Comenius's Philosophy of Education, posted on the wall of the Boys' School in Old Salem. Charlotte Mason wasn't just coming out of nowhere, with ideas nobody had heard before --- as this sign notes, Comenius's Great Didactic was published in 1642.
I was fascinated and amused by the schoolmaster's diary, also posted on the school walls:
"Composed a minuet . . . read about the pig . . . gave away some peaches . . . flew into a rage . . . studied the Roman Emperors . . . read to the children this evening a play entitled 'He who digs a trip for others, will often fall into it himself.'"
"Oh, my favorite play," said the daughter. "You love to see it."
I didn't take many photos on this outing, alas, but did catch a few little vignettes in the schoolroom:
It still seems a bit strange not to be gearing up for our own school year. Some years we would already have begun by now, but most years our school start happened right after the Assumption: Assumption was a holiday, with Mass and a special dinner, and then we'd start our Assumption Term the next weekday. Boggles my mind a bit to consider that the last time we started school together was two years ago --- and the gulf will only keep widening. There's a part of my mind that insists on believing that people will go back and be twelve again, or seventeen, but not so, not so.
At any rate, the daughter and I enjoyed our day out. I thought she'd like Old Salem, which she last saw when she was about seven --- stupid, really, that we haven't gone more often, but for a family it was an expensive day out, which is largely why we didn't go more often. We didn't do a lot of things for a lot of years for that reason, which I regret, but don't see what I could have done about it. At any rate, now is a good time to do things with this particular child, whose first year of college gave her much to think about and a larger appreciation for many things. She was in love with the aesthetic of the eighteenth-century German houses and gardens, fascinated by the cooking that was going on in the one small open house --- back in May, when I was there with my friend Janet, they were doing plant-based dyeing.
Yesterday in the same space it was cooking and preserving: making fig preserves, as well as a pot of beans on the fire. They were also stringing peppers to dry in the attic, which made me think . . . something to do with my own peppers!
Speaking of home produce, for the first time in fourteen years we have an apple harvest:
They don't look like much, but they taste sweet. In years past, the tree has dropped all its fruit by the end of July, before it was ripe, but since the pecan tree came down last August, the apple has gotten much more sun --- this we think has made all the difference. For several years running we talked about cutting the tree down, but now we're glad we didn't. Baked apples for dinner tonight! And maybe I'll try dehydrating some slices in my air-fryer oven thingy, which does also include a dehydrator. There are a few more on the tree, though most of the highest branches still dropped theirs as windfalls, which the ants have mostly invaded (and may have, with our compliments).
And speaking of dyes, my order is set to arrive today: by 9 p.m., according to the USPS tracking site. I HOPE it arrives sometime during the day, so that I can dye my dress before sundown. Otherwise I'll have to wait for tomorrow. Either way, dyed and mended, it should be ready for me to take on my road trip to Dallas next week. A week from today, God willing, we will be having lunch with my mother-in-law and dinner with my mother; a week from tomorrow we'll be in Dallas itself, and the next day they'll be moving into their dorm for the fall.
Finally, before I walk the dog, wearing (again) today:
I'd rinsed out both my blue bamboo dresses yesterday morning and left them on the rack to dry. This one is still the tiniest bit damp, but I thought that would feel good in the heat.
My burgundy dress has incurred some weird dark stains around one of the pockets --- I noticed them when I took it off last night. No idea what they are or where I picked them up, but I have treated them with some Dr. Bronner's, since that's what I have on hand right now, and am hoping for the best. I really do not want my burgundy dress to be ruined! I'd still wear it to sleep in and for hiking --- being as no-waste as possible here --- but I think of it as one of my nicer dresses, and had been mentally incorporating it into all kinds of fall outfits, so I really want it to be in as "like new" condition as possible for as long as possible. SIGH.
LATER:
Dora rolled in some nastiness and earned herself a bath. Good thing I was wearing a cute "something" outfit appropriate for dog bathing, among other things!
