One of the challenges in writing this blog is finding pictures to suit each post. I’ve read that adding pictures to a blog makes it much more attractive to readers, so I have tried to include images of some type with most posts. Many of my pictures come from Microsoft […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: History
My Grandmother’s Thimble and Sewing Doll
In an earlier post, I mentioned my maternal grandmother’s thimble. Her initials – WS, for Winifred Strachan, her maiden name – are on the thimble. Her friends all called her Winnie, and I called her Nanny Winnie. Nanny Winnie kept house for her father and brothers after her mother died; […]
Continue readingThe Donner Party: Don’t Take Shortcuts and Hurry Along
One of the more sensational stories of the Oregon Trail is that of the Donner party, the group of emigrants to California in 1846 who were lost in snows in the Sierra Nevada mountains from November 1846 until March 1847, and allegedly resorted to cannibalism. As soon as their story […]
Continue readingAccidents on the Oregon Trail: Catherine Sager Pringle
This past week, while I’ve been caring for my daughter with a broken leg, I’ve thought about the injuries the pioneers to Oregon suffered on their journey. Accidents and disease were much greater risks to the emigrants than Indians, despite what we see in Western movies. One of every seventeen […]
Continue readingWhiskey Warehouse: History & Fine Dining in Alma, Missouri
Last Saturday evening, four of us went to the Whiskey Warehouse in Alma, Missouri, to celebrate a milestone birthday of one of our party. We wanted to make an occasion of the evening, but had no idea what to expect from this restaurant that opened in October 2012. We were […]
Continue readingWriting Across Time
The Middlebury College Admissions Office uses interviews by alumni volunteers to supplement the online application process. As one of the volunteers, I’ve been talking to Middlebury applicants this month, and of course I have told them about my experiences at college. One of the things I talk to applicants about […]
Continue readingPreparing for the Trip to Oregon: Keturah Belknap
Last year I posted several times about travel along the Oregon Trail in 1847, the year in which the novel I am working on takes place. (Click here and here for samples, or search this blog for “Oregon Trail.”) Several readers have asked what I’m going to do in 2013. My […]
Continue readingChristmas Traditions in the Late 1840s
Because the emigrants in my first Oregon Trail novel traveled between April and October, I didn’t have to write about their Christmas celebrations in that book. But the sequel covers a three-year time span, so as I work on this draft, I am learning about Christmas traditions in the late […]
Continue readingThe Travails of Elizabeth Dixon Smith Geer
As I wrote in my last post about the Oregon Trail, the emigrants wanted to get to Oregon before the winter weather set in. Most travelers arrived by the end of October, but some were not so lucky. One of the unfortunate travelers was Elizabeth Dixon Smith Geer. Elizabeth kept […]
Continue readingHaunting Book: Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
The third haunting book I’ve read in recent months is Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. Unbroken is the true story of Louis Zamperini, a man who lived a life that can only be called “larger than life.” During his boyhood in California, Louie Zamperini was a juvenile delinquent. To keep Louie out of […]
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