Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Learning From Victorian Families

Please do not misunderstand this article. It is in no way living in the past or rejecting the purpose we have in our own times. The paintings on this article, although classified as "Victorian," are painted by contemporary painters who are still painting wonderful pieces and are obviously as inspired by Victorian niceties as I am!

One of the things I discovered when I was growing up was the evidence of the Victorian past. It amazed me to know that we are all related to the people who left us with great inventions, beautiful houses, and wonderful customs. We are so blessed to be able to take good things from different times in history, and implement them into our lives at home.

One such piece of evidence is their house plans and the structures that are still around.
There was a house called "Folk Victorian," made for common folks that did not have much money. These smaller Victorian homes were just enough for one family to manage, and not too hard on their finances, and yet, they preserved all the same kind of function and beauty that made having a home nearly the highest goal in life.

In order to understand why Victorian homes are so enchanting I must explain a little about the house and property plans. These were not merely houses next to a sidewalk, all in a row, sold for a huge amount of money by a builder. Homes were valued and passed down to the next generation. There was usually a story about how such homes came to be, and how they were built; many times they were wedding gifts for a wife.

Even in the folk-Victorian homes, there is something different about them from the modern tract homes. One would never be able to have access to a Victorian home by merely walking up to a door. There would first be a little picket fence or gate that would open. Then a path through a little courtyard area would lead to the front porch. Once inside the front porch, one still did not see the family until they got to the parlor. The Parlor was a room where one waited to be received or refused by the family. If they received you, and it was convenient, and you were a good friend, you might be invited to their living room, where you would be served tea.

Children's friends probably were not invited to the bedrooms, and no one went to the kitchen unless invited. In spite of this seemingly formal protocol, people of the era in America were very well socialized and did not seem to lack for company. Part of a normal routine of the well-to-do women was to take a basket to visit a woman who just had a baby, or someone who was "in low spirits" or to check on a church member who had not been there for awhile.

These seemed to be people who were very private about their personal feelings and very conscious of not wanting to offend anyone. One of the reasons they dressed the way they did, even at the beach, was in order not to be offensive to anyone. They would have never dreamed of showing off portions of the flesh or body that people have no self-consciousness in showing today. If their bodies were private, their homes were even moreso. Houses were private places where the family retreated and it was a great privilege to be invited to tea at someone's well-appointed home, where you would be expected to show good manners, or never be invited again.
Another thing about the Victorian architecture was the way they placed certain rooms to receive the light or privacy, or whatever view they wanted. Roofs were built to over-hang in such a way as to shield the rooms from the sun coming in at a certain time. Close attention was paid to the position of the house and the rooms to accommodate the weather and the sun from the north, south, east and west. A woman, for example, might have a little sitting room where she took tea at a certain hour of the day when the sun was setting and giving off beautiful hues of color, or she might have a room where the light came in perfectly through a window, over her shoulder, on to some needle work she was doing, or a book she was reading. She might have a special "secretary desk" for correspondence.
Another observation I've had, (whether it had any meaning or significance, I do not know) is that the Victorian homes were built up, instead of out. That would make the children's and master bedroom very private and more difficult to access from the outside. I really admire the people who have taken their plain, ranch style contract homes and given them the Victorian sensibilities regarding access. They add gardens and porches and entries that these houses don't have. Building "up" seemed to give more dignity to the human being. They could look out their windows from a height.

A man might have a library where he kept his globe and his collection of books and papers. Though he might be a farmer, he also had a place to pay his bills and keep his safe.

Outside, there would sometimes be a shed where gardening implements were stored. A carriage house kept the carriages neatly arranged and out of sight, sometimes with an apartment above it. Other houses on the property were created for different needs.

From what I've seen while touring Victorian homes, there seemed to be a number of good places for family members to get peace and quiet. Most of the bedrooms were upstairs, and a laundry shute was created to toss the laundry down to the wash room on one of the lower floors. They even had a cleaning system. They could sweep the floors on any level and put the dust down a dust shute that was collected in a large container below.

Many of the rooms in the Victorian homes looked like they were created specifically for a purpose: an office, a nursery for the children, a young lady's room, the master bedroom, and so forth. I always thought it would be nice to keep rooms for the purpose they were meant, instead of turning them into offices and sewing rooms when the children grew up. That way, the next generation could come back to the old home place and see it as it was when their parents were growing up.
In building such homes, the architects combined various influences of the past in architecture, such as: Italianate, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival, Romanesque, and even the ornate style called "gingerbread." When you see a Victorian house, remember it was not so much the style that made it Victorian, but the date in which it was constructed, using many different styles from different eras.

