Events Occur with a Predictable Regularly

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Thursday, October 10, 1912:

So here comes the month of October.

Arrayed in a many hued gown

Trimmed with the tints of bright Autumn,

The purple, the orange, the red and the brown.

This is Fair week, and I hope that the weather will be that also. I long to go, but I do not know whether we’ll get a day off or not. Must try and find out tomorrow.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

My life has a routine with a predictable seasonal ebb and flow, with recurring events that occur at predictable times.

Today marks the beginning of my 22^nd month posting Grandma’s diary entries—and I find that I’m also beginning to get a sense of the ebb and flow of her routine a hundred years ago.

Grandma began each month with a poem that either gave her perspective of the upcoming month—or mourned the passing of the previous month.  She also talked about harvesting crops and watching cows with amazing regularly across the two years, and in early autumn each year she wrote about Fair Week in the nearby town of Milton.

On September 20, 1911 she wrote:

Papa and Mamma and Jimsey went to the fair this afternoon. I expect to go tomorrow if the weather is favorable. We have Thursday and Friday off for the fair.

And, I’m starting to notice exceptions to patterns. The fair held about two weeks later 1912 than in 1911. I wonder why.