tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3534792857691218992024-03-29T05:02:42.476-04:00Seduced By HistoryA Blog for The RWA® Historical Chapter: Hearts Through HistorySeduced by Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15196314920956478724noreply@blogger.comBlogger378125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-72047232048905078772011-11-04T22:17:00.000-04:002011-11-04T22:17:11.809-04:00WE'VE MOVED!Hearts Through History RWA chapter has revamped its website, and in doing so, the Seduced by History blog has moved. Check out our new home <a href="http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/category/blog/">HERE</a>.<br />
<br />
Our monthly contests will continue there, so be sure to comment often on the posts...the more you comment, the more chances of winning goodie bags or workshops!<br />
<br />
Anna Kathryn Lanier<br />
Blog ModeratorAnna Kathryn Lanierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607469543348819190noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-37258880418889734272011-10-28T13:56:00.000-04:002011-10-28T13:56:43.791-04:00American Pie<div data-mce-style="padding-left: 30px;" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; padding-left: 30px;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/jack-o1.jpeg" href="http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/jack-o1.jpeg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-1433 alignleft" data-mce-src="http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/jack-o1.jpeg" height="131" src="http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/jack-o1.jpeg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left;" width="131" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Jack O' Lantern is making his annual visit. We'll soon see him with his glowing toothy grin leering from porches and windows across America. Jack's name reveals his Celtic origins. He may have come to this country from Ireland, but he acquired his round, orange countenance right here. On the ould soil, he was carved from turnips and rutabagas.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Pumpkins are native to the Western Hemisphere. It was cultivated in Central America as early as 5500 B.C, as a staple of the Native American diet. They introduced it to European settlers who soon added it to their diet as well. The Europeans learned the versatility of the pumpkin, roasting its seeds, using it in stews, soups and breads, cutting the dried shells into strips and weaving them into mats. They used the leaves and blossoms raw or fried as vegetables. Pumpkins served medicinal purposes as a remedy for snakebite, a cure for freckles, and its seeds were considered a protection from prostate cancer.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The early European settlers made pumpkin pies by hollowing out the shell and filling it with milk, honey and spices before baking it. Whether this recipe came from Native Americans or not is unknown.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Whether you puree the remains of your Halloween pumpkin or take a can off the shelf, here's my favorite pie recipe for this season.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">APPLE BUTTER PUMPKIN PIE</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1 c. solid pack pumpkin</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1 c. apple butter</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1/4 c. packed brown sugar</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1/4 tsp. ground ginger</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1/4 tsp. salt</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">3 eggs, lightly beaten</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">1 c. undiluted evaporated milk</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">9 inch deep dish pie shell</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> Streusel topping: Combine 3 tablespoons softened butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional).</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine filling ingredients in order given; pour into pie shell. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted two inches from center comes out clean. Top with streusel topping. Bake for additional 15 minutes.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Makes 1 (9-inch) pie.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Note: Cover pie crust with foil pieces or cut 9 inch circle of foil; cut out center leaving 1 inch wide ring of foil, place foil halo over crust edges. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Barbara Scott is the author of West of Heaven, Cast a Pale Shadow, and Talk of the Town</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-61037359223691230602011-10-23T00:15:00.005-04:002011-10-23T00:15:00.369-04:00Rasputin, The Tsarina and the fall of the Autocracy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqmYlXz9E-K5NbP12Ss-i81QHsOjfFdTS32kUHoKutINweBFQVQI2D369tV6e9MlJt3QNEp11sWCovCAC_TCW5Fl0s_JGUkLS1zvC448pMokENxOTbZpcVzxra77EcNoO47OfQL5opEqD5/s1600/74px-GregoriRsput%25C3%25ADn--fallofromanoffsh00londrich.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 74px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqmYlXz9E-K5NbP12Ss-i81QHsOjfFdTS32kUHoKutINweBFQVQI2D369tV6e9MlJt3QNEp11sWCovCAC_TCW5Fl0s_JGUkLS1zvC448pMokENxOTbZpcVzxra77EcNoO47OfQL5opEqD5/s320/74px-GregoriRsput%25C3%25ADn--fallofromanoffsh00londrich.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666106507154682962" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">By Emma Westport</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In July 1904, the cannons of the Peter and Paul fortress fired 300 times to announce that, after four daughters, Alexandra had given birth to a son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Russia had a Tsarevich. </span>The imperial couple was overjoyed but, within six short weeks, that joy turned to pain. Something was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The slightest bump, the smallest pinch and the baby’s skin bruised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The bruises did not heal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The child cried with pain and neither his mother nor his doctors could offer him relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alexei was a hemophiliac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For Alexandra, the news was devastating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She’d already lost a brother and uncle to the disease and she knew what the future held.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Her beautiful boy had almost no chance of surviving to adulthood and, even if he did, he’d never be live or play like a normal child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> There was nothing c</span>onventional medicine could do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Alexandra looked elsewhere. In 1905, friends introduced her and her husband to Rasputin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">N</span>either priest nor monk, the uneducated peasant had already earned a repuation as a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">starets </span>or spiritual teacher. He was also known as a healer and prophet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">Did he provide relief to the young Tsarevich? His worst critics admit he did. </span>He also helped the Tsarina deal with her unbearable guilt and suffering--but that help came at a price.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">Rasputin's gifts were offset by his drinking and womanizing. </span>Scandal was his constant companion. As his power grew, so did his faults, his behavior becoming increasingly outrageous. Nicholas ignored it—Alexandra denied it—but the scandal was always there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the stink of it threatened the autocracy. Many believed there was more to the relationship between Alexandra and Rasputin than the sharing of spiritual comfort. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The situation became especially ugly in 1910 and 1911 when Rasputin seduced a woman serving as nurse to the Imperial children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The governess, on hearing the story, objected to Rasputin’s familiarity with the Grand Duchesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She insisted the Tsarina ban him from the girls’ bedrooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Tsarina refused. The nurse and governess were dismissed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rasputin was now free to come and go as he pleased and the rumors that spread through St. Petersburg now included the young Grand Duchesses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Nicholas was ineffective in dealing with Rasputin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Unwilling to upset his wife, he ignored police reports and the advice of friends. He even ignored photographs. After a night's carousing, a drunk and naked Rasputin had been photographed surrounded by a circle of nude women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Blackmailers told Rasputin he had a choice. L</span>eave St. Petersburg or the pictures would be given to the Tsar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rasputin took the photos to Nicholas himself, saying he’d sinned and begging for forgiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nicholas forgave him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But the behavior continued.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--StartFragment--> </p><p class="MsoNormal">In 1914, the first attempt was made on Rasputin’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A former prostitute, disfigured by syphilis, disguised herself as a beggar woman and followed Rasputin to his home in Siberia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She asked him for money and, when he stopped to help her, she stabbed him, nearly killing him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rasputin recovered but his drinking increased. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In 1915, Rasputin tried to seduce a woman at the famous Yar restaurant in Moscow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> When the </span>lady refused his efforts a drunken, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">o</span>utraged Rasputin went berserk. He smashed the furniture and mirrors in the private dining room, shouting all the while about his relationship with the ‘old woman,’ the Tsarina, and bragging how he did “with her what I want!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He exposed himself and was finally dragged away by police, fighting and hollering the Tsar would protect him and threatening to get even. The event was witnessed--and publicized--by a journalist who was present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Alexandra had failings but being Rasputin’s lover was not one of them. Unfortunately, letters she’d written to Rasputin convinced people otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Tsarina’s flowery language was deliberately misinterpreted and pornographic caricatures of the Tsarina and Rasputin began to circulate.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">All this occurred at a time when Russia was experiencing defeats at the front and serious problems at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>With Nicholas taking over command of the armies, Alexandra took a more active role in the government and her decisions were guided by Rasputin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> It was a recipe for disaster</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In November 1916, Vladimir Purishkevich, a conservative member of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Duma</i>, Russia’s parliament, gave a speech in in which he spoke of spoke of the “filthy, depraved, corrupt peasant” the Tsarina all but worshipped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rasputin was seen to be at the center of the ‘Dark Forces’ destroying the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In less than a month, Purishkevich joined with Prince Felix Yusopov, the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and a few other conspirators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Together, they would plot the infamous and successful assassination of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">starets</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rasputin was murdered on December 29, 1916. His assassins hoped Rasputin's death would turn things around but it was already too late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">For his part, Rasputin expected assassination. He'd allegedly warned Nicholas and Alexandra that if his death came at the hands of the nobility, neither they nor their dynasty would last more than two years. In that, he was correct. Nicholas abdicated the throne on March 15, 1917. He, his wife and five children were murdered in July 1918. </p><p class="MsoNormal">The 300 year old dynasty had come to an end. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">(All dates are new style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The quotes are from Brian Moynahan’s biography, <u>Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned</u>. The photo is from wikimedia.)</p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-64881401749987780162011-10-22T12:04:00.001-04:002011-10-22T12:22:25.834-04:00A New Kind of Sheriff in Town<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNAYEQiVybr841u84V7wZxCXWbhSin-BXopj9o4dNISSdV_3GM5-icJ-cIAhosQL9QrjzL1junOCO2AkGvWIRaLUKqi49uDjqo44bWMY36V2UzvsXtsNS43443PpJy8LkplKRczRH8DWQ/s1600/DSCN0787-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNAYEQiVybr841u84V7wZxCXWbhSin-BXopj9o4dNISSdV_3GM5-icJ-cIAhosQL9QrjzL1junOCO2AkGvWIRaLUKqi49uDjqo44bWMY36V2UzvsXtsNS43443PpJy8LkplKRczRH8DWQ/s200/DSCN0787-1.jpg" width="200px" /></a></div>Hello there, Christina here today. I've been wanting to write this post for a while but really wanted to do it justice as it speaks of a legacy of strong women during a time when it would have been too easy for the so-called weaker sex to lie back and allow men to control their surroundings.<br />
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Have you ever dug into your family ancestry? I have. I do it all the time. I find it's a wonderful way to escape from the modern world and delve into the past. And every now and again I come across a real gem.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-Ej0rKJbD48sxfTQ-cGOvJjMwT_g-0eOg8KsvL964bw58_1HxfeUeBM4L6SNF0uJJKe8C7pm-BR5dpSTJwW5XXKCjqPww_Bo26cW9v3OkKTnLhjlxzcPxC_3yRQ2mK7ZAKUgc-d6OYU/s1600/Young+Estella+Gates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-Ej0rKJbD48sxfTQ-cGOvJjMwT_g-0eOg8KsvL964bw58_1HxfeUeBM4L6SNF0uJJKe8C7pm-BR5dpSTJwW5XXKCjqPww_Bo26cW9v3OkKTnLhjlxzcPxC_3yRQ2mK7ZAKUgc-d6OYU/s320/Young+Estella+Gates.jpg" width="197px" /></a></div>Allow me to introduce you to my great great great grandmother Estella Gates. She was a sheriff in Benzie County Michigan. She was, in fact, the first female sheriff in Michigan, elected in 1916 after having served as a deputy for several years under her husband, William Moore Gates. <br />
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I found one article that tells a few of her feats as sheriff.<br />
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<blockquote><em>"Oh! I didn't do so much. The people elected me sheriff. The work had to be done and I did it."</em></blockquote>The article goes on to say how she stopped two murderers from escaping her jail cell and "jailed the most notorious of the river rats".<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp22VSwtv7MPgenTMfAj7wiNeeOy9GbtlmYwu-swcGh1bZ28LTF3Y1Vc4-juShCVsW2vPPMjE1ZV7Yjv_oiF2M-ZOqDKeAmhx0u7Wuc_kIIL_J1oV6eB7zbTD8Mg-u3Ul0qIkDQtexywI/s1600/Wmgatesvote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp22VSwtv7MPgenTMfAj7wiNeeOy9GbtlmYwu-swcGh1bZ28LTF3Y1Vc4-juShCVsW2vPPMjE1ZV7Yjv_oiF2M-ZOqDKeAmhx0u7Wuc_kIIL_J1oV6eB7zbTD8Mg-u3Ul0qIkDQtexywI/s320/Wmgatesvote.jpg" width="189px" /></a><br />
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Another newspaper article, one from Oklahoma, claims this same woman was their first female sheriff as well. Eventually her and her husband moved to Texas before they returned to Michigan where she died of pneumonia at the age of 80.<br />
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I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but after speaking with second cousins who grew up under her tutelage, they say she was the sweetest and kindest lady they'd ever known. I can only imagine what it would have been like to spend my summers with Sheriff Gates. One has to wonder what kind of woman it took to keep the peace and what kind of man stood at her side while she did it. I've been told the pair were very much in love. Of course, I know their lives weren't always filled with roses as one of their sons, my great great grandfather, died a tragic death and caused a great mysterious scandal, but that's a blog post for another day and another time as the event continues to affect those still among the living. <br />
