A Pinch of History: Potato Peel Pie, Valley Forge, Western Waterways and other Lions, Tigers, and Bears

Sad day. My camera is broken. Isn't that ironic? I think I still have the warranty paperwork though, so we'll take it to Walmart tomorrow. Pictures of our apartment will have to wait yet again.
I've been doing a lot of reading lately (Imagine that. Me, reading?), and I find it interesting how the topics I'm reading about tend to crop up in my current reality. I've been riding on a history-fix lately, and it has led to a chain of books that I want to pass on. In the words of Juliet Ashton (from The Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I just finished and loved), "That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you to a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment."It started with "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln", which was THE most enjoyable Lincoln autobiography I've read. Of course, it's much more than that, because it tells the story of his Cabinet members, before, during and after the War. So, so fascinating - I highly recommend this book. I love those valuable so-called side players in history, and the brilliant and genuine way Lincoln led them all in a way that made the most use of differences of opinion, talent, and sphere of influence. Almost everyone grows up admiring Honest Abe, but I feel like I now understand the reasons for admiring him in a way I never have before.
Then I got to thinking how many gaps I have in my understanding of American history, which led to "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West". Yes, Mountain View friends, I know a lot of you read it in high school and hated it, but I never read it then and I don't hate it now.  Then I bought Chris "1776" for his birthday (He wanted it, I promise! I didn't simply choose the book I was currently craving and then give it to him so that I could justify buying another book. . . *cough*. No, but truly, I didn't.). Then (although I haven't started reading this one yet) I picked up a dollar copy of  "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House", because I realize I understand virtually nothing about Pres. Jackson except that he constantly dueled, removed the Indians from their lands, and had something to do with the National Bank (See? What do I know?)
Another quote from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: "Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened or drawn to someone [or something] new, that [it] suddenly pops up everywhere you go? Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simpless, my parson friend, calls it Grace. He thinks that if one cares deeply about someone or something new one throws a kind of energy out into the world, and "fruitfulness" is drawn in."
Well, fruitfulness for my recent love for history has been drawn in! But I can't tell you yet what that fruitfulness is, because it involves a surprise for someone else. Actually, I was planning to tell, that's what this whole post was supposed to lead up to. But my husband peeked over my shoulder and told me I'd better not let the cat out of the bag yet. Mph. And now I don't know what to do with this post! So, stay tuned and on August 17th or 18th I'll write about where the history fix has led us!