Practically from birth, American children are taught the story of the Pilgrims’ arrival on the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor in November 1620. I’ve covered this historical event and the aftermath in yesterday’s blog: The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving. Stories of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving are certain to...
On September 16 in 1620, the Mayflower left Plymouth, England. The ship’s 102 passengers and around 30 crew members were comprised of religious separatists known as Puritans who were seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith, and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and...
THANKSGIVING is fast approaching here in the US, and as everyone knows, food is a BIG and central aspect of this traditional holiday. For most of us, we have our established dishes that must be cooked year after year. In my household that “must have” no-compromise dish is the dressing recipe passed down...
This is now the third post in the series delving into the many secondary characters inhabiting the nine novels and one novella comprising The Darcy Saga. It is fun for me to revisit the plethora of pivotal, important characters interacting with the main characters. Hopefully it is a fun endeavor...
November is well under way and with the clocks turned back an hour, the cold dark of night comes sooner than many of us probably want. Here in the northern hemisphere, if we haven’t yet turned our thermostats to the hot setting, we will eventually. Thanks to industrial innovations and...
Ever wonder just what the inside of a typical London townhouse in an upper-crust neighborhood looked like? Of course there were variations in design, size, styling, and decor. These cutouts and floor plans give an idea of what was standard. The typical London townhouse of the 18th century was a...
Last Monday I began a series (of sorts) delving into the many secondary characters who inhabit the nine novels and one novella comprising The Darcy Saga. With that many novels, there are obviously a huge number of characters! Some characters merely pass through, offering flavor to a scene or two. Even...
For hundreds of years, until the invention of the camera, the only quick and cheap method of immortalizing a loved one was through a shade, also referred to as a shadow portrait. As opposed to more decorative and expensive forms of portraiture like painting or sculpture, a shade was a simple and inexpensive...
As is noted on page 1 of The Housemaid’s Complete Guide, written by A.M. Sargeant in 1851, “Dry toast may be made before it is wanted, and should be set up in the toast-rack the moment it is done.” On page 341 of Mrs. Beeton’s Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery, published...
As my longtime readers are aware, I began writing my vision of married life for Darcy and Elizabeth way back in 2006. One short story swiftly evolved into another and then another, the passion taking over so thoroughly that like Mr. Darcy’s love for Elizabeth, “I was in the middle...
A while back I received a delightful email, the entirety of which is pasted below. It gave me a chuckle, primarily because the first thought that went through my mind upon seeing the sender’s name in my inbox was, “Where have I heard that name before? Do I know this...
A fun, floral blog post as we in the northern hemisphere wave goodbye to spring and summer. Here are a few of the flowers commonly found in or unique to Derbyshire in England, where my favorite fictional couple live. Jacob’s Ladder Polemonium caeruleum, or Jacob’s Ladder, is the official “county flower” of...
Way back in 2009 while writing my third novel, My Dearest Mr. Darcy, I came up with the idea of having Darcy and Elizabeth reaffirm their vows at the Pemberley Chapel where generations of Darcys had been wed. Now, to be honest, this was simply romantic me wanting to go...
The Egyptian Hall, also known as Bullock’s Museum, while much smaller than the British Museum was extraordinarily unique. When Lord Admiral Nelson triumphed at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, English interest in the “East” began to soar. Although obelisks and other monumental pieces had been leaking out of...
The final and full text of the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Congress on July 4, 1776. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the intention of the Declaration was not to say something new, but– to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain...
