Monday, December 9, 2013

Holidays Upon the Doorstep

The Holiday Season is upon us and I find myself asking others how they plan to spend their holiday season. It seems that most people I ask have made some kind of transition during the last year that will reflect in their chosen activities this year. Whatever is your situation, Good Readership, I hope that you will have a merry holiday. Blessings of the season, Kristin-Marie Wall

Friday, December 6, 2013

new blog at www.costumefashionsig.blogspot.com

Good Readership, I'm planning a fashionably personalized blog to accompany this one that has served a variety of official purposes and will be semi-retiring. Today I'm on my way to the gym and then I'm donning one of my Christmas sweaters for the sake of it. Enjoy your day, Kristin-Marie Wall

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Reinstating My Mother: A Royal Theme

Salutations, 


Today, while sipping at coffee at a Starbucks I thought about Stockton and also of some good official news about my mother. Since you expressed interest, Good Readership, today’s blog will have another of her etiquette tips -- and enjoy the timely royal theme as it affects my family and possibly yours.

Stockton and its beautification in an agrarian sense deserves accolade in my perception from my vantage today. The Miracle Mile recent improvements including adding indigenous flora in standard purple is delightful. Now for another matter. What has Stockton and its windy currents carrying irritants and dust lately under critical scrutiny by deportment specialists is a strange undercurrent of tissueless nose wiping somehow touted as ‘sanitary.’ Sadly, a rumor preceded it all that ‘some woman’ was instructing local groups to wipe noses with fingers and hands and let the residue dry and flake off and that it was thereby sanitary. Not so. Don’t forego the tissue or anything handy like it such as a napkin or even a traditional handkerchief which is always a winning choice. In a pinch, the inside sleeve of the off-hand is passable as it is not encountered in handshakes or in passing currency or other alike communal motions. In this season of high-winds and allergens I hope to see this all improve. Redignify the city.

For the good official royal news. My mother, Irma Cristina Aznar Rubio Leal Wall aka Cris whom you’ll recall with her royal knight father was born into quiet royal lines has had her official disenfranchisement from royalty ended. Once she’d made choices outside the bloodlines that led to official disenfranchisement. It was not a problem for her to be one hundred percent royal dna and not official royal status any longer and it was not a punishment. Converting to Mormonism and marrying outside royalty were the reasons for her disenfranchisement from royalty. Now that she’s spent a lifetime in charity work and has reached a gracious 82 years old she’s been reinstated into the royalty she was born into officially. Thank you to His Catholic Majesty and others, and to those of you with considerate well wishes for my mother. My brother and his offspring and myself are all blessed by my mother’s reinstatement. Also a thank you to the Spanish Embassy for official handling of inquiries and matters of the Spanish Household.

My mother’s father, Armand Aznar was a medic in World War I for Germany and he was also a knight for Spain, modernly the Spanish Household. You’ll recall that royalty are grouped into ‘Households’ or sometimes called ‘House of …’ in the simple organization of. I think upon it as I write today that the Spanish Household historically has been quite extensive and like others including of the many countries with royalty boasted over a hundred kings at once. My research for a novel manuscript underway led to identity theft information on it all, in history. Sometimes as many as five identity theft groups were impersonating a kingdom at a time, often from nearby, boldly intercepting and carrying on.

Stockton of late has been graced by the recent and quiet arrival of some royals choosing to reside here now and who mostly blend in while working and living in the area. From a selectively bred set of distinguished bloodlines and touting mostly full royal dna they are here also to become available to consider timely social matches outside of royalty for those with the confidence of means and merit. This is a special time when these companionable royals and even myself (as my brother and his offspring and I are now included also with the reinstatement mentioned) are available for dignified connections. Not since the World Wars when accommodating echelons gracefully integrated many royals has there been such an en masse movement. Official inquiries are encouraged and gentle approaches are acceptable. Watch for signs of heraldry and for some historic military dignity for your speculations. Or simply add to your royal sightseeing if you can behave circumspect fully. Thank you, in advance, for your genteel inclusions.

I got out my mother’s etiquette coursework she taught again, dusted it off, and looking it over selected a tidbit about a Chinese princess who once brought the first fork to the Dark Ages royal courts and changed fine dining forever. Sterling is popular today for formal service and to preserve it from vinegar on salads sometimes a gold fork has been used for the salad course which should be in just-right bite-sized pieces to enjoy, by the way. The other option if not gold is an acceptable non-sterling non-tarnishable piece, being considerate to a host’s or hostess’ collection.

Take care.

Sartorially yours,
Kristin-Marie Wall











Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Of Deportment and Genealogy

Salutations Good Readership,
Do you have a beautiful moment in your day? I passed a group of Canadian geese and their yellow goslings on the side of the road, the backdrop being a fountain and mandmade pristine waterway. One of the delights here in Stockton.
Other sightings along the side of the roadways bothered me, though, of a generation of men leaving their pants belted below the crotch level, leaving them to grab at the area in question. Of it, I was told that the Police say it is of a gang relation; I’d heard previously that the falling pants were a convict culture detail as a statement of losing too much weight in prison. Either way, unsightly here in Stockton.
Interest in genealogy seems to be high. I visited a relatives genealogy site which seemed a good example of how to present one http://wallsteinagel.blogspot.com and on it are stories of the times. I’d asked around about that side of the family group a couple of decades ago, contacting the Government of Spain for its data on German records. The family line came from a good group of peasants. Working in the castles with a reputation of being completely honest stated on the records as they did their lineal job of what translates modernly into accountant. Explained by HM King Juan Carlos that family group had become a candidate for ennoblement if it had been requested due to the honesty factor. I’m ever grateful for that exchange. It was gratifying to learn that my dad, Charles L. Wall had a genetic link to his chosen profession of accountant, a subject he also taught. Does your family group have a factor to take pride in? Or even some notorious fun?
One of the traditions in my family is to train at finishing school level as it is made possible. My mother I. Cristina Aznar Rubio Leal Wall taught a brief course at her church on the subject and I’ll include a few tips along the way from it. For awhile I had it posted on the Internet but the site closed down. As it was it was entitled, Do You Sniff the Centerpiece? The answer is no.

