I have just rediscovered Little House on the Prairie...

[Fillyjonk]

Thats it really

But it is REALLY good

ds won't let me stop reading

Had forgotten about these books

there is something really ick about an earspoon

it implies there are things in te ear necessitating spooning

Another huge fan of LIW here. I would never part with my childhood copies of her books although I have not re-read them for years now.

Not so long ago, I googled Laura and spent hours on the internet reading all the sites devoted to her life and the museums connected with her.

Only just seen this thread and briefly read about Cap. Now going to read the whole thread and find out who my soul sisters are!

ah now you can store eggs in isinglass, or by coating them with paraffin as descibed here
learnt this from somewhere else, not LIW though

and you could buy condensed milk from about 1860, though it would have been expensive

Dumbledoresgirl, I spent ages on the web looking at those sites too, it's how I found out that the Charles Ingalls line had died out.
I found the whole thing fascinating, and have told DH I will go on a pilgrimage once the kids are older!

Right, caught up.

Moondog, they had a party in the telegraph office because that was where the boy giving the party lived. His father (or older brother?) was the telegraph sender for the town (excuse lack of correct terminology). I guess there was more room down in the office for the fun and games than there would have been in the parlour upstairs.

My favourite book is definitely "Little Town on the Prairie" (basically the one after The Long Winter where they had all the fun and started the courtships). I loved the spelling contest the town held and which Laura and Pa nearly won but was won by Mr Foster who was thought to be rather stupid.

I find looking at the photos and reading the details of their lives really spooky. These people were real to me in my childhood and seeing photos of them etc, I don't know, it is almost like seeing a ghost or something.

yes, seeing ghosts describes the feeling well, I agree

Photos are spooky yes.

God i love the sound of isinglass.

One of those things that has intrigued me for years like ambergris or something.

Did the other girls marry or was it that they just couldn't have children?

When we were children we found a tin of isinglass in the shed, left over from years before. If you mixed it with water and then dropped in crystals of things like alum and coppersulphate they grew like coral.

Yes what happened to Mary and Carrie and Grace, and Almanzo's brothers and sisters? Wasn't Carrie very fragile after the long winter?

Also, don't you find it intriguing why details such as Freddy's birth and sad death are not mentioned in the books? After all, she told us about Mary's blindness.

I suppose Mary's blindness was something that could not be hidden as it had such an effect on their subsequent lives, whereas, she could easily gloss over a brief existence of a brother. In fact, her books are like being told stories as a child by a grandmother, the nasty bits are always left out. It does make me fascinted though to read the "real" story! I see on one of those links that someone has written a biography of LIW. Anyone know if it is any good? Will we get the real gritty details?

Also, didn't her parents give the girls fantastic middle names? Less so with Laura (no offence to Elizabeths around the world but it is a normal name) but Celestia for Carrie's middle name? It sounds unbelievably exotic for a pioneer family!

Here is the Wiki entry for Grace

Hmmm Grace and Carrie both died of diabetes complications and Laura was found to have undiagnosed diabetes shortly before her death. Interesting.

This thread is fascinating! I LOVED LHOTP as a child - we used to watch it all the time on TV and I read all the books. It is still a standing joke in the family that my mother "would cry at the credits to LHOTP".

I am loving all the Wiki stuff - thanks for the memories!

Wonder would DS like them?

You could try him with Farmer Boy first, Buda. I love that one.

Oh, yes, Farmer Boy! And that story about the teacher.
Fried apples n' onions are nice.

Look! A recipe for Vanity Cakes!
www.hoover.nara.gov/LIW/pioneering/pioneering_walnutgrove-school.html

I thought isinglass was made out of fish scales, isn't it?

some bit of fish, certainly

Just checked wiki - it says that isinglass is made from the swim bladders of fish. At one time it was made exclusively from sturgeons' swim bladders, but in 1795 a William Murdoch developed a cheap substitute using cod

oh wow - I bought a boxed set of these when I was pregnant with DS1. I have just started reading them to him (he's 6) and he is so interested.

I was going to come online today and look for some more information about where they lived etc and the situation with the Indians and stuff like that to help with the questions.

I must try very hard not to while away the afternoo looking at all these sites now.

BTW, I tried to get Farmer Boy, Little Town and These Happy Golden Years from the library and they have been "put away". It took a couple of weeks for them to find them for me but they haven't managed to get These Happy Golden Years yet. I will try that second hand site

I LOVE Laura Ingalls Wilder. I wrote to Jim'll Fix It aged 10 to ask if I could go and visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. Was obviously not deemed interesting enough, or cheap enough

I've got These Happy Golden Years but can't bear to part from it. I bet Abebooks would have it though.

HOW did I miss this thread? I love those books. I dream of making my own log cabin one day - possibly a miniature one - using the description of how Pa did it.
I also have a Little House Cookbook (interesting but nigh-on useless for a vegan ) and The Little House Guidebook which tells you what is still there, what is not and how to visit.
Also, Laura's daughter (Rose Wilder Lane)wrote a book, Let the Hurricane Roar, I think. I have it somewhere.

Have ordered the set!

Of course ended up ordering 2 other books too! This MNing can be an expensive business!

Moondog - am ashamed to admit that 'The world of little house' is a childrens guide to the books, the historical context, and the familys history. I do have some proper books on the subject somewhere, but still haven't fully unpacked the books in this house now that we have enough bookshelf space. And then, apparently I have to segregate the childrens books from the rest of my books. As you might gather, I have what the removal men refer to as 'too many books'.

I'd be ashamed to bring this quilt over actually - its not really my style, but was making it for someone and then took too long over it to give to them as a birth present. I had my Lucy Boston quilt book out yesterday, and am inspired to make a High Magic quilt.

Theres a book about the women of the Mormon Migrations, in the context of their quilts which is really fascinating, and shows the reuse of fabrics. For so many though, all that remains of them is a quilt.

Don't be ashamed cmot.
Sounds great.

oh i want to make a quilt now

but there is this complex business of blocks, and you need to demonstate proficiency in one before you get the more or something.