Author name: Sayling@@Away

In my latest book, The Last Pilgrim, I mention that a great granite rock was one of the landmarks for the Pilgrims (Separatists) of the site where they decided to settle, along with a high hill for the placement of their cannons, and cleared land. I didn’t write about it further because in doing primary research on the Pilgrims, I discovered there are no contemporary references to the Pilgrims landing on what is now known at Plymouth Rock. Here is what I did discover, from a post in 2018. Neither William Bradford’s description of the Pilgrims coming ashore in Plymouth for the first time in 1620 nor the 1622 book called Mourt’s Relation mention any rocks in their accounts. A huge granite rock was mentioned as something marking the site where the Pilgrims would land, but not that they would land ON it. The first written mention of a rock was made in 1715 when it was described in town boundary records as “a great rock.”                                     The Landing of the Pilgrims, by Henry Bacon, 1877. Perhaps its identity was transmitted from father to son, because in 1741 Elder Thomas Faunce documented his claim that Plymouth Rock was the landing place of the Pilgrims. He was 95 years old at the time and had to be carried in a chair to the site. The Rock was under the bank of Cole’s Hill, and he assured those present that his father had pointed the Rock out and told him of its importance. Faunce’s father had arrived in the Plymouth colony aboard the ship Anne in 1623 two, years after the Mayflower landing, and Elder Faunce was born in 1647 when many of the Mayflower Pilgrims were still living, so his assertion made a strong impression. Colonel Theophilus Cotton and the residents of Plymouth decided to move the rock in 1774. In their attempt to relocate it, the Rock split into two parts. The bottom portion was left behind. The top portion was first displayed at the town’s meeting house, then in 1834 moved to Pilgrim Hall (1824), the oldest public museum in the United States in continuous operation. In the meantime, the Pilgrim Society had a Victorian canopy built over the lower portion of the Rock. It was designed by artist and architect Hammett Billings, who did the original drawings for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and completed in 1867. The top of the rock was moved from Pilgrim Hall to rejoin the lower portion in 1880, and at that time the date 1620 was carved into it. In 1920, the rock was moved yet again so old wharves could be removed and the Plymouth waterfront re-landscaped. The rock was then returned to its original site and placed at water level, so it was tide washed. The original canopy was removed and an imposing Roman Doric portico constructed, designed by McKim, Mead and White, architects for among other buildings, among them those on the campus of Columbia University. It is not surprising that during its many journeys, numerous pieces of the rock were taken, bought and sold. There are pieces in Pilgrim Hall Museum, as well as in the Patent Building in the Smithsonian and a 40-pound piece is set on a pedestal in the cloister of the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Tourist and souvenir hunters chipped away at it in its early days on display. The original rock weighed some 20,000 pounds but only one-third of the top portion is on display under the canopy. “We have come to this Rock, to record here our homage for our Pilgrim Fathers; our sympathy in their sufferings; our gratitude for their labours; our admiration of their virtues; our veneration for their piety; and our attachment to those principles of civil and religious liberty, which they encountered the dangers of the ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence of savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and establish.”  Daniel Webster, 1820 (the same Daniel Webster that debated the devil at what is called Jabez Corner in Plymouth, in the short story by Stephen Vincent Benet). Over the centuries, Plymouth Rock has become a national icon and crept into America’s historical consciousness through the imagination of authors, painters, and, yes, politicians. 0 0

