Artist, Storyteller and Byronian. A Seeker of Elusive Ancestors and a Wanderer of Cemeteries. Partial to Chocolate!
Who among us has never sung, wailed, hummed or screamed at some time or another to a song written by a fifteen year old hormonal teenager and which would become the soundtrack to the film M*A*S*H? For it was on Tuesday June 19, a cloudy day in 1962 that the loved ones of Clarice Tibbett would experience the heartbreak of knowing that suicide is not painless with the awful news of her death and by her own doing at the age of 48...
Twenty Four Years and Counting… Remembering the life of Nicole Brown Simpson who died on this day in 1994 at the age of 35.
As well as a passion for creating ‘Life in 12th Scale’, the Regency world of the poet Lord Byron and chocolate – I also have an enduring interest in the life and legacy of Nicole Brown Simpson. I just don’t see how our stories compare -I was so bad because I wore sweats & left …
Yesterday was also Nicole's birthday and if she were still with us - she would have been celebrating her 59th year... And having shared a lovely image of her on the Facebook page, I lit a candle in her memory and enjoyed a rather large slice of this delicious cake! Ever heard of the 'Hatched, Matched and Dispatched' quip?
Dear Diary... Although the doors to my little flower shop have been closed as of late - my floral endeavours have been continuing albeit in more of a fantastical way as the Crooked Hen and I've been busy creating some plants which would struggle to find a definition in any botanical guide! However, I have …
Today's Valentine's Day. There's a whole day devoted solely to love. Does that make any sense? Nah. Love makes us all crazy. But it's fun too. Lisa Greenwald. Dear Diary... Listen! Can you hear that crashing sound? Yes, that’s the sound of yet another New Year’s Resolution demolished! As my intention was to have shared …
Dear Diary... Events took a somewhat eventful turn in February and although not entirely unexpected, the last few months have been of upheaval and change as I have moved abode some twenty miles north to York and as this ancient walled city is my hometown, I have been fortunate to have met with much delighted …
As November 11 is Armistice Day, I thought I'd share the story of just one soldier of the 11 million other military personnel who perished in the First World War. For it was on a cold and very rainy day that I found myself in the shadow of the magnificent Tower of London, for although I had been determined to see the display of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red in the tower moat since it had begun - my visit as the Friday after Armistice Day and although many of the ceramic poppies had been removed; the sight that remained was still a very humbling experience. As I watched the volunteers plucking the ceramic poppies from the muddy ground and then placing them in their cardboard nest, I recalled my feelings of disappointment that I had been unable to buy one of the poppies.
I find myself looking to the past on most days at the moment for if I’m not in search of an elusive ancestor for a client or trawling through the 1911 Census for a few of my pesky relatives who still appear reluctant to reveal themselves some 106 years later; I could either be immersed in the year 1815 as the work on my Lord Byron abode continues or otherwise curled up in a quiet corner somewhere with Lady Byron and Her Daughters; and before you ask, it is the title of a new biography about His Lordship’s much maligned spouse! However, one rainy weekend and in the company of my genealogical assistant, I literally took a walk in the past during a visit to London for as I trekked up and down Fairfield Road in Bow which is not only the road that my family live near but also the road that Hargrave Potter, the son of my 4 x Great Grandfather was trekking along on that very weekend an incredible 130 years earlier...
Although I don’t usually enjoy receiving brown envelopes through the post, I will make an exception when one arrives from the General Records Office or the GRO as it known here in the UK. However, nothing quite compares to the sight of an original certificate and when you discover that the said certificate was once the faithfully kept property of the ancestor who has long captured your interest, well, let’s just say that my delight knows no bounds...
This is THE post that I should have shared yesterday but I did not on account of a lack of time, natural light and inclination! Despite the issues of time and natural light notwithstanding for as I had published six (yes, six!) stories about the anniversary of THAT Verdict by yesterday evening; the only inclination that remained was for me to crawl away into the dark night and watch a trashy movie with only a huge slice of cake for company And no, the trashy movie that I watched was NOT about the Simpson Matter!
I think the thing which has most troubled me about the death of my father, is that I have been left feeling so troubled by it as I had always imagined I would be indifferent to any news of him but how else to explain my sense of rage as if he has slammed the door in my face for the final time or that profound sadness about the beautiful and charming grandson he barely knew. Or the black void in which all of my questions about my relationship with him have tumbled into and which are now swirling around like confetti, to be forever unanswered and I have to find my way through the ‘If only’ and What if’ on my own...
Already 2015 promises to be interesting year with the release of the much anticipated 'American Crime Story: The People v. O.J Simpson' which will share the tales of the trial that began an incredible twenty years ago this month! The mini-series has been inspired by the fabulous book The Run of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin and will feature John Travolta and David Schwimmer as the two 'Bobs', the former as Robert Shapiro, Simpson's swathe and duplicitous defence lawyer and the latter as Robert Kardashian, Simpson's mysteriously conflicted friend, former spouse of Kris and the lawyer whose jaw-dropping expression as the 'Not Guilty' verdict was delivered remains burned in the image of that unforgettable day.
