Prairie Eydie (Finally) Arrives At Downton Abbey

Mathew:  Pre-medical miracle.  

I have arrived late to the Downton Abbey craze.  I assumed Downton Abbey would be stuffy like previous Masterpiece Theaters.  (Dusty productions where the climax involved a broken tea cup.  Gasp.) Was I ever wrong!  Downton Abbey is a soap opera for "classy" people.  I recognize many plot lines in Downton from my 25 years of watching General Hospital.   Groom, paralyzed by war, suddenly able to walk down the aisle to his sobbing bride, anyone?  Yes, please!  Bride jilted at alter because groom considers himself inferior?  Bring it on!

You need to break me outta here, Sonny!  Just like Anna will bust Mr. Bates outta the cooler in Season 3 of Downton Abbey.  

Downton Abbey has amnesia, facial disfigurement, inter-cousin marriages, paralysis, and dead relative resurrections.  I am only in the beginning of Season 3, but already I have learned SO much from Downton Abbey.

Things I have learned from Downton Abbey THUS far:

You may want to be useful at a garden show.

Be useful.

Lady Edith and Lady Sybil shone during World War 1.  Lady Sybil wrapped her gorgeous locks in a dish towel and became a nurse after a day or two of training with Lady Crowley.  Lady Edith spent her days finding books for convalescing officers.  (I also love recommending books.  Counting by 7s, by Holly Sloan is a fabulous Young Adult book that I recently finished.  Truthfully, any age would love this book.)  Lady Crowley has a sickening need to be useful and ran off to work with war orphans - not know her son was paralyzed.  When she tired of orphans she started "helping" prostitutes who didn't want her help.  (You don't need to take it to Lady Crowley's extreme.  Just help out when and where you can.)   

Dress for the Occasion.

How I LOVE the costumes on Downton Abbey!

• the long gloves
• the bejeweled necklines.
• the striped linen
• the mountains of fur

My grandmother always said if you didn't have an occasion to dress up, you needed to make one.  At 99 years old and 10 months, my grandmother still looks fabulous and is still dressing for the occasion of luncheon.  I love how people at Downton "dress" for luncheon and dinner.  (Who is in charge of the laundry at Downton?)

A "zinger" delivered to Lady Edith from the Dowager Countess.

Purse your lips when you are at a loss for words.

Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess, (For those of you wondering, a Dowager is a widow who holds a title or property.) often purses her lips before or after delivering "a zinger."  I find the "lip purse" gives you either time to think of a "zinger" or make sure the "zinger" has had its intended effect.  The "lip purse" can also be used solo as it gets displeasure communicated without saying a word.  Lately I have found the "lip purse" to be extremely effective when reviewing my son's sloppy, slapdash math homework.  Works like a charm.

Save your energy and don't react with emotion.

We use so much emotional energy smiling, crying, ranting, tearing up, etc.  Let us follow Lady Mary's example and adapt a deadpan expression in all situations.   She was poker faced  when Lady Sybil died of eclampsia.  Not a wrinkle graced her porcelain face when the  Turkish diplomat, Kemal Pamuk, died in her bed.  Hmmmm.  Maybe she did react a bit when she found out Lord Grantham had lost Cora's fortune in a bad investment.  

Maybe Dowager Countess says it best (once again!):

I look forward to learning more from the Downton Abbey crew. Perhaps next time I will focus on what I have learned from the servants of Downton.  

Prairie Eydie

The Art of Listening to Your Mother

Harriet Strange Puttmann at 15 in 1939.

I posted this photo of my mother on my Facebook page this week-end in honor of Mother's Day.  She was just 15 when this was taken, and although it is just one single picture, it gives a glimpse into her personality.  First to be noted is that she has her arm around one of the many dogs who graced her life. My mother talked to them, doted on them, and loved them.  And any dog she loved, loved her back with the fierce loyalty that dogs save for those people who understand them the most. The face in the photo also shows someone who was a dreamer and  a bit unsure of herself. Mom always retained the ability to think beyond her reality and always fought those insecurities that might hold her back. She encouraged the same in her children.    

