What's in Your Pocket?

 There are hot pockets, pill pockets, even Lacrosse pockets, but what about the ones in your clothing? 

I'm so glad pockets are finally more routinely included in women's clothing. Still always could use more of them, and the idea started long ago with the pouch-pocket theory. 

                                              

    Ancient people used leather or cloth pouches to hold valuables, the forerunner of the pocket. Even Ötzi (also called the "Iceman"), who lived around 3,300 BCE, had a belt with a pouch sewn to it that contained a cache of useful items: a scraper, drill, flint flake, bone awl, and a dried tinder fungus.

  According to historian Rebecca Unsworth, it was in the late 15th century that pockets became more noticeable. The pockets began by being hung like purses from a belt accessible through a slit in the outer garment. Being concealed beneath a coat or jerkin, help to discourage pickpocketing. 

The word pocket appears in Middle English, and is taken from a Norman diminutive of Old French poke, pouque, or pouch. The form "poke" is now only used in dialect, or in such proverbial sayings as "a pig in a poke".

                                           

 Historically, the term "pocket" referred to a pouch worn around the waist by women, as mentioned in the rhyme Lucy Locket. In these pockets, women would carry items needed in their daily lives, such as scissors, pins and needles, and keys.

 

Lucy Locket lost her pocket.

Kitty Fisher found it;

Not a penny was there in it,

Only ribbon round it.

 The rhyme was first noted by James Orchard Halliwell in 1842 (Some accountings hint at Lucy and Kitty being rival courtesans of the time of Charles II", making it a much older and more interesting nursery rhyme)  

   In the 17th century, pockets began to be sewn into men's clothing, but not women's. In more modern clothing, women still sometimes have a Potemkin pocket, which is a fake slit sewn shut.  

   

A watch pocket or fob pocket is a small pocket designed to hold a pocket watch, in men's trousers and waistcoats and found in traditional blue jeans.

              

   A besom pocket or slit pocket is cut into a garment instead of being sewn on. often with reinforced stitching. Besom pockets are found on a tuxedo jacket or trousers and may be accented with a flap or button closure.

  Camp pockets or cargo pockets are sewn to the outside of the garment. They are usually squared off and are characterized by seaming. Battle dress was first worn by members of the British Armed Forces in 1938, and introduced to the United States in the mid-1940s during World War II. The large pockets characteristic of cargo pants were originally designed for British forces to hold field dressings, maps, and other items. The concept was copied in the U.S. Paratrooper uniform to allow more room to hold K rations and extra ammunition.

   During Prohibition hip pockets became a handy place for hiding flasks and this practice contributed to the curved shape of the vessel to fit snuggly against the body and be less obvious. Supposedly, people who wore hip flasks became known as hipsters and thus the term was born. 

Like people, pockets come in all shapes and sizes. Hopefully there is one just right for you!

No woman wearing a dress with pockets will fail to mention that it has pockets upon receiving a compliment on said dress. 

Gini's books include:

Western Romance: Break Heart Canyon * Undercover Outlaw * Cowboys, Cattle and Cutthroats * A Cowboy’s Fate * Special Delivery.
Contemporary Romantic Thriller: Fatal Recall
Medieval Romance: The Dragon and The Rose * Iron Heart * Promise Me Christmas.
Victorian Romance: Lady Gallant * Victorian Dream
Fantasy: The Fae Warriors Trilogy: Solace * Bliss * Portence

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The Bones War

   I enjoy doing the research for my stories, sometimes too much so, as one thing leads to another and suddenly several hours have passed.

 While researching 1878 Colorado, two fascinating events caught my attention. One was the Great Eclipse, and the other was the Bones War. Both occurrences seemed like great external elements and conflict for my story, Break Heart Canyon.

    The discovery of dinosaur artifacts in Como Bluff, Wyoming and Garden Park, Colorado, sparked the public's interest in dinosaurs and caused much ado back East. Known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, the competition to attain the best examples led to ruthless skullduggery as fossil hunters flooded west. 

    During this time of expansion, in order to amaze and amuse their friends, many elites on the East Coast searched the world over for unusual items—dinosaur artifacts now topped the list. But the two main real-life players in the battle for bones were Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.  

    Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh  Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Creative Commons.

Cope was a member of Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences and Marsh was a professor at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. They fought fiercely trying to outdo one another as they sought the best specimens to garner not only fame, but government funds and contributions for their various projects. 

The only time they seemed in agreement was when they both tried to destroy a third rival, a mild-mannered, older gent named Joseph Leidy, the first U.S. paleontologist of vertebrates.

Fortunately for the world, Leidy retreated from “the war in the West” and turned to microscopic endeavors discovering the microorganism in pork that causes trichinosis, and the source of canine heartworm.

The feud between Marsh and Cope led to some of the greatest discoveries of dinosaur remains. But as shipments of unearthed artifacts heading for the coast were stolen at gunpoint, and spies and double agents existed in both excavation camps, their mutual blind ambition let to a harmful impact on their personal life and careers. Eventually, both men lost their funding and their credibility.

As science began to interest the everyday man, I’m sure it changed how the characters in our books thought about the world around them, and what dreams and aspirations they may have harbored. What must they have thought of those gigantic bones and skeletons? I know my hero and heroine were intrigued, but also at odds with one another over digging up the land for such treasure.

The Bones War came to an end, but the effects had a lasting effect on Colorado. In 1982, Governor Richard Lamm named the Stegosaurus the official state fossil. 

There are several places in Colorado to see dinosaur bones firsthand! Here is a website that lists places to see displays, digs, and footprints.            

https://www.colorado.com/articles/where-see-dinosaurs-colorado

During the same year, 1878, the Great Eclipse occurred, again putting Colorado in the spotlight. More on that momentous event next time... 

                                         https://books2read.com/u/3LV0G1

Blurb: Unearthing artifacts in Colorado sounded like easy money to Ryker Landry. Then he met the woman who owned the land. 

Una MacLaren vows no fortune hunter will desecrate the ancient relics of BreakHeart Canyon—even if the man is a handsome scoundrel. Fighting to keep her goat farm afloat, as local cattlemen hatch deadly schemes to make sure she fails, Una has enough to worry about. 

Captivated by the courageous redhead, Ryker joins forces with Una and her deerhound, MacTavish. But what does he desire most—the woman or the artifacts? 

When the mythical white cougar again prowls the rocky cliffs, the legend of Break Heart Canyon draws them into a web of danger. Now only daring and blind trust can save them. 

 

 #historicalromance #western romance #dinosaurbones 

Cowboy Kisses News ~ Julie Lence

 

Hello everyone! January is behind us and we're beginning February by welcoming a new author to the blog; Gini Rifkin. Gini writes western romance and is excited to join the group. Her first day to blog is February 28th. She is the Cowboy Kisses Facebook Group. Please take a moment to say hello and welcome her.  Thank you!

Julie