I have my ticket! (happy dance)
I will be going to Suriname in March 2012!
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Yay!
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Category Archives: Chasing Caterpillars
Speaking to the Springfield Writers Guild
On Saturday, March 26, 2011, I spoke to a local writers group about the biography I am writing of early artist/scientist Maria Sybilla Merian. I talked about the various types of research I have done for the book, including travel to Germany and visits to various museums for information. Then I talked about my experience with crowd funding and two of those websites, explaining what crowd funding is and how it is done, differences I found on two of those site, and what all needs to be done before you push that “publish” button. And lastly, I spoke about why I need to travel to Suriname, South America, for that last bit of on-site research in order to complete the book.
I enjoyed visiting with all the people who came up to talk with me afterwards, too.
Springfield News-Leader Highlights Research Project
Please comment on the News-Leader’s website and join the project! Continue reading
Leeuwenhoek Microscope
Last year I contacted Al Shinn about making a replica Leeuwenhoek microscope for me. Leeuwenhoek was a compatriot of Maria Sybilla Merian’s, and he made around 500 very small microscopes.
Mr. Shinn and I talked last week, the results being since he is so busy that I would buy one on eBay. (Yes, I had seen three on eBay.) The little replica microscope I purchased was made by a man in the UK; it is on it’s way and I can hardly stand the wait! I will post a photo when it arrives.
Stuck in Suriname
Writing this part has been going well…until I realized I needed to address the slavery issue in Surinam in 1700.
Stuck big time! It was not a good situation and I really didn't want to go into it. But I cannot ignore it since Maria Sybilla didn't. I believe that I have finally found my solution, and will see if I can write it today so I can go on with her story.
No Wells in Amsterdam?
Were there really no wells in Amsterdam in the late 1600s? While researching material for my book about Maria Sybilla Merian I realized that not once had I come across any reference to wells. Nothing was mentioned in the books I read. I had not seen any marked on old maps of the city. Oh there was plenty of water with all of those canals, but I suspected that the canal water was salty since they did connect with the sea. So where did the residents of Amsterdam get their drinking water? Who could I ask?
I finally emailed the information desk of the Amsterdam Historical Museum with my question. Frans Oehlen answered. He answered my question and provided even more information.
As I thought, canal water was salty. It was also polluted. But it was used for washing, and for cleaning doorsteps.
Some people used rainwater collected in wooden rain barrels for their drinking water. But there was not always enough.
The best water for drinking was brought into Amsterdam by water barges. These barges brought water from the Amstel River (upstream), the Gein River, and especially from the Vecht River. This water was for sale, though, and not everyone could afford it. Also during the winter it could be a serious problem to keep the rivers navigable when they became frozen over. (Ice cutters probably had a good seasonal business then.)
I had never given a thought to the possibility that people ever might have to buy water back then. In fact I assumed that buying water was a more modern phenomenon. I knew from traveling when I was a child that the taste of local water in various places could be quite different, but nobody ever bought and took water with them anywhere. Only fairly recently has buying bottles and jugs of water become an option…at least in my area of the world.
Researching Amsterdam
I have taken Maria Sybilla Merian and her family from Frankfurt, Germany, where she was born to Nürnberg, back to Frankfurt, on to Castle Waltha in Friesland, northern Holland and now to Amsterdam.
This part feels different to me because I have not yet been to Amsterdam; I haven't seen it, I haven't walked the streets myself where she would have walked. By far, the best source for obtaining a bit of this feel is the DK Eyewitness Travel Amsterdam guidebook! It has given me new directions to pursue as well as showing in brilliant color what is there.
But I would still love to actually go to Amsterdam myself. I want to see for myself what streets are like with canals running down the center. I want to see the old house placques, the gabled houses, the "yawners" that used to be over the pharmacies, the skinny bridge. I'd like to know how long it takes to walk the length of the Prinsengracht, what the Hortus Medicus looks like, etc., etc
I do hope that my readers cannot tell from my writing what feels so different to me.
Inside the Old Walls of Nürnberg
The first photo shows the cobblestone street––notice the width of the street––and a modern wall that is boundary of someone's house/yard today.
The second photo gives a better look at the outer wall. The tower has the door which is an entrance to the upper walkway of the wall. Here I can imagine the men, whose duty it was to defend the city, walking their assigned stretch and keeping a close surveillance of any activity outside the city.
Entering the old City of Nürnberg
This is one of the more interesting entrances to the old city. It curves inside the wall and is more like a tunnel. You can see the curve in the middle photo. The third photo shows the exit into the city, but it also gives a feel of how dark it would have been without lights.
Most of the old German cities have only a small section of their old wall remaining, due to the horrific bombing of World War II. Some tore down remaining walls because the openings were too small to allow fire trucks into the old section, or they felt they needed to widen the streets for modern traffic. I'm so glad that Nürnberg did not do this; being enclosed within a city wall is the only way you can get a feel for the size both of the city and the thickness and height of the wall. It emphasizes the fact that everything is within walking distance, and helps give a feel to life "back then."
I was awed to think that both Albrecht Dürer and Maria Sylabilla Merian walked this town and through this entrance.
Washing Your Hands?
Old German washstand for washing fingers,
not hands, before eating.
Shown here is one style of what we would call an old washstand. These were used in Germany in the 1600’s for washing your fingers before eating. Yes, I did say fingers instead of hands. You didn’t wash both hands, instead you washed only the first two fingers and thumb of each hand. No housewife wanted to waste water, and the first two fingers and thumb is all you use when eating. (Notice next time you eat…this is true!) And, I’m sure that if you are the one who has to go outside with a bucket, draw the water from a well, and then lug it inside to use, you don’t want to be making a lot of trips to the well.