Remember, Just Remember

Once Upon a Time in America

Making the Mark - What I Discovered

Questions, I have questions.  I have lots and lots of questions… (This is a direct rip-off from  Letters, We Get Letters, We Get Stacks and Stacks of Letters.  Folks would write into the Perry Como TV show from the 1950's.  He would choose a letter and sing the requested song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC7o7FbUipg

 

And you wonder why it takes so long to write my Amelia Island/Fernandina, Florida novels?  Research, dear readers.  Research and tweaking. With regard to research about things available and happening in 1898, the year in which my Amelia Island's Mark of  a Man, the next novel in my Goodbye Lie series,  is set,  here are just a few questions to which I had to find answers:

• When was Yankee Doodle written? – Answer: 1770s
• What were the Suffrage movement colors  worn by women seeking the vote?  I thought they were red, white and blue.  Answer: WRONG, oh great assumer, I say to myself.  I was watching a PBS show and there, before my eyes, were suffragettes.   They were wearing white, green and gold!  I verified this through research and went back and corrected it.
• Will lavender grow in north Florida? Answer: Yes, provided it's watered and in pots.  Then I recalled a horticulturist friend of mine telling me that, yes, it will grow here, but he suggested no matter where it is planted, you cover the surface of the dirt with pebbles.  Without pebbles, the water may splash up onto the lower leaves and transfer bacteria to those leave, causing mildew or fungus or whatever bad germs might make the plant to die eventually.
• Did doctors wear surgical masks? Answer:  Not yet.  They weren't developed until 1905 or so I read.
• When as Ava Maria written? Answer:  The music was written by Franz Schubert to a poem before he died in 1828, so I can use it!
• What about God Bless America?  When as that written? Answer:  1918 by Irving Berlin, so I can't use it.
• How about Rock of Ages? Answer: Yes, it was written before 1872.
• Hail Holy Queen composed when? Answer: It is from the 11^th century, so heck yes.  Use it!
• John Phillip Sousa's Stars and Stripes?  Answer: composed in 1896 and published in 1897.  It's a squeaker, but it will work!
• What is the difference between a bowler and derby hat?   Answer: The bowler, a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, was invented in Britain in 1848.  The Americans copied it and called it a derby.
• Lyceum Hall in Fernandina, Florida – When was it built and where was it located? Answer: Built in 1873, Lyceum Hall was located on Centre Street, the main street in historic downtown Fernandina,  between Sixth and Seventh Street.  Lyceums were public halls in small towns constructed to showcase wholesome entertainment, song, dance , the arts and assorted programs.

The results from research are fun, don't you think? 

On This Memorial Day...

God bless America and 

ALL

 who protect us. 

Sunny days in America!

THANK YOU!