shall we chat about Colonial House? Here are some of my observations:
1. I think they should have found Carolyn Heinz guilty of witchcraft and possibly stoned her to death. What a grating twit she is. ‘Now that he’s governor, I feel more myself’ – ick.
2. that part where they were sucking on the goat’s teat was more disturbing than the lamb butchering.
3. Don Wood is a hottie.
4. So is Danny Tisdale.
5. Do you know that they live in NYC , which isn’t all that far away?
6. Governor Heinz just about made me retch with his last line ‘We have run the race. We have kept our faith’. wonder how long he was rehearsing that one.
7. I really liked the Wyers family, even though their fundamentalist beliefs would make me crazy if I actually knew any of them.
8. I also really liked the Vorjees family.
9. did I mention my distaste for both flavors of Heinz?
10. I never knew that about the first Thanksgiving!!
purlingswine 
Don’t stone the witches! Stone the bitches!
Most of us witches are good fine people 23 days of the month!
I watched the last 3 eps in a mini-marathon last night.
Carolyn Heinz got on my nerves from the beginning (for me, mid-way through ep. 3 – I have to see 1-3.5). I suppose it could have been how it was edited, but governor #2 appeared to be pretty frelling lazy. He seemed to like to survey all his people and bask in his pride. Interesting comparison to governor #1 and the company man. I got a kick out of seeing Lesca dig for clams.
I agree with the assessors, that governor #2 wasn’t governor material. I’m not sure he was all that great of a spiritual leader either, though. I like a leader who will get dirty. I’m all for artistic endeavors, and education, but letting Jonathon and Dom off to study and draw while everyone else worked their fingers to the bone was pretty annoying. I’ll bet Julia drew her poster in her “spare” time. Oh, and kicking Jonathan out – no one else with servants had their own space!
I want all the knitted hats! I have the patterns and will – one way or antother – figure them out!
I liked the show very much, but it was colonial days-light, in the sense that they were never in any real danger (what with booms and producers and cameras everywhere, and probably a paramedic crew on call), and were never subjected to the manic, insane, religious persecution that anyone who differed would have experienced. NOT that I wanted to see that, mind you. But as hard as their lives were, they had it easy compared to the real thing, and I hope they realize that. Jonathon would have been killed, or banished, and Michelle Voorhees would probably have been as well. No complaints that they weren’t, obviously. Judos to John Voorhees for stepping down from his job rather than subject his wife to something that offended her. I’m a Christian and was happy to see them stand up to the pressure.
What I really missed seeing were any other life crafts. No spinning or weaving, candle dipping, bee keeping, etc. Although maybe a new colony would have had to make do until people developed these skills or showed up with them? I thought it was funny that they couldn’t hunt, trap or catch fish, and then realized that was probably a real-life example of how things might have been. I hated seeing that lamb die, not because I’m against eating meat, but it looked like it was ONE meal. And they had clams right there all along.
Crap, that was way longer than I intended. I think I’ll go continue recapping in my live journal! (http://www.livejournal.com/users/knittobesquare/)
Melissa again! I just replied to your comment in my LJ, but wanted answer you directly.
The pig pitcher is ringing a bell… time to watch the movies again (like I need an excuse – those cardboard cases were a bad idea, mine are wearing out)! I was jumping up and down when I saw the trenchers, and the big wood plates, and all that pewter!
It’s generally called feast gear by folks that are in SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism (sp?)) or do Renaissance-themed feasts for supporters of a faire (that would be me). You can usually search on eBay for feast gear or feastgear and find auctions. I don’t know what other reenacters call it.
*delurking because this show was so cool I have to talk about it*
If you look at the still photos on the associated web site, you can see that the women were indeed engaged in a fair number of tasks, not just cooking. They were also gardening, caring for the livestock, knitting (there’s a pic of Michelle Voorhees knitting a sock!), gardening and doing laundry.
I guess the producers thought men carrying logs and trying to fish were more interesting, alas!
Historically, weaving would have had to wait, unless they brought over looms, but I bet there was some spinning going on (why else have the sheep?). Candle-making would have required bringing over honey-bees; some colonists did do this, but I suspect they felt like it’d be too much trouble for the show.
As for the Heinzes, they were annoying, but I felt like they were basically decent people. I am no doubt prejudiced because (a) I’ve worked with academics like them, so I understand how they work, and (b) I liked how they immediately, without any fuss, accepted Jonathan when he came out to him. They are both rather affected, and would likely irritate me, but I didn’t think they were bad.
The Voorhees, Jonathan, and the dark-haired indentured woman (name?) were my favorites.
And I agree about the goat teat thing!