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Here are a few pictures from one of my cousins. As you can see, the picture of William Gates is a campaign advertisement. I think he kind of looks like Kurt Russell from Tombstone. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0pOj8GrQxkyZ5uAcwxSUhuIjwR_JbxBYmNukSK35vl4CazwgHFNce1d0e57RYNbM-y3W3k84YDKjbNflm6zRUvYMZ-AjqMv6l7i4RCZk1gg0WFWTsOOgJ8dgttcb6mICnI3CsWuKDAI/s1600/Gates+gun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0pOj8GrQxkyZ5uAcwxSUhuIjwR_JbxBYmNukSK35vl4CazwgHFNce1d0e57RYNbM-y3W3k84YDKjbNflm6zRUvYMZ-AjqMv6l7i4RCZk1gg0WFWTsOOgJ8dgttcb6mICnI3CsWuKDAI/s320/Gates+gun.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div>This is the gun Estella used during her time as sheriff. I'm sure she kept it handy after her service too. I was a little suprised at its size. I figured as well as Grandma was able to keep the peace in her once boisterous jurisdiction she would have carried something a little bigger. But then I guess a bullet is a bullet when it's well placed.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ShyCWXXwC9rFzms5HLF519xQCpC6v0ESNm_b4hZxhshhD8l89si0-hRVYC3cq1cjbJUkzrxx52MZDPC501GtxjKWdkX9MDfTC4e3E307KQGV1oNwCM6pIhAc5vYMYXdnLW6XQPIIn8E/s1600/night+stick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ShyCWXXwC9rFzms5HLF519xQCpC6v0ESNm_b4hZxhshhD8l89si0-hRVYC3cq1cjbJUkzrxx52MZDPC501GtxjKWdkX9MDfTC4e3E307KQGV1oNwCM6pIhAc5vYMYXdnLW6XQPIIn8E/s320/night+stick.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div>This next picture is of a nighstick, whether it belonged to her husband or to Estella nobody is real sure, but I thought you'd like to see it. <br />
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Looks like it's been well used. Maybe on a few hard skulls of all those lumberjack Estella had been known to keep under control. <br />
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By changing a few details here and there, Estella's life would make a wonderful historical romance. Just think, a female sheriff, rough and rugged lumberjacks, river rats, murderers and a hero who looks like Kurt Russell <em>and</em> is confident enough in his manhood to accept her chosen occupation. <br />
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Yeah, I think it's a story I'd love to read. <br />
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Do you research your ancestry? Have you ever come across really interesting tidbits?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-52537863389845169472011-10-21T23:22:00.000-04:002011-10-21T23:22:37.351-04:00We're Moving!Hearts Through History has launched aq new website and the Seduced by History blog will be moving to the website. Some blogs have already been posted there, so stop by our new site and say hi!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://myuniquebaskets/">SEDUCED BY HISTORY BLOG</a> <br />
<br />
Anna Kathryn Lanier<br />
Blog ModeratorAnna Kathryn Lanierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607469543348819190noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-6115842149803381392011-10-17T09:55:00.003-04:002011-10-17T10:01:04.277-04:00Sightings of Anne Boleyn's Ghost<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Ghosts and the places they haunt are interesting but not usually included in historical biographies. One exception is <u>The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn</u> by, Alison Weir. Weir discusses some of the sightings of Anne Boleyn noting that sightings of Anne Boleyn occur on the anniversary of her beheading May 19, on Christmas Eve. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Second wife of Henry VIII, Anne failed to produce a live male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty. After Catherine of Aragon’s death, and Anne’s miscarriage of a son, Henry used allegations of Anne’s adultery to behead Anne for treason in 1536. The most probable reason for Henry’s dubious charges against Anne was the need to secure the succession of the English throne with a male heir. For that task, Henry needed another wife, and he had already selected Anne’s successor, Jane Seymour, before Anne’s treason trial.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""></span>Perhaps the trumped up charges against Anne, the fact that Henry was already courting Jane Seymour, and the brutal trauma of the beheading caused Anne’s ghost to haunt not one but seven places. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Blickling Hall in Norfolk was the probable birthplace of Anne Boleyn. Although the existing house was built in the seventeenth century, Thomas Boleyn owned the property. On May 19, Anne returns to Blickling Hall in a carriage drawn by six headless horses. She sits inside the carriages with her severed head either on her lap or by her side. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hever Castle, built in 1272, purchased by the Boleyns and rebuilt into a Tudor residence, is Anne’s childhood home. Henry courted her under the great oak still standing today. Every Christmas Eve Anne’s ghost is seen crossing the bridge over the River Eden within the castle grounds. Sometimes her ghost is observed standing under the tree.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">At Hampton Court Palace, one of her royal residences during her reign, Anne’s ghost wears a blue dress and walks slowly through the halls with an air of great sadness.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">At another royal residence she inhabited, Windsor’s castle, her ghost appears at the window of Dean’s Cloister.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Anne still haunts the Tower of London in several places. Her ghost has been sighted in the White Tower, the Queen’s house where she supposedly stayed the night before her execution then again during her imprisonment.<span style=""> </span>In 1817 a sentry patrolling the White Tower encountered Anne’s ghost on the staircase. The sighting caused a fatal heart attack.<span style=""> </span>In 1864 while guarding the outside of the Queen’s House, another sentry stated he saw Anne’s faceless ghost wearing a Tudor dress and a French hood. When he thrust his bayonet through her, a fiery flash ran up his rifle and shocked him.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the nineteenth century a Captain of the Guard claims to have seen Anne’s ghost in a strange spectacle recorded in “Ghostly Visitors” by Specter Stricken, London 1882. He had seen a suspicious light coming from the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula where Anne was buried. After leaning a ladder against the chapel wall and peering in one of the windows to investigate, this is what he claimed to have seen:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Slowly down the aisle move a stately procession of Knights and Ladies, </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>attired in ancient costumes; and in the front walked an elegant female</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>whose face was averted from him, but whose figure greatly resembled</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>the one he had seen in reputed portraits of Anne Boleyn. After having</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>repeatedly paced the chapel, the entire procession together with the </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>light disappeared.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anne’s ghost is also said to haunt Salle Church where it is reported her bones were later buried, but no specific details emerge from the sightings.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">She is haunts Maxwell Hall’s Yew Tree Walk where Henry VIII and Jane supposedly strolled while planning their wedding. Rumors have it that Henry married Jane privately at Maxwell Hall on May 19, 1536 after news of Anne’s execution reached Henry via a line of beacons.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Needless to say, Anne’s hauntings were the basis for my ghosts Lady Anne and Desdemona in Wanted Ghostbusting Bride.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">For more information on Anne Boleyn’s ghosts see Alison Weir’s Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn and <a href="http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-ghost-of-anne-boleyn/4859/">http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-ghost-of-anne-boleyn/4859/</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Margaret Breashears</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.wantedghostbustingbride.com/">www.wantedghostbustingbride.com</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-32475305097457639272011-10-14T00:01:00.000-04:002011-10-14T00:01:00.686-04:00Wandering Pearl<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlE9_kSsqI7et4ueeWT0agErEuj7FsK7-AYlL5isxi0dbwM8ud4vxc8qGsegD0wDpH_JCFzeUvhlUr4BYDNkUk8QZVdNbs1AzfI5YRtuFCE-DvU62KjssAd3KlmY4STc8m9BPhRpYPV51Y/s1600/Mary+I+of+England.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlE9_kSsqI7et4ueeWT0agErEuj7FsK7-AYlL5isxi0dbwM8ud4vxc8qGsegD0wDpH_JCFzeUvhlUr4BYDNkUk8QZVdNbs1AzfI5YRtuFCE-DvU62KjssAd3KlmY4STc8m9BPhRpYPV51Y/s1600/Mary+I+of+England.jpg" /></a></div>
La Peregrina is one of the most famous pearls in the world. Found by a slave in the Spanish colony of Panama, <em>circa</em> mid-sixteenth century, it was delivered to King Philip II of Spain. At that time, the jewel was the largest pearl ever discovered, pear-shaped and weighing nearly fifty-six carats. The king gave it to his affianced wife, Mary I of England, (shown above) sometimes called "Bloody Mary."<br />
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Quite the blushing bride, isn't she?<br />
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The pearl was eventually returned to Spain upon Mary's death. This is astonishing, given her sister-successor's penchant for fine jewelry. You may recall Elizabeth was to later bid against the Queen Mother of France, Catherine de Medici, over the spoils left behind by Mary Queen of Scots. Some of those spoils included rare black muscades--pearls of a deep purple color. La Peregrina, in contrast, went back to Phlip "The Prudent" and became part of the Spanish queen consorts' collection, until she began the second leg of her eventful journey.<br />
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In 1808, Napoleon installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain after a successful invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. Throughout his reign, the elder Bonaparte accomplished little besides orchestrating his own abdication in an effort to return to the more salubrious throne of Naples. Finally deposed, he took with him part of the Spanish crown jewels, among them La Peregrina. Some of the jewels he sold while living in the United States. La Peregrina he willed to his nephew, Bonaparte III. The Emperor's wife Eugenie was a known connoisseur of pearls but during the couple's exile in England, they were forced to sell La Peregrina to James Hamilton, Duke of Abercorn, direct ancestor of both Diana, Princess of Wales and her sister-in-law Sarah, Duchess of York.<br />
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While in the duke's possession, La Peregrina did not have to go far to become completely lost to the world, at least temporarily. His wife Louisa Hamilton wore the pearl on a necklace. It was too heavy for the setting and fell out twice. Once in a sofa in Windsor Castle and the other at a ball in Buckingham Palace. <br />
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Can't you just imagine His Grace's remonstrations:<br />
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"What the devil? You've lost the blasted thing twice now."<br />
"But my love," his wife replied with asperity, "it was <em>you </em>who insisted we buy it. And all because you wanted to impress the French empress."<br />
"Fustian," he stammered. "The merest trumpery."</blockquote>
The Hamilton family eventually sold La Peregrina to Richard Burton, a movie and stage actor. I have it on very good authority that he was, and I'm quoting, "the best looking man that had come down the pike in a long time." $37,000 was the price the pearl fetched at Sotheby's and soon found its way, via Valentine's Day, into the possession of someone another authority has declared unequivocally to be the "most beautiful woman in the world." The pearl was as intrepid in Elizabeth Taylor's possession as it had been in Her Grace of Abercorn's. The actress lost it in the Burtons' suite at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Miraculously, it was found unharmed in her Pekinese dog's mouth. He was chewing on it like a bone!<br />
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Here Ms. Taylor is wearing La Peregrina in the 1969 movie production, <em>Anne of a Thousand Days.</em><br />
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Like history? Fall in love with it! Visit Angelyn's blog at <a href="http://www.angelynschmid.com/">www.angelynschmid.com</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-28919866217952471432011-10-13T13:28:00.003-04:002011-10-13T13:43:26.092-04:00Who are (were) you?Who are (were) you?<br /><br />If you’ve seen the movie Patton staring George C. Scott, you might remember the part where Patton goes out to visit the ruins of Carthage in North Africa. And he tells his companions about how the Romans destroyed Carthage, as says that he, Patton was one of the Carthaginians talking about his past lives. <a href="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/popilisco/GeorgeCScott.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 184px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 257px" alt="" src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/popilisco/GeorgeCScott.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This movie and a discussion of past lives came up in the instructor’s dining room between a bunch of us history teacher when I was teaching (college level). The conversation was you had to assume that you had past lives, so each of us had to identify our past lives, and since we were all history teachers we all had eras of history to which we felt closest.<br /><br />So where do I feel a connection? Much to my surprise when this conversation came up, instead of saying Elizabethan England (my master’s is Tudor and Stuart England), there were other time periods.<a href="http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i48/summernitestars/Museo%20Archeologico%20Nationale/Imgp3567.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 161px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i48/summernitestars/Museo%20Archeologico%20Nationale/Imgp3567.jpg" border="0" /></a> <br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><div>Letting my imagination run with the idea of past lives, I came up with several past lives, as it were. I’ve marched with Alexander the Great (probably as a camp follower), stood in a line of men with a muzzle loading rifle and fired at the enemy. And since I feel very close to WWII, I decided I was a WASP who died in the war, as I was born (in this life?) after the war. <a href="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j153/Brighidnichiarain/Fourth%20of%20July/soldiers01.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 227px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 137px" alt="" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j153/Brighidnichiarain/Fourth%20of%20July/soldiers01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><div>Just like when I started to write, instead of Medievals, I’m writing in the Americas. My first book, KENTUCKY GREEN, takes place in frontier territory in 1794. I feel drawn to the frontier. When I visited Yorktown Victory center many years ago, they have a recreation of a colonial/frontier farm. Walked into that log cabin, and felt at home. I could have lived there in the 1700s.<br /><a href="http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq317/MadisonHistorian/Fall%20Trip%202007/PICT0080.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 167px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 221px" alt="" src="http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq317/MadisonHistorian/Fall%20Trip%202007/PICT0080.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This is a really great exercise for writers, to image, or feel the past in some way. So are you writing in the era that you feel closest to? Have you visited historical sites and ‘felt’ a connection? Or maybe didn’t feel a connection much to your surprise? Our local chapter had a workshop about past lives once, and everyone had a lot of fun with the idea. I would have never thought of this as a tool to use with writing without that conversation in the teacher’s dining room.<br /><br />Do you think imagining past lives might be of help with writing historical?