Author: janetsm

In November 2025, I published Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. In the fall of 2025, I published a devotional book: I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter AND I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary. I write North Carolina local history and Southern American colonial historical fiction. I enjoy doing extensive research as well as the writing that research supports. My stories and novels-in-progress are about the common people. I'm the author of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2 and a vintage postcard book titled The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

#OnThisDay: Lewis & Clark Expedition Completed, 1806

I wish more emphasis had been put on Lewis & Clark’s Corps of Discovery when I was in school. Living in North Carolina, it just wasn’t taught much. I suppose in the Midwest and Great Plains states it was and is taught in detail.

Today marks the 218^th anniversary of the conclusion of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s grand trek into the great unknown in search of the Northwest Passage.

I learned more about the Lewis & Clark Expedition from watching Ken Burns’ documentary film than I learned in school. Ken Burns has a gift for weaving story, quotes, and geographic images together in a comprehensive telling of particular times or events in American history.

The When and the Why

US President Thomas Jefferson is remembered for his curiosity. Since the 1400s, explorers had dreamed of finding Northwest Passage – a waterway across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. President Jefferson wanted the Pacific coast of North America to be found, and he was convinced that a group of explorers would find it if they could just cross the Mississippi River and follow the Missouri River across the lands included in the Louisiana Purchase.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the group that was assembled to explore the region. It was a vast unknown to the European settlers. What the Corps of Discovery did was comparable to the space exploration of our time, except Lewis & Clark did not have computers to guide them. They really didn’t know what the terrain and weather would be like once they ventured very far beyond St. Louis.

In the spring of 1804, at the direction of President Jefferson, this band of intrepid explorers set out on a journey of unknown time and distance. (I guess it is sort of like the two astronauts who are going to be on the International Space Station for eight months instead of the originally planned eight days.)

How does one pack for such an adventure? What thoughts went through their minds as they headed west, not knowing if or when they would see their families again?

The Preparation

For starters, I will point out that the Corps of Discovery was made up of Lewis, Clark, and nearly four dozen men. As I recall, in school we were led to believe that it was just Messrs. Lewis and Clark and that they were joined by a Native American young woman, Sacagawea, somewhere along the way.

They spent the winter of 1803-1804 on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River in a collection of huts they built. It was called Camp Debois. Among the supplies they gathered in preparation for their journey were nearly two tons of flour, nearly two tons of salt pork, 50 pounds of coffee, and 100 gallons of whiskey.

Information was gathered from fur traders, and the men were drilled, for this was comparable to a military mission and a chain of command was integral if the expedition had any chance of being successful.

The How

They started out in a keelboat with two large canoes. Lewis was accompanied by a Newfoundland dog named Seaman who reportedly caught squirrels, beaver, and an antelope. They had been told they would encounter numerous nations of “savages” who would not welcome white men. The message they carried was that all the land within sight in all directions belonged to the United States of America.

Seaman proved his worth not only as hunting squirrels for the men to eat, but also as a guard dog. There were instances when Seaman scared off an angry buffalo and even kept grisly bears at bay.

On November 15, 1805, Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River in present-day Washington. That was one year, six months, and one days after they began their journey.

What they did not find

They did not find a waterway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific.

What they found

What they found was the Great Plains, the majestic Rocky Mountains, unknown plants and animals, and native peoples who were curious about them and not hostile as had been expected.

They found the kindness of strangers.

Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash

They found a native woman named Sacagawea who would guide them and save their very lives.

They found a vast and wondrous land that none of them could have imagined.

Photo of the flat Great Plains landscape with an angry black cloud looming with a bolt of lightning striking the ground — Photo by Greg Johnson on Unsplash

They found a vast land of unlimited promise.

The documentation they brought to President Jefferson

President Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark and their crew off with explicit instructions as to record keeping. Jefferson even devised a complicated code matrix they were to use if they needed to try to send secret messages back to Washington.

They were to record in great detail the geography; animals; soil; crops; natural plants; minerals; and human inhabitants and their languages, populations, food, clothing, religions, and their interest in commerce.

Journals were kept, along with meticulous records of what they saw that would be of scientific and future exploration benefit.

The completion of the expedition

The Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis at noon on September 23, 1806. Lewis immediately wrote a long letter to President Jefferson informing him of their return and that they had indeed reached the Pacific Ocean, although not by water the entire way. Included in the letter was the news that instead of taking half a day to cross the western Continental Divide, it had involved crossing 60 miles of treacherous snow-covered mountains.

