Other Lives..

One of my enjoyments is history. Not political, economic, etc... but the history of life. Unfortunately, so very little is ever written concerning life. How did people cook, earn a living, what was travel like, how did they stay dry? We do a million things each day with out notice or thought. Much of my curiosity comes from camping and travel when resources are far more limited. Our materials are limited to what is carried in a bag, suitcase, or backpack. In those instances there is no home full of stuff to access, making do with what is on hand is the only option. Camping takes it further. No kitchen, sink, toilet, food.

For all of history, until these past two hundred years, the world has been very different. No restaurants, no anything we are accustomed to. In spite of how advanced we are in our world today I doubt we would find much daily comfort living as people in the past. Not that I am sadistic, longing for simpler times, I'm curious as to how the heck did they get by. To that end I find I satisfy my curiosity in the study of books, letters, documents of past centuries. "How did some one leave civilized London in the 1600's and build a home in the wilderness of North America?" There was nothing slightly familiar here in comparison.

I have discovered a book The Sot-Weed Factor (fiction, but well researched) regarding life in England during the 1600's and the subsequent migration to the New World. It's reading between the lines that tells so much.