The picture on the left looks back to shore from a mid-point on Derby Wharf. On the left side with a cupola, you can just see the red brick Customs House. Next to it, on the right, is Hawke’s House and the next house is Derby House, also built of red brick. Note the Derby
Articles Categorized Sandra Wagner-Wright
On-Site Research: My Visit to Salem MA, pt. 1
Site visits are an important part of my writing research, because being where my characters’ experiences occurred gives me a greater sense of closeness to their lives. My most recent book, Saxon Heroines, took me back to Whitby Abbey where I videoed waves pounding on the headland. When writing Rama’s Labyrinth, I visited Mukti Mission
Main Street in Rowley Mass.: A Step Back in Time
When I was young, I enjoyed visiting “historic” houses. At that time, I equated “historic” with an 18th or 19th century house. A house that was simply “old” didn’t impress me much, because a house from 1930 didn’t strike me as being all that different from a house of 1960. But a house from 1830
Rowley: A Small New England Town
The thing about research trips, or any sort of travel, is that you never know what you will discover. Case in point: Rowley, Massachusetts, a small town, population 6,161, on the Massachusetts North Shore. Prior to my visit to the Phillips Library, now located in Rowley, I knew nothing about this delightful small town that
#BreakTheBias —International Women’s Day 2022
I’m posting this blog on Monday, February 28. Tomorrow, March 1, is Mardi Gras. Next Tuesday, March 8, is International Women’s Day. I mention this because the words Mardi Gras are instantly recognized as an amazing festival with parades, parties, and raucous behavior. But the words International Women’s Day exist in a sort of limbo,
“Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow”
Every February I wonder how a chubby, winged boy-child with less than useful wings became a symbol for Valentine’s Day. The Ancient Greeks called Cupid Eros, and described him as a vengeful youth. The Hellenistic Greeks and the Romans shrank the slender young man into a chubby benign figure. A few hundred years later, English
Gung Hay Fat Choy — Year of the Tiger
The Year of the Tiger begins tomorrow, February 1st , but celebrations for the Lunar New Year take place from January 31st through February 15th. New Year —New Luck Prior to the first day of the new year, people deep clean their homes to remove huiqi [inauspicious breaths] and to appease the gods who will
Making Achievable New Year Resolutions
On December 31st did you, perhaps in an altered state, solemnly resolve, affirm, or swear that you would make positive changes in 2022? Last year 43 percent of Americans vowed to change in 2021; this year only 29 percent expected to take the plunge. Of those making new year’s resolutions, 80 percent will either fail
Yule Tide Festivals
Winter Solstice on December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere is both the shortest day of the year, and the first day of Winter. The word solstice finds its root in the Latin words sol for sun and sistere, meaning “to stand.” The term also refers to new birth, as a new year rises from the
The Miraculous Gifts of St. Nicholas
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. These often over-looked lines from Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem about the night before Christmas raise at least two pertinent questions: Who was St. Nicholas? And, why does he need stockings? The Real St. Nicholas St. Nicholas
