Tuesday Tidbits: AMELIA EARHART: A DIFFERENT KIND OF RUNWAY

    The name Amelia Earhart conjures up images of a daredevil aviatrix, and we ponder what happened to her when her plane disappeared. But there is more to her story than flying and tragedy. As tomorrow, July 24^th, is her birthday, I thought it fitting to give her some attention. However, I didn’t want to do the same ol’ same ol’.

Did you know she was a fashion designer for a short stint? A very short stint.

Yep, in 1933, she developed clothing for an active lifestyle. She planned to use her line to help finance her aviation endeavors. It wasn’t as big of a leap from flying to fashion as one might think. She was no stranger to sewing. Before this foray into the rag trade, she had stitched some of her own clothes as a teenager. Because flight suits were designed for men and didn’t fit her well, she had also crafted a practical flying suit to better fit the female form in 1929.

It is thought that the idea of her own clothing line was prompted by her husband, George Putnam, publicist and publisher. The couple had attended a fashion show in February of 1933. Earhart talked to the designer about functional “active living” clothing.

Nowadays, numerous famous people have clothing lines, but Earhart may have been the first one to attempt a celebrity fashion brand. Like so many things in her life, she was the first.

 

She ended up not working with the designer she originally talked with. Instead, with a sewing machine and one seamstress, she created a line in her living room apartment. Her fashions launched late in 1933, and a flurry of publicity ensued early in 1934.

Her line didn’t consist of full outfits purchased as one (as was usual of the day) but of separates: dresses, skirts, tops, trousers, outerwear, and more. Not only could a woman choose a different sized top and bottom to fit her figure, these individual pieces could be combined into twenty-five different ensembles. This made her the first to popularize this idea of separates in clothing. Earhart’s blouses had longer tails than were typical of the day so they would stay tucked in.

 

She, also, chose some unconventional fabrics like parachute silk and textiles used for airplane wings. In keeping with her aviation inspired line, she had propeller shaped buttons on some of her flying themed garments.

 

Her clothing line debuted in 30 department stores across the country. For women who couldn’t afford the ready-made garments, her patterns were sold through Women’s Home Companion magazine. Though her designs were moderately priced, they, unfortunately, didn’t fly off the racks, due in a large part to the Great Depression and were pulled from the shelves soon after takeoff.

 

Surprisingly, with all these mix and match separates, there was no bomber jacket in the line. Oversight? Or intentional?

From tarmac runway to fashion runway, Amelia Earhart seems to have done it all.

If she hadn’t perished on that fateful flight around the world in 1937, what else would she have accomplished?

 

MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR (Heroines of WWII series)
2023 SELAH Award 3rd Place in Historical Romance

A WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) flies a secret mission to rescue three soldiers held captive in Cuba.

Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon is a thirty-four-year-old widow, mother of two daughters, an excellent pilot, and very patriotic. She joins the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). As she performs various tasks like ferry aircraft, transporting cargo, and being an airplane mechanic, she meets and develops feelings for her supervisor Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg. When Peggy learns of U.S. soldiers being held captive in Cuba, she, Major Berg, and two fellow WASPs devise an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. With Cuba being an ally in the war, they must be careful not to ignite an international incident. Order HERE!

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET

(Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; The Widow’s Plight, The Daughter's Predicament, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:


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Sources:

~Who Knew?: Women in History by Sarah Herman

~https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653137/amelia-earhart-designed-clothing-line

~https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/amelia-earhart/

~https://www.history.com/news/amelia-earharts-other-runway-the-aviators-forgotten-fashion-line

Tuesday Tidbits: CRISCO-A New Era in Lard

Lard? Or shortening?
 

What’s the difference?
 

A whole lot and not much.
 

To understand Crisco, I needed to understand what lard was. I heard this term growing up but never quite knew the exact definition. All I knew was it was shortening but not shortening. I honestly didn’t care enough to look it up as a child. What child would?
 