The Victorians were a very inventive generation. They were always looking for a swifter way of doing things, even in the homes. During the Victorian era, the following things were discovered and invented: the sewing machine, the radio, the telephone, indoor plumbing, the vacume cleaner, electric fan, refrigeration, electric machinery, the motor car, and many of the things we used today.

While getting ideas for this article, I came across a nice site that has a free online magazine called "Victorian Magazine." You must sign up for the subscripton in order to see all the articles and art work. Here, you can read all about the houses, and the customs of the Victorians. http://www.victorianamagazine.com/. They have authentic reprinted articles of Godey's Lady's book, a popular periodical of the time, here http://www.victoriana.com/library/doors/whisper.html

and watch a video about the history of paper dolls and their purpose, here http://www.victoriana.com/library/doors/whisper.html. If you cannot get into these sites just sign up for the free subscription.

The photograph of theVictorian house comes from here http://www.oldhousephotogallery.com/19thcentury/a6/00000001

One way to capture the feeling that the people of that era might have had during the day, is to revive the Victorian tea party. It was a time that everyone set aside to sit and enjoy a quiet moment.

I quite enjoy knowing about the Victorians and am always grateful they left a paper trail for us to find out more about them through their photographs, their art, their literature, their letters, and their diaries. I see evidence of their existence around me, through their architecture, even at a time when their own descendents do not follow their same values in life.

Paintings from AllPosters:

"Tea Party" by Melinda Byers
"Victorian Lady I" by John O'Brien
"Victorian Home" by George Bjorkland
A couple of interesting sites concerning today's courses in architecture, which might explain why buildings became so plain and unattractive, and houses became actually less efficient: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1283

Saturday, June 23, 2007

A Pretty Room

While we are on the subject of getting control of the house and making a pleasant retreat for your loved ones, here is a pretty scene that may give some ideas. If only one area of the house is pretty, it will catch on. Just as allowing clutter to collect seems to attract more disorganization, I believe that creating a pretty spot can attract more order and beauty. It seems to set the mood for having a pretty home.

Some links that inspire http://www.achristianhome.org/Homemaking/Lets%20make%20things%20pretty.htm




"A Merry Rose Blooming" is hosting a finishing school. I think she has some really great ideas and I quite like the way she is doing it. It reminds me of a little finishing school I went to quite a long time ago, where everyone was so nice and only loveliness and sweetness was spoken. It made the girls feel quite beautiful and it was so uplifting. It was run by a Christian woman. YOu can join the class here http://elizabeth-themerryrose.blogspot.com/My daughter and I used to host finishing classes and had a wonderful time. When it was over, we had a special session where they dressed up and received their graduation certificate, a pink diploma rolled up and tied with a satin ribbon. I will write more about it someday.

Friday, June 22, 2007

For Such a Time As This

There are probably a lot of women new to full time homemaking, who did not have the advantage of mothers at home when they were little. They were not able to observe how their mothers handled many different situations that occur in home life.

One of the most common pressures of the home is the huge amount of clutter or the rooms that get over-loaded with things that need to organized and put away.

After shedding a few tears of frustration, you might try streamlining and cleaning the regular living areas of your home, as you would every day, anyway. Make sure the living area, the dining area, kitchen and bathroom are clean and presentable to the world, should anyone drop by. Then tackle the bedrooms and just make the beds. That seems to create the incentive to put away the clutter accumulated there. After regular housekeeping, and only after that has been done, tackle the bigger problems that are haunting you.

As you get organized in those bothersome areas, stop every so often and go through the main parts of the house again, to maintain those public areas that your family shares. It goes a long way to prevent confusion and panic in your mind. If you have just moved in, keep it all in one room and unload from there. Do not panic and don't be discouraged. As long as you keep your living, dining, bathroom and kitchen clean, you'll feel a sense of order and the larger problems will not weigh as heavily upon you.

Everyone is familiar with the story of Esther, in the Bible. In it is recorded her uncle's famous motivational phrase: "Who knows if you were not brought here for such a time as this." That phrase has always lifted me up, because it makes me realize that no one else is going to solve my problems. After a prayer, I have to get up and get busy. No one else will do it. If I do get help, they usually don't understand where I want things and why. Sometimes helpers create more work if they do not do it right, and so I rely on the old adage, "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

For a bit of practical advice, I have collected ideas from homemakers over the years. Some of them begin the huge tasks a square foot at a time. Others do it categorically by gathering all books and papers in one spot, all toys, then clothes, followed by furniture and home decorating items. Other ladies prefer to tackle it according to the room. Still, they maintain those private living areas just to keep a clear mind.