<br /><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-85941290830870075092011-10-09T07:00:00.000-04:002011-10-09T07:00:07.317-04:00THE SLEEPING GIANTTHE SLEEPING GIANT AND OTHER FIGURES FROM<br />NATIVE AMERICAN LEGENDS YOU DON’T WANT TO CROSS<br /><br /> Legends of any kind have always fascinated me, and while researching for my book, Widow’s Walk, I’ve become even more interested in them. Since the action in the book takes places in Northern Minnesota, including among an Ojibwe tribe, that is where I began my research. One of the more interesting, and dangerous, legends is that of The Sleeping Giant.<br /> Looking across from Thunder Bay, you can see a formation of land called The Sleeping Giant. According to the Ojibwe legend, the Spirit of the Deep Sea, Nanna Bijou, rewarded the tribe for their loyalty. The chief learned from the Spirit about a tunnel leading to the center of rich silver mine. He warned that if the Ojibwe tribe were ever to tell the White Man of this mine he, Nanna Bijou, would be turned to stone. Thereafter, the Ojibwe became famous for their silver ornaments.<br /> But, as often happens, others learned of this and the Sioux even tortured and killed to learn where the tribe got the silver for their beautiful ornaments.<br /> Unwilling to accept defeat when the Ojibwe refused to divulge the secret, a Sioux warrior disguised himself as an Ojibwe, learned of the mine’s location, and took large pieces of the silver.<br /> Unfortunately, he stopped at a white trader’s for food, and because he had no furs to trade, used a piece of silver instead. The traders filled him with firewater and then persuaded him to lead them to the “silver islet.” <br /> But they were not to succeed. They were within sight of the “Silver Islet” when a terrible storm struck. The white men drowned and the Sioux warrior ended up drifting in a canoe – crazed.<br /> That wasn’t all. According to Native American Legends,<br /> “Where once was a wide opening to the bay, now lay what appeared to be a great sleeping figure of a man. The Great Spirit’s warning had come true and he had been turned to stone.<br /> “Today, partly submerged shaft to what was once the richest silver mine in the northwest, can still be seen. White men have repeatedly attempted to pump out the water that floods in from Lake Superior, but their efforts have been in vain. Is it still under the curse of Nanna Bijou, Spirit of the Deep Sea Water? Perhaps….who can tell?”<br />OTHER ANIMAL LEGENDS FROM <br />IMPORTANT CHIPPEWA MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES<br /> There are other myths that abound among Native American legends and the three I’ve listed below could certainly fire an author’s imagination.<br /> Underwater Panther (Ojibwe name variously spelled Mishibizhiw, Mishibizhii, Mishipeshu, Mishipizheu, and other ways): This is a powerful mythological creature something like a cross between a cougar and a dragon. It is a dangerous monster who lives in deep water and causes men and women to drown.<br /> Mishiginebig (also spelled Mishiginebig, Mishi-Ginebig, Meshkenabec, Msi-Knebik, Kichikinebik, or other ways): An underwater horned serpent, common to the legends of most Algonquian tribes. Its name literally means Great Serpent, and it is laid to lurk in lakes and eat humans.<br /> Animikii or Binesi (also spelled Animiki, Animkii, Nimkii, Bnesi, Bineshi, and other ways): Thunderbird, a giant mythological bird common to the northern and western tribes. Thunder is caused by the beating of their immense wings. Although thunderbirds are very powerful beings, they rarely bother humans, and were treated with reverence by Ojibwe people. Animikii, which means “thunderer,” is pronounced uh-nih-mih-kee, and Binesi, which means “great bird,” is pronounced bih-nay-sih.”<br /> My WIP so far has none of these legends, though it does contain that of the witch tree. I may use one of these, but no more. However, my imagination is working on another story, maybe several, where I can write around one of these most interesting legends.<br />Joan K. Maze<br />Writing as J. K. Maze<br />www.joanmaze.com<br />http://sleuthingwithmollie.wordpress.com<br />http://homicideandmayhem.wordpress.com<br />Murder By Mistake, book 1 in the Mollie Fenwick Mystery Series, available as an ebook from Red Rose Publishing, B&N, Fictionwise and Amazon.<br />Murder By Mistake, book 1 in the Mollie Fenwick Mystery Series, available in paperback from Amazon.<br />Murder For Kicks, book 2 in the Mollie Fenwick Mystery Series, available as an ebook from Red Rose Publishing, Fictionwise and Amazon<br />Framed In Fear, romantic suspense set in Colorado, available as an ebook from Red Rose Publishing, Fictionwise and Amazon<br />Murder By Spook, book 3 in the Mollie Fenwick Mystery Series, in progressUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-12346852055093632612011-10-07T01:00:00.004-04:002011-10-07T09:33:59.475-04:00Saratoga Springs: Grand and Gilded<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Looking for a great setting for your gilded age historical? I found one for mine when I recently visited Saratoga Springs, NY.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"><br />
For much of the 19th century, Saratoga Springs was the “Queen of the Spa” resorts with the added attraction of horse racing and a first rate casino along with proximity to New York City from which it drew a large part of its monied clientele, attracting the likes of the Vanderbilts, Fisks, Goulds and Asters. For a time, it also boasted the largest hotels in the world such as the Grand Union Hotel where congressman, senators and bankers gathered, The United States Hotel where the likes of Vanderbilts, Goulds and Rockfellers held court on the piazza and Congress Hall which hosted the Asters and other old New York scions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Saratoga Springs and its mineral waters had attracted visitors since the early 1800’s. With concerted efforts on the part of innkeepers and hotel owners, by the 1830’s Saratoga was a fashionable place to go for one’s health but also for "good society" once lectures, entertainment and hops (balls) were added to the fill the days and nights. The 1830’s also saw Saratoga purposely go after gamblers in hopes they would test their skills “at faro and chuck-a-luck in the billiard halls and bowling alleys, and a room was fixed up for roulette.” (Saratoga: Saga of an Impious Era by George Waller).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Before the Civil War, Saratoga had always attracted a lot of southern families who migrated to the cooler north during steamy summer months. Though the Civil War cast a shadow over the place during the war years, as soon as the war ended, the Southern families returned. The New York Times correspondent reported in a June 26, 1865 article that “… I have learned that several families from the South, the avant couriers of a large influx from <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>regions most war-scarred, have engaged rooms here, with the view of enjoying again a luxury long debarred. This points not only to peace, but fraternity. The land longs for the latter, to confirm and complete the former. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both established, and the cup of the people’s joy is full.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMneTL4dXymTkElpgaFly8P31ynyJkkM84TSOPRZenbJzDgoQ0nwK0yfVpBo5DUcilR-2Oe77QsrxDD_ZpsrLHhLwL2FDeZhVcRqYY5KYCfU0uvhvhy5bVtfaZLTBJVKQRE66JA8Sb5sKf/s1600/GrandUnionHotelSaratoga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMneTL4dXymTkElpgaFly8P31ynyJkkM84TSOPRZenbJzDgoQ0nwK0yfVpBo5DUcilR-2Oe77QsrxDD_ZpsrLHhLwL2FDeZhVcRqYY5KYCfU0uvhvhy5bVtfaZLTBJVKQRE66JA8Sb5sKf/s320/GrandUnionHotelSaratoga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">It was really after the Civil War, and after several fires which forced the rebuilding of some of the key hotels in a much grander style, that Saratoga began its opulent phase.<br />
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The scale of many of these Saratoga Springs hotels was monumental. The Grand Union was updated several times but in 1875, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it claimed a ballroom that was 85 x 60 feet with 27 foot high ceilings from which hung three large crystal chandeliers. Covering seven acres right on Broadway, the main thoroughfare, The Grand Union had over 824 rooms available, some of them cottages which rented for $125 per day. The cottages were used mainly by families but a single bedroom cottage could be a discreet place to house one’s mistress. Fodder for many stories, I’m sure.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Grand Union</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">The Grand Union boasted two miles of corridors, twelve acres of carpet and an acre of marble. The Grand Union dining room was capable of handling up to 1400 guests at a sitting " with 35 cooks, 200 waiters, 12 carvers dispensing 1200 quarts of milk, 1500 pounds of beef, 80 chickens and 250 quarts of strawberries" or so the guide book of the day related. (The Grand Union Hotel by Beatrice Sweeny, City Historian Saratoga Springs, New York). Where would you find such grandeur today?<br />
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A block down Broadway, The United States Hotel was almost as large encompassing a three-acre park within its boundaries and 768 guest rooms and cottage suites and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all equipped with marble washstands and cold running water with some of the suites offering a private bath. It also had a large ballroom and spacious dining room, all superbly appointed. Congress Hall was on a slightly smaller scale but all three lined the main street with large piazza's overlooking Broadway. Seen in one long sweep the hotels made quite an architectural display.</span></div><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">There were enough places to stay that the middle class could find accommodations and rub shoulders with the elite during visits to the springs and, of course, at the many hops that were held. From that stand point, Saratoga was certainly a more “democratic” resort than say Newport where hotel space was limited and one needed a grand home or an invitation to one to be part of its society. Florence Vanderbilt met her husband, a Western Union clerk, amongst the glitter of Saratoga Springs. </span></div> <br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikVJ-w0Wp9Bo3O_76vgjqkfJ1SFgtUX4kYSBcixXYv2mm-21zPReOm6-MlbuHyVZvba5iDm4ClxFy2u9CCmVDR4liYu3tcZfEBuMwkHFnQKN4lSbw4_CQtgr1qE-jhA8eEbJg2xW31UxsJ/s1600/100_0701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikVJ-w0Wp9Bo3O_76vgjqkfJ1SFgtUX4kYSBcixXYv2mm-21zPReOm6-MlbuHyVZvba5iDm4ClxFy2u9CCmVDR4liYu3tcZfEBuMwkHFnQKN4lSbw4_CQtgr1qE-jhA8eEbJg2xW31UxsJ/s320/100_0701.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"></span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"></span><br />
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In 1877 the Adelphi Hotel was built, squeezed in between the Grand Union and the United States. The Adelphi's piazza also overlooked the street and added to the unified architecture of these great hotels. The Adelphi only had a little more than 150 rooms but it entertained some of Saratoga's elite as well, including John Morrissey, the colorful Tammany Hall politician who helped bring racing and gambling to The Springs. He died at the Adelphi in 1878 with citizens keeping vigil outside its doors.<br />
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The Adelphi's smaller stature is what helped save it from the fate of it's bigger sister hotels. As modern conveniences such as elevators, electrical wiring, indoor plumbing, central heating, phones, etc. were required by vacationers, updating such mammoth palaces became financially prohibitive. With travel made easier, more options opened up. By the 1920's these grande dames were shadows of their former self. By the forties they were in substantial decline. The United States went up in smoke during that decade and the wrecking ball signaled the demise of the Grand Union in 1953.</div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCwsmI-kmdUM7zm_H5pQwcZlD9iwmTNLsAqVAkneEx4DdoiitoxYXpSG7eRn03HFW-JLed6ZjZ-r0JPXfwDH1x8BrO6J_kyMvH0-tUSNp0Q4ih18Rys1w8cDhZeA_Tc631riQXPBC1_FXO/s1600/100_0697.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCwsmI-kmdUM7zm_H5pQwcZlD9iwmTNLsAqVAkneEx4DdoiitoxYXpSG7eRn03HFW-JLed6ZjZ-r0JPXfwDH1x8BrO6J_kyMvH0-tUSNp0Q4ih18Rys1w8cDhZeA_Tc631riQXPBC1_FXO/s320/100_0697.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Adelphi's lobby</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">The Adelphi, however, managed to hang in there and in 1977 the current owners purchased it and started to restore it to it's former glory. Today, you can get a taste of the grandeur of Saratoga's Gilded Age with a stay at the Adelphi where all modern conveniences await you as you step back in time. We stayed at the Adelphi during our visit in a beautifully appointed Queen suite and savored every wonderful minute of it. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Next month I will have more on some of the colorful visitors who called Saratoga Spring home during the summer season. So I ask you again, where could we find such grandeur today?</span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity and little romance on their mind—and the women who love them. You can check out her contemporary romance, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Re-ride at the Rodeo,</b> at </span></i><a href="http://www.annecarrole.com/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">www.annecarrole.com</span></span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. She also is co-editor of the review website, </span></i><a href="http://www.lovewesternromances.com/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">www.lovewesternromances.com</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-81251818978612415502011-10-06T00:25:00.017-04:002011-10-06T00:25:00.188-04:00INDULGING OUR FANTASIES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyHD9YSDlSukq55l1Iha3YUYRp5J9oApQoeA6xihiwSgcFbhsAg4MdICzqz1i3PqhsRl8cLzTCIReXuHTV5Nyv3yvTDKkODELCBRIOE6kB3jlW_Pnf6E7wrcQfdXZh8Iz5-MwsIPBgHXa/s1600/cades-cove--carter-shields-cabin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyHD9YSDlSukq55l1Iha3YUYRp5J9oApQoeA6xihiwSgcFbhsAg4MdICzqz1i3PqhsRl8cLzTCIReXuHTV5Nyv3yvTDKkODELCBRIOE6kB3jlW_Pnf6E7wrcQfdXZh8Iz5-MwsIPBgHXa/s320/cades-cove--carter-shields-cabin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">19th Century cabin</span></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">One of the greatest things about writing is that authors are able to indulge their own fantasies. One of mine is that I would have loved living in the West during the last part of the 1800’s. Maybe! At least until the weather was severe and I had no central heat/air, no clean bathroom with running water, no antibiotics, and on and on. It’s a romantic time to consider, which is why I love <em>writing</em> romances set in the American West (probably much more than I would like returning to that time). </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MFuYVGAy9mYHKIwPS3FSwKyXgOqzyEKcw9mQnEzkR1wbdHZ043PKPKJXGQTLBYyWEMBR3OvTWZs96UnetPOzRbxEENN9XXJPeNQEkZXVg__3ASjoiXVVJkUT8zYoGltiJavWlExS_IPO/s1600/Maureen+O%2527Hara59twmr5p207117p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MFuYVGAy9mYHKIwPS3FSwKyXgOqzyEKcw9mQnEzkR1wbdHZ043PKPKJXGQTLBYyWEMBR3OvTWZs96UnetPOzRbxEENN9XXJPeNQEkZXVg__3ASjoiXVVJkUT8zYoGltiJavWlExS_IPO/s400/Maureen+O%2527Hara59twmr5p207117p.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Maureen O'Hara</span></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">Another of my fantasies is that I wanted to look like the young Maureen O’Hara. More’s the pity, for I look <em>nothing</em> like her. But we’re talking about fantasies, right? This is why Cenora Rose O’Neill, the heroine of my 2010 western romance, THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE, strongly resembles Miss O’Hara in appearance. What authors can’t accomplish ourselves, we accomplish through our characters.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2sR4r1d0XH8RNafuyGDr9oMy00elpYLUwZ98SVqTaBW-XAFH7i4g404LewRQfbIDi5Sq4da68aOJ5EaKQ7NN_M3d4_gFXz4Dojs2Wn3glYqOXu3H3dF_aEn9m5uxP0FbUMYYV_PDyjXP/s1600/Irish+immigrantsthp-mersey.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2sR4r1d0XH8RNafuyGDr9oMy00elpYLUwZ98SVqTaBW-XAFH7i4g404LewRQfbIDi5Sq4da68aOJ5EaKQ7NN_M3d4_gFXz4Dojs2Wn3glYqOXu3H3dF_aEn9m5uxP0FbUMYYV_PDyjXP/s320/Irish+immigrantsthp-mersey.gif" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">When the infamous 1845 Irish potato famine struck and millions in Ireland literally starved to death, there was a mass immigration of Irish into the United States. But the O’Neill family didn’t lose their land in the famine. They were turned off many years later by a spiteful landlord. Due to her lack of schooling, Cenora cannot read cursive and reads only a few words in print. Her father, Sean O’Neill, can read a newspaper (slowly), and has done all the reading for his family and their traveling companions. On the other hand, the McClintocks value education, and Dallas McClintock reads most evenings. This difference causes only one of the many conflicts that arise in the book. