Happy Mother's Day!

 

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I found myself thinking about where the holiday actually came from. Like many traditions we celebrate today, its beginnings were much quieter and more heartfelt than the modern rush of flowers, greeting cards, and crowded restaurants.

Mother’s Day in the United States officially became a national holiday in 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May a day to honor mothers. But the woman most responsible for creating the holiday was Anna Jarvis of West Virginia.

After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna wanted to create a special day dedicated to honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. Her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, had spent much of her life caring for others, organizing women’s groups, and helping families in need during difficult times. Anna believed mothers deserved recognition not just for grand accomplishments, but for the quiet, everyday love they gave their families.

The first official Mother’s Day celebration was held in a church in Grafton, West Virginia, in

1908. White carnations became associated with the holiday because they had been Anna’s mother’s favorite flower. Before long, the tradition spread across the country.

Ironically, Anna Jarvis later became frustrated with how commercialized Mother’s Day became. She had envisioned handwritten letters, simple visits, and heartfelt gratitude — not expensive gifts or elaborate displays. In many ways, her original idea was beautifully simple: pause for a moment and let mothers know they are loved.

I think there’s something rather sweet about that.

When we look back at earlier generations, mothers and grandmothers often served as the heart of the home. They passed down recipes, stories, traditions, songs, and faith. They mended clothes, comforted children, tended gardens, canned vegetables, and somehow kept families going through both joyful seasons and hard times.

Even now, many of our happiest memories are tied to those small, ordinary moments:
the smell of something baking in the kitchen, a favorite quilt, a handwritten recipe card, or hearing someone say, “Come sit a spell.”

So this weekend, whether you’re celebrating your mother, grandmother, a beloved aunt, or simply remembering someone dear to your heart, I hope you take a little time to honor the women who helped shape your life.

And perhaps Anna Jarvis had the right idea after all.

Sometimes the most meaningful gift is simply letting someone know they mattered.

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Sweet Americana Sweethearts! 

Until Next Time,

Kit

BENT AND FORGOTTEN SAWS--Does anyone even remember the meaning of saw? by Marisa Masterson

 Not once. Not twice, But each person who read my book in advance objected to it! Saw.

It's the word I learned to describe colloquial sayings. Vintage sayings were old saws. How about you? Is that familiar?

These sayings pepper my work in progress. The heroine, Sybil, falls back on them often to express herself. Since it is a piece of historical fiction, I dug for forgotten saws.

It seems an age since I've heard someone say, "Heaven's to Betsy." Who was Betsy, even?

When did someone last tell you not to take any wooden nickels or not to get your knickers in a twist? I believe 'undies in a bunch' replaced that one.

An I found even older sayings, ones I have never heard used. Here is one, 'some pumpkins,' as in people who think they are a big deal. Is that new to you as well? Another is 'not by a jugful'--meant to show something or someone was not a big deal.

I like this one--pine overcoat. Can you guess its meaning? It's a coffin. Or how about 'giggle mug' referring to a person who always smiles? 

These great phrases that capture a different time and place, but there is a problem. Should I use them since they no longer hold meaning for us?

If I do include them in my book, I will weave the meaning into my characters' conversations. Not adding the flavor of that era brought to life by language would be a shame, at least to my way of thinking. 

So, here's to an old chestnut!

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Rigby had a dream job studying plant life in the beautiful Colorado mountains, but when the river turns yellow and the plants start dying, he knows something has gone terribly wrong. Determined to uncover the truth, he heads to the nearby mine to investigate. But what he finds there is chaos and tension bubbling beneath the surface. 

As a professor from New York, Rigby is already a target for the angry miners, and now he must navigate the dangerous waters of a polluted river and a potential marriage to a stranger. Will he be able to protect his beloved mountains and his own future?

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19th-Century Sports for Women: Archery

 

Several years ago, I started a series titled “Entertainers of the West” with the intention of highlighting a different type of nineteenth-century entertainment in each book. While researching potential types, I learned that archery had been popular in England during Victorian times among those women who enjoyed leisure time. For whatever reason, I could never fit that sport into a title for that series.

