Skies over the schoolhouse
Back to Work (Part Two)
Our return to the Barberville Pioneer Settlement for the Arts was a little more rushed than we hoped but we came back ready to continue on our Workamping journey. If you are new to the blog, you can learn about how we came to be here and what it means to be a Workamper at our previous post we did last year. We enjoyed ourselves so much last year that we decided to return for an encore.
We actually came back a month before our contract started so that I could continue my research into Lucretia Byrd Underhill and the Underhill Family. Since I had gathered so much information over the summer I met with several members of the Underhill family to give them the data I had gathered and to hear the family stories that I would include into my performances. It was a gift to sit around Frank Underhill’s dining table with all of his cousins and share the stories of their ancestors. With the added tales I was able to put together a wonderful set of stories that I will be sharing at the Settlement on Second Saturdays and for special events.
When I called our bosses to ask if we could return early (our contract is from October to April), they asked when we could start doing programs, so we jumped right in and the first week we were back in September we were presenting Florida history to students that come from as far away as Jacksonville and Orlando. We settled into the programs quickly with only minor refreshers of our notes from last year.
Before we got to absorbed into the work we did get one trip down to Disney. Our yearly passes we bought last year were still good so we wanted to really get our money’s worth by going back several times before they ran out. This time we spent a day at the Animal Kingdom.
Though it may seem at times that life on the road is one great big adventure, and most of the time we have some awesome experiences, but life continues and just as it was when we lived in a sticks and bricks house we have times of great sadness. Just three weeks after our last visit with my mom, Nancy, she passed away. It was a blessing that she was no longer in pain and as I said then she was now up there dancing with Fred Astaire. She didn’t want a big funeral but instead wanted us to have a party and celebrate the amazing life she had led, so in October our families and friends came together and had a beach party on Pensacola Beach, her most favorite place on Earth. It is really hard to believe she is gone but I know she is in a better place.
After our trip to the Panhandle we got back to work getting ready for our Fall Jamboree at the Settlement then we took a day to go check our our competition, the Cracker camp in the Silver Springs State Park at their Ocali Days. Many of the same demonstrators that we have at our event set up there as well.
Oh, and the company where many of the demonstrators here at the Settlement buy our dresses, Recollections.biz, had a photos contest before Halloween … best Halloween photo while wearing their dresses …. and we WON $250 in merchandise!!
Jonathan coming for the witches Su, Joanna, and Rhonda!
Well, that about gets you caught up on where we are now. We are looking forward to our Friendsgiving that we will be having here with our fellow Workampers and to the fun Christmas Traditions programs we do in December.
We hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family enjoying time together and eating all that wonderful food!
Till next time