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5eyRmev3NQXnkBHpgM0UtnvGJzp0ic-ZH2Y8G6K4wPGCwFGf1BtgIVCeDyqqYL6_bp9tT_o9Qy0cRqJyOZFN_r97M-b2HO6L6u-Ya4NlOJmb9yAuH1Xcw0yOCeEpq6X1Qpe2QNnz15S81/s1600/irelandconnemarafences-382011_horiz-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5eyRmev3NQXnkBHpgM0UtnvGJzp0ic-ZH2Y8G6K4wPGCwFGf1BtgIVCeDyqqYL6_bp9tT_o9Qy0cRqJyOZFN_r97M-b2HO6L6u-Ya4NlOJmb9yAuH1Xcw0yOCeEpq6X1Qpe2QNnz15S81/s320/irelandconnemarafences-382011_horiz-large.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Irish cottage</span></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">When forced off their plot of Irish land with only what they could carry, Cenora and her family fell in with a group of Irish Travelers. The Travelers, or tinkers, are not gypsies but are descended from medieval minstrels and poets who traveled Ireland telling myths and stories. In medieval times, the minstrels and poets were respected and learned. Many Irish families turned out of their homes drifted in with the traveling minstrels, eventually becoming the Irish Travelers--not so respected or learned. Travelers have their own language (cant), Sheldroo, which--amazingly enough--is linked by scholars to medieval language. They camped in fields at first. Later they acquired tents, then the colorful wagons that resemble gypsy wagons, such as the ones used in my novel. Like people everywhere, some Irish Travelers are good, some are bad. The same is true for those portrayed in THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvJHQvxjnjc18bDySn2hN5Y0ceB0qlk1WiNjOzKZrILxWtYDo_gq2G9c0NO8KHMtOnHFoMcDSaBA3chZf66CJU7c5JvyIFIJa_B4XPRmufZrg9VYYPWq9zSReRzh3dxLKmpKjcuwH0pBl/s1600/irish+stone+walls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvJHQvxjnjc18bDySn2hN5Y0ceB0qlk1WiNjOzKZrILxWtYDo_gq2G9c0NO8KHMtOnHFoMcDSaBA3chZf66CJU7c5JvyIFIJa_B4XPRmufZrg9VYYPWq9zSReRzh3dxLKmpKjcuwH0pBl/s320/irish+stone+walls.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Irish fields</span></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">The 19th and early 20th century Traveler wagons are unbelievably compact, and are brightly painted inside and out in red, blue and green with yellow pinstripes. Seeing them in several museums brought home the skill and functionality of these wagons. That describes the two wagons acquired by the O’Neills through their ability to play instruments while Cenora sings for crowds when they pass through towns. Unfortunately, Sean O’Neill’s only abilities are playing music and the gift of gab--not much to supply a family’s needs. His sons Finn and Mac trade ponies for a bit of extra coin and the family barely gets by. On the other hand, rancher Dallas McClintock has a strong work ethic and sense of honor. You can see more trouble looming, can’t you?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">In THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE, Cenora Rose O’Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas McClintock, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She’d do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the bully Tom Williams. She believes a fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Williams. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVLrIe9fQmCI0-b3v4NzqeWulY-gHy53fnwfJJRSO-sGyjXWTe8R5eQYTQBh5InKpfG1Tj6wWLzi24rAWtAz-Qb1GuwDGk-VcaMgKKllb1UQh8tLV5fgo7bi6ROUeTJxXa5TETdHricIL/s1600/TheTexansIrishBride_w4914_680.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVLrIe9fQmCI0-b3v4NzqeWulY-gHy53fnwfJJRSO-sGyjXWTe8R5eQYTQBh5InKpfG1Tj6wWLzi24rAWtAz-Qb1GuwDGk-VcaMgKKllb1UQh8tLV5fgo7bi6ROUeTJxXa5TETdHricIL/s640/TheTexansIrishBride_w4914_680.jpg" width="387" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he’s trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family’s wagon to be tended. He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who ever goes back on his word. His wife has a silly superstition for everything, but passion-filled nights with her make up for everything—even when her wild, eccentric family nearly drives him crazy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I hope you’ll read and enjoy THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE. The gorgeous cover is one of my favorites. The buy link for THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE is <a href="http://www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html">www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html</a> in print and e-download, and it’s also available at Amazon and other online stores. My website is <a href="http://www.carolineclemmons.com/">http://www.carolineclemmons.com/</a>. Other books at The Wild Rose Press are the contemporary romance HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME, historical SAVE YOUR HEART FOR ME, and paranormal time travel OUT OF THE BLUE. My backlist is now available on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle for 99 cents each, and so is my new mystery, ALMOST HOME.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-47666203386043043622011-10-03T00:01:00.013-04:002011-10-03T00:01:03.360-04:00The Staff of Life in the Middle Ages<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzssQyPdUv8-rpFvZEI-5QS5T4_tVJKIodAEI546WkcSKkBZ40e97X-5iINu8NY-zvD-VrkkwXELDvdTXzPtEJMKumYXciqG_J4NWeikwHFa-7oxJuoA1aU5EEXJ2Y6fDItTTjW1vDQjo/s1600/medieval+banquet+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzssQyPdUv8-rpFvZEI-5QS5T4_tVJKIodAEI546WkcSKkBZ40e97X-5iINu8NY-zvD-VrkkwXELDvdTXzPtEJMKumYXciqG_J4NWeikwHFa-7oxJuoA1aU5EEXJ2Y6fDItTTjW1vDQjo/s1600/medieval+banquet+3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">This is where it all started, the 1963 movie, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tezjznL9NzM">Tom Jones</a>. Albert Finney (Tom Jones) licks his chicken bones and Joyce Redman (Mrs Waters) looks like she's making love to an apple. It showed that playing with your food could be fun and anything edible will do! But what was a banquet really like?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">The extravagant feasts and banquets of the Middle Ages are legendary. However, while menus for the wealthy were extensive, only small portions were taken. Hosts were expected to offer extensive choices. <span> </span>With more extensive travel, a change in society emerged, possibly prompted by the Crusades, that led to a new and unprecedented interest in beautiful objects and elegant manners. This change extended to food preparation and presentation and resulted in fabulous food arrangements with exotic colors and flavorings. Banquets prepared during the Middle Ages were fit for a king.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b>Staffing and Presenting the Banquet<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">The kitchen squires where responsible for provisioning the kitchen. Assisted by the cooks, they chose, purchased, and paid for the goods.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">The food was plated on the serving dishes and staged in the kitchen until it was time to bring to the tables in the Great Hall. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">The Noble of the castle, and his distinguished guests, sat at a great table that was set on a raised platform, a dais, at one of the hall. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">Buffets were tables with a series of wooden stepped shelves. The number of shelves indicated the host’s rank. The more shelves the higher the rank. The 'Stepped Buffets' were covered with rich drapes and used at banquets and feasts. The Nobles impressed their guests by using their finest gold or silver plates as service plates on the buffet. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">The banquet feast consisted of three, four, five, and even six courses. At times the presentations of the main courses were made into a theatrical representation with colored jellies of swans or peacocks or pheasants with their feathers. Served as a specialty the beak and feet of these birds were gilt and placed in the middle of the table as a centerpiece.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b>French Medieval Banquets<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">The French cooking historian described a great feast given in 1455 by the Count of Anjou, third son of King Louis II of Sicily. This description demonstrates just how theatrical a presentation can be:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">“On the table was placed a centre-piece, which represented a green lawn, surrounded with large peacocks' feathers and green branches, to which were tied violets and other sweet-smelling flowers.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">In the middle of this lawn a fortress was placed, covered with silver.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The fortress was hollow, and formed a sort of cage, in which several live birds were shut up, their tufts and feet being gilt.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">On its tower, which was gilt, three banners were placed.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The first course consisted of a civet of hare, a quarter of stag which had been a night in salt, a stuffed chicken, and a loin of veal.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The two last dishes were covered with a German sauce, with gilt sugar-plums, and pomegranate seeds.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">At each end, outside the green lawn, was an enormous pie, surmounted with smaller pies, which formed a crown. The crust of the large pies were silvered all round and gilt at the top.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Each pie contained a whole roe-deer, a gosling, three capons, six chickens, ten pigeons, one young rabbit, and, no doubt to serve as seasoning or stuffing, a minced loin of veal, two pounds of fat, and twenty-six hard-boiled eggs, covered with saffron and flavoured with cloves.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">For the three following courses, there was a roe-deer, a pig, a sturgeon cooked in parsley and vinegar, and covered with powdered ginger. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The feast continued with a kid goat, two goslings, twelve chickens, as many pigeons, six young rabbits, two herons, a leveret, a fat capon stuffed, four chickens covered with yolks of eggs and sprinkled with spice, a wild boar, some wafers and stars and a jelly, part white and part red represented the crests of the honored guests, cream covered with fennel seeds and preserved in sugar, a white cream, cheese in slices, and strawberries, and, lastly, plums stewed in rose-water<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Besides these four courses, there was a fifth, entirely of wines then in vogue, and of preserves. These consisted of fruits and various sweet pastries.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">I researched medieval banquets when I wrote <i>Knight of Runes</i>.<span> </span>Eating is fundamental and enjoyable. While Arik and Rebeka don’t get it on quite like Tom and Mrs. Waters there is definitely an air of the playfulness in the scene. <span> </span>The trouble with watching that scene is I really get hungry. I’ll let you figure out for what!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">Ruth A. Casie </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knight-of-runes-ruth-a-casie/1105486501?ean=9781426892585&itm=1&usri=ruth%2ba%2bcasie">Pre-Sale</a> Now Available for <i>Knight of Runes</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-36088182129473452232011-09-30T13:51:00.002-04:002011-09-30T13:55:34.715-04:00A Renaissance Festival CelebrationEvery year my husband and I take our kids to the Renaissance Festival (and if we can get away from them, we'll go again just the two of us!)<br />
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It is this time during the year that I can immerse myself, literally, in the time period I love, and mingle with others who are just as obsessed with history, royals, mead, turkey legs, jousting, etc... While I don't dress up (yet), I do dress up my little pretties. </div>
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This year, we wanted to get our entire family involved, and we did pretty well! Since one of our daughters has a September birthday, we invited the whole family to join us in celebrating her birth at the Renaissance Festival. We had 7 of our family members take us up on it! It was a blast, and I can say it was probably one of the most fun times I've had at the festival because I was able to share my love of history and festival activities with more people.</div>
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For my post today, I thought I'd share with you some of the pics I took. Have you been to a Renn Fest lately?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi166VfofI3kerDuVPIKcW7wQMlV7Gz5GIidJxsFO4tXUmlz-3E_Mz3rEOBRPJXTA__LsuF_hyphenhyphenyBY5ZRCabjEcF0GZlBjfLwAI0XsTG-IjjA3tIfsTexcgTqgw-mSEOca7APg3uSTNVhyY/s1600/Renn+Fest+2011+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi166VfofI3kerDuVPIKcW7wQMlV7Gz5GIidJxsFO4tXUmlz-3E_Mz3rEOBRPJXTA__LsuF_hyphenhyphenyBY5ZRCabjEcF0GZlBjfLwAI0XsTG-IjjA3tIfsTexcgTqgw-mSEOca7APg3uSTNVhyY/s320/Renn+Fest+2011+005.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the DH being silly (yes he is the Queen and I am the King)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqyRITMLwFdP4Srbi1dWwHUkzH8kU8Dp43ZmvnqZ5VnyBmwoZXfbDbecsrx2IpfOutkeLE5IexvQhsmvVt5r9XeNgqbV97EnLffuc36pAO6zT5yiHFraueZbPQpgfN_d4kpRCEhG2DBBY/s1600/Renn+Fest+2011+016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqyRITMLwFdP4Srbi1dWwHUkzH8kU8Dp43ZmvnqZ5VnyBmwoZXfbDbecsrx2IpfOutkeLE5IexvQhsmvVt5r9XeNgqbV97EnLffuc36pAO6zT5yiHFraueZbPQpgfN_d4kpRCEhG2DBBY/s320/Renn+Fest+2011+016.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My and my girls after the three of them were presented to Henry VIII's court.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The oldest princess on a pony</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My husband and oldest princess in the front, and his brother and my youngest princess in the back--riding and elephant (My husband is VERY tall--his brother is about 6 ft., we made fun of how my B-I-L looked so small next to him.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sister, her sig and my 2nd princess on an elephant.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The DH in the stocks :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby Birthday Princess was WIPED out. She slept for about an hour as the rest of us continued our festival fun.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Couldn't get this pic to turn... but that is a giant sundae :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfRV7ppq-7DyEN8Z1AiHKrmDxoC_TkwDEnVgcpHa6azzs5G-q6VAgkVKa5XuS0zOu41WXsmDNb-B505KB2iH6Okzikrry9Ppr9jeu2K-_QAyevusZrdC4T1Jl_1f6c2-3tqEW5G8G8cA/s1600/Renn+Fest+2011+056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfRV7ppq-7DyEN8Z1AiHKrmDxoC_TkwDEnVgcpHa6azzs5G-q6VAgkVKa5XuS0zOu41WXsmDNb-B505KB2iH6Okzikrry9Ppr9jeu2K-_QAyevusZrdC4T1Jl_1f6c2-3tqEW5G8G8cA/s320/Renn+Fest+2011+056.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 2nd Princess in the stocks for being a gossip :)</td></tr>
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*~*~*~*</div>
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<i>Eliza Knight is a multi-published author of historical romance and erotic romance. Visit her at www.elizaknight.com</i></div>