Anyway, lard was made from animal fat, generally pork. Families could make this themselves on their farms and was the popular cooking product for decades. By the late 19th century after the fall pig slaughter, meat processing companies began making lard on an industrial scale.

People didn’t seem to mind that everything they cooked with it—even cakes and pies—had a hint of a pork taste. I guess if that was what you were used to, you wouldn’t know the difference. Pork cookies, anyone?
 

The robust cotton industry produced piles and heaps and mountains of useless cottonseeds. Most rotted in those mounds. Because these seeds were highly abundant and way cheaper than animal fat lard, cottonseed oil was create. However, the early attempts to mill them made an oil that was both smelly and a dark color, and oh so unappealing.
 

Enter David Wesson who pioneered bleaching and deodorizing techniques in the industry in the late 19th century, which caused cottonseed oil to be both clear and neutralized the stench. Companies began selling this new cottonseed oil by itself or mixed with animal fat to create shortening, which they then sold in pails to resemble lard. Because lard was what people were used to, hence they would know how to use it.

Crisco was a different kind of fat. Instead of mixing an animal fat with liquid oil to make it solid, Crisco was the first solid shortening made entirely from plant oil, using a process called hydrogenation. A French chemist Paul Sabatier first developed the hydrogenation process, which others, including Proctor & Gamble, advanced further. This came to be known as “the Crisco process”.

Cottonseed oil had a bad rap because people associated it with clothing, soap, dyes, roofing tar, and explosives, but not food. With that list of atrocious uses, I don’t know that I would want to cook with it. Exploding food doesn’t sound appealing.
 

So in 1911 when Crisco launched, Proctor and Gamble went a different route than other companies who highlighted that their product came from cottonseeds. P&G chose to avoid mentioning the main—and only—ingredient to focus on trusting a reliable brand and not worrying about what was in it. No laws at the time prevented this lack of disclosure.
 

This marketing ploy worked wonders for them and was so successful that other companies followed suit. In the first five years, sales skyrocketed, selling sixty million cans annually in the U. S. That’s three cans a year per family.

Unlike lard, butter, and olive oil, Crisco had a neutral taste, could last for years on the shelf, and had a high smoke temperature for frying. The perfect fat. (If there is such a thing.) To help sales even more, P&G gave away cookbooks that called for Crisco in every recipe.

To stay away from any connection to cottonseeds, the phrase “crystallized cottonseed oil” was modified into Crisco. So, we went from lard made from animal fat, to a lard/vegetable oil mixture, to Crisco—an all-vegetable solid shortening.
 

Back to my original question—what’s the difference between lard and shortening?
 

Pork flavored desserts!

 

UNPUZZLING THE PAST

1990s Cozy Mystery

Written by Mary L. Chase, Edited By Mary Davis

When secrets and lies are uncovered, will Mar be able to put the pieces together to learn the truth? A year after her mom’s death, Margaret “Mar” Ross discovers the proverbial skeleton in the closet. Most families have a secret or two. Some are best left in the dark. Others need to be brought into the light of day to heal old wounds. With the help of her best friend, a lawyer, and a handsome doctor, Mar is determined to hunt down all the facts. When she does, will she find what she’s searching for? Or should she let this puzzle R.I.P.?

https://books2read.com/u/bpkj6l

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR, THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Quilting Circle 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; The Widow’s Plight, The Daughter's Predicament, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in Colorado with her new Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

 Books2Read  Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

 Sources

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-crisco-made-americans-believers-industrial-food-180973845/
https://www.livescience.com/history-of-crisco.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisco
https://crisco.com/our-heritage/

Tuesday Tidbits: Writing Goals: 2024 Recap & 2025 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was good. My daughter and son-in-law flew in and my son and two of the three grandkiddos were here for Christmas Day. Though a bit chaotic, it was wonderful to have them here.

