"I'm sorry; I wasn't playing fair."...

Good morning,
How often have we heard children grouse, "That's not fair"? Followed by, "Mommy,(insert sibling/friend/playmate's name here) won't play fair." Fair play is one of those lessons we should have learned as children. As adults, we forget if it is inconvenient. We all do it. Not all the time, but....we do it. The reason for this article has to do with two requests from on-line acquaintances who each asked for a copy of two different items (in my case, patterns.) At first, I didn't think anything about the requests. However, when someone makes the effort to create a download for anything, they have every right to set a limit on it's use. There are many sites on the internet whose owners/writers have a small business selling the fruits of their labors. They occasionally give a freebie as a download to readers of the site or blog. To them, I say "Thank you." To those whose generosity I abused, please accept my apology. I no longer pass on that free gift, for gift it is. I share information and web addresses. Part of the reason is altruistic, (it isn't fair); the other is peevishness. If you are too lazy to look up a site for which you have the data, don't expect anyone else to do it for you. Here endeth the sermon...
It has happened too often to count; I want to locate information relevant to sewing techniques in the late 1800's. I would enter, "sewing, 1800's, women's garments" What do I receive back from my wee virtual harvesters? Ads, many, many pages of ads for vintage garments sellers; sellers of vintage patterns; sellers of vintage buttons; vintage threads (Are they crazy? The stuff would be so rotten, it wouldn't stand up to one trip through my machines.) There will be English language sites, and sites whose language I need a translation download to determine. I would be very fortunate to find more than one entry on each page that was even close to what I want. I found a way to eliminate most but not all of this dreck. Enter the word "archives" or 'Archived" at the front of the search request. The words "research" "journal" and similar will also limit the search. I fell into some of the most wonderful sites this way. I will post them later. BTW, this was to have been the week's sole entry. Well, it is my blog, after all. Cordially, Nehmah