Laura Listens to her Inner Voice

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?"  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There were sudden blizzards, cute/devilish boys, and shoes with lots of buttons.  During this period of self-quarantine, I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover - What Would Laura Do?

Can you spot the luddite?

Chapter 9 begins with Laura dreading school. Poor girl is heavy hearted.  Whoa.  I am also heavy hearted about school.  

I am a low tech teacher - not a total luddite, but close.  I want my students holding actual books and turning pages.  Now I facilitate Distance "Learning" from my laptop.  I don't know if my students are comprehending their books or if they are even reading.  I am unable to scour library shelves and put books in their hands.  It makes my heart sigh.  I will never take forgranted the simple act of sitting next to students and reading together.

Imagine wearing these all day.  Not very practical for farm work or blizzards.

Thank goodness for Sloggers (I just ordered a pair).  VERY practical for all your farming needs.

Despite her dread, Laura gets ready for school.  She puts on her woolen winter dress and Sunday hair ribbons.  There is a tense moment when Carrie loses a button off her shoe.  Before even looking for the button, Laura immediately says, "We must take a button off Mary's shoe."  (LIW Refresher:  Mary doesn't go to school because she is blind.  Laura resents Mary because Mary has blonde curls and Laura has straight brown hair.")  Luckily, Ma finds the button, sews it on, and shoos the girls out the door.

Where is Cap's fashing grin in this photo?  Laura admitted, in later years, that she had a crush on Cap.  Laura and Cap never dated, though Cap did date Laura's friend, Mary Power. 

Laura's friend and Cap's love interest, Mary Power

Laura and Carrie bravely make their way to school.  The school house is on the open prairie with no surrounding buildings (remember this).  Two boys are playing baseball in front of the school.  A boy with yellow hair and a flashing grin throws Laura a curve ball.  Gasp.  Laura catches the ball and immediately feels ashamed of her unladylike action.   It turns out the dynamic yellow haired boy is Cap Garland.  (Is Cap short for something?  Like Captain?)  Cap's sister, Florence Garland, is the teacher.  Laura is enraptured with the school's 12 desks.  "All the desks were patent desks, made of wood varnished smooth as glass."  

Laura and Carrie end up looking forward to school days.  One day, there is suddenly no sunshine and a gust of wind crashes into the school house.  "The blizzard was scouring against the walls and the winds squealed and moaned in the stovepipe."  Laura is immediately transported back to Plum Creek when a blizzard hit unexpectantly and Pa lived in a snowbank for three days.  

Miss Garland is from out East and has never experienced a blizzard.  She grapples with if she should cancel school.  Laura wants to tell Miss Garland what to do and imagines having to burn all the shiny desks to stay warm.  Fortunately, Mr. Foster (the man who owns the ox team - - - if that means anything to you) arrives to lead everyone back to town.  

Dory - aquatic Laura Ingalls Wilder

The group ventures out into the violent blizzard.  Soon they are struggling, staggering, and feeling smothered.  "We can't go on this way," Laura thought.  Funny, I have that same thought a minimum of 7 times a day.  But I realize, like Laura, there is no choice but to carry on.  

Laura sees Cap leave the group.  She realizes he is headed towards Main Street, but the group is following Miss Garland to the open prairie.  Now, I would love to say Laura listens to her inner voice and follows Cap, but she doesn't.  "Laura did not dare follow him.  She must take care of Carrie and Teacher had told them to follow her." 

Thank goodness Laura bumped into the Mead Hotel moments later.  Beyond the hotel was nothing but prairie and now the group is able to navigate to their homes.  

Laura and Carrie's coats are driven with ice and their eyelids are bleeding.  But Ma says, "Alls well that ends well" and hands the girls ginger tea.  The chapter ends with Laura's thoughts - "She could not imagine that Heaven was better than being where she was, slowly growing warm and comfortable, sipping the hot, sweet, ginger tea . . . "


WWLD Summary

• Dress up for school.  Ribbons optional
• Carry on - especially when you don't want to 
• Act ladylike 
• Listen to your inner voice - it could know something!
• Drink tea and appreciate Heaven on Earth

Oh dear.  See you tomorrow for chapter 10 - "Three Days' Blizzard.

Prairie Eydie

The Ingalls are "Settling In"

I much prefer Garth Williams' illustrations. 

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?"  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There was no straw or extended weather forecasts.  During this period of self-quarantine, I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover - What Would Laura Do?