This photo was also taken just before my mother contracted polio. I wish I had asked her more about her illness.  She mentioned it little, although it affected her until the end of her life and may have contributed to her death from aspiration pneumonia.  Her lungs and left side received the most damage, and while most never knew, she worked hard to conceal the constricted throat that caused her to choke easily and the arm and leg that were less strong and agile. Mom spent time in an iron lung, but she fought the machine and proved herself able to breath on her own.  When the Salk Vaccine became available, she made sure my siblings and I were among the first in line to receive the inoculation.

My mother taught me many things, but as I leaf through old photos, a few stand out on this Mother's Day evening.

Mom and Maia, 1997.

Read!  Read to yourself, your friend, your child, your significant other... Mom always had a book that she was reading and another that she was sharing.

Who knows when.  I have so many of these photos.

Don't be afraid to have fun.  Mom was gracious and almost-always a lady, but she knew how to have fun.  She loved to laugh, and she never took herself too seriously.

Crystal Lake, Sayner, Wisconsin, 1970's.

You must find a lake.  Mom loved to camp because it brought her to the edges of lakes all across the United States.  She was a swimmer, and she would keep track of how many times she plunged in in a single day.  A pool was never equal to a lake.

My first birthday with Carla, 1991.

Birthdays are a BIG DEAL! No one celebrated a birthday like Mom. You didn't have to make your bed, you received the exact meal you ordered (fried chicken, baby peas, and mashed potatoes with cream gravy, thank you...), and always a homemade birthday cake.  That meant made from scratch with real cake flour... 

Part of Joli's gift to me today, Mother's Day 2015.

A little bit of really good chocolate is a whole lot better than a mess of bad chocolate.  Mom was the one who taught me to go into to a high end chocolate shop and buy one or two pieces of the best and really savor.  In all honesty, I must also add that my mom taught me that if you really needed a chocolate fix, a spoon and a can of Hershey's fudge sauce might get you through.

Mom and Dad .  Enough said.

Hold tight to the good times and the memories they bring, and they will see you through the bad. I remember Mom telling me this after a particularly tough year in our family. 

There are so many others, but the hour is late, and I am ready to crawl in bed with my latest semi-trashy novel (Mom would have approved) and bar of fair trade, organic, 60% cacao chocolate. (Thanks, Jo!). 

Mom and Biscuit.

This picture brings the post full-circle. Mom and her last dog. Thank you. Thank you for being that part of my life that helped make me who I am today. I didn't mention how you taught me the joys of a good scotch--splash of water and no ice.  I will save that for another post.

Love always,
Prairie Sherry

Prairie Pa and The Art of Gardening Advice

Now that the weather is warming and spring is finally here, it is time for some gardening advice from our very own guest blogger, Prairie Pa.  (And you all know how Prairie Pa loves to give advice.)

10 Things Big Box Gardening Center Employees Will NOT Tell You.

1. Don’t bother to ask me any questions because I don’t know anything. I only make $8.50 an hour and my last job was at a car wash.

This joker wants to know if begonias will thrive in partial sun.  What a rube!

2. If you are foolish enough to ask me a question, I will make something up to save face and do it in a positive and condescending manner.

3. Our hanging baskets will never look any better than they do now.

4. Any perennials and shrubs you purchase after July 4^th will not survive the winter.

And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in gardening for all – the notion that if you regularly water, use organic soil, and periodically fertilize, you can get ahead.

5. I don’t know how to get the blue hydrangeas to bloom either.

6. No matter how cheap the annuals are on our sales rack, do not buy them. If they look shabby now, just wait until you get them home.

7. Our potting soil is greatly overpriced.  Buy compost instead. If you do the numbers, our potting soil cost $5.25 a cubic foot and compost is usually about $1.25 a cubic foot.

Thou shalt place clearly labeled perennials with perennials and annuals with annuals.  

8. Many of our perennials are really annuals. We place these annuals with the perennials and count on people not checking the temperature rating on the information tag.

9. You can grow most of our annuals and veggies yourself with seeds and a couple of grow lamps.

10. Most of the people who buy our plants lose interest and let the weeds take over by July because it is dirty, hard work. If you are not inspired to a spiritual level by the sight of a bed of well cared for flowers—forget the whole thing and fill your flowerbeds with colored stones.

