Monday, September 30, 2019

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION MUSEUM IN YORKTOWN - PART 1


The last time we were at this museum was three years' ago, when we took my brother-in-law who was visiting from Germany.  The museum was open but a lot of items from the exhibits were still in their storage cases, crates were positioned upright and open.  We could at least see what was inside them.  Rooms were being set up.  

On that visit we spent more of our time outside.  People in costumes were roaming the small colonial village (a living museum).  They answered all questions with lots of patience.  It was crowded that day and they were kept busy.  I remember being impressed at how knowledgeable they were.
I also remember lots of chickens running around, and we were shown the tobacco drying barn.  We walked through the vegetable garden and were told about okra, cotton and tobacco, and much more.  Certain things were used for 18th century medicine.  All very interesting!  

Today the village had been moved further away, still there but some distance and out of sight. In its place were tents with men dressed in colonial military uniforms.  It depicts a Continental Army encampment.  Visitors can take part in artillery demonstrations and see old flintlock muskets fired, among other things. 
On this recent visit we spent most of our time looking at the exhibits inside the museum, and decided to leave outside for another visit.  Fortunately we don't live that far, a three-hour drive each way.  More often than not we stay overnight in a local hotel as there are a lot of other places to visit.

The exhibits were excellent with many rooms to explore.  The hallways were wide and also showed the history of the time, with portraits, historical scenes and timelines on the walls.  
These snippets of history held our attention for a long time before we ventured into the actual exhibits.


It is always interesting to learn of other people from history that I never knew of before.  Below shows a scene from the Battle of Oriskany, where General Nicholas Herkimer is mentioned.  I looked him up on Wikipedia and read that his parents were German immigrants.  He was born in the vicinity of German Flats in the Mohawk Valley of the Colony of New York.  He spoke three languages, German, English and Mohawk.  If you click on his name above, you can read more.
One of those snippets I read was about a short conversation between the lady shown below and George Washington.  She must have been a young woman when this happened.  Her name was Sarah Osborn Benjamin.  Washington asked her if she was afraid of the cannonballs during the Siege of Yorktown, as she carried beef, bread and coffee to the troops. Sarah replied, "No, the bullets would not cheat the gallows...it would not do for the men to fight and starve too."
If you have difficulty reading what I have included below even after enlarging the photo, I suggest clicking on this link.  It is where I found the newspaper clipping and it will be easier on the eyes.

The following painting depicts The Siege of Yorktown.

I was interested in the military costumes.  A young man was talking to several visitors as we wandered up and down the hallway.  For one so young (he looked in his late teens) he answered all questions about individual uniforms.

We started our tour by watching the 30-minute movie, "Liberty Fever".  It was narrated by an actor who portrayed a 19th-century storyteller who had traveled the country gathering stories from people who lived at the time.  These movies give a good basic knowledge before walking around the exhibits, 'puzzles' fell into place faster.  One other movie that comes to mind is shown at Mount Vernon.  We have lived in our present home for 28 years, and I have lost count how many times we have seen it when taking family and friends, and have gone on our own occasionally.  It is a good refresher history lesson and gradually as you tour the museum, everything you see starts to sink in.

This link gives information about the movie and the exhibits.
Three uniforms you would have seen in Colonial times.








Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the French soldier's costume.  I remember others standing around the exhibit and it would have been rude to ask them to move. Not wanting to disturb them I was going to come back on my way out. Unfortunately by that time I had forgotten.  There is always next time, whenever that may be. 


The next photo shows a mannequin dressed in the same style as the lady shown in the portrait of Alice Hooper, and the original painting our Alice is standing in front of is in the Milwaukee Art Museum.  This one is a reproduction.  You can read about the painting here.  

The only information I could find about Alice was her connection to the man who painted her, John Singleton Copley.  It read,  "Before settling in England in 1775, John Singleton Copley was the most sort-after portraitist in the American colonies.  His list of patrons read like a who's who of notable Bostonians. He was adept at flattering his sitters by depicting their conspicuous wealth, while retaining a true likeness. 
In this portrait, painted to commemorate the sitter’s recent engagement, Copley suggests Alice Hooper’s fecundity and maternal qualities by situating her against the backdrop of a cultivated garden, her hand caressing the fountain’s trickling water. The artist further devoted great attention to the glinting blue satin and frothy lace of Alice’s fashionable gown and the highlights of her ruby jewels, revealing the great wealth of her family.
Alice may have worn shoes just like the ones on display.
I missed getting information on the gown but on the right you can see, a Woman's Jacket - British - c 1780,  a Doll - British - c 1770, Baby's Christening Robe, British - c 1770, Infant's Shoe - British - c 1790-1820, Pair of Women's Shoes - British - c 1770, Pair of Infant Stays - British - c 1770, and lastly a Baby's Cap - 1780-1820






I am saving the other photos I took for Part 2 which will be my next post.  Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your day.







MONDAY RECIPE POST - SEARED SCALLOPS WITH WHITE BEAN RAGU


We just enjoyed another Scallop recipe that I found here.  Always fun to sit, taste the meal, and then discuss what we would have added or not added to tailor it more to our own tastes.  All in all this was a delicious meal which we both enjoyed and yes, it was a healthy one.  