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<b>Available now! </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">A Lady's Charade</i> -- An I-Books (I-Tunes/Apple) Top 100 Popular Romance Novel!</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">From across a field of battle, English knight, Alexander, Lord Hardwyck, spots the object of his desire--and his conquest, Scottish traitor Lady Chloe.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><span style="color: black;">Her lies could be her undoing…</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: black;">Abandoned across the border and disguised for her safety, Chloe realizes the man who besieged her home in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black;">Scotland</span><span style="color: black;"> has now become her savior in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black;">England</span><span style="color: black;">. Her life in danger, she vows to keep her identity secret, lest she suffer his wrath, for he wants her dead. </span></place></country-region></place></country-region></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><span style="color: black;">Or love could claim them both and unravel two countries in the process…</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Alexander suspects Chloe is not who she says she is and has declared war on the angelic vixen who's laid claim to his heart. A fierce battle of the minds it will be, for once the truth is revealed they will both have to choose between love and duty.</span></span></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.elizaknight.com/ALadysCharade.aspx">Available as an ebook (in all formats) or in print.</a></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-79696402247988802932011-09-29T00:03:00.009-04:002011-09-29T00:03:00.887-04:00Something about WelshAs you have no doubt noticed over the past months, I have a particular preference for any and all things Welsh. So, as a treat, I am going to give a short lesson on the Welsh language. I thought you might enjoy learning a few phrases to slip into your conversations when you visit this country so that you can impress your hosts. <div><br /></div><div>One of my favorite idioms is <i>dros ben llestri:</i> literally, 'over heads of dishes'. When someone goes <i>dros ben llestri</i>, they've gone over the top. Pronounced pretty close to the way it looks: drohs ben <i>ll</i>estri - double L is aspirated: put your tongue at the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth and force the L sound out in a hiss.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another saying is <i>cadw cwn a chyfarth ei hun</i>: keeps dogs and barks himself. This describes someone who won't allow anyone to help him, has to be in control of situations. Sound familiar? This phrase is pronounced cah-doo coon ah <i>ch</i>yvahrth eye heen - ch is as in lo<i>ch</i> - aspirated.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it seems that all good things (or bad) seem to end up in someone else's life, you could say <i>i'r pant rhediff y dwr</i>: to the gully runs the water. Sounds like 'ear pant <i>rh</i>ediff uh doer'. Rh is aspirated. In English, some of us say an H in front of the W in words like when, why, where. This is never a heavy sound, more like an exhaled sigh. It's the same in Welsh. A soft H in front of the R. </div><div><br /></div><div>These days, a lot of people around the world are <i>ar y clwt</i>, literally, on the rag - destitute. Remember that W and Y are both consonants and vowels in Welsh. In this case, the pronunciation is close to what it looks like: ahr uh cloot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Greeting people in Wales with <i>Shw mae</i>? is always acceptable. It's like asking What's up? or How goes it? <i>Shw</i> is a corruption of <i>sut</i> (sit) which means how. <i>Mae</i> is a form of the verb <i>bod</i> = 'to be'. <i>Shw mae</i> (shoo my) means 'how is'. </div><div><br /></div><div>All Welsh vowels are Italianate - open and strong which is why Welsh is such a lovely language to sing. If you'd like to know more about Welsh folk music, the <a href="http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/folksongs/">National Museum of Wales</a> has a fantastic archive. You can also see examples of Welsh music at <a href="http://www.cronfa.com/index.php?action=col&page=0&cid=CAG">Cronfa</a>. The American, Phyllis Kinney, has dedicated her life to Welsh folk music. She and her husband, Meredydd Evans, are renown for their academic work in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Welsh-Traditional-Music-Phyllis-Kinney/dp/070832357X">Welsh traditional music</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>People always ask me if I found Welsh hard to learn. Since I've now spoken it on a daily basis, I have to answer No, but in my first days and weeks, I couldn't get my tongue around words like <i>rhwngwladol</i> at all. One of the best ways to learn any language is to sing in it. In my forthcoming novel, <i>The Gatekeeper</i>, Gwennan teaches Jehan-Emíl to sing a simple song to help him learn her language. Learning Welsh for me was one of the most life-altering things I've ever done - for one thing, I would never have written <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?field-keywords=Traitor%27s+Daughter+Lily+Dewaruile&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&x=14&y=18">Traitor's Daughter</a></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.trac-cymru.org/">Trac</a> is a good place to begin an exploration of Welsh traditional music and dance. This organization is also on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/trac-music-traditions-wales-traddodiadau-cerdd-cymru/198709770148">Facebook</a> so you can get to know the people who are promoting:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 14px; "><i>The future of the tradition and the tradition of the future</i>. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 14px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 14px; ">Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, please let me know.</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-70741956956835370182011-09-28T00:00:00.006-04:002011-09-28T18:57:33.317-04:00The Seminoles in Florida and Beyond<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In 1513, Spain claimed the land now known as Florida. At that time, more than 200,000 natives lived on the peninsula. By the time of the American Revolution in 1776, disease and warfare had reduced the native population to less than 40,000. More thousands had been made into slaves by English settlers starting in 1704.</span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhyphenhyphenO22SdlwOb04Mar1p238r_4UXNtYyYh15aqv1AIWVCkbrdNvf5YMRMEvKBDPVVYqxdigJVKcZ_jEnVLuALav-Mamlx2Z7UWwhIAseQxJs3aTS_z3rCsKQZf1TFYA7-zmLjSHYYE7cs/s1600/seminole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhyphenhyphenO22SdlwOb04Mar1p238r_4UXNtYyYh15aqv1AIWVCkbrdNvf5YMRMEvKBDPVVYqxdigJVKcZ_jEnVLuALav-Mamlx2Z7UWwhIAseQxJs3aTS_z3rCsKQZf1TFYA7-zmLjSHYYE7cs/s400/seminole.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By 1813, the United States had plans to clear lands for new settlement. The natives were in the way. The Creek War in Alabama forced the Creeks to give up millions of acres. Many Creek Indians fled to Spanish Florida where they joined with native tribes living there. The combined tribes became known as the Seminoles. This name means “wild people” or “runaways.” Many slaves who ran away from Southern plantations also found a home with the native people in Spanish Florida. </span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Their hope for safety did not last long. By 1817, the U. S. military entered Florida to protect new American settlers on Indian land. They also searched for the runaway slaves. These battles fought under General Andrew Jackson became known as the Seminole Wars. For the next forty-one years, conflicts between American troops and the natives of Florida continued. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This time of war was marked by several unsuccessful treaties. The 1823 Ft. Moultrie Treaty required the Seminole to cede all their lands except for a small central reservation. The treaty of Payne's Landing nine years later set the timetable for removing the entire tribe west of the Mississippi River. Heavy resistance to this treaty under the leadership of Tribal leader Osceola lead to the second Seminole War in 1835. This war lasted eight years with 1500 American troop deaths including the massacre of 100 men in one battle. The number of Seminole deaths in unrecorded. </span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Seminole Nation removed to the West became part of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory. When they agreed to outside settlement in the territory in 1908, the Nation numbered 2,138, many with mixed blood of the escaped slaves who found refuge with them in earlier years. A separate number of "Seminole Freedmen" was counted at 986. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">A refuge band of Seminoles of mostly former slave blood settled in Mexico across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas. </span></div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">During that time, Florida became a United States territory. In 1843, it became the 27th state. More than 5000 of the Seminole people had been forced west of the Mississippi after being hunted down with bloodhounds They were herded like cattle onto ships to New Orleans and up the Mississippi River. About 200 to 300 of them were able to flee into the swampy wilderness of the Everglades. There they managed to survive alligators, mosquitos, snakes, suffocating heat and malaria to stay hidden until the 1890s. Today more than 2000 Seminoles live on six reservations in Florida.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My Question for September contest: What future president earned fame during the Seminole Wars? </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXRSwhjbgZLjGJS-EmlvYbx5SEXlApFWmqZLtOGkRCx3A_YVBtm-4WWFTs64T_qvMAmE8ngwFN0LufTWA7pQK2FVqqa0wAR-If1Vp1mu7bEAQuEvysPM3OUs91AZgbm-Z1TeoERVLJwfQ/s1600/WestofHeavenCoverArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXRSwhjbgZLjGJS-EmlvYbx5SEXlApFWmqZLtOGkRCx3A_YVBtm-4WWFTs64T_qvMAmE8ngwFN0LufTWA7pQK2FVqqa0wAR-If1Vp1mu7bEAQuEvysPM3OUs91AZgbm-Z1TeoERVLJwfQ/s200/WestofHeavenCoverArt.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="133" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">BIO: Barbara Scott is the author of several romances including<i>Cast a Pale Shadow, Haunts of the Heart, and Listen with Your Heart.</i> Her most recent <i>West of Heaven</i> earned the following quote from Romancing the Book: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; line-height: 17px;">Barbara Scott blends the perfect amount of suspense, romance, history, and humor into a wonderfully engaging novel. I definitely recommend this novel with 4 stars (Lovely Rose!) and two thumbs up!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; line-height: 17px;"> " Barbara's next release <i>Talk of the Town is a </i>contemporary romantic comedy due out October 1, 2011.</span></span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-5209134497801009042011-09-27T08:51:00.000-04:002011-09-27T08:51:08.666-04:00Devon<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixFA7p870_KmGrjMexfoM0d7KTu2WfU_cAZjZlqAloRbjNbTMPXdNR3ZT2Ty29JhF5Zw4f6hxe2R0mcTEwU2Ch88-Aphaq0LoGkkEUOSrxUBXkBTp8f_lgu1bVbJM_CsllMYzJaRTXIZcX/s1600/Copy+of+P1010365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixFA7p870_KmGrjMexfoM0d7KTu2WfU_cAZjZlqAloRbjNbTMPXdNR3ZT2Ty29JhF5Zw4f6hxe2R0mcTEwU2Ch88-Aphaq0LoGkkEUOSrxUBXkBTp8f_lgu1bVbJM_CsllMYzJaRTXIZcX/s320/Copy+of+P1010365.JPG" width="320" /></a>Clovelly is a very old fishing village in Devon clinging to the side of a cliff. A place where the people clung to life equally perilously as they harvested fish in all kinds of weather.<br />
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This is the Red Lion hotel where we stayed and as you can see we were blessed with lovely weather. It was once several fishermen's cottages and was joined together to form an inn a great many years ago.<br />
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Early records of the village date back to Saxon times, but it has been around in something like its present form since the 16th century. If you haven't visited Clovelly, then hopefully these pictures give you a sense of this charming spot.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NmS3ZqT7faw/ToHFMA-jO7I/AAAAAAAAA5E/HBMst_TbPqE/s1600/Britain+2011+034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NmS3ZqT7faw/ToHFMA-jO7I/AAAAAAAAA5E/HBMst_TbPqE/s200/Britain+2011+034.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The population in the village in 1801, my interest being the Regency, was 714 people and a great many of these would have been children, since families were large and the number of cottages is quite small.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9-YbrkS5CPg/ToHE3v96zBI/AAAAAAAAA5A/u-hzO0j4xxo/s1600/Britain+2011+061.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9-YbrkS5CPg/ToHE3v96zBI/AAAAAAAAA5A/u-hzO0j4xxo/s200/Britain+2011+061.JPG" width="150" /></a>The hillside is very steep so you must have to go up very slowly and you will have to take lots of breaks, but first may I suggest a small libation at the bar in the Red Lion. We also had a crab sandwich for lunch, which was delicious.<br />
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To get down to the hotel by car (as only hotel guests are permitted to do), we used what is called The Turnpike road, which in the old days was very steep and very rough and it is this way that the supplies were delivered to the village at the very bottom of the hill, only to be have to then carried up to the houses. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikI8fGN0ss5hg1O3Q-VCGqCbSY1EWfE40zADdLucwFNi4l_x1xbvHwUYt3IoQ804l7IFmUZ9Yl8W9hcxSU8MmcOsiK_8gMfyvFE1Juv-s-mEc8G3ZVB7dbvftABDRkYO5PbkFo6JTSdd-B/s1600/P1010361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikI8fGN0ss5hg1O3Q-VCGqCbSY1EWfE40zADdLucwFNi4l_x1xbvHwUYt3IoQ804l7IFmUZ9Yl8W9hcxSU8MmcOsiK_8gMfyvFE1Juv-s-mEc8G3ZVB7dbvftABDRkYO5PbkFo6JTSdd-B/s200/P1010361.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><br />
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This is the cobbled alleyway that leads from Turnpike at the back of the Red Lion to the harbour side of the pier.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrjsymLCATX98xLI0BNVRecIQsfQDJjCZCaeTpTr9zDoWHEoDsKwuUm3OGr5zooO9ElOeRdRERyUMLWVMFtmvSM8a8PIgaCFr8ODK_UyuBUmlWhKhBNC_GYaS9KB7aHNhxcxjZirF0fUT/s1600/P1010367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrjsymLCATX98xLI0BNVRecIQsfQDJjCZCaeTpTr9zDoWHEoDsKwuUm3OGr5zooO9ElOeRdRERyUMLWVMFtmvSM8a8PIgaCFr8ODK_UyuBUmlWhKhBNC_GYaS9KB7aHNhxcxjZirF0fUT/s200/P1010367.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
And here is the harbour as it appeared to us the day we arrived. You can see that the tide is out.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGx2Si1NsOWHDb6kY54FMn4btn46x4mu3CmW0NyYxiy2pd4WQ9AXvAlS4LlwZkd3vAQChzyvGfZGZGgh_emPr4sQWLKbr7a0UtWqLiVJE_oCoj2OFC4uYfSOoav_j9i6GHpaejFTLIoni/s1600/P1010363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGx2Si1NsOWHDb6kY54FMn4btn46x4mu3CmW0NyYxiy2pd4WQ9AXvAlS4LlwZkd3vAQChzyvGfZGZGgh_emPr4sQWLKbr7a0UtWqLiVJE_oCoj2OFC4uYfSOoav_j9i6GHpaejFTLIoni/s200/P1010363.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I have to say that we were enchanted with this village which looks across to Wales. <br />
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My question for you is, do you have any idea how they would have brought goods from the bottom of the hill or the harbour up those steep roads to the town?<br />
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Until next time, Happy RamblesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-80321738437495490392011-09-26T01:01:00.000-04:002011-09-26T01:01:24.550-04:00Historical Romances: Likes and Pet Peeves<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had a great post for you from the suggestion of one of our readers who said the Liturgical Year would make more sense if people understood the Liturgical Day. Unfortunately, it’s on a flash drive at home and I’m not there. However, I thought we could have some fun today talking about likes and dislikes, as well as things that just create wall-bangers for some of us. I’ve mentioned a few of mine on the HHRW General Loop a few times. One of my main dislikes is obviously someone trying to cast 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century mores in an 11<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century world; writers who don’t understand the historical ramifications of Last Rites using them as a plot tool and creating the ultimate sinner; people who say, “You won’t use a word that works because someone told them it is too new…” Sorry, I don’t speak Old French and I doubt most would understand Old English or Latin. These are only a few, but I didn’t want to take them all and leave none for you.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have likes too! I love an Historical Romance that takes me through the gamut of emotions and doesn’t read like a history lesson. I love historical situations that drive the plot, so that I’m not reading a book that could be written in any era and still turn out the same way. I don’t have a problem with the historicals of the late 70’s and 80’s that many call bodice busters… Except for one, and I won’t name the title but the book took the hero and heroine around the world by ship and put them in some of the most ridiculous scenarios that the nearly 500 page (or was it 600?) took me forever to read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So have fun and share with us today, whether reader or writer, let us know what you like or dislike.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mary McCall<o:p></o:p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-80879300771787766552011-09-25T12:53:00.073-04:002011-09-25T20:15:10.650-04:00Musée de Cluny<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxuVBB6CaGfR5JCQP_VOQtf5XR0TX7Lkjur6ezt9xaDA9eQu_MeYW7otIPoN5ImBM2E2ZNavgAXZJgU41r2DSdxKqlaExmQEoal6XTMfbhiCAWy3HSQ1L2-fVW8P8FIOl2pYwjHvAkmY/s1600/Unicorn.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxuVBB6CaGfR5JCQP_VOQtf5XR0TX7Lkjur6ezt9xaDA9eQu_MeYW7otIPoN5ImBM2E2ZNavgAXZJgU41r2DSdxKqlaExmQEoal6XTMfbhiCAWy3HSQ1L2-fVW8P8FIOl2pYwjHvAkmY/s320/Unicorn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656346218485955250" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Awesome is too tame</span> a word to describe the wonder of </span><a style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/index.html"><span> Musée National du Moyen Age</span></a> <span style=""> (aka/Musee de Cluny). Located in the 5th District of Paris near the Sorbonne, it was originally built in the 14th century as a town house for Benedictine Abbots, on the site of Gallo Roman baths. In 1843 the building became a National Museum of Medieval and Renaissance treasures.