Since my last blog post

I had the privilege of telling the 37 members of the Leadership Cabarrus Class of 2025 about the history of Harrisburg last Tuesday. Organized by Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, it was an interesting group of people from various walks of life who are relative newcomers to Cabarrus County. I was allotted 20 minutes to give them the highlights of Harrisburg’s rich history.

I’m not much of a public speaker, but I went through my two local history books, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2 and made notes from some of the highlights I thought would be of interest to the group. It was a congenial group and I enjoyed the experience. It had been a couple of years since I had spoken to a large group of people.

Until my next blog post

As always, I hope you have a good book to read.

Make time for friends and family.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine, as another harsh winter is approaching.

Janet

Who says you can’t go home again? Revisiting a university campus

When I was a freshman at Appalachian State University in 1971, there were 7,800 students. Before I graduated four years later, the university chancellor had announced that enrollment would be permanently capped at 10,000.

Fast forward to the 2024-2025 academic year, and Appalachian has more than 21,000 students. I visited the campus last week, and I can testify to that!

View of Rich Mountain from Appalachian State University Campus

The campus is in a valley at the foot of beautiful Rich Mountain and Howard’s Knob. It’s where Daniel Boone camped sometimes and the mountain is supposedly named for one of his friends with the surname Rich.

Photo of outside of Belk Library and Information Commons — A view of Belk Library and Information Commons

My sister and I were treated to a tour of Belk Library and Information Commons during our visit last week. Marie, being a Library Science major alum of ASU, she was particularly interested to see the great leaps in technology the library offers since her student days there in the mid-1960s.

Photo of lobby at main entrance to Belk Library and Information Center — Lobby at main entrance to Belk Library and Information Center

3-D printers in the library’s Makerspace

Photo of statue of little boy lying on his stomach and reading Jack Tales — Statue outside library. The little boy is reading Jack Tales.

The library where I spent many hours reading materials that various professors would put on reserve there for on-site-only reading has been converted to classrooms.

Anne Belk Hall (formerly, Belk Library in the 1970s

The building where I majored in Political Science in the 1970s has been replaced by one of many parking decks on campus. Parking decks weren’t needed when my sister and I were students. Very few students could afford to have a car. We walked everywhere we went and thought nothing of it, since none of our friends had a car.

All four of the dormitories I lived in while a student are still there – even East Residence Hall, which I suppose is now the oldest dormitory on campus.

Whereas almost all students back in the day lived in dormitories, most of them now live in apartments. The town of Boone is covered in apartments and restaurants, and much of the old charm of the college town is gone. In the 1960s and 1970s, all the students were on a meal plan and ate in the cafeteria. There was no money for eating out except for the occasional going in together in the dorm on a Saturday night and ordering a pizza.

When someone in the dorm had a birthday, their friends would chip in and buy a square Pepperidge Farms cake at the Winn-Dixie just off campus.

The downtown Boone business district hasn’t changed as much as the campus and the rest of the town in 50 years. Mast General Store still beckons shoppers and The Appalachian movie theater has been refurbished and still offers students and the public the latest in movies as well as other cultural programs. I doubt admission is still 50 cents, though.

My favorite memory of The Appalachian Theater was going to see “Dr. Zhivago” there for 50 cents and having to sit on the front row. Talk about feeling like you are in the middle of the action! (And in the middle of a blizzard in Russia!)

The student infirmary where I worked the night shift on Fridays and Saturdays my last three months on campus was in the former hospital. The nurse I worked with was very compassionate. We were rarely very busy. If we had no patients coming in by around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., she would let me take a nap. It wasn’t easy to sleep, though, because the pipes carrying the heat from the campus heat plant to the radiators were constantly banging above my head.

When my shift ended 7:00 a.m. I would trudge through the snow to my dorm where I would immediately fall into bed. Minimum wage was around $2.00 an hour then, but that $32 I made on those 10 to 12 weekends was a Godsend and helped me start socking away money to pay for graduate school.

The Daniel Boone Inn still draws crowds of repeat diners for family-style old-time country and mountain cooking. I couldn’t afford to eat there as a student, but my friends took me out for dinner there on my last Saturday on campus at the end of winter quarter in 1975. We enjoyed a huge meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, country ham, green beans, corn, slaw, stewed apples, and cornbread as we watched snow falling outside.

I wrapped up all the leftover fried chicken on the serving platter and took it to the student infirmary when I went there to work at 11:00 that night. It was, of course, my last night to work there. The nurse I worked with and I would drool over the Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials on our little black-and-white TV every weekend night, so I thought it was apropos for me to take fried chicken for the two of us to munch on that night. The joke was on both of us, as she showed up that night with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken! We ate chicken until we were about to explode! What memories!

