Politics (from Australia) - No Holds Barred

 

Manatees, Blue Springs State Park

 

Myakka River St Pk - Photo by Joe Saladino

Susie's photo of this week's Eclipse, Sanford FL

 

I hope you can read the following - it's a compilation of some of the greatest Opening Lines in the history of Fiction.

 

Last, and most important, a 9/11 pic I had not seen before. Whether you are like me—old enough to have 9/11 imprinted on your mind forever—or too young to recall one of the most momentous events in American history, this image memorializing all the firefighters who died trying to rescue people from the Twin Towers is truly moving.

 The Death Toll, according to one Internet source:

World Trade Center - 2,753

Pentagon - 184

Shanksville, PA where passengers crashed the third suicide plane) - 40 (not counting the 4 hijackers)

Plus the thousands who were sickened and the many who died from toxic gases inhaled that day

Franklin Delano Roosevelt described the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) as "A day that will live in Infamy." On September 11, 2001, a second horrifying day joined the List. 

May God bless all who died, the injured, the survivors, and their families. So many went "above and beyond" that day. May there never be another such incident to add to the list.

**************** 

 

 I have been saving the article below for about six weeks, waiting for the primaries to be over, the Mid-terms to loom large. Also, so we could enjoy summer before facing harsh reality. But now, alas, the time has come. And the Aussie who wrote the following really "tells it like is."

Australian's Comment on Trump, 2026

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE TODAY ….READ THIS! WOW!   [comment from the person who shared the article on Facebook]

This Australian's reply to Trump's rant about “NATO not being there for America” is perfect.
"Mate. You run a country with 600,000 homeless people sleeping on the street tonight. A country where 40% of adults can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money. A country where insulin costs more than a car payment and people are rationing it to survive. A country where medical debt is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy. A country where women are dying in hospital car parks because doctors are too scared of abortion laws to treat a miscarriage.
You lock up more of your own citizens than any nation on earth. More than China. More than Russia. More than North Korea. The land of the free has 2 million people in cages, and a quarter of them haven't even been convicted of anything. They're just too poor to make bail.
Your life expectancy is going backwards. You're the only developed nation where that's happening. Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba's. Your kids do active shooter drills between maths and English while you sell the gunmaker's stock to your mates.
Your minimum wage hasn't moved in 15 years. You've got teachers working 2 jobs and veterans sleeping under bridges and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that didn't attack you.
And you’ve got a convicted felon, adjudicating raping, paedophile protecting, porn star shagging insurrectionist running the biggest dumpster fire war campaign since the Taliban thanked you very much for losing again.
And you're calling Greenland poorly run?
Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world. Nobody goes bankrupt there because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because their insurance said no.
'NATO wasn't there when we needed them." When exactly was that, champ? September 11? Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU. Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and died in Afghanistan FOR YOU. Australia wasn't even in NATO and we still showed up. For 20 years.
And you pulled out at 2am without telling anyone and left them to deal with the mess.
So maybe before you start calling other countries poorly run, have a look at your own backyard, you spray-tanned aluminium siding salesman. The only thing poorly run in this picture is your f----- mouth."
Copied from David Abbruzzese via Buddy Richard
REMOVE THE RAPIST, MURDERER!!                   Pedo !!  

~ * ~

  BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Although "Gamble" has been Book of the Week in the not-too-distant past, it's my only novel which features Politics. The library in Venice, FL, was an enormous help, ordering a very serious, if dry, book on British Elections Before 1834 from the UCF library. Without it, I could never have written this book. Believe me, the truly odd Election practices are factual. Which is why the elections laws were seriously reformed in 1834. I have to admit A Gamble With Love is among my favorites. There's always something especially intriguing about marriages of convenience—in Fiction, if not in Reality! 

Miss Aurelia Trevor has a problem. Until she reaches the age of twenty-five, she will have no control over her beloved Pevensey Park, and by that time her unscrupulous uncle will have run it into the ground. Marriage to someone other than her uncle's leering son is her only way out, but, one by one, she rejects the men on her list of suitors. In desperation, Aurelia does the unthinkable. She hires a solicitor to find her a husband strong enough to stand up to both her uncle and her cousin. And soon learns the truth of that old adage: Be careful what you wish for.

