Living History at Sutter's Fort

June 14th, 1846 dawned unseasonably cool at Sutter's Fort in what would one day be Sacramento.
Among those present at the fort was trapper, tracker and teller of tall tales James Bridger:

The fort was also graced by a visit from Francisca Benicia Carrillo Vallejo, wife of Mariano Vallejo, who held the highest military position in Mexican California.  By the end of the day he would be a prisoner at the fort.

Kit Carson was also there.  Very shortly he would become the only man to kill another man in the Bear Flag Revolt.

They arrived in wagons.

They examined furs for sale.

And, feeling the need for some exertion, they stepped in for the Indian children--who work the mill day and night--and gave the grist mill a few turns.

The postman distributed letters at noon.

And then the plotters of the Bear Flag Revolt discussed plans.

After the revolt there was tug of war, general rabble rousing and  reel and circle dancing.

A doctor arrived to tend the sick and injured.  She applied leaches and performed brain surgery and an amputation.  The chances of survival from the last were no better than 50/50.

Yes, we had it all, from bloody revolts to revolting bloodletting.
I've shown it here in sepia, but really it was history in living color.

Greta's Gruesome Dreams

Greta: Every night my dreams get more scary and gruesome.
Me: Do you want to tell me about your dream?
Greta: Well, there was this teacher and she was yelling at me and she was SO MEAN.

To A Cabin

Here is
a different state of being
where a morning cobweb becomes a fairy handkerchief
where I can lie against sand and stone
Face the rim of the globe
Feel waves wash over me
and crisp breezes refresh my skin
Listen to children's laughter like blowing bells
Watch dogs race the beach with numb joy
Know "freezing quiet" (Anne says)
Smell the spices of the season
(it is early spring now)

I awaken
by the ocean
in a cabin
gazing seaward

To A Cabin II
Margaretta K. Mitchell

Happy 6th Birthday Greta!

Today is Greta's 6th birthday.  A few days ago we had this conversation:

Me: What do you want for your birthday?
Greta:  A surprise.   (Witheringly)  That is why you wrap presents.  So it is a surprise.

She never fails to surprise me.

A Sometimes Civil War

The war over what we listen to in the car is a simmering conflict that flares up from time to time and is sometimes civil, and sometimes not.

We've been working our way through a stack of Jim Weiss CDs that I picked up at a storytelling workshop with him.  Greta is particularly taken with Queen Elizabeth and Sir Francis Drake and we listened to it end to end at least four times.  Three of the four of us were tired of it, however, so I had put in Abraham Lincoln the day before to listen to while driving.  I was enjoying it, Clementine was enjoying it, Evelyn was tuning it out and reading her own book, but I thought it was mostly going over Greta's soon-to-be-six head.  When we got in the car for another morning of driving I hit the CD button.

Greta:  Oh, not Abe Lincoln!  I want Queen Elizabeth and the Queen's Pirate.
Me: (exaggerating) You've listened to that 10 times.  Let's finish Abraham Lincoln.
Greta: It is boring.
Me: I don't think it is boring.  Sometimes you have to listen to things more than once to really understand what they are about.  Give it a chance.
Greta:  I do understand it and it's boring.  Son of a farmer grows up to president and has a big war.  So what?
Me: (bursts out laughing)
Greta: (indignant) What?  If you leave out the details, that is basically it.

Well, that cleared up my misunderstanding.  Her campaign against Abe was not founded on ignorance.