I didn’t get to eat at the Daniel Boone Inn last week. At this point in my life, I just don’t need to pig-out on so much food. But I have the memories of that night in 1975 with my friends, the nurse at the infirmary, and all that fried chicken!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. I’ve read some good ones already this month!

If you haven’t already purchased a copy, I invite you to buy The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the vintage postcard book I wrote for Arcadia Publishing. If you’ve spent time in the Appalachian mountains, no doubt these postcards will trigger some memories for you. The book is available as an e-book and in paperback from Amazon.

Make time for friends and family, and make sure they all have a copy of my book!

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine.

Janet

#OnThisDay: U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1957

When I think of the Civil Rights Act, I think of the one in 1964, but it was in 1957 that the first major civil rights bill was passed by Congress since the Reconstruction Era following the American Civil War.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 went into effect 67 years ago today on September 9, 1957.

Photo of black and white Americans marching with protest signs demanding voting rights and an end to police brutality — Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

What it did, in a nutshell

It made it a federal crime to try to prevent someone from voting.

It created the Civil Rights Commission in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government.

It created the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

What led up to this Act

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation was illegal in public schools. Change was slow to come.

Nine black students volunteered to desegregate the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were met with the National Guard, which had been called out by Governor Orval Faubus, and an angry mob. Two weeks later the nine students, who became known as the Little Rock Nine, tried again to gain entrance to the school. They were able to enter the school but had to be removed for their safety.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troop to escort the nine students to and from class at the school. The publicity of the troubles at Little Rock helped bring the issue of racial desegregation and voting rights to a head.

President Eisenhower pressured Congress to enact civil rights legislation. The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

The wheels of justice turn slowly

We all know that deep-rooted cultural and racial prejudices are slow to change. It would be the late 1960s before true racial desegregation would be accomplished across the United States. For example, the county in which I live in North Carolina instituted voluntary school desegregation in 1965. The following school year, it was mandatory.

And it was, no doubt, that long before all black citizens felt safe to go their polling places to cast their ballots. I can’t help but think some of them do not yet feel completely safe.

And in 2024, a presidential election year, there are still threats – spoken and unspoken — and insidious state laws making it more difficult for citizens to vote when we should be making it easier. The false accusations of voter fraud have resulted in many state legislatures enacting numerous new restrictions to allegedly fix a problem that does not exist.

Until my next blog post

I hope you’re reading a good book!

Make time for friends and family.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine.

Janet

Books I Read in August 2024

After not finding anything that grabbed my attention enough to finish reading it in July, it was refreshing to get back into reading in August. My interests are varied, as you will see by the four books I read last month.

Simple Pleasures: Haiku from The Place Just Right, by Elizabeth Gauffreau

This is a wonderful collection of 53 haiku! If you aren’t familiar with the haiku form of poetry, this book by Elizabeth Gauffreau would be the perfect introduction for you.

Elizabeth writes in the haiku form of five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line. Haiku is defined by syllables and a precise choosing of words, but that is not the essence of the art form.

As I understand it, — and I’m no authority — the essence of haiku is the creation of a compact choice of words that convey a feast for the senses. As a writer, I am always taken aback when I read haiku. I marvel at how eloquently and concisely a complete idea or image is written by the poet.

In Simple Pleasures: Haiku from The Place Just Right, Elizabaeth Gauffreau pairs each poem with a photograph from New England, so the book gives the bonus of specific places and images important to the poet. The reader can see what types of places in nature inspire Elizabeth in her writing.

This is a book I will read over and over. It is the perfect book to sit down with when you need a few minutes to relax or calm down after a trying experience. You can read the book in one sitting, or you can read it one poem at a time. Either way, you will savor the gift that it is.

The Girls We Sent Away, by Meagan Church

Switching gears from the calming effects of haiku, The Girls We Sent Away, by Meagan Church, does not deal with a pleasant topic. It is about how in mid-20^th-century America, unwed girls who became pregnant were often “sent away” to homes for unwed mothers.

The stigma attached to such events in the 1950s and 1960s was something that middle-class Americans could not deal with. Such girls were hidden away at home or, in many cases including the protagonist in this novel, quietly sent away to facilities just for such situations.

In this novel, Lorraine Delford aspired to be an astronaut in the early days of space exploration. She had the intelligence to do it. She was on track to be the valedictorian of her high school class when all that was shattered.

Lorraine finds herself in the predicament of getting pregnant, being abandoned by the boyfriend, and devastatingly abandoned by her parents. She goes from being the apple of her parents’ eye to being a source of great shame and embarrassment.

