Winipo75

I think Perley Day did appear in the series. Wasn't there something about him coming to town to visit Almanzo and Eliza Jane, and Pa was hoping Laura would become interested in the younger brother and forget her lust for Manly? I'm going purely on memory here. I haven't watched the show in awhile. I really need to dig out those DVDs!

When Bjorn promised to always take care of Torvi and his children, I felt like screaming, "Yeah, you did a great job of that with Little Siggy, didn't you?" I'm still mad at him for the way he discarded his daughter. For all his faults, Ragnar never turned his back on any of his kids. Even when his feelings for Aslaug took a nosedive, he was still a good father to their boys.

Laura with her hair in a Ma-bun always creeps me right the hell out! At least she didn't try to offer Pa any popcorn, because I think I would have died on the spot.

That's exactly what I was wondering! It's not like anyone in Kattegatt knew exactly where he was going (or how to get there). I actually did a double take when I realized his ships were approaching Kattegatt. Did Lagerthe send him a telepathic message? Or a text? I'm also starting to worry that Bjorn might develop a complex about going on Mediterranean adventures. I mean, the first trip was interrupted by Ragnar's death and he had to rush back to Kattegatt. This time, Lagerthe is in trouble, and he has to rush back to Kattegatt. Maybe he should just stay in Kattegatt. (I jest. I'm looking forward to more of his crazy adventures.)

Give it a few more seasons, and instead of finding homes for orphans, Pa will just start taking them in himself.

My turn! "Love Yourself" -- Justin Bieber Real lyrics: Was I a fool to let you break down my walls? What I heard (and still sing) Was I a fool to let you break down my balls? Hey, it still makes sense! "I'm a Believer" - The Monkees Real lyrics: When I needed sunshine, I got rain. What I heard (and what a childhood friend and I sang for years and years): When I needed sunshine at my brain. "When I Grow Up" - Pussycat Dolls Real lyrics: When I grow up I wanna see the world Drive nice cars I wanna have groupies. What I heard: When I grow up I wanna see the world Drive nice cars I wanna have boobies. Well, what little girl wouldn't want those when she grew up?

Agreed, the grasshoppers are disgusting and creepy! Laura paints such a vivid picture, that you can practically feel them crawling on our own skin. Ew! The description o the bare, dead prairie is depressing, too. The stifling head just made everything that much worse. No wonder the kids danced for joy when it finally rained and cooled the air!

Is it just me, or did Mary's prisspot level increase up to 11 in this book? She didn't bother me in the previous books, but I'm starting to find her annoying. It's odd, she didn't bother me when I read them as a child. I guess that's probably because I was the one that would say, "No, we can't do that! We're not allowed! I'll tell!" I guess I've loosened up in my old age, because now I find it irritating. Also, when I read the chapter "Wonderful House" as a child, I was in awe. It truly did seem wonderful, and it was an enjoyable chapter to read. Now all I can think is, "Yeah, now you've got this beautiful house that you haven't paid for, and when your wheat crop fails, you'll end up buried in debt!" Charles really should have waited until he had the money before he built a house. I mean, they were getting along alright in the soddy. They could have stuck it out awhile longer. "I want to play Uncle John!" "Ring around a rosy!" "Uncle John!"

This is my favourite LH book, despite Pa's general stupidity and Ma giving away Laura's doll. That chapter still rankles to this day! She did try to make it better later by fixing Charlotte, but she shouldn't have given away one of Laura's few possessions to begin with. The kid had so little to call her own! Let her keep the damn rag doll! Upon re-reading, I was struck by a poor disciplinary decision Pa made. When Laura goes into the deep water after she's told not to, he dunks her. Problem is, she likes getting dunked, so she does it again and again! Um, dude, if you really want to keep her from drowning in the deep water, don't you think trying a different form of discipline might have been called for since she ENJOYED the method you were using? Tell her she has to stay with Ma and Carrie on the bank. That would be more incentive to keep her away from the deep water! I also enjoy Laura sticking to the letter of the law when her parents tell her not to do something. "Don't you girls slide down that stack of straw." O.K. Sure. We won't slide down it. We'll ROLL down it instead! I have to admit, that gave me a good laugh (and Pa, too, apparently, though he had the good sense to try to hide it). Wasn't Jack sold with Pet and Patty in real life? I'm finding that I can't forget that upon reading through this time. Every time Laura brings up Jack, I can't help but think, "But he wasn't really there, because Pa gave him away with the horses!" Apparently you need a good guard dog in Kansas, but not in Minnesota.

Hm, that's a very good point. I overlooked the part about the cakes being wrapped in paper. I'd still like to believe that Ma made them, just as I'd like to believe that Ma and Pa had the foresight to plan for Christmas! However, re-reading the scenes and taking part in this discussion, I have my doubts. Oh, the disillusionment! It makes one wonder if Ma was just going to sprinkle white sugar in their stockings. "Merry Christmas, girls! White sugar!" Double, triple thank God for Mr. Edwards!