You do research for a historical novel. LOTS of research. You frequently become so bogged down that you have to step back and take a breather. I am probably one of the worst researchers because if I find something interesting, I will take off down the merry path of digression. Nevertheless, I learned a lot of history from traveling hither and yon, most of it pretty interesting. So I thought I’d share some of it with you in a couple of posts. ***** The most important take-away for me was that early colonies populated by only men DID NOT SURVIVE. That’s not accounting for what might happen if they were overtaken by the indigenous inhabitants such as the Lost Colony in Virginia.  Women were what made the settlements thrive and grow. Huzzah for the women! ***** I wandered off into pipes at one point. Most of those used by the Separatists were made of clay and were somewhat fragile. Lots of pipe stems have been found in the archeological digs around Plymouth. The ‘ordinaries’  – a place where meals and alcohol were served such as a public tavern or inn – offered pipes to their customers, breaking off the ends of the stems between uses. So pipes could be pretty short. ***** When the Separatists planted corn – as instructed by Squanto – they also planted squash or pumpkin or beans around the sprouting corn, something called the three sisters. The three sisters are called such because the corn provides a pole for the bean vines to go up. The beans keep the soil healthy, and the squash help prevent weeds from growing. Since these vegetables grow on vines, the vines would climb the corn stalk, providing shade to the corn. ***** Although the Separatists would eat fish, they were basically meat and bread eaters. They were not particularly great at fishing – they arrived with the wrong size hooks – but they did like eels, common in England and historically baked in a pie. King Henry VIII is said to have often stopped his barge on its progress to Hampton Court and sent a lackey ashore to buy an eel pie. The marshland and streams around the colony had lots of eels. I don’t mind eels except as meals – Ogden Nash Plymouth Bay was loaded with lobsters, so many that they might be found walking on the shore. The Native populations liked them and would travel to the Plymouth area to gather them for food. The Separatists ate so many in the early days of their near starvation that lobsters came to be viewed as ‘junk’ food and would only be eaten if necessary. New comers to the colony, until they had fields of their own and learned to hunt, ate lobsters. ***** The Pequot War 1636-1637). Most people go “Huh?” when I mention it.  It was fought by the Pequot people against a coalition of English settlers from the Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Plymouth and Saybrook colonies and their Native American allies, mainly the Narragansett and Mohegan peoples. It was an especially brutal war and the first sustained conflict between Native Americans and Europeans in what is now southern New England. When the Dutch arrived in Long Island and the Connecticut River Valley at the beginning of the 17th century, followed by English traders and settlers, they colonized a region dominated by the Pequot. The Pequot had previously subjugated dozens of other tribes and had economic, political, and military control over the whole area. The struggle for control of the fur trade and wampum was at the root of the Pequot War. (I’ll tell you about wampum in a later post.) Although the immediate impetus for the war has been identified as the killing of English traders – one of whom was formerly a Plymouth colonist – the war was in fact the culmination of decades-long conflict between various tribes and greatly exacerbated by the incursions of the Dutch and the English. The Pequot War lasted 11 months and involved thousands of combatants who fought several battles over an area covering thousands of square miles. In the end, it virtually eliminated the Pequot as an impediment to English colonization and forever changed the political and social landscape of southern New England. This war had a profound influence on colonial and U.S. policies toward Native Americans for centuries. ***** In another post, I’ll talk about the second Indian war – King Philip’s war – and more things I discovered during my research. 0 0

From Tony Riches, who helped launch The Last Pilgrim and who just introduced me to Book Brush! You can learn how to use this tool at: https://tonyriches.blogspot.com/2019/09/using-book-brush-to-create-videos-for.html This is awesome! Book Launch Guest Post ~ The Last Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Allerton Cushman by Noelle A. Granger https://t.co/5Ug3F5ps1s @NAGrangerAuthor #HistoricalFiction pic.twitter.com/u55JzPH2av — Tony Riches 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@tonyriches) June 1, 2020 0 0

The day has arrived! Launch day for The Last Pilgrim! I’ve just been notified that it IS finally up as an e-book on Kindle! ****** The Last Pilgrim: The Life of Mary Allerton Cushman captures and celebrates the grit and struggle of the Pilgrim women, who stepped off the Mayflower in the winter of 1620 to an unknown world – one filled with hardship, danger and death.  The Plymouth Colony would not have survived without them. Mary Allerton Cushman was the last surviving passenger of the Mayflower, dying at age 88 in 1699. Her unusually long life and her relationships with important men – her father, Isaac Allerton and her husband, Thomas Cushman – gave her a front row seat to the history of the Plymouth Colony from its beginnings as the first permanent settlement in New England to when it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. Mary’s life is set against the real background of that time. The Last Pilgrim begins from her father’s point of view – she was, after all, only four when she descended into the cramped and dank living space below deck on the Mayflower – but gradually assumes Mary’s voice, as the colony achieves a foothold in the New England’s rocky soil. Hers is a story of survival – the daily, back-breaking work to ensure food on the table, the unsettled interactions with local native tribes, the dangers of wild animals, and the endless challenges of injury, disease and death. What was a woman’s life like in the Plymouth Colony? The Last Pilgrim will tell you. ****** This book was a labor of love for several years, and I am in awe of what the Separists – now called the Pilgrims – endured to follow their conscience and their dream. That strength and belief in God is the bedrock of this country. And they were among our first immigrants. Mary lived to the end of the 17th century and much went on during those years. My learning curve was steep and there was much to tell. I hope you enjoy Mary’s and my journey. Amazon: 0 0