Thomas Lanning is a man of the City. Unlike Aurelia, who stands to inherit vast land and wealth, he has made his own place in the world. He is not at all tempted by the suggestion of marriage to an heiress, but other considerations, such as a power base for a seat in Parliament, tweak his interest. Plus an unexpected twinge of chivalry when he hears the full extent of Miss Trevor's difficulties with her uncle and his family.

Aurelia, who only wants to live in peace on her acres, finds she has acquired a ready-made family in Thomas's younger sister and brother, as well as a head-strong husband whose campaign for MP fills her household with a shockingly odd assortment of characters. It seems her marriage of convenience is fast becoming a marriage of inconvenience. Just how far will this strong-willed pair bend to accommodate each other? And will they do it before it's too late?

Reviews:

"Blair Bancroft's warm and tender [novel] boasts a great heroine in Aurelia: She's attractive, courageous, vulnerable and intelligent."  Robin Taylor, Romantic Times

"Reading how they gradually learn to like and eventually love each other is wonderful. Blair Bancroft is now definitely one of my favorite traditional Regency authors and this book is a prime example of why."  Nicole Hulst, Romance Junkies

"Set against a backdrop of rural politics (and a fascinating look at the early world of "buying votes) this is a story that entrances, enlightens and endears."  Celia at A Romance Review

~ * ~

 

 For a link to Blair's website & editing info, click here. 

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The Tale of the White Hat

 NEW BLOG - Monday, 9/7 (Labor Day)

(Lost landline, internet & streaming for three days - will take a while to catch up!) 

 

 

 

But first . . . 

GALLERY

 

Sunset, Venice FL - Wellen Park

  (no attribution given)

Only a few miles to the north - Storm off Siesta Key . . .

Photo by Daniel & Deedee Dyer

 

And on the opposite coast of Florida . . .

 

Night Launch

Night Launch from farther away

Swinging Kitty

 

 THE TALE OF THE WHITE HAT

 With the Florida Primary out of the way and undoubtedly a lot of mid-term drama to come, this seemed like a good moment for a light tale about something as supposedly inconsequential as a white hat. Except I've had this hat a long time, it has great sentimental value, and may have had more compliments than any other hat in the history of the world! So, I'll see if I can spin this very special hat into an interesting tale . . .

 

 Sometime in the first year or two I lived in Longwood, I was walking through the second floor of Macy's in the Altamonte Mall (Altamonte Springs, FL). I was "looking," hats the farthest thing from my mind. But an item on a rack of hats stopped me dead. It did not occur to me that I never wore ball caps—perhaps I saw only the rhinestones—but I had to have it. Out came my Macy's card, and it was mine.

And thus began the amazing saga of the White Hat. If I had a dollar for every time a passing stranger complimented me on my hat, I would be RICH. It seems everyone else loves this hat as much as I do. One of the most memorable encounters:  I was pushing a cart through Publix when a woman exclaimed, "You look like the Queen!" Resulting in yet another lovely moment chatting with a perfect stranger while out doing errands. 

White Hat has been lost twice. Great consternation both times. The first time was a number of years ago when my daughter was still driving a Honda SUV and the grandgirls were still fairly young. The hat disappeared for weeks. I had to accept it was lost. EXCEPT, it suddenly turned up in the back of the Honda, where it had been lost amidst the debris created by three young girls. (And Mom.) Huzzah! As I recall, that was one of the times I had to take White Hat to the cleaners. It was the cleaner who pointed out the missing rhinestone. No hope for finding that - likely down in one the Honda's crevices, or who knows . . .

Most recently, it went missing once again, this time all my fault. When I sat down in the waiting room at Advent Health's Imaging Center on Rinehart Road, I put it in the bag on my walker. Except, in pulling out a sweater to deal with really cold AC, I evidently dislodged the hat and it ended up being left behind when I went in for my appointment. Nor did I miss it until later that afternoon. At which point I spent a teeth-gnashing 45 minutes trying to claw my way through the Advent Health phone system, whose Menu was definitely not set to accommodate such an odd request as Lost and Found. I don't know how many times I was transferred, getting everything from an abrupt, "You have a wrong number!" to dead silence followed by a dial tone.

