Best of; Spies, Conspiracies and Traitors

Best of; Spies, Conspiracies and Traitors

If you need an excuse to read a book about spies, traitors of the American Revolution and the American Civil War, consider this to be it! In this post I am sharing several fiction and non fiction titles that will not only teach you about the historical events, but will also keep your interest while you read them! 

Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose

If this title sounds familiar it is probably because it was turned into a series on Netflix. The Series has a little more embellishment than the book does, but the book is still a very good read! If you are looking for more of an in depth look into the spy ring that helped America win her independence this is the book for you! This book will make your heart race as you feel the anxiety Abraham Woodhull felt as he spied for the American’s while aiding and boarding a British regular in his own home! 

George Washington’s Secret Six

by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger

This is a fast paced overview of how the first spy ring, the Culper Spy Ring, came to be and the impact it had on our budding country. The authors start by introducing each of the individuals associated with the spy ring. We hear about how the ring came into existence and the British plots that were overthrown, thanks to the knowledge gained by the spy ring. There is a great chance America would not have won the Revolution without the individuals in the spy ring. 

The First Conspiracy 

by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

This is a little known passage from history, but an important one. It is the early years of the Revolutionary War, and America’s position in the war is shaky. As if things were not bad enough for the fledgling country, a plot is hatched to destroy America’s currency in a large-scale counterfeit operation.  America’s currency was already much weaker than Britain’s and an operation of this scale would destroy any chance of America gaining her independence—but can they catch all the culprits in time? 

The Traitor’s Wife

by Allison Pataki

Who was Peggy Shippen and what was she really about? We know she became a traitor’s wife but how did this vivacious young Tory become the wife of a rebel officer, and then the wife of a traitor? Was it true love? A covert mission to undermine the budding republic, or merely a quest for wealth? 

In a Traitor’s Wife, we see the early life of Ms Peggy Shippen unfold as told through the eyes of her personal maid. Clara is orphaned and destitute, with only one reference to help her provide for herself, luckily she land’s the job as personal lady’s maid The Peggy Shippen, the somewhat notorious daughter of one of Philadelphia’s most well known Tory families. What Clara learns over the course of her time serving Peggy Shippen, may be just the thing the rebels need to help them gain the upper hand in this war they are fighting– but will Clara be able to play her part when the time comes?

Time Enough for Drums

by Ann Rinaldi

So far this book still ranks as my very favorite. This is a story of 15 year old Jemmima, during the American Revolution. She is a staunch Whig, and she can’t believe that her father would employ John, a Tory, as her tutor . . . until she begins to put the pieces together that John may not be exactly what she thought and may, in fact, be a spy. . . .  Ann Rinaldi weaves together all of my favorite classic elements in this book: revolutionary war history, spies, romance, and tough decisions which makes for a very intriguing read.

355 the Women of Washington’s Spy Ring

By Kit Sergeant

This book follows 3 women who played a part in spying in the American Revolution. All 3 of the women portrayed in this book were actual people. They lived and did the things (at least to a certain extent) told in the book. While I really enjoyed this story, there were a few things I would like to mention:1) the book is called 355, yet none of the characters in this book quite fit what we know about the actual lady agent known as 355 in the Culper Spy Ring of New York. That doesn’t mean that these women didn’t do great things for the American revolution. Neither does it mean that none of them could have been agent 355. To this day, the identity of agent 355 still remains a mystery, but none of these women quite seem to fit the bill so if you are picking this book in order to learn specifically about agent 355 you may be a little disappointed. 2) The book came to a rather abrupt ending. I respect and value when an author stays as true to the real history as possible, and as real life doesn’t have neat little endings tied up in bows, neither does this story. The story in this book was good. I felt that the characters did come to life for me by sticking closely to the history that is known about these women the author did well, but I would say this is more of a portrayal of events told, well, than a story with a plot. Read it and judge for yourselves- I’d probably say this is a 4 star rating as far as the story goes, but 5 star if you are reading to learn the history!