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:";" ><span style=""> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="">With our love of European history, Cluny was on our <i style="font-weight: bold;">must see</i> list of places to visit d</span><span style="">u</span><span style="">ri</span><span style="">ng last fall's trip to Paris.<span style=""> </span>From our apartment in Les </span><span style="">Halles, we took the Metro to the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpbVMMl8zgE">Cluny La Sorbonne station</a>, with its<span style=""> </span>artistically rendere</span><span style="">d mosaics and signatures of famous authors, poets, philosophers, artists, and statesmen adorning the ceiling.<span style=""> </span>From there we walked a few blocks to a Starbucks where, seated amid masses of studying and debating college </span><span style="">students, we breakfasted on coffee and croissants. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9dk6WjcqeHehYt6CvlixhsLLKffx90Y0_cNX3k3EbUiS4vLHWNbd-qzg1ZmwaSrc_ipWQtyl2QCaPlAYSpquGkv2dXNUMDhA0OiYSPcHMHPQOQ4LPWqYLNei1w_QUW1Gxxv4akZw2Ww/s1600/Unicorn+horn.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9dk6WjcqeHehYt6CvlixhsLLKffx90Y0_cNX3k3EbUiS4vLHWNbd-qzg1ZmwaSrc_ipWQtyl2QCaPlAYSpquGkv2dXNUMDhA0OiYSPcHMHPQOQ4LPWqYLNei1w_QUW1Gxxv4akZw2Ww/s320/Unicorn+horn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656346970269925778" border="0" /></a>Another short walk in the cool October air took us to the Cluny museum. After checking our coats, we walked through the gift shop and stepped into the first of a multitude of galleries filled with medieval masterpieces</span>.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="">For hours we strolled through room after room o</span><span style="">f art and artifacts </span><span style="">- paintings, chalices, statues, and ornamentation of the medieval churches. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="">A large room with black walls and dim lights holds the <a href="http://www.tchevalier.com/unicorn/tapestries/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lady and Unic</span></a></span><a href="http://www.tchevalier.com/unicorn/tapestries/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">o</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">rn tapestri</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">es</span></a><span style="">, a series of six Flemish tapestries woven from silk and wool in the late 15th century</span><span style="">.<span style=""> </span>Each tapestry depicts one of the senses - taste, hearing, sight, touch, and </span><span style="">smell.<span style=""> </span>The sixth depicts love or desire.<span style=""> </span>We stood in silence, in wonder, and in awe.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=""><span style=""> </span></span></p></span></span><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Another room held an intriguing relic, a unicorn's horn, so stated on the small sign below it.<span style=""> </span>Other galleries held knights' armor, chainmail, and weapons.</span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""><span style=""><span style=""><span style=""><span style=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span></span></p> <span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" ><span style=""> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=""><span style=""> </span></span></p> </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTk2pC8rwEWohCIgEY3Ln2crf41uDzNUAqyfcVJqWiWwhMIprisgw2NPJWqN41MaO-aCqvm_9vNrApVOCgDFvw79RzMln2WsLNAuEdGaMJjJ-_uR4RaipKtGcMsUzv6ojPOv34FSNUoA/s1600/Partridges.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTk2pC8rwEWohCIgEY3Ln2crf41uDzNUAqyfcVJqWiWwhMIprisgw2NPJWqN41MaO-aCqvm_9vNrApVOCgDFvw79RzMln2WsLNAuEdGaMJjJ-_uR4RaipKtGcMsUzv6ojPOv34FSNUoA/s320/Partridges.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656347935737207682" border="0" /></a>In an adj</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" >oining building but still within the museum, we came to the ruins of the </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermes_de_Cluny">Gallo-Roman baths</a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-family:verdana;" > and other statues dating from the 3rd century.</span><p style="font-family: verdana;"></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Although the guidebooks say to allow one hour to tour Cl</span><span style="">uny, we were t</span><span style="">here for well over three hours and could have stayed the entire day.<span style=""> </span>If you have a love of medieval history, I urge you to find a way to visit <a href="http://www.pbase.com/travelingmonkey/museum"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Musée de Cluny</span></a>.<span style=""> </span>It will remain in your heart forever.</span></p><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Debra K. Maher</span><br /> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://debmaher.com/">Stringing Beads</a></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><br /></span></p> </span></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-62734702629445013612011-09-24T00:01:00.000-04:002011-09-24T00:01:02.003-04:00Idaho Hotel-Silver City<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbgTLbY3E7YtI1YRy4F-LIyGz4ur8ulIHDAX2HV3PfGk6N3XPUl2CEsXUHrhMXRnhRxQT2LCQ82WnxB4O2LxQl3dqFdJ_zBupqxtDDR-oQffAVWNvaTwuh_AlGQWlT_n3vFI2I_r5CKc/s1600/Silver+city+051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbgTLbY3E7YtI1YRy4F-LIyGz4ur8ulIHDAX2HV3PfGk6N3XPUl2CEsXUHrhMXRnhRxQT2LCQ82WnxB4O2LxQl3dqFdJ_zBupqxtDDR-oQffAVWNvaTwuh_AlGQWlT_n3vFI2I_r5CKc/s200/Silver+city+051.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Backside of the hotel and other buildings</td></tr>
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When <a href="http://www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com/">Lauri Robinson</a> approached me about writing a “sisters” book together I jumped on the idea. As we chatted back and forth establishing their background and how the story would end we needed a town that the family would be traveling to at the start of the book. Preferably a mining town between where your two sisters would end up. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGKP2pzEvfnV_dNdyHR8kFExwKETv4xnw7higKA9QZ7YebRpnj6EWE0pUGs9RsjYB9rgVwkGwYs7fe_0dP0f1zmd9ezXmVT7Z92hSW30Uocj0ztfj6DV7i3vMYzvmf9xWHrlhZ4hu9M0/s1600/Silver+city+061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGKP2pzEvfnV_dNdyHR8kFExwKETv4xnw7higKA9QZ7YebRpnj6EWE0pUGs9RsjYB9rgVwkGwYs7fe_0dP0f1zmd9ezXmVT7Z92hSW30Uocj0ztfj6DV7i3vMYzvmf9xWHrlhZ4hu9M0/s200/Silver+city+061.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tink on the Idaho Hotel porch</td></tr>
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After some digging I came up with Silver City, Idaho. It was up and running in the time frame we needed. A discovery of gold on War Eagle Mountain in 1865 started the influx of miners and merchants. The failure of the Bank of California, which funded most of the mines, caused the mines to stop work in 1875. But some carried on until and there was a short revival in 1890. Mining didn't come to a complete shut down but irrigation and agriculture increased in the lower valley around the Snake River and the mountain towns dwindled. </div>
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Only a few people remain in Silver City today and mostly during the summer because the road to the mountain town is closed by snow from October to May.</div>
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When Lauri and I decided on using this town in our book, Tink(my dog) and I took a road trip to see how the stage coaches approached the town and what it looked like in the small valley near the top of the mountain. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW19ik5LUq1LtuVVqqX_YlduoLqYhYYL2jDXTaJMpwWIR8P1TXbGuzVugHFiNEinKZlXc_m4QYlCaTI_wxo4dcbVHDRSQtasBq53CzbAe_BjxUdIMf6MaddgkeSnSp_x44Xbc991l8yOU/s1600/Silver+city+032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW19ik5LUq1LtuVVqqX_YlduoLqYhYYL2jDXTaJMpwWIR8P1TXbGuzVugHFiNEinKZlXc_m4QYlCaTI_wxo4dcbVHDRSQtasBq53CzbAe_BjxUdIMf6MaddgkeSnSp_x44Xbc991l8yOU/s200/Silver+city+032.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">old stamp mill</td></tr>
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There are still some original buildings. The one that impressed me the most was The Idaho Hotel. It has a welcoming wide front porch that spans fifty-eight feet, it's three stories tall, and has beautiful woodwork inside. The current owners are restoring it to its original condition.</div>
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When it was built it was considered one of the best hotels in the Idaho Territory. It boasted a large dining room, kitchen, fifty guest rooms and a beautiful mahogany bar. It had a bath house and the backside is up against Jordan Creek. That back area was a Chinese laundry. Running water was piped into the hotel in 1869 and in 1878 the owner built an electric plant on Jordan Creek to illuminate the hotel and other businesses.</div>
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In 1871 a bar and additional rooms were added onto the east end. On July 4th in 1873 the townsfolk shot off a cannon in celebration and chattered a third of the window glass in the hotel. This gave the owners the nudge to remodel. The enlarged and improved by adding a woodshed, a large kitchen and two rooms over the barroom. In 1874 they add the costliest and handsomest mirror to ever travel to Silver City in the bar. </div>
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The hotel was also the depot for all the stage and express lines.<br />
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For a Sister's Love blurb:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfg0mw81UEOCjZndRyrcfsRTxiBVlwHhyphenhyphenFLRjLfgweoErUa_PxKkeobsTi-OQwQocJkVTquj9J60FZgBB5OR0l75u3QXX33w4EWx88FCL9XMJOlnYcTqbTfZ7GW0fWgXim216Tww89M4/s1600/For+A+Sisters+Love+FINAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfg0mw81UEOCjZndRyrcfsRTxiBVlwHhyphenhyphenFLRjLfgweoErUa_PxKkeobsTi-OQwQocJkVTquj9J60FZgBB5OR0l75u3QXX33w4EWx88FCL9XMJOlnYcTqbTfZ7GW0fWgXim216Tww89M4/s200/For+A+Sisters+Love+FINAL.jpg" width="129" /></a>Lorelei and Maggie Holmes make a desperate vow to reunite after an Indian raid on their wagon train leaves them orphans. Eight-year-old Lorelei is taken in by an impoverished family headed to a Colorado mining town and ten-year-old Maggie finds herself on the way to Portland, Oregon to live with a woman widowed during the Indian attack.</div>
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Ten years later, Lorelei’s adoptive father gambles away her birth mother’s locket and her only connection to her lost sister. Believing she needs the locket and to find Maggie, she sets out after the gambler and ends up in the company of a citified lawyer searching for the same man.</div>
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While cleaning a hotel room, Maggie discovers her mother’s locket in the possession of a gambler. Fear for her sister increases Maggie's determination. Never one to give up, she dogs the gambler until he agrees to help her find her sister.<br />
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Two sisters, two adventures, will they find one another or will the men helping them be their destinies?<br />
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This book is available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/For-a-Sisters-Love-ebook/dp/B005J5L0Y6">Kindle</a>, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84043">Smashwords</a>, and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/for-a-sisters-love-paty-jager/1105114925">Nook</a> for $.99<br />
<br />
Paty<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.patyjager.net/">http://www.patyjager.net/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/">http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/</a> <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-26771510097301526342011-09-23T00:01:00.001-04:002011-09-23T00:01:00.227-04:00Alexandra: The Early Years<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">By Emma Westport </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In June 1884, Princess Alix, from the small duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, came to St. Petersburg to celebrate the marriage of her sister, Ella, to the Tsar’s brother, the Grand Duke Serge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The young girl was related to most of the nobility of Europe, many of whom she’d never met and all of whom were in attendance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At a family dinner, she found herself seated next to her handsome, blue-eyed cousin, the sixteen-year-old Tsarevich, Nicholas Romanov.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Before dinner was over, Alix was in love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So was he.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That night, Nicholas wrote in his diary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“I sat next to little twelve year old Alix and I like her awfully much.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For the rest of her stay, Alix spent time with her cousin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They walked in the parks around Peterhof, laughed together and etched their names in the window of the Italian House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nicholas gave her a brooch, which she at first accepted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But before she left, she gave it back feeling, perhaps, she was too young for such an expensive gift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">By the time Alix returned to Russia in 1889, it was clear to both families that there was something more than a childish infatuation at play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The formidable Queen Victoria opposed the match.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She liked Nicholas well enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She thought him a charming young man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But she did not want to see a favorite grandchild on the dangerous throne of Russia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nicholas’s grandfather had been brutally murdered by an assassin’s bomb and his father Tsar Alexander III had also been the target of assassination attempts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Victoria pressed Alix to marry ‘Eddy,’ eldest son of the Prince of Wales.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Victoria believed Alix would be a steadying influence on the young man and she wanted Alix to be Queen of England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alix refused the match.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Tsar Alexander III and his wife also opposed a marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Tsar felt Nicholas was already too timid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He did not want to see his son married to a wife with the same failing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Worse, Alix often hid her shyness behind a cold smile and curt manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Tsarina, Maria Feodorovna, feared this would make Alix unpopular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She would never be loved or accepted by the Russian people.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Thing changed when the Tsar became ill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The prospect of his own death made the Tsar realize Nicholas needed someone by his side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Queen Victoria continued to oppose their marriage but Nicholas now had his parents’ permission to at least court Alix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Aided by Alix’s sister, Ella, wife of Grand Duke Serge, Nicholas began writing to her.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">It did not go well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Both wanted to marry but marriage to the Tsarevich would make Alix Russia’s Tsarevna and that meant she had to be a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alix could not bring herself to renounce her Lutheran beliefs, not even for the man she loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nicholas was stunned but Ella told him not to worry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A solution would be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alix was told both churches held many beliefs in common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>No ‘renunciation’ was necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She would simply join the Orthodox Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alix accepted Nicholas and their engagement was announced.