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Original poster

Any Laura Ingalls Wilder fans?

233 replies

moondog · 16/09/2012 19:17

I visited the LIW house and museum in Missouri a few weeks ago and it was one of the most moving experiences ever. I made a detour of thousands of miles to see it.
If anyone loves her just as much as I do I wanted the chance to tell you about it so that you can savour every delicious detail.

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aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 17/09/2012 19:43

I love the Anne and Katy books - it was only via MN I discovered that there were several Katy books (5 I think) and I read them recently.

When I went to University one of my friends had the complete Anne set (I had only read the first two) and I can remember spending a weekend just sat in my room reading them one after the other

thewhistler · 17/09/2012 19:42

I love them too. Have always wanted to go there.

I always wondered how Mary coped after Laura had gone and Ma died, as there was noone on her intellectual level.

And Rose was obviously an editor of genius, but not such a good writer as Laura.

I have been reading the background that I can get hold of. As you say, some of the changes are heart breaking.

I've never managed to work out how many Wilder children there were. There are extra ones in at least one family photo. What happened to them all?

And I noted even as a child that although Ma hated Indians, perhaps not surprising not only given the period and her background but the fairly recent massacres, she and they were fine about the black doctor who cares for them when they get malaria. And I have always assumed that uncle George fought for the north.

Lovely to find others who can quote chapter and verse.

aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 17/09/2012 19:41

The baby who died was Joyce, Jem was her eldest son

orangeandlemons · 17/09/2012 19:36

Oh the loss of Anne's baby! I was thinking about that the other night. Was he called Gem?

HumphreyCobbler · 17/09/2012 19:35

YY to Anne and Katy. Loved them both. Would love to go to PE Island, it sounded absolutely beautiful. I wonder if it still is?

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moondog · 17/09/2012 19:30

And Katy books!
In retrospect, she is a bit of a prig but loved all the detail about clothes and travelling trunks and whatnot.

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piprabbit · 17/09/2012 19:23

The older Anne books have some very sad story lines; Matthew's death; the lady who is caring for her brain damaged husband and had to decide whether to risk surgery which might turn him back into the violent oaf that he was pre-accident; the friend who is writing his life story before he dies; the loss of Anne's baby.

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moondog · 17/09/2012 19:21

Oh LOVE Anne.
I shall visit Prince Edward island next.
My long suffering dh always most tolerant of my expeditions.

Japanese and Germans love both, thanks largely to mass shipments of them to both countries post WW2 in attempt to show them Yanks were not total shits.

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orangeandlemons · 17/09/2012 19:19

There are reruns of the series on one of the Sky channels. I LOVE watching them, and always hum the theme tune.

I also put the Anne of Green Gables stories up there with the Little house on the Prarie books. I loved them both

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moondog · 17/09/2012 19:15

How ya doing' ilmd?

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ilovemydogandMrObama · 17/09/2012 19:15

thanks so much for this! I had forgotten how much I loved LIW as a child and will order them for the DCs.

Am Blush that hadn't realised there was a museum!

Original poster
moondog · 17/09/2012 19:11

Here they all are.

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Original poster
moondog · 17/09/2012 19:07

<a class="break-all" href="http://images.google.com/imgres?q=rocky+ridge+farm&num=10&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=606&tbm=isch&tbnid=p3aIRgFjVtF5gM:&imgrefurl=lhotp.homestead.com/pepin_mansfield_trip4.html&docid=W0jnwN7q8KiTyM&imgurl=lhotp.homestead.com/files/liwhomeb.JPG&w=595&h=395&ei=1mZXUMC3DIO0hAerxYGYAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=567&vpy=183&dur=763&hovh=183&hovw=276&tx=85&ty=111&sig=102452322961286514894&page=1&tbnh=123&tbnw=167&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:98" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> The house that Almanzo built.
I have stood on that porch and wept.

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Original poster
moondog · 17/09/2012 19:04

The calling cards are in the museum!

<a class="break-all" href="http://images.google.com/imgres?q=laura+ingalls+wilder&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1366&bih=606&tbm=isch&tbnid=BFsgUyBK4I7lzM:&imgrefurl=www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Wilder-Laura-Ingalls.html&docid=ABOXYBI1bSTpYM&imgurl=www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_10_img0726.jpg&w=228&h=277&ei=12VXULidCoaQhQeV4oDoBg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=173&sig=102452322961286514894&page=1&tbnh=123&tbnw=107&start=0&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:144&tx=40&ty=55" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Isn't she adorable?

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piprabbit · 17/09/2012 19:00

Thank you for this thread.
I've loved reading LIW over the years. I adore the way the books get more complex (in terms of ideas and language) as the girls grow older, so that you can start reading Little House in the Big Woods at primary age and then sort of keep pace with Laura as she grows up.

I love Ma's berry like buttons on her beautiful dress at the maple dance.
Laura becoming a teen, with bangs and the ridiculous fad for printed calling cards.
I wished Pa was my dad for a while.

Original poster
moondog · 17/09/2012 18:49

Very wise Chandon.
Thank you Mignon.
It is all for entirely selfish reasons as I revisit my childhood.
I have just read them a real weepy about Helen Keller I loved in my youth.

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mignonette · 17/09/2012 18:34

MoonDog

Lucky, lucky children to have you as their Mother...Smile

Chandon · 17/09/2012 18:31

Fair enough Tommy!

I never watched the tv series as I did not want the images in my head superimposed, I once saw a bit, pa did not even have a beard, I switched off.

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moondog · 17/09/2012 18:28

Oh God, tv version is hardly worth comment.
It was another time with another set of attitudes.

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Tommy · 17/09/2012 18:27

they were stinky but no need for Ma's "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" - certainly less saccharin than her persona in the TV progs!

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moondog · 17/09/2012 18:26

Yes indeed.
I thought so too.
No point being PC about a fact.

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Chandon · 17/09/2012 18:25

But moondog, they must have been fairly stinky as they wore fresh skunk skins, right? ( die hard fan here)

HumphreyCobbler · 17/09/2012 18:23

I don't get fond of them because I keep the meat idea firmly in my mind.

However DS has named them this year which is rather a disaster.

I cravenly hide when they are being taken off for slaughter. the first year we had them done at home to get the blood and I hid from that too Blush

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moondog · 17/09/2012 18:20

HC,my neighbour has pigs and we get her sausages and what have you but she said she gets too fond of them.
I have learning how to smoke meat on my todo list this year.
I'll leave making bullets to 2013.

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