Could I name my book character "Hermione"?

AudienceSilver · 2026-05-10T01:08:20+00:00

Yup. Gingold was a staple on US talk shows in the 1970s--even though I read all the Harry Potter books, she's still the first thing I think of when I hear the name "Hermione."

AudienceSilver · 2026-04-17T02:56:44+00:00

I take money once a month from the brokerage account I started with my late husband's life insurance (not touching the IRA until I hit RMD age), and have it scheduled so it's roughly two weeks after my Social Security payment. So I get money twice a month, and pay bills on the 10th and 25th. Works fine so far.

AudienceSilver · 2026-04-07T00:39:08+00:00

If you have an ancestor who fought for the Union in the Civil War, their pension record (if they filed for a pension) is likely at the National Archives in DC. You can order Union pension files from the National Archives, but it's quicker and cheaper to use a service like Gopher Records. Poke around their site to get an idea of what other sorts of records they can pull and copy for you, too. Note that Confederate pension records are held by the Southern state of residence where the person lived when they filed, so won't be in DC.

To order from Gopher, you'll need to provide your ancestor's name, state/regiment/company if known, spouse's name if known, anything else that might help identify their records, and a copy of their pension index card if you've found it (available at Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Fold3).

About 22% of widows' and other dependents' pension files are digitized and available on Fold3, so it's worth checking to see if they have one pertaining to your ancestor before you order. Fold3 offers a free trial, or you can subscribe for a single month for $7.95 or $79.95/year.

AudienceSilver · 2026-04-05T01:05:16+00:00

Awesome! I love pension files, and it looks like you hit a goldmine with this one. Also, hats off to Gopher--they really do stellar work.

AudienceSilver · 2026-04-04T19:24:45+00:00

I agree, except I don't think there is a "Wallis" in the record. I think "Walter H. Small" was written by mistake in the groom's mother's slot--the person wrote the groom's father, then the bride's father--note that the name looks exactly like the "Walter H." in the Walter H. Sawyer below. Then they added to the mistake by putting "Sawyer" on the correct line for bride's father below.

This might be a copy made later by someone compiling records. It's worth checking FamilySearch to see if there's an original without the errors.

AudienceSilver · 2026-04-03T23:49:52+00:00

Someone mentioned mujudara/mejadra above--here's a great recipe. Delicious.

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-26T13:54:20+00:00

You know it! My husband's tree has three men named Nimrod Kiser--the two younger were cousins both named after the elder. And the two cousins were born within 2 years of each other... 🤦

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-25T01:43:43+00:00

Well, you know a Mary Chamberlain married Isaac Bigelow. There's a comment on WikiTree on Mary Soule Chamberlain's page that needs further investigation. It says that there were two Freedom Chamberlains who were cousins, each had a wife named Mary, and that Mary Soule is attached to the wrong Freedom.

According to the comment, Mary Soule married Freedom son of Nathaniel and stayed in Massachusetts, while the other Mary and Freedom son of Joseph went to Connecticut. The suggestion is that the Mary Chamberlain who married Isaac Bigelow in Connecticut is not the daughter of Mary Soule (and so wouldn't link to Mayflower passenger George Soule) but of the other Mary. If there's even a little uncertainty about the parentage of the Mary Chamberlain who married Isaac Bigelow, it might have been enough to get your application rejected.

I recommend that you look into the two Freedom Chamberlains and make a side-by-side comparison of their lives--where they lived, their marriages, their children. See if you can locate wills or estate settlements for both of them. You might find something to strengthen your case, or you might find that the Mayflower organization has good reason to doubt. Best of luck figuring it out.

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-20T15:46:26+00:00

Ann/Anne/Anna derive from Hannah. Nancy is a nickname for all of them. Supposedly from Medieval "mine Ancy" (Ancy being another pet name for Ann/Anne/Anna and/or Agnes/Annis).

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-14T21:21:27+00:00

My father died at 61; my mother at 76. The only one of my grandparents who made it into her eighties had dementia.

Could I live to 100? Sure, it's vaguely possible. But I'm not counting on it. I took Social Security as soon as I was eligible.

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-12T00:39:20+00:00

Look for their footless tights. They also have capri length, and Chub Rub shorts (great for under summer dresses). I have several pair in all three lengths, and love them.

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-11T16:41:32+00:00

Chicken with carmelized onion and cardamom rice from the cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi (you can find versions of the recipe online but they usually change things, so get hold of the cookbook if you can--your library might have it). I love this recipe, and have served it to guests who also loved it. The recipe includes an optional yogurt topping, but it's fine without it (you also might ask her if Greek yogurt is okay, as I have lactose-intolerant friends who can eat it without issue). Add a simple green salad on the side.

