A wartime story of two British children in America and beyond.

A NOT SO DOLCE VITA

REFLECTIONS IN A RED CONVERTIBLEBy Julia Falkner-Tompkins

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Julia Falkner-Tompkins
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-5744-2

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements...............................xiForeword by Peter Hasselriis...............................xviiReflections in a Red Convertible...........................xxiThe Begettors..............................................1Rumblings..................................................5Asea.......................................................11Land Ho!...................................................17Cincinnati, Here We Come!..................................22Sundays In Cincinnati......................................28Country Day School.........................................33A Train Trip...............................................38Magnolia Beach.............................................42Return To Madison Avenue...................................46Christmas..................................................51A Cornwall Summer..........................................56Eleanor And Miss Chittenden................................60Measles And A Winter Trip..................................631944.......................................................66Camp Moy-Mo-Da-Yo..........................................72Going Home.................................................78The Return Voyage..........................................82Old Nettleden Farm.........................................88Settling...................................................95School.....................................................971945 Spring/Summer Visitors................................102Nancy Bernard Smith........................................105Pets, Riding Lessons, And An Incident......................107A Desperate Afternoon......................................110Another Such, But Far Worse................................112To Italy!..................................................115Early Days.................................................120Autumn, 1946...............................................124Villa Manzoni..............................................128Mob Scene..................................................134Villa Pacis And A Positano Christmas.......................136An English Summer—1947...............................141Il Poggio Imperiale, SS Annunciata.........................144Monte Circeo...............................................151Disturbing Events At The Poggio............................155Elba And Exit Tomasina.....................................161The Sacred Heart...........................................171Madre Immaculata...........................................173Excitement In Rome.........................................178Vuoi Sposarmi?.............................................181The Coltishness Of Youth...................................184Joy........................................................187My First Grownup Party.....................................189A Drive To Naples..........................................191Circe? At My Age? Hardly!..................................193Last Months................................................197Packing And Goodbyes.......................................203The Sad Departure..........................................205Back To America............................................207Ilario.....................................................212Return To Usa..............................................217Ithaca High School.........................................221A Birthday Party...........................................225Summer Jobs—1951 And Polio Scare.....................228Sophomore Year.............................................231Tom, With Virginity Lost...................................235Kent & Martha's Vineyard...................................239School Year 1952/53........................................244Summer 1953—Cos Cob..................................247Senior Year 1953-1954......................................253Fall 1954—Ithaca College And Rvw.....................260The Crestmont Inn..........................................268Fall/Winter 1955...........................................275The Wedding................................................282Re-Reflections.............................................291

Chapter One

THE BEGETTORS

It was not until the mid 1990's that I began to see that through no choice of my own, I had lived a rather unusual life. Children do not give thought to the lives of others, are only aware of their own, and assume all others must be pretty similar. Right? Wrong.

In the first place, it is miraculous we are here at all, derived as we are from primitive oceanic cells. Then, on to dry land to mutate again and again and yet again, to travel down eons of time, eventually to migrate out of Africa. Our particular clan settled in northern climes to become fierce Norsemen. My DNA tested so. Of course it is miraculous to have survived at all, what with endless wars, poisonings, illnesses, and antiquated medical practices often causing more harm than good. Then there were the plagues. In England in 1350, the Black Death killed half the population. It is sobering to realize that had any one of my forefathers succumbed to any of the above, causing them to miss their so-called appointment with destiny, I would not be here at all. Clarence Darrow, the famous lawyer, believed his very existence came about through one gigantic lottery, or as the wit Dick Cavett put it, "If your parents never had children, chances are you won't either."

So, my family is descended from murdering, marauding, plundering and philandering Norsemen or Vikings. That was their way of life. Adventuresome and artistic, they were said to be virile and handsome. It would have been interesting to meet some of this polyglot of ancestors, long ago settlers of England, Scotland and Ireland. On father's side, the Falkners (falcon trainers) belonged to the Keith Clan of the Scottish Sutherland and MacPherson tribes, and were connected to the earls of Kintore near Inverurie; some said from the wrong side of the blanket. The Celtic Irish side, the Clarks, fled from Ireland to England and America between 1846 and 1857, during that great agrarian crisis, the potato famine. In England, the Clarks married Wrights, Ports and Falkners. Most Falkners were a charming lot and, because of their looks and temperament, often tempted into affairs. It's only human after all, and one grows more tolerant as one matures.

On Mother's side the Fullards (silk and wool merchants) were from Norway, and, with untold others, settled in France in the area known today as Normandie. After the Edict of Nantes in 1685 declared Protestantism to be illegal, some 200,000 Huguenot families fled to England and other countries to escape persecution. The Fullards settled in London and aligned themselves through marriage with Divers, Parnells and Stannards. Interestingly, the Falkner/Fullard alliance came full circle when my youngest daughter, Jocelyn, married the Frenchman Freddy Canesse from Bethune, in Normandie. Was it another coincidence that my mother's favorite cousin, John Arnold Stannard, killed in World War I, is buried in La Pugnoi Cemetery (Plot T, Row E, Plat 6) in Bethune? I wish I had known this when Mother and I traveled there in 1988.

This interesting blend of blood lines and genes throughout the ages produced some talented family members. While there were several generations of career soldiers...