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The Wrens

We have a lot of different types of birds in Southwest Florida. While many of them are very beautiful, we’re especially attracted to the birds of prey, or raptors. They include ospreys, hawks (e.g., red-tailed, red-shouldered, and short-tailed), vultures (black and turkey), falcons, merlin, owls (e.g., barred and great horned), and kite (e.g., snail, swallow-tailed, and white-tailed). These are the birds that hunt and swoop down on our canal looking for lunch every day (except the vultures⏤they only eat dead stuff).

Before America entered the war, England was alone in its battle against the Nazis. The “smart” money was betting against their survival. One of the challenges Churchill faced was the German navy and in particular, the Unterseeboot, or the U-boat. How was England going to stop the wolfpacks from sinking merchant ships carrying critical supplies to the island?

Recruiting poster for the Wrens. Poster by anonymous (between 1939 and 1945). Imperial War Museum. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Recruiting poster for the Wrens. Poster by anonymous (between 1939 and 1945). Imperial War Museum. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

The answer was a small group of extremely intelligent women. During World War II, women played an extremely important role in winning the war against Hitler and the Nazis. They were résistants, pilots, mechanics, code breakers, factory workers, and yes, even soldiers. Some of them were birds of a different feather but in the end, the Wrens were more like raptors. Read More The Wrens

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Coco Chanel: Nazi Collaborator or Spy?

Coco Chanel and Her String of Pearls
Coco Chanel and her string of pearls. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

Five years ago, I wrote a blog by the same name. It was back in the days when I purposely limited my blogs to no more than five or six hundred words (my Millennial friends told me this was the “norm”). I’ve re-read some of those blogs and frankly, I’m embarrassed. First, my writing style has evolved (and hopefully, improved). Second, I could have added so much more interesting information had I not listened to my friends. Another difference between then and now is the number of images we used. Our blogs today use as many images as I can find that add value to the story. In the past, one or two images made it into the story. I guess this is what you call progress. So, we’ve gone back into the archives and picked out some of the more popular past blogs and I will be re-writing them to present to you with expanded content. We started with the blog, The Last Train Out of Paris (click here to read the blog) and today, you’ll visit with an icon of the fashion industry, Coco Chanel (1883-1971). She is clearly someone who many people have put on a pedestal as a result of her achievements. But hold on before you worship at the Chanel altar. Coco Chanel spent many of her later years trying to hide her secrets from the public and I suppose she succeeded since not many people are aware of her espionage activities with the Gestapo or her virulent anti-Semitic views. Read More Coco Chanel: Nazi Collaborator or Spy?