Monday Again...and Rambling

Vacation is speeding by.  "Stop," I say. "Stop". I'm trying to slow it down, but I can't catch it.

Summer is wonderful and busy with (needed) home projects and family celebrations. Sometimes I get weary. I did get to go on my yearly trek to Mansfield, MO and (re)visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder homes and museum. My daughter and I try to do this every year.

Can you tell we like Laura? We also like Rose Wilder, her daughter-- very interesting woman.

We took our kids to this home site years ago. I was hooked. My daughter is hooked, too. However, I don't have enough money to lure my son back there. :)  

I told Dr. Daughter that I started reading Laura's books in 4th grade. I didn't live in Missouri at the time, but Illinois. At one point, I decided I would write Laura a letter and tell her I was reading her books and that I loved them. Then someone told me (I think a teacher) that Laura was deceased. I was crushed.

License plates (other than Missouri) that were at the homestead while we were there: Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Arkansas. Other Laura book lovers, too!

I'm loving my new writing project of scary short stories, except at night, when I shouldn't be writing them. I start imagining all kinds of things happening and noises. Then I can't sleep.

Have you ever been to any of the Wilder homesteads? Who is your favorite childhood writer?

Comments

That's cool you and your daughter visit every single year. Something special just for the two of you.
I don't remember authors from when I was real little, but I did read everything by Terry Brooks and C.S. Lewis I could find.
JoJo said…
I haven't been but i would LOVE to go. The closest i got was taking a pic of the 'DeSmet/Wilder Home' exit off I-90 in South Dakota. We were racing to get back here and just didn't have time to stop and see everything on the drive. The only place I insisted we stop was Wall Drug b/c that was literally right off 90. I would LOVE to see Laura's homes. Oh I did see where Rose lived in San Francisco though. I started watching the TV show when it came out and I was just about 10, and I got the books for my birthday that year. Love them. did you ever read 'the Ghost in the Little House'? About how Rose really ghost wrote the books? There are pics of Laura's handwritten stories and Rose's revisions.
shelly said…
I scare myself, too, when I write scary things.

Hugs and chocolate,
Shelly
Pat Hatt said…
Bah the cat is too crazy to get scared haha and cool you go every year
Arlee Bird said…
I enjoy visiting historical sites. Never been to any Wilder's homesteads, but I'm sure it would be interesting.

As a kid I read all of the Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books. Despite a single author's name appearing on these books, I've heard they were really written by a number of different anonymous authors. I don't know for sure who wrote them, but those were my favorite book series.

Lee
Wrote By Rote
Jemi Fraser said…
I'd love to go to PEI one day to visit Green Gables - Anne was my favourite childhood story :)
cleemckenzie said…
I made it Jan Austin's home. It was so interesting to see where she wrote her stories. Small desk, no computer in sight.

I'd love to visit the Wilder's homesteads
Carol Kilgore said…
The only author's home I've ever visited was Ernest Hemingway's in Key West. I don't know who the author was, but I loved the Trixie Belden books.
Cheryl @ TFD said…
I'm already wanting to go back to Mansfield! What is it about that place? I feel right at home in Laura's house. I know my daughter would love it, too, so I will try to get her to go with me next time. Hubby loved it, but he won't be as anxious for a repeat visit as I am!
nutschell said…
I'd love to visit a famous author's home!
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Lynn Proctor said…
oh she is one of my favorites and my daughter robyn loves the book series and the tv show, almost as much as she loves the waltons---she has met earl hamner and even had her picture taken with him in his childhood home----:)
Hart Johnson said…
I loved those books (and the show) as a kid. Did you know my dad's mom's family lived in the same county in South Dakota at the same time as one Charles Ingalls? We have a map of the homesteads and there he is... His Little House on the Prairie...
Martina Boone said…
Short scary stories sounds like the perfect summer project! Enjoy the vacation as long as you can and make the most of it! :)
Hi Teresa .. I remember your travels to the Wilder home with your daughter ..

I don't think I've been to a writer's home - but now since blogging I do look at places differently ..

Your scary tales will be great to read - let's hope the daylight lasts! Then we get to read them too .. cheers Hilary
Gina Gao said…
I've actually never been to an author's home before.

www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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