It was a little rainy last night and this morning, but it turned into a beautiful fall day! It was even a little too warm outside, but it was nice to have the sunshine. Today for my Material Culture class, we met out at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site to get our 1845 period clothing for when we make brooms at the Fall Frolic on Saturday. We had so much fun out there today, so I'm sure it will be even more fun on Saturday! We learned all about Thomas Lincoln (Abe's dad) and the family's home there called Goosenest Prairie. Dr. Reid wanted us to be clear on all of our Lincoln facts in case visitors ask us questions about them this weekend. We also looked at some of the historic furniture on the farm and went out to the field where the broom corn is crowing. Broom corn is very different from regular corn. It's actually considered to be a type of sorghum, and it has really long stems full of seeds. I read yesterday that the seeds can be used for animal feed or can also be eaten by people (but they don't look like they'd taste very good). We saw what the brooms we'll be making will look like, but we won't learn the actual broom-making methods until Saturday morning before all of the guests come.
Later this afternoon we were given our clothes for this weekend based on our size. Unfortunately I was just the right size for the one dress that looks like it has been through the ringer a few too many times! Usually I don't mind being short, but the short dress was truly not in the best condition. :-) It's kind of funny--it has holes all over it, but they gave me a chemise to wear under it, and I'll probably throw on some basketball shorts too--just to be on the safe side. We also have to wear aprons, and Dr. Reid came across this funny, old apron covered with patches and stains. We decided that it kind of matched the condition of my dress, so I'm going to be the homeless servant girl making brooms on the farm :-) Everyone decided that a good name for my character this weekend would be Cinderella--because my clothes look like something Cinderella would have been forced to wear by her evil stepsisters before she made it big. I asked Dr. Reid if I should show up with dirt smeared on my face just to complete the persona, but she assured me that by the end of the day we'll all look a little ragged and dirty. Ha ha! I also have to wear a day cap because my hair is not long enough to be historically accurate. There will surely be some funny pictures taken this weekend!
I'm feeling a little better today than yesterday, but I've still been pretty congested. Being sick stinks! Last night we had a fun combination birthday party for Kristen and weekly meeting. Everyone brought different stir fry ingredients, and we made a gigantic pan of stir fry. We also had some yummy birthday cake. We had the meeting over at Angie's house, and she has such cute cats! Her big fat black cat, named Lil' Bits, fell in love with me, and he kept following me around wanting me to scratch his tummy. He's tooooo cute! Everyone seemed a little stressed out, but we're all keeping a positive attitude. Today Dr. Reid told us that she really appreciates the "good humor" we all have, despite the fact that we've got waaaay too much to do. Speaking of too much to do, I'd better go read about legal issues in historic preservation for tomorrow!
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