A Woman Named Laura

When I was in second or third grade, my teacher read a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods every day to my class.  I couldn't have been more bored.  This may come to a surprise to my children and others who think they know me so well.  But, if you really do know me, you know I don't always do well with being read to.  Sometimes it works well, sometimes I am better off following along with the text in front of me, sometimes, as in that classroom, I just drift off into my own little world.
I think it was by the end of fourth grade that I picked up that book from our little school library and read it on my own.  Well, I was fascinated then and hurriedly read through the entire series, ending with These Happy Golden Years.  I eventually found more posthumously published books and now consider the series as ending with The First Four Years, with West from Home, and Letters from Home as supplements.
As an adult, while working at an independent book store/coffee shop, I discovered the historian William Anderson, due to a beautiful book about Laura that we had on display.
During my elementary and even high school years, I would begin every summer reading the entire series (eventually through The First Four Years) before anything else.  The older I became, the less time it took.  I think in the end I completed the entire series in about three days.  My parents saw to it that I received the entire series in hardcover when I was in sixth and seventh grade or so.
I remember when the pilot to "Little House on the Prairie" aired on television.  I thought the movie needed some tweaking (Where was Pa's beard?  Why did Mr. Edwards look more like Pa should have looked and not at all like a tall, blond, clean-shaven Swede? Jack?- Give me a break! That actor dog was no brindle bulldog!), but overall, I was quite pleased with the adaptation of the book.
Then, THEY BLEW IT!  First of all, the series rightly should have been called On the Banks of Plum Creek and should have changed the name and location as they went on and on and on!  Oh, I was DISGUSTED!  Sure, they captured the look of most of the main characters (except the problematic casting I mentioned in the pilot).  I boycotted it.  I called it The Michael Landon Show.  I absolutely refused to watch them hi-jack the lives of REAL PEOPLE as shared by a REAL PERSON.  As time has gone on, I have checked in on the re-runs and appreciate that it was a wonderful, wholesome family show.  I will always wish they would have used fictional names for their cast of characters, who grew farther and farther from the true people that Laura wrote about in her autobiographical series.
When I grew up and had my own children, they were only allowed to watch the pilot movie.  I read the entire series to the older children before the youngest were born.  A chapter a day while they ate dessert (it did help me to read out loud and not eat).
My children were given hardcopies of much of the series.  I think only my oldest son read the entire series and appreciated it.  Such is life...
My neice enjoys it and I enjoyed going to Laura Ingalls Wilder Days at a state park with her.  Years ago, our entire family went to a Laura Ingalls Wilder Day at another historical place.
I enjoyed dressing up and playing with my sister when we were young, wearing a bonnet and long dresses.
Eventually, I enjoyed putting together period clothing for that time period and volunteering at our local historical village with some of my children and nieces and nephews over the years.
I learned so much from Laura.
I embraced her values and longed to be much like her; strong, independent, spunky, adventuresome.
I even live in a house that began as a log house with huge logs.  The first years here, I tried to adapt Laura's can-do spirit to make this place a home we could all enjoy.
Well, in the end, I am not like Laura and I doubt she would like me much.  I know I would be embarrassed if she were to stop in for a visit.
I often ponder about all the changes that Laura lived through during her 90 years on this planet.  She began living in a tiny log house in a big, densly wooded Wisconsin.   She traveled in covered wagons to Kansas, Minnesota, Dakota, and Missouri.  Eventually, she witnessed the first bicycles, then motorized "horseless carriages", and eventually AIRPLANES.
At first, her family posted letters.  Eventually, telegrams, then the telephone.

She lived before radio was invented, then television.  I am thinking she was astounded by the development of films.
She was born shortly after the Civil War, then lived through two World Wars and the Korea "police action".  She died three years after Elvis cut his first record and before the many changes of the 1960s.
I can only wonder what she would have done with the Internet and mobile phones!  I think she would have been so excited by the walk on the moon.
I am grateful that Laura created this wonderful series of books to share what life was like in her early years.
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder left a wonderful legacy and continues to inspire people born long after her time.

School of Hard Knocks

Blogging is quite new to me.  While completing my profile, I was given the option of a random question that asked what safety school my cat goes to.  Below is my answer.  When I tried to get a second random question, this answer remained and a question that had nothing to do with this appeared.  So, I learned I only get ONE random question.  Well, now I have the subject of my first post!

We have enjoyed our working farm cats for many years now and usually reserve naming them until they prove they are intelligent enough to survive the dangers of their freedom. This summer, however, we prematurely named eight kittens and have now suffered the sadness of losing our Rex, King of the Kitties. Short lived our little lion king!  To preserve our hearts, we will return to our naming rule.

This photo was taken about 24 hours before this lovely and lively little kitten decided to play "chicken"  with our vehicle.  I never knew he was underneath.  Perhaps we gave him too much attention and he just trusted we were omniscient?