Early map of DeSmet, South Dakota.  Ingalls #1 is a store that Pa bought and quickly sold.  Ingalls #2 is the store where the family hunkered down for the long winter.  

Chapter 8 begins with the Ingalls rolling into DeSmet with a wagonful of belongings.  They are moving into Pa's store with the false front.  (False fronts made stores look more grandiose and also provided additional advertising space.)

Laura immediately wants to hang the curtains because she doesn't want people staring in their window.  Now, this is a darn shame because I love looking in windows when I am out walking.  My extensive data from years of casually glancing in windows is that most people hang pictures too high and don't understand scale. 

Ma tells Laura and Carrie they will start school the next day.  Laura wrestles with her inner demons.  She is afraid of meeting strangers, but she gives herself a pep talk.  "Pa said she must never be afraid and she would not be.  She would be brave if it killed her." 

I am very good at giving myself pep talks.  If I liked sports, I would be an excellent coach.  Yesterday I didn't want to be brave and spent most of the day reading Courting Mr. Lincoln.  I was in no mood for motivational self-talk and acted more like Nellie Olsen than like Laura.  

Being a single mom during a pandemic isn't great.   I was sick of giving gentle reminders (a.k.a. nagging) to my kids.  Take a shower.  Go outside.  Practice your instrument.  Help me find my coffee cup.  Talk to me. The responsibility of setting the day's tone lands on me.  I know Pa wouldn't approve of fear-based sniveling, so I returned to acting brave and peppy.  Just as Laura is brave for Carrie, I will be brave for my kids.

Straw is a stalk, usually a waste product of wheat, that's used as bedding.   Hay, typically alfalfa or grass, is used as animal feed.

Luckily, the only controversy in Chapter 8 is that straw ticks are filled with hay and not straw. Laura gives us long, cozy descriptions of their new digs.  "The creamy curtains, the varnished yellow desk and chair, the cushions in the rocking chairs, the rag rugs and the red tablecloth, and the pine color of the floor and walls and ceiling were gay."  I can easily imagine what I would see if I peeked into the Ingall's house.  

The chapter concludes with Pa musing about moving to Oregon because DeSmet is too crowded with a population of 75 to 80 people.  Ma is not having it and  firmly states - "Yes, but now is the time for the girls to be getting some schooling."

WWLD Summary:

Close the curtains.
Be brave - especially when you don't want to 
Use what you have to make your house cozy

See you tomorrow for Chapter 9, "Cap Garland."

Prairie Eydie

Forever Your Prairie Gal

  

It's an "Indian Summer"

This is the original cover of The Long Winter.

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?"  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There were destroyed crops, LONG winters, and a lack of antibiotics.  During this period of self-quarantine, I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover - What Would Laura Do?

This is a Little Auk and most likely what Pa found in the haystack.  Sure is a cute little guy.

Chapter 6 begins with an unhappy auk.  The strange bird isn't enjoying life in the shanty and has been giving Laura desperate looks.  Pa says there is open water on Silver Lake and they can set Little Auk free.  Laura and Mary accompany Pa to the lake.  The auk was indeed distressed as "Laura barely had time to see it rising tiny in the great blue-sparkling sky."

This picture of a South Dakota shanty gives insight into why Laura is always writing sky descriptions.  

I relate to the distressed auk and want to zip away from my metaphorical shanty - soaring above the grey clouds, moody children, Zoom meetings and my partially painted kitchen.  Escape the endless screens, grocery-shopping phobia, corona virus briefings, and all the books I bought but don't want to read. 

I don't need orders to live in gratitude and self-righteous reminders about how important sheltering at home is.  I am grateful I can safely stay home with my kids.  But, isn't it okay to want to soar away, sometimes?  Isn't it?  Ma probably wanted to fly-the-coop from her life of salt pork bits, shoddy shanties, and Pa's whims.

Pa - Prairie Prophet

Anyhoo, after the ungrateful auk bolted, Pa and the girls listened to the silence surrounding Silver Lake. "The silence was no sound, no movement, no thing; that was its terror."  (I guess that means the silence was worse than a quiet two year old.  Shudder.)  Pa, once again, eloquently lets Laura and Mary know his feelings.  "I don't like it.  I don't like it at all."   