By some miracle—I was likely transferred the lady who handles the "kook" calls—I found a sympathetic ear. She told me she could "message" someone who would know the answer to my problem. (Even she couldn't call the Front Desk at the Imaging Center? Wow.) We had a nice little chat while we waited, and suddenly she told me, "They have it!" I asked her to assure them I would be by the next day to pick it up. And so I did, and at that time I was told about it being found in the seat where I had been sitting.

So, yes, I developed a true horror of Advent Health's phone system, but person-to-person, the people involved could not have been nicer. I have White Hat back and have learned a strong lesson about keeping better track of it. LOVE THAT HAT!

~ * ~

 Book of the Week

 Somewhere around 2010-2011, a wave of erotica swept the Romance market, totally revolutionizing the industry. Signet (Penguin Putnam) and Kensington said bye-bye to their squeaky clean Romance authors—and there we were, looking around, wide-eyed, asking, "What now?"

The answer:  E-books—those published by newly established e-book companies and those self-published to Amazon Kindle and a company called Smashwords. A whole new world. Wow! And those of us in on the ground floor did very well, I'm happy to say. I not only published new works to these online vendors, but as I got my rights back from Signet and Kensington, I self-published those at well.

Because I didn't want to pay for more than a cover artist, in all the time since 2011 I have created just one paperback (ordered for family Christmas presents a few years ago). THE SECRETS OF STONEBRIDGE CASTLE is a shiny, oversize Print-on-Demand, chosen because it is my personal favorite Regency Gothic. I am featuring it this week because I just lowered the price to $9.99. (The e-book price remains $3.99.) If you like ghosts, intrigue and rocky romance , this is the book for you.

 When bullies threaten Aurelia Lacey and her five-year-old daughter Nell, they are rescued by an old friend, Jason Durand, younger brother of an earl. Jason, once a daring spy, has fallen into depression and drunkenness since the war, but he rallies long enough to offer the outcasts the shelter of his brother's country seat, Stonebridge Castle. But the ancient castle is not the quiet refuge they expected. Aurelia and Jason—both lost souls from the war against Napoleon—must deal with a bevy of hedonistic house guests, seven hundred years of ghosts, multiple murders, and a chance—a very slim chance—that love will triumph over all.

Author's Note: Although ghosts are prominent in The Secrets of Stonebridge Castle, they appear as characters, not creatures of horror. And there is more emphasis on romance than in my previous Gothic novels.

~ * ~

 

 For a link to Blair's website & editing info, click here. 

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Gallery - New Grace Pic to Wild Florida

 

A lot going on here, everything from more intense and longer thunderstorms than our usual rainy season* to Susie & Mike house-hunting. All collated into a gallery lengthy enough to take up the whole blog. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for everyone.

*Thursday, August 6, was supposed to be less rainy. We ended up with back-to-back deluges (most with thunder & lightning), for four-plus hours. I am so glad I live at the top of a Florida "hill" (barely visible rise in the land)!

 

RANDOM GALLERY 

Firstly, Susie used AI on a three-year-old photo of me and created a new face for my Facebook photo. Behold . . .

Yes, those are genuine malachite beads.

Retro to the World Cup - at The Capital Room Bar . . .

Riley, Susie, Mike, Lionel, Hailey - Friend Teddy in front

 

Kylo, the Reale family dog, enjoying his new companion

 

There are many posts with Shakespeare quotes. I consider this one of the best.

 

 A time of sadness and nostalgia for those of us living in the Orlando area. There have been swans at Lake Eola (the center of downtown) for as long as most people can remember. But earlier this year, quite a few died of Bird Flu, enough so that it was decided the swans should be moved to a safer location. Nothing left now but people-pedaled swan boats. Sigh. A tragedy in more ways than one.

 

On to Venice, FL. Having lived in Venice for 25 years, I know the lightning pictured below is out over the Gulf. (The Venice Golf Course is sandwiched between the airport and the beach.) 

 

 While only two or three miles north in Nokomis . . .

A lifeguard shack damaged by lightning

 Other golf courses in Florida can also be dangerous . . .

 

 And then there are all those idyllic spots in Florida . . .

