Book review: 'Hidden Falls,' a mystery lover's delight

Mystery lovers will love Carla Danziger’s story of love and murder in Norway, Hidden Falls. (Doesn't the beautiful cover photo make you want to jump in and swim across the lake?) 

Not only is Hidden Falls a tale of intrigue, but the descriptions of Norwegian delicacies and gorgeous geography will send readers scrambling to the Web to find trips to the "Land of the Midnight Sun."

To break from the remnants of a “done” marriage, Kristina Kelly travels from the U.S. to Norway to join her cousin, Elsa Jenssen, on vacation in the mountains and explore “Hidden Falls.”  While hiking alone one morning, Elsa slips and falls to her death.  Was it suicide? An accident? Murder? 

Edna is a well-respected journalist who has her enemies, that's for sure, and the question is:  Whodunnit (if anyone)?  The police treat Elsa's death as an accident, which is unacceptable to Kris who has reason to believe otherwise.

To learn the truth, she begins collecting information (and a new relationship) which builds evidence that something is indeed wrong with the picture. And she may become the next victim. 

The complexity and fun trying to determine the murderer (if any) from among many suspects will leave readers guessing, and shuddering at the prospect that Kris may alone retrace Elsa's path in Hidden Falls or enter Elsa's house.  Surely not!

The author skillfully weaves contemporary Norwegian history, customs, and culture into the "travel mystery" and describes the countryside with breathtaking color and emotion. Her Scandinavian ancestry adds much to her story.

 

Ms. Danziger, a resident of Northern Virginia, says the book rolled out as she wrote it, and she told her family years ago at a spectacular Norway site: “I am going to remember this scene and write about it some day!"  She has.

Nine of ten reviewers at Amazon give Hidden Falls five stars, and one, four stars.

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Chasing Mary, Queen of Scots through Scotland

Mary, Queen of Scots/pastalamode.webs.com and Wikimedia Commons

 

She (1542-1587) gave birth to her only child, the future king of Scotland (James VI, 1566-1625) and the king of England (James I) in what are now public rooms at Edinburgh Castle. 

 

Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI of Scotland and James I of England at Edinburgh Castle/Patricia Leslie

About a year after James's birth, rebels forced Mary, Queen of Scots to relinquish her crown to her toddler son who was taken from her, and she never saw him again.  (He was later criticized for not doing much to save his mum, a docent/guide somewhere in Scotland, I think at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, told me.) 

How did Mary’s son become King of Scotland and the King of England?  Easy.  There was nobody left, but please read on.

To describe briefly, Mary was married three times: 

1.  Francis, the Dauphin of France, who died two year after their marriage (1558-1560)

2.  Lord Darnley, her first cousin and King James’s father (?), married from 1565-1567 until Darnley was found strangled “in the garden” after an explosion, likely caused by a group which included her third husband

3.  James Hepburn, the Fourth Earl of Bothwell, whom she married May 15, 1567 just three months after Darnley's murder on February 9-10, 1567 (and 12 days after the Earl's divorce) and a month after the Earl was acquitted on April 12, 1567 of the Darnley murder charge.

Also, Husband #2, Lord Darnley, was most likely involved in the murder of Mary’s private secretary, David Rizzio (rumored to be James’s father) at the Palace of Holyroodhouse where Rizzio was dragged from audience with Mary and stabbed to death in rooms which are open to visitors,  but, please, no photographs.  (And whatever happens, get to the palace before 4:30 p.m., not 5 p.m., I don’t care what the signs say because one hour is insufficient time to see the palace and besides (as what happened to me, truly) the staff will push you through the doors, slamming them in your wake, and letting it generally be known that you are not welcome, so get out, and be done with you. We've got your admission fee already; who cares what you want to see? The Scottish really are not half as nice as the Irish.  Where was I?)
The Murder of David Rizzio by John Opie (1761-1807)/Guildhall Art Gallery and Wikimedia Commons

