Category: women

American History, Bordentown, women

Major Fraser’s

Arlene

Back in the 80s when the mortgage rates dropped to an all-time low, I trained and became a real estate appraiser, thanks to Ed MacNicoll owner of the business of that name. Architecture had long been of interest to me and that position fueled my passion for it. I often got the assignments for the big, old Victorians or farmhouses that took more work and time to appraise. I loved the challenge and still do love it .

Little did I know that what I learned in that profession would be called on when I wrote Major Fraser’s, but expanding in a different sense. Yes, the house is the basis for the story but Major Fraser and his family are the heart of it carrying the story from Bordentown to South Carolina and into France.

He came from Scotland in the 1700s, reason unknown to me but many families lost all they had after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Even if they fought against England during that conflict, many that took the forced loyalty oath, adhered to it and fought for England during our Revolution. Thomas Fraser did, fighting his way up to the rank of Major.

During the War he married Southern belle Anne Loughton Smith. After the War they lived in Charleston and Philadelphia. They came to Bordentown during the dangerous summer seasons to get away from big city killing diseases.

Major Fraser’s, whose daughter married Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew,  is a dip into the past history of our country revealing the personal stories of people who lived before we were a country and on up until the present.Image

Poetry, women

Malala Yousafzai, A Leader For Our Time

Arlene

In all nations brave women and girls,

through the ages have shown courage

during battles and long wars. They have fed the warriors,

carried messages, fought off the enemy, suffered rape, disfigurement, 

and healed the wounds of others.

 

As the world progresses in time

as we inch toward respect;

understanding cultures and ways of countries different,

the feminine teach, nurture, carry the burden and the waving banner

toward freedom of education.

 

Timid maiden, traditional matron

carry on the fight for their rights

of speech, of choice, of life productive, of developing

their talents and gifts varied from the masculine in their families,

special in their own footsteps.

 

Malala, leader of your time,

of your place, may you continue

without violence against you. Know you are a leader,

an international symbol admired by many for your determined beliefs;

willing to stand up for them.

 © Arlene S. Bice, 2012

general, women

Christmas & Holiday Recipes & Remembrances

Arlene

      

 

“CHRISTMAS TASTE ‘N TELL”

Community Room at

Warren County Memorial Library

119 So. Front Street

Warrenton NC

Tues.4 Dec. 2012

    12:00 to 1:00 pm

 

    Come tell your tales & taste our foods made for you by the women who contributed to the

Warrenton Woman’s Club Cookbook  the “Recipes & Remembrances” Cookbook

will be available for purchase at $15.00

This was a fun event when we introduced it in the spring. The planned program took on a life of its own. So this time we are going to just run with it, let ya’ll tell your Christmas or your Holiday stories that have food memories in them.

Please, come out and taste the wonderful array of recipes made with Christmas in mind by those who submitted to our Warrenton Women’s Club cookbook, Recipes & Remembrances.     Enjoy!

women

Women Friendships

Arlene

I began reading through my old journals looking for references to psychic moments and experiences I’ve had over the years, researching for my next manuscript. I found wonderful memories of times spent with the best of women friends. I found what I was looking for and so much more.

I grew up in what was an all boy neighborhood until I was about 9 years old. I had two brothers, our dog and cat were both males. I married while still a teenager, had four sons, a male dog and a husband who was a mason contractor. This means that I was surrounded by men showing up to go to work or showing up on Fridays for their pay envelope which I had prepared because I set up appointments for estimates and did all the paperwork it takes to run a business.

When the marriage fell apart after 15 years, I worked in fields dominated by men, i.e. wholesale liquor sales rep, bartender, real estate sales followed by real estate appraiser and then a new, used and rare bookseller. All men dominated fields at the time. In the early years I was usually working two jobs sometimes three to keep the bills paid and the kids fed. Who had time for women friendships? Not me.

But time passes and when all those struggle years passed too, I went off into a different direction. I fulfilled my desire to be a writer not realizing that I was always a writer who just had not written anything. It was a woman, InSuk who must have seen that in me and pushed me in the right direction. I will always remember her even though I have not seen her in many years.

So my wonderful women friends first came to me first through my bookshop then through my pen. Well, I also write on my computer. But came they did. Thanks to my years attending the annual conference of the International Women Writers’ Guild I now have women friends from various parts of our country and a few from Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Who knows? Next I may make friends with women from Asia, Australia and South America. The world is open to me.