Well, folks, the corona virus strikes again. But luckily not on our health. The publisher informed me that while The Last Pilgrim WILL be on Kindle June 1, the real book will not be available until later in June. They had to retool to accommodate the social distancing regulations and it’s taking about a month to get a printing order. So the book itself in paperback won’t be available until later. I am disappointed but what can a poor author do? It’s just the nature of 2020! In the meantime, I have my grandson to amuse me! 0 0

Today I have invited the brilliant soprano Charlotte Hoather for tea. She’s British, so I know she likes tea. Me, I’ll stick with coffee. I somehow got directed to Charlotte’s blog a number of years ago, when she was first enrolled in the Royal College of Music in the Master’s Program. It was a wonderful blunder because I’ve been enjoying her voice and her professional growth ever since. by  Frank Dresch Since she is the first profession singer I’ve ever met, I have a lot of questions for her! Charlotte, when did you start singing? My older brother and I used to watch Disney Sing-a-Long videos from about the age of two, and  I started singing when I was about two, at least that’s what I used to call it, I would watch Disney Sing-a-Long and Barney with my brother. But I started singing on stage from the age of 6, my first role was Thumbelina in a stage-school production. When I was 12, I started taking 30-minute private singing lessons and it has built up from there, culminating with my Master’s Degree at the Royal College of Music, London. I’m most familiar with your classical singing, but what were the first things you sang? Disney songs, Spice Girls, Steps and Britney Spears. This then progressed into Musical Theatre songs, then folk songs, then classical songs and arias in a range of languages. I know you still sing Disney songs. I heard Let It Go which you sang from your balcony. It probably made a lot of little girls happy!  When did you first sing in public? I won a competition held by Oasis Holiday Resort in the UK at the age of three when I sang 5,6,7,8 by Steps, completely unrehearsed. The prize was a free meal for all my family and free cinema tickets, much to the despair of my big brother who had also entered with a practiced routine. I would have liked to see that! When did you decide you wanted to become a professional singer?  If you asked me at 11, I would have told you I was going to be a dancer. I studied ballet, tap, Latin, ballroom, contemporary and jazz dancing with a real passion. However, from about the age of 15, I began to explore operatic singing and fell in love with the flamboyance and difficulty of this genre. I could use the dancing and stagecraft skills towards this but potentially have a longer performing career. That was a pretty momentous decision. How did it change your life? I went to a state school with very few opportunities for training in classical music. I was lucky that I had a very supportive family, who traveled the northwest of England with me so that I could participate in music federation competitions. At these events, I could learn from other singers for the first time and get intensive feedback from experts in the genre. These opportunities made me realize how much I wanted to follow this passion into a career. I was aware of how big a part of your life your family is from your blogs during your days at the Royal Academy of Music. Even though your secondary education did not support musical training, was there some important thing you learned during those years? Secondary education in the UK is from 11-18. The most important thing that I learned from High School was to do what you love and seek out your own opportunities to achieve it. I found external teachers, educational programs, competitions and I studied hard to complete my compulsory subjects alongside my music passions. I learnt to be educationally independent and this skill has helped me tremendously throughout my degree and now as I embark a career in opera. I doubt many of my followers know a classically trained singer. Is your chosen profession difficult to break into?  Yes, because it is extremely competitive. I am a trained soprano, there are more sopranos than any other voice type. For example in ‘By Voice Alone’, a 2019 competition in London, their statistics showed that 61% of the competitors were sopranos! And that’s lower than normal. In international competitions, 85% of competitors are sopranos, with the remaining 15% making up the other 5 voice types. Charlotte Hoather, winning the prestigious Pendine International Voice of the Future competition at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod So you are facing the biggest challenge because of your range! I’ve often wondered if singing professionally is like acting.  Are you nervous before a performance? How do you calm your nerves? I do always get some butterflies before walking on stage, but once I begin, they start to settle, and I can release into the performance. Here are some coping mechanisms I use: Acknowledge your preparation. You have put the hours in, you know your music, you know your character – trust that you will deliver. Try not to focus on external judgement, when you are singing/speaking in public, you can only hear your own thoughts so be kind to yourself and accept mistakes with a smile and aim to tell the story. Breathing exercises. I close my eyes and breathe in for 4 counts and out for 4 counts. I will repeat this until I feel calm. Great advice! I used to do the same thing when I gave guest lectures and lectures at international meetings. Except maybe for the breathing.  🙂 What do you do each day to exercise your voice? Every day I try to do technical exercises for 30 minutes. These consist of lip trills, a variety of scales and arpeggios. Each exercise builds on from the previous, I will extend the range sung or change the speed. Usually, I will sing these exercises to pure vowels (i, e, a, o, u) and then introduce consonants to warm up the tongue. I aim to sing for at least 2 hours per day. But there is lots of work to be done away

