Brad and Mark brought up Little House on the Prairie and my deep love of it for the rest of my life as a child.
Oh, how I loved that show! And the books! And the books about the show! I loved everything about it – the clothes, the lanterns, the churning of butter and such. (Have you read Farmer Boy? You will never read better descriptions of food. ever.) I blame Garth Williams and his crazy addictive drawings. The drawings, words (and the t.v. show) whisked me away to a rich, rich inner world of imagination.
During my kindergarten/first grade years I had a long dress with flowers and lace ribbons that I wanted to wear every moment of every day, and also as a nightgown. Where is that dress? I should have it made into a pillow.
I have a hazy memory of going to some magical place with my family one summer (Silver Dollar City?) and buying a bonnet. Are you hearing me, people? A genuine bonnet! I also believe that this is where one of my two lanterns was purchased. Y’know, I don’t know what the deal was with my parents, but I was never allowed to put fuel in those. I think they started my pyromania by not allowing me to set things on fire as a child. That makes sense, right?
Oh, to be a child again and long to live in a wood cabin – the mind of youth blissfully unaware that there is no way that cabin is air-conditioned. *sigh*