But when I needed another subject for a novella in “The Bride Who” series, I was reminded about archery (thanks, Zina Abbott). My high school in Northern California offered a six-week rotation of archery in our Physical Education classes. And I loved it—maybe because the sport was one of the various activities where the focus is on the individual’s performance. I was the only one responsible for how well I performed, not like with volleyball, basketball, or field hockey.

So I was thrilled to discover the founding of the National Archery Association fell in the right time period for the series. I researched the heck out of the place where it was founded—Crawfordsville, Indiana—and I started my story there. Because such esoteric facts are interesting to only a few, not many details were given about if the association was open to both males and females. Sometimes, less is better, and because we write fiction, authors make stuff up. Not much more was needed for my creative self to take off with fleshing out my heroine who loved the sport more than she loved the life her parents planned.

Blurb for The Bride Who Shoots Arrows

Mayde Shelley has dutifully followed her parents’ plans—finishing teachers’ seminary and preparing for a respectable post—but her true passion is archery, a pursuit no proper lady should love as fiercely as she does. The opportunity arises for helping an aunt in Colorado, and Mayde seizes the chance for adventure before duty closes in. Life on the McPherson Ranch proves harsher than expected, as does Garek Rowland, a restless horse tamer who’s never stayed anywhere long enough to belong. He’s ready to move on—until he finds Mayde practicing beneath the wide western sky, stubborn, spirited, and everything he’s sworn not to want. But as drought, wildfire, and town gossip threaten the ranch, Mayde must choose between her family’s expectations, her dream of teaching archery, and a man determined not to put down roots.

Amazon link and in KU

My questions to you are, how many of you have done archery at a time in your life? When and where? Did you enjoy it?

Stay in touch with what’s happening in my author life. My thanks for subscribing to my newsletter is the gift of a clean historical romance novella titled Bewitching Gypsy. Click the link  https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ipfc1m6vaw

Gum Blankets in the Civil War - by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

I am not a fan of camping...I'll admit it. My idea of "roughing it" on vacation is a hotel room with Netflix and a hot shower! 

The one and only time we did go was in 1980-something when our children were small and at the invitation from friends. It was the hottest weekend of the summer, and my husband and I shared the top bunkbed in the camper, our noses about eight inches from the ceiling.

We've never gone again.

So, when I was plotting out my newest work in progress set during the Civil War, I had a scene where the MMC offers the FMC protection from a rainstorm. Knowing a blanket or a quilt would get soaked, offering no protection, I did some digging.

Today, we would think of these blankets as a type of tarpaulin, made of plastic to keep moisture from wicking through. In the mid-19th century, plastic was many decades away, and rubber, the top-of-line material for these blankets, was just coming into fashion. Developers in various parts of the world worked on developing rubber so that it would not become brittle at below freezing temperatures or begin to melt and get sticky at higher temperatures.

Civil War soldiers left their homes for camping trips which went on for four long years. Plastic tarps didn't yet exist, but most Union soldiers had a rubber blanket, sometimes called a gum blanket, or poncho with a slit to allow it to be worn over the body in wet weather. Soldiers could use the rubber blankets as ground cloths, or several soldiers to turn rubber blankets into a tent or just put one over the entrance to the tent.

 

The waterproof blankets issued during the Civil War generally had a cloth foundation layer, often cotton duck or muslin, which was then coated on one side with a waterproofing base. While some of these blankets may have been made with varnish, most were rubberized. Manufacturers of rubber blankets began by rubberizing both sides but soon switched to rubberizing only one side of the blanket. This This change kept costs of the blankets down and reduced the weight of items carried by soldiers as they marched from camp to camp or battle to battle, a factor that sometimes meant life or death. There were two variations on the rubber blanket--ponchos, which had a reinforced slit, so they could be put over the head, and simpler blanket, measuring 71 x 44 inches without the slit.

Soldiers were quick to recognize the value of rubber blankets. They would frequently abandon their heavy knapsacks, shedding unnecessary weight, and carrying only a bed roll around what few personal and valuable items they could not bear to be parted from.

The issuance of a rubber blanket to a Union soldier was even used as a recruiting inducement. One regiment in Philadelphia was particularly aggressive in using gum blankets as an inducement to voluntary enlistment by placing a classified advertisement in October 1862.