Threads is my introduction to Charlotte Whitney and I have discovered a talented writer. Threads follows the lives of three sisters growing up on a hardscrabble farm during the depression, and the story alternates among their points of view. Nellie is the youngest and in second grade, and she has the most pronounced mid-Michigan farm dialect. Irene is in sixth grade and a definite middle child. She and Nellie attend a one room school. The oldest sister, Flora, is in high school. Nellie is a real tomboy with a vivid imagination. One afternoon, while she explores the meadows and woods surrounding the farm, she spots a tiny black hand poking out of a mound. Nellie is terrified and listening to her parents talking that night – she can hear them if she puts her ear to the heat register in the floor of her bedroom – she learns it was a baby boy. The sheriff had been called but no one had any idea about whose baby it was. Her parents worry they will be blamed. Irene is sassy, intelligent, and has become the pet of the school’s teacher Miss Flatshaw. She thinks Nellie is stupid. Flora is on the cusp of adulthood. She is a caring and perceptive young woman who has considerable responsibility in the work of the farm and realizes that her life will be one of a farmer’s wife, despite her desire for a career. The three girls’ personalities are wonderfully wrought – you can hear their voices in your head. You live with them over the next years, through all the details of running a farm, struggling to put enough food on the table to feed everyone, the penny-pinching and making-do, the sharing of whatever they have with those more in need, and the whims of the weather on which their livelihood depends. The descriptions take the reader into life on a farm, into a loving but stressed family, and through all of life’s transitions: from one grade to another, graduation, first love, surprising traumas. Woven in is the continuing mystery of the dead baby’s origins. I particularly liked the last chapter, which presents us with the girls as adults with lives of their own. I highly recommend this book. It was a joy to read. The author’s knowledge of, and passion for, this era shines through. About the author: Charlotte Whitney grew up in Michigan and spent much of her career at the University of Michigan directing internship and living-learning programs. She started out writing non-fiction while at the University and switched to romance with I Dream in White. A passion for history inspired her to write Threads. She lives in Arizona, where she loves hiking, bicycling, swimming, and practicing yoga. You can find her On her blog: https://charlottewhitney.com/books On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CWhitneyAuthor/ On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cwhitney2171/ On Twitter: @CWhitneyAuthor Threads can be found on Amazon: 0 0

In my last blog I showed you a spinners or knitters weasel. It is a mechanical yarn-measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with bobbins at the end of each spoke, around with the yarn winds. The spokes are attached to a something that looks like a clock with an internal mechanism the makes a ‘pop’ sound when the desired length of yarn has been wound – usually a skein. According to Wikipedia, the weasel’s gear ratio is usually 40 to 1, and the circumference of the reel is usually two yards, thus producing an 80-yard skein when the weasel pops (after 40 revolutions). Some of the early weasels were made without the gear mechanism. They perform the same function, but without the pop to aid the spinner in keeping track of the length of thread or yarn produced. The mechanism making the pop sound on the spinners weasel is the possible source for  the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel. All I know is that the crank-handled jack-in-the-box my son had as a toy when he was little scared the whey out of him the first time we cranked it up and the clown popped out. I am not a fan of clowns – I am a coulrophobic, but these figures in the Jack-in-the-boxes aren’t really clowns but something called augustes. Clowns have white-face make-up and usually wear pointed hats and ruffled collars. Augustes are the red-nosed guys with oversized trousers and squirty flowers in their buttonholes. So I know why I liked my very first real ‘clown,’ Emmett Kelly, who was an auguste. From Clownpedia/Fandom. Emmet Kelly, an auguste, with a clown on either side Emmett Kelly was a world-famous American circus performer, who created the clown figure ‘Weary Willie’, based on the hobos of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Kelly’s creation of Weary Willie revolutionized professional clowning and made him the country’s most familiar clown. I first saw him in the Ringling Brothers circus. ‘Jack in the box’ got its name from the name given to a swindler who cheated tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for the full ones that were expected. Such a ‘Jack’ is found in James Cranstoun’s reprinting of Satirical Poems of the time of the Reformation. ‘Jack in the box’ was also the name given to a type of firework and this is found in John Babington’s Pyrotechnia, 1635. So old Jack is an auguste, a swindler, or a firecracker! 0 0

