Sobering

 On Wednesday, July 8 at 6 pm museums across America held a reading of the Declaration of Independence. All at the same time on the same day, large or small.  And our museum was part of the event.

Our museum has new travelling sign boards displaying what happened historically nationally after we declared our independence.  The national events were on the top row and Lowell's history in perspective on the bottom rows. 

This sign board explains why there is a Lowell.  We had here, in this area, in the confluence of the Flat and Grand Rivers the largest concentration of ermine in Michigan at the time.  When you see a royal wearing a robe with those black spots?  Those are ermine hides, the black tipped tail was what the royals wanted and likely came from here.  

That cabin in the photo?  It's the only drawing that exists of the first fur trade cabin in the area.  

            A replica was built a few years ago near the best guess spot where the original once stood.  

Our daughter stood on the porch of the museum, originally a home built in 1873, and explained to the gathering about the combined meeting all across the country and specifically Michigan, for the reading of the Declaration.

We had a respectable group come to hear.  It was church quiet. 

And the Declaration was read. 

I must say here, being political for just a moment, that this was the first time I've ever heard the entire Declaration read or read it myself.  We all grow up knowing what it meant but how many of us actually read it word for word?  We grow up thinking the document was the end of our affiliation with England but it was only the start.  I used to tell the kids at school,  "No, no, no. The Declaration was a letter we sent to King George saying, DECLARING we're done being your colony. George replied, "Um, I don't think so." Then there were eight years of war to prove our point and then the work began to actually DO what we wanted.  And we had to work hard for that.   

I sat there listening and was aghast at the similarities to today, the accusations against King George III, the reasons for our turning away from his rule, the call to do so, the obligation to do so.  I kept nudging PH as point by point was read of his 'crimes' against us.  

Remember the term historically used to describe King George?  The Madness of King George?  Well, here we are.  

Peas 'n' Berries

 

It's that time of year - it seems everything comes ripe at the same time.  Strawberries are done but blueberries, cherries, black and red raspberries, are leading the way now.  Corn is very tall so will be early.

Oh, and peas.  Friday we went to the pea patch for a supply.  We get a bag like this for ourselves and one for our sin-in-law who eats them raw out of a bowl like peanuts, and we gave a bag to PH's brother.

People line up, cars line up, it's a very busy place and they run out every day. You have to be there early. No, we don't pick them ourselves, they have a machine to do it and shell them. 

I wish I liked peas.

This is a labor of love.  Picking black raspberries can be considered a chore if you didn't love the berries so much.  PH won't pass by a wild patch along the side of the road but lucky for us a friend has a huge yard, lots of it wild and in that wild are a bazillion black raspberries. You just have to go get them. We had good rain this spring and the heat we've been enduring is only ripening them quickly.

Even if it's brutally hot like we've had last week, he's out there picking along the side of the road.  And then Friend Don said, "they're ready!" 

                 

So we went.  If you do this you have to want them.  We crawl through the brambles, thick with scrub weeds and berry vines, spider webs and mosquitoes.  No pain, no gain.

                           There will be many more this week as these ripen and PH will be out there. 

I need enough for two pies in January and this morning we picked 3.6 pounds.  Plenty for the pies but there are so many more berries maybe a batch of jam will materialize, too. 

THIS is summer.

Here's a sample example of the border Adelaide chose for her quilt.  I've laid it out here as a preview. I'm using all of the yellow and green batiks so there's variety and the little bar in the middle is the dots. I like it!