Lorraine is hidden away at home until arrangements can be made for her to move into a facility for unwed mothers. All life choices are now made by her parents and the authorities in charge of the dormitory-type home.

She is given little information about what will happen there, and even less information about what her life will be like. She has no say in what happens to her baby. She knows from what happens to other girls that as soon as she has her baby she will disappear without having the chance to say goodbye to her friends.

This book takes Lorraine through the whole process and into her return home to her parents. It is then that she discovers a deep, dark secret her parents have kept from her for her entire life. That secret changes everything.

Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, by Whoopi Goldberg

Photo of front cover of Whoopie Goldberg's memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me — *Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me*, by
Whoopie Goldberg

As a rule, I don’t follow the lives of celebrities. I don’t care about the ins and outs of their lives, unless it is to learn about their philanthropic endeavors. It’s nice to see someone with wealth using it to help less fortunate people or using it to save the planet and its wildlife.

Whoopie Goldberg is an interesting person. She and I are close in age. I have enjoyed her acting and I agree with a lot of her political views. I checked out her memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, to learn more about her background. Although contemporaries in age, I knew that she and I had very different childhoods.

In this book, Whoopie pulls no punches. She lays out many of the details of her life with frankness that many others would shy away from. She and her brother were very close. She knew he always had her back – as children and as adults.

Their mother was an extraordinary person, to say the least. Raising two children on her own was no easy task in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s, but she worked hard and made sure her children took advantage of every available opportunity for educational and cultural experiences.

Whoopie’s mother and brother have died, so Whoopie is left with a gigantic hole in her heart. They were the two people on Earth who knew her as well as she knew herself. This book conveys to the reader to never limit yourself or those around you. It also conveys to never take for granted the loved ones in your life, for they can be gone in an instant.

Hebrides, by Peter May

This is a fantastic picture book about the Hebrides off the northwestern coast of mainland Scotland. I have visited several islands in the Outer Hebrides and Inner Hebrides, and the gorgeous photographs and detailed descriptions in this book transported me right back there!

Readers might be familiar with the mystery novels written by Peter May. This is the same Peter May. He now lives in the Outer Hebrides, and this book leaves no doubt about his love for the islands.

The Hebrides are sparsely-populated with scatterings of communities among the massive peat bogs from which residents get most of the fuel for heating their homes and for cooking. Here and there along the rugged coast are pristine beaches. The waters of the Atlantic and The Minch are as clear as tap water. You will usually have a beach area all to yourself.

The area is so far north that in the middle of summer there are almost no hours of darkness, which makes for a tourist’s paradise. It’s not easy to get there. You don’t accidentally find yourself on the Isle of Lewis! But the effort is worth it if you seek a quiet place where the people are kind, soft-spoken in their Scottish lilt and their native Gaelic tongue, and the pace is somewhat slow. There are no crowded highways and no chain fast-food restaurants.

It is a spectacular corner of the world, and I will be forever blessed by having spent some time there. If you are planning a trip there or know that you will never get there, I recommend Hebrides, by Peter May to whet your appetite or to make you feel as if you have visited the islands.

P.S. Be sure and pack a heavy jacket, even if you’re going in July or August!

Until my next blog post

Be sure to visit my website: janetmorrisonbooks.com and subscribe to my e-Newsletter. The September issue will be coming out this week. I don’t want you to miss reading about my “field trip” last week to Swannanoa Gap in the mountains of North Carolina where I learned about the construction of the Western North Carolina Railroad in the 1870s.

I hope you have a good book to read.

Hold your family and friends close.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

#OnThisDay: 19th Amendment to U.S. Constitution, 1920

The 19^th Amendment: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

It was 104 years ago today that women in the United States finally got the right to vote. The year 1920 might seem like ancient history to some of you, but I always think of it in terms of my mother having her eighth birthday that autumn.

Early- to mid-1800s

Women getting the right to vote came after a long, hard fight. In the early- and mid-1800s, women advocated for the abolition of slavery. Their speeches evolved into words in support of women’s suffrage. Two such women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, organized a women’s suffrage convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

Sojourner Truth and Sarah Redmond, two former slaves – who could not vote because of their race and their gender – organized women’s suffrage conventions. Slowly, it was becoming more of a public issue of discussion.

Post American Civil War/Reconstruction Era

The State of Michigan allowed women to vote in school board elections after the Civil War.