I was first introduced to Tony Riches historical novels when I read the books in his Tudor Trilogy, about the founding and growth of the Tudor family. The history is compelling. For Mary – Tudor Princess, and this book, Katherine – Tudor Duchess, the reader experiences the Tudor family from a woman’s point of view. The author hasn’t lost a step in the transition. Katherine Willoughby was born at Parham Hall in Suffolk in 1519, daughter of the 11th Baron of Willoughby and his second wife, Maria de Salina, who had come to England as a lady-in- waiting to Katherine of Aragon. With her father’s death, Katherine inherited the barony. Her wardship fell to King Henry VII, who sold it to Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, his brother-in-law. Her story begins as she is about to leave to join the Duke’s household. Her mother, who will continue in her service to Queen Katherine, sees her daughter as a good match for Henry Brandon, the Duke’s five-year-old son who is in the line of succession to the throne. Katherine is not so sure. After traveling to the impressive Westhorpe Manor, Katherine becomes a part of the Brandon family, joining Henry and his two sisters, who are close in age to Katherine. She immediately is drawn to the beautiful, clever and elegant Lady Mary, wife of the Duke and sister to the King. (See Mary – Tudor Princess). When Katherine meets the Duke, she is immediately drawn to this rich and powerful man. When Princess Mary dies after a lingering illness, Katherine mourns her deeply and is surprised when the Duke proposes to marry her. She is but fourteen and he is forty-nine. Beating the odds, theirs is a long and successful marriage, weathering the vicissitudes of the King’s many marriages and the reigns of Henry’s children. Katherine’s quick wit, devotion to learning and outspoken advocacy for the English reformation help her navigate the politics of the time. Through Katherine’s eyes, you meet the famous women of Henry’s court: Anne Boleyn, Katherine Seymour, Catherine Parr. You suffer with the deaths of her children and experience terror when Katherine’s faith puts her and her entire family in danger. As impressed as I was by the story of Princess Mary, Katherine’s life left an even more indelible vision of an indomitable woman who not only survived a tumultuous time, but thrived. As always, the author’s attention to detail and depth of knowledge of the intrigue of the English court is superb. I highly recommend yet another well-written and richly ornamented book by Tony Riches. About the author Tony Riches was born in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, and spent part of his childhood in Kenya. He gained a BA degree in Psychology and an MBA from Cardiff University and worked as a Management Consultant, followed by senior roles in the Welsh NHS and Local Government. After writing several successful non-fiction books, Tony decided to turn to novel writing. His real interest is in the history of the fifteenth century, and now his focus is on writing historical fiction about the lives of key figures of the period. His novels Warwick, The Man Behind the Wars of the Roses and The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham have both become Amazon best sellers. Today Tony has returned to Pembrokeshire, an area full of inspiration for his writing, where he lives with his wife. In his spare time he enjoys sailing and sea kayaking. Visit Tony online at www.tonyriches.co.uk, Tony Riches Author on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @tonyriches. You can find Katherine – Tudor Duchess at Amazon Books: 0 0

Anxiety is building. My new book, The Last Pilgrim, is scheduled for release on June 1. The final version of the PDF has been uploaded and we are just waiting on the person creating the book jacket to do his thing. The artist who painted the cover for me had it framed, and it’s now on my wall! Here are some of the line drawings, done by moi, for the book. Do you know what they are (except for the house)? Give me some guesses if you don’t know… When the time comes, I’d love some help disseminating the news, if you are so inclined! Nervously yours, The author 0 0