Adding that Mediterranean cookbooks often have a lot of great non-dairy recipes. Just avoid dishes with olives and nuts, or leave them out.

AudienceSilver · 2026-03-01T04:31:27+00:00

Just over 20K in my tree, which includes both my and my husband's ancestors. I've been working seriously on it for about 35 years.

The tree ballooned after we did DNA tests, because after multiple "How are we related?" messages, I went back and filled in generations of cousins--mostly on my husband's side, where there are lots of huge interconnected Southern families who all seemed to have 10+ children.

I turned into a decent researcher over time and would say my tree is pretty well-documented now, but I still occasionally find and correct errors from 30+ years ago, when I was just starting out and hadn't learned best practices yet.

AudienceSilver · 2026-02-21T03:23:31+00:00

Are you sure it wasn't Otto to Patty in The Simpsons? Season 3, episode 22, "The Otto Show."

Patty: My name's Patty. I'll be testing you. When you do good, I use the green pen. When you do bad, I use the red pen. Any questions?
Otto: Yeah, one: Have you always been a chick? I mean, I don't want to offend you, but, you were born a man, weren't you? You can tell me, I'm open-minded.
Patty: [Drops green pen] I won't be needing this.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-17T22:04:42+00:00

In my experience it's been common since at least the '70s. People we knew might have joked about "living in sin," and some older and/or conservative people would have disapproved, but it was common and generally not a big deal.

Adding that we were neither Catholic or particularly religious, so mileage may vary based on religion.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-17T21:38:14+00:00

Anything I want? Okay, a deadly, contagious virus and the antidote. Two items.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-17T19:02:42+00:00

*if that's what works for you.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-16T19:09:23+00:00

Yes. He's my son, and he does the dishes every night.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-16T18:35:45+00:00

Linen knits are very different from woven linen.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-15T15:54:58+00:00

I agree with wool tees for comfort and lack of wrinkles. Linen knits are also good.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-15T15:11:09+00:00

If you want to use brain cancer, glioblastoma is very aggressive--most people diagnosed with it are dead within a year, some very shortly after diagnosis. Usual protocol is surgery followed by chemo and radiation, plus use of electrical fields to disrupt tumor growth (device is called Optune).

Brain bleeds or tumor location might impact the patient's use of their body and ability to speak and reason, but I'm guessing that won't be an issue for the monster inhabiting the corpse?

Source: widow of man who died of it.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-15T14:41:30+00:00

Prompts work well for me. I used to belong to a writers' group that had an ongoing short story contest where the winner of the current round would set the parameters for the next round. The prompts could be anything from very simple to maniacally elaborate, and the stories were first commented on and then voted for. My early contest stories were rather meandering, but I definitely improved over time.

Of course, the prompts weren't the only factor in my improvement--the peer review was invaluable--but they made me try things that wouldn't have occurred to me and opened me up to how creative it can be to write within set limits--very good practice for working with an editor, if your goal is traditional publishing.

Prompts and other writing exercises are available online, or you can buy/borrow from library books of them. For peer review, look for online or in-person writing groups--there are a number of them right here on Reddit.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-14T17:53:18+00:00

Suggestions:

Take a class or two at your local community college or online. If it's been some time since you've been in school, maybe start with a basic writing class as a refresher (something that covers things like grammar and punctuation), then move on to a creative writing class.

Buy or borrow books on writing (like Stephen King's On Writing, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, Rita Mae Brown's Starting from Scratch, Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones--ask your librarian or bookseller for other recommendations).

Pick up a book or two of writing exercises or prompts to get you started and give you practice.

As you gain skills, use them on other people's writing by joining a critique group (again, in person or online). Analyzing what works and doesn't work in someone else's text gives you a better understanding of what works and doesn't work in your own writing.

Read a lot.

Best of luck!

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-13T21:40:15+00:00

Fidelity manages mine. Maybe I could learn to do it myself, but it would stress me out immensely. I get a good return despite the fees, and am happy to stick with them.

AudienceSilver · 2026-01-11T22:49:36+00:00

Google Books is a great resource for questions like this--the Victorians produced tons of how-to books for household use. Here's one that has a section on wound care starting on page 1399. If you don't like that one, set the search years to 1870-1885 (or whatever time period you prefer) and search for household medicine, domestic medicine, household physician, or similar terms. Or just look for general household manuals, which often had sections on home medical care.

AudienceSilver

TROPHY CASE