Blue Springs State Park w/manatee

 Blue Springs is such a scenic and fascinating place I used to drive the grandgirls here all the way from East Orlando. (Much shorter drive after we moved to Seminole County.) Every winter a horde of manatees shelter here from the cold. In addition to the springs, the manatees (in season), and the scenery, there's a boat trip available on the St. John's River. You can even see mistletoe growing high up in the tree tops. Highly recommended.

 

Sunset, Sorrento Springs Golf Course, 8/5/26

 I did not save the above for last just because it's a traditional Sunset-ending to this edition of the Gallery. It's a harbinger of Big Changes to come. Susie, Riley, and I were exploring a delightfully spread-out golf course community in Sorrento, FL, while Mike wrote down a myriad notes about a house the Reales are considering buying (much closer to where Susie works). Susie stopped the car, ran up the golf path to the top of a Florida hill, and captured this photo of the sunset). And yes, they're serious. After eleven years, it may be bye-bye, Seminole County (which did such a great job educating the girls - why we all moved here in 2015). But now . . .

I should add that Lake County is very much "the country," as opposed to Orange and Seminole counties. The road from Sanford/Longwood to Sorrento is almost entirely framed by a State Preserve. Pine forest, oaks dripping Spanish moss, wildlife, etc. (Marked by miles of tall fence with barbed wire at the top. I saw on the TV news that a broad wildlife "pass" was built under the recently opened 429.) 

Just past the preserve, at least two upscale housing developments in country settings with a modest Publix shopping center nearby. That's it. There must be an actual "Main Street" somewhere. We did not see it.  (Sorrento is c. 9 miles east of Mt Dora.) I presume this "country" atmosphere is one of the reasons Susie has sold out the KB homes at her first location and is about to move to another KB site close by. My reaction? No wonder discerning home owners want to live there!

If you live in the greater Orlando area and are looking for a great Sunday afternoon drive, try the old Rte. 46 or the recently opened Superhighway, Rte. 429. (Both a beeline beginning just west of I-4 in Sanford.) (I hated the newly installed roundabouts on Rte. 46. We came home on the 429!) 

Addendum for Real Estate Lovers: 

On the way out of Sorrento Springs, we thought we'd check out the development directly across the street and hidden behind a wall of trees. We expected to be stopped by a gatehouse any moment. Except we drove straight in, our jaws dropping as we saw the size of the homes on huge lots, each with a canopy of towering Florida pines. Zillow revealed what we instantly recognized - all adults in the car were either realtors or ex-realtors. The cheapest recent sale:  over $900,000. We slowly drove around, up and down—necks craning, eyes popping—until I suggested if we kept that up someone might call the police thinking we were "casing" the place. So, we headed for home, our brains spinning with our peek into the whole new world of Sorrento FL, but a half-hour's drive from home.

~ * ~

 Book of the Week

 Author's Note: The Mists of Moorhead Manor is a Gothic novel in the tradition of Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, and Blair Bancroft's previous Regency-set Gothic, Brides of Falconfell.

Penelope Ruth Ballantyne has lived at the tail of the army all her life, experiencing the rigors of life in India, followed by five years of war in Portugal and Spain. Not surprisingly, now that she is orphaned, she accepts the most challenging position available, companion to an invalid who lives on the edge of Exmoor in northern Devonshire. After years of constant travel, Penny longs to settle under one roof, find a true home. Instead, she encounters hysteria, mysterious deaths, a nasty rival, and the constant fear of dismissal as she attracts the attention of more than one young gentleman in the household. Though the only one she truly sees is Robert, Lord Exmere, heir to Moorhead Manor. Together, they face a startling dilemma worthy of the judgment of Solomon.

~ * ~

 

 For a link to Blair's website & editing info, click here. 

For Archives, see the menu on the right. 

 For recent blogs, scroll down.

 

Heart-warming Tale (incredibly, from 9/11)

 

One of the best pics I've seen of the Vehicle Assembly Building. (I hear an even bigger one is under construction.) 

 

"Florida Storm" - Photo by Ed Saternus

 

 

 From the Reale Family's cruise to Cozumel . . .