Ah, yes, I think Pa and Rupert were separated at birth. I'm far from an outdoors-y type, but many things he chose to do on Survivor and many decisions Pa made in the books, I think "What? That can't be a good idea." Some of the descriptions of how they did things appealed more to me than others. Things involving food and animals certainly rank much higher than building a door. Making the maple syrup candy is a big one. I also enjoy some of the descriptions of planting and harvesting crops at that time. My father lived on a farm as a kid, and it's fun to ask him how they milked cows/harvested wheat and compare that to the LH methods. Considering that they were expecting nothing, I think Mary and Laura would have been thrilled with just the cakes. It's sad that they expected so little, something so small would have exceeded their expectations. Of course, thanks to Mr. Edwards, they got a windfall! A cup AND a cake AND candy AND a penny! I believe there is a line where the narrator comments that it was almost too much! Seriously, this turned out to be a great Christmas for them! (Too bad they couldn't have kept their own personal Santa Claus, Mr. Edwards, with them after they left Kansas). Billina, that scene you wrote is one of the funniest things I've read in awhile. I also agree that's EXACTLY how it would have played out! I can just see Carrie gumming her cake, while Laura silently seethes. I also can't stop picturing them "oohing and aahing" over loose white sugar in their stockings! Laura would have been licking it up, but I'm sure Mary would have to put her precious sugar under glass or something so that she could continue to appreciate it forever.

Now that I know Carrie was born in Kansas, I suspect that having her own tin cup was completely made up. She didn't have her own cup because she wasn't even born yet! Why Laura would specify that Carrie had her own cup while she had to share with Mary, I'm not sure. My roommate had another take on the situation. She asked me: "Who would you rather share a cup with? The sister near your own age, or a slobbery baby?" She has a point. I think this is an option. I came up with another theory the other day. Perhaps Pa got the gifts when he went to Independence (since he knew he wouldn't be going back before Christmas) and decided to hide the gifts at Mr. Edwards house so the girls wouldn't find them in the little house. Since Mr. Edwards was supposed to come for Christmas dinner, they could pop the gifts in the stockings and all would be well. Of course, then the creek went crazy. At any rate, I think Mr. Edwards is to be admired regardless of whether he delivered gifts that were being stored at his house, picked up the gifts in town and delivered them, or took the initiative to get gifts for two poor little girls because their own parents didn't have the foresight to plan for Christmas! I also thought it was sweet that Ma was determined to give them something for Christmas, even if it was a just a couple of little cakes. White sugar was seen as precious, and usually reserved for company, so the fact that she used it for the cakes shows that she was determined to make that Christmas special.

I find that I'm not enjoying this book as much as I did when I was younger. I never really enjoyed the descriptions of building a roof and doors, etc. (I call those "watching the paint dry" chapters). But now I'm finding other things that bother me and mar my enjoyment. I was bothered that Baby Carrie wasn't mentioned during the malaria episode. Couldn't she have briefly mentioned that she was at a neighbour's house, or something? I also had trouble with Ma falling for the "watermelons did it!" hypothesis. Clearly, they had NOT eaten any watermelons before they all got sick. So, if watermelons caused it, how did they get sick in the first place? I can understand believing old wives' tales, but they had direct evidence from their own experience that contradicted it. One thing I am enjoying are the little lovey-dovey scenes between Ma and Pa. I didn't remember them from before. When they are moving things into the house, he hugs her "quilts and all." Later, when he is working on the roof, she runs her fingers through his hair to make it stand up on end. Little touches like that make me believe that she really did love Pa, despite his faults.

That is so cool! I love the covered wagon idea! Sometimes we used a broom for a horse, but the rest we imagined. In our version, Pa and Ma always died in a tragic wagon accident, leaving the girls on their own. My youngest cousin was Carrie, and since I was the oldest, I was Mary. (I was also a bit prissy like Mary, too, so the role fit). I was actually a bit upset when I read about the County Fair. Royal was off with his friends, Father and Almanzo were looking at horses and other livestock, but the girls were stuck in the big kitchen with their mother making an enormous meal for everyone. County Fair time! Fun for all! (Well, unless you were a woman and had to feed everybody!)

How did he stuff all that food into him at one sitting? I know there was more manual labour back then, and he was a growing boy, but still, the size of the meals was enormous! There were often multiple dishes, and then Almanzo would have three or four pieces of pie! Then after supper in the winter, they had popcorn and apples! Did they really need an evening snack after eating a 12-course meal? I'm sorry, but the contrast with the Ingalls is making me sad. Even in the Big Woods, when times were good, they never ate like that! I enjoyed the part where Almanzo and Alice snuck into the parlour and slid off the furniture. It reminded me of sliding down a mattress against the wall in my Grandmother's house with my cousins. We also used to play Little House together.

