The River

Chesapeake by James A. Michener:

"The Susquehannocks...felt intuitively that they should be on the warpath, proving their manhood."  "...an old warrior predicted...when the day comes that we are afraid to fight, we lose the river."

Pentaquad, the first main character encountered, was an outcast of the Susquehannocks.  He paddled down the river towards the legendary Chesapeake Bay, where he found wading birds and plentiful flora and fauna.

Young Clemens Returned To Hannibal

Souce

"Young Clemens [Mark Twain] at the age of twenty-four years, returned to Hannibal, and enlisted as a three months' volunteer in the Confederate army under General Price."

Source

The Curious Republic Of Gondour

The curious republic of Gondour  and other whimsical sketches....

My Favorite Inscription!

After purchasing the book, Errands, by Judith Guest, I stood in line at the bookstore in Oscoda, to get the book signed by the author.

We had previously met at the local library when Ms. Guest was the invited speaker.  After her talk, I started to explain to Ms. Guest, picture in hand, that her mother and Jim's father [Richard S. Palm] were two of the [4?] children in the photograph, when her mother [Marion A. Nesbitt Guest] approached us and exclaimed, "That's Dick Palm, and that's ME!"  Turns out that the Nesbitts, Guests and Palms were close family friends and neighbors.

That's why this is my favorite inscription:

To The Palms

June 1997

From one who's known your name since I was born!

Best wishes

Judith Guest

Enoch Crosby Alias Harvey Birch

The Spy Unmasked, or Memoirs of Enoch Crosby, alias Harvey Birch (Google version), "the hero of Mr. Cooper's take of the Neutral Ground..." was dedicated to James Fenimore Cooper.

Source

"Enoch Crosby was a native of Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, on 4 January 1750.  As a child he moved to Dutchess County (later Putnam), New York, and grew up in a family of 'staunch Whigs.'"

Source

Canadian Topics Of Interest

I found author Barbara Martin's blog through a Google search for the Battle of Queenston Heights during the  War of 1812.  Like the posts and also the links.

The Horse You Came In On

A line from The Horse You Came In On, a mystery by Martha Grimes:

And he thought of Joanna the Mad, sitting there in the Jack and Hammer and talking of the job of writing as completely mechanical.  Ah, surely she was wrong.  It had nothing to do with the hard, greasy machinery of life.  Oh, it was work, yes, but the work of gathering dews in a teacup or riveting stars to the moon.

I liked "the work of gathering dews in a teacup or riveting stars to the moon," description of writing.  Plus Martha is one of my favorite mystery writers.

Her website (linked above) includes an interactive map of England where one can explore the locations of the pubs mentioned in her "Richard Jury" novels.