With the passage of Reconstruction Era U.S Constitutional Amendments granting black men the right to vote came contentious political and public discourse because it brought to the forefront that women still could not vote. As a result of their disfavor with women still not being granted the right to vote, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton left the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which they had founded in 1866, and formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869. Later that year, women who thought it more plausible to push for women’s suffrage by getting it adopted state-by-state formed the American Women Suffrage Association.

The Territory of Wyoming (it was not yet a state) granted women full voting rights in 1869. The Territory of Utah followed Wyoming in 1870, but Congress took that right away in 1887.

Photo of an "I Voted" sticker on a woman's finger — Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

Virginia Minor of Missouri, after being denied the right to vote in 1872, took her complaint to the U.S. Supreme Court. Minor maintained that the 14^th Amendment gave her the right to vote because it stated that “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”

In a classic example of the high court going by the “letter of the law” instead of taking a more pragmatic stance, the Court, in its majority decision in Minor v Happersett, said that the right to vote was not a necessary privilege of citizenship because it was not a right included when the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788.

The “bottom line” of this decision was that states did indeed have the authority to deny women the right to vote. Let that sink in for a few minutes.

Late 1800s

In 1878 and again in 1887, there were efforts in Congress to introduce a women’s suffrage amendment, but they failed.

The AERA and NWSA merged in 1890, but some of the leaders worked to exclude black women from participating in events. In 1896, the black women formed the National Association of Colored Women to advocate for women’s voting rights along with other issues that were important to women of color.

Photo of a woman putting her ballot in the voting box — Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

In 1896, the Constitution of the State of Utah once again gave female citizens the right to vote.

1910s

By 1916, 11 western states had granted women the right to vote, but petitions to Congress and litigation in federal courts repeatedly came up short. In the election in Montana that year, Jeannette Rankin was elected to Congress. She was the first women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The joint resolution to propose a women’s suffrage amendment (See the 1878 and 1887 references above) was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1917 – thirty years after it had last been shot down. Proponents of states’ rights argued that the passage of such an Amendment would interfere with each state’s authority to dictate the composition of its electorate and that it would also disrupt the traditional family. Some lawmakers opposed it because they feared it would give black women the right to vote.

(Does anything about the states’ rights argument sound familiar? The current U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 conveniently decided to give states the authority to pass laws about women’s health.)

Photo of turn of the 20th century women — Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

The opposition was narrowly defeated as a two-thirds majority voted to pass the proposed Amendment on January 10, 1918. The Senate debated the joint resolution for months with many of the same arguments that had been overcome in the House. President Woodrow Wilson spoke in favor of the Amendment on October 31, 1918, citing the contributions women had made on the home front during World War I.

The following day, the resolution was defeated in the Senate. It failed again in the Senate on February 10, 1919. But President Wilson called a special session of Congress in May 1919. The House passed the 19^th Amendment on May 21, 1919, and it was approved by the Senate on June 4, 1919.

During World War I, some of the views of gender roles in the country began to change as women took on many of the jobs that had earlier been considered men’s work. The 19^th Amendment was proposed in Congress in June 1919.

August 26, 1920

It took 14 months for a three-fourths majority of states to accept the 19^th Amendment. It was ratified on August 18, 1920 and on August 26, 1920, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified that the Amendment had been ratified.

Photo of "I Voted" stickers — Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Obstacles such as poll taxes and literacy tests continued to prevent many black women and other females of color from voting until the 24^th Amendment was ratified in 1964 and enforced by the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Since my last blog post

I’ve been reading several books, pushing myself to do some yard work, and watching some online videos about the craft of writing. I’m motivated to get back to work on my novel!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

Don’t take your family for granted.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

#OnThisDay: The USS Constitution Engaged the British, 1812

Have you ever been to Boston Harbor to see the USS Constitution? It is the world’s oldest warship that is still afloat and can operate under its own power.

The *USS Constitution*
Photo by Catherine Kerr on Unsplash

One of six ships commissioned in 1794 by the United States, it was built in Boston in 1797. The three-masted wooden war ship was nicknamed “Old Ironsides.”

Why did I blog about the USS Constitution today?

Today is the 212^th anniversary of the first time the USS Constitution engaged in battle against a British warship. That ship was the HMS Guerriere.

Just the facts, ma’am

In researching today’s topic, I found the website for Naval History and Heritage Command (https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/original-frigates/uss-constitution-americas-ship-of-state/background-for-media/fact-sheet.html ) and I recommend it if you are interested in some of the minute details of the USS Constitution. On that site you will find the ship’s measurements and many details that mean little to me because I know almost nothing about ships.

I few of the facts grabbed my attention, though. I had no idea how large the USS Constitution is. It boggles my mind to think of some of the ship’s statistics considering it was built in the late 18^th century.

