Do you ever wish you lived in a cave with Friends?

“Well, here we are,” Charity says. Ibbie and Ezra stand outside what appears to be a cave. Our home? Are we to live in a cave? Ibbie quickly puts a friendly face back on, but her mind is racing. “How does everything seem to thee?” Charity asks, smiling at Ezra. More white hair falls fromContinueContinue reading “Do you ever wish you lived in a cave with Friends?”

A Revolution for the Rest of Us: 15 Books about the American Revolution with a Quaker, Black, LGBTQIA+ or Kid-focus you may not have read (but I’ve read them for you!)

Dear Friends, When I was growing up, books about the American Revolution were mostly like this: I am sorry if this one was your favorite! Apart from the occasional (and excellent) My Brother Sam is Dead, I didn’t read many books where I saw myself as a person affected, disaffected, participating, or even by-standing duringContinueContinue reading “A Revolution for the Rest of Us: 15 Books about the American Revolution with a Quaker, Black, LGBTQIA+ or Kid-focus you may not have read (but I’ve read them for you!)”

Off to Historical Novel Society North America with a sample book cover!

Dear Friends, I’m excited to be planning my trip to Historical Novel Society North America’s (HNSNA) 2023 Conference in San Antonio next month! I’m planning to pitch my finished novel to a couple of smaller publishers while I’m at the conference and learned I need something called a “pitch sheet.” This sheet will have aContinueContinue reading “Off to Historical Novel Society North America with a sample book cover!”

My goyishe potato pancakes: A Jewish-Christian/Quaker Tale

Dear Friends, Happy holidays!  At our last Book Club of the year, I was chatting with one of my friends. She was talking about the Italian Christmas she grew up with. Christmas Eve for her was a bigger holiday than Christmas itself, with numerous relatives, and the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a multi-course mealContinueContinue reading “My goyishe potato pancakes: A Jewish-Christian/Quaker Tale”

Anthony Benezet’s Revolutionary Academy for Children

Benezet set up a school for free Black children in his home on Chestnut Street between 3rd and 4th Streets Dear Friends, Happy August! Are you already thinking about back-to-school? I am––when I walk through a pile of dried brown leaves, and their smell brings me back to college orientation (when it was still summer,ContinueContinue reading “Anthony Benezet’s Revolutionary Academy for Children”

A Quaker Day in Darby

Dear Friends, I have been busy! After finishing the seventh (what?) revision of my first novel, I’ve made a goal to query an agent a day this summer. Why not? If I don’t have any luck, I’ll work on my own e-book and audio versions. Meanwhile, my sister and I had a wonderful day lastContinueContinue reading “A Quaker Day in Darby”

Sex and the City: Philadelphia 1777

Bedroom, Cedar Grove, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia A confluence of events: the reboot of Sex and the City (SATC) i.e. And Just Like That (AJLT) and a family emergency led me to watch both the reboot and the original SATC this past month. With the attention span of a flea the past few weeks, I dippedContinueContinue reading “Sex and the City: Philadelphia 1777”