Hair Care, 1895 Style

Dear Readers,

Here is an interesting article from "The Ladies World", July 1895 on caring for the hair~ Enjoy!

"A woman's hair should be long, soft, fine, and abundant, but as to color, fashion must decide. The abundance of hair depends upon the healthy state of the scalp, and not, as some suppose, upon the health of the body. Neglect of the hair is a frequent cause of injury. The hair should be combed with a coarse comb, never with a fine one, and a brush with stiff bristles that reach the scalp, and brush the hair with long, even strokes.



Wetting the hair is condemned unless it is thoroughly dried. If sea bathing is practiced, the hair should be protected with a rubber cap. The hair should be washed once a month with warm water and dried thoroughly with a towel, but without heat, as that injures the hair. The chief requirement is cleanliness, and the best agents are good soap, hot water and occasionally the yolk of an egg rubbed into the scalp.



Oil should be used with discretion, all persons do not need its aid; when necessary, a teaspoonful of olive oil every morning is the finest dressing.

Hair tonics are, as a rule, injurious to the hair. A strong solution of salt and water rubbed into the roots of the hair will prevent its falling out; this should be accompanied with a moderate amount of brushing, say a hundred strokes night and morning, which will take about three minutes.

There is grandmother's receipt of burdock root tea applied to the scalp twice daily, which increases the growth of hair like magic.

Of all that appertains to the body, the hair is the least perishable, and not only protects the head from the heat, but as it is a non-conduct, assists in maintaining an equable temperature. Women may continue to rejoice in their tresses while men do the selecting, for they will not select bald-headed women, and the hair of her offspring will be as abundant as ever, for as Darwin says, a bald-headed woman will never have an opportunity of propagating her deficiency , so that at least there is no danger of baldness affecting the feminine half of the race."

Love,

Marqueta

A Merry Summer to You~

Dear Friends,

It's so nice to see you today! Did you have a lovely Midsummer's Celebration? It was actually sunny and warm yesterday (albeit a bit breezy), allowing us to eat outside and set up our annual fairy feasts for the little people. We of course read "Mabel on Midsummer Day", too, to help us remember to do our duties with love.

Audrey made a maypole for the fairies~

. . . And so did Evangeline!

AnnaMarie made a beautiful walkway by the pond~

. . . And Tasha chose to enclose her feast table in a little garden fence.

Rebecca missed out on making a fairy feast, but she seems to be happy in spite of that!


May your summer bring you the pleasures and freedoms of the outdoors:

Like pine cones to learn about (and eat)~

Eating al fresco (even if you have to put up with begging felines)~

Plenty of mud for your toes~

And giant rhubarb stalks to play King with~

Love,

Marqueta

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"Summer Comes"

The Little darling Spring has run away;

The sunshine grew too hot for her to stay.

She kissed her sister, Summer,and she said,

"When I am gone, you must be queen instead"

Now reigns the Lady Summer, round whose feet

A thousand fairies flock with blossoms sweet.

~Anonymous

The Story of a Basket

Dear Friends,

Once upon a time there was a little girl (cleverly disguised as a responsible adult) who loved baskets.

One day her long-lost twin, who lives far away, sent her a beautiful, African-made basket in the mail.
It was love at first sight!

She used it right away to harvest the alfalfa that was just big enough to pick (Alfalfa contains every mineral and vitamin required for overall health) ~

It was jealously guarded by the dog as it was taken to Wolverine Canyon. . . ~


Where it would be filled with alder branches for making medicine.


It was borrowed by other members of the family. . . ~

Which was all right with the basket-loving girl, since she would be busy taking care of one of these for a while~



So the basket is getting a little rest from harvesting, but every time she sees it, the basket-loving girl is reminded of a special friend who knew how to give the perfect gift. :)

Love,

Marqueta

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"Each Life That Touches Ours for Good"

Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thing own great mercy, Lord;
Thou sendest blessings from above
Through words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow,
What great goodness can we know
Than Christ-like friends, whose gentle ways
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

~Karen Lynn Davidson

Happy Birthday to Audrey

Dear Friends,

As you can see, we're still enjoying sweet Rebecca's newborn-ness; it's hard to believe that she's two weeks old already!

We celebrated Audrey's eleventh birthday this weekend with a little family get-together (While taking turns holding the baby, of course)~

Complete with a horsey gingerbread cake!

We are so blessed to have Audrey in our family. Her love for babies and small children, and her "ABC Learning Center" daycare is a great service to her mother!

We are having another day of sunshine, and it might even make it into the 70s! This has been a very cold, wet spring, and it seems odd to think that Midsummer's Day is coming up soon. It still feels like April to us! We hope that we'll have some warmer weather coming, even though we are of course grateful for all the rain that has kept things wonderfully green.

Before we leave you, we thought we'd give you (and ourselves) a little challenge this week. When things go wrong, or we feel discouraged or depressed, let's try singing all of the hymns and happy songs that we know, and see what difference it makes! It makes us sad to live in a culture where singing is no longer appreciated or welcomed, but perhaps we can change that just by always having a song on our lips, and not worrying about what others think.

Here's a nice hymn to get you started :) ~



Love,

Marqueta

Random Pictures of Cuteness

Hello, dear friends!

It's much too beautiful a day to spend indoors, but we thought we'd pop in a let you know how much we appreciate your continued friendship and well-wishes, and that we have been missing all of you! We hope that you have been well~ we will be taking a little more of an internet break these next few precious weeks with little Rebecca, soaking up her sweet spirit, and getting the house ready to sell (Still having faith that the perfect home and job are out there for us!).

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of cuteness for you~

Look who we found under the rhubarb plant when we were harvesting it yesterday~

We've been addicted to rhubarb/apple/strawberry/banana puddings lately~
Here some is bubbling away in our MaryJane's Farm Bakeover pan.
We cook apples and rhubarb in a little almond milk till soft, then puree in the blender along with soaked flax seeds, raw strawberries and bananas, and sweeten with stevia. Yum!

~ How can we keep from calling her "Becky Button Nose"?

Frankie finally decided he dared hold Rebecca~

Frankie says, "Mami, your baby is really cute!"

~But I think he'd like to go play now!

She already smiles and laughs in her sleep~Ahh, baby bliss!

A neighbor brought over dinner with cute apple "ladybugs" for dessert (This one seems to be losing her head!)

What could she be thinking about~
Newborns always look so wise, don't they?

Till next time,

Love,

Marqueta

Happy Birthday to AnnaMarie. . . And to Someone Wee

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your well-wishes and prayers for our family~ they must have done their magic, for we were indeed blessed to be able to have our new little one at home, delivered into the loving arms of her father. She was our fourth unassisted homebirth, and was born on AnnaMarie's thirteenth birthday, May 31st.

AnnaMarie's first birthday present, Miss Rebecca Mabel Graham~

Another sister to make birthday cakes and do hair for someday :) .

Audrey wants her for her own! We'll see ;)

So far, Frankie seems fairly unaffected by Rebecca's arrival.

Evangeline says, "Her's cute, isn't her?"~

~And we must agree!

Mother and baby are both doing well, with lots of older sisters to help hold and change the little Miss. People who assume having a large family must be horrible for the mother don't realize how much help those older siblings can be! We feel it a privilege and a blessing to be the parents of both a girl who is quickly approaching womanhood, one who has just begun her life's journey, and all those in between.

May all of us be blessed at this time of life, and embrace those whom the Lord has placed into our lives and hearts.

Love,

Marqueta