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The happy couple had a short time together before Nicholas had to return to Russia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alix went to England but, even as she traveled, she was followed by reporters and gawkers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Everyone wanted a glimpse of the beautiful girl who would rule the Russian Empire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She went to Harrogate under an assumed name, seeking privacy and treatment for the sciatica that would plague her throughout her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Her identity was soon discovered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She wrote to Nicholas, and joked about the people who stared at her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Next time, she said, she’d know to stick her tongue out at them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In fact, her new celebrity frightened the shy Princess. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Total strangers tried to peer in her windows, some using opera glasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She couldn’t go out her front door or take a carriage without being followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Shopping became impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Any store she entered was instantly mobbed and it was not just the loss of privacy that made her uneasy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Pain crippled her legs, limiting her mobility and confining her to a wheelchair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There was no way she could escape if a crowd proved unruly.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, the Tsar’s condition worsened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nicholas telegraphed Alix, asking her to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Alexander III insisted on getting up from his bed to meet his future daughter-in-law and nothing but his full dress uniform would do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But the man who used to bend steel bars to amuse his children was exhausted by the effort of standing and putting it on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Barely able to breathe, he met Alix sitting down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She came in and knelt before him.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Tsar died on November 1, 1894.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After the state funeral, Nicholas took advantage of his mother’s birthday, a day when mourning was suspended, to marry Alix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On November 26, 1894, the twenty two year old Princess became Her Imperial Majesty, Tsarina of all the Russias, Alexandra Feodorovna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On the morning after her wedding night Alexandra wrote in her husband’s diary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Never did I believe there could be such utter happiness in the world, such a feeling unity between two mortal beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I love you—those three words have my life in them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It was the start of one of the most tragic love affairs in history. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">(For photos and images of Alexandra, please try the following links.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If they do not work, simply cut and paste them in your browser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AgB8bIAYv0&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AgB8bIAYv0&feature=related</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daUg0KVbxE0">http:/youtube.com/watch?v=daUg0KVbxE0</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The quote above is from Greg King’s biography, <u>The Last Empress:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Carolyn Erickson’s <u>Alexandra, The Last Tsarina</u> is also very readable.)<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-7490476786865802302011-09-22T02:51:00.000-04:002011-09-22T02:51:45.410-04:00Historical Inaccuracies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNAYEQiVybr841u84V7wZxCXWbhSin-BXopj9o4dNISSdV_3GM5-icJ-cIAhosQL9QrjzL1junOCO2AkGvWIRaLUKqi49uDjqo44bWMY36V2UzvsXtsNS43443PpJy8LkplKRczRH8DWQ/s1600/DSCN0787-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="150px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNAYEQiVybr841u84V7wZxCXWbhSin-BXopj9o4dNISSdV_3GM5-icJ-cIAhosQL9QrjzL1junOCO2AkGvWIRaLUKqi49uDjqo44bWMY36V2UzvsXtsNS43443PpJy8LkplKRczRH8DWQ/s200/DSCN0787-1.jpg" width="200px" /></a></div>One of the things I love most about writing historicals is the research, but it can also be the most irritating task. I have spent that last few months researching words, Kansas orphan laws, screen doors, cellars, stone houses, barb wire, Pinkerton Detectives, coal mines, railways and trains. Of course, I'm sure there are plenty more that I can't think of right now, like clothing, roofing and horses. Oh, I even researched dates for hymnals. <br />
<br />
And wouldn't you know it that I didn't even consider whether or not peaches were in season during the manuscript I just submitted. Of course, this little tidbit didn't dawn on me until a discussion occurred on one of my writer's loops, which brought up another fact that I had failed to research . . .<br />
<br />
which Bible translation to use in my historical. I've never read anything other than New International. Who knew that the NIV didn't come into existence until the late 1960s? Certainly not me. Boy, was I embarrassed. But I have been assured by at least one person that my little faux pas won't cause the historically-accurate, lynching mob after me. <br />
<br />
So, have you ever discovered an inaccuracy after the fact? If so, what was it? What kinds of historical inaccuracies in books drive you absolutely nuts?<br />
<br />
<em>Happy Thursday, </em><br />
<br />
<em>Christina</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-87845698224407203962011-09-20T01:12:00.008-04:002011-09-20T01:55:00.330-04:00THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><!--StartFragment--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Goudy Old Style';"><i>“From ghoulies and ghosties</i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="Goudy Old Style"font-family:";"><i>And long-leggedy beasties<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="Goudy Old Style"font-family:";"><i>And things that go bump in the night,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="Goudy Old Style"font-family:";"><i>Good Lord, deliver us!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="Goudy Old Style"font-family:";"><i><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></i></span><span style="Goudy Old Style"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><i>Traditional Scottish Prayer <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After watching this year’s Emmy Show I was surprised with how out of touch I have been with network television. I do have a few guilty pleasures on the small screen especially now as the days grow shorter and the weather becomes crisp with the promise of snow in the air. Two favorite shows of guilty pleasure are the Science Fiction channel’s GHOST HUNTERS and GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I tell myself I am only watching for ideas for paranormal plots but the truth is I want to believe there is tangible evidence of the paranormal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Though I have no supernatural abilities myself I do remember when I was 7 my father turning white at my brother’s christening party and my mother being scared. I later learned, while in the kitchen getting ice my dad was confronted by his mother, except my grandmother had just died two short weeks before. Seems she had come back to see that my baby brother and my family were fine before she could pass over.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On my first visit to Scotland back in 1994 I had planned to visit Roslyn Chapel near Edinburgh after reading THE SWORD AND THE GRAIL by Andrew Sinclair. I was fascinated with the then belief of the chapel’s connection to the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. After at least a week of tromping through graveyards looking for lost ancestors my husband willingly agreed going the Chapel would a nice change of pace. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way for my husband. We entered the Chapel and I was hit was a major sensory overload as to where to look, but after a while I realized my husband was nowhere to be found. I walked outside to find him smoking, weird because he had given it up years before. I asked him to come back in, as I wanted to show him the death mask of Robert Bruce but he refused. I could see he was upset so thinking I could come back later for a church service we left. Finally that night he admitted that he felt while in the chapel as he if he was being chocked and pushed to a dark corner of the chapel. He didn’t get relief until he left the chapel. Since then, I have returned four more times over the years, but he has flatly refused to not only to go in the chapel but refuse to enter the grounds. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Scotland rich in Celtic legends of fairy folk, brownies, kelpies, and witches is a vortex for all kinds of paranormal activities from ghost sightings, to hauntings, to Nessie and even UFO’s (Scotland has more sightings than anywhere in the world).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As we approach the final month of the Celtic calendar I wanted to share two of my favorite haunted places in Scotland: </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">“<i>Bluidy Mackingie, come oot if you daur, left the sneck and draw the bar.”<o:p></o:p></i></p> <!--EndFragment--><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI7AmZ-hx9Kn95U6eWAQmCFGcn9QLinnnbzzs6DjX9ycPwDg1Me8yzBo-BYAam2MAVPsVqloWAyuOUGCVNMW5e7vv_Czdx0-oS1uW3D61AWju-UXN-saXF_JyQcNIjtANQ54cOzWkpBY_/s320/mac2day.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654308929522851970" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Greyfairs Kirkyard and the Covenanters Prison</span></span></b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">: </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I first visited here in 1994 on my first trip. Having been raised on all the old Wa</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">lt D</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">isney movies of the 60’s I had to see where the famous Greyfrairs Bobby was buried. For those of you who don’t know about this wonderful dog, when his owner died he would sneak into the Kirkyard and lay upo</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">n hi</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">s owner’s grave. He was chased off daily but because of his unique loyalty to his owner even in death, he was cared for by the community and allowed to visit his master until he too died. In great Disney fashion, Bobby was buried near his master and the children of the US pooled their money to have a special monument er</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ected for just for Bobby. At the time I first visited one could</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">walk the grounds even in the grounds of the Covenanters Prison (17</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> century), which was turned into a graveyard.</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">However, all that changed in 1999. As the story goes a vagrant had somehow gotten into the Kirkyard, which was normally locked in the evening. Thinking to find a warm place to bed down for the night he entered George Mackenzie’s Tomb. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG0QiOQKQI3VMWc9F_ou6rGDD8AJENVhS9UhBT-wVX_L4UVW6F2MqGcfnRDW62qHBdlGZhh32ILDiXrFrFrBmlVnTHDRMqx_Q2yBf6coXUnTgXMp4O2t4FReicg1sziA4SLN6xlH8FEsmb/s320/mactomb.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654308329306656818" /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">George Mackenzie, or “B</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">luidy Mackenzie” as he was later known, was Scotland’s chief Advocate for King Charles II and it was he who had over 1200 Covenanter prisoners (men, women and children) brought to Edinburgh and imprisoned in the field which is now the Kirkyard. Of the 1200 within 5 months of living out in the open, exposed to the Scottish </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">weather only 257 remained alive. It is noted that Mackenzie took great pleasure in hanging and torturing the Covenanters hence his name.</span></span></i></div> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Unfortunately while in the tomb, the vagrant fell through a floor in the tomb and landed on a mass grave of moldy bones, which were later determined to be plague victims. Scared out of his wits the man fled the tomb scaring the night watchman who heard the commotion. It was later learned that the vagrant had opened one of the caskets in the tomb probably looking for grave goods and in doing so it is believed he unleashed the spirit of Mackenzie. From 1999 forward over 400 members of the public have been attacked while on the Prison grounds. These attacks have included pushing, poking that left bruises and scratches, being knocked down and even knocked unconscious. Most of the attacks occur in or near the Black Mausoleum, which was once part of the prison but it is believed that these are the actions of the poltergeist of Mackenzie. The attacks have become so frequent that the Edinburgh Council has locked the Prison to visitors and is only opened for organized tours, which are not open to those with heart conditions or who are pregnant, those who are most often attacked. The mausoleum has been exorcized twice and one of exorcists died of a heart attack only two weeks after he performed the exorcism. </span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6OTBq-hLIPU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Hermitage Keep at Newcastleton, Scottish Borders... “SOD Off IN STONE”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> The ruins of the Keep are a stark reminder of the type of stone keeps that scattered the Borders of Scotland from the 12</span></span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> thru the 17</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> century Scotland. Though on the outside the keep seems to be in excellent condition, the interior has all but been destroyed by Border warfare and the elements. A keep or castle has been on the spot since the early 1200’s and the occupiers have been both Scottish and English, depending on the ebb and flow of warfare on the Anglo/Scottish Borders. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkWDRKDAiYJhWCWBgLzpbLiglKgXt0j7X6lo4lvC29tIKNRc6wNqnYxKT1vx7d9m8kA-lCs9vwvF51ybxIP30M53ZdQTifZADTw_Zd1yiP_BlbiwPGva1gElxoliliT5PduSM8P6PjoUO/s1600/hermitage11" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkWDRKDAiYJhWCWBgLzpbLiglKgXt0j7X6lo4lvC29tIKNRc6wNqnYxKT1vx7d9m8kA-lCs9vwvF51ybxIP30M53ZdQTifZADTw_Zd1yiP_BlbiwPGva1gElxoliliT5PduSM8P6PjoUO/s320/hermitage11" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654307106585296690" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><!--StartFragment--> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I visited the Keep in 2007 because the third book in my Scottish trilogy is plotted here. If you remember my post on Black Agnes last month you might remember that the siege at Dunbar was saved by Sir Alexander Ramsay and Hermitage is where he met his demise. In 1338, Sir William Douglas of Liddesdale captured the keep from the English commander Ralph de Neville and the Douglas family took control of the keep and surrounding area. However, King David II had decided to reward Sir Alex Ramsay by naming him sheriff of Teviotdale including Hermitage. Enraged by the slight from his King, Douglas lured Ramsay to the Keep where he threw him in the dungeon, which was a dank place with no air or sunlight and eventually starved him to death. Some of the ghostly sounds heard by visitors to the Keep are believed to be that of Ramsay as he attempts to claw himself out of the dungeon. Douglas was later named sheriff and suffered no penalty in Ramsay’s death. But Alexander isn’t the only ghost. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From 1274-1328 the keep was held by one Sir William de Soulis, who was reputed to be a practitioner of the black arts and was able to conjure up his familiar on Robin Redcap to do his dirty work. Soulis was said to have lured young children of the district and used their blood in his horrific rituals. The community was so fed up with the knight that they petitioned King Robert Bruce to remove him from the Keep, but Bruce tired of their complaints replied…</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Boil him if you must, but let me hear no more of him.