Only the finest!

  I often have this uncanny feeling that I might have been born in the wrong era.  Not that I am complaining since it really would not help matters one iota.  My fascination with things that, say, my great-grandmother would have worn or used just fuels the imagination.  As I prepare for the upcoming Clue Hunt on the Bayou, I am scavenging all sorts of goodies from every nook and cranny of the Little Bayou House. Things that I have forgotten for many years are coming to surface as if to say "Here I am!  Use me!"  So I am.  

  Most clue hunts that I write are set in the mid 1800s.   Perhaps my brain is drawing me back to that time era for a reason. I don't know but I am thrilled with each item I find that will serve as a decoration of some sort. Today, I was hunting for something to use in a "lady's boudoir".  When I opened one old trunk that has been sitting tightly closed for nigh on twenty years, I was pleasantly surprised to find clothes!  Lots of clothes! And one very special dress that was perfect.  The dress in question was one from the heyday of Old Biloxi.  The Elmer Family was a quite elite family hereabouts so it only stands to reason that the ladies of the family would only wear the finest.  This dress fell into that category.  The whole trunk of clothing came from the last few remaining Elmer ladies back in the 1960s.  Pop used to do work for these little old ladies and they would often send items home with him.  At one point, they told him to "clean the storeroom" and to haul everything to the dump.  The stuff came home with Pop!  I am so glad that Mom had the insight not to part with so many treasures from days of old.  The trunk was eventually passed on to me and once again I became the "Keeper of Weird and Wonderful Things".

  The dress in question was made of purple satin and gorgeous handmade lace.  The lining has deteriorated beyond repair but the rest is in quite good condition.  (I would love to have it restored to its prime some day soon!)  This purple dress started the wheels a-turning and the imagination soon took control of my brain.  I was daydreaming of fancy balls where the ladies and gentlemen were refined and the grandeur of the event was talked about for months afterward.  It is hard to believe that at one time, Biloxi actually was the site of such panache.  

  Since finding the dress, the lady of my clue hunt has been elevated from almost poverty stricken to someone of perfect elegance and sophistication!  To keep up with appearances she wears only the finest of gowns and those were most likely imported from Paris! She has class and is the perfect Southern Belle.  Yep, it is amazing how one find can change a lot of things!  Oh, how I wish I could have worn that dress at some point in my life!  Oh, how I wish I could have lived back in that era.  Oh, how I wish...nah, I guess I am happy just where I am but it doesn't hurt to dream now and again!