Mary's bedchambers at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The doorway on the left opens to a small room where Mary met with David Rizzio before he was dragged and stabbed 56 times.  All these rooms are open to the public when the Queen is not in residence/Palace of Holyroodhouse

 

The Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, the Queen's official residence when she is in Scotland and open to the public when she is not. Palace guides said the Queen visits Edinburgh every year and spends about four to five days at Holyroodhouse, the palace where Mary married Lord Darnley and the likely site of her marriage to the Earl of Bothwell, too, and the scene of the murder of David Rizzio, Mary's private secretary/Patricia Leslie

 

The interior courtyard at Palace of Holyroodhouse where Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter and Olympic medalist, Zara Phillips, and Mike Tindall had their wedding reception in 2011.  A guide told me the grass came from seeds from Canada and was covered up for three weeks preceding the reception/Patricia Leslie

 

 

You used to think modern royalty was full of innuendo and intrigue.   Folks:  Where there are people, can love, sex, and rock and roll be far behind?  (Speaking of…Prince Wild Harry in Las Vegas...)

But back to Mary.

The rebels had had enough of Mary, her shenanigans, the murders, the husbands, and carried her off to prison at the Loch Leven Castle beginning about a month after her marriage to Bothwell. 

The island on Loch Leven and the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots was first imprisoned/Patricia Leslie 

Mary escaped the next year and fled to England in hopes that her dear cousin, Queen Elizabeth (whom she never met and who was also her son’s godmother) would help her regain the Scottish throne.  Elizabeth's parents were King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Queen Elizabeth I/Unknown artist, c. 1575, National Portrait Gallery, London and Wikimedia Commons

Elizabeth believed Mary had designs of her own on Elizabeth’s throne (which most sources confirm) and kept her locked up in various places for 19 years.

This small embroidered velvet and silver purse is believed to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots, and is on display at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland/Patricia Leslie

 

This necklace was given by Mary, Queen of Scots to her attendant, Mary Seton, while Mary was imprisoned.  Earrings (not shown) match the necklace.  From the Queen's Gallery at Palace of Holyroodhouse/Patricia Leslie

 

On February 8, 1587 Mary was beheaded.  Elizabeth was shocked!  Shocked, I tell you, when she received the news that her cousin had lost her head. (An eyewitness wrote that Mary's "lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off.")

Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots by Robert Herdman in 1867/Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, bequeathed by Adam Teacher, 1898

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, February 8, 1587/Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum,

 

 

Sixteen years later Cousin Elizabeth got her comeuppance (so to speak) for without heirs, who was going to succeed the Queen? None other than Mary’s son, James VI of Scotland who was crowned King of England July 25, 1603 after Elizabeth died on March 24,1603. 

In 1612 James had his mother's body exhumed from her grave in Peterborough Cathedral and placed under an elaborate marble sculpture at Westminster Abbey in London in the Henry VII chapel across the aisle from…dear Cousin Elizabeth.  Henry VII was the great-grandfather of Mary and the grandfather of Elizabeth.

The tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots at Westminster Abbey, London/Bernard Gagnon and Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Canongate Kirk where Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, Zara Phillips, and Mike Tindall were married in 2011, along the Royal Mile and close to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.  It is believed that David Rizzio is buried here.  On the right is a statue of poet Robert Fergusson/Patricia Leslie

Canongate Kirk (church)/Patricia Leslie

 

A search for the grave of Adam Smith (1723-1790), author of The Wealth of Nations, led me to Canongate Kirk/Patricia Leslie

Patricialesli@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

'The Campaign' is a riot

Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis in The Campaign/Warner Bros. Pictures

It's a scream!

The car! The snakes! The nipple!

The snakes?

Folks, this is your gross, blatant in-your-face kind of movie, sure to be enjoyed by those who like base and vulgar movies like me.

All the political junkies in the area (about 99%?) will love this flick and its release right on the eve of this year's conventions which could not have been better timed had a right-wing senator not spewed the wrong word at the tip of the hour.

