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November 19, 1878: William Riddell to his sister, Isabella Riddell Wood
This letter was written by William Riddell, brother of Isabella Riddell Wood. Transcribed Letter: Wellgreen 19th November 1878 My Dear Sister, Yours of August 10th have duly to hand, I was glad to hear from you again and to hear you were all well, I had a letter from Allegheny with the same Post as yours came with, they then were in good health, I have wrote again to day to Mrs. Reids – Mr. Riddell is much about hir usual way. She is mostly confined to bed, she had one of this ill turns a fue days since, but is greatly covered again, theirs a Dr. Donale in Strathaven…
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May 7, 1853: Margaret Riddell Letter to Her Sister, Isabella Riddell Wood
Y’all owe me big for this one. Not only is is difficult to read, but dear Aunt Margaret used inventive spelling, wrong punctuation, and random acts of capitalization. Bless her heart. Cobourgh Place, Sighthill January 7th, 1853 Dear Sister, I hop you wil excuse me for not writing before this time to you. It is wonderful how the time slips by in the worald, I am hapy to inform you that My Mother is just about her usewall way for health although she is very frail. She cannot walk through the house without me supporting her by the wone side and she cannot turn herself in her bed, I put…
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28 October 1862 Near Little Rock, Arkansas: John Wood to Mother Isabella Wood
John Wood writes a short letter to his mother letting her know that he is well and that everyone with his are well. Evidently, they have captured some Union soldiers and are sending them to Little Rock. Transcription: October the 28, 1862 Mrs. Wood, I have taken the opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you know that I am well at present all the boys is well the arcansas taken 80 yanks the other day. We are sending the yanks to Little Rock every day. I must bring my letter to a close John Wood
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26 November 1857 Letter from Fort Bridger During Mormon Wars
John Wood writes home to his mother, Isabella Wood in Texas describing the events and circumstances surrounding him at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory. He promises he will come home as “soon as Brigham Young will let me”. Transcribed Letter: Fort Bridger, Utah Territory November 26, 1857 My Dear Mother, It is a long time since I wrote to you, but it is a longer time since I heard from you. I left Paducah, Ky, for St. Louis, Mo. Not finding anything to do there. I went to Ft. Leavenworth and there I engaged to go as a teamster to Salt Lake. I intended to have wrote you from that place,…
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Notification of John Wood’s Death Cloutierville, Louisiana 26 July 1864
John Wood’s commander wrote home to his parents, notifying them of their son’s death. The letter is a bit of a jumble of words in places. One can only imagine how terrible it would have been to write home about death. I didn’t try to correct his grammar or add missing words. I’ll leave that up to the reader. Cloutierville, LA July 26, 1864 Mr. and Mrs. Wood, It has become my painful duty to give you the sad news of the death of your son, John Wood. He was taken sick over three days ago. He was taken with a chill and was not considered dangers until yesterday evening…
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Playing with Baby White Tigers in the Limpopo Region of South Africa
Have you ever dreamed of cuddling with a baby white tiger? Well, I had the chance to do just that when I visited a wildlife sanctuary in the Limpopo region of South Africa. I had an unforgettable experience with these beautiful baby white tigers and wanted to share it with you. What are white tigers? White tigers are not a separate subspecies of tiger. They are a color variant of the Bengal tiger or the Siberian tiger, or a hybrid between the two subspecies. White tigers have white fur, dark brown or black stripes, and blue eyes. They are very rare and beautiful animals. White tigers are not albinos. They…
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Historic Airbnb in Pensacola
Our “New” Historic Airbnb in Pensacola, Florida When we finally moved into our dream home in Texas, it was our 29th home. I thought we were finished. I thought we had caught our limit and I knew we were where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives. Of course, fate is funny and now we also own a historic Airbnb in Pensacola. Who would have ever guessed? We spent 20 years being moved around by the Navy, but were never stationed in Pensacola. Jerry wasn’t associated with the aviation side of things and that is the largest group here in Pensacola. We hadn’t even vacationed here on the…
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Concrete Floor Staining Failure – Revisited
Once Upon a Time Once upon a time our floors were beautiful. They were the product of hard work and they were exactly what we had envisioned. Unfortunately, that beautiful dream didn’t stand the test of time. In fact, it didn’t stand the test of contractors or (to be fair) normal use. I have already discussed the problems we had with the concrete in “A Colossal Error in Concrete Staining” What happened? What went wrong? Most importantly, how on earth are we going to fix it? You can read that post, or continue here for a recap and our attempts at finding a solution. In the Beginning… In the beginning,…
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Welcoming Additions: Front Steps and Sidewalk Make Visiting Easier
Once Upon a Time… Once upon a time, our home was a simple four room dog trot house. It had one door in the front and one in the back. Those who lived here before us eventually needed to center, open hallway space and they enclosed it, leaving the front porch open. It was easy for people to see how to get into the house. See the gate above? Go through it. Walk carefully on the (mostly) flat rocks that lead to the front of the house. There is one door. Knock on it. While there wasn’t a real side walk and no need for front steps, it was welcoming.…
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Magnificent Mullein Plant…My New Obsession
Beauty and Usefulness: Magnificent Mullein Plant is Both I love learning about how things were done in the past. The building techniques used on our 1846 Homestead were fascinating. I learned how to milk goats so I could authentically make cheese. Winemaking is also on the list of things I have mastered in the name of learning the “old ways”. Now we can add cultivating magnificent mullein plants to the list because of its usefulness and general coolness. Medicinal herbs and such are fascinating, but I am very much a novice. As we continue to put in our flower beds and our garden beds, herbs that we can cook with…