interracial romance

Loving Blog Hop – Historic Interracial Couples

Although the Loving case was a historic civil rights decision as it struck down laws banning interracial marriage, there have been many, varied interracial marriages throughout history.

Joseph Laroche, 26, a Haitian-born, French-educated engineer who was moving back to Haiti because he could not find work in his profession in France because of racial prejudice. The family was meant to travel via first-class on the French ocean liner France. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Laroches discovered that the ship wouldn’t allow them to dine with their children. They traded their first class tickets for second class tickets about the Titanic.

Due to the protocol of “women and children first” Mr. Laroche separated from his family and went down with the ship.

Pearl Bailey and Louis Bellson, married 38 years

Pearl Bailey, a Black American actress and singer known for vaudeville and for the title role in the all-Black production of “Hello, Dolly!” was married to Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, who went by the stage name Louie Bellson. He was a composer, arranger, bandleader and jazz drummer.

Davis was booed by many of the Southern delegates when he appeared at the 1960 Democratic Convention because of his engagement to May Britt, a Swedish-born actress. Because of his close association with Frank Sinatra, who in turn supported the John Kennedy in the presidential race, Davis was asked to postpone his wedding until after the election. Unfortunately, as a performer constantly on the road, he spent little time with his wife and they divorced in 1968. As a side fact, it is said that the one love of Davis’ life was actress Kim Novak. This relationship caused a mob contract to be put on Davis’ life, thus ending the relationship. (allegedly, of course)

Betty and Barney Hill were from New Hampshire, and claimed to have been ….abducted and probed by aliens. I first saw this story on Mysteries at the Museum and just had search these two out. They

seemed to be a perfectly ordinary couple, he a postal worker and she a social worker. Both were members of the NAACP. On their way back from a vacation in Southern Canada in 1961, they claimed their alien encounter. They wrote a book called “Interrupted Journey” and their experience was made into a movie starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons.

Diana Ross and Arne Naess, Jr. married in 1986 is Switzerland. She and her Nordic mountain-climbing beau had two sons before they divorced in 1999. Shortly after, Naess died in a mountain-clilmbing accident. Ross has claimed that Naess was the “love of her life.”

After this refreshing walk through history, please be sure to visit other authors on the Loving Blog Hop and enter the rafflecopter to earn a chance to win some prizes. See below.

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Leave a comment to be entered in a giveaway for any book of your choice from my backlist. I look forward to hearing from you!

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Finish the Loving Day Hop by visiting Author Lena Hart

Sad Songs Say So Much

It’s Monday, right? I’m not the type to sing the Monday blues, because that’s just not my style. Every day when I can wake up and do what I love is a blessing to me.

Now that my “positive thinking” public service announcement is out of the way, let’s move on to the meat of the matter.

The blues.

Everybody gets them at one time or another for all types of reasons, but today I’m going to focus on the love blues.

“The blues are the roots, everything else is the fruits.” – Willie Dixon

What is the blues? The blues have their origin in slave songs, field hollers and spirituals. For my purposes here, the blues is what you sing and/or feel when you are feeling sad.

You lost a lover. You never had a lover. Your lover loves someone else. So you sing the blues. Somehow knowing that someone else, somewhere in time was and/or is going through the same thing makes you feel not so alone in the world. The brotherhood of mankind has kinship in sadness.

“I can’t sleep at night
I can’t eat a bite
Because the man I love
He don’t treat me right….”
– Crazy Blues – Mamie Smith

Everyday, everyday I have the blues
Ooh everyday, everyday I have the blues
When you see me worryin’ baby, yeah it’s you I hate to lose
– Everyday I have the Blues – B.B. King

Now that we know what makes us sing the blues, what blues do you sing? What sad song do you listen to when you’re feeling low?

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Become a Cookie (making) Monster

sugar cookies — Don’t be fooled. My cookies did not look like these.

Yes, it’s 90 degrees outside, or at least it will be by the time noon rolls around. However, by the time you start thinking about making cookies, holiday time will be staring you right in the face, telling you that you’re a terrible cookie maker.

Avoid the shame. Do what I do. Make the dough now, keep it in the freezer. Then, become a cookie maker extraordinaire!

One year, I made cookies for all three of my children’s classes – that’s 65 cookies AND hand painted them red and green….with sparkles. I must have been out of my mind.

Sugar Cookies

2 cups of pure, snow white sugah

1 ½ cups of butter (softened)

4 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. lemon extract (optional)

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

Frosting:

Blend confectioner’s sugar and milk until it reaches the consistency you like. Paint onto the cookies with a paint brush. A few drops of food coloring in different shades will give a festive look to your cookies.

Directions:

Cream together softened butter and sugar in a large bowl. Then, beat in eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder until combined. Add to creamed butter/sugar mixture a cup at a time.

Chill dough for at least one hour. (Or it will be too sticky and annoying to handle and you will curse the cookies.)

When you are ready to make the cookies, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Let dough soften, then roll it out on a floured surface. You can use cutsie little cutters or simply a juice glass with a floured rim.

Place cookies one inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. For best results, use parchment paper. Yes, it is expensive, but your cookies will not stick. Please, learn from my frustrations.

