GrannieAnnie

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GrannieAnnie has posted 31 annotations/comments since 6 January 2014.

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Second Reading

About Friday 30 October 1663

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

San Diego Sarah and Louise- Why wouldn't he just put her initial? I've read a lot of 1800s diaries, the small type the Civil War soldiers carried which had little space, and they'd often scribble, "Sent letter to B.H."
(However, when a wife of that era wrote letters to other people she would often refer to her husband more formally as Mr. ___.)

About Sunday 31 May 1663

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

"This is the second time I ever struck him."
Is Sam just keeping track of black marks in Will's Performance Record? No, I read into this that Sam is perhaps feeling some guilt, maybe even justifying to himself that he has only hit Will twice.

About Tuesday 5 May 1663

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Oh, to have had a flexible job where we could dine "at home, and after dinner up to try my dance, and so to the office again" !
And how similar were slide rulers then to the one I had to learn to use which of course is as obsolete now as I am?

About Tuesday 13 January 1662/63

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Louise Hudson: "Not a word is ever said about vegetables or fruit. Not even potatoes, just meat."

My guess is they served the meat dishes with vegetables surrounding them on the platter for a nice presentation. Sam just doesn't bother mentioning them because his wealth is shown by the amount of meat served not in the number of potatoes or carrots. He did mention they served fruit and a tart which may have been a fruit/vegetable tart. The French serve a sweet carrot tart for dessert sometimes.

About Saturday 27 December 1662

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

I've often thought of my Indiana grandfather's experience in the late 1800s. He was apprenticed to a tailor which moved him away from his small town family around age 12-14 to the "big city" of Indianapolis where he traveled and found his own lodgings. When his master heard where he was living (in the Red Light district) he was horrified and quickly moved him somewhere more socially acceptable. Similarly, my husband's Irish grandmother was set loose early by today's standards and came to America by herself around age 16 to be a nanny. Her twin sister stayed in Ireland since they only had enough money to support one. The one who came to America had only one dress, a woolen one, and landed in Philadelphia in the hot, humid summer.

As a parent I cannot imagine setting a child loose at those tender ages, but necessity drove the decisions.

Christopher David Robin Williams, my heart goes out to you and what you survived during your early years. I hope you've written it all down to share with the overly coddled complaining children of our era which does its own form of harm I do believe.

About Tuesday 28 October 1662

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

"the plasterer and painter now being upon winding up all my trouble, which I expect will now in a fortnight’s time, or a little more, be quite over."

Sam drops in some sarcasm here? The workmen say they are "winding up" the job to placate Sam which he interprets as actually meaning more than half a month later.

About Monday 13 October 1662

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

I only milked a cow once and was surprised at how much warmth came off the cow and what a slithery rich texture milk straight from the cow has compared to pastuerized milk.

Sam delighted me with his details about the milkmaids' carefree walk. He took time to paint himself (or us) a lovely word picture. Of course he was always hyper-alert to women near him so not surprising he'd document his experience.

With all his interests he never spoke of painting, did he? Yet he writes comments like a painter might to remind himself of a future subject to paint.

About Tuesday 22 April 1662

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Thank you, Sasha Clarkson for posting "Anyway, it would not be unreasonable to estimate the cost of the coach as £2 per person for the return trip - 20 day's wages for the hypothetical carpenter!"
I have often marveled at how little people traveled away from home in 1700s America, once reading that our second President John Adams' wife Abigail had never left her home town until later in life. The demands of the farming life, small children, plus the high coach fare would certainly limit travel for frivolous reasons. Not to mention the discomfort of being tossed around for days. Makes me laugh when people whine & complain "traveling by air is uncomfortable, just isn't fun anymore." Really?

About Monday 22 September 1662

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

"a great fit of colic...from wiping my toes" Our boy Sam may have had acid reflux and sliding hiatal hernia pain with which can come and go especially after bending over to dry ones toes with a full tummy. (He ate "very finely" yesterday.) Today the medical advice for sufferers is: "Wear loose clothing. Anything that presses on the stomach can aggravate hiatal hernia symptoms. When your stomach is full, avoid bending over or lying down. This increases abdominal pressure and makes heartburn more likely. Do not bend over or lie down for two to three hours after eating."

About Wednesday 27 August 1662

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Actually, Sasha, towards the end of Pepys life, Pepys moved into Will's home where he died at age 70, tended to by Will and a woman some thought would become the second Mrs. Pepys. It seems Will's and Pepys' roles switched, as often happens; the child becomes the parent's caretaker.

