My recent historical discoveries have been about word usage—archaic and ‘modern.’ Some ‘modern’ words were used in Nicklaus and Maria’s time, yet some ‘archaic’ words, you might still recognize. How about these?

Ottmar Mergenthaler was just a boy in Germany, but especially handy at repairing clocks, and became an apprentice. At 18, he immigrated to the US in 1872 to work in Washington, DC where he worked with an instrument maker.

In Etched on the Heart, Maria is disillusioned that women weren’t seen worthy of staying in school. She was taken out at the age of 13 to work at home. Her discontent of that inequality and her search for identity is part of her “character arc”, how her character develops in the story.

Our family went to Germany for a week in May and it was an awesome time! There are so many things to love about Deutschland. I thought you might like seeing some of our photos from the trip.

May is one of my favorite months. It’s the weather…so unpredictable! We get torrential rains here in Central Texas, then hot weather, then of course we have a freeze. Never a dull moment! But having so many cloudy days makes the unexpectedly bright days so worth celebrating. And we must have rain for the beautiful cascade of wildflowers that this…

Aren’t you glad the weather is ‘sort of’ warming up? I’m encouraged that spring is coming! I received many compliments on the historical info I included in last month’s newsletter. So here’s more: There really are twelve historic churches in Cologne, Germany. They existed in the 1880s, when Nicklaus studied their Gothic and Romanesque architecture and woodcarvings.