Etymology in Historical Fiction: Suffragists v. Suffragettes
My first exposure to the term “suffragette” was in the song “Sister Suffragette” in the Mary Poppins movie, which I saw when I was eight or nine. I can still see Glynis Johns strutting through her front hall as she sang “Cast off the shackles of yesterday!Shoulder to shoulder into the fray!Our daughters’ daughters will […]
Random Photo: A Kitten in Corvallis
As I looked through the photographs my father digitized, I came across this picture of my brother and me. I’ve seen it many times before, but this time I noticed my brother is holding a kitten. I’m pretty sure this is the cat we owned in Corvallis, Oregon. We don’t have many pictures of her, […]
Easter 2009—Playing Tourist in New Orleans
Last weekend was Easter, and I reminisced about past Easter vacations. We took many vacations when our children were in school and their spring break coincided with Easter. But as I reminisced, one adult Easter vacation came to mind—in 2009, my husband and I went to New Orleans to visit our daughter who was at […]
Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go
There’s an old nursery rhyme that attributes character traits (or fortunes—the interpretation varies) to children born on each day of the week: Monday’s child is fair of face,Tuesday’s child is full of grace,Wednesday’s child is full of woe,Thursday’s child has far to go,Friday’s child is loving and giving,Saturday’s child works hard for a living,And the […]
Can ChatGPT (or Any Other AI System) Write a Novel?
ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) programs are the subject of many media articles and much discussion in the writing community. Some writers see the possibility of AI programs helping them to research and draft. Other writers are appalled that AI programs develop their knowledge base and fluency with language by perusing vast volumes of […]
Early History of Portland, Oregon
I mentioned in an earlier post that my next novel will deal with the development of railroads in Oregon, probably in the early 1870s. I also think I will set much of the book in Portland, Oregon, which by this time had become the predominant city in Oregon, far outpacing the original development around Oregon […]
Did You Know Alexa Can Read Kindle Books?
A few months ago, I installed several Amazon Alexa devices to make our home “smart”. We have Google Pixel phones, so maybe I should have installed Google Nest devices, but Amazon offered a good deal on some Alexa Echo Dot and Echo Show devices, so I bought those. We are now a mixed media home. […]
Three Generations of Dogs and Babies
When I was born, my parents owned a dog named Punky. I’ve seen pictures of Punky in the past, but I don’t think I have any photos of her at this point. Punky had a short life in their household. My parents got her sometime after their honeymoon, then I came along nine months and […]
Time With My Granddaughter
I was able to travel to meet my new granddaughter a couple of weeks ago. During my visit, I think I avoided the “where’s that baby?” syndrome I wrote about recently. I tried to help with household chores as much as with tending the baby. But I did do lots of baby-cuddling during the week […]
Railroad Development in Oregon
The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, linking California to the Eastern United States. But it took many more years for Oregon to become a part of the national railroad network. I wrote in an earlier post about Byron Pengra, who started a military road in Oregon in 1864, intending to build a railroad along […]