Bake 6-8 minutes, let cool before removing from cookie sheet.

If you freeze the dough – wrap it in freezer paper NOT ALUMINUM FOIL. Again, learn from my mistakes. You may also be able to wrap it in wax paper, but I have not tested that personally.

Retro Saturdays – Crochet and Knit Patterns

My mother was an avid crocheter. There are bags and bags of yarn in the attic that can attest to this fact. She taught me to crochet, knit and do something called “broomstick lace” when I was a child and the yearning to create with yarn hits me on and off. I try to stay out of AC Moore and Michaels when they have the yarn sales, but sometimes the colors are too eye-catching to resist.
Which brings me to crochet patterns. My mother was not an idle crocheter, no. Everything she crocheted had a purpose, whether it be a hat, scarf or, dare I say, funny looking sweater. She used to have a subscription to a magazine called Workbasket, and when I was at her house a few weeks ago, I found some old issues. Take a look at these totally retro crochet outfits.

photo courtesy of pioneerheritageshoppe.com

Crochet Wedding Dress…plus hat!

Crochet Set 1970 (Photo credit: libertygrace0)

The crochet bikini plus cover up.

Cute, but seems like it wouldn’t dry too quickly if you went into the water. All that soggy cotton….

Football Fridays – Running Backs

Running backs, also known as halfback or fullbacks (this depends on the size of the player), is sometimes the most visible player on the field. Overall, they also may have the best physique (read: hot bods) in the NFL. Wide receivers are a close second.

From the Free Online Dictionary:

running back
n. Football

An offensive back, such as a fullback or halfback, who has the responsibility of advancing the ball by running with it on plays from the line of scrimmage.

Whenever you see the quarterback hand off the football, it’s usually to a running back. If you polled a hundred football fans and asked which was the sexiest position on the team, excluding the quarterback, I reckon most would say the running back. Good running backs are hard to come by and they wear themselves out quickly on the field. The position is a taxing one because it is the most prone to taking powerful hits in addition to the wear and tear on the body, especially the knees.

However, running backs are the ones that usually provide the most exciting plays on the field.

Emmitt Smith, of recent “Dancing with the Stars” fame was the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,400 in five consecutive seasons. He holds the NFL record in career rushing yards with 18,355, breaking a record held by Walter “Sweetness” Payton of Chicago Bears fame.

Adrian “All Day”, “Purple Jesus”, Peterson is a running back for the Minnesota Vikings, hence the moniker “Purple Jesus” because those legs have saved the Vikings a time or two. In his first pro season, he set an NFL record for most rushing yards (296) in a single game.

Peterson is what we think of as a running back. His lean physique and fast legs give him the ability to weave and move through the defenders on the field, taking off like a rocket when the coast is clear.

Stats: Height: 6 ft 1 in Weight: 217 lb

Peyton Hillis

If you like your running backs with a side order of grits and cowboy hats, Peyton Hillis is your man. From Conway, Arkansas, this Razorback running back honed his skills at the University of Arkansas beside Felix Jones (of the Dallas Cowboys). Pulling pickup trucks is a part of his workout routine.

Due to his weight (250 lbs on a 6’2″ frame) Hillis is more fullback than traditional running back. A fullback can either block for the faster, more agile running back or he can rush through the defense, using his weight to make short yard plays. Fullbacks don’t gain much yardage during games, so aren’t very good for fantasy football points (I learned this lesson last year, sadly.) Hilis is good-looking, but doesn’t give much points on the fantasy board.

Hillis has played for the Denver Broncos (227 overall pick in the draft), the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs. And, interestingly if my sources are right, he is the only white running He is currently a free agent (which is a nice way of saying he’s “NFL unemployed“). He was also the cover boy for Madden NFL 12.

Stats: Height: 6 ft 2 in Weight: 250 lb

Arian Foster

Considered to be one of the best running backs in the NFL, Arian Foster is one of the driving forces behind the Houston Texans’ offense. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Texans in 2009, Foster made his debut against the Tennessee Titans as a member of special teams. He scored his first NFL touchdown against the Miami Dolphins (of course). His first career start was against the New England Patriots where he rushed for 119 yards and scored two touchdowns.

In a 2010 start against the Indianapolis Colts (and Peyton Manning) he broke the record for the most rushing yards by a Houston Texans in a single game in addition to securing the most rushing yards given up to a single player by the Colts.

Stats: 6 ft 1 in, 228 lb

Ray Rice

Rice hails from my home state of New Jersey – a graduate of Rutgers University where he was the starting tailback during his freshman year. A current Baltimore Ravens (drafted 55th overall), Rice earned his first Super Bowl ring against the San Francisco earlier this year. In a 2010 wildcard playoff game against the love-to-hate New England Patriots, Rice scored an 83 yard touchdown on the first offensive play, the longest play for the Raves that season, the longest rush of hi NFL career and the second longest rush in NFL post-season history. The longest rush record in the post season is held by Fred Taylor at 90 yards.

Stats: Height: 5 ft 8 in Weight: 212 lb

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There’s your crash course on running backs. Now that you know the positions (if you didn’t know before) which running back is going to smash records this year? Peterson came close, just nine yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,106 rushing yards during the regular season.