Just got home from preforming in Sunset and I am soaked past the skin! Armed with 100 sunscreen, fans, and drip cloths I was armed. Needless to say, it didn’t work. The temperature was 91* today and it will get hotter, but I feel like the wicked witch in OZ, I’M MELTING!!!
Today I worked in the Family Living Center again. I kind of like being there. I teach about how to make candles…..
Here we talk about how they made their candles. On a good day you could make 200. They butchered, then boiled the fat with water, rendering tallow. To the tallow they added alum to keep it from going rancid. Tied wicks (braided woven pieces of fabric that they had made) onto rocks and then onto the sticks. Dip, dip, dip, dip…………….each one about 30 times. That’s a lot of dipping. They stored them in candle safes, and buried the rest in the yard to be dug up later. Keeping them away from all of the creatures that live in Nauvoo was their main objective and this place is crawling with creatures!!!!!
I love to tell about the courting candle.
When a man came a courting, the father of the household would put out this candle. Depending on when it burned to the top edge of the candle holder, that is when the guys time ran out. So if he didn’t like a young man very well, he would wind this candle down until a fraction of an inch was showing. I get a big kid out of teasing teenagers. It always get a laugh.
This is Elder Barton on the weaving loom. There are 550 pieces of thread on this loom that run the length of 18 miles. It takes them two days to load it. This is where the rugs for Nauvoo are made. It is quite an interesting process and this loom, is run by a foot pedal.
Rugs woven on a wagon wheel.
Womens shawls woven by hand.
Tin punched lights.
A little play place in the middle where kids can set the table and play.
The pioneers usually didn’t have a bustle oven. They did everything on their fireplaces. From roasting, boiling, frying, steaming, to baking it was all done here. They would heat the coals and then sweep them to the side. They would then dust the floor with cornmeal and put their bread dough right on the floor of the fireplace. They would then cover it with ash and let it cook for about 20 minutes. It was dusted off and then eaten, ASH BREAD!
This is the bustle oven and we actually cook bread it in every day. The way to test the temperature has to do with sticking in arms and hands. What a wild thermometer. We give bread away at this station and it is always a big hit.
So a whole group of these kids come and guess who get to give them a tour!!! Yea! It was me. These are a part of the performing group from BYU known as the Legends. I think they are what the Lamanite Generation used to be. They sing and dance and do songs from all over the world. So we just had a great time together. Before they left they wanted to sing a song for me. It was about gratitude in New Zealand or Maori. It made me cry of course, but I have made some new friends.
They will be here for two weeks and I will go and see them.This is just a small part of the group but I will call them my part! Never a dull day here.
It's amazing what the early pioneers could do and the things that they came up with. I guess necessity is truly the mother of invention.
ReplyDeleteYour new dress looks lovely! I'm so glad that you have something to call yours every day.
Love the photos of you with the Legends. You can tell from just those pictures that they enjoyed being around you. Not surprising.
I miss you!