Our weather has been very hot.....yeah that is the only way I can mention my name in the same sentence when using the word hot....lol We have had beautiful sunny days and horrendous thunder/lightening storms during the evenings and throughout the nights. Their were times my whole house lit up and the noise deafening as the storm was right over my house. My plants and flowers have a touch of root rot. I drain the pots each morning and the water pours out, the soil is saturated, not sure how much longer I can keep them looking nice let alone alive. I have to say I have been enjoying these lovely days, even the nightly electrical storms and basically have had a great week which I enjoyed tremendously.
My friend, Pat invited me to join her and her granddaughter Maddie for High Tea at Fort Edmonton. Fort Edmonton is a town within a city and will take you back to the early 1900's. All the buildings and businesses come from that era. Fort Edmonton includes homes, drugstores, hardware stores, bakers, seamstress, doctors offices, churches, post office, jail, blacksmith and shoe makers etc. All shops are the original buildings that have been restored and moved there from downtown Edmonton. Each building have refurbished furniture, stoves, pictures and carpets. It is like time has stood still. A train runs throughout the town dropping people off at their requested stops, also horses are tied outside of saloons and barber shops. The sidewalks are made of wood and the streets are dusty. There are horses pulling carriages and all the workers are dressed in clothing of that era. It is fun seeing the young ladies baking bread in old ovens using the same recipes our ancestors used. There were ladies making cheese, soaps and candles. Blacksmith's putting new shoes on horses and even the original land office had an employee there explaining how people purchased and registered their parcels of land. He was considered to have a well paid job being employed by the government. He made $1200. each year.
We began our day having High Tea at the Selkird Hotel, another original building from 1901. Our tea was served on fine porcelain dishes again from the same time period. The table cloths, napkins and even our servers dressed in the fashions of that time. To start we were each given a choice of tea, which was served in huge individual teapots. We had freshly baked scones with our choice of strawberry butter, raspberry jam or clotted cream. These scones would melt in your mouth. Then came the tiny sandwiches, again we had many choices of cucumber, egg salad, salmon, chicken salad and finally desserts. There were brownies, cakes, cookies, tarts and pies. We were told all food was prepared in the huge old fashion kitchens, and was prepared daily so that everything was fresh. One needs reservations and to my amazement the dining area was full, not an empty table available. The people there were from all over the world and it was such a pleasure not only being with dear friends but meeting families from so many different places. I absolutely loved it.
After tea we began walking about the town and visited many of the homes and businesses of that time. We didn't have time to see everything. Apparently the hotel prepares picnic baskets if you ask so that you can spend the whole day visiting each and every home, church and business of that time. You then could sit in the shade of a wonderful old oak tree by the river which runs through the town and munch on all the goodies in your picnic basket for lunch. It would take at least a full day to see all the sites, read all the plaques and listen to each period dressed host/hostess explaining the history of where you were. The men wore bowlers or top hats depending where they worked, their shirts and collars were sparkling white and heavily starched. The women wore bonets, large aprons and long dresses or skirts. Even their hairdo's suited the time, for example the Gibson look for women and hair parted in the middle for men. It was not uncommon to see the men in the stables, blacksmiths or carpentars wearing denim and cowboy hats. In fact Fort Edmonton has been used to shoot several movies.
Needless to say being a history buff I was like a sponge soaking in all the stories and history of a time long ago. I am still convinced I was a chamber maid in England in a former life.....lol
I took many pictures but am unable to upload them to my post. I would of loved sharing with you what I was fortunate enough to experience but alas I am still fumbling around with blogger who has yet to co-operate fully with me. I will say I am understanding all the new additions a bit better and feel it won't be long before I will make my way around this new set up as I did the tried and true blogger I knew so well. I hope my next week's post will include pictures.
I also enjoyed a BBQ with my neighbours, saw the movie It's Complicated and had lunch and went shopping with an old friend one afternoon. All in all a good week.
Wishing you all a great week and may August be your best month ever. (Did I say August....oh my where has the time gone) Sending you all big hugs and much love............God Bless......:-)
