It turns out that I have a lot to say about my Grandma Teetsel.  She seems to come up in many of my blog posts so I finally decided to give her a category.  I could have gone for something simple and self-explanatory like “Grandma Teetsel” but that seemed boring.  So instead Grandma’s category is going to be called “Wise Old Swiss Indian.”  Members of my immediate family (none of whom read this blog anyway) know exactly what this means.  Here’s the story for the rest of you. 

Grandma Teetsel was Swiss.  Her maiden name was Schlatter.  Hedwig Asa Schlatter.  She was American born but her parents immigrated here from Switzerland.  I don’t know much about Swiss culture but I imagine the people of Switzerland to be a lot like my grandmother:  tidy, no-nonsense perfectionists who are extremely organized.  This is because when I was a kid my grandfather would say things like “The floors are always clean in this house because your grandmother is a good Swiss woman.”  and “No cheating at cards tonight.  Those Swiss eyes are watching.” 

It was Grandpa Teetsel who is actually coined the term “Wise Old Swiss Indian.”  Grandma and Grandpa were visiting our house for the weekend and we were all sitting around the dinner table arguing about something.  I have no idea what just that we were all yelling at each other about something.  My grandmother who usually participated in such events with vigor had quieted down at one point while the rest of us tried to out-shout each other.  And suddenly Grandpa’s voice rose above the rest saying “Quiet everyone!  Let the Wise Old Swiss Indian speak!” 

It totally broke the tension in the room and when we were all done laughing Grandma rose her half-drunk Tom Collins and said….something.  I have no idea what because I don’t remember but whatever it was it ended the argument. 

After that we referred to my grandmother as the Wise Old Swiss Indian.  And whenever the family got in some kind of heated argument someone would eventually break off topic and ask my grandmother, “What does the Wise Old Swiss Indian have to say about this?” 

Rest in peace Grandma!  Your tribe will go on even if our floors are never as clean as yours. 

If you are a fellow Little House geek you all know about the china shepherdess.  For the rest of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, the china shepherdess was practically a character who made an appearance in every one of the Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She was a china figurine, Ma Ingalls’ most prized possession probably because it was the only pretty thing she owned, who  travelled across the mid-west with the Ingalls family in their covered wagon.  She was the last thing Ma always unpacked, always with great ceremony, each time the family moved into a new home.

In Little House on the Prairie, the second book in the series which tells about the Ingalls’ journey to Kansas and the log house Pa built for the family, the china shepherdess lived on the fireplace mantel.  In other books she stood on a wooden bracket.  In Little House in the Big Woods Laura tells us exactly how Pa made the wooden bracket and describes the detailed flowers he carved on it.  In later books she stood on the top shelf of a whatnot.  The lower shelves of the whatnot contained china figurines Laura and her sisters received as Christmas gifts in one of the books, Carrie had a china dog and Laura and Mary each had a china jewel box. 

In Michael Landon’s TV production of Little House on the Prairie (a total bastardization of the original stories but a great show nevertheless) the china shepherdess was displayed on the fireplace mantel and looked like this:

For years when I read the Little House books, before I ever even saw the TV show, this is also how I imagined the china shepherdess.  After all it was the 70s and Holly Hobbie was big back then. 

Just recently I did some research and discovered that the china shepherdess no longer exists.  I guess it finally broke and I only hope poor Ma was not alive to witness it.  There have been replica’s made based on Laura’s description in her books and what was common at the time and I was disappointed to see that they look like this: 

I’m not sure what I was expecting.  I guess something that looked closer to my own china shepherdess.  Because the other day I realized I had one of my own.  And considering the country life the Ingalls family lived, I guess I figured the china shepherdess, despite Laura’s description that it was fragile and delicate, should have been a lot more hardy like the one my grandmother had at her house.  It was a figurine that my grandmother actually made herself.  She eventually made her way to my house and sits own her own bracket (sans carved flowers): 

She actually may not be a shepherdess.  She could be a Dutch milkmaid for all I know.  But she looks pretty hardy and I’ll bet she could totally kick Ma’s china shepherdess’ ass. 

I started this post by writing about a pen pal I had in high school who I wrote to for years, met a few  times and finally let go because we have extreme political differences.  It had the potential to be an interesting story but it just wasn’t doing it for me.  Similar to the friend I let go I suppose. 

We started our relationship as two 15 year old girls who liked to write letters about boys.  As time went on we grew apart.  Last year after I decided I no longer wanted to see her ultra-conservative updates on Facebook (anti-Muslim this….pro-Glenn Beck that) I unfriended her along with a short, curse and somewhat flippant email.  It felt good having that long drawn out thing over with.  Kind of like it feels to finish this post. 

I’m probably the last person who should be giving wardrobe advice but this is important:

Never trust the dressing room mirrors when trying on v-necked tops.  They will lie to you.  If you really want to know how your new v-necked top fits wear it to work.  On a day when you have lots of meetings.  Sometime around noon you will realize that the top is cut way too low and needed to be worn with a camisole underneath.  I’ve tried this at least five times now.  It works. 

A lot of people have drifted out of my life.  Being somewhat of an introvert, I have a tendency to not stay in touch with people so the drifting is usually helped by my own lack of attention to many of my friends.   Luckily the important people in my life know this about me so eventually they drift back.