This week's Wednesday's Woman is my Grandma

Daphine Jenkins

My Grandma was a super woman!! She always had food ready to cook and a story to tell! I was her favorite grandchild, and the oldest of her biological grandchildren. I'm pretty sure all 20 something of us grandchildren thought we were her favorite. She would often announce that she was the only hell raiser in her house. She was always happy, always! There was a plaque on her kitchen wall that said 'No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like my kitchen best.' It was true!! She had a long picnic style table in her kitchen and it was always full of people. In the Summer there were watermelons out under the big oak tree, where people would gather to slice and slurp their way through the pile that a family member left for us all to enjoy, and when you left you took at least one with you. There were afternoons sitting under that same tree shelling field peas. When we were visiting my favorite was early mornings and the smell of bacon and eggs cooking and you knew there was also a big pot of buttery grits and fresh biscuits made from her biscuit bowl to go with the rest. Every meal was a feast, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, biscuits, field peas, collard greens, pork chops, squirrel, venison, corn, string beans, butter beans. I am hungry just thinking about it! Even though her kitchen was always full of people there was one place that we all loved to gather and visit--the front porch swing. 

 My beautiful cousin posted this picture of our grandma's porch swing! This porch swing is such an important part of my childhood, really my life. There have been more than one actual porch swing hung in this exact spot, one of those had hung in my family's front yard. My daddy moved that porch swing to Grandma's when we moved. My grandpa was sitting in this swing when my second was just a few months old and screaming, he told me to 'give that baby some ninny, that's what they are for don't worry about what anybody thinks about it'. I've shelled peas in this porch swing, played with cousins, watched my uncles shoot cans off a log, waited for relatives to turn onto the long driveway, and looked for my grandparents sitting on the swing as my family pulled up the drive. There have been life lessons taught here, love shared, stresses forgotten, and tears shed. The most important things that have happened on this swing are the memories made and shared! One day I will have my own porch swing and I can only hope that my family and friends will feel the same way about mine

                                                                               

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Curious Roots is at it again

Sometimes in life we are thrown a curve ball. Curious Roots has had its share. The last few weeks has been a whirlwind of distractions, but we are back in the saddle and going as strong as ever!

February 2 and 3 is the OKC Flea Market and we are running at hyper speed this week to make sure we have everything you need to put together a special gift bag for your valentine.  There will be some fun things added to our product line exclusively for Valentine's Day, special gift tags for our already awesome gift bags, new bath bomb scents, and maybe a few surprises. We are getting geared up and will be ready to work double time this weekend to make sure your Valentine feels extra special.

Don't forget we, here at Curious Roots, believe that everyday should be Valentine's Day! Pamper that special love of your life EVERY day of the year!!

See you this weekend at the Flea Market!!

Wednesday Woman: Anna Pavlova

Anna Pavlov

Russian Ballerina

1881-1931

Anna sees the ballet performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the age of 8 and knows immediately she wants to learn ballet.

Anna enrolled at the Imperieal Ballet School at the age of 10. During this time period ballerinas tended to be small and compact, but Anna was had long limbs. The other kids at the ballet school made fun of her because of her body shape.

Anna danced the lead solo in The Dying Swan at the age of 24. Her technique and long limbs were a perfect match to tell the story on the dying swan. The audience was completely captivated.

When Anna was 30 years old she set up her own dance company. Her ballet was one of the first to tour around the world. Anna was able to bring ballet audiences that had never had the opportunity to see it. She was an inspiration to children all over the world to try ballet and become a ballerina just as she had done as a young girl.

Wednesday Woman: Frida Kahlo--Mexican Painter

Frida Kahlo

Mexican Painter

Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 at the age of 6 she contracted the polio virus and was bedridden for 9 months. The virus damaged her right leg leaving her with a limp when she walked.

Frida wanted to be a doctor, at the age of 15 she enrolled in the elite National Preparatory School for the study of Science. She was one of 35 girls in a student body of 200.

Three years later, at the age of 18, she was in a bus that collided with a streetcar. A metal shaft went through her hip and came out the other side. Her leg and collar bone were fractured and she sustained damage to her back. She was once again forced to lie in bed while wearing an uncomfortable plaster corset.

During her recovery she had the idea that she could become a medical artist. Her mother bought her an easel that she could use while lying in bed and Frida began to paint self portraits and portraits of her friends. Frida used bold colors and honest depictions. Her family encouraged her to keep painting.

Frida's paintings were inspired by the colorful traditional Mexican dress, and folkart. Her paintings became popular throughout the world. Frida's paintings depict her feelings of what it is like to be in pain, to be a woman and to be Mexican.

Frida is an example of rising above our circumstances. 

I enjoy finding quotes from each woman I write about. Frida was a difficult one to narrow down to just 2 or 3 quotes. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Clara Barton--Founder of the American Red Cross

• Occupation: Nurse
• Born: December 25, 1821 in North Oxford, Massachusetts
• Died: April 12, 1912 in Glen Echo, Maryland
• Best known for: Founder of the American Red Cross

Clara was born Clarissa Harlowe Barton on Christmas Day in 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts. 

