Here’s a passage from “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains” by Isabella Bird, who traveled through Colorado in 1873. “…we entered a long gulch with broad swellings of grass belted with pines. “A very pretty mare, hobbled, was feeding; a collie dog barked at us, and among the scrub, […]

Here are two classified advertisements from the Washington, D.C. newpapers in the year 1842: “Ran away, a negro named Arthur. Had a considerable scar across his breast and each arm, made by a knife; loves to talk much of the goodness of God” “Ran away, a negro woman and two […]

I’ve been re-rereading A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird about her trip to Colorado in 1873 and I am constant struck by the power of her descriptions. She’s the only writer I’ve ever read who uses the word “empurpled.” She doesn’t just see a horse, she […]

I picked up a book called The Revolutionary Age of Andrew Jackson by Robert V. Remini which I read in the sauna at the gym. It profiles all the picturesque characters of the age: Martin Van Buren (the Little Magician), Henry Clay (Harry of the West), James Calhoun (the Cast […]

If you have a fifth-grader, or if you teach fifth grade, chances are you’ve read Holes by Louis Sachar, or at least seen the movie. I read it while substitute teaching in fifth-grade classrooms, and watched the movie when one teacher left it as a treat for the class. But […]

Continuing with the fun I had reading Tony Ellis’ book Walking to Canterbury. It’s a lot of scholarship about Chaucer and the Middle Ages interspersed with his account of his walk from London to Canterbury and the people he meets. In his discussion of the Monk’s Tale, he points out […]

In his book Walking to Canterbury, mentioned in the last entry, Tony Ellis mixes a lot of interesting information about the Middle Ages in with his account of his walk from London to Canterbury to the shrine of the martyr Thomas Becket. In his discussion of “The Nun’s Tale” in […]

I’ve been really wrapped up in Tony Ellis’ book Walking to Canterbury. At first I thumbed through it and read little snippets. Then I read the whole thing. Ellis has written another book about walking 900 miles from Oklahoma to Alabama retracing, in reverse the “Trail of Tears” traveled by […]

You probably know the old expression, “I trust my mother, but I cut the cards.” Well I’m a subscriber to that philosophy. We have a no gifts rule this Christmas, but my mom is already cheating. I just received a box of oranges and grapefruits from Florida and a year’s […]

My friend David is having some difficulty with his neighbors. They’re trying to take the farm his grandfather bought back in 1916 where his family has lived for three generations. His father and grandfather always told him how important the land was for their family, and he’s determined to hang […]