On to goals—

Some people don’t like setting goals because they feel too confining and too much pressure. For me, they help me focus, and I have something to aim for. Like the old saying goes, Shoot for the stars (or moon). You might not make it there, but you will soar higher than if you had never tried. (I couldn’t find a specific author for this variation, but it’s close to Norman Vincent Peale’s quote “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” So, I guess this version is mine, Mary Davis.)

Each goal should have the caveat attached to the end . . . “Stated goal” or something better.

So, how did I do on my 2024 goals? Overall, I’m pleased. Here is a quick recap.

2024 Goals
~~ I will Publish 1st-Cousin-Once-Removed Mary Linn’s Novel with or without a photo of her.
    I, finally, did get this published in November of 2024. Yay! It’s titled Unpuzzling the Past. Mary’s sister Sarah is thrilled.
eBook  https://books2read.com/u/bpkj6l
Paperback  https://www.amazon.com/Unpuzzling-Past-Mary-L-Chase/dp/B0DM48K26X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
~~ I will Write 100,000-ish words or more.
    I did manage to eek out 100,050 words.
~~ I WILL Finish Writing Silver Bells, a Christmas Novella.
    I finished it and ran it through my critique group.
~~ I will write a rough draft of book 3 in my time travel series.
    I did not get it written. However, I started an additional book in my Quilting Circle series.
~~ I will Participate in NaNoWriMo in November.
    I participated but didn’t reach 50,000 words. Other life things came up, but I did get 15,000 words written. I also participated in CampNaNoWriMo in April and July.
~~ I will Complete a Proposal.
    This didn’t happen.
~~ I will Complete HHH Posts by the 10th of Each Month.
    I made this one and was actually several months ahead when my husband passed away, so I didn’t have to worry about writing them until after the first of the year. Now, I need to get back to them.

Non-writing goals:
~~I will Do a Bible study on the book of Revelation and one on the Holy Spirit.
    I met these two goals.

~~I will Continue trying to get regular exercise by walking or by running up and down the stairs as well as continuing Intermittent Fasting. Yep.

And finally, I will Continue to go through boxes. Yep, but I still have many, many to go.

On to 2025 Goals
~~Complete time travel proposal. I’m determined to get this done this year and sent off to my agent.
~~Edit Deep Breath (Time Travel book 2).
~~Write 50,000-ish plus words. Because I need to figure out AI book covers so I can re-release some of my backlist, I cut back on word count for this year.
~~Participate in NaNoWriMo & Camp NaNoWriMo, as usual. This is the same as previous years. NaNoWriMo stands for NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. Each year in November, thousands of writers all over the world make a mad dash to write 50,000 words in 30 days. My goal says “participate” not win. If I write 50,000 words or less than 50,000 words, I can still meet this goal by participating. CampNaNoWriMo in April and July are low pressure because you set your own goal, and a lot of fun. A good way to get started with NaNoWriMo.
~~Plot Flash Forward (Time Travel book 3).
~~Write rough draft of Flash Forward. I’m hoping to do this for NaNoWriMo in November.
~~Rerelease 3+ backlist books. I have the rights back to many of my books and want to re-release them. First, I need to figure out how to create covers using AI.
~~Complete HHH Posts by the 10th of each month.
~~Complete one or more additional proposals. I don’t know for what, but I have all year to figure that out.

Non-writing goals:
~~I will Do a Bible study on Prayer. I bought four books on prayer and plan to go through each one to improve my prayer life.

. . . OR SOMETHING BETTER.

My word for 2025 is Recover.

Do you have a word for 2025?

