A Road Trip and a Short Story Idea

Years ago, while I was living in Tampa, Florida, my friend Barbara and I went on a road trip from Tampa to St. Augustine.  The November weather was mild with gentle breezes.  When we reached our destination, we visited touristy areas in downtown St. Augustine.  We also went to the Lincolnville Festival, an annual event that celebrates Lincolnville (the historical African American neighborhood of St. Augustine). 

At the Lincolnville Festival, Barbara and I enjoyed hearing live jazz music float through the air, as we ate sandwiches (barbecue for her, fried fish for me) and sipped lemonade.  We also surveyed original arts and crafts on display and bought a few pieces to take back home.

During our day in St. Augustine, we walked past centuries-old houses and passed several with ghost stories in their histories.

By the time we were ready to leave, we'd gathered a number of pamphlets about the places we'd seen and experienced.  The result of our trip to the "Old City" was a good time.  And the trip gave me an idea for the plot of The Help at Rainbow Inn, one of the eight intriguing stories in my new book Indigo Tales, a collection of short stories available in 2016.

A Wintry Song and Jazz Singer Ernestine Anderson

 

 

Songs related to the seasons are among my favorite things.  Since winter will soon be here, I’m spotlighting the wintry song “Moonlight in Vermont” in this post.  From a number of videos of individual jazz singers performing "Moonlight in Vermont," I chose a video featuring American jazz and blues singer Ernestine Anderson.  By the way, Anderson’s birthday is this month.

Ernestine Anderson was born on November 11, 1928, in Houston, Texas.  When she was 16, her family relocated to Seattle, Washington.  She moved to New York and later lived in London, England, in order to advance her career.  Anderson eventually returned to and settled in Seattle.  There is much information about her on the Internet and elsewhere.  

Ernestine Anderson was included in the Smithsonian Institution’s CD anthology The Jazz Singers, and she was one of 75 women honored in the book I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, by Brian Lanker.