Caution:  The language is strictly XXX, not for dainty ears, but all of it essential “for the meaning.”  (Meaning?)

For anyone who's ever worked on a campaign the characters and themes will be, oh, so familiar. And when is offense in the defense of extremism a vice?  (See “tea party.”)

Jason Sudeikis and Will Ferrell in The Campaign/Warner Bros. Pictures

Some of the scriptwriters must have worked on the 2004 race in West Virginia where campaign themes echoed up and down those hills to the tune of "guns, gays and God."  Ask not what you can do for your country, but what can the country do for you?

Of course, there are few better to play the main role than Will Ferrell.  And what more ideal setting than the site of this year's Democratic National Convention ready to begin next week in North Carolina where hurricanes don’t strike so far inland and the Chinese are ready to buy thousands of acres and start a new company and skirt federal minimum wage laws by 95% and, really, given this Congress, is it unthinkable? 

(Biographical note:  Will Ferrell's parents are from Roanoke Rapids, N.C., and co-star Zack Galifianakis grew up in the Tarheel State where his Uncle Nick, 84, was a North Carolina congressman from 1967 - 1973.  In 1972 Uncle Nick ran for a U.S. Senate seat against a North Carolina stalwart by the name of Jesse Helms.)

But back to the movie:  Dan Aykroyd was in it?

Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock was the perfect head of the perfect Christian household.   And  Dylan McDermott (swoon) dressed all in black was villain extraordinaire. 
 

Zach Galifianakis, left, and Dylan McDermott in The Campaign/Warner Bros. Pictures

The wives played by Katherine La Nasa and Sarah Baker were splendid; ditto, the dogs. Jay Roach directed.

On a weekend afternoon at Tysons Corner, huge numbers laughed and hee-hawed at the show which does carry a message with a twist at the end.  Brother, can you spare a dime? 

Enjoy! 

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

National Archives salutes women

From left, Jennifer Krafchik, Jennifer Lawless, Joy Kinard, and Page Harrington at National Archives/Patricia Leslie

The public is grateful to National Archives for its annual recognition of Women's Equality Day celebrated every August 26, the day in 1920 when the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed granting women the right to vote. 

Last week Archives hosted a panel of three women who talked about Beyond the Vote: Post-Suffrage Strategies to Gain Access to Power.

A co-sponsor of the event was the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum whose executive director, Page Harrington, served as moderator for the discussion.

Jennifer Krafchik of the Sewall-Belmont House presented history of the women's suffrage movement and talked about the first woman elected to Congress, Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973, R-Montana), and cited the congresswoman's anti-World War I and World War II votes. 

Joy Kinard, a district manager for the National Park Service talked only about civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), but given that Dr. Kinard works at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House on Vermont Avenue, and C-Span was filming, it was a good time to promote her cause.

But it was Jennifer Lawless, an associate professor at American University and the director of its Women  & Politics Institute, who grabbed attention, enlivening the evening with her talk, humor and new information about women and elections.

She lamented the dearth of female candidates and noted how quickly women's issues have risen on the agenda of this fall's political races.  Who would have guessed two weeks ago? 

(Enter stage right Congressman Todd Akin of Missouri.)

“Women make a very important difference” in elections, Dr. Lawless said, for they “almost always decide” outcomes, and they are much more politically active than men.

In the early 1990s Republican women in Congress often sided with their female Democratic counterparts on women’s issues, but severe Capitol Hill polarization now pits party vs. party, and female representation makes no difference when votes are cast. 

The Year of the Woman was 1992 when unprecedented numbers of women ran for office, propelled to action and getting their names on ballots by the 1991 case, Anita Hill vs. a male-only U.S. Senate panel in the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination battle. 

So why has the number of female candidates slowed?  Women represent just 17 percent of the members of the U.S. Congress.

You can't blame the media for distorted representations for Lawless and Richard L. Fox analyzed 5,000 news stories about male and female candidates and uncovered no gender differences in coverage. 

