on the metaphorical sunny side of the street

[bluegreen17]

today i'm home enjoying my paid labor day holiday.(monday was my regular day off,so i get a different day.)

it's a nice day to stay home and be inside all cozy and peaceful. it's raining in that soft,steady,soothing way.

i'm almost finished reading a short book about the shakers. all the basic stuff. just reading about them makes me feel calm and orderly! it's amazing how many things that they invented. one thing i didn't know is that they grew herbs for medicinal use and ground them into powders and put them in packets with instruction for their use. later on,they invented pills! they supplied much of the populace with digitalis (for the heart) and opium (for pain) for many years.

i went crazy at the library today. i had to leave because i couldn't carry any more (a little red wagon would have come in handy). i'm in a history phase at the moment. studying 20th century stuff,particularly the 40's through 60's,including contemporary and modern design. i kind of got on this kick when i read a copy of 'atomic ranch',which is a magazine of 50's and early 60's design,last week. it brought back lots of nice memories. also,i've been reading stuff on different types of interior design and architecture lately,branching out beyond my old favorites,art deco and art nouveau.

yes,this little scholarly nerd is having a fine time.

Comments

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

It's fun to look at old designs, isn't it? Though I haven't been able to indulge my calligraphy-typography geek side lately, collecting books of typefaces from the early 20th century (and calligraphy from much earlier) used to be such fun!

And yes, a little red wagon would come in handy at the library. Since I'm a pedestrian & this is a rainy year, a little covered wagon would be nice.

[solarfields.livejournal.com]

What book did you read about the Shakers? I've only read one book so far, and one of the women in the book I read, well, I saw her cookbook up at Enfield. But I want to read more.

[bluegreen17]

shaker villages by nancy o'keefe bolick and sallie g. randolph.

it was in the adult nonfiction section,but it looks like it was written for fourth or fifth grade level. i didn't mind though...those tend to be more of a joy to read!

[bluegreen17]

did you go to enfield n.h.? for some reason i thought you went to massachusetts. there were shaker villages in enfield n.h. and enfield connecticut according to this book...

[solarfields.livejournal.com]

The only Massachusetts village that I know of is in Hancock, MA. Not exactly close. The one I want to go to is Sabbathday Lake in Maine. It is where the last living Shakers live.

There were Shaker villages once in Ohio and Kentucky, and I forget where else...

Enfield, NH is where the La Salette Brothers/Misisonaries bought the village and used Shaker land to put up the shrine to Mary that I've been to several times.

[bluegreen17]

hmmmm...i never got a notice on this comment. anyway,i wonder how far away sabbathday lake is? there's a chapter on them in the book i read.

[bohemelibrarian.livejournal.com]

Scholarly nerds = <3

And yay for supporting your local library!

[(Anonymous)]

Glad to see you are still reading! From Doodlebug on OD.

[rubel.livejournal.com]

Did it say in what century people in any country started treating pain with opium? I kind of use that in a story, but I don't know if it's historically accurate or not.

opium

[bluegreen17]

no,sorry,they didn't mention when.a couple of years ago i saw an entire book on the history of opium. it had a white cover with a picture of a red poppy on it,and i think it was called 'a history of opium' or something similar. i wonder when they first started using morphine instead,as well.