Comments on: The Long Winter, Chapter 33: Christmas In May

By: Selden

Selden — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:35:09 +0000

Have any of you ever made butter? I make it all the time (I have a family cow). To make a half pound of butter — two sticks worth — takes a half gallon of cream. To get a half gallon of cream you need to skim 4-6 gallons of fresh milk. At their Thanksgiving dinner, no one had fresh milk, no one had cream… that butter would have been like GOLD! (I have plenty of milk and cream and I still don’t cook with my own butter in most recipes, but with cheap store-bought. Homemade butter, even churned in a 1940s Gem Dandy electric churn, NOT by hand, takes time to make. I use it only to savor on toast and on baked potatoes, etc. IE in places where it will be tasted.) To throw some of that precious butter into a big vat of potatoes, in which it would have disappeared, would have felt like throwing it out the window. IMHO

By: Melanie Beasley

Melanie Beasley — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:56:16 +0000

Oh for goodness sakes Ma, let them have pie tonight! How about right out of the oven? “Pies do hold the heat!” I will think of this next time I feel like I just have to have a piece of chocolate.

It reminds me of the scene from “Curse of the Black Pearl” where Elizabeth Swann eats with ladylike decorum until Captain Barbossa tells her to forget the royal manners, they’re on a pirate ship and he knows she’s ravenous with hunger. After that freezing, monotonous winter, I don’t know why they would still wait. Even Martha Stewart would forgive you at that point.

Sorry to be so off-topic!

By: snowie

snowie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:51:10 +0000

Thanks, Linda. I’ve been looking at local bookstores for a replacement copy, but sadly they don’t seem to sell them anymore here. Think I’ll need to hit a certain amazonian seller soon… and maybe get me the Caroline series whilst I’m at it! ;P

As an aside, I LOVE how most comments (unless you have your own picture) show up with a little icon beside the name, that looks like a little patchwork quilt!

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:59:32 +0000

My favorite is the Long Winter because of their perseverence and hope in the face of adversity, followed, of course, by the happy ending! I re-read that one very winter. My least favorite is The First Four Years. Too many unhappy things happen and there’s not enough Ma, Pa and Mary.

By: Linda

Linda — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:43:37 +0000

I hope you find your book snowie.

If anyone is buying it again, I have my libraries copy, the full-color collectors edition, it is beautiful. The train pulling into De Smet at the end is the same picture but probably larger and seems to give more feeling.

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:35:56 +0000

Interesting comments and thanks for the direct quote from the book about the potatoes. Maybe Laura is making some kind of sly reference to the fact that she really was sick of the taste of potatoes after eating them all winter — without milk and butter. Compared to the other riches found on that table, I’m sure quite a few diners passed on the potatoes!

By: snowie

snowie — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:10:34 +0000

Hi there, my first time commenting here! Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that has contributed to the read-along. I’ve really enjoyed it (though not quite “reading” along, as it’s the one book in the series I have lost!) and it’s been a great break from work every day.

Please will this continue with another book?

(I’m all for the proper order of things, so how about starting with Little House in the Big Woods??! )

Love from Malaysia,
Snowie

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:24:06 +0000

Interesting conversation! My favorite is These Happy Golden Years. The more I read it, the romance between Laura and Almanzo is so subtle. My favorite is how Laura could not convince Almanzo to led her ride behind the horses before they were tired out. Out of the series this is the happiest book. It’s hard to pick a least favorite, but if I had to pick one it would have to be Little House on the Prairie. No particular reason, but as I think about it, it is a slower pace than the rest of the books. Then again, a good portion of it takes place traveling in a covered wagon, so the slow pace would be appropriate.

By: jodi

jodi — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:50:12 +0000

Wow, I feel like choosing my least favorite LH book is like picking my least favorite child, LOL… how could I??? I definitely like SSL and beyond better than the first 4. The first 4 just seem so baby-ish to me… of those first 4 though Farmer Boy is my fave. I guess if I HAD to pick a least favorite… it might be Plum Creek? Which is so funny as I remember when I was a kid and trying to get them out of the library, that was the one that was hardest to get and the one I wanted the most because it had PLUM in the title and I love plums!!! I don’t know, though – even Plum Creek has it’s good parts. I used to imagine the house Pa built as such a palace…

By: Jen Johnson

Jen Johnson — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:03:56 +0000

So I wonder what other’s favorites and least favorites are:

My favorites would be SSL and 1rst 4 Years. Least favorite is LW.

SSL I love because Laura transitions so much from child to teen. 1rst four years I love because I think it’s writing is more authentic to Laura. I could be wrong but it’s my two cents. LW does such a good job of presenting that winter that it’s no fun for me to read…at least not the bazillion times i’ve read the others.