You can’t blame voters who, research reveals, show no bias against female candidates of either party.

You can't blame lack of money for once females get going, they can raise goodly sums of cash, and Lawless ought to know since, without a lot of effort (she indicated) she was able to raise $400,000 for her own congressional race in Rhode Island in 2006. (She lost, but once you hear her, you wonder about the loss, instead, to the Rhode Island residents who can't claim her as their representative.)  (The average congressional race costs about $1 million.)

What you can blame are poor self confidence and the misconception that women believe they are not qualified, nor do they have enough money to run for office.  A lot of money is not needed in most of the 525,000 elected positions (!) in the U.S. It's the presidential race and some Senate elections where hefty sums are necessary, and that’s what attracts press attention.

“The perception problem matters more than reality,” Lawless said.

Female candidates do better when they strike out on their own and are not associated with campaigns run and dominated by men, research shows.

The importance of appearance came up for discussion, too. 

Dr. Kinard said that although Ms. Bethune was overweight, she was always dressed to the nines with gloves, hat, and a level of sophistication which silently transcended her surroundings and sent strong messages that she was to be respected and admired. 

When people show up on doorsteps with tattoos, their level of sophistication is entirely different, Dr. Kinard said.  Look at Hillary Rodham Clinton and the way she presents herself, said Dr. Kinard.  “We need more younger women to love themselves to get a man to respect them.”

There’s more talk this year about how the male candidates dress, too:  People are talking about Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s “ill-fitting suits,’ Dr. Lawless said.

This fall she will be teaching a course at American University about this year's election, and it is a certainty that the course is already full. 

About 150 persons of various ages and races attended the presentation at Archives with more males present than one expected.  They made up about 20 percent of the audience. 

What:  National Archives

When: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. through Labor Day (September 3), closing at 5:30 p.m. after Labor Day through March 14, 2013

Where: Constitution Avenue, between 7th and 9th streets, NW

How much: No charge

Metro station: Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter or walk from Metro Center

For more information: 866-272-6272

patricialesli@gmail.com

So in love with Al Green at Wolf Trap

The Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

He may be heavier and not as lithe on his feet.  He may have a little less energy, but his voice has not changed, still that unmistakable Al Green sound, strong and able to hit the high notes for minutes at a time, and he is 66 years old. 

The Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

Al performed for a little over an hour at Wolf Trap to the cheers and delight of the sold-out crowd who came to hear the legend, and no one nearby expressed disappointment that the star of the night did not return for an encore. 

Compared to his visit four years ago at Wolf Trap, it was a tamer audience Friday night, not one to shake a tail feather too much in the aisles, but still enthusiastically in love and happiness with the man and his music.

"I sing because I am happy," he told his adoring fans, and he seemed glad to be there.

One of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Al sang the hits the fans came to hear (Take Me to the River, Love and Happiness, I'm Still in Love With You, Let's Stay Together, Tired of Being Alone), adding a blended medley of Roy Orbison (Pretty Woman)  and Otis Redding (I've Been Loving You Too Long).

The people joined in for many of the numbers and often sang a cappella without the entertainer, to the chagrin of some guests who came to hear him and not the throng. 

"I've had my ups and downs," Al told the crowd, but "God has been good to me!" He often gave thanks to the Lord which he does regularly in Memphis where he is a pastor at the Full Gospel Tabernacle, not too far from Graceland.

Al's backup crew of three females in sedate outfits strengthened his sound, and two male dancers, dressed identically and frequently changing costumes, added visuals.  There are no scantily-dressed performers on Al's stage. 

 Backup singers for the Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

He wore a white shirt and jacket (which he removed and put back on three times) and throughout his performance picked up long-stemmed red roses from the keyboard top which he cast to the ladies who were lucky enough to get seats up close.  We're still in love with you, Al.

The Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

The Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

The Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

The Rev. Al Green at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

 

The evening started right with the incredible, Grammy award winning Taj Mahal, age 70, who played his own sexy brand of blues which combines zydeco, Reggae, and African sounds. 

