Fake It 'Till You Make It...

[Vort]

13 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I take it that was from the books.  In the show, he was called "Manny."

Maybe. It's something my wife told me. Maybe she remembered it from the books and I didn't. That's entirely possible. It may also be that she picked that tidbit up from another source somewhere along the way. The TV series started when I was eleven, a year or two after my fourth-grade teacher read the books to us. I didn't really watch the show very much. I did on occasion, and it was fine, but even as a child, I liked the books better.

[Vort]

1 hour ago, Jamie123 said:

I take it you're talking about the real Ingalls family, not the people in the show. I remember Mary in the show did marry, but I can't remember whether she ever had children.

Mary Ingalls in real life never married, though she did have a suitor who proposed to her. I think that we do not spend much time pondering how difficult life was for even our recent ancestors. We live with a level of privilege and comfort that I doubt any preceding generation could even have imagined, much less believed.

Here is a photograph of Mary Ingalls, certainly a beautiful young woman.

Here is the equally beautiful Laura, everyone's favorite 19th-century American frontier girl.

Here is Carrie, the third daughter and baby in the TV series.

Here is Grace, the youngest and least healthy of the sisters (and the first to die).

Certainly a lovely family of beautiful daughters. I assume their brother Freddy was never photographed. And finally, here is a colorized photograph of Charles and Caroline (Pa and Ma) Ingalls. One can see why the family was especially proud of Pa's beard.

Well, okay, not finally. Let's do one more, a family portrait with Pa, Ma, and all four daughters.

[Jamie123]

3 hours ago, Vort said:

We live with a level of privilege and comfort that I doubt any preceding generation could even have imagined, much less believed.

It's funny how we've got all the way from Elizabeth Holmes to Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I'm not complaining The only book I've read* is Little House on the Prairie (which I believe is actually book 2) but aside from that I only know the show.

Speaking of the book, I love the chapter about their first Christmas in their new home, when Mr. Edwards walked 40 miles across the prairie to get the girls' presents, and then swam the flooded river to be with them on Christmas day. And Charles was cross with him for taking the risk, but Edwards said there was no way he could disappoint the children. (I sometimes used to read that chapter to my wife at Christmas.) I even remember what the presents were: Laura and Mary each got one tin cup, one candy cane, one small cake and one penny. (Admittedly a penny was worth a lot more then than now, but it still wasn't exactly a fortune.) And they were ecstatic about it!

* I don't mean that quite literally. I have read other books, including the Bible andThe Cat in the Hat, but not books by LIW.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Jamie123

[Jamie123]

On 10/5/2023 at 8:28 PM, Vort said:

Those with political motivations will happily overlook her pure criminality so that they can tout their bottom line. Such is life in this fallen sphere.

I think this is the word you're looking for: 

 

[Vort]

nough-tay!

[Vort]

On 10/10/2023 at 2:57 PM, Jamie123 said:

It's funny how we've got all the way from Elizabeth Holmes to Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I'm not complaining The only book I've read* is Little House on the Prairie (which I believe is actually book 2) but aside from that I only know the show.

FWIW, every book is a treasure. I'm not exaggerating when I say that, in its own way, Ingall Wilder's writing is as compelling, engaging, and thoughtful as Austen. I would recommend the entire series to you, despite its label as "juvenile literature" (probably "young adult" is what they call it now). In my opinion, it's as classic for American literature as anything, including Clemens or Melville (though obviously aiming at a different target demographic and a different kind of reading experience). I may be biased by my enjoyment of the family aspect of her writing, how much she obviously loves and cares about those closest to her.

[Jamie123]

3 minutes ago, Vort said:

In my opinion, it's as classic for American literature as anything

You'll probably disagree, but one of my favourite American classics is The Catcher in the Rye. I always remember the scene where he's flunked the history exam, and instead of attempting to answer any of the questions, he's written a letter to the teacher saying that he (the teacher) shouldn't feel bad, because it isn't his fault that he (Caulfield) is useless at history. Having read it, the teacher gives Caulfield a long stern lecture about how he needs to "pull his socks up" and "stop slacking" etc, but it doesn't exactly help. This is me quoting from memory:

Quote

"I pretended to listen to him, but I wasn't really listening. I was thinking about what happened to the ducks in the duck pond in winter, when the water froze over. Did someone come along in a van and take them away until spring came?"

That could have been me as a kid at school!

[Vort]

On 10/8/2023 at 6:45 PM, Carborendum said:

made a pact to swear off boos and women

Yeah, booing women is just mean.

Boos and booze. That's a good one. Now added to my list.

[Vort]

1 minute ago, Jamie123 said:

You'll probably disagree, but one of my favourite American classics is The Catcher in the Rye. I always remember the scene where he's flunked the history exam, and instead of attempting to answer any of the questions, he's written a letter to the teacher saying that he (the teacher) shouldn't feel bad, because it isn't his fault that he (Caulfield) is useless at history. Having read it, the teacher gives Caulfield a long stern lecture about how he needs to "pull his socks up" and "stop slacking" etc, but it doesn't exactly help. This is me quoting from memory:

That could have been me as a kid at school!

For our anniversary maybe eleven years ago, my wife took us to a little town on the Olympic Peninsula called Sequim (I'll bet you $10 you don't pronounce that right—no cheating!) to spend the night in an old railway car converted into a hotel room. As part of our agreement, we left cell phones and laptops at home. Walking to the train car, we passed a small pond with ducks floating on it, and my wife casually said, "I wonder where ducks sleep at night?" I spent the rest of our anniversary trip wondering where ducks slept. When we got home, the first thing I did was go to the computer and Google "Where do ducks sleep?"

Here's a stickman comic I made for the occasion (after we got back, of course) (and I gave the correct pronunciation for non-local family and friends):

 

[Jamie123]

2 minutes ago, Vort said:

For our anniversary maybe eleven years ago, my wife took us to a little town on the Olympic Peninsula called Sequim (I'll bet you $10 you don't pronounce that right—no cheating!) to spend the night in an old railway car converted into a hotel room. As part of our agreement, we left cell phones and laptops at home. Walking to the train car, we passed a small pond with ducks floating on it, and my wife casually said, "I wonder where ducks sleep at night?" I spent the rest of our anniversary trip wondering where ducks slept. When we got home, the first thing I did was go to the computer and Google "Where do ducks sleep?"

Here's a stickman comic I made for the occasion (after we got back, of course) (and I gave the correct pronunciation for non-local family and friends):

 

And where do they sleep?

[Carborendum]

40 minutes ago, Vort said:

Yeah, booing women is just mean.

Boos and booze. That's a good one. Now added to my list.

Dang autocorrect!