LATER STILL:
Water level set to medium, warm temperature (not hot). Two bottles of Rit Royal Blue All-Purpose Dye + 1 cup white vinegar + a big squirt of dish detergent to help with even dyeing. Letting the dress soak for about an hour total before running it through the wash cycle and adding the dye fixative.
(official washing machine instructions, which I am following but not using the hottest possible water)
We shall see what we shall see.
UPDATE:
Through the dye cycle all right. Dress looks very evenly covered, which is a relief --- that was my chief worry. Right now I'm running it through a cycle with the dye fixative, then will wash. I'll probably dry it in the dryer this time, too, just because I'm going to be impatient to see the color outcome and possibly put it right on to wear (though I also need to mend/re-mend the holes). I haven't dried it in a long time, so it could stand the little bit of shrinkage, to help it regain its shape. Right now, of course, it looks pretty dark. I used the maximum amount of dye for the maximum amount of time, figuring that even with the fixative, some will wash out on the front end.
Interestingly (and I'm sorry I didn't take a photo --- might try to when it comes out of this stage of the process), like the marine blue of my Maggie dress, there's a lot of black in this blue, which shows up in kind of low-lights in the texture of the fabric. I don't mind that --- again, I adore the Wool& marine blue, so much so that I'm tempted just to keep buying every dress they make in that color. I think this is going to be a bit lighter and brighter, in the final analysis, which is also fine. But I was interested to note that detail. It's definitely a far cry from the faded "lapis" blue of the original, and --- I think --- an improvement.
Post-fixative-bath close-up:
Washing now in cold with mild detergent, then will dry so that I can mend it. Very anxious to see how it's going to turn out finally!
AND she's in the dryer, and I'm running bleach and detergent through the washer to clean it. More to come! (I realize I should be time-stamping these updates, because intervals of at least half an hour are elapsing between paragraphs here).
GOOD NEWS:
First of all, the washing machine cleaned up just fine. Nobody else is going to have blue clothes in the aftermath of my experimentation today.
AND . . .
I love it!
She's shrunk just a tad in the wash and dryer, which I expected. It's happened before. Next time I'll hand-wash her and hang her, and she'll stretch back out again. She'll also just stretch some with wear.
But wowza, I love the color!
Here I'm standing at the window, so natural light but not direct sun. I'm really in love with this intense, saturated blue.
It's nice, actually, to have this dress a little bit shrunk and drawn in, because it can become baggy and shapeless fairly fast (in contrast to my Sierra, in a heavier wool fabric, which does not lose its shape).
And I want to play dress-up now --- all the things that will go with this shade of blue! It just looks like a completely new dress. Well, almost: there's still a little pilling over the pockets, for example, but it's a lot less obvious now that the fabric doesn't also look faded. I have mended the holes more or less invisibly. The darker color will dress up a lot more, I think (especially as it regains length with wear) --- jewelry shows up against it really nicely, for one thing, as you can see here. It'll be fun with my little red shoes, with tan sandals and boots, with cardigans and jackets as we head into the fall. As much as I loved it originally, I think that for me, now, it's become a far more wearable dress.
Now, too, I feel pretty confident about dyeing things. I do not think I'd buy a $150 dress in the wrong color planning to dye it, but I might buy a secondhand Wool& dress in the wrong color, at some discount, with that plan in mind. The washing-machine method seems to produce far more even results than the bucket method, even using cooler water than recommended. Again, I did anticipate some shrinkage, but it's not bad.
I was eyeing those new marine-blue Camellias with some longing, but now I don't have to. Mind you, that is a gorgeous blue, and this isn't quite that. It's somewhere between that and the cobalt blue of the new Sophia dresses. But it's perfect for me, and it scratches the exact itch that the new Camellias had given me --- if they'd had marine blue last year, without a doubt that's what I'd have bought. And now . . . well, again, for about $15 (plus shipping), I have a like-new dress that hits that precise sweet spot.
Well done, me.