Day 4 - 283 -- Sharing Research

During this busy day, with the remnants of tropical cyclone Nate moving through with rain, there was one activity that was different from the usual days. I was able to meet with a researcher from the UK who has done some work on the career of someone I've been studying. Speaking to someone who has a passion for the same personage was delightful. It doesn't always happen, particularly when studying someone from the mid-19th Century. <smile> The chef involved is part of the work I've been doing on the Crimean War and feeding of fighting and injured troops in the British army of the time. The gentleman I met with today, studied this same chef in the decades before the war. It was wonderful to discuss the chef, his personality and many accomplishments in food services of the day. There is a major historical display set for a major museum in 2019 -- so once the timing on that is nailed down, there will be a trip planned for me. I'm also hoping to go before that to work through some library collections to fill in the gaps in the current research.

Finding someone to chat with about the things that stir the creativeness in one is a true gift. I can speak to many people about this project, but most glaze over before I have the project purpose and exciting findings laid out. Being able to speak to someone who truly understands the subject and the historical time period involved really is rare for me. I found myself using the 1850s place names -- most of which changed in the early 20th Century -- so Constantinople (Istanbul) and Scutari (Uskadar) came out of my mouth today. The port area on the Asian side of the Bosporus was in Scutari and the strait led into the Black Sea, where injured troops were transported from the Crimean peninsula to the huge hospital that still stands. So,  today I heard back story on one of the key characters in my investigations -- information that helped to put the chef into context. Very cool. Making connections along the way with other researchers is a fun part of the job.

So today I'm going to share a song from the 1950s -- a time of less enlightenment -- but a song that speaks to the changes in names that have occurred many times in many places throughout time. This song speaks to the city that straddles the Bosporus and sits in both Europe and Asia. Enjoy!

Istanbul (not Constantinople) -- The Four Lads