Taj Mahal at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

 

Taj Mahal at Wolf Trap/By Patricia Leslie

 

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Freaks frolic free at Edinburgh's Festival Fringe

A Fringe performer outside Edinburgh's St. Giles Cathedral/Patricia Leslie

This is what some of the “fringe” looked like at the beginning of this year's annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the granddaddy of them all, with 30,000 (!) performances and 2,600 productions.

How is this fellow afloat? You figure it out/Patricia Leslie

Tickets for Edinburgh's Fringe are about the only thing found in the U.K. and Ireland which are cheaper or almost equal to prices in the U.S.  ($22 converted vs. $24 for the D.C. Fringe with admission button.)  Plus, there are many cheaper tickets and some free performances, too, along High Street (the Royal Mile) in Edinburgh.

A jeweled empress presides over the Royal Mile kingdom (queendom?)/Patricia Leslie 

What is the Fringe?  It's performances of all makes and models by artists from around the world who perform short (usually under 60 minutes) uncensored dance, opera, theatre, comedy, musicals, you name it, in various local venues, often with minimalist sets.

The Museum of Natural History wants to inventory her face/Patricia Leslie

Last year 1.8 million tickets were sold at the festival which ends August 27.  Wikipedia says Dudley Moore (1960) and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Gilderstern are Dead (1966) got their starts at the festival, now celebrating its 65th year.

Ah, Edinburgh!Patricia Leslie

Patricialesliexam@gmail.com

Titanic exhibition at National Geographic ends September 9

The bow of the Titanic, photographed

by Hercules, a remotely controlled vehicle, in June, 2004/U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island and Wikimedia Commons

The most fascinating part of the Titanic exhibition at National Geographic comes near the end where descriptions of its discovery and depictions of the shipwreck reveal what it looks like now, more than two miles below the surface of the sea.

A constructed model of the present appearance of the ship suggests a tombstone on a remote and uninhabitable planet where 1,496 persons died.

A scale model of the Titanic's sunken bow which was used for the movie, Titanic, and by James Cameron for planning archaeological expeditions to the ship.  Access points help determine where remotely controlled vehicles (ROVs) may enter and exit the ship. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation/Patricia Leslie

At National Geographic visitors can see "Elwood," one of the actual little remotes used to weave in and out of the wreck.

 

"Elwood," an "ROV," weighs about 100 lbs. above water, and was developed and built by James Cameron's brother to maneuver inside the ship.  Two ROVs were operated simultaneously:  one to light the ship and one to film/Patricia Leslie

For anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Titanic’s voyage and tragedy, however, there is little new in the first half of the exhibition which chiefly features props from the 1997 movie, Titanic. 

A cherub light fixture from the film, Titanic. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation/Patricia Leslie

National Geographic's Titanic exhibition is certainly better for the admission value ($8 vs. $22, converted) than the disappointing, new and much larger museum in Belfast, Ireland which is practically nothing more than a tame indoor amusement ride and visuals upon walls. (Unless you are in the construction business.) More about it later.


"Explorer-in-residence" and the director of the movie who has made more than 30 dives to the shipwreck, James Cameron, tells a fascinating story about investigating the Titanic's remains in "Ghostwalking in Titanic."  Robert Ballard discovered the shipwreck in 1985. 

For excellent photos and present-day interior scenes of the sunken ship, visit  National Geographic's website.

Children play on a lighted recreation of a silhouette's ruins/Patricia Leslie

What: Titanic:  100 Year Obsession

When: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily through September 9, 2012

Where:  National Geographic, 17th and M streets, NW, Washington, D.C.

Admission: Adults: $8; seniors, military, students: $6; children ages 5-12, $4; school and youth groups, under age 18,  no charge. Purchase tickets here.

Closest Metro station:  Farragut West or Farragut North

For more information:  800-647-5463

patricialesliexam@gmail.com