The Authorized Version

I’ll admit it. In preparing my video Jane Austen from Paradise to Portsmouth I did worry about my American accent. Would it be acceptable to English viewers? To American viewers, for that matter? Should I attempt to speak in cut glass “received” English? An endeavor at which I knew I would fail.

But then, what would Jane have sounded like, living in rural Hampshire 200+ years ago?

I consulted one of my favorite authorities Bill Bryson. In his book The Mother Tongue, he reported that:

Dr. David Ramsay, one of the first American historians, noted in 1791 that Americans had a particular purity of speech, the result of people from all over Britain being thrown together in America where they “dropped the peculiarities of their several provincial...

Well, okay, I’ll be appearing in the persona of my favorite author. But surely, this will be a nostalgic return for Jane. Austen lived in nearby Southampton between 1806 and 1809. Austen set a major scene in her novel Mansfield Park in what is now Old Portsmouth. Her brothers Francis and Charles attended the royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth, and Francis, who rose to be Admiral of the Fleet, made his home in Portsmouth.

For my March 1 presentation at the Portsmouth Bookfest Jane will conduct us on walking tours of both Portsmouth...

I have recently been paying more attention to those so-important Search Engine Optimization stats for my website. In checking the analytics, I have found some very helpful information—some encouraging, some not so, and some downright puzzling.

The most puzzling has been the listing of search topics that bring people to my website. For months, I would laugh and shake my head every time I found “Kishanda Fulford” high on the list. Sometimes even searches for “Kishanda Fulford death” brought people to my website. 

Who or what was Kishanda Fulford? I had some vague idea that perhaps she was a rock star, or one of those celebrities who are famous for being famous. And maybe she was dead, since...

I had decided. This Thanksgiving I would take it easy. We all know what a difficult year it has been, and only family members who live closest to us would be able to come for dinner. Definitely a good time to let the deli roast my turkey for me. 

Until I told my daughter-in-law, AKA the Grocery...