Shop the "Prairie Pa Way" - at your local garden centers.

Prairie “The Rocket” Pa

A Jar Full of Happiness

Prairie Eydie's FREE Happiness Jar is filling up!

Enjoy the little things, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.  

Robert Brault

You will LOVE Alma!  A great female protagonist.  

I have joined the "Happiness Jar Project."  I read about it on Elizabeth Gilbert's Facebook page.  (Please don't hold the lengthy, self-indulgent Eat, Pray, Love against Elizabeth.  She never meant for that book to be a road map for women who were sick of their lives. Elizabeth has recently published this amazing book called The Signature of All Things which will soon be a Masterpiece Theater series.  I suggest all you creative souls "friend" her on Facebook.  She is an advocate for getting creative work done!  Her new book, Big Magic:  Creative Living Beyond Fear, will be out September 22.  I will be buying it in hard cover.)

Elizabeth Gilbert and her happiness jar.  Drat.  Now I wish I had a bigger jar!

Who can't use some extra happiness?  Here is what you do to create your own Jar O' Happiness:

STEP 1:  Find a big jar.  The very day I decided to start the "Happiness Jar Project" I saw a large Mason jar on my friend's table.  I asked him if I could have it and he said "Yes"!  (Sounds like Grace people.  You may want to revisit my archived blog:  Prairie Grlz Find Grace At Culver's.  8-20-2013.) I brought the jar home and placed it on my kitchen counter.  

A Happiness Jar from Pinterest.  You can tell this person started the project on January 1st.  I feel my stomach knotting up just thinking about printing that label on my uncooperative printer.  PLUS, look how all the strips of paper are exactly the same size.  Not going to happen.    

Now all you perfectionists out there could go all "Pinterest" on me - etching the word happiness on an apothecary jar or scrounging through thrift shops for just the right shabby chic jar.  I would recommend using what is around and just get started.  I have seen people dream of "being creative," only to do nothing because everything has to be perfect before they can start a project.  These are the same people who have to start their "Happiness Jar" on New Year's Day.  Pst.  You can start your project whenever you want.

STEP 2:  Stack a good-sized pile of scratch paper or place a wee notebook next to your happiness jar.  I use scraps of paper left over from collaging and other art projects.  Again, I advise against going "Pinterest."  Making your own paper studded with flower seeds so you can plant your happy memories later on is going WAY too far.

STEP 3:  Every day write down one thing that made you happy and put the slip in the jar.  You could also add a ticket stub, a note from a friend, or a drawing your 1st grader did.  What should you do if you miss a day?  Nothing.  I am pretty sure I missed the entire month of March, due to it being March in Wisconsin. 

STEP 4:  Figure out when you want to read your happiness slips.  You could read them exactly one year after starting the project.  Or you could do what I do, dip your hand into the jar when you're having a bad day and need some happiness.   Some days I have needed to pull out a whole handful of happiness.  My happiness jar has never disappointed me.  

A post-it from a student

 I wrote down what daughter Lulu said about the portrait she drew of me.  

Everyone should have a friend like Prairie Sherry.  

Now.  Find a jar and get going!

Prairie Eydie  

PS - Let me know what happens.  

    

Fiddles, Guitars, and Rabbit Tobacco

This morning, while enjoying my newly habituated morning routine of coffee in bed, I found myself musing over the Ingalls girls--Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Grace.  Yes, the inspiration for this blog, the true Prairie Grlz are never far from my consciousness. For those new to the blog and have no idea what I am talking about, let me refer you to the 8 volume series of true Americana written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The octa-fecta of wonderfulness.

As I sipped, I pondered the probing question--Which Ingalls girl would have been the most likely to go to a Grateful Dead revival concert?  I know that this query stretches the human conception of the continuum of time and space, but if you look at pictures of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia did bear more than a fleeting resemblance to Charles Ingalls.

Jerry Garcia

Not this Charles Ingalls...

Michael Landon

The real Charles Ingalls...

