Category Archive: history

2015
04/10

Category:
history
Life

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Pompeii

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Today’s activity was to visit the Pompeii display downtown Seattle.IMG_1890

Pompeii was an ancient Italian city of 25,000,near Naples and  the sea, which was destroyed when Mt Vesuvius, a volcano, erupted in AD 79,  killing 20oo people and burying the city.   I was  intrigued by the “moderness” that was depicted.   I think of the first century as very poor and villages like we often see in Bible pictures.   Pompeii was not that  way.   In fact, in many ways, it looked like it just walked out of the last century.  It was the seaport where the wealthy went to live and relax.

IMG_1893 Because the city was a mix of Roman and Greece cultures and architectures, they often had gods from both in their homes.   These gods were given daily sacrifices mostly of food.   This is a Mediterranean area and the people still eat the same as they did…many fruits and vegetables and some meats.    Pompeii was known for its fish sauce.IMG_1927 The courtyards were large and livable.   They often would pull their couches out there in the evening and enjoy the cool air.   This basin was set to catch rainwater and pipe it underground.   They had extensive water systems to meet their needs.

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Because money was not an issue, their walls were decorated with frescos and boards like this

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Each little tile in this is about the size of the end of my pinkie.

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Marble was an easily acquired item, so was used extensively for floors, walls, and tabletops.

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The town square was actually a long rectangle with stores, a gym, medical places and any other necessary buildings.   It was also a meeting place and city business was conducted there.    The “gym” was much like ours with men and women’s dressing areas, exercise area, swimming pool, saunas, massages, baths, and a cooling bath with which to end.     They were a bit different because slaves bathed them and gave them massages.

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Doesn’t this look like an ordinary kid today?   This is a bust of Gaius Caesar at the age of 10.

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Gladiators provided entertainment and this is one of the preserved hats.

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I enjoyed these clay pots and bowls because we still use these types of things.

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As for medicine, I’m not sure we have advanced a whole lot.   Here we have a tweezers, scales, and a square.

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When the mountain of fire and ashes descended on the city, the bodies were “frozen in time”.    So when uncovered, plaster could be poured into the molds made by the lava and ash and used to recreate these bodies.   They are so complete that one can tell the type of shoes they wore.  Pliny was a survivor and 18 years old at the time.  He watched from a distance what happened and later wrote his memories of that time.    Pliny – I have added a link for you to read.   Just double-click on red.

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And I guess because we have the volcanic mountains within 50 miles of us, the curators didn’t want us to get to complacent, so they added this poster and had a display of emergency supplies and a back pack.   However, the emergencies supplies would be handy no matter what the emergency – even a hurricane or fire.

2014
06/11

Category:
farming
history
Life

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Turn of the 20th century

P1010747 outback or hotel

Today was a genealogy/history field trip.   We went to Darrington, WA (state) where my grandparents farmed starting in 1925,   This is the view from the back door of the room I stayed in

P1010750 front of hotel

And this is from the front of the building.    The scenery is stunningly gorgeous and beautiful still as few people live in the area.   It is nestled in the Cascades and for that reason gets more than its share of rain and cool weather.

P1010756 valley

We were able to visit the fields that my grandparents farmed as well as we were invited into the house that sits there now.   It is 4 times the size of the original house, which they remodeled as they added onto it.   There are people still living in the area today whose parents were friends of my relatives and their names were know.   I think it helped to have my 90 year old second cousin along as she was raised there and she remembered the names and who lived where.   It was all very interesting.

 The farmer who lives there today purchased not only my  grandfather’s farm, but grandpa’s brother’s farm as well and now has 700 acres which they farm as a family.   Both his 25 year old daughter and his 27  old son and their partners share in the farming.   They raise hay and 250 head of beef cattle.   It is such a pleasure to see young people still interested in saving the farms.

The small town is a destination place – not a place on the way to somewhere else.   And the economy has been hard on it.   We found the one small motet, a couple small coffee kiosks, but no place to eat.  Oh, and a small IGA grocery store.    I wonder how much longer it will stay small with the beautiful landscape it has

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We visited this beautiful area nearby where the park service has moved this house.

 P1010754 originial 1800 house

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And here is a canoe alongside the house so you can see the mode of travel on the river.

P1010757 white horse mt in back

I will leave you with another photo of the area and be back with a different trip tomorrow.