Victorian Christmas Costumes from the Dollar Store

Every Christmas dinner I have a dress up theme for the family. They anticipate what weird stuff I come up with almost more than the dinner or gifts.Well one year I just had to have a Victorian Christmas but was met with dilemma of finding inexpensive costumes. To the rescue came the Dollar Tree and the 99cent Store. I made the girls and ladies costumes from items purchased from  these stores and for the men, I simply purchased top hats and canes

feathers from Michael's and roses applied with hot glue

hat from 99 cent store with brim turned up with hot glue

ladies collar from mini tree skirt from Dollar Tree ties are satin napkins also from Dollar Tree

muff from Christmas 2 stockings ,jeweled chain for placing over neck from eye glass holders all from the Dollar Tree 

girls cap from Christmas stocking  with feathers added from Michael's

girls cape from fur trimmed Christmas stockings,ties from satin napkins

One Last Walk in Beautiful Boston

looking over Charles River to downtown Boston

Our last day in Boston found us making the most of our last hours taking a walk last with daughter and family near their condo which is a very lovely area along the Charles River.It was a beautiful day and I must say a great send off for us.

This bridge is a very windy walkway

A brave window washer

Part of Boston's beauty is that the new blends so well with the old

great idea! these bikes can be rented after depositing fee in a machine and can be ridden to other parts of city and returned.

This picture shows how the old blends with the old.

Fish mosaic along our walk route

Rose garden in Rose Kennedy's honor.104 bushes,1 for each year of her life.

more of the rose garden

Lovely building at entrance to Fan Harbor

Lovely Lustreware..Back to Thrifting

This is the classic image that comes to mind when thinking of lustreware.

Lustreware was originally created by the early pottery factories to replicate,gold,copper,and silver on pottery items. The glaze produces a lovely sheen that closely resembles the aforementioned metals. Another type of lustreware in colors was also produced and is evidenced in mostly trims in colors ..predominately pink.These were produced by England,Czechoslovakia ,and France.

more diminutive versions of the above

An example of pink lustre trim. These pitchres had humorous pictures on them and are quite valuable . This one isn't because of a hairline crack,but my enjoyment has well benefited from it's small cost.

Very old cup and saucer. No handle on cup as the tea was poured into the saucer to cool and then drunk from the saucer.Probably gaudy dutch with the lustre pink trim

pretty lustre embellishment in bottom of cup,this set was found one at a time on 2 different days at the salvation army

more listre trim

Very collectible tea leaf design china,and hard to find.Tea leaf and trim are lustre

Keep in min all this was found very inexpensively in thrift stores or antique stores. Some do have flaws ,but that doesn't decrease my enjoyment of them.

A Visit to Plimouth 's First Residents,The Wampanoag

The native American's that first greeted the Puritan settlers was the Wampanoag. What surprised me was that the Puritans and Pilgrims were not the first Europeans the native Americans had seen.They were used to seeing European traders that had been coming into the bay for quite awhile...not far from the Puritan village is also a replica of the native American village.. Extremely interesting.

The  Wampanoag abode

The dwellings are made of long pieces of bark. In the spring as the sap runs there is a space between the bark and the tree. An incision is made at the top and bottom of the tree and the bark is easily removed.

This young man is making a canoe by controlled burning of the inside portion of the tree.

I asked the young man if he didn't feel cold as you could see his legs are bare."Actually ",he said," I am very warm right now".

drying skins

The family was enjoying a soup of corn,beans etc.

The chief,not as threatening as the picture looks.

Enjoying his soup

Inside the bark dwelling,The lady would answer any questions we had.The dwelling was lined with animal skin covered benches that served as beds.

I was amazed that there was very little smoke inside the dwelling as it escaped upward through the hole in the roof.

woven baskets and bags hung around the perimeter holding extra food,clothing etc.

Pilgrimage to Plymouth

The Plymouth settlement

One last place I just had to visit was the Plimouth  Plantation,a representation of  the first Pilgrim village.It is especially meaningful to me as I recently learned that my landed ancestor,Thomas Eames ,lived in the Plymouth Colony. His was a tragic story as all but four of his children and his wife died at the hands of marauding Native Americans. The story is that the Native Americans were actually friendly with the Puritans and even attended church with them.

There was another group of Pilgrims(not Puritan) who also were living just north of the Puritan settlement and they were roudy and disrespectful of the Native American ways,ridiculing them and desecrating their burial grounds etc.  When enough was enough King Philip's war erupted against all the settlers.King Philip was a name given to th native leader. At any rate the tragedy occurred as a result of this uprising.

One thing I noticed about New England,there is a church,sometimes two on every block.

The town of Plymouth,itself, is a beautiful destination. Perfectly poised on the shore with every bit of New England ambiance one would desire

Time for a lunch break

So much atmosphere in this bakery shop. They didn't shove all the furniture out and place tables with chairs. Instead they left the sofa and it's chairs in place with small occassional tables placed in convenient place for coffee and snacks...all antique furniture,by the way.

Just to show a sample of the beautiful mums that are used profusely in the area

Some of the homebaked goodies just sitting there beckoning

As pleasant as the coffee shop was, we opted to go down by the ocean to enjoy our repast

Here we are at the town meeting house , the upstairs affords a good panoramic view to spy any approaching predators..with the added protection of cannons

Ready for Battle?

It boggles my mind that all these antiques are just sitting around and no one guarding. I warned this lady that I have her picture ,in case something comes up missing...a girl after my own heart,she answered she needed a closer look so she would know what to buy if she sees anything similar.

these folks have done their laundry,like dutiful Puritans

my eye caught that old rug on the fence

"Under the spreading chestnut tree,the village smithy stands"

a bucolic scene if I say so myself

Sharpening a spear

Many of these lovely chests came with our early settlers

Many of the homes had one room serves all concept and a few had two rooms.

airing the bedding,needs a little more than airing!

beautiful antiques

These ladies are baking bread. One was supposed to be the wife of Gov. Bradford. They role play as if they are the actual colonist.I had a little conversation with her ,just to see if she was up on her history facts...she was.

Every back yard needs a cannon or two

And so It's goodby to Plimouth Colony with all the reminders of the great struggle our forefathers endured that we might have religious freedom. Thank you Lord.We are so blessed.