Chapter 6 Odds and Ends

• Ma encourages the family to get themselves full of sunshine before winter arrives.  I encourage the same thing for you and your family.
• The chapter ends with Ma playfully calling Pa a "goose."  (I am not sure LIW ever learned the art of a good cliffhanger.) 

Prairie Eydie social distancing at Old World Wisconsin

See you tomorrow for Chapter 7 - "Indian Warning" (the chapter I wish was NEVER written)

Prairie Eydie

The Art of Musing With Prairie Pa

Okay. So I am pretty sure Prairie Pa is the only person out there losing weight and lowering his blood pressure. Today we are going to find out What Prairie Pa Would Do - instead of What Laura would do. Welcome back, Prairie Pa.

Prairie Eydie

Yesterday I stepped on the scale and found out I lost five pounds. I stopped weighing myself a couple of weeks ago. Always bad news. My philosophy: “Ignorance is bliss.”

I noticed that my charge card bills are much, much less than usual. Maybe half. Just not spending a lot of money.

I went to a doctor’s appointment yesterday (another story) and my blood pressure was 132/70, thirty points lower than my last visit.

Mary and I go on long walks around the neighborhood. Seems like we talk more. 

Could this new lifestyle of “sheltering in place” (who came up with that euphemism?) not be a completely “Ill wind?” Could I learn something from this? Should I change some things?

I eat out all the time. I have my own booth at Chili’s and my own bowl at the All The-Chicken-One-Can-Eat Chinese Restaurant. Deserts, cookies, candy are a big part of my life. But this all stopped over two weeks ago. No more turtle sundaes at Culver’s. Mary stopped making goodies (not inviting people over) and church functions stopped (what is church without goodies?).

I love Menards, Lowes (We veterans get 10% off! Eat your heart out draft dodgers.) and Fleet Farm. Scared to go there now. Not driving much anymore so gas bills are down (not sure if this makes any difference. I think they are giving it away.). Eating out is expensive, so lots of money not spent.

What do I make of this? When this is all over, do I go back to my old ways? 

As always: “Only the Shadow knows.”

The Rocket (aka Prairie Pa)

What Happened "After the Storm"

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?"  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There were cramped quarters, hastily constructed shanties, and a lack of local coffee shops.  During this period of self-quarantine, I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover - What Would Laura Do?

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Chapter 5 - "After the Storm"

NOTE:  According to the excellent book, Prairie Fires, by Caroline Fraser, the October blizzard covered 500 miles, had winds up to 125 mph, and drifts ranging from a few inches to twenty feet.

Here is the interior of a claim shanty.  Not much room for yoga and puzzles.

The chapter begins with Laura waking up to both silence and a snowdrift on her bed.  The blizzard has ended.  She later finds out the storm ripped a large piece of tar paper off the roof.  These days I want to hit the snooze button and not get out of bed at all.  Laura didn't have all the wonderful things (coffee, a hot shower, heat, etc.) I have and yet she leaps out of bed into air colder than ice.  Note to self:  Tomorrow get going when alarm goes off.

Pa is back to spouting ominous predictions.  "I never knew a winter to set in so early.  I don't like the feel of things."  Glass-is-half-full Ma, begins chattering about an Indian summer while Laura eats breakfast and looks at the yellow window panes. Is it possible to channel the 3 Ingalls at once?  Can a person be prepared, hopeful, and in the moment? 

Pa noticed some strange cows standing at the haystacks, so Laura and Pa go outside to drive the cattle away.  Laura, as usual, stops to take in the prairie - "The sky was hugely blue and all the land was blowing white."  

Pa fights the wind to get to the cows.  Laura is scared by the cattle since they all have swollen white heads, bowing to the ground.  Pa figures out the cows' breath covered their eyes and noses and froze them to the ground.  Pa breaks the ice from their heads while Laura laments cows being smothered by their own breath. 

The giant auk - not your typical prairie bird.

Later, Pa brings in a strange little bird he found in a haystack.  Using her knowledge from Pa's green book, The Wonders of the Animal World, Laura identifies the bird as an auk. Pa muses that the exhausted bird dropped out of the sky and sought refuge in a haystack.  

The Ingalls put the bird in a box and wander over to the windows.  They see jack rabbits surrounding their stable.  Pa threatens to grab his gun, so they can have rabbit stew.  Tender hearted Laura begs him not to since the rabbits had just survived the blizzard.  Me?  I was pleading to the page, "No Pa!  Kill those jack rabbits and salt the meat.  You are right about an impending hard winter!  Grab your gun and get going."  Unwisely, Pa listened to Laura and not me.