Rebel Spy

by Veronica Rossi

I couldn’t put this book down!! This book definitely had the most compelling plot that kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole book! Soo good! While this book also discusses the event that agent 355 is supposed to have had a hand in, the rest of this story is highly fictionalized. This makes for a very engaging read, but not quite as great of a history lesson. If you are reading this to learn about the events 355 played in the revolution read it, absorb the events, but be prepared for the fact that someone like this woman likely did not exist. However, if you are just looking for very compelling and entertaining historical fiction read it and enjoy every minute of it!

 

Behind Rebel Lines

by Seymour Reit

Emma Edmonds was a real woman, who had a love of adventure, good skills with a gun, and knack for disguise and blending into her surroundings. Canadian born Emma decided to run away from the only home she had ever known and to fight for the Union- truly it had not been much of a home to Emma. She disguises herself as a man and signs up. Her disguise works- until she is wounded, but instead of being sent home, Emma is offered the position of spy. She jumps at the chance. Read this book for a true spy story that gets your heart pounding! 

The Secrets of Mary Bowser

by Lois Leveen

This is not a new book but I read it this summer and really enjoyed it! There’s nothing particularly summer-y about this book- it would make a great start for your fall reading! The Secrets of Mary Bowser is based off the true events in the life of Mary Bowser, the daughter of an enslaved father and a free mother, who was able to gain an education and a woman who helped in the underground railroad, and who acted as a spy for the Union during the civil war- in President Jefferson Davis’s own home! This book kept my attention for its entirety!

Disclosure

Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!

What Picking Apples Taught Me

What Picking Apples Taught Me

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

It was destined to be a warm day, the early morning temperature having just broken 70 degrees and the world was starting to awaken. The leaves on the trees were still wet from rain the night before, and the grass was wet with dew. The sun was just starting to break though the morning fog and everything was glistening. The air was cool against my skin, and my coffee was hot in my hand as I walked through my backyard, towards our apple trees. Usually on mornings like this I think, “Today would be a great day to be camping,” always wishing for something other than what is right in front of me. But on this day I thought, “today is a great day to pick apples early in the morning,” which is what I was doing. 

When we bought our house we were blessed by the previous owners with blueberry bushes, grapevines, and a small variety of fruit trees. However with these blessings all of  these trees, bushes and vines, came a heavy workload. The first few years it was just too much. The apples had always been very small and seemed hardly worth harvesting. 

Then the trees started getting very overgrown, and we feared losing this valuable asset if we didn’t do anything with them so we went out a few years ago and did some pruning, more or less guessing if we had taken enough, too little, or too much. The following year we had a baby and fruit trees were the last thing on my mind. 

This summer I hadn’t given much thought to the fruit trees either when my mother pointed out an abundance of apples hanging from the branches. She was right (yes as usual Mom) there were so many apples! The pruning we had done a couple years before had laid a foundation for some healthy growth producing big, luscious apples. 

 I was picking apples and greatly enjoying my early morning picking session and seeing bag after bag grow full with ripe apples. I have always had this fantasy of someday, living on enough land that we could have a small farm if we wanted, although I’m not sure about livestock and chickens. (Check out my post Do You Have the Faith of a Chicken? to see why I’m not sure about the livestock!)  I picture myself having a garden and some fruit trees and canning food, baking pies and waiting for my sourdough bread to rise- and having enough time to do all this! 

I always picture this as a “someday” dream, because while sure, there is always a way to make these things happen, we are also content with where we are now. Still the thought floats through my mind, “Someday we will have more land, and more time and I will do all the things I’d like to do now.”

 Do you have “Someday” thoughts of your own? 

What picking apples taught me that early morning was sometimes the dreams we hold in our heart are closer to our reality than we often take time to realize. Farming and growing your own produce connects you to the earth in a way that nothing else does. When you feel the grass brushing your feet, the damp soil beneath your feet you can’t help but be amazed that the same soil that supports your feet, also supports the tree that grew your food, and carries enough nutrients in it to nourish you, and grow babies into energetic children. 

