On Wednesdays, I try to share passages from the 1866 diary of my third great-aunt, Mary Jane Edwards, whose journal has inspired my first novel:

“Tuesday, May 8, 1866

This morning we undertook washing and during the day we succeeded in gathering the clothes into the rinse.  As it was rainy we did not put them out.  Sarah Amanda Gard came in while we were at dinner to see us, she said, but I rather suspect she was almost as much interested in seeing Nathaniel Parker.  It rained so the boys could not continue at work. Milton’s lameness from the kick of a horse last fall still prevents him from being able to work much, [so] he has rented out his share of ground to a man named Kern. He finds a team for him.”

-Mary Jane Edwards

***

Life sure hasn’t seemed to change much in 160 years, except for the details.

The extensive rain this week has impacted my daily life, if not exactly in the same way it did Mary Jane’s. I didn’t have to hold my laundry in the rinse until the weather cleared on Monday – thank goodness!

But the rain has kept me from planting my potager and row gardens. I have winter sowing plants still in their jugs and radish and carrot seeds and onion sets that should’ve been planted weeks ago. I’m itching to get them in the ground!   

And Sarah Amanda Gards – more interested in their own agendas than in the “friends” they claim to come visit – still turn up from time to time. I received a sympathy card last week from someone I don’t know, inviting me for coffee. Highly suspicious!

On top of that, as with Milton’s injury, my situation has caused me to seek others to help me do the jobs I cannot. I’m grateful for the help of the friends and family, attorneys and financial planners, mowers and movers that are helping to keep my world on track.

Life is life, no matter what the era!