Neddy's Palaver

Oh Poor Lady Caroline; to be saddled with the “Curse of Beauty.”

Try as she may to be snooty and dismissive to others, her bewitching beauty and lovely voice betrayed her true feelings. The more she tried to be rude and cold to acquaintances. the more they were enchanted by her natural charms and they loved her even more. Oh, to be so cursed as was Lady Caroline!

So she ignored Mrs. Arbuthnot’s remark and raised forefinger, and said with marked coldness–at least, she tried to make it sound marked–that she supposed they would be going to breakfast, and that she had had hers; but it was her fate that however coldly she sent forth her words they came out sounding quite warm and agreeable. That was because she had a sympathetic and delightful voice, due entirely to some special formation of her throat and the roof of her mouth, and having nothing whatever to do with what she was feeling. Nobody in consequence ever believed they were being snubbed. It was most tiresome. And if she stared icily it did not look icy at all, because her eyes, lovely to begin with, had the added loveliness of very long, soft, dark eyelashes. No icy stare could come out of eyes like that; it got caught and lost in the soft eyelashes, and the persons stared at merely thought they were being regarded with a flattering and exquisite attentiveness. And if ever she was out of humour or definitely cross–and who would not be sometimes in such a world?—she only looked so pathetic that people all rushed to comfort her, if possible by means of kissing. It was more than tiresome, it was maddening. Nature was determined that she should look and sound angelic. She could never be disagreeable or rude without being completely misunderstood.

‘I had my breakfast in my room,’ she said, trying her utmost to sound curt. ‘Perhaps I’ll see you later.’

And she nodded, and went back to where she had been sitting on the wall, with the lilies being nice and cool round her feet.”

“The Enchanted April,” by Elizabeth von Arnim, at the end of Chapter 6.

Perhaps I’ll see you later.

The Smithsonian wants it, but Aretha Franklin is not keen about reliquishing her hat with the big wool bow sparkling with genuine Svarovski crystals. At latest count there are more than twenty-five Fan Groups for her hat at Facebook and probably as many at Flickr. The hat’s Detroit designer has more than 3,000 requests for silk replicas at $180 each. The original in wool would cost upwards of $500, and it is unknown how many have ordered that version. And … Even I have finally got my own official “Aretha Franklin Inauguration Hat.” Mine is the original - all wool Svarovski. Now I can die happy. My only regret is that it was not available in fire engine red.
Flickr Slide Show of Aretha Chapeaux

(The Weekly Standard)

The image, Edna-Aretha, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

I uploaded a few photographs from the last meeting of my DAR chapter to the Daughters of the American Revolution Group at Facebook, and “suddenly” found that my Regent Pamela and I had become the “Faces of DAR at Facebook.” Kinda funny?

The image, Faces of DAR on Facebook, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

Here I am with my new iPhone that I just unwrapped on Christmas Day. Cliff purchased it at the Apple Store in Pentagon City, with the assurance that it was all set up and ready to use. No such luck!

Here it is on the 27th of December and I am still working to get it set up. Nothing is ever easy is it? Called AT&T and was told they were closed. Does that mean I am to be without a phone the entire weekend? Finally - the Apple Store where we purchased it, advised me to contact AT&T on my iPhone at “611!” Cool! That worked and I now have a working iPhone.

Part of the problem was ME! I had set the iPhone to transfer calls to my home phone. Then I forgot that I had done that. Embarrassing! Even if the iPhone didn’t work, the iPod part of the Apple iPhone was doing fine, as it downloaded my tunes, contacts and photographs from iTunes. Great! Then the nice lady at AT&T’s 611 number told me that the maps were the most fascinating thing to her. I tried them, and she is right. Absolutely too easy for words to describe. Of course, I already had that feature on my iPod Touch, but never used it, as when I need maps, I thought, was when away from home and no Internet connection. Now, supposedly, with the iPhone I am connected to the world at all times. At least, I hope that is the case. I guess I should go somewhere just to find out.

Well, I do need to get to my car and see if I can manage to get the BlueTooth enabled. It doesn’t look easy. The car manual has 25 pages instructing how to do it. I may have to take the iPhone and car to the dealership, but we shall see. Can a 67-year-old do this type of thing on her own?

Pavarotti singing on my TV in the background is the DVD that I received last Christmas, 2007. The Maestro is performing Christmas music at the cathedral in Montreal. Still haven’t found time to play my new DVD from Scotland - The Transatlantic Sessions. Perhaps I should stop blogging, Tweeting, Flickring, and Facebooking for a few minutes.

I wonder what AlphaInventions.com would think of all this. I cannot understand how it works either, but it does.