For instance, it is 305 feet long! That’s a little more than the length of an American football field. Its main mast is now 172 feet tall. It has 48 sails, which is equal to an acre of canvas.

The *USS Constitution* with Boston in the background.
Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash

In 1812, the crew of the USS Constitution was more than 405 sailors and marines. What surprised me the most, though, was that today it has a crew of three officers and more than 85 enlisted U.S. Navy men and women.

Since my last blog post

We continue to have a lot of rain in the southern piedmont of North Carolina. We have a rain gauge in our yard. From July 12 through August 12 we had a little more than 16 inches of rain! We have some beautiful green moss and a variety of colorful mushrooms in our yard. I wish we could send some of this rain to put out some wild fires in the western states.

School started in the county in which I live last Tuesday, which served as a rude awakening for me that the summer months are flying by much faster than I would like.

Until my next blog post

I hope you are reading a good book that you’re eager to get back to when you finish reading my blog post.

Spend time with friends and family.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

If you’ve ever visited the USS Constitution, I’d love to hear what your memories are. What about it impressed or surprised you the most?

Janet

This Week in History: 1945

I could not get excited about writing about the August 12, 1898 US annexation of Hawaii for today’s blog post. (I could get excited about Hawaii’s statehood, which happened in my childhood, but its annexation as a territory? Not so much.)

I couldn’t muster the energy to do enough research to write 500 or 1,000 words about the annexation of Hawaii, and I doubted if my blog readers were interested enough to read about it. (If I’m wrong, feel free to look it up.)

In the big scheme of things, the events of the week of August 6-15, 1945 were more momentous than what happened about Hawaii in 1898.

It occurred to me that the 79^th anniversaries of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, and the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945 have barely been mentioned in the United States this week.

The famous bomb dome in Hiroshima. Photo by Griffin Quinn on Unsplash

I watch some programming on a TV station in Tokyo. The news and other programming are available via the public TV system here in metro Charlotte. The dates of the atomic bombs are marked in Japan with solemn government-sponsored gatherings and, no doubt, by many private gatherings and individuals.

The horror is remembered by the Japanese people, but the overriding theme of the coverage I have seen over the last week is peace. The Japanese people know first-hand the horrors of nuclear war, and they are adamant that such weapons should never be used again.

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash

The dropping of those atomic bombs were horrific events in which hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed, maimed, severely burned, orphaned, or doomed for various health maladies for the rest of their lives.

It has been said that those bombs resulted in the almost immediate surrender of Japan, thus ending World War II and ultimately saving more lives than they took. I guess we will never know the truth of that reasoning and justification.

I imagine the people who are old enough to remember the events of that week – whether they live in Japan, the United States, or other countries involved in the war in the Pacific Theater — are puzzled over the fact that the world is taking little notice of this week’s 79^th anniversaries.

I suppose there will come a time when September 11 will be just another day in the United States. The Americans who were young children or who were born after September 11, 2001, cannot possibly think of that day the way it is forever etched in my memory.

Life goes on. Events are forgotten. To those of us born after 1945, that year seems like ancient history. That’s just human nature. I was born in the United States in 1953, so I grew up with no concept of what life was like during World War II. But that does not excuse me if I don’t stop and think about the events of 79 years ago.

I owe it to my parents, my aunts and uncles, and even my oldest first cousins – all of whom are dead – to remember the sacrifices they made during World War II, their military service, their work to help build military planes, and their courage to hold things together on the home front – all while not knowing when or how the war would end and not knowing which of their loved ones or friends would not come home.

Since my blog post last Monday

I am feeling better than when I penned my August 5 blog post. I was discouraged by an illness which has taken much from me. However, I have been bolstered by the outpouring of concern I have received from many of my readers. Each day has been better than the one before. I’ve even been able to listen to an entire novel and enjoy it!

Thank you for your support and encouraging words. I always come out of these slumps and return to my “normal,” but each time I experience a relapse I can’t help but wonder if I will come out of it.

Since my last blog post

I hope you got a chance to read my reblogging on Friday of a blog post about Elizabeth Graffreau’s new book, Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right. It was my first attempt at reblogging.

Until my next blog post

Take a few minutes to think about the events of this week in 1945. Let’s continue to give diplomacy and peace a chance.

Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima Photo by sabari nathan on Unsplash

I hope you have a good book to read. I am easing back into reading this month, for which I am grateful.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

We get by with a little help from our fellow bloggers!