AVOID THE DRAFT --Join the 157 Regiment, Colonel WM. A.Gray

 Complete outfit, one month's pay in advance, all the bounties and a gum blanket

 Call at No. 627 Chestnut Street

Civil War ground cloths were more than just protective coverings--they were vital tools for soldiers in the field. Whether used for sleeping, sitting, or as part of a shelter, these rubberized blankets provided essential comfort and protection against the elements.

120th Anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake by Zina Abbott

Today, April 18, 2026, is the 120th anniversary of an event that is considered one of the deadliest natural disasters to strike California—the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. 

Map of destroyed section San Francisco, 1906

This earthquake began on a Wednesday morning at 5:12a.m. local time when many were still in bed and others were starting to prepare for their workday. The main shaking lasted forty to sixty seconds—long for an earthquake in this state. Between the destruction to buildings caused by the quake itself and the fires that followed, over eighty percent of San Francisco was destroyed, and 200,000 people were left homeless. 3,000 people perished.

California is known for its earthquakes. I have lived through several, including one in February of 1971 when I lived in Santa Monica, one in November of 1988 when I was visiting family in Orange County (my infamous “rocking sideways toilet” tale), and the well-known October 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which interrupted the World Series in Oakland and collapsed two major sections of San Francisco Bay Area freeway. I felt it where I lived over one-hundred miles to the southeast while sitting in my car at an intersection waiting for the light to change. The quake was strong enough that I suffered motion sickness before it ended. That one was 6.9 on the Richter Scale at its epicenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of the San Francisco Bay area.

The Richter Scale did not exist until 1935. However, from the geological studies performed at the time, it is estimated that the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was about 7.9 on the Richter Scale, with a rupture about 296 miles in length along the San Andreas fault. The epicenter was just south of San Francisco.

 

Waiting in a provisions line

Many affected residents who were able, dressed as quickly as they could in their best. However, because they feared the aftershocks might cause additional damage and trap them inside their buildings, few gathered many of their belongings to take with them as they fled their homes.

Below is a pictorial history of this earthquake.

Damage to homes:

 

Rescuing people from ruins

Houses on Howard St. (Now S. Van Ness) near 17th Street

 Damage to roads and infrastructure:

Overturned locomotive

Fissure in street

Union Street streetcar line damage

Damage to the Summit Tunnel shows how far the ground shifted

Road damage to Union Street

 Fires started as a result of the earthquake:

Sacramento Street. With nowhere to go, many residents in shock watched the fires approach, moving back as the flames grew closer.

Many structures that survived the earthquake fell to the flames

Firefighters fought the flames

 

Soldiers were called in to maintain order and guard banks. A few were caught looting.

 

Winchester Hotel burns after the earthquake. The Hearst Building (left) was dynamited to use as a fire break between the fire and the rest of the city.

The fire marshal ordered several buildings torn down to stop the fires.

Chinatown was destroyed

Refugees:

 

Food was sent from surrounding cities

Food lines

Food stored at Moulder Warehouse

Food received for Moulder Warehouse

Street kitchens

Refugees gathered at the Dewey Monument

After the destruction ends:

Post and Grant Avenue, looking NE

Observatory in ruins

View from Kearny Street

Market Street

Refugee housing:

Many San Franciscans crowded the ferries to cross the bay to Oakland, where structures still stood and the telegraph was still available. 

For a silent movie of San Franciscans riding the ferry to Oakland, which was filmed at the time, please click on the link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:San_Francisco_earthquake_and_fire,_April_18,_1906.webm

For those who stayed, temporary housing was provided.

Jefferson Street Refugee Camp

1 of 11 refugee shack camps

Refugee cottages preserved in Presidio Park

Refugee housing

 Rebuilding: 

Cleaning bricks

 

Clearing away debris

This as a disaster known across the nation, and one to which the nation responded with support as the city rebuilt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are still with me, my upcoming release is dated between 1903 and 1908. My hero grew up in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, and returns to check on family once he learns of the earthquake.

Ardith Yosemite Bride is scheduled for release on May 6, 2026. To find the book description and pre-order link, please CLICK HERE

   

 

 

 

Sources:

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Commons