Happy Birthday, Laura...

Today is Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday. 

Laura Ingalls (not yet Wilder) in 1884

I have read and re-read the "Little House" books so many times, I've lost count. I have made Laura's Gingerbread Recipe on numerous occasions. I've always wanted to try grinding wheat in a coffee grinder from which to make coarse brown bread, so that I could better understand the privations of The Long Winter.

As a child, I wore a sunbonnet and played "Little House" in a playhouse my father built for me. The playhouse seemed large to my child's eyes, but I realize now that it was probably no bigger than a typical prairie claim shanty.

From Laura's books, I learned so much about what things were like in another time and place. And yet, I also learned that some things, like the love of family, are timeless. 

I think Laura explained it best:

"But the real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong." --Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

For the countless hours of reading joy and lessons learned, I thank you, Laura. 

A Few of Miss CherryBubbles’ Favorite Autumn Things...

Fall is my favorite season of the year and I observe many annual autumn traditions of my own making. One tradition involves reading books and watching movies with an autumnal backdrop or theme. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you...


Nothing says autumn like the biggest college football game of the year. Now, I'm certainly not the biggest football fan around, but I am a Nancy Drew fan. So, what do football and Nancy Drew have in common? They both appear in the 1932 fall-themed Nancy's Mysterious Letter by Carolyn Keene, the 8th book in the Nancy Drew series. Nancy solves a mystery revolving around an unusual letter she receives at the beginning of the book, but most of the action takes place at Emerson College, where Nancy cheers on her special friend, Ned Nickerson, in the big game.

"Indian Summer is like a woman."  So begins Peyton Place by Grace Metalious, published in 1956 and quite controversial in its time, for revealing those things about small towns that one wasn't supposed to reveal. Sometimes I read the book... sometimes I watch the film version, starring Lana Turner. Sometimes I even read Return to Peyton Place.

The gorgeous fall foliage of northern Vermont provides the perfect backdrop for my most favorite autumn film, The Trouble With Harry. I simply can't imagine the movie taking place in spring or summer. It just wouldn't be the same. Although I have read the book it was based on, nothing, in my opinion, surpasses Alfred Hitchcock's film version.

What are your favorite autumn traditions?