All homes go through stages of life. There will be times of organization and times when your house will look like someone came in and ransacked it. When you realize that life is not supposed to go smoothly, it is easy to adjust to these challenges. If you are overwhelmed and do not know where to turn, just think, you may have been created for such a time as this. You also may be leaving a message for your family by the way you handle such seemingly insurmountable tasks. There is more to cleaning up a mess than making it look nice. There is an attitude and a ministry in it.

Print can be purchased from http://www.susanrios.inc/ and http://www.piersidegalleries.com/

Lillian Elinor has a new fashion report at The Pleasant Times, here http://thepleasanttimes.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Food That Tastes Good and is Good For You, Too


Here is my method of cooking salmon.













Salmon recipes


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Adjustments To Make

(We have removed that wacky word verification for the blind and sight impaired so that they can post)

We still haven't heard a howdy from the viewers in France, Malta, Turkey and Russia, that show up on our stats. Would be thrilled to hear from you on the Welcome article previous to this article!

I thought it might be a timely idea to write a few things about the interruptions and adjustments a homemaker can expect in her course of work. Those who have just come home full time might tend to get discouraged when things overwhelm them or they get behind in housework.

As we have strongly emphasized many times, home making involves many different things. Do not assume you are only going to be cleaning, cooking or taking care of the house.

Throughout the course of the day, it is best to adopt a policy of flexibility while still keeping a sensible eye on the things that need to be accomplished during the day. A homemaker has to distinguish between the necesssity of the moment and the importance of keeping house. She can't let opportunities go by that would create the best memories and the most necessary things for her family.

One adjustment she may have to make is that of being tired. While a woman at work may quit when she gets home, the homemaker often works until she goes to bed. She may do an excellent job of caring for her family and the home on a given day, and the next, feels she cannot get out of bed. This is common to everyone, even if they do not have children! It should ease your mind somewhat if you know this is normal!

I am a strong believer in the value of rest. I have had tremendous challenges in the area of homemaking. Sometimes I've had jobs I didn't think would ever get done. I could imagine a junked up room still being there 20 years later, with me, having "gone missing," being found in that room and finally being laid to rest. The thought of never digging myself out of such a mess so horrified me that I took a nap! To my surprise, it revived not just my body but my mental capacity to tackle the job. I would work for awhile and then go lay down again, or read a book and have a cup of tea (today I like raspberry herbal). Then I found I could get up and work a little more. I would lay down again and then get up again, feeling better each time. I finally got that room finished and have before and after pictures to proove it.

I certainly don't want anyone to use this tactic to get out of normal duties of the home, but thought I might pass it on, because rest certainly does bring revival. It also heals illness better than medicine. I will always remember James Herriot's sheep story in "All Creatures Great and Small." After giving birth (which is another adjustment for a woman at home), the mama sheep would not get up and so the farmer thought she had a disease and wanted her put down. James gave her a potion of sleep medicine, intending for her to be put down. The sheep slept it off and then revived! She was just tired after giving birth, and when she revived, she was as good as new.

Another adjustment is after giving birth. You may get really anxious about keeping caught up on things like dishes and laundry. Again, getting up and doing a few things between rests, is a great idea. However, these days, midwives emphasize that rest for 6 weeks helps the mother heal and recover better. I certainly agree that later on it pays off.

Still another adjustment is the myriad of things that just come up. They are the visitors that drop by, the phone calls, the grocery shopping you suddenly need to do before dinner, the spilled things, the broken things, the trips you have to take. During all this you still have to keep on track with meals and cleaning and making home a wonderful place. Our foremothers knew how to do it because it was bred into them from birth, by being around their own mothers. Today's generation of dedicated homemakers often come from families without a mother at home. They read about how important it is to be home, and then they come home, not realizing what is ahead of them. They may get discouraged and think that they were better off at work.

The home gets messed up more if you are home. I'm always pulling out projects and starting things that create a mess. I'm always having someone over for tea. All this creates a bigger work load. If I were in the corporate workplace during the week, the house would be empty all day and stay clean.

Another thing that increases is the in-home expenses. If you've been out at work all day, no one uses the heat or the electricity or the water. You come home, start homeschooling and your husband wonders why the expenses are mounting. Yet while everyone goes "somewhere else" during the day, you don't notice the expenses because someone else pays for them and they are subtly taken out of your pay check: heat, water, electricity, etc.

to be continued...

