Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

I know that it is hard to believe that I do anything besides working on my two web sites, Too Good to be Threw and How to Consign.com but here’s actual proof that I do get away from the computer sometimes.

That’s me as Lizzie Webb Guptill on the porch of the 1901 Guptill House at Historic Spanish Point, a 30-acre museum on Little Sarasota Bay, in Osprey FL. Heritage Holidays showcases natural and historic holiday decor and living history portrayals and this year, I do a monologue as a harried housewife in 1907 who has less than $7.50 to spend on her Christmas list…and both Christmas Eve supper and a New Year’s Eve fireworks -and -supper event to plan.

It was great fun to do the historic research and the writing of the monologue, and a real challenge, because usually I portray Bertha Palmer, a Chicago millionaire in 1915, another real-life person connected to Spanish Point. When I am Bertha, I wear diamonds and lace and never worry about budgets and cooking meals! (She had 70 servants at her winter home, Spanish Point, just 8 years after Lizzie was fussing over 35-cent blouses and $1.85 six-piece dresser sets.)

Don’t feel sorry for Lizzie, though: she sold her house and indeed, the entire homestead of 100 or so acres to Bertha Palmer, and went to live on what is now Siesta Key, a place some of you vacationers might have heard of in passing!

(Note: The photo was taken at dress rehearsal, and a fellow thespian forgot to reclaim her water bottle. It won’t be there for the performances! For info on Heritage Holidays, see the HSP site.)