getting ready for the ghostly west.

I have been absorbing myself with all of the information possible to retain about the gold rush/ wild west. At the same time I have been reading "to hell on a fast horse" about billy the kid, "tales of the tombstone" which is a collection of stories from the west, watching movies like crazy and opening my ears more often for the history that lays beneath all of this trash in san francisco. the book that i have been spending the most time with is "Madeline" it's an autobiography, which i love , nothing is better than a first hand account, and i feel like i know her. not like reading other books about prostitutes, she tells stories about her time in the "houses" and her experiences with other girls. She didn't drink, and she was highly intelligent for her class, age and time.

When I am done with this book, I feel I will go over page repeatedly until they are disintegrated.
This is not Madeline on the cover, another reason why I am so intrigued, I haven't put much effort into finding out if this is true, but from what I know she is the only person with accounts of herself. Why everyone should at one time sit down and write about their life. Because one day some years from now, when someone is trying to tell history in one way, they'll have your account to prove them wrong.
Rosa May. Beautiful prostitute of Virginia City, who later moved onto Bodie, Ca ( a ghost town i have yet to see, when brian and i went high in the sierra's just to see Bodie, the roads were closed due to excessive snow fall, hug bummer)

She was a good person and took care of the men she visited in more than one day, she helped to heal sick and gave money to the poor. but she was hated by every woman in the city of Bodie where she settled. I am reading a book written about This guy trying to find more out about her, it's written in the 70's so the guy says "whore" all the time, which is highly inappropriate and other types of language that we would steer clear from publishing now a days. Not to mention he reflects his stories back to himself , he's not a very good writer (at all) He mis-spelled Hawthorne writing "Hawthorme" which i can see the mistake, but c'mon buddy.

This is also harder to read after reading "Madeline" because this guy is trying to paint a picture of what it would look like and it seemed like he had just been watching a shit ton of Bonanza. (funny, because rosa may lived on a street named Bonanza)

speaking of Bonanza, Miss Lotta Cabtree was portrayed in the pilot episode. She was a young girl when she started on the stage in San Francisco , she entertained the miners that needed to be reminded of their children, as she sang and danced she made the miners cry for home. by the time she was 12 Lola Montez ( famous west singer) had found her and saw talent right away. She asked Lotta's mother if she could take her to europe , since at this time they had been in Grass Valley for a couple of years . She refused and saw potential back in San Francisco where acts were everywhere like crazy, but child actors were the ticket to fame and fortune. Because (sadly) when a man sees another woman, he hardly thinks of his wife, but when he sees a child, his children soon come to mind.

Lotta donate a drinking fountain for the horses of San Francisco, which is now at the intersection of Kearny and Market. I think i had lunch there one day, without knowing. I will go back and take some pictures for next time.
This is me getting ready for the west with my gunne sax dress, bonnet, wicker handbag, compass and whiskey
The bonnet on the left is a historical piece, not sure how old but too old for me to wear everyday, i tried getting pictures of the stitching where you can see that it is all hand done, but i couldn't get a good photo. the one of the right is one that i made based on my theory of how the other one was made.

wicker basket for he trip

brian took pictures as i got a personalized no slow jams box ready for a customer

add a note and a little gift

get it in there all pretty like

this one is little plain due to my not having anymore spray paint

Dry erase markers rule.

my cat can be the most annoying creature in the world, but i do lover her so much.

I can leave you with my favorite way to cook brussels sprouts. they have a bad reputation and i'd like to clear it fro them. and no i'm not some weirdo vegan / vegetarian freak. i just really like brussels sprouts

3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil

salt

pepper

1/5 onion

some brussels sprouts

in a small pan start with heating up the vegetable oil while you cut the onion, which i have a special way of doing that prevents crying... below

sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper in the oil and then let the onion saute for about 2 minuets, cook on medium

while that sautes you can cut the brussels sprouts in half lengthwise so when you put them in you make sure to put the flat side down in the pan

let them saute for a bit, you might need to add some more vegetable oil if it seems like the pan is drying out, because you really want that cripsy-ness

next you just keep flipping, stirring and having fun .

should take about 6-10 minuets to cook. no time at all to prepare.

sounds like artists food to me.

******if you cut the onion in half from top to bottom, then take one of the halves after peeling the outer layer and cut off the top, i should have taken pictures and i probably will do this again, but if you cut length-wise so your not cutting anything off, just making slices that stay attached to the bottom root, then slice again in layers from the point where you cut the other half of the onion, to the other side******

that was hard.