Thirty-One Thresholds – Memories of Ginger Cookies and Grandmothers

IMG_8308

Making Cookies © 2014 Bo Mackison

I started a new photo/travel project a few weeks ago, a project, called Thirty One Thresholds.

Quite basic in its undertaking, the project encourages me to get out of the house. (A coping method when life gets a bit overwhelming, I morph into a hermit!)

Once out of the house, I go somewhere, almost anywhere, camera in tow, and consider the many thresholds I cross – literal or metaphorical…  Not a lot of rules. Keeping this low pressure and easy…

As I wrote in the first post when exploring the start of this project, I’m not sure what nuggets of wisdom I’ll discover or exactly what  I’m looking for… but I’m willing to believe I’ll find what I need to find — or it will find me!

Since I began on December 1st, I have visited a Mustard Museum (for fun and amusement), a tropical paradise in Madison’s Olbrich Gardens (for the illusion of summer and warmth), a walk in the neighborhood (which is as far as I could make it that day!) and a state capitol building (in search of spaciousness and the grand gilded art of an earlier time in architectural decor.)

Fun. Warmth. Tiny steps. Space. Art. A good start!

IMG_8309

Gingerbread Cookies © 2014 Bo Mackison

Last weekend I went to Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor history park that offers a glimpse of Wisconsin life — historic farms, artisan handcrafts, heirloom gardens, daily routines in rural Wisconsin in the mid to late 1800s.

A docent was baking gingerbread cookies at an old wooden table, the surface scattered with flour, a treasured rolling pin, cookie cutters hand fashioned from scraps of tin, and dark gingery dough! Though the time period was off by a few decades, the ginger cookie baking scene was reminiscent of the countless days I spent baking with my grandmother and great-grandmother.

IMG_8258

Keeping Warm © 2014 Bo Mackison

What a perfect threshold to walk across.

Hands warmed by an open fire. Hearts warmed by memories of the best of childhood times. And, as a bonus,  just-baked ginger cookies to enhance the memories.

How to Make a Buttonhole Bouquet – Sunday Series

Flowers for Buttonhole Bouquets

Flowers for Buttonhole Bouquets © 2012 Bo Mackison

We visited Old World Wisconsin, a Wisconsin State Historical Site, during Laura Ingalls Wilder Days, August 4-5, 2012. We didn’t know about the special event, so we were pleasantly surprised to see all the hands-on activities at the different villages. When we arrived at the Koepsell Farm, in Yankee Village, a young farm couple (museum docents) were making tiny bouquets for anyone who wanted one to wear.

It was a rather celebratory crowd, since the weather was cooperative. It was a perfect walk-around kind of day.

Buttonhole Bouquets, Written Instructions c. 1870s

Making Buttonhole Bouquets © 2012 Bo Mackison

We stepped up to the table to pick out the flowers for my mini bouquet.

Each bouquet had three flowers, plus a bit of green foliage, fastened together in a foil wrap. The docent said the folks at Old World Wisconsin were following instructions from a womens’ publication dated from the 1870s, the oldest reference they’d found for making buttonhole bouquets.

I picked a peach colored rose, a purple zinnia and a yellow dahlia for my bouquet, plus a bit of greenery whose name I can’t remember. There were huge metal pails filled with flowers and greenery. What fun to choose from the many flowers and foliage!

Buttonhole Bouquets, Written Instructions c. 1870s

Wrapping Flowers into a Bouquet ©2012 Bo Mackison

Once I’d picked the items for my bouquet, the young woman cut the stems to arrange the flowers, then arranged the placed the foliage behind the flowers. She put a dab of wet moss in a square of paper, tucked in the bottom, and then rolled the paper around the stems. A large pin held everything in place.

 

A Lovely Woman and Entertaining Docent - Wearing a Buttonhole Bouquet

Docent with her Buttonhole Bouquet © 2012 Bo Mackison

One of the docents kindly gave me permission to take a quick portrait of her, wearing one of the buttonhole bouquets. She was taking a short break and she needed one! Her role that day was to rake the hay in a field into a large pile so the adventurous children could climb the hay pile and jump in the hay. The kids loved the activity, and she was enjoying herself, too.

Buttonhole Bouquet

My Buttonhole Bouquet © 2012 Bo Mackison

Here is a photo of my bouquet, propped on a wooden bench. What a fun and easy idea. And my bouquet stayed fresh until the next day. The moistened  moss provided enough moisture to keep the flowers in good spirits! And it was fun to walk through the outdoor museum, and see what flowers the many women and girls chose for their buttonhole bouquets. Great variety!

—————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Each Sunday she posts a group of photographs on a theme – the Sunday Series.

Decorate with Winter’s Bounty

Door Spray at Old World Wisconsin

A Welcoming Door

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  it is the time for home.  ~Edith Sitwell

Rankinen Farm at Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin

We traveled to Eagle Wisconsin to attend The Spirit of Christmas Past at Old World Wisconsin, a Wisconsin State Historical Society site. Old World Wisconsin is a settlement depicting 19th- and early 20th-century rural Wisconsin located on almost 600 acres of wooded hills in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. The Crossroads Village and the Finnish Settlement were open the past two weekends, and provided a rare opportunity to photograph the outdoor rural museum dressed in a winter cloak.

I liked the way the Rankinen Farmstead was tucked into the landscape. Though I was wishing for blue skies dotted with lots of fluffy clouds, the gray skies seemed to enhance the reflection effect in this photograph. No complaints about the weather – the afternoon was pleasant with mild temperatures in the low 30s and no wind. I used the Olympus Pen’s pinhole art filter to balance all that winter white.

The Rankinen Farm was moved to the museum site from Bayfield County in northern Wisconsin and is depicted as it was in 1897.

Just a Simple Yellow Bowl

Yellow Bowl, circa 1850

Yellow Bowl, circa 1850 © 2008

Let’s see. It’s been a long day. And my cat is making odd noises in the kitchen – never a good sign. But this yellow bowl was rather nice when I spied it sitting on a shelf among other antiques. A basic shot of a very old  bowl sure beats a synopsis of the economic news or the political scene bashing. I think I’m going to go indulge in a hot fudge sundae. When in over-drive, think chocolate.