there often.  My parents had other small stores then to tend to, as did my eldest sister, so my older brother ran this store.  After a decline in business -- all the seniors who loved the store in their youth were passing, and the younger crowd preferred to drive half an hour to the Wal-Marts, JCPenneys and large supermarkets of the world -- and my brother's need to move on, my parents finally closed the store and sold the building in the mid- to late-80s.  The fixtures were sold to collectors and the building sat vacant for a while, before eventually being razed.

Back On Top Of Things

It's amazing what antibiotics -- when you need them --  can do in a short amount of time.  Turns out that in addition to being in a blogging funk, I've been sick with a sinus infection.  It didn't get bad until this week, but I didn't realize how long I've been feeling less than stellar until I started feeling better this morning.  The 4-hour-long nap I took yesterday didn't hurt anything, either.

I'm sure that being under the weather had something to do with why I didn't feel like blogging, but I think it's also just that time of year for me.  When Kat goes back to school, I feel like putting my new-found free time to good use, and for whatever reason, that doesn't include blogging.

I've spent time organizing around the house, organizing my online recipe files, trying to get into solid school-year routines, canning, gardening and so on.  I feel a little better about my house now and decided to get a post up before not blogging becomes a habit.

I'm good to go -- at least for another month or two. 

Unintentional Intermission

I hadn't planned for this break, but I might as well keep going now that I'm in the midst of it.  I'm trying to get back into the swing of school routines and get my literal and figurative houses in order.

I hope you'll stick around.  I'll be posting regularly again soon.

My New Blog

Since we're camping more often and many campgrounds now have wi-fi as an amenity, I've created a new blog to be our virtual scrapbook of our outings.

In addition to pictures and commentary about each of our trips, I'll also include tips for RVers, food ideas, campground reviews and links back to the Haphazard Homestead recipe index.

You can find the new blog at Haphazard Homestead On The Road, and it includes a post of our latest trip last weekend.

I hope you enjoy it!

Haphazard Homestead On The Road

New 'Do, New Glasses, New School Year

I managed to get a couple of pictures of a non-cooperative Kat on her first day of 4th Grade.   The purple dress just happens to be her school color, and she decided at the last minute to wear tennies instead of sandals so that she wouldn't get gravel in her flip-flops at recess.

She got her hair cut in a cute bob a couple of weeks ago.  Her glasses frames broke irreparably on Tuesday night, so we rushed -- and spent beaucoup bucks - for a new pair at a one-hour place yesterday.  It was almost time for her yearly exam, so we did that, and got the glasses filled with a new prescription.  Some back-up glasses are going to be ordered from an online vendor very soon, so that we don't have to spend that kind of money again.

You probably can't tell from the photo, but the glasses are black on the outside surfaces, hot pink on the inside.  Very bold and very cute.

Summer's Winding Down

• Shane and I enjoyed a weekend getaway in the camper. I'll write more about that later this week.
   
• Kat has a quick back-to-school night on Tuesday, then classes begin on Thursday. Yes, already.
   
• When we checked out teacher assignments, we learned that Kat's new teacher is named New Teacher. Hmm...seems a little late in the game to not know who's filling that position.
   
• Looking forward to dinner out on Thursday with my good friend C. We've been friends since 5th grade. She invited all of us, but I may decide to ditch the family and make it a Ladies' Night Out. Used to be that would have meant heading straight for the bar, dancing and drinking until the wee hours, then somehow each of us making it to work the next day. Now a wild night means dinner, one cocktail (if any), a little conversation, and making back home and asleep by 10:00 -- and probably feeling it the next day all the same.
   
• How dare you insinuate that we're getting old!
  
  



• Our garden is down to just tomatoes and a couple of watermelons at the moment. We let the pinto beans dry on the vine and shelled those out last week. We completely missed our window of opportunity on picking corn; it got too tough and chewy to eat, but we are letting it dry on the stalk and will try making some cornmeal with it. Our few cucumbers were so bitter from the heat that we gave up and ripped them out. The green beans and zucchini that we planted along with the corn (Three Sisters planting) didn't produce a thing.
   
• We're not done gardening yet, though. It's time for a fall planting!