Women Taking Tea by Albert Lynch (1800's) from www.allposters.com

Monday, June 04, 2007

The Absolute Joy of Being Home

To bring joy to the home, it may be necessary to boot the noise-filled, demanding world, out the door and never let it come back. Move all media to the basement or to an uneasily accessible place in the house--perhaps a small corner or an unused room, can eliminate some of the stress of the world. Newspapers, magazines and radio seem to be full of doom and worry. Soon everyone is looking for signs of disease or disaster. Their hearts constrict and their breathing becomes shallow. They don't know whether to continue on with life or give up. I read on someone's blog about her media fast. At day 30, she was enjoying life more than ever and her blood pressure had become normal. She was no longer having panic attacks. She was sleeping normally and not experiencing nightmares. Her home had become her haven.

"Returning Home" by Lene Alston Casey

Adding soothing pictures that depict the values you love, of home and family, can also bring joy back into the home. Home should be so different than the rest of the world that it is like stepping into a beautiful dream world of peace and love. Good art certainly contributes to that atmosphere.

It may be encouraging just to experiment with one room in the house. Arrange and decorate it with the colors and furnishings that make you feel happy. It is not necessary to please everyone you know, but at the same time, it is not avisable to do something so unpleasant or garrish that your family would be put off. In doing something "good and lovely", think of rose gardens, nature, seascapes and all the beauty and color that nature provides. Very few people are repulsed by a beautiful sunset or a beautiful house. Use these colors and structures when applying beauty to your home.

"My Lady's Chamber" Yet another way of bring absolute joy to the home is to practice good manners. Good manners simply mean care and concern for others. I've written several articles on manners at the Lady Lydia Speaks column at www.ladiesagainstfeminism.org. Good manners involve peaceful living on the part of all family members, care of personal posessions, having a servant's heart, and having a worthwhile purpose in life. Good manners involve dressing respectably and speaking respectfully. Well mannered people make the home a perfect place to live.

Bring joy to living at home by doing the things that you really like to do there: plant a beautiful plant, have a quiet moment with your favorite herbal tea and a beautiful tea set (my current favorite is orange spice herbal tea). Make a pretty card for someone. (I make cards called "scrap cards" or "altered cards" in which I add clippings and stickers, lace or buttons, and alter the verse by covering it with another greeting. This way, cards can be made to suit the one you are sending them to.

Working at home can be more fun than you realize. Being mistress of your own home means you don't have to worry about losing your job or applying for changes or trying to get an act of Congress before you can improve it. Home is the last frontier of freedom. Let us excercise that freedom and make each home a little country, with its own culture, its own rules, and its own particular beauty.

"Flower Cottage Irish"

I take great interest in the way our forefathers lived, because they had strong families and they managed to pass on many positive things about homelife, into the next generation and the next and the next. I wonder sometimes what we will pass on in this generation: the hurried, pressured life of trying to keep up with everything and everyone, or real values of truth and

beauty and preservation of the values of marriage, home and family. What we do daily in our homes will have a great impact on society around us and on the next generation. The houses of that era interest me because they used their houses for so many different things. It was not necessary for a family to go "somewhere else" to escape the pressures of life.

"Country Welcome" by Carl Valente I was blessed with a husband who only wants me to be happy. If the color of a wall depressed me, he would say "Re-paint." If I experienced too much pressure to shop for groceries, he would say "Give me a list and I'll get them on my way home." If I wanted to go for a drive and look for scenery, he would say, "let's go." If I experienced difficulty in some of my homemaking responsibilities he would want to know what he could do to make it easier to me. This kind of husband has made it possible to live as I wish and make my life-long dream of having a happy family and a nice home, possible.

Each member of the family, whether a husband or a child, should be willing to help the homemaker, because it will in turn help them have a beautiful and happy home. At the same time the lady of the house gives back to the husband by serving him cheerfully in many ways. I just love putting my ironing board in a sunny place in the house and getting his shirts starched and ironed for the week. I enjoy making an attractive packed lunch for him. He makes it easy for me by providing the way to do it. He makes sure the rest of the world doesn't impose on me, so that my time and energy goes into the things that really give me joy. My great-grandmother had a strong husband who appeared to be very gruff and unapproachable, but he was a softy when it came to his own wife, giving her the eminence in the home.

My own mother's generation had complete freedom regarding the home, and that is partly why our memories of home and childhood are so sweet.

Home is many different things: it is food, crafts, work, conversations, music, books--I can't list them all. If you aren't feeling well, you can go rest. You can't do that in a place of employment. You can take care of your husband's money, and two, really can live as cheaply as one, if you don't have to have two of everything. You can share.

"Welcome Home"
You might also find this interesting, called "Increase Happiness By Limiting Choices." http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Increase-Your-Happiness-by-Limiting-Choices--16970.aspx The dazzling array of choices today can make your head spin and leave you frought with worry and uneasiness. In this article, Dr. Mercola suggests we are happier with
fewer choices. Check out this article on family meals in this hurried world http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660226914,00.html


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