![A once-buried treasure! By User SilkTork on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Goldnugget-300x278.jpg)
A once-buried treasure! By User SilkTork on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Molly’s mother believed that one ancestor had buried a gold nugget somewhere in California.
Those treasures are still being found.
![Vintage Fenway! By BPL [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Fenway_Park_postcard.jpg)
Vintage Fenway Park By BPL [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Did I mention that there’s no snow in Fort Myers? We hope Fenway Park is clear of the white stuff when the season begins.
Are you following the news from spring training? You can bet Brandon (Out of Left Field) would be.
![Rufus Wilmot Griswold By Uncredited [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/256px-Griswold-Engraving.jpg)
Rufus Wilmot Griswold By Uncredited [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Griswold, the town in Fire in the Heart, was named for my early Vermont ancestors.
One Griswold who began life in Vermont became a controversial literary figure and rival to famed author Edgar Allan Poe.
![Could you imagine your favorite book locale on a globe? Christian Fischer [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/256px-GEO_Globe.jpg)
Could you imagine your favorite book’s locale on a globe? Christian Fischer [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The setting for Fire in the Heart, Griswold, is a fictional Vermont town. I invented it all, down to a map of the community. Here are more pseudo-places existing only in books.
![Before the world knew him as author Mark Twain, young Samuel Clemens posed for this 1850 daguerreotype. By Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg: G.H.[?] Jones [or Jonco?] / Hannibal Mo derivative work: Smalljim (Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones_1850-c7.jpg)
Before the world knew him as author Mark Twain, young Samuel Clemens posed for this 1850 daguerreotype. By Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg: G.H.[?] Jones [or Jonco?] / Hannibal Mo derivative work: Smalljim (Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Molly gets a clue about her family’s past through a daguerreotype.
Far from a simple snapshot, these photographic relics are being kept alive by a small group of devotees.
![A Yankee-Red Sox spring training game at "Fenway Park South" in 2012. By NT1952 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Jet_Blue_Park_at_Fenway_South.jpg)
A Yankee-Red Sox spring training game at “Fenway Park South” in 2012. By NT1952 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Right about now, Brandon (Out of Left Field) would be turning to thoughts of spring training.
Here are intriguing facts about JetBlue Park and the history of the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida:
![Dr. Florence Bascom helped train the majority of female geologists in America during the early 20th century. By Smithsonian Institution from United States (Florence Bascom (1862-1945) [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Bascom3.jpg)
Dr. Florence Bascom helped train the majority of female geologists in America during the early 20th century. By Smithsonian Institution from United States (Florence Bascom (1862-1945) [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons
In Fire in the Heart, Molly’s mother worked as a geologist.
Life has gotten easier since then for women pursuing geoscience careers. Here’s one perspective:
![Karate kids train at the Jack and Jill School. (By Jjskarate, cropped and color enhanced by Zanaq (File:JJS_Karate_Kids_on_Training.jpg) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/256px-JJS_Karate_Kids_on_Training_-_crop-1.jpg)
Karate kids train at the Jack and Jill School. By Jjskarate, cropped and color enhanced by Zanaq (File:JJS_Karate_Kids_on_Training.jpg) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
A new kid in town faces down a bully by announcing he’s earned a black belt in karate. How popular have the martial arts become for self-defense?
Alex imagined such helplessness. By MyName (3scandal0) (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
In Blue Coyote (a companion book to Twelve Days in August), Alex Beekman has a recurring nightmare of falling into the La Brea Tar Pits.
While he escaped such a fate, others did not.
![BMW's M1 from 1979, a star in Munich's BMW Museum. By Olli1800 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BMW-M1-BMW-Museum.jpg)
BMW’s M1, made only from 1978-81, a star in Munich’s BMW Museum. By Olli1800 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
In Twelve Days in August, Todd compares the BMW, his favorite car in the world, to “sleek” Rita Beekman.
The BMW company history dates back to 1916, when airplanes and motorcycles were “Beemer” priorities.