happy 4th to you!

Our regularly scheduled episode of Morrow's World has been moved to next week in honor of the 4th of July. Since the 18th-century is my favorite time period, July 4th has special meaning to me. Thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures here. As I edit The Colonel's Lady for the last time before turning it in August 1, I'm writing about the American flag when it had thirteen stars and soldiers wearing Continental uniforms like the one below.

My Colonel McLinn is quite dashing in uniform - look at all those buttons! I've heard General Washington was a sight to behold in uniform, also, especially astride his horse. He had a natural dignity that made people pause and take notice. If I could leap back into history, I'd like to have been at Valley Forge or one of the battles of the revolution or the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Isn't this the most charming colonial house? The struggling widow, Betsy Ross, was running her own upholstery business in Philadelphia when George Washington came to her and asked her about sewing an American flag. Since she was quite savvy with her scissors, she cut him a lovely star to show him the design she had in mind. He agreed and the rest is history:)

We're headed to the lake on Sunday for a cookout with Randy's family. Though it usually rains, the boys will take their swim gear, anyway. The fireworks display over the lake is quite spectacular!

Do you have plans for the 4th? If you could travel through time to the 18th-century, what event would you like to have been a part of or witnessed?

Our giveaway winner this week is...
Lisa!

Happy 4th of July to you all!

Freedom is never given, it is won. ~unknown

the little things

It's really all the little things in life that make it worthwhile. Like eating tacos for the 4th of July (yes, this is what the boys requested) along with a chocolate cream pie. Today I had to make a big bowl of potato salad and get the hot dogs out. Then I had to walk 3 miles! Oh well ...

As I have one foot in the 18th-century all the time, I know those colonials were often painfully thin and had little to eat. From all reports, though, dear Martha Washington might have joined Weight Watchers had she been with us today. I would have probably been right with her.

I spent the 4th working (writing) most of the day and evening and since this is never work, don't you dare feel sorry for me! I've set my 2nd book aside as I need to get some distance from it. It's finished and has been rewritten and edited (by me) several times over but is still not right in places so I'm putting it down for a month or so. I no longer see the mistakes in the manuscript at this point after going over it again and again. So I've begun the 3rd book and have 32 pages done. But the new folks peopling those pages are unfamiliar to me and I find myself missing that 2nd book. I think that's the craziest thing about writing - having to rewrite nearly everything you write and then getting so fond of the folks in your head that you can't stand to be without them! No wonder so many writers go mad!

Good news on the home front - Randy is halfway done with the deck! I'm so thankful. After 14 years of stepping onto a postage stamp size piece of wood out back, we will literally have another big outdoor room in a couple of weeks, just in time for the start of summer here. Like I said, it's the little things!

the 4th of July

The 18th-century is a novelists's dream. It was a time of tremendous uphheaval on every level. Colonial America is truly the era where "fact was stranger than fiction." It's easy to draw characters and events from this time period because such a wealth of things were happening. Here are just a few:

The 4th of July is the celebration of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and signed by the the 2nd Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 which gave the colonies freedom from England. The men who signed this document knew full well the penalty would be death if they were captured (they were English citizens betraying their mother country, England).

Ever wonder what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Carter Braxton of Virginia was a wealthy planter and merchant who saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He died in rags.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she lay dying. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his 13 children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Thomas McKearn was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in Congress without pay.

Francis Lewis was one of many signers who had his homes and properties destroyed. The British jailed his wife and she died a few months later.

5 other signers were captured by the British and tortured to death as traitors, 12 had their homes ransacked and burned, 9 died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War, etc.


Here are some other little known facts (things they don't teach you in school):

At least 2 attempts were made by the British to kidnap Martha Washington.

Patrick Henry was known as a rabble-rouser who kept his mad wife locked in the basement of their home (she lost her mind after the birth of a child).

George Washington refused to live in anything other than a tent during the brutal winter at Valley Forge until all his men had proper lodging.

Special days of prayer and fasting were instituted during the war out of desperation because fighting England was such a lost cause. All of the colonies participated. After each of these days events began to turn in our favor.

John Adams said of our Independence Day, "It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore"

Happy 4th of July!