Pretty little things...

     I visited The John Paul Jones house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire a few days ago.

     They were having a special Mother's Day lecture and exhibit and since I was the only one to show up I scored a private session with head curator and house manager Sandra Rux. 

      While I have always found antique clothing made especially for children to be irresistible,  I attended this talk as part of my research for the novel I am currently working on. I need to be able to write intelligently about American clothing in the late eighteenth century. Not just what people wore, but how they made their garments, and I am starting from scratch as I have almost no skill at all as a seamstress. Here are a few pics of the gorgeous little garments I learned about, though the pics do not do them justice;

Both of these were little boy outfits.

The girl who had the pink boots had an entire pink outfit all made to match.

A little Portsmouth girl, probably age four, wore this silk dress, which is darned all the way around the waist.

      I'm having so much fun writing this book!

   

Mother's Day Post

     "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." ~ George Washington

     Seems like a good time to announce that the novel I am elbow deep in is about George Washington. He is not the protagonist, or I didn't intend for him to be when I started. So far this book has been quite unpredictable in where it is going even though I know how it ends. It has been such a pleasure to write it  and my only frustration is that I don't have more time to devote to the extensive research that is necessary, and more hours to write.

     Toward that end I have decided that I will begin blogging about interesting things I learn in my research that look like they will become part of the story in one way or another. The introductory quote above is the beginning. I found this quote interesting, because most biographies claim GW's mom was cold, critical and demanding. And I thought that this painting (artist unknown) gives a fairly accurate presentation of the relationship as it sounds like it was.

     Funny thing about history ... we can never really know someone else's truth.