Pioneer day photo shoot (or getting my geek on)

Yes, I am a geek, just the sci fi type. My inner geek is all about pioneers! I cobbled a pioneer costume together to wear to dinner yesterday. We had dinner at my in laws wth 2 missionaries, 2 neighbors and a family friend. I brought my camera with me and asked Lanette to take a pic or two of me in my costume. It was quite bright out when we started cooking but by the time dinner was over and things were cleaned up, it had gotten a bit dimmer, especially under the porch eave which is where the majority of the picture were taken. This actually ended up working really well because anything that was moving was a bit blurry which is more realistic for photos from the pioneers' day.

Well, instead of just a couple pics, it turned into a photo shoot using their antiques as props. So many of the antiques belonged to Barry's father or grandfather and have all been taken care of very well through the years and most are all still useable though some see more use than others.

My cosume is not perfect by any means. The shirt is all wrong, not even long sleeved but it was what I had on hand. There's another high collared shrt underneath it with a hand crocheted trim but the bonnet ties are ni the way so you can't really see it. I need some kind of brooch for it, I think. The bonnet and apron are both pretty old and handmade. The skirt and petticoat, which you can't see, are both from Lannette (given to me at different times). She doesn't know where she got them but they are both homemade as well. I am also wearing black tights and my pioneer shoes. It did end up getting pretty steamy inside my costume but it was FUN so I wasn't worried about it too much. I did need a tall glass of ice water when we were done though. I don't think too many pioneers had access to ice so I was definitely a lucky pioneer.

We set up one area, then cleaned up and moved onto the next so there wasn't a whole lot of clean up at the end. She took a few pictures in color then switched to black and white which I really like.

Here I am setting up the washer before we got started.



This is actually my stove. It came from our first house. It was sitting in the backyard. We didn't have anywhere for it, not even a covered porch so we gave it to Barry. It has held a place of honor on his covered porch since then...but he's ready to give it up now. I just have to make a place for it and it will be coming back home with me!! The lantern was his grandfater's, the sad iron and kettle were his grandma's. I believe the cast iron pot was her's as well.





LaWanda came over with some home grown cherry tomatoes and peaches for me so I added them to the pot. lol


This wheelbarrow is one that Barry says he and his older sister used to sit in and get toted around the yard. He says it hasn't changed much since then...it was always old.



I was trying to look haggard...not sure it looks haggard but it makes me laugh!



Their side driveway has some gravel (no cement) so we chose that for pics depicting someone walking to town to seel their chicken eggs.



Ok, I also did my hair but the bonnet was on in the rest of the pics so I had to get at least one pic without it on. You can't see much of my hair in this pic but I was also trying really hard to get the look that you see on the pioneer's faces in old pictures.



This washing machine (completely hand powered) runs so smooth (except for while getting it started) that I can't believe that it's nearly 100 years old. His father fixed it up like new in the 50's. He did an amazing job. I was really getting into the rythym of it all.



Then, I got to use the wringer...it still works too.





And my last chore was to churn the butter. I read that they often sang to keep a constant beat of the paddle. So I started singing. lol...but then I was told I had to stop because I was getting really weird faces in the pics.




Then, it was over. Did I mention we had a lot of fun!? We both laughed a lot. We laughed even more when we looked through the pics and saw all my weird faces. I kept most of them out of here but there are a few.