Take care, Good Readership, and I’ll look forward to blogging for you again soon.
Sartorially,
Kristin-Marie Wall



Friday, March 15, 2013

Blooms and Lore

Salutations,

The pink roses blooming in my yard this year reminded me of some of the historic ideas behind roses relating to the manuscript projects I have underway; as I blogged about years ago how the heraldic rose typically meant a martial arts capacity of the bearer, and even lesser known the rosebud as a symbol of a request -- or threat, to some -- of an extramarital affair (the rosebud being delivered by another person ...) with the darker the color being the most imminent to dangerous. Symbols, like a rose becoming heraldic, were once upon a time used in communications and later in history dubbed 'heraldic'. Inverting the symbol was generally thought to negate the symbol's power or to stop it, in other words. (Akin to the reading of a curse backwards in order to negate it). Roses in modern times are such a beautiful sign or gift that I'm reticent to douse them in any negative light, but historic costume history facts are part of what this blog has always been about. Enjoy the trivia.

My research led me further in another direction, also, while enjoying the book The Holy Land of Scotland: Jesus in Scotland & the Gospel of the Grail by Barry Dunford. Interesting theme and and active research of the suppositions presented. One, though, to slide around was that of Milesius. As the over endowed historical character, I'd contacted the Government of Spain about him years ago to find out if any of his legends of being a lost king or even a soldier were true. Not so, the official stated: Milesius had roots in Egypt, showed up trading in Spain and after spending some recorded time in the presence of a Spanish king then presented himself as a Spanish king in Ireland when arriving rather than as a trader. Likewise for his marriage claim to a royal. Otherwise, I've found the book to be of a good paintbrush stroke on the canvas of historical data that makes up the fascinating lore around searches for a 'grail.' More about that in the future, here, I think. I understand that the Lord Lyons of Scotland (formerly of London) is collecting and centralizing heraldic records worldwide and I'm told by some rejecting many Irish ones as was already done in past decades or even centuries of the Irish flavor, because of things along this topic....

My current manuscript research abides in the times of El Cid in occupied Spain, a man known for winning battles and superb martial arts. His world fascinates me lately and I'm looking forward to a rewatching of the movie El Cid with Charleton Heston and Sophia Loren noted for full accuracy on costume history. El Cid was famous for martial arts and was amply rewarded by the end of his life as was typical for knights as the tradition was to make them wealthy by the end of their service to a monarch. Knights, as you'll recall from earlier blogs, often were the best friends of a king and the ones he'd spend the most social hours with.

Thank you, Good Readership, for your feedback over the years. Take care.

Sartorially yours,

Kristin-Marie Wall

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Read-Along and Further Researching Lines

Salutations,

During the holiday busyness I started researching another manuscript, this one involving lesser royalty amidst a historically volatile religious era. To evoke a mood when I write I select music. I was impressed with KLOVE and their Operation Warm allowing school children in need to select a brand new coat as a result of a subscription drive. The new project is moving along well and thank you to the many of you asking after my writing.

I'd like to invite you to do a read-along (and we can do another one later in the year). I found on the bookshelf a first novel by a congenial acquaintance of the past and it looks good to start the year with. The Evolution of Thomas Hall by Keith Merrill (an Academy Award winner) ISBN 9781606418369. As rumors go, he'd apparently been missing from a social function once upon a time to fulfill a hope he'd had for an audience with a monarch. Interesting life.

Another book I'd recommend I read some time past and it covers pageantry to pentagrams within a royal triangle in a tapestry of a tale from an insider who'd led a reading of it I participated in as produced by Barnes and Noble Booksellers years ago. I just dusted it off. The Serpent and the Moon by HRH Princess Michael of Kent ISBN 0743251040.

For those interested in the lives of royalty and accessibility of information on them I'll quote a source who shared about their inside details as their daily life involves "doing 32 things a day" which is something taught to them that you can try at home. A key to measured success. Reminded from the USSS and affiliates from a highly placed official that in genealogy's popularity for hobbyists and others that one doesn't stumble into royal bloodlines forgotten on a family tree, but the official does say that if you ever meet one "you'll know why they're on top." Enjoy the searches and the connections to the ancestors, certainly all worth finding for the richness they add to our modern lives and in the implicit encouragement to become what you can be in honor of any bloodlines.

Thank you to those of you who kindly asked after my family when I posted years past about a knightly line I'd taken time to further research and went through the USSS and affiliates in their kindness and patience to do so. Because of the results I learned of a favored insignia that I joyfully had replicated into a ring I've now enjoyed for many years, and apt memento that I anticipate passing on.

Until the next blog, take care.

Sartorially yours,

Kristin-Marie