Wearable Blankets and Beavers: Taking a Step Back
(Note: I'm sorry about the bold type in the following blog. I can't seem to fix it. Ugh!)
You'll never believe it! Today, I saw the original Snuggie on a guy dressed as a 1790s trapper at a harvest fest. Look at him!
Yeah, you're right, I was totally in love.
Did you know the original blanket-turned-robe was the capote from the latter 18th Century? Which means while my eighteenth-century hottie boyfriend, Ben Franklin, was writing his autobiography, trappers were rockin out in their capotes. But warmth cost them plenty. This one in particular would have cost FOUR BEAVERS--just to buy the blanket to make the capote.
A higher quality wool might have cost eight beavers!
Still amazed at the price of a post-colonial Snuggie, we continued to wander around the frontier encampment where we found toys made from trees and yarn and ribbon.
The boys played for 45 minutes without fighting over who got the remote. Imagine that!
Then like some gift from the heavens this woman taught my kids how to sew. With a needle and thread! Wha? Sew? I can barely mend a loose button.
[Right. That's not my daughter. But, my god, she's adorable!]
Wondering what to do with your pumpkins and gourds after Halloween? Look what the pioneers used to do with them.
I wonder what this guy kept in the gourd hanging near his boots.
I overheard him say that the water from the camp wasn't drinkable. Hm. One shecond folks, lemme take a lil sippy-sip from my gourd. Mmmm-mmm. Thaschtz schom good schtuff.
What's that, Boyfriend Ben? "Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation." Who me? I'm not elevated at all. Nope.
In all seriousness, I was lucky enough to catch these folks at the Schaumburg Autumn Harvest Festival today. If you really want to meet the man in the post-colonial Snuggie go to the McHenry County Trail of History on October 17th.
Better bring some beavers with you.