I hope you all are successful in meeting your goals in 2025. =0)

And I pray this year is happy and healthy, and may you find joy in the little things. =0)

For more information on how to set achievable, measurable, and controllable goals, you can reference my blog post on it HERE or click the link https://marydavisbooks.blogspot.com/2019/12/tuesday-tidbits-2020-goal-setting.html

 

UNPUZZLING THE PAST

1990s Cozy Mystery

Written by Mary L. Chase, Edited By Mary Davis

When secrets and lies are uncovered, will Mar be able to put the pieces together to learn the truth? A year after her mom’s death, Margaret “Mar” Ross discovers the proverbial skeleton in the closet. Most families have a secret or two. Some are best left in the dark. Others need to be brought into the light of day to heal old wounds. With the help of her best friend, a lawyer, and a handsome doctor, Mar is determined to hunt down all the facts. When she does, will she find what she’s searching for? Or should she let this puzzle R.I.P.?

https://books2read.com/u/bpkj6l

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR, THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Quilting Circle 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; The Widow’s Plight, The Daughter's Predicament, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in Colorado with her new Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

 Books2Read  Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

 

Tuesday Tidbits: LIFE UPDATE

 I’ve been fencing!

Public Domain, Wiki Commons

 Not that kind. This kind.

 

 

Let me back up to explain my absence. The past few months have been rough. In August, my husband passed away suddenly.

 

He collapsed and was gone quickly. I was a complete wreck. If not for my family, I don’t know what I would have done. They helped me get finance things figured out—my husband had done all that stuff.

This is a glass heart with his ashes swirled in it.

 

All too soon everyone had to go back to their own lives, and I had to cope on my own. That’s when I started building the fence my hubby and I planned. He had purchased the metal posts and used fence panels. I dug holes and cemented in posts, then put up panels. It was a bit wobbly to move the panels across the yard with the wheelbarrow, but I managed. It was good to have something to focus on.

 

First panel up.

 

First panel on the other end up-ish.

 

Making progress.

 

My makeshift barrier on the side of the house to keep the deer out.

 

I finally got enough panels up to stretch some chicken wire I have across the opening,

but it wasn’t quite long enough, so I improvised with a slide and a birdbath.

 

This is who I’m trying to keep out along with their droppings.

They each took their turn to look through the chicken wire.

I think they were a little confused.

 

Closing the gap. No longer need the slide and birdbath.

 

Just one more post to cement in on the side, then create a gate from that middle panel.

 

My dwindling piles of panels. Ah, progress feels good.

 

The completed back fence.

Now the deer must stay out and my grandchildren will stay in and can run freely.

 

I have also done a bunch of work inside the house. I built some DVD shelves and unpacked boxes, filling up those shelves.

 

The house felt void with no other heartbeat but my own, so I adopted a dog from a shelter. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.

 

Shelby is a Carolina Dog mix. She’s between 10 and 12 months old, full of energy, loves tug-o-war, and needs to learn some manners. We have started obedience classes.

 

I have started having my granddaughters over again. They miss their grandpa.

 

We’ve also had three birthdays this fall, and my son hosted for Thanksgiving. It was great!

 

I hosted a writers retreat with my two critique partners. I also released my late cousin’s novel that I heavily edited. It was mostly ready to go, just needed to upload it and figure out the cover stuff.

A couple of days ago, I repaired my oven. My husband had gotten the part but not put it in yet. The problem was, I didn’t know where he put it. I went on a search and finally found it. So, I baked cookies to celebrate!

I hope to get back into the swing of things with my writing after the first of the year.

 

For now, I have Christmas presents to wrap.

 

Blessings,

Mary

    =0)

 

UNPUZZLING THE PAST

1990s Cozy Mystery

Written by Mary L. Chase, Edited By Mary Davis

When secrets and lies are uncovered, will Mar be able to put the pieces together to learn the truth? A year after her mom’s death, Margaret “Mar” Ross discovers the proverbial skeleton in the closet. Most families have a secret or two. Some are best left in the dark. Others need to be brought into the light of day to heal old wounds. With the help of her best friend, a lawyer, and a handsome doctor, Mar is determined to hunt down all the facts. When she does, will she find what she’s searching for? Or should she let this puzzle R.I.P.?

https://books2read.com/u/bpkj6l

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR, THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Quilting Circle 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; The Widow’s Plight, The Daughter's Predicament, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in Colorado with her new Carolina dog. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

 Books2Read  Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub