RETURN TO THE STONE SCHOOL

I had a chance to teach school for a short while today! Well, not exactly! Because of my job associated with the library, I was asked to accompany one of our directors to the Nottawa Stone School for a couple of hours for a field trip the library sponsored in conjunction with our summer reading program!

I was asked to present bits of lessons for about a half hour. We read from McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader, and wrote vocabulary words on the board. I played the old upright piano and we sang "America" and "Frogs Went to School." We had a full house for the program!

 I hope you will remember that back in November me and my daughter, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren took our own little field trip to this same country schoolhouse. http://lorizehr.blogspot.com/search/label/school   http://lorizehr.blogspot.com/2012/11/vanishing-american-education-part-2.html  It is made of fieldstone, prevalent on the nearby farms. Our farm is absolutely filled with fencerows of these stones and even boulders about 5-6ft. tall stand in our woods, having been gathered by farmers and piled up out of the fields for decades. We joke that we live on a stone quarry! My home is only a few miles from this school.

I made my prairie dress out of soft cotton and constructed an apron to match. Both patterns are old. The dress is from the '80's and the apron was a reproduction for the Bi-centennial era around 1976. I added ruffles to the front which weren't in the original. I even had the old-fashioned boots and straw hat to complete the outfit! Green and cream are one of my favorite color combinations for clothing, china, and decor! Both the boots and hat were very warm to wear on a day like today. I think it was about 93 during the morning hours we were at the school. Only the stiff breeze coming in these big old windows kept it tolerable. I stationed myself by the window for most of the program 'til it was time for me to "teach." The children's slates and chalk are on the window ledge.

 I know this picture is blurry, but through the open window and across the road, horses are grazing and pretty white barns that are typical of our beautiful rural county made a nostalgic scene if you could catch the view between cars on the highway!

This basin, pail, dipper, cup, and towel sit in the coatroom near the front door. Students in the old days probably would have used such to wash up before lunch and after recess.

 Here's my hat on the coat racks. Tall one for older students and teachers, shorter rack for little children. See the rope to the big bell in the belfry hanging next to the hat. The old picture is of a gathering of students, probably turn of the last century. Wainscoting lines the bottom of the walls. The entire building has been pretty well kept and the architectural details are great! One parent that attended the program said her parents attended school here. That was probably in the late 1950's or early 1960's. The school was built in 1870.

 Here's a view of the front behind the teacher's desk, up on the platform. See the wooden box? I am quite sure it is the old roller maps of the world by continent. We had them in all the classrooms when I went to school.I wasn't tall enough to unlatch and open this one, but I've searched auctions for 20 years trying to purchase one. Just last week I let one go to a higher bidder.

 I loved the way the flag seemed to be trying to cover the front door. We had a good wind out there today and we were all thankful. Even with the breeze, we were stifling by the time we left and you saw how I was dressed! I do not know how our ancestors were able to tolerate the heat in the old styles they wore.

And of course, the "necessary room." I think it is cute that this little outhouse was left, padlocked, of course, even after newer bathrooms were installed! Outhouses are another vanishing American scene.

I hope you enjoyed this little return trip to Nottawa Stone School, of my favorite historic locations in our pretty county! Blessings, LORI

ONLY A FEW DAYS LATER......

I went out this afternoon on another berry-picking expedition, forgetting all about the nest I found a couple days ago (see last post).  Suddenly I was looking down at this newly hatched bird, completely wet and without feathers.  Or so it appeared.  About five hours later we went out and took this picture.  His first downy feathers had now dried and fluffed out and he was eager to eat.

His nest mate still hadn't hatched yet at 7pm. I expect to find another hungry mouth peeping out from this same nest next time I pick berries! Blessings, LORI

THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL....

Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." Matthew 9:37

Look what I found while out harvesting the vast amounts of wild black raspberries in our woods and fencerows! Suddenly I came upon this little nest (wren?). Later I went back to take these pictures and saw Mrs. Wren leaving the area in a hurry. I am so blessed to live in the country and get glimpses of these little treasures that go unnoticed by the fast-paced world. If I hadn't been up close in the thickets, this little gem of a site would have been missed. It was carefully hidden way back at the edge of our woods in a bramble of berries when I happened upon this nest.

The scripture I cited above became so real to me as I tried to harvest the berries the last two evenings. The ripe berries are so thick it is humanly impossible for one person to pick all of them. I found myself leaving many behind, becoming choosy and gravitating toward only the largest berries to save time. I felt really bad that so many other berries were left to dry out and be wasted, but I simply had no one to help me harvest. Jesus words are so true. The harvest of souls out there waiting to hear the Gospel is great! We need more laborers (equipped Christians) to get out into the harvest fields and start sharing the good news!

 

The above picture is me standing on our back deck after my first berry-picking expedition Wednesday evening after work. I got almost 5 qts., as you can see and that was all from one fencerow. I left two or three other prime areas untouched. Do you like my outfit? It included a tight-fitting bandana under the straw hat, long, baggy pants and hunting boots as well as the long-sleeved shirt. Picking conditions are not friendly. Thorns, bugs, spiders, mosquitoes, possibly ticks, poison ivy, uneven ground, etc, etc.

Here are the berries on my Mom's kitchen table awaiting their "bath." I picked almost as many on Thursday evening too.

Look what berry-picking does to your hands! My fingers and nails are still stained this morning after two separate rounds of picking the berries. Harvesting is hard work!

Here are the berries dripping through the homemade jelly bag. I place an old cloth diaper (never used, of course :)), over a large kettle, secure it with clothespins and then the cooked berries drip overnight and strain through the cloth to make a clear liquid for jelly.

I hope to get to the actual jelly-making today sometime after I weed the garden, put the wash on the line, and cut out play dresses to take to my granddaughters! Busy day! 

Remember the harvest.....it is plentiful! And though the harvest conditions are tough and it can be hard work, the rewards are sweet! Blessings, LORI