Traveling across the sea to foreign ports in search of fabrics, teas, shoes, and the fine wines of France, must have seemed a romantic venture to the young mariner in 19th century America!  But for the wife of a seaman, the romance of a sea life was as far away ...

Springtime has always brought the promise of new life and the end of another brown, barren Illinois winter. The first tulips begin to pop open; trees get their first, almost invisible green buds, and soon, green grass springs up to carpet over the brown stuff on the ground. I remember ...

Abigail Smith was lively, opinionated, and intuitive from her youth. She was just 15 when her future husband, John Adams, first laid eyes on her. He was drawn to Abigail’s qualities from the beginning. When they married in 1744, she had his ear in the decisions he would be faced ...

In the days of the Victorian era, a picnic in the English countryside was a fine affair. Baskets were carefully packed with meats such as lamb and beef, often put between hearty pieces of wheat bread and garnished with cheeses, lettuce, and celery. Drinks included lemonade and ginger-beer, as well ...

The farm my dad was raised on during the years of the Great Depression didn’t have indoor plumbing, but it did have two beautiful apple trees in the front yard that gave the best yellow delicious apples ever. So enticing was the fall bounty that Dad would climb the trees ...