When you take the time to pick the apples by hand you realize life is fast for everyone- it takes intentionality to slow down enough to savor it. 

As I stood there picking apple, after apple, I realized that this was it- my dream. Sure, I pictured more; more time, more trees, more land, more jars to fill with preserves, but- this was still it. I was picking apples off of my trees, taking time to enjoy the morning, and savoring the slow process that my grandmother did as a child and hope to teach to my child someday. 

So often we dream of someday and miss the beauty that is right in front of us. We forget that just as I laid the foundation by pruning my trees, so God uses circumstances to lay the foundation in our lives to ready us for future tasks He has for us to do. So often we rush through our day to day lives, not realizing that the life we want and love, is right in front of us. 

 

 

 

The Golden Hour

The Golden Hour

Likewise, a good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Matthew 7:17

I have such mixed feelings about September… Usually I greet this month with a sense of dread. Here in PA this month starts off as hot and beautiful as the previous two months before it but… by the end of this month it will be unmistakably fall and the problem with fall is that it is short. But winter is long. Very long. So, I dread september. 

I hate to see the long summer days end. I dread the ending of summer dinners taken outside as the summer sunlight fades. The warm mornings are ending, and summer flowers are fading, and in just 3 weeks summer will officially be over and the fall stolice will begin. 

The thing is though, in all my moping about how much I hate to see summer end, I love fall! I love the colorful trees, I love how blue the sky looks by contrast, I love pulling out my fall decor. I love pumpkins, chai tea, brisk walks outside, and the smell of wood fires burning. I love fall – I rob this season of its joy but looking ahead to what is to come?

Why am I so busy worrying about the future that I forget the joy of today?

So this year I had a thought. What if instead of dreading fall; I look at it as summer’s golden hour? You know the golden hour; the hour before the sun officially sets and as it makes its descent through the sky and casts a celestial hue over everything, beautifying everything its golden rays touch. 

That’s how I want to greet september. Not at the demise of summer, but as the final hooray, the month of warmth and beauty as the world slowly transforms from summer to fall- which is beautiful in its own right and also a season to be savored. 

I want to intentionally savor the season I am in. 

I want this month to serve as a reminder that every season has its golden hour, and there is much to be grateful for, whatever season we find ourselves. 

We always get the choice in this life, whether to look at our lack or our plenty, the abundance of God’s goodness, or what we wish He would have provided. We can choose to glorify Him or we can choose to be angry with Him for not making our circumstances fit the vision we had for our lives.

Matthew 7:17 reminds us that every good tree bears good fruit- what kind of fruit are we bearing when we only think of the negative of our situations and neglect to dwell on all the goodness that God has blessed us with? 

The attitudes with which we greet the world are often the only evidence to the world of who we really are. Are we being good representatives of Christ? 

Perhaps you will join me in asking God to help us to see the bright side of things- the abundance of season we are in, rather than worrying about the next season. May He help us to shine His light into the world, no matter the season.

 

 

Fall Decor Trends and Decorating Ideas for 2023

Fall Decor Trends and Decorating Ideas for 2023

 

Are you ready for fall? While I am not quite ready to concede to fall and pull out the fall decor I am ready to start thinking about it! In This post I am sharing a few fall decorating trends that are popular this year as well as a few ideas to get your fall decorating mind going!

Colors

You know me- I love talking colors! This year the floor is pretty open for color in your fall decor! While whites, and neutrals are still hanging around this fall we are seeing greens brought back in ranging in shades from lighter eucalyptus green, to deep saturated pine green. 

We are also seeing rusts and oranges, and really deep saturated reddish/brown- especially pairing with deep green for contrast. 

A new addition I’ve seen added to the fall color palette this year is gray! I love the pairing of gray into the traditional fall color palette!

Sample Color Palettes

Like I mentioned above anything goes in the world of fall color this year but I am especially loving these color palettes: 

Saturated: deep green, mustard green, rich earth brown, with other shades of green and browns and mixed in. 