Pa (Charles) Ingalls

Pa (aka Charles) and Jerry both had a roaming spirit, played musical instruments (fiddle and guitar), and smoked.  I am seriously doubting Pa was having tobacco Pony Expressed to him out on the Prairie.  I think he was finding a bit of what my dad referred to as "rabbit tobacco" during his wandering "hunting trips." 

"Gnaphalium obtusifolium. Unmistakable by its creamy appearance in the still green background of the early fall meadows. Leaves long, elliptical and silver green colored. Plant up to one meter high. Unusual fragrance. Can be smoked for respiratory ailments or made into a relaxing tea. A common tobacco substitute used by children in rural areas. It is said to have a mild sedative effect."  

It wasn't pot, but the sedative effect may have accounted for Pa's seeming inability to focus long enough to establish more than a dirt dugout or a shanty for his family.  The family was starving, and Pa would stagger in without a rabbit or woodchuck, but a smile on his face and a song in his heart.  He'd drag out that fiddle and torture his family with his rendition of  "Truckin'" or  "Friend of the Devil."

I digress. Back to the question of which Ingalls daughter would have most likely become a Dead Head.  

You may be asking yourself why such a question would even occur to Prairie Sherry, the Karen Carpenter devotee.  Dear Prairie Readers, in our never ending desire to broaden our limited horizons, the Prairie Grlz recently attended a Grateful Dead revival at Madison's Barrymore Theater. The details of that experience will be related in a later post.  Prairie Eydie and I considered it a writer's opportunity couldn't be missed, and I have a cellphone filled with undecipherable notes and blurry pictures that will be shared in the near future.  Let it be known that we only drank beer, but the effects of second hand smoke of another nature has been googled and noted.

Still digressing.

Most of our dear Prairie Readers may assume that Laura would be our most likely choice for a potential Dead Head experience.  That spunky "little half-pint of cider half drunk up" as Pa liked to say. Certainly sweet, perfect Mary would have never considered taking such a chance.  And what do we really know about Baby Grace?  

Carrie Ingalls.  That is my choice.  Unassuming and quiet Carrie. The girl that barely survived The Long Winter.  During our exhaustive research road trip to South Dakota several summers ago, Prairie Eydie and I discovered the wild side of Carrie Ingalls.

As a young woman, Carrie staked her own homestead claim on the wilds of the prairie and lived there alone.  She loved to travel.  She worked for a newspaper.  This is the type of Prairie Grl who would thrown on her tie dye and follow her band.  

Rockin' Party Animal

And I bet she would have taken Nellie Oleson with her.

Rabbit tobacco???????

Ever yours, and so glad to be back,

Prairie Sherry

The Art of Budgeting

Good Morning Eydie!  We recognize you and will happily over charge you for a cuppa coffee. 

Have you ever read an article or heard Suze Orman (Who I think is WAY over caffeinated.  She is way too intense about ROTH and IRA accounts.  I'll start worrying about that after I retire, thank you very much!) telling you to save hundreds of dollars a year by denying yourself a morning latte?

In my case it isn't a latte, but a dark roast Starbucks coffee with a splash of cream.  (For those of you wondering why I am not frequenting a local coffee shop, it is because my community has two locally owned coffee shops and neither brew strong enough coffee for this Prairie Gal.)   I tried drinking "work coffee" for awhile, but ended up in a decaffeinated rage.  My anger and deprivation was definitely NOT worth the $2.22 I was saving four or five times a week.

Instead, I have found other ways to save money, and budget, that do not involve limiting coffee drinks of any kind.   

Did you know - Aunt Bee was 58 when she started appearing on the Andy Griffith Show.  Apparently she was difficult to work with and often clashed with Andy Griffith.  No word on if she clashed with Don Knotts.

  
1.  Wait until you look like Aunt Bea on The Andy Griffith Show before getting a cut and color.  Added bonus?  Everyone will comment on how FaBuLoUs you look after your salon splurge.

2.  Bring your own nail polish to your next pedicure.  That way you can touch up polish chips yourself and prolong your pedicure. (This is a tip from Prairie Sherry that I have never tried.  I am too embarrasses to get a pedicure since my feet look like hooves after the harsh Wisconsin winter.)