WWLD

• Get up and get going
• Be prepared, hopeful, & in the moment
• Offer to help 
• Feed the birds

Join me tomorrow for chapter six, "Indian Summer."  (Finally, Ma gets an "I told you so.")

Prairie "The Horse Whisperer" Eydie.  I have no idea why I am wearing my bonnet as a feed sack.  

Prairie Eydie

Chapter 3: "Fall of the Year" at the Shanty

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?"  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There were early frosts, eerie premonitions, and a lack of water fowl.  During this period of self-quarantine, I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover what Laura would do.

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Chapter 3 - "Fall of the Year"

Pa - Prairie Psychic

Chapter 3 begins with three days of rain.  Pa is having another eerie premonition about the upcoming winter.  Pa has "a feeling in his bones about the weather change."  Ma blows off Pa's weather visions.  "Well, we must expect it," Ma said.  "It's the equinoctial storm." (Hrumph.  Ma can be such a know it all.)  

Dear friend, Prairie Sherry, sent me a box of books.  Bless her Bibliophile Heart.

It is important to pay attention to premonitions.  In March, I had an inkling Wisconsin would be "Sheltering in Place" for longer than three weeks.  Despite this feeling, I didn't adequately prepare.  I underestimated how much I could read during a pandemic and didn't check out enough library books.  I read 5 books during week one of quarantine.  Now I am ordering books from Amazon, buying books at Target, and rereading Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. 

 
October 1st brings a heavy frost to the farm - killing the hay and vegetable garden.  The Ingalls spend their day reaping the garden's "bounty."  This was their first year planting in sod ground which diminished the harvest.  (Sod ground means the soil is riddled with grass roots.  Prairie grass roots can extend anywhere from 8 to 14 feet.  Thank goodness I get my garden soil in manageable bags from Home Depot.)

The Ingalls harvested:

• 5 bushels of potatoes
• 1 bushel of beans &
• Ma preserved 2 quarts of green tomato pickles

That  meager harvest was supposed to sustain a family of 6 through an entire winter.  When I heard rumors of impending self-quarantine, I headed straight to Costco.  Now I wasn't hoarding, but I did stock up on Lozza Motzza pizzas, coffee beans, and lemons.  (Not sure why I needed a Costco size bag of lemons.  If I were Ma, I'd lift my family's spirits by baking a Lemon Meringue pie.)  I can't imagine getting through three weeks on that harvest, let alone an entire season.

Mid-chapter Pa says something curious, "When I get those few hills of corn cut, husked, and stored down cellar in a teacup, we'll have quite a harvest."  Since I have nothing but time, I went down a rabbit hole to learn what "stored down cellar in a teacup" meant.  It means - "we don't have much, but you are welcome to share what we have" OR "the meager harvest could fit in a tea cup."  I love the generous Pioneer spirit!  Pa wouldn't have hoarded toilet paper or hand sanitizer.  

Ma - A Pioneer Martha Stewart

Pa goes hunting for a brace of geese.  (In case you're wondering - a brace equals two)  Ma has intuited that Pa is depressed, so she decides to surprise him with a green pumpkin pie.  The girls are gobsmacked.  Who ever heard of a green pumpkin pie?  Ma quieted her daughters by saying, "But we wouldn't do much if we didn't do things that nobody ever heard of before."  (If only Ma had access to Twitter.)  

This got me thinking - what have I done that is innovative?  Here is a short list:  

• I removed the doors from my china hutch 
• I donated my dining room set and replaced it with bean bags and
•  I pin brooches into my messy buns.  

Nothing truly original is on my list.  Possibly it was easier to be innovative in 1882 than in 2020.    

Pa returns empty handed from hunting.  The water fowl have already hightailed it South.  Pa is sullen, but the green pumpkin pie jolts him from his gloom.  The girls circle around as Pa takes his first bite of pie.  He thinks it is apple pie!  Ma has done it again.  The pie is delicious and every bite is savored.  Laura doesn't want to drift off to sleep because she wants to keep being happy about the pie.

What I could possibly cook or bake that would make my kids so happy they couldn't sleep.  Possibly loaded nachos or the Betty Crocker classic - Cherry Berry.  Sadly, nachos and high caloric desserts aren't essential items, so my kids will stick to Lotzza Motzza pizzas and lemons.

