Welcome to A Victorian Year in Ontario

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen, the year is 1865, Her Majesty Queen Victoria has reigned since 1837 and we are in the midst of a prosperous era. The purpose of this blog is to record the daily round of chores, tasks, trials and triumphs of our household in rural Upper Canada (now known as Ontario). We have embarked on an experiment to live a year as close to the way it was done in 1865 as we possibly can. We will post our remarks and await your comments, suggestions and critiques. So join us as we travel back in time.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Cutters/sleighs

Hi everyone 
We finally have our cutters/sleighs. They are beautiful and I will take photos tomorrow and post them for you to see. It is wonderful to have such beautiful pieces of history . You wonder who owned them and where they travelled in them.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Letter writing


This is a piece I posted to our facebook page regarding letter writing

Letter writing in the year 1865 was used much the same as we use computers today. or perhaps even the telephone.The postal services were very good and in most cities thousands of letters travelled daily. There were couriers, and if you were "well heeled" you would have your own courier. I have letters dating back to the 1700's Anyone having the opportunity to read old letters will be thrilled at the detail they contain. You can tell if they have travelled long distances or have only travelled a few blocks by their content. You will be thrilled by the gentle manners expressed even on paper during the time period. Letters flowed with conversation. Generally starting off very formally regardless the sender or the receiver. Occasionally there will be codes and it is fun trying to figure what they are meaning. I love the conversation found in letters gently written , I love the peace in writing and the thought it provokes. I have a few friends who hare my love of writing with dip pen and ink and we letter write on a regular basis. It is calming and genteel. Try it sometime. Listen to the pen and the noise it makes on the paper. Listen as you dip your pen nib and tap the excess ink off. Listen to your mind thinking about your words...it is a whole different experience indeed.
Anyone wishing to join our letter exchange is more than welcome.
I will continue this tomorrow.Pain is making me sleepy today.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Thank you to Circa Antiques owner Doug Long


Well everyone wonderful news.
We have the dress hoops.
 They are fantastic and light as a feather. I will examine them better in the full day light . Before I tell you the other items we found I have to encourage you to visit the antique shop in Watford Ontario.The shop is called Circa Antiques. Owned by Doug Long. Who is obviously in this business because he loves history.He is knowledgeable about everything he has in his shop . Has unusual items such as a food pusher used by babies to learn how to push food onto their spoons. Wonderful piece. Plus Doug has a steady stream of Bob Dylan playing , making you wanting to never leave lest you miss a song. So please visit his shop. We purchased some spiels, a bed warmer complete with screw cork, a hat brush for Kens top hat, many tools. Such fun looking around. Oh and the loveliest game table usable on both sides . I can hardly wait to have guests over to play parlour games, I also cannot wait to show my sewing friends these hoops. A piece of history one rarely sees.
And to add next week we will be picking up our cutters. I will be sure to post pictures of them. Now all we need are the horses to pull them. see you soon.
Margaret and Ken