She was the youngest of 5 children and grew up on a farm where she was no stranger to hard work. Her mother taught her to follow her dreams and that women could be anything they wanted.

When Clara was eleven years old, her brother David fell off the roof of a barn. He became very sick. Clara spent the next two years taking care of David. The doctors didn't hold out much hope for David, but, with Clara's help, he eventually got better. It was during this time that Clara discovered that she enjoyed taking care of others. 

Clara worked as a teacher and started a free public school that had over 600 students in attendance. She was also an activist for women's rights, even getting Abraham Lincoln on her side. 



The Civil War Begins 

Near the start of the Civil War a number of wounded soldiers arrived in Washington D.C. Clara and her sister Sally did what they could to help the men. Clara and her sister organized ways to get needed supplies to care for the wounds of the soldiers

Throughout the Civil War, Clara traveled from battle to battle, doing what she could to nurse the soldiers back to health often going right up to the frontlines. She became know as the "Angel of the Battlefield" by the soldiers. 

Medicine During the Civil War 
During the Civil War Doctors did not use sterilization techniques like we do today. Clara helped to change these practices.

The American Red Cross 

While traveling overseas Clara learned of an organization called the International Red Cross. This group helped wounded soldiers during war. They hung a flag with a red cross and a white background on the outside of their hospital tents in order to identify themselves. After working for the Red Cross in France, Clara wanted to bring the organization to America. 

Clara founded the American Red Cross on May 21, 1881. 

Fun Facts about Clara Barton

• Clara was giving a soldier a cup of water when he suddenly died. She then noticed a hole in her sleeve from a bullet that narrowly missed her and killed the soldier.
• After the Civil War, Clara worked to track down missing soldiers. The army had kept little record of lost soldiers.
• After leaving the Red Cross in her 80s, Clara traveled the country teaching people first-aid skills.
• There are numerous elementary schools and high schools throughout the country that are named after Clara Barton.
• She never married nor had children. She said she considered the soldiers to be her family.

Wednesday's Woman: Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart

1897-1937

What young girl hasn't admired Amelia Earhart? She has always been a heroine of mine. During a time when women didn't even conceive of flying, she became the first woman pilot. She studied successful women, even making a scrapbook of the accomplishments of others.  Amelia is definitely one woman to add to your studies of successful women. 

July 24, 1897 - Born on July 24, 1897, Earhart, as a child, spent long hours playing with Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a .22 rifle and belly-slamming her sled downhill. Amelia Mary Earhart saw her first plane at a state fair at the age of 10, and she was not impressed.

December 28, 1920 - Pilot Frank Hawks gave her a ride that would forever change her life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly."

January 3, 1921 - Began flying lessons with Neta Snook

July 1921 - Bought first plane, Kinner Airster (Canary)

October 22, 1922 - Broke women's altitude record when she rose to 14,000 feet

June 17-18, 1928 - First woman to fly across the Atlantic; 20hrs 40min (Fokker F7, Friendship)

Summer 1928 - Bought an Avro Avian, a small English plane famous because Lady Mary Heath, Britain's foremost woman pilot had flown it solo from Capetown, South Africa to London

Fall 1928 - Published book 20 Hours 40 Minutes, toured and lectured; became aviation editor of Cosmopolitan magazine

August 1929 - Placed third in the First Women's Air Derby, aka the Powder Puff Derby; upgraded from her Avian to a Lockheed Vega

Fall 1929 - Elected as an official for National Aeronautic Association and encouraged the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) to establish separate world altitude, speed and endurance records for women

June 25, 1930 - Set women's speed record for 100 kilometers with no load, and with a load of 500 kilograms

July 5, 1930 - Set speed record for of 181.18mph over a 3K course

September 1930 - Helped to organize and became vice president of public relations for new airline, New York, Philadelphia and Washington Airways

April 8, 1931 - Set woman's autogiro altitude record with 18,415 feet (in a Pitcairn autogiro)

May 20-21, 1932 - First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic; 14 hrs 56 min (it was also the 5th anniversary of Lindberg's Atlantic flight; awarded National Geographic Society's gold medal from President Herbert Hoover; Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross; wrote For The Fun of It about her journeyAugust 24-25, 1932 - First woman to fly solo nonstop coast to coast; set women's nonstop transcontinental speed record, flying 2,447.8 miles in 19hrs 5min

Fall 1932 - Elected president of the Ninety Nines, a new women's aviation club which she helped to form

July 7-8, 1933 - Broke her previous transcontinental speed record by making the same flight in 17hrs 7min

January 11, 1935 - First person to solo the 2,408-mile distance across the Pacific between Honolulu and Oakland, California; also first flight where a civilian aircraft carried a two-way radio

April l9 - 20, 1935 - First person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City; 13hrs 23min

May 8, 1935 - First person to fly solo nonstop from Mexico City to Newark; 14hrs 19min

June 1, 1937 - Began flight around the world June 1937; first person to fly from the Red Sea to India.

July 2, 1937 - Amelia Earhart left with her crew member from New Guinea and disappeared near Howland Island.

Busy Week Ahead

This week is going to be crazy!! Here's just a small sampling of what you can expect to see at our Tie One On Cookie Exchange!