 

Plus Riley's & Cassidy's boyfriends

 

On board - Cassidy's 20th birthday

~ * ~ 

I have been saving two stories posted not too long ago to Facebook, one a heart-warming tale from that awful day we recall as "9/11" (just as those my age recall the fatal date, "December 7th.") The second story is definitely political, so, this week, in keeping with our country's 250th anniversary, I am posting the heart-warming one. I have to admit I'm not sure I ever heard this story, but I am very pleased to share it here with my international audience. The Facebook poster was Frantz Jorgen Nielson.

Grace note: Despite looking perfectly normal in my copy, "Preview" shows a lot of sentences broken in the middle. Sorry about that. The words, however, remain the same. 

Marines - 9/11

I  BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS: AFTER FLIGHT 77 HIT THE PENTAGON ON 9/11, THE FOLLOWING HAPPENED.

A daycare facility inside the Pentagon had many children, including infants
who were in heavy cribs. The daycare supervisor, looking at all the
children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do.
There were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants who
would need to be taken out with the cribs. There was no time to try to
bundle them into carriers and strollers.

Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they
needed. After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran
back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director thought, "Well,
here we are, on our own."
About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 other Marines in tow.
Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up
toddlers.

The director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of
the center and down toward the park near the Potomac .
Once they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped
in the park, and then did a fabulous thing - they formed a circle with the
cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the
Old West.

Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from
wandering off. Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter
around the children and waiting for instructions. There they remained until
the parents could be notified and come get their children.

The chaplain then said, "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of this on
any of the news stories of the day. It was an incredible story of our men
there.” There wasn't a dry eye in the room.

The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they reacted;
could we expect any less from them? It was one of the most touching stories
from the Pentagon.

It's the military, not the politicians that ensures our right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's the military who salutes the
flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.
If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for
the military, please pass this on and pray for our men and women, who have
served and are currently serving our country, and honor the memory of those 
who have given the ultimate sacrifice!                                                                                                                                                               
  God Bless The USA!
Never forget!!!

~ * ~

 An odd fact has finally filtered through my aging brain. Every month, year after year, one particular Regency Romance always crops up, usually among the very first listed on Amazon's "sold" list. Needless to say, I've frequently asked myself "Why?" The book:  Lady Silence. The only answer I've come with: it may be the irony of the title. Readers find the idea of a silent female intriguing. (Grin.) In any event, Lady Silence is Book of the Week.

 

A snowy night; a waif on the doorstep, who doesn't talk. After agreeing to grant her shelter, Damon Farr goes off to six years of war, returning determined to be a recluse, only to discover the girl is still there. And still not talking. Is "the girl the cat dragged in" destined to be Damon Farr's Sinful Temptation or his Salvation? The odd pair walk a rocky road before the answer becomes clear.

Reviews:

"Blair Bancroft can always be counted on to deliver exceptional characters and/or settings, historical accuracy, unusual plots, and flawless writing. LADY SILENCE is one more sterling example." Jane Bowers, Romance Reviews Today

"LADY SILENCE by Blair Bancroft is a splendid Regency romance! The creative intrigue and alluring characters make this novel a must have." Nadine St. Denis, Romance Junkies
 

 

 

Gallery - from Amazing to Just Plain Weird

 

This week's blog is devoted to amusement, both yours and mine. The first gallery pic is recent; the others, from my Pictures Archive, dating back, lo, these many years. To find these photos, I had a ball scrolling through umpteen years of family history, travels as far-ranging as Singapore and the Arctic Circle, book covers, masks from the Covid era, the handicrafts I've made, etc., etc., looking for the most amusing or outrageous examples of bad grammar, weird English, etc., etc. 

There were, of course, far too many for one blog, but I hope you enjoy this week's choices, as they will be up a couple of weeks as I plan to take next weekend off to celebrate my birthday. (At my age, I feel fortunate to be able to have yet another birthday!)  

GALLERY 

 

Interestingly, pic is from 2019

 

   

 

~ * ~

 No Book of the Week. I refer you to my website blairbancroft.com to discover the variety of books I've written over the years—Regency Romance, Regency Gothic, SciFi Fantasy, Contemporary Mysteries, plus one lone Steampunk and one lone Medieval. 

~ * ~

 

 For a link to Blair's website & editing info, click here. 

For Archives, see the menu on the right. 

 For recent blogs, scroll down.