Great point, nodorothyparker, about Laura seeing her mother through younger eyes for this book. Things probably were easier in the Big Woods, but it's also likely that Laura's more distant memories might be idealized. Sort of like people always talk about "the good old days," when those days were not necessarily as good as they seem in retrospect. I think you might have a point, too, kikismom, that Ma may have seen quite a bit of her Pa in Laura.That my be why she seemed harsher with Laura than with Mary (Ma's kindred spirit). I had forgotten that my favourite parts of this particular book are Pa's stories. Pa beating a tree trunk with a club, thinking it was a bear, Grandpa and his brothers sliding down a hill on a Sunday with a pig on top of them, and Grandpa being chased by the panther. It was easy to see why Laura and Mary looked forward to cold winter nights when Pa told stories by the fire.

Is it just me, or is the Ma in this book nicer than she is in later books? I mean, she's still strict, but she seems to be easier on Laura than she is later. For example, when Laura cries in the book, she doesn't say, "For shame!" She tells her everything will be alright. Like when Laura put too many pebbles in her pocket and it ripped off, she was pretty gentle with her. She showed her that that pocket could be easily fixed, so she didn't need to cry. Mind you, she did throw a lesson in there by telling her not to be so greedy next time. Reading it as an adult, I just found Ma different in this book. Just me? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she's happy. She lives close to friends and family, so there are people to help out and to visit, she has plenty to eat, they have a nice little house where the family is settled. I wonder if Ma become more judgmental later because she was unhappy being dragged all over the country by Pa.

Nancy in a well Oh how will we get her out? Let's just leave her there.

I always found it kind of sad that Laura had to make do with a corncob for a doll. Mind you, I used to play house with screwdrivers and worms, but that wasn't because I didn't have dolls; I just had a weird imagination. That's what I always figured. Besides, it makes it that much more special when Laura finally receives Charlotte for Christmas. I still remember how enamoured she was with her. In all of the Christmas stories, their gratitude was a beautiful thing. I appreciate it even more when I think about my own nephews, who would open at least a dozen presents on Christmas day, and then say, "Is that it?"

I love the Garth Williams illustration of the Grandmother and Uncle George (I think) doing the jig. It always made me want to get up and jig (not that I know how). Exactly! Charles Ingalls must have been nuts! I just read some snippets of a book that talked about how the Pioneer Girl manuscript differed from Laura's novels. The name of the book escapes me at the moment. Anyway, it talked about LHITBW representing the Ingalls as more isolated than they actually were. Despite the fact that the novel does show the family getting together and helping, the reality is that the crossover and sharing of work was even greater! That makes it even more annoying that Charles decided to uproot his young family and drag them off just because he "felt too crowded."

Very true. Thank God for Willie, or Laura would have been toast! Most of the men were pretty useless on this show, weren't they? Most people blame Mary for leaving the baby behind in the burning blind school (and she certainly has some culpability),but I've always felt Adam was equally to blame. He runs in, grabs her by the arm and drags her toward the door so they can get the children out. She actually turns back when the baby cries, but Alice says to go on and that she'll get the baby. Both Mary and Adam should have said, "Uh, no, we'll take the extra 2 seconds and pick the baby up."

The way Laura (the author) set her Pa up in the books, I found it hard to imagine that he would be the kind of man to stuff his face with pancakes and ham, then go home to his starving family and STILL take the largest potato! It didn't seem to fit with the image of "hero" Pa. But now that I've learned more about the real man, it makes much more sense. Hell, I'm surprised he didn't guilt them into giving him an extra potato! There might just be one, tiny corner of his stomach not stuffed full of syrup and pancakes!

DoughGirl, I've been reading the LH book forum, too, and finding out more about the real life Charles Ingalls has been fascinating and damaging at the same time. Laura seemed to worship and adore her Pa, so we get a very sanitized version of him in the books. By and large, I think Michael Landon largely followed this trend and put a positive spin on Pa's actions. However, you're right that he did get closer to real-life Pa with some of the questionable decisions TV Charles made. You mentioned his stupid deal in Harvest of Friends, but there is also the time he gets an Inheritance, buys a bunch of needless crap on credit before he even sees a penny of it, and then almost loses his property because it is Confederate money and worthless. Of course, his friends bailed him out by buying back all his property at the Oleson's auction for mere pennies. I think Pa got everything back for something like 4 cents. I've always been ticked off about this. The Olesons get stuck paying the bills and don't get anything back for it because Pa was an idiot, and his friends are all enablers! Sadly for real-life Pa, he didn't have a bunch of loyal, trustworthy friends to bail him out whenever he did something stupid. Instead, he had to pack up his family and leave town in the middle of the night.

What a great idea!

I just came across this on Facebook: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/episodes-from-season-4-of-little-house-on-the-prairie-reimagined-to-reflect-the-presence-of-a-starbucks-in-walnut-grove. Has anyone else read these? I just had to share!