On My Dirt Road...: Pinterest

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Tuesday Pins of the Week

This week on Pinterest:

Two avenues of thought strike me about this pic and stir my soul. Restoring old vintage things for the beauty they were intended, and how that is not so different than restoring the soul. We aren't house flippers, just so you know. My husband and I have no skill where that's concerned. But, still I always had this dream of restoring an old house. So, our first home fit the bill. It was an 1895 frame home on Main Street, and we worked on it room by room before we sold and eventually moved to my dirt road. Homes are so much like people--covered in imperfections from heavy use and battering storms of decades of use. I love looking at this pic and just wondering about those stories...

So this week I just returned from a five day church conference with over 500 youth and adults. I looked like this at 7am, 8 am, 12 pm, 3pm, and 11pm!! LOL. But seriously, I was totally "juiced" with Jesus and the fellowship there!

These two pins strike me. Each character has a look on their face that speaks from their soul, something is stirring in them... What is that story? What is that emotion? What is that truth?

Of course, I can't get through a week on Pinterest without pinning something historical!! Just can't. Nope. So the above pin I love for the example of the "dance card" that is often written about in Edwardian or Regency historical stories. And the map below shows the trail that Lewis and Clark took to the Pacific Northwest. In high school I was blessed to ride the Amtrak train along much of the trail all the way from Indiana to Portland, Oregon. I hope one day to take my husband to see it!

Readers:
What do you see in these pins?
Has anyone been on part of the Lewis & Clark trail?
Any house flippers or old home lovers out there?

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Blog post by Anne Love-







Writer of Historical Romance inspired by her family roots. 





Nurse Practitioner by day. 





Wife, mother, writer by night. 





Coffee drinker--any time.

Find me at: www.anneloveauthor.com

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Old posts at: Coffee Cups & Camisoles

Friday, February 23, 2018

Girl-Pearls & Man-Tools?!

Hey peeps. Most of my readers know I am a history geek. But I'm also a Pinterest geek. I'll be sharing a few favorite pins of the week. The visual reminders can be scenes or things that give me story ideas, or help with brain-storming fiction. But often, they are just plain fun.

This week's pin is what I'm terming girl-pearls--the chatelaine. What's a chatelaine? It's the girl version of a man-tool!

Like the Swiss Army knife or Leatherman (not that girls can't use it!), the chatelaine was worn at the waist for easy access during work. This lady's picture is titled "the nurse's chatelaine"--she may have used the scissors to cut off old bandages, a pencil to make notes on the mini clipboard, some smelling salts to revive the faint, and finally a little pillbox to dispense medications when needed. This one is elaborate and makes me glad nurses have pockets in their scrubs now! When we were in Maine this summer, my husband and I had a blast window shopping the antique stores. I found another very elaborate chatelaine in the window:

The tag on this one says it's for sale for $1,295.00--so you know why I didn't get it!! It also says, it's sterling silver, and includes a thimble, thimble case, pin cushion, patch box, and stamp box. Very cool! These are examples of 19th century ones. They were often worn by the wealthy housekeeper, might have included keychains, and was somewhat a status symbol showing the matron of the home who held sway over her domaine.

If a married woman moved to the home of her husband, under the roof of her mother-in-law, her mother-in-law would remain the keeper of the keys. But if her mother-in-law became widowed, the keys were passed to the daughter-in-law because her son became the head of the household. I would attempt to explain the complexities of mother-in-law relationships here, but you can imagine! And if there were no women in the home, the housekeeper then would hold the keys of the house. And if this housekeeper was also secretly a mistress, you can imagine that conundrum! I find it very interesting that Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie in their book, America's First Daughter about Thomas Jefferson's daughter, have a scene depicting this interesting passing of power and keys from one woman to another (no spoilers!!).

So you see, a little Pinterest pin can spin my brain to lots of interesting story threads. What if the keys were lost, hidden, kept by the wrong woman? What might she kept locked away? What secrets did the keeper of the keys hold?

Readers:

Have you heard of Chatelaines before?

Where does this pin take you for a story idea?

Do you keep girl-tools hidden in your kitchen cupboards so no one else will pirate them when you need them? Ha! I do!