A Primitive Place
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Primitive & Colonial Inspired Homes
I have been the Keeper of our Home since marrying my high school sweetheart in 1975. I grew up learning those home-
making skills from the best ~ my mom. She did it all including making the best meals and desserts, to making our dresses and winter coats, to canning and preserving her home grown produce and making jams and jellies, to curtain making and upholstery. She even punched copper panels much like we see done to tin now and she bought old pieces of furniture to refinish and distress. When she wanted something, she learned how to make or fix it or redo it. She was the original DIY gal and she instilled
in me a love for all things domestic and for being creative.
Primitive Musings by Linda Rudman
Winter in New England
This page was last updated: January 7, 2010
Greetings Prim Friends! My name is Linda Rudman and I am the Contributing Prim Writer here at A Primitive Place. Each month
I hope to entertain you with my Primitive Musings.
Linda Rudman
Contributing Prim Writer
A Primitive Place
Along the way, I defined my style while reading about life in Early America and visiting historic communities such as Old Sturbridge Village, MA; Historic Williamsburg, VA; Old Salem, NC; Strawberry Banks, NH and many more. Many of the things I collect and decorate with are colonial inspired or are actual items from the past ~ antiques even! Like my mom,
I love creating things with my own two hands and learning DIY skills. When I wanted samplers for my home, I learned how to cross-stitch.When I want a picture hung, I get out my own tools. When I want a room painted, I get out my brushes and get on the ladder. In addition to those skills, I enjoy cooking, gardening, needle punch, wool appliqué and penny rugs, taking road trips with my dear hubby, and my newest love is babysitting for our delightful new granddaughter Liliana.
I love living in New England with its very distinctive four seasons. Decorating for the holidays and changing seasons is a way for me to change up the décor and add warmth to our home. I especially love making our home a comfortable and welcoming place for entertaining family and friends. And even though I LOVE autumn in New England more than any other time of the year, I always strive to find the best in each season, whether it be the changing landscape, seasonal foods, traditions or décor and even the weather!
I will share some of that with you each and every month here in Primitive Musings.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Until next time,
Prim hugs, Linda
Linda Rudman
Contributing Prim Writer
A Primitive Place
Winter in New England
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Submitted by Behind My Red Door 2010
Warm Winter Greetings and a Very Happy New Year!! Don’t you love a New Year? It is a chance to start fresh, renew, review and redo! I don’t make resolutions, instead I like to look back at what was good about the previous year and then look forward to the possibilities ahead. And living here in New England, that is often done inside while the cold north winds blow outside. Now for those who live in the warmer regions, I should explain that not every day is miserable with cold and snow. In fact, quite often, the sun shines and it is glorious to be outside – if you are dressed properly. Yes, we do need a few more layers, and maybe a few more items like mittens, or gloves and hats and sometime boots and a scarf in addition to the heavy coat, thick soaks and layers underneath too, but with proper attire, winter can be quite pleasant! A walk outside after a snowfall can be one of the prettiest walks you will ever take. Every surface is covered with white and when the sun shines, it looks like millions of little diamonds sparkling in the snow. Sure you might need to shovel that path to walk, or don snow shoes to navigate the snow, but it’s all good exercise and it burns off some of the calories we all consumer during the holidays. See, there is always a bright side!
Submitted by Behind My Red Door 2010
In all seriousness, snow can be quite fun if you don’t have to drive in it. Growing up, my siblings and I couldn’t wait to get into our snow suits and head outside to slide down the hill, build snowmen and the best part – carve out a fortress in the deep snow banks left by the plow at the end of the driveway. We could spend hours making tunnels in the crusty snow and little rooms to hide in.
I grew up on a short dead street that was also a hill so sledding was a common occurrence. We would race down the hill to see whose sled was the fastest. Some of the older boys in the neighborhood would build jumps out of the snow and actually become airborne. If the snow on the street melted too much, we would simply grab our toboggans and flying saucers and use the hill on the side of our yard. And we lived just minutes from a huge hill that lead to the Worcester Airport, and it was perfect for sledding and even skiing. In fact Worcester is known as the city of seven hill so there was no shortage of great spots for my brothers and I to learn to ski. There was no lifts on some of those hill to get us back up to the top, but that didn’t stop us. We could spend the whole day outside in the snow, stopping only long enough to exchange our wet mittens and socks for dry warm ones. The back entrance to my childhood home had a small hallway and the dryer was located there as well as the wall hooks and shelves where we stored all our outside gear. We just stepped inside and the dryer running was running all day with to keep up with our wet wool mittens and socks and scarves. It was a pretty good system and one I emulated here when our kids were younger. After a day outside in the snow, my mom always warmed us up with a cup of hot cocoa, a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on the side. I know that the same meal was being served in the other houses on our street and that was a tradition I continued with our kids as well.
I kept mini white marshmallows on hand all winter so we always had them to add to our cocoa. I also made up little baggies of the marshmallows and added a tag with a snowman graphic (pictured right) and this little poem:
Snowflakes from heaven as white as can be, can build a snowman for all to see.
He's cute and cuddly and full of good wishes, and wants to give you a bunch of kisses!
Feel free to right-click and save graphic
down to your computer
Skating is another favorite winter activity in New England. My hometown of Worcester is also the home of Elm Park, one of the oldest public parks in the country. Elm Park has 3 ponds and because the water is relatively shallow, it freezes fairly early and thicker and thus is considered safer and perfect for skating. It was there that my siblings and I indeed learned to skate. In our neighborhood now, a neighbor has a pond and our kids were fortunate to be able to skate there. When the ice was deemed safe enough, the neighbor let us know and the kids were all welcome to join him and his grandchildren in an afternoon of skating and winter fun!
Submitted by Behind My Red Door 2010
Submitted by Behind My Red Door 2010
And what would winter be without Maple Syrup on snow – also called Sugar on Snow! You need impeccably clean snow and real maple syrup which has been heated to about 225 degrees. It is then poured on firmly packed snow. It results in a chewy sticky candy like confection. Some New Englanders eat it with a pickle or a salty cracker to offset the sweetness. We just enjoyed it straight up!
When I was still working at a preschool, each day that the wind chill was not too low, we got all the kiddos bundled up for some outside fun. I enjoyed getting on my boots and mittens right along with them and especially enjoyed helping them build snowmen or make snow angels in the snow. There is something about breathing the clean winter air that is so refreshing!
Now that I am older, my winter activities lean considerably to the inside domestic type. I don’t mind a stroll around the neighborhood after a snow fall or helping my dear hubby by clearing the snow from the front steps and sidewalk but long gone are my days of braving the snow and cold for hours at a time. I enjoy staying in and keeping warm with a hot cup of tea, a good book or some stitching – when I am not browsing the Internet for prim inspiration or playing with my sweet granddaughter that is!
I really enjoy that after all the “busy – ness” of the holidays, January and winter give me permission to slow down and just enjoy being home. And that’s a good thing!
Until next month, warm hugs, Linda
