Musings of a 19th Century Woman
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Musings of a 19th Century Woman

June 2011

Fortitude and Perseverance

I learned a lesson last weekend—a lesson about fortitude and perseverance.  These are qualities needed to survive the 19 century experience.  As our captain, Cleon Plunk, stated, “We really got a small taste of what it was like to live back then.”
 
 
Vaunda and I made the 6 hour drive to Booneville, MO for their 150 anniversary reenactment.  We arrived Thursday evening and set up our tent, a process that takes about 8 hours total.  We finished sometime around noon on Friday.

Classical Clothing—Costume or Couture?

“I like your costume.” 
 
 
I hear this frequently, and every time I do, I cringe.  Costumes, in my mind, conjure up images of Halloween and cheap costumes worn over clothing and fastened with ties or Velcro.  The clothing that I wear is more than just a costume.  My wardrobe is carefully researched, and the fabrics and buttons chosen to be in keeping with original period-appropriate clothing.
 
 
My Civil War dresses are collar-less and have dropped sleeves. My camp dresses, which date to an earlier era, have collars, and are shapeless.

Tents, Twisters and Trains

Tents, Twisters and Trains
 
 
Several years ago we went to a reenactment in Atoka, OK.  As we pulled in and set up camp we looked at the sky and saw this:
The sky was beautiful, but also sinister-looking.  We knew that a storm was brewing. It was quite breezy, as it often is on the Oklahoma plains.  When you live in Tornado Alley you tend to keep your eyes on the sky. 
 
 
Vaunda, Brenda, and I pitched our tent in the civilian area, and expecting a storm, we lay plastic on the ground to protect us from the torrential rain that we knew would come.

Go West, Young Woman

Ever since I was a child I knew that I was born 100 years too late. Over half a century later it is more like 150 years. There is just something about the simplicity of life, the challenge of making do with what you have, the creativity needed to invent new ways of doing things and travel by train and horse that have always appealed to me. My mantra was “Go West, young woman,” and go West I did, although not as I envisioned. 
 
As a teenager I married the farmer of my dreams and shortly thereafter we moved from Upstate New York to Oklahoma to go to school.
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