Busy, busy, busy

I'm not sure where to begin, so I'll just jump in.

I couldn't wear my usual State Fair Village of Yesteryear clothes; the sleeves were too tight. So I started researching clothes >1815 CE for comfort and ease of use/wearing, plus ease of 'finding'. I found that women started wearing sweaters in the 1930s, plus knee highs (I wasn't even going to think about wearing nylon in NC when the weather might be sweltering, and I don' have access to silk stockings). I already have black, low-heeled Mary Jane shoes. I'd purchased a ~1930s burgundy cloche at the thrift shop this past summer. I didn't need it (at the time) but I thought 'what the heck' and 'if I need this, it will be hard to find.' I got lucky and found a mid-calf black skirt with pleats starting 2/3 the way down. It's almost straight from hip to the knees, then a grosgrain ribbon, then pleats the rest of the way.

One last thing; my hair. I was NOT getting a bob, or even cutting it. And my hair hits my waist. I got a brilliant idea; I looked at 1930s era college yearbooks. Those are real women, wearing their best hairstyles; not what Hollywood or New York or fashion magazines say women are wearing. That, plus a blog essay on 'how-to for long-haired women for 1930s hairstyles', lead to me wearing a low chignon. I had so many hairpins...I'd take down my hair and then find 3 more.

Look at that picture and go, 'Grandma?'

My dad's mom, when she was about 16

Alas, my edging tree fair entry did not win. And thanks to a migraine hitting Sunday afternoon (the day I was planning to submit my entries) I didn't get 2 of my entries in (bag/necklace and beanile necklace). But the tree wasn't due until Monday noon, so CD took it in for me.

my tree; too bad sliding it into the frame wrinkled the fabric

At the fair, we rode the sky tram for the first time. It was really nice and just a little high. And I'm not comfortable with heights. So I took pictures to distract myself. Lots and lots and lots of picture. 135 pictures riding in 1 direction and 198 in the other. Some pictures are so close together they look like I had the camera on sports shutter speed. The first ride was still daylight and the trip back was after dark.

Examples

I did teach at Palmetto Tat Days. Anitra and I handled the early bird class. Early bird starts at 6:30 am. There have been years I've been awake to take that class. And some years I showed up but wasn't really awake. The usual teacher couldn't make it this year, so they needed someone else to fill it.

I'm much more of an early bird than Anitra, so I was in slightly better shape. She was teaching her snowman earrings (so cute) and I taught TotusMel's Infinity Knot. As usual, it was lots of fun.

Martha Ess's broomstick teapot

Infinity knot earrings

Hurricane Florence sucked. No real surprise.

Trip to see Dad's family was good. We met a cousin we didn't know we had (the relationship is a bit distant) and I got lots of family photos. Aunt J has 2 photo albums, organized by sibling for my Grandma and her siblings. It started with some very old, old photos.

that's my great-great-great uncle, I think. Caroline, his sister was my grandmother's grandmother.
After that, each section had photos the sibling as early as the organizer (maybe Aunt J) could find, then spouses, children, and grandchildren. There's also some stuff like death certificate copies, etc.

Aunt J doesn't have internet, so dad took me to the library one day so I could check my email and stuff on my tablet. As we were leaving, I thought to ask about their genealogy collection. It was in the basement and Dad and I looked for his picture in his high school yearbooks.

We left by the basement door, which took us by the town museum. While I stopped to sign in, Dad talked to the two volunteers. Of course, they asked why we had stopped by and Dad told them he grew up there. After a bit of discussion, the woman figured out how we're related, biologically. There's a closer relationship by marriage involving her brother-in-law and a great-uncle by marriage, I think. I don't recall the details.

She offered to let me use the museum scanner to scan the photo albums. The 'cost' would be my time and the museum getting a copy of the pictures. Dad had planned to have breakfast with his oldest nephew the next day, so he could just drop me off at the museum and I could work on it. Except, they changed the plans to go earlier. I talked to our cousin and she agreed to meet me there before the museum opened to let me get started.

Except for a brief break for lunch, I scanned pictures from about 9 am to 3 pm. If you include the documents and the identifier pages, there's over 550 pictures. My grandma was one of seven kids. And all but one had grandkids.

Grandma and her siblings will be a different post, I think. In fact, I think the pictures and stories from the trip deserve their own post.