Belle Campbell

Mike and I are in Vermont this weekend for the 4th of July and I spent a couple hours today going through the papers and things of an elderly relative that my in-laws are trying to sift through and organize. Among the most exciting finds of the day were:

An original newspaper from the day in 1918 that World War I officially ended. We looked through the whole newspaper, which was quite a treat (I especially loved the advertisements, which included home remedies for darkening gray hair and a miracle supplement for "thin women" to gain weight - how times have changed!). I was also thrilled to find a family ancestor's accounts ledger from 1838 written in beautiful penmanship recounting such purchases as bed ticking, calico, tobacco, nails, allum, sheeting, and a spelling book and primer. It seemed straight out of Little House on the Prairie! Other items of note were a leather woman's wallet from 1900 which rather mysteriously included a Chinese coin, a piece of paper with Chinese characters, and an old key, and we also stumbled across a piece of Scottish handwoven linen made in 1820. My fascination for old things was completely indulged in today!

But the most incredible find of the day was found tucked into a "Bridal Book" belonging to a James Coburn and his wife Belle Campbell when they were married in 1902. Apparently, Belle died only four years after the wedding at the age of 34 and tucked into the book along with her obituary from the newspaper was a tribute written by her husband upon her death. I have never read anything like it and found it so moving I wanted to share it. Here is the text in full with commas added here and there to help the flow:

Nov 18. 1906

Tribute to my wife's memory

My wife passed from this life Aug. 26 1906 at the age of 34 years after an illness of three months.
I first saw her at an entertainment in Aug. 1900, soon after met and loved her, and we were married June 26. 1902.
She was slender and beautiful and girlish and she was both girl and woman. She remained both girl and woman to the last day of her life.
Under a grave and gentle exterior burned inextinguishable fires of sympathy, energy, and Christian devotion. She had absolutely limitless affection and seemed possessed of a spirit almost divine.
She was loved by all who knew her and exerted an influence for good where ever she went. but it was evident she was not long for this world.
Perfect truth, perfect honesty, perfect candor were qualities of her character which were born with her. I have compared and contrasted her with hundreds of persons and my conviction remains that she was the most perfect character I ever met. And I may add that she was the most winningly dignified person I have ever know.
Her character and disposition were of the sort that not only invites worship, but commands it. During the four years that we spent in building up a business and finally losing all, she was always cheerful and she was always able to reason me out of my despair and find a bright side to the clouds, and make me see it. In all that time I never knew her to utter a word of regret concerning our circumstances.
She had the heartfree laugh of a girl and when it broke upon the ear it was as inspiring as music.
The last words she uttered before she died were to her God and her husband.
"Thy will be done and my dear sweetheart."

Flying Food

As most of you are aware, food is no longer provided on domestic flights in the US (small bags of peanuts do not count as food!). So, along with having to chuck all liquids before going through security, taking off our shoes, belts, and watches and possibly getting a pat down, we are rewarded for our pains by overpriced airport water bottles (I paid $1.79 in Boston and $1.99 in Seattle) and the choice of buying a deli sandwich for $7 or bringing our own food.

I have been the first in line to whine about the removal of on-flight meals right from the start, but I am coming to realize that the absence of sub-par plane food can actually be a blessing in disguise. For, if memory serves me correctly, plane food was disgusting. For some reason, I always looked forward to plane food; maybe it was all the cute little compartments and the hope of a chewy brownie square. Instead, I usually got mushy rice and vegetables or some sort of sandwich with bread that was either rye and pumpernickel (yuck) or had the consistency of cardboard. In short, plane food was always disappointing.

However, on this trip, I had a brain wave. For the late night trip to Seattle from Boston I brought a small log of Chevre Goat Cheese (you can get perfect airplane sizes at Trader Joe's for $2.50; I popped mine in a small tupperware container), water crackers, and cucumber sticks. It wasn't too heavy for late night snacking, but was very satisfying. I could also dip both the crackers and the cucumber in the Chevre, so no utensils were necessary. The tang of the Chevre was quite refreshing along with the juiciness of the cucumber and the crunch of the water crackers, and I felt like I was having a treat that I would only normally get to experience when we have company over.

For the trip back to Boston, I went back to Trader Joe's and bought herbed Chevre (Chevre covered in chopped fresh herbs), Multigrain/Flaxseed water crackers (better than they sound!) and packed those along with cucumber spears, hardboiled eggs, large green Spanish olives, pickles, grapes, apples, and cookies. While my row-mate ate her Caesar Salad that she probably overpaid for in the airport, I felt like I was on a picnic as I nibbled on the food throughout the day. Combine that with a hot cup of tea on my layover at JFK with my Earl Grey teabag that I brought myself (along with free lemon wedges from the airport bar), and I felt both sustained and refreshed despite fighting a stomach bug and going off of 3 hours sleep.

So, all that to say, I'm not missing plane food anymore and plan to use my winning combination of Chevre, crackers, and other picnic fare on my next plane ride. I'm almost looking forward to it!