Minnie Comes Home

On "September 28 a little-reported burial took place in St. Petersburg, Russia. It as actually a re-burial of Marie, Empress of Russia, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, the sister of Queen Alexandra of England, but known to most as just "Minnie". After years of discussion and hand-wringing the governments of Denmark and Russia accept her wish to be buried next to her husband, Alexander III in St. Peter and Paul Fortress. Members of both governments military carried her wooden coffin.

Minnie was the very feisty daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and had brought sparkle into the life of her dour and boring husband, Alexander III of Russia. She survived the tragic early death of Alexander (leaving her with an inexperienced and frightened son, Nicholas), the estrangement from Nicholas when she thought his wife, Alexandra, was not a little crazy (she was actually a neurotic mess), the breaking down of the government from the strain of a war she knew would be their downfall.

With just hours before Bolsheviks stormed her home on the Crimean, Minnie accepted the demand from her sister to board, with her family and friends, the English battleships King George reluctantly dispatched. Hundreds of her family joined her, on the trip to, first, Malta, and then on to England, France, and Denmark. She never accepted the fact of Nicholas' and his childrens' murder, and the story that she interviewed "Anastasia" was just a Hollywood fantasy. Minnie was not easily fooled.

It's about time to take KiKi's Sunday casserole out of the oven and return to making Baby Jane's dress. There is, of course, our 4pm meeting on Lincoln Road; we've taken on a new refugee: and Israeli! How perfect is that; one Lebanese boy, Abbi, and now an Israeli, Ethan. More on them after the meeting.

But I have talked to our main contributors to these events and suggested this breast badge I found in the wedding notion store. I'm thinking of it on a fine forest green, knit shirt (it IS Miami, you know) and our carefully controlling who can wear one and be one of us. It will have to have a catchy name, too. I went out and bought up all the store had; THAT is something I learned a long time ago.