WWLD Summary

• Pay attention to premonitions
• Use what you have - don't let things go to waste
• Share what you have with others
• Boost someone's spirits by baking/cooking something yummy

See you tomorrow for Chapter 4 - "October Blizzard."

Prairie Eydie

P.S. Discover 5 books that touched my life in this Flashback Prairie Grlz post.

Prairie Grl Writes Book List - Part one

Pa is "Making Hay While the Sun Shines"

When I fully processed the information that my kids and I would be sheltering in place for an undetermined amount of time, I thought "Oh.  We can be like Laura Ingalls Wilder in The Long Winter."  Obviously, blizzards on the prairie differ from Corona-virus in Sun Prairie, but both involve families sheltered, in one place, for a long time.

I asked myself, "How did Laura get through hard times?"  I could have chosen any of her books to answer this query.  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There was locust, Nellie Olsen, and Pa changing his mind about where to settle down.  I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover what Laura had to teach me.  

What Would Laura Do?

The Long Winter - Chapter One

"Making Hay While the Sun Shines"

Chapter 1 starts with detailed descriptions of the prairie.  As a 9 year old reader, I skipped most descriptions unless they involved food.  As a 52 year old reader, I reread Laura's sentences. How could I have ever flitted over sentences like "A dragon-fly with gauzy wings swiftly chased a gnat." and "The whole bright-striped snake had a gentle look." 

I follow Laura's example by forming detailed sentence in my mind when walking outdoors.

• The birds, with swift wings, sing a welcome to Spring.
• The daffodils bravely poked through cedar chips.
• I am socially distant from the terrier wearing a cheerful, striped sweater.  

Classic Laura

After Laura finished her prairie descriptions, she asks Pa if she can help him "make hay."  Pa is skeptical and tells Laura to go ask her Ma.  (Some things never change.)  Ma is also skeptical because American girls are above doing men's work.  (Some things do change.)  Practical Ma gives in because Laura will be saving the family money. 
 
Laura "making hay" is 100% why readers love her.  She stomps hay until her braids are undone and her sunbonnet is hanging down her back.  Sweat courses down her body and, still, she doesn't quit.  Pa patiently teaches Laura how to wield pitchforks full of hay and stomp the hay into domes.  

Following Pa's example, I am using this time of sheltering in place to teach my spoiled children how to do practical things.  So far the kids have learned how to use the Whirly Pop, empty the vacuum's canister and properly fold a fitted sheet (wad it up and stuff into the linen closet).

Muskrats gnaw lots of dry grass to complete their homes.  

Pa and Laura take a well deserved break from haying to study a muskrat's house.  Pa blathers on and on about how the muskrats "gnawed dry grass to bits" and "rounded the top carefully to shed the rain."  (Another portion 9 year old me would have skipped.)  Ingalls-Wilder brilliantly uses foreshadowing when Pa says, "We're going to have a hard winter" since the muskrats had crafted such thick mud walls.

Unlike Omniscient Pa, I didn't realize how serious the corona-virus would become in Wisconsin.  I never pictured voluntarily sheltering in place, "Zooming" messages to my students, or cancelling my own Ma's 80th birthday party.

Other tidbits worth mentioning from Chapter 1:

Now that I have nowhere to go and am caught up on laundry, I can take time to look up words I don't know.  Take this fragment for instance - " . . . till the narrow battens hardly covered the wide cracks in the walls."  Battens are long strips of squared wood or metal used to hold something in place.  You're welcome.

Here is the best part of Groundhog's Day.  The groundhog is HILARIOUS!

Laura's entire day was brightened when Ma sent ginger water to the field.  Ma made ginger water by adding sugar, vinegar, and ginger to well water.  Kinda like a folksy kombucha.  

Every day I try to brighten my kids' day.  One day we played Wii Sports.  Yesterday I subscribed to Audible, so they can learn something while flopping around the house.  I am trying to forget the day I gave in and finally watched Groundhog's Day.  (Why is this movie a comedy classic?  I only laughed when Bill Murray drove through a gravel pit with a groundhog on his lap.) 

WWLD Summary:

• Notice the little things.  
• Teach someone how to do something
• When possible, foreshadow the future   
• Look up unfamiliar words

and

• Brighten someone's day      

Join me tomorrow for Chapter 2 - "An Errand to Town"

Prairie Eydie