3.  Plant a square foot garden in May, by the end of July you'll be harvesting baskets of cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, bean . . . (NOTE: Don't think you will save money by canning your own tomatoes. Instead, befriend Prairie Sherry and she will can your tomatoes for you.)  You will find that you rarely need to buy anything in your grocery store produce section.

4.  Let all your magazine subscriptions run out and dust off your library card.  Magazines only encourage you to spend more money. Oprah's magazine will have you spending your paycheck on a quest to find the best dry shampoo.  Dry shampoo is a time saver, not a money saver.  Plus, Prairie Friends, I have already done the dry shampoo quest and the answer is :

HGTV magazine will send you scampering to buy a new light fixture for your entry way or an indoor/outdoor rug for your deck. A more economical way to spruce these areas up is with a broom. If you must have magazine subscriptions, I would suggest Reader's Digest.  

I bet beautiful Raquel has had this dress since 1957. 

  5.  Invest in leopard print clothes and accessories.  It seems like every year leopard print is a trend.  And even if it isn't - you will look both retro and cutting edge.  (Prairie Sharon read in a magazine that women over 30 shouldn't wear leopard print.  I say cancel the subscription to that dumb magazine.) 

6.  If you are a teacher, stake a place by the garbage can in the school cafeteria.  You will easily score complete, untouched lunches for your own children.  Cha-ching! 

7.  Do not find yourself in a TJ Maxx or Marshall's parking lot with twenty-five minutes to kill.  You do not need a new "lettuce green" handbag or a lemon zester.  If you do find yourself in this dangerous situation, drive to the nearest Starbucks to regroup with a grande Pike Place, light on the cream.

Prairie Eydie

The Art of Being Brave

I have not mastered this art, but I am working on it.

The infamous Elver Park Hill!

This week-end my grandson, David, asked if I would take him to the "big hill" to go sledding.  I said no, and proceeded to remind him that just a year ago my wrist was still in an air cast after shattering it on an icy driveway in January.  "I don't think Grandma will be going to the big hill to sled any more.

Today, while having coffee with a new friend, I related this story. While I expected a sympathetic ear (the new friend is six years older), instead I was reminded that life is short, and that life with good health is even shorter.  Although the exact words were not said, "Go sledding with the grandson," was the crystal-clear message.

Thank you, new friend!  I needed that reminder.

The very same week-end past, I took a bold and brave chance.  Our dishwasher had stopped really washing, and was merely spewing a film of half-dissolved detergent and micro food slime onto our glasses and dishes.  This had happened once before, and I had despaired over paying a repairman to replace my food chopper (didn't know I had one) to the tune of $178.98.  Now, armed with the term "food chopper" and my Kenmore model number, I hit the internet.  Youtube provided a step-by-step video on the disassembly and cleaning of said food chopper.  I went to the hardware store with a strong resolve.

If you are having problems with your dishwasher, check out this informative, but rather dull video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPrp9kgMJls

An hour later, armed with a $4.99 T15 torx driver, I laid out the innards of that dishwasher, including the chopper, and cleaned and reassembled it in 45 minutes.  In that certain glow of satisfaction, I sat on the floor amidst a pile of greasy rags, a decimated toothbrush, and a collection of nasty food-related bits , and toasted myself with a nice glass of Malbec. If I smoked, it would have been a great time for a cigarette.

For me, that disassembly took a brave leap of faith.  Success--dishes washed with mechanical ease.  Failure--prune-like fingers and our meals reduced to one-pan wonders.

Another bit of bravery--I started a new job last week.  Yes, the former gig at Hy-Vee was paying for the health insurance, but little else.  In December, I gathered up my courage and reapplied at a food co-op that had soundly rejected me a year ago.  Two interviews later, I gave my two-week's notice, and traded starched white shirts and black dress pants for my hippy skirts and leggings. My paycheck is larger and I am getting some benefits!  Peace and love, baby!

Just call me Sunshine.

It is March 2nd. This is Wisconsin.  Snow is in the forecast for tonight. We'll probably get several more snowfalls before April The sleds are in the garage.  The grandkids are a phone call away.  I think I may conquer that hill yet.

Prairie Sherry

P.S.

The dog just came in with a dead bird in her mouth.  I didn't even flinch as I wrenched it from her jaws!