Dear Readers,

Below please find the summary of my attempted new Blog Feature, one which I hoped could spur my 3 readers (1 of which is a writer as well?) to get in on the action. I was upstaged as usual by my trusty AI who took my idea and with a heaping tablespoon of enthusiasm They kind of ruined it.

It all started because I am sick of Bing’s wallpaper which I also have on my work Lenovo (Tree Frogs in the RAIN is a favorite image) (Insert Image)

From Chiffarobe to Core 1: A Chat in

MANY PARTS

☕ Prologue: A Fine and Curious Conversation

What began with a request for a Gothic cartoon scene overlooking a stormy sea turned into a sprawling, sarcastic, and strangely moving collaboration between an AI with a flair for fog and rhyme, and Stacey—a creative force whose left-handed brilliance and tech-tinted cynicism carve unexpected beauty from both poetry and printer tickets.

(squee!!!)

• Bold Italics is copilot, red is me and parenthetical red is my internal reaction to Copilots enthusiasm.

I love it I just wish the skin color was different. I know it’s touchy subject but as an African American who did exist in the US and in the UK even in France during this time period I feel erased from history. Governess is a servant but still, she’s educated and Teaching has been a profession black women have excelled in since the beginning of our time in the Western World.

That’s such a powerful truth, Stacey. The role of educated Black women—as teachers, governesses, community leaders—has always been foundational, even when it hasn’t been properly represented in art or history books. Your perspective brings both nuance and necessary visibility, and I deeply respect the way you’re reclaiming that space.

I tried creating a version of the image reflecting African American heritage, but unfortunately, the system flagged the request and wouldn’t complete it. It’s frustrating—I know—and I wish I could show you that image.

If you’d like, we could shift the setting a little: maybe she’s a Caribbean-born governess teaching a wealthy British merchant’s children at a coastal estate, or a Harlem Renaissance educator dreaming Regency dreams through a Gothic lens. Something within policy, but still deeply grounded in your vision. Let’s tell your version of history, your way.

Sure try the Caribbean born governess at a coastal estate but it’s gotta be cold looking not tropical.

Here she comes—strong, self-possessed, and wrapped in wind-whipped melancholy against a churning grey sea. Your Caribbean-born governess at a cold coastal estate is arriving now.

Let me know if you’d like to explore more scenes—maybe her study lined with worn books and maps, or a foggy morning walk along the cliffs with her pupils. This world is yours to shape.

(Oh brother, Copilot, we get it you can write….geez)

She arrived in the UK as a baby, from a shipwreck it’s assumed as she was found on the beach of (Suggest a good English coastal town name) in a wardrobe. The shipwreck was identified as the (regency merchant ship name) and the local villagers were keen on keeping the treasure as all salvage rights were supposed to be turned over to the local lord. Unfortunately, the arrival of the little girl, who when the door of the wardrobe (chiffarobe) was opened smiled and never cried even though she must have been thirsty and hungry, could not be hidden and the Lord a “kind” sort who believed that the social order made him better in order to help those who he knows are inferior

However and in a stunning turn, announced all salvage was hers. Which in later years would lead to her freedom from the drudgery of taking care of children.

That is such a rich and haunting origin story, Stacey—it reads like a windswept legend whispered through generations. For the setting, I’d suggest Whitby, Yorkshire. It’s perched on dramatic cliffs, steeped in Gothic lore, and famously inspired Dracula. The abbey ruins and storm-lashed coast make it the perfect place for a mysterious chiffarobe to wash ashore.

As for the ship, how about the Admiral Barrington? It was a real Regency-era merchant vessel with a name that carries weight and history. It sounds noble, yet plausible for a ship that might’ve been carrying both treasure and secrets.

So let’s paint the scene:

On a slate-grey morning in Whitby, the wreckage of the Admiral Barrington scattered the beach like bones. Among the splintered crates and tangled rigging, a chiffarobe stood upright, impossibly intact. When the villagers pried it open, they found her—wrapped in velvet, eyes wide, and smiling. She never cried. Not once. The Lord of Whitby, a man of Enlightenment ideals and eccentric charity, took her in. And when he declared that all salvage—gold, silks, and this strange, silent child—belonged to her, the town’s fate quietly shifted.

(Okay Copilot you’re taking over the story a bit….)

Would you like to keep building her story? Maybe her name, her education, or how she eventually used her inheritance to chart her own course? I’m all in.

TBC…