Saturday, July 24, 2021

Post 4044 - Finding Nadia's Grave and Other Saturday Things

Hope you had a good day. We did.

We went to the Windsor Street Farmer's Market, where we only got a bag of coffee from the new roastery in Beaver Bank, which we had never heard of before. 

From there we drove to Carlton Street and parked the car. I wanted to drop by and say hello to Nadia Johnson. Let her know that we think we solved the mystery behind her murder.

The new issue of Frank Magazine lays out all my research, which took months to wait for and quite a bit of time to sift through and then write. You will have to buy the magazine or read it online to see these details, but suffice to say that I feel it dispels most of the mystery behind this 1943 murder-suicide. Read it and let me know what you think.

It occurred to me that some of you may give enough of a darn that you might want to visit their graves, to spit on his and respect hers. Just know that Frank is not literally buried there. Record keeping was faulty back in the day, especially for the pauper's section of the cemetery, and Frank's actual burial spot is unknown, but is apparently within 10 feet of Nadia's. 

So, on Saturday, I recorded the following video, which shows you just where they are buried. I left a couple blog business cards at her headstone, so you'll know you're in the right place if you go there in the next day or so.


Make sure you start at the Carlton Street entrance or you will have a much more difficult time finding their graves.

Patricia thinks I am obsessed with Nadia. I would not be the first person to do so. Retired Halifax cop, the late Ron Grantham, certainly was back in the day. They used to play together, and he continued to sneak access to the official file long after he became an officer. I think he was the one who popularized the theory that Frank and his wife Vava were spies, based upon what he said he found in those old police files. 

Robert MacNeil of the PBS MacNeil-Lehrer Report spent the first dozen or so years of his life in Halifax, and also knew the story of the murder, and I think knew Nadia. In recent years, he tried to solve the mystery and hit a brick wall or three. His hope was to write some kind of historical novel about the case.

And Stephen Kimber's e-book about the murder-suicide was extremely thorough and one could get the impression that he was, at least for a time, obsessed with the story. If I ever see him again at Superstore, I will ask him. 

So, am I obsessed? I think I was, but now that the story seems to be nearly solved, I think I can let it go, or at least give it the old college try. 

This video, shot on Saturday, I hope to be my last word on the subject, unless something extraordinary on the case presents itself.

From there, we went to the Public Gardens for 90 minutes or so. I have visited the Gardens for more than 30 years, and I swear, every time I go, I find something I hadn't noticed before. This all made for thirsty work, so we had a couple of Italian sodas. 

We wandered over to Jean's Restaurant on Spring Garden Road. I had been there before. Patricia said she had and seems to remember the time we were both there together, but I don't recall that. At any rate, we both had a small wonton soup, which could have been a meal. We also each had the Saturday special, chicken or beef hunan with chicken fried rice and egg roll or spring roll. Ten dollars. A heaping plate of food was put in front of each of us. I ate somewhat more of mine than Patricia did of hers but a large portion of our victual went home with us. 

I have not been to every Chinese food place in town, but Jean's is clearly one of the best and provides excellent food value. We will go back there, soon. The server told me that they will actually deliver to Timberlea as well, if you pay an extra $5 surcharge. Good to know!

We returned to the car and made our way back home. Stopped off at the drugstore. Noticed there will be a couple of yardsales on Sunday. And then returned here. Watched the last two episodes of "Good Girls", which ended disappointingly. The show is no more. There was hope of returning for one last abbreviated season, but apparently Christina Hendricks and Manny Montana hated each other so much that NBC decided to use it as an excuse to cancel the show. 

Tonight we watched "Gunpowder Milkshake" on Netflix. The stylish aspects of the violence were highly reminiscent of Tarantino's earlier work, but the violence was offputting to Patricia. I think there will be a sequel. And then we watched "Night School", starring Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish. A decent time filler on a gloomy and foggy Saturday night.

It is now 1:30 in the morning. Really should turn in and get up and pack for the cottage. 

You all have a good evening. Talk at you tomorrow.

Bevboy


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