About Thursday 2 January 1661/62

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

"so far from the beauty that I expected her from my Lady's talk"
Sam was always craving new sights, new experiences. This disappointing lady's appearance was not worth mentioning to others and thus robbed Sam the Talker of a subject to expound upon. One has to chuckle that it put him in such "an ill humor all the day." Really Sam, grow up!

About Tuesday 31 December 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Terry Foreman mentioned an interesting point about Pepys reviewing his resolutions from time to time. Sam should have tried our method: husband and I have written resolutions FOR EACH OTHER for the coming year almost every year since our marriage 49 years ago, then with great hilarity we grade each other at year's end. Makes for an interesting re-read over the years seeing what was important back when and how certain issues (like getting rid of paper clutter and over-stuffed closets) resurface regularly, probably not an issue in Pepys day, lucky them.

About Saturday 9 November 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

It is hard to believe our clever Sam didn't know his wife should be dressed as well as himself if they plan to climb the social ladder together. Or does this show an uncaring side of him in his attitude toward her? As mentioned, he has spent plenty on his own pleasure: his music, his theater, his merry meals and drink, his beaver hat and coat yet he only mentions his wife's shabby appearance. I think he definitely doesn't view her as of equal importance as himself.

About Friday 1 November 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

The Wikipedia entry on William Penn the Younger tells how he landed in The Tower of London for 8 months and how the judge tried to dissuade (threaten) the jury which wanted to free William. A fascinating piece of history that had a positive effect on trials.

About Saturday 12 October 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Linking to BradW's comment:
American Indians may not have recognized land ownership but they quickly seemed to get used to the idea when they learned handing over land ownership could buy them sought-after items. Henricus Jacobsen Falconbre, a Danish settler, had learned the local Indian tongue. As early as 1677, he was employed by the Quaker Commissioners of West New Jersey, to act as an interpreter in negotiations with the natives. Deeds for three immense tracts grew out of these negotiations, and the Indian deed for lands in the Delran area was signed September 10, 1677, permitting the Europeans to occupy the acreage between “midstream of Rankokus Creek and midstream of Timber Creek.”

This ancient deed was signed by the Commissioners on the one hand and by the marks of Indian chieftains “Katanas, Sokappie, Enequato, Rennowighwan, and Jackickon” on the other. They were given: “Thirty blankets, 150 pounds of powder, thirty ‘gunns,’ thirty kettles, 7 anchors of brandy, 36 rings, 100 fish hooks, 1 gross of pipes, 10 spoonfuls of paint, 30 each of small bows, bells, knives, bracelets, tobacco “toungs’, flints, looking glasses, Jews harps, and awl; thirty pair of stockings, thirty pair of ‘sissurs’ and 46 fordone and Duffelds – whatever they were (N.J. Vol. B early deeds). Pepys would probably have loved dealing with such a quick and simple system of land transfer without lawyers involved.

About Wednesday 9 October 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Let's see: Half a day's work yesterday in the morning followed by entertainments (without Beth.) Today half a day's work followed by entertainments (mainly without Beth.) Idle hands are the devil's workshop, Sam! Better change your ways.

About Tuesday 3 September 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Ah, poor Mrs Pepys! When I read this it recalled how things were as a close relative slipped into Alzheimers and became "very simple" as Pepys put it. Former easy situations became difficult. I'd say, "Let's all get ready for bed now" which then became a struggle of wills just like dealing with a toddler. Her answer: "I can get ready myself" meant she'd only sit there, and since she could not remember how to take care of herself, we could not go to bed ourselves. Other times she'd seem agreeable and pleasant, but you never knew what might cause a flair-up with this formerly easy-going, capable woman. Very sad for the whole Pepys family.

About Friday 30 August 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

Agree with Louise: "pretty" would have been a snide remark, especially since Sam was feeling jealous.

It is amazing Sam would write these feelings openly unless, and I think this is his reason, he likes to reread his diary at the end of the year and perhaps learn something about himself, how his viewpoint of situations/people may have changed over the course of a year. A way of charting his own growth of understanding, if you will.

About Wednesday 28 August 1661

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

And what we wouldn't give for a Selfie of Sam! He would have loved the internet and speedy email and marveled at The Cloud. Except then he wouldn't have had as many excuses to meet his business associates in pubs to drink away the day. It amazes me to think how much time he must have spent hunting for people to accomplish his business though they had runners to do some of the leg work for them. And how slowly international business, even business in the next town, must have run.