The image, Edna, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

The Choral Group from Carl Sandburg Middle School, directed by Jeanne Crowley, concluded their presentation for Nelly Custis DAR chapter with "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," performed on the main staircase of the Woodlawn Mansion, Woodlawn, Virginia. Regent Pamela wanted her chapter to experience a brief moment from a long ago Virginia holiday. It was as though we had been transported back to those early American days of Nelly Custis Lewis and her family when they celebrated Christmas at Woodlawn Plantation, with no radios, televisions, cds and computers.

The talented young women sang a musical round also that I have not the title. The video is posted here: My Flickr Album.

In the mid 1600s, the Catholic BRENT family sailed across the Potomac from Maryland to Aquia, Virginia and settled at the Colony of Brenton. This was the first Catholic settlement in English Virginia. When the BRENTS were colonizing Maryland, Giles BRENT had done just as John ROLFE, who had married an Indian princess at Jamestown. BRENT’s bride was a 12-year-old student or ward of his spinster sister Margaret BRENT, who was operating a school for the Piscataway children. When GILES claimed almost all the land of the Maryland Colony due to his marriage to the Piscataway chief’s daughter, he got himself, and his BRENT sisters, into a dangerous situation with the Lord Baltimore government. The BRENTS were forced to cross the river and live in Virginia.

Margaret BRENT was America’s first suffragette, but few have ever heard of her. She was an outstanding, accomplished women. She acted as Lord Baltimore’s attorney, and in fact was probably running the government of the colony. She was able to own property, because she never married, and she even demanded the right to vote. It was denied of course, but the Marylanders did bestow upon her the title of “Gentleman” Margaret BRENT. After the move to Virginia, she seemed never quite so powerful, probably because of her “out of favor” Catholic religion.

This plaque is at the Crucifix Monument on the east side of Jefferson Davis Highway, at Telegraph Road, in Aquia, Virginia.

See the transformation of a human woman into a billboard model in under 60 seconds in this impressive new spot from Dove. No wonder our perception of beauty is so unrealistic.

During wartime, some give all, some give some, and some are left to tell their tales. Lola was blessed to return home from World War Two and her tale is now published on the Internet: “Lola Was a Soldier”.

Lola was one of those courageous young American women who signed on for volunteer service as a soldier during World War II. She participated in the European and North African theaters of the war. Amazing young women like Lola served and sacrificed for freedom. Younger generations need to be reminded of the incredible wartime contributions of the people who went before them. Lola’s name is entered at the Woman In Military Service For America Memorial where she is a charter member.

Lola Anderson was but a young woman during wartime when she observed the poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger directly at her, saying “I want you for the U.S. Army”. She signed up, and she says that in those days in the Army, there was NO “hurry up and wait”, as she was quickly trained and sent out to do her duty, as her patriotic forebears had done in earlier times. Lola is Lola (Anderson) Peach, a member of Fairfax County Chapter, NSDAR, of Vienna, Virginia.

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The image, World War Two Soldier, was originally uploaded to the Internet by barneykin. It was posted here by Neddy of .

A Woman of Courage.

A Woman of Another Era
I captured this photograph of my life-long friend Geri in April 2005, at the wedding of her granddaughter in Laughlin, Nevada. Geri was an aviation pioneer. Because of her dedication and sacrifices during World War II, she is now referred to as “a woman of courage” and a wonderful example of “the greatest generation”. She is an inspiration to all who know her.

“This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. WOMEN PILOTS, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used.” ~~ Eleanor Roosevelt, 1942

Way, way back in the early 1940s, Geraldine Elder, a 20-year-old girl from a silver mining town in northern Idaho, was a new college graduate looking for a job with a bit of adventure. She certainly did find a life of challenges and white-knuckled thrills when she signed on with Jacqueline Cochran, to become a woman pilot flying military planes in the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP. Geri was in the very first class of woman pilots, trained by the United States military to ferry shiny new “untested” aircraft from the factories to America’s military aviation squadrons. Those airships that survived their maiden voyages were destined to be used by America’s fighting force against the Germans and the Japanese to preserve the free world. She is now an octogenarian living in the Sunbelt, and lecturing at high schools throughout her community on the World War II generation.

The first WASP graduation was held at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas on May 28th, 1943. On this same day in 2005, was held the first ever WASP MEMORIAL FLY IN. The Governor of Texas declared that May 28th, 2005 be known as WASP Day in Texas.

This was originally published by Neddy on 15 May 2005 at “Blatherings”. Updated on 1 July 2007.

Love, Tom ~~ PS Thanks for All You Do.

The Life and Times of the Navy Wife