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The people did just as the king wished; they captured him, wrapped de Soulis in lead and placed him head first in a boiling cauldron and kept him there until he died. Many visitors today believe that when they here the sobbing of young children while in the Keep the ghost of Solis is nearby. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/crl8zxYYmno" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And finally, for those of you who are into the Vampire Diaries, True Blood or the Twilight saga you won’t be disappointed to hear that Scotland has vampires too. Though I’m not a fan of vampire fiction I was surprised to learn that a vampire was sighted in the area around <a href="http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lochmaben/lochmaben/index.html">Lochmaben</a> in Dumfries in recent years. Lochmaben once a keep of the Bruce family was the sight of a curse levied upon the Bruce family. In the 1200’s the Bruces were forced to move from Annan to Lochmaben because of a flood. The story is told of a visit by the Irish monk, St. Malachy who asked Lord Bruce to spare a thief from a hanging. Bruce complied or so the monk thought but as he passed by Lochmaben he saw the same thief hanging dead and placed a curse on the Bruce family. A curse that was taken seriously as they dedicated land in Annan with its rents went to pay for the upkeep of the shrine of St Malachy at the Cistercian house at Clairvaux. However, the area was to suffer from the plague in later years and many believe the vampire is a result of the curse and plague. The vampire seen in recent years is dressed like a monk but they know he is present when they find dead animal carcasses devoid of blood. The Scottish Ghost hunter Tom Roberston, has encountered the vampire at Lochmaben and has photos of the vampire in his book </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghosthunter-Adventures-Afterlife-Tom-Robertson/dp/1845023137/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1316495611&sr=8-15"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">GHOST HUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE AFTER LIFE</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. For everyone who leaves a comment today you will have a chance to win a copy of his book. </span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">But remember the words of Scottish writer J M Barrie..."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:georgia, 'bookman old style', 'palatino linotype', 'book antiqua', palatino, 'trebuchet ms', helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, 'avante garde', 'century gothic', 'comic sans ms', times, 'times new roman', serif;font-size:medium;">. "</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-92138514365521264442011-09-19T00:21:00.002-04:002011-09-19T07:53:02.681-04:00This week in History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxEQHrVaLSw9YNgwpVr6n73mRbkgRl1gAUE8X8SqBI2X4ASpcDKpbH4S-SrBBgDtrKFmRAfx_WWdJQKYL1rjyiCbMgTYaeiAQKnf3zWYdxVKx09p2UxlvWSAXEDFAhIpscgh-g_qDjeI/s1600/anna_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxEQHrVaLSw9YNgwpVr6n73mRbkgRl1gAUE8X8SqBI2X4ASpcDKpbH4S-SrBBgDtrKFmRAfx_WWdJQKYL1rjyiCbMgTYaeiAQKnf3zWYdxVKx09p2UxlvWSAXEDFAhIpscgh-g_qDjeI/s1600/anna_l.jpg" /></a></div>by Anna Kathryn Lanier <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I usually wait until the last minute to do my blog. This week has been hectic, because my mother was hospitalized with pneumonia, so I let the blog get even further away from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, as I need to slap something together for today, I turned to a new book I got a few weeks ago, “<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/365-w-b-marsh/1101063111?ean=9781840466751&itm=2&usri=365%2bgreat%2bstories%2bfrom%2bhistory%2bfor%2bevery%2bday%2bof%2bthe%2byear">365 Great Stories From History For Every Day of the Year</a>.” Anyone who reads my blog knows about this book, as I’ve used it a couple of times for recent blogs. It has a ‘what happened today’ in the past for every day of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked at the stuff that happened in the next few days….my gosh. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was I doing during history class? How did I miss this stuff?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_g-k4tl5XNAXv6z31VsoA1DVAdmglS-IcujWC2l8C7DFFybCnf27k_60QLfs8kRwp9vLihmgK2z1D0pRxbHFGZ2rLnQX75_wjjU_wGXbxS0ntCLHw0Qlqnmm-71u0CHzY2EkdInGT_jk/s1600/edward-the-black-prince-1-sized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_g-k4tl5XNAXv6z31VsoA1DVAdmglS-IcujWC2l8C7DFFybCnf27k_60QLfs8kRwp9vLihmgK2z1D0pRxbHFGZ2rLnQX75_wjjU_wGXbxS0ntCLHw0Qlqnmm-71u0CHzY2EkdInGT_jk/s200/edward-the-black-prince-1-sized.jpg" width="155" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today, September 19, 1356, Edward, The Black Prince of England defeated King Jean II of France in one of the early battles of the 100 Year War and took Jean prisoner for four years. (Edward is pictured left)</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">September 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>, the start of the Great Papal Schism began when a group of Cardinals, irritated at Pope Urban VI, who went back on his promise to move the Papal back to Avigon from Rome, held a conclave on September 20, 1378 and elected their own pope, Robert of Geneva, who named himself Pope Clement VII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The schism lasted 38 years and 309 days and through several anti-popes, sometimes with 3 or 4 different people claiming to be the pope at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On July 26, 1417, Martin V became the sole Pope when the Council of Constance deposed of one of the pretenders, Benedict XIII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKPejC6qljHXvJ86NL_VaAjTFVfNv3_F2gY_wz97osWpN91mlfkQYuOo6Xd_ApLCDuQiUCrLwCJCMyMkyJ-QSyZ9gkAQk9JN1tx2WAB9FiDycNoGtXwSJk0rVa9Hw_GFYLHdn-L_OtJ0/s1600/battle+of+Marathon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKPejC6qljHXvJ86NL_VaAjTFVfNv3_F2gY_wz97osWpN91mlfkQYuOo6Xd_ApLCDuQiUCrLwCJCMyMkyJ-QSyZ9gkAQk9JN1tx2WAB9FiDycNoGtXwSJk0rVa9Hw_GFYLHdn-L_OtJ0/s320/battle+of+Marathon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">September 21, 490 b.c. is something about the Greeks annihilating the Persians at Marathon. Yes, you can see, I’m not particularly interested in that, so, please, look it up yourself at </span><a href="http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/westciv/persian.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">The ORB: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just scroll down a bit to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Battle of Marathon – Preparations</b>.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRGtCNIBySOVTMsPQ6sQN4dqhFB7dNrrQeuBjp8a3vyVMP9Mq3dVKk9tEBX7k93B0oNej_bzp8K7gJ5H7ijQEIQVG4ReChZYWjiJ_n2RUIOBmahroOrGl5m98i9hOxqmoAIaDyXhH4Yg/s1600/king-edward-ii-2-sized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRGtCNIBySOVTMsPQ6sQN4dqhFB7dNrrQeuBjp8a3vyVMP9Mq3dVKk9tEBX7k93B0oNej_bzp8K7gJ5H7ijQEIQVG4ReChZYWjiJ_n2RUIOBmahroOrGl5m98i9hOxqmoAIaDyXhH4Yg/s200/king-edward-ii-2-sized.jpg" width="170" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">September 22<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup>, “The most barbarous royal murder in history.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, I think it’s one of the most barbaric ever…royal or otherwise. Warning: This is graphic, so skip to the next entry if you’re squeamish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Queen Isabella of England wasn’t too fond of her wimpish husband, King Edward II (pictured right)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. 365 Great Stories From History</b> says he was “handsome, silly, weak and dominated by male favourites.” Isabella and her lover, Roger de Mortimer overthrew him and exiled him to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They placed the king in a small, cold cell and fed him scraps, hoping he’d just shrivel up and die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Edward was stronger than they thought and he did not decline as they’d hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, on the night of September 21, 1327, three of the queen’s henchmen entered his cell and held him down on his bed. They then “thrust a red-hot spit up through his anus, burning his internal organs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay, they may not have liked the man, but really, couldn’t they have just poisoned him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time of his death, his son was 14.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isabella served as regent until Edward III was of age, three years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He, unlike his father, wasn’t a wimp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sent his mother into exile and, as a traitor to the crown, had Mortimer hung, drawn and quartered. Okay, that may be just as barbaric and what they did to Edward II, but at least Mortimer deserved it! Oh, btw, Edward II is the young prince depicted in BRAVEHEART, the one who's lover is thrown out the window by his father, Edward I. Geez, Isabella seems much nicer in that movie!</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Also on September 22, 1692, six women and one man was hung in Salem, Massachusetts as witches.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">September 23, 480 b.c. ….um, the Greeks knocked the snot out of the Persians again, this time in Salamis. Find out more at the same website as above, </span><a href="http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/westciv/persian.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">The ORB: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. Just scroll down <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">to The Battle of Salamis</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Okay, these are a few tidbits of history for the coming week. Do you have any you’d like to share with us?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> BTW, my mom should be fine. They have isolated the germ causing the illness and are giving her antibiotics.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anna Kathryn Lanier</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/">www.annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com</a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.aklanier.com/">www.aklanier.com</a> </span></div>Anna Kathryn Lanierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607469543348819190noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-35370212927281040752011-09-19T00:05:00.000-04:002011-09-19T00:05:00.350-04:00Contest Survey - Please Help<div><span style="font-size: large;">PERMISSION TO SHARE GIVEN AND ENCOURAGED</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div><span style="font-size: large;">To improve its annual Romance Through The Ages (RTTA) contest, the Hearts Through History chapter of RWA is asking for your opinion of contests in general, and the RTTA in particular. Please go to </span><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZQ35NVC" title="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZQ35NVC"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZQ35NVC</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> to take our short survey and be entered for a chance to win a free online workshop from Hearts Through History.</span></div><br />
<div><br />
</div>Anna Kathryn Lanierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607469543348819190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353479285769121899.post-34584629492014479712011-09-18T09:24:00.008-04:002011-09-18T10:31:07.253-04:00My Impressions of Berg Nanstein, A Knight's Castle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQow15vD_gexJEDx9qxig6cabolqZ6rsbQVzKdp8hRi-lQ9pA-CsgsQPfFvOs4vIrD4wVQDB9TL_EC_UOxdQ8pdL0hcXKX1vLOHHrkhjkpFSkmrBpskQyicOP5tS8v33zDcOrwiZv3fw/s1600/353.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQow15vD_gexJEDx9qxig6cabolqZ6rsbQVzKdp8hRi-lQ9pA-CsgsQPfFvOs4vIrD4wVQDB9TL_EC_UOxdQ8pdL0hcXKX1vLOHHrkhjkpFSkmrBpskQyicOP5tS8v33zDcOrwiZv3fw/s320/353.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653700960335057842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpsETkgTXt_BzkDKTaoo7WsdQIh8m3hAqfKZ33mbcrspf3FddHrVvFy-KtmhghWqiZIZ4pldkDCkEM6wx6Ken2vR06mOwRiZ0AlJEalxYjL-BHvOnvoZSlcFRaKoTGKTQLaEI6ZwxVWU/s1600/382.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpsETkgTXt_BzkDKTaoo7WsdQIh8m3hAqfKZ33mbcrspf3FddHrVvFy-KtmhghWqiZIZ4pldkDCkEM6wx6Ken2vR06mOwRiZ0AlJEalxYjL-BHvOnvoZSlcFRaKoTGKTQLaEI6ZwxVWU/s320/382.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653700294899209506" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">For some historical romance novels, we authors place our heroes and heroines in castles. Just the word castle conjures up images of wealth and opulence. Those images are further enhanced by novels and<span style=""> </span>movies. So I was delighted when I had the opportunity to visit Landstuhl Germany’s Berg Nanstein in person this summer. I wanted to discover the reality of living conditions for a medieval knight and his lady.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> From my study of English castles, I knew</span> were built as military structures to protect landed estates and offer a safe haven in time of war. Berg Nanstein was no exception. Begun in the middle twelfth century, Berg Nenstein reflected the aspirations of ambitious knights. The castle served many functions for its various lords. The castle was the lord’s living quarters along with his administrative, economic and court center. It also acted as a school, archive, treasury, arsenal, and if the castle contained a chapel a sacral function. But most importantly, it was an instrument of war – a place to launch war from, and a retreat or safe haven when war turned against the lord.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">This castle is one of five castles built around Emperor Frederic Barbarossa’s Kaiserslautern administrative center. It guarded a strategic and important East-West trade crossing. This castle was a typical fortress built on a hilltop with an elongated tongue of walls that ran down the hillside to surround the city below.</p><span style="">When I walked the grounds around the German castle, I was impressed by the fifteen foot high walls with slits for weapons to be fired. </span>Berg Nenstein, the knight’s strong house, was set on a mountain overlooking Laundstuhl. <span style="">The sheer drop off to the town as well as its moat and imposing wall would have discouraged most enemies in the twelfth century. But when I wound my way up tight cramped spiral staircases to the top of the towers, I was surprised by the view. Berg Nanstein wasn't situated on the highest point around. That fact caused its defeat in 1523. Enemy cannons mounted on three surrounding peaks situated higher than the castle. The sturdy stone walls were no match for the bombardment, and the castle was destroyed. </span>The castle’s surrender in 1523 during the Imperial Knight War marked the end of medieval castles' usefulness against the modern cannon.<span style=""><br /></span><br />Within the castle walls on top of the hill, all personnel and animals (war horses and hunting dogs) lived on the first floor in areas that resembled a tunnel opening into a large dark holding room with a fire pit at the end. The only private chamber belonged to the lord. All other living accommodations were communal. Public or reception rooms were located on the second floor.<br /><br />What little light entered any room came from a gun chamber from which castle soldiers shot at the advancing enemy. Weapons were stored along the walls at the ready. All stairs exposed a person’s right side to a lethal rain of arrows from above. (Most fighter were right handed and held shields in their left hands making left spiraling staircases highly effective.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="">Although carvings of the knight’s crest adorned the entry arch, the interior of the castle was sparsely furnished with small chairs or wooden block, trunks for mobile possessions, niches in the walls to hold personal objects, a stone hearth, a castle well and fountain. Ulrich von Hutten, a contemporary of the lord who surrendered the castle in 1523, described life in the castle as “not built for the comfort but for battle, inside of depressive narrowness squeezed together with cattle and horse stables, dark chambers and war equipment. The smell of gunpowder everywhere, the odor of the dogs and their excrement is not much more pleasant either.” </p> Unfortunately, my camera wasn't good enough to capture the interiors of the castle with any clarity. Needless to say, Berg Nanstein wasn't anything like the fairytale castles seen in the movies.<br /><br />Margaret Breashears<br />www.wantedghostbustingbride.com<br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3