Simple Pleasures Blog Tour: Day #1

Liz Gauffreau is a blogger friend of mine. This week she launched her new book, Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right. It is a collection of 53 of her original haiku. Each one is paired with a photograph from her love of nature and the world’s beauty.

If you aren’t familiar with haiku, please give this concise form of poetry a try.

You will find Liz’s book to be calming, refreshing, and thought-provoking. It will transport you to another place where you can sit quietly, take a deep breath, and relax.

This is the first time I’ve ever tried to reblog another blogger’s post, so Liz and Joy, I hope this works!

Janet

A Different Kind of “First-Blog-Post-of-the-Month” Blog Post

If you read my blog last week (A Lost Art) or my July e-newsletter, you know I have been decluttering this summer. I have reached an age at which I have realized that I’m not going to live forever and I really don’t want to leave my heirs a massive mess to deal with when I’m gone or incapacitated. Hence… it is time to declutter and part with many of the things, assorted memorabilia, pieces of paper, nice magazines, photographs, and even some of the books I never should have kept in the first place.

It’s time to let someone else get joy from some of my things by taking them to the thrift shop or donating them for a yard sale an organization is holding. It’s time for the recycling center to turn some of them into recycled paper. It is time for the landfill (my least favorite choice) to accept the rest.

In my first blog post of the month, I almost always write about the books I read the previous month. That is not what today’s post is about.

I started reading three or four books in July, but none of them grabbed my interest enough for me to drop everything else and finish reading them. Do you ever have times like that? When nothing feels quite right? When even favorite authors’ newest releases just fall flat?

The entire month of July was like that for me and August has begun in the same way.

Decluttering is exhausting for everyone. Looking at every item and every piece of paper and deciding whether to keep it or let it go is tedious and time consuming. I once again live in the house my parents built when I was seven years old. It is easy for things to accumulate in 64 years!

But that’s not the whole story. In fact, it is just a by-product of the root of the problem.

Some of the challenges of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Due to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, I always have trouble remembering the details of what I just read… and sometimes it is worse than others. I am in one of those worse times now. When it hits, it is unsettling at best and devastating at its worst.

Every time I have experienced this in the 37 years I’ve dealt with this illness, it feels like I will never feel any better than I do at the moment. Perhaps this is the time that I stay stuck forever in the brain fog and debilitating fatigue in which I struggle to put one foot in front of the other. That is the state in which I find myself as I put the finishing touches on this blog post.

As described by the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis vary from one person to another and from one time to another for each individual. Physical and mental activity worsen the person’s fatigue, and rest does not lessen the symptoms.

After 37 years, I no long remember what refreshing sleep feels like. I have very active dreams and my body can’t seem to distinguish between dreamt activity and actual activity. Therefore, I always wake up more exhausted than when I went to sleep. I have to ease into my day and mornings are not good for me.

That makes no sense to someone who has not experienced it, but it is the best way I know to describe my life. As with any other person dealing with a chronic illness, I have to push through each day and do the best I can. This is my life, and I choose to make the best of it.

Part of my brain tells me that I will not stay in this slump forever, so I will hang onto that thought. I have to.

I chose to use the more accurate name for this little-understood syndrome in today’s post rather than my usual use of the American term for it, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). That name is degrading to the people who deal with the illness as patients or as medical professionals. It belittles the illness and the patients. It brings on comments like, “I’m tired, too.” Comments like that only serve to make the patient feel less valued as a human being. The CFS moniker for such an all-consuming illness is tantamount to the early name of Multiple Sclerosis: Malingerers Disease.

What did I try to read in July?

One book that I just didn’t have the mental energy for was Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, by retired US Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer. It is a very detailed book about a deep subject. The political scientist in me wanted to read it, but I was too tired to give it the time and concentration it needed. Mr. Breyer is very good at explaining laws and concepts in understandable language.

A political thriller I enjoyed but didn’t have time to finish before it had to be returned to the public library was Phantom Orbit, by David Ignatius. I have enjoyed all of Ignatius’ novels. I’m on the waitlist to check it out again.

Until my next blog post

If you tuned in today eager to see what I read last month, I apologize. If I can snap out of this mental fog, I will blog about the books I read in August in my blog post the first Monday in September 2.

Until then, I hope you have a good book to read.

My planned topic for next week’s blog post is the anniversary of the United States’ annexation of Hawaii as a territory in 1898. Time will tell if I am able to do the necessary research on that subject over the next seven days. If not, I hope to return to the blogosphere in the near future.

And please remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

A Lost Art

How many of us take the time or even think about handwriting a letter today? It has been so long since I handwrote more than a brief thank-you note, I honestly cannot remember. It is easier to text, email, or type a letter on the computer and print it.

