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Honored Contributor
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There were many, many Welsh immigrants in the Almaden Area in San Jose!  When they came here they worked the Almaden Mines, which had that dangerous Cinnabar.  They were beyond brave.  If you visit the mine museum there are logs of Welsh and Cornish and artifacts.

When  I visited Wales in the late 80's, my favorite town was Llangollen.  All of Wales takes your breath away, it is truly a beautiful place.  But, Llangollen looked like that picture.  The people are so darn friendly.  I am laughing, because they had all kinds of advice.  I didnt understand much, but I loved listening to them.

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@shoekitty wrote:

There were many, many Welsh immigrants in the Almaden Area in San Jose!  When they came here they worked the Almaden Mines, which had that dangerous Cinnabar.  They were beyond brave.  If you visit the mine museum there are logs of Welsh and Cornish and artifacts.

When  I visited Wales in the late 80's, my favorite town was Llangollen.  All of Wales takes your breath away, it is truly a beautiful place.  But, Llangollen looked like that picture.  The people are so darn friendly.  I am laughing, because they had all kinds of advice.  I didnt understand much, but I loved listening to them.


 

 

That's a really cute story @shoekitty  Smiley Happy   The miners came here from south Wales and Cornwall.  There were also mines in the East Bay, we took a tour there with a Welsh group, and mines somewhere around Grass Valley.  We were able to go down inside the mine and they have a museum of the miners lamps and lunch boxes.

 

They carried a special lunchbox with a bottom area for their tea, and then the Cornish pastie on top, the tea kept it warm.

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@shoekitty

 

I just remembered... we were in Grass Valley one year for Christmas and the Grass Valley Christmas festival.  They had Welsh singers all through the festival area and a lot of the places to eat were selling Cornish pasties.

 

I assume a lot of the miners stayed in that area and raised families that are still there.

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Re: Snowdonia in Wales

[ Edited ]

@Noel7

 

when I was in the San Jose Historical society, then led by historian and lifetime resident of San Jose, Clyde Arbuckle...we made the 3 layer filled pastries.  The bottom was the meat or stew, then potatoes, and then the last bite was fruit filling .  The idea was to jave your meal, and dessert.  It was stacked, not layered flat.  Hard to describe but the pie was often shaped like a big turn over. Then inside divided into three fillings.  Then the family had their own mark on the pastry.  So when the men took pies out of pail (which often had a hot coal on pail bottom to keep meal hot) there was the family "crest" squiggled somewhere.  Clyde told us they marked pies incase they got mixed up, as pails were often alike.  He floated the idea of pie theft, lol!

 

i miss Clyde.  What a man, what a historian! He died at 94 I think.  His step brother was Fatty Arbuckle.  He didnt talk much of Fatty, when he did he choked up.  He knew everyone in San Jose as he was born in 1903

 

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@shoekitty wrote:

@Noel7

 

when I was in the San Jose Historical society, then led by historian and lifetime resident of San Jose, Clyde Arbuckle...we made the 3 layer filled pastries.  The bottom was the meat or stew, then potatoes, and then the last bite was fruit filling .  The idea was to jave your meal, and dessert.  It was stacked, not layered flat.  Hard to describe but the pie was often shaped like a big turn over. Then inside divided into three fillings.  Then the family had their own mark on the pastry.  So when the men took pies out of pail (which often had a hot coal on pail bottom to keep meal hot) there was the family "crest" squiggled somewhere.  Clyde told us they marked pies incase they got mixed up, as pails were often alike.  He floated the idea of pie theft, lol!

 

i miss Clyde.  What a man, what a historian! He died at 94 I think.  His step brother was Fatty Arbuckle.  He didnt talk much of Fatty, when he did he choked up.  He knew everyone in San Jose as he was born in 1903

 


Wow, you have great stories @shoekitty !  My mother used to tell me the tale of Fatty Arbuckle in San Francisco, and the mystery of what really happened.

 

Here is a bit from the Smithsonian magazine:

 

n the summer of 1921, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was on top of the world. Paramount Pictures had paid him an unprecedented $3 million over three years to star in 18 silent films, and he’d just signed another million-dollar contract with the studio. The portly comedian’s latest film, Crazy to Marry, was playing in theaters across the country. So his friend Fred Fischbach planned a big party to celebrate, a three-day Labor Day bash at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

 

But by the end of the week, Fatty Arbuckle was sitting in Cell No. 12 on “felony row” at the San Francisco Hall of Justice, held without bail in the slaying of a 25-year-old actress named Virginia Rappe. Crazy to Marry was quickly pulled from theaters, and a nation was outraged to discover a sordid side to the off-screen lives of Hollywood stars. Behind Arbuckle’s troubles was a mysterious woman named Maude Delmont, a witness for the prosecution who would never be called to testify because police and prosecutors knew her story would not hold up on the stand. Yet what she had to say would be more than enough to ruin Arbuckle’s career.

 

What a story!

 

Upon his arrest for murder, Roscoe Arbuckle was booked into custody and denied bail.

 


Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-skinny-on-the-fatty-arbuckle-trial-131228859/#0a4igGIyShF...
 
No political sides.

 

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@Noel7

 

The sad part was he was ruined by lies and circumstance.  The woman he was accused of murdering died from peritonitis from a ruptured bladder.  She had got a "you-know-what"days before her death.  But her friend who implicated him knew she would be arrested for abetting the "you-know -what". In those days it was murder, and an illegal act.  The woman , and anyone connected could be arrested.

 

is the photo of the Golden Gate or Bay Bridge?  Thats Chickenbutts favorite bridge!

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Re: Snowdonia in Wales

[ Edited ]

We ran out of time before we got to Northern Wales. We only saw southern Wales and then caught the boat to Ireland. I have always regretted not seeing Snowdonia as it is so much more beautiful in Northern Wales. I was NOT really impressed with Southern towns.

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@RainCityWoman wrote:

We ran out of time before we got to Northern Wales. We only saw southern Wales and then caught the boat to Ireland. I have always regretted not seeing Snodonia as it is so much more beautiful in Northern Wales. I was NOT really impressed with Southern towns.


@RainCityWoman

 

South Wales was built mostly on mining, which has basically disappeared now.  The people have suffered a downfall in the economy and are trying to make a comeback in the tech industry and TV programs like Torchwood.

 

North Wales used to be mostly farming and now also has good hospitals and universities.

 

The Welsh were repressed for a long time by the English, finally getting one member of Parliament some years ago which was the beginning of some change.  The English also tried to wipe out the Welsh language, but there was quite a rebellion there.

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@Noel7

I had no idea Torchwood was from the Welsh.  I loved that show.

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.
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Re: Snowdonia in Wales

[ Edited ]

@GingerPeach wrote:

@Noel7

I had no idea Torchwood was from the Welsh.  I loved that show.


 

I loved that show, too. The name Torchwood was an anagram for Doctor Who. Did you ever watch that on the BBC channel? Most of Torchwood was filmed in Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

 

Many of the actors were Welsh, including Gwen, played by Eve Myles.You could usually hear a soft version of her accent.  More so for the actor who played her husband in the show.

 

@GingerPeach