Seared Scallops with White Bean Ragu and Charred Lemon

From: Eating Well Magazine, September 2019

1 pound mature spinach or white chard, trimmed and thinly sliced (we used baby Bok Choy)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, divided
1 (15 ounce) can no-salt-added cannellini beans,
drained and rinsed
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon butter

1 pound dry sea scallops, tough side muscle removed if still attached
1 lemon, halved
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add greens and cook, stirring often, until wilted, about 4 minutes.  Stir in garlic, capers and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add beans, broth and wine and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to maintain a low simmer, cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in butter.  Cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, sprinkle scallops with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the scallops and cook until browned on both sides, about 4 minutes total.  Transfer to a clean plate.  Add lemon halves to the pan, cut-side down, and cook until charred, about 2 minutes.  Cut into wedges.  Sprinkle the scallops and the bean ragu with parsley and serve with the lemon wedges.




And for those who are taking a special note of things.

Serving size per person: 

3 ozs. of scallops and 1 cup ragu each:

Per serving: 
255 calories
8 g. fat (3 g sat), 
5 g fiber
21 g carbohydrates
21 g protein
141 mcg folate
35 mg cholesterol
1 g sugars
0 g added sugars
5.997 IU vitamin A
22 g vitamin C
110 mg calcium
4 mg iron
590 mg sodium
853 mg potassium

Nutritional bonus

Vitamin A (120% daily value)
Vitamin C (37% dv)
Folate (35% dv)
Iron (22% dv)
Carbohydrate Servings: 1-1/2
Exchanges:
2-1/2 lean protein, 
1fat,
1 starch
1/2 vegetable



Thursday, September 26, 2019

FENCES AROUND THE WORLD FOR GOSIA

A few weeks ago we took a walk along the Boardwalk in Duck, North Carolina. We walked by a lot of shops and as there were fences in many of them, I am linking with Gosia’s Fences Around the World. 
I found an article here with a few more photos.
























 Our little opportunists were flying from table to table to see if there were any crumbs about.  
I seem to be all over the place with my posts lately, but I will have more of the boardwalk sometime.  It was a really neat place for a walk.

If you would like to see other fences, or join in with your own, you can go here. Thank you for hosting Gosia!  

I take Saturday's and Sunday's off from blogging now, and will be back on Monday.  Have a great weekend!







TRUE HAPPINESS....

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

WILDLIFE AT HUNTLEY MEADOWS PARK

The last time we had a walk here a few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to see quite a lot of wildlife, and I put together a collage to start off today's post.    
When I was taking photos of this butterfly, a gentleman came by and told me what it was.  He was carrying a camera and a tripod.  I wish I could remember his name!  He said he had taken a photograph of the butterfly and went through several on his phone to show me.  All his photos looks wonderful and he said he had an account on Flicker and mainly took videos, that I do remember.  Hopefully I will come across it one of these days.
He told me this was a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, and I found a blog with great photos here.  This is the first time I remember seeing one, or more likely had the chance to take notice.  The butterfly posed very nicely for a while.
It is sipping nectar from a Climbing hempvine, botanical name Mikania scandens.

Eileen at Viewing Nature with Eileen (you can see what she says in her comments attached to this post) identified this bird as a Juvenile Little Blue Heron.  Thank you Eileen.  I love how our blogging friends help out, and always appreciate correct identifications. 

You can learn more here.

Their habitat information was found at the above link: "you will find them at the edges of shallow water, particularly where there is adjacent emergent vegetation or overhanging bushes or trees."


A Great Egret is next.   Gregg took its photos.  There were several of them at the park when we were there...

many putting on a wonderful display in flight.

He also took there, two Great Blue Herons.  Unfortunately most of the birds were further than we would have liked, but always grateful for whatever we can get.  If you go to this YouTube link it will show you a great video of this bird.

In the next photo is a female Eastern Pond Hawk Dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis. You can see a photo of the male at this link.

The brown dragonfly is an Eastern Amberwing

The last one is the Common White Dragonfly.

This looks like a Meadow Katydid.

A Blue tailed Skink and you can see one here also.

It looks like it is growing a new tail.  The blogger said that although this is called a Blue-tailed skink in the US, it is actually an American Five-lined Skink.  He added that the actual Blue-tailed skink lives on Christmas Island in Australia.


There weren't many frogs to be seen on this visit, and I looked really hard to find one.  The only reason I saw the handsome fellow below, was I noticed a young girl with her family leaning precariously over the boardwalk.  I asked what they were looking at and the girl pointed to the frog.

He is above left of center in the first photo below.  I had to lean far over to see him as he was out of almost out of sight just under the boardwalk.  

This is a Snapping Turtle.  Its head was visible with the rest of him under water.  He is prehistoric looking isn't he?

I have seen them many times at various places, mostly in the water and one time on land.  They can be huge and I figured our landlubber was a grandfather of snappers.  I gave him a wide berth as I have read they can be particularly aggressive on land even before reading the same at this link.  Also, though most of the time you only see their head tucked into their shell, they have long necks that can swivel really fast, and that mouth would do terrible things to your fingers.  Sorry for that image but forewarned is forearmed.  I like these creatures and have always found them fascinating, but it is sensible to have a healthy respect for all wildlife and keep an appropriate distance.

I saved these for the last.  Many of us know about the Eastern Tent Caterpillar.   They aren't at all popular.  When we first moved into our house almost 30 years ago, I was told by a neighbor that these caterpillars killed a tree in our yard and much to the previous owner's dismay, it fell on our roof.  We noticed another tree that was dead.  It had been growing next to it, and had to have it cut down before it did the same.  
The actual moth is a cute little thing as you will see here.  I was surprised to see the caterpillars around.
It seems to me that this year I have seen a lot more of these 'tents'.  They are usually a common sight going down the highway, on side roads too.
This is the last of our recent Huntley Meadow trip.  Always a great place to amble around.  I enjoy the woods but my favorite part is the walkway across the wetland.