Our refrigerator died yesterday. No fixing it. We had to buy a new one. It won’t be delivered until Monday, which was nine days faster than the other place we found that had one. So, no ice for drinks. Everything in the fridge must go. Terrible tragedy…

Just think what life was like for Ma Stark and Vanessa trying to keep house and cook for a household with no refrigerators. As worldly women, it is possible they had iceboxes, (and certainly, Leonora would have,) but it still wouldn’t have been the magic box we take for granted–ice and water in the door; separate drawers for vegetables and meats; storage in the doors.

What about the cooking itself? No microwave magic. Food had to be cooked on the stovetop or in the oven. Kitchens were hot and steamy. TV dinners were a thing of the future. Everything was made from scratch.

And speaking of TV. There wasn’t one. In-home entertainment in 1875 was reading, playing games or music, or actually having a conversation. The identification of radio waves by Heinrich Hertz was still more than a decade in the future.

There were no automobiles to hop into and go to a non-existent movie. Those wouldn’t exist for decades.

No wonder Jo and her friends get into so much trouble! They’d be bored if they didn’t. 😉