I mentioned in my July e-newsletter that I have been decluttering. I have attempted this chore many times in the past with limited success; however, I am on a tear this time.

I should have taken “before” and “after” pictures. I should have weighed how much stuff I donated to the thrift shop. I should have weighed the two recycle bins that were so heavy with paper and magazines that I could scarcely push them out to the road for pick up. I should have weighed the countless bags of trash. I shredded old documents until I thought our paper shredder would start to smoke.

My parents were in college when The Great Depression began. They had to make their way in this world on little money and no luxuries. Their background meant they instilled in me the value of a dollar and one should never throw away anything because “you might need it or be able to use it later.”

I am once again living in the house they built in 1960, so there are many boxes and closet shelves to go through now.

It is a freeing experience to unburden oneself from the accumulation of stuff. As I blogged about on July 1, 2024 ( Books read in June 2024), I was inspired by reading Stop Buying Bins & Other Blunt but Practical Advice from a Home Organizer, by Bonnie Borromeo Tomlinson.

I’m not saying this is the end-all be-all book about decluttering, downsizing, or rightsizing. All I know is that it was the right book for me at the right time.

One unexpected benefit or result of my current decluttering binge was the rediscovery of handwritten letters. If you have lost a parent and had a good relationship with that person, you have probably felt that tug on your heart when you come across something in their handwriting.

Perhaps you found a recipe your mother wrote on an index card or scrap of paper. Perhaps it was nothing more than your father’s signature on a document. My father was a structural steel draftsman, so he usually printed. I can readily recognize his precise printing, whether it be on a blueprint or genealogy notes he made, but it is special when I find his signature because it, of course, is in cursive.

In going through decades of stuff this summer, I have come across birthday cards signed by my parents, various aunts and uncles, and dear childhood friends who are no longer with us. Some have brought a lump to my throat and a sting to my eyes as tears begin to form. Those cards are set aside and not yet tossed in the trash or recycle bin. Someday that’s where they’ll land, but not today.

The lost art I referenced in today’s blog title is the handwritten letter. I have found many of the letters my mother wrote to me while I was away in college and in my early 20s when I found employment several hours from home. I was struck by the contrast between that time in the 1970s and early 1980s as compared to today.

Today parents text or call their children who are in college or have otherwise left home and struck out to make their way in the world. They think nothing of making that phone call or sending that text. When I was in college and during my young adult years it was expensive to call “long distance.” You had to have a very good reason for calling home when I was in college.

There was one telephone on the wall in the hallway in my freshman dorm. I knew if I received a call from my parents, it was probably to relay bad news or something that couldn’t wait two or three days for them to tell me in a letter. And there were no long conversations because every minute cost money.

I am so glad that’s the way it was because it means today I can reread all those letters my mother wrote. Today’s college students and young adults will not have such tangible memorabilia.

Several years ago, my sister and I helped a friend organize in archival binders and archival sleeves the letters he and his wife wrote to one another while he was in the military service as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War. He will turn 100 years old in October. He calls occasionally to thank us again for what we did. He lives alone and the days and nights are lonely. He says he finds great comfort and joy in opening those binders and reading those letters.

We have photocopies of portions of letters one of our great-grandfathers wrote to his parents and sister while he was serving in the military during the American Civil War. How valuable those letters are to us!

While going through a box of papers last week, I came across a typewritten letter from my eldest first cousin from some 30 years ago. She was much older than I. In that letter, she shared some recollections of her mother’s. (Her mother was my father’s eldest sister and was 14 years older than he.) I had forgotten about the letter, so it was new and fresh as I read it last week.

From the letter I learned that my grandmother won prizes for her jams, jellies, canned fruits, eggs, and Rhode Island chickens. Since my grandmother died 23 years before I was born, I never knew her. However, that one sentence in my cousin’s letter gave me a beautiful glimpse into my grandmother’s life that I would not have known otherwise.

It is nice today that we can call a friend or relative and hear their voice, but in the process of making our communications so easy and instant we have lost the art of letter writing.

Do you still write letters to loved ones and friends who live faraway? Do you still have letters you have received?

For now, I’m holding on to those letters from my mother. The day might come when I’m ready to part with them, but today is not that day.

Until my next blog post

Is there someone who would appreciate a hand-written note or letter from you this week?

I will continue to go through boxes and closets and the basement. This decluttering/rightsizing thing isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. I have only just begun!

I hope to get back to work on my Seasonal Affective Disorder devotional book this week.

I hope you have a good book to read.

Don’t forgot the people of Ukraine.

Janet

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