Cream, white and burnt orange, accented with soft beiges and greens

Deep forest green, dark denim blue, and rich gold, with accents of browns and golds. 

Browns, greens, creams, and white

 

color pallete
color pallete
color pallete

Texture

Texture should be part of your decor all year round- but especially in the fall! Burlap is still hot, as are: jute, wicker, pampas grass, dried wheat, woven textiles, and wood.

 

Natural Elements

Think branches, pinecones, acorns, Lion’s head seed pods- anything natural that can be dried and try incorporating that into your decor!  

 

Landscapes

Vintage looking landscapes are hot right now as something you can incorporate into your decor. Fall is a great time to add them in! Not only are we seeing landscapes in the form of painting, but we are also seeing landscapes and botanical prints introduced for throw pillows too! 

 

Botanicals

Dried flowers and other botanicals are always a great addition to your decor. This year I am mixing creams and whites with burnt orange in my botanicals that I am incorporating into my fall decor! 

Wheat, papas grass, dried flowers and feathers- if you have some show them off!

 

Gourds

Now I would never tell part of God’s creation that they are out of style and just have to sit on the sidelines for the foreseeable future; but I would tell you if some of them were more popular in a given year than in another;) 

This year I am seeing gourds in lots of places! A few years ago white pumpkins were all the rage, and they are still in, but this year sprinkle a few cute gourds throughout your decor: added to a vignette, topping a small stack of books, or in a bowl! 

white pumpkin

Wreaths

While a simple less is more wreath, will always hold its own; larger wreaths with a bit more going on are on trend this fall! 

I hope this post serves to inspire you and get you excited for fall. It’s sad to see summer go, but fall is a great season too!

Disclosure

Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

If I say the best-known hymn of all time what hymn comes to mind? If you said Amazing Grace, you’d be correct! From wall signs, to many other songs rifting off this hymn, you’d most likely be able to recognize snippets from this song a mile away. But what about the author of this song? What do you know about him?

 

John Newton was born in London in 1725, son of a sea captain and a God-fearing mother. Unfortunately, his mother died when John was only seven and his father and stepmother did not continue to bring him up in the faith so he slowly drifted away from his faith. When John was 19, he fell in love with another godly woman named Mary–although his absence of faith presented an obstacle to them moving forward in their relationship. It was while traveling to see Mary that John was taken captive and press ganged into the British Navy. When someone was press ganged into the Navy, they were hauled onto the ship without being able to say goodbye to their family, or gather any of their belongings–and not allowed to leave until their time of service was up. John was miserable; he wanted to get back to his life, and his Mary, so he decided to try and run away. 

 

John was caught and hauled back aboard the ship, where he was then ruthlessly flogged. It was a dark time for John as he vacillated between thoughts of how to murder his captors and thoughts of suicide. John became wild, known for his drinking and ruckus behavior. It was in this season that John was transferred to a slaving ship and began his work in the slave trade, ripping people from their family and selling them into a slavery much worse than his own experience of being pressed into the British Navy. 

 

It was in this dark season for John when a terrible storm hit the boat, totally without warning and they feared they would be shipwrecked. During this long night, the teaching of John’s mother came back to him and he surrendered his life to Christ. John’s behavior started to change–he grew in his faith, and finally returned home to marry his long-awaited sweet heart. 

 

However, some change takes time. For a while John continued his work in the slave trade, even as he grew in his faith. It was sometime before John’s life was totally transformed but slowly it did.

 

John left the slave trade and became a pastor of a large church in England. He even wrote some songs, including a little hymn you might know by the name of “Amazing Grace.” John eventually joined the abolition movement, and teamed up with William Wilberforce, and the two men were instrumental in ending slavery in England–a cause John spent the last years of his life championing. 

 

John became a Christian, but he didn’t become perfect. He continued the heinous act of selling humans as slaves for a while before he became convicted of his actions and changed. As Christians we are not made instantly perfect, we are simply made children of Christ. But just as Christ worked in John’s life and continued to convict him and clean up his life so He works in our lives too.

 

Disclosure 

Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!