HAPPY NEW WEEK!I hope everyone has a wonderful -- or at least a better -- week!
Scarlet Tanager Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Lake Michigan)U.S. National Park ServicePhoto labeled Public Domain (Copyright Free)
Just the best news from Thailand!
Watched the flypast, OG. I became quite emotional.
Always guaranteed to make me cry, Heather! - a lump in my throat, seeing the planes do the formation to read "100" . My father was very proud to be in the RAF, and I've passed on some of his insignia and logbooks to our Youngest, who reminds me of him.
Just The Best News indeed, to hear that the boys and their coach are now free from that deep cave, and are safe and well.
Oh, HEATHER - love the Starling escapade! We were once visiting the two "Maiden Aunts" when I heard sound behind the electric fireplace installation. Took a while to persuade them it was a bird down the chimney, and then we were able to take the "fire" and installation apart and get the young starling out! If we hadn't been visiting, I think it would have died in there - but I am not sure they ever forgave us for the soot on the hearthrug!
We watched the flypast. This morning I wondered whether the Lancaster would fly, as I know it has limited flying hours left, and I thought to myself I would cry if it did. The tears started before it came, as I heard Carole Vorderman say the Lancaster always makes her cry - and I was gone! I always watch such events with very mixed feelings as I am an avid pacifist, anti-military (as you may be aware) and totally against the continuing development of any machines of war … and yet there is something admirable in the technological developments through the ages.
At the same time we had the news of the Thai rescue being completed - although I haven't yet heard whether all the divers and the doctor have come out safely! Those people, including the original 13, have shown immense strength of mind to conquer any doubt or fear. I can't help comparing the humanitarian response to any call to bear arms.
Sorry, I know that many feel otherwise, but I will now shut up - rant over!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
OG- I respect your pacifist views and it would be good if everyone in the world felt the same, but sadly they don't, either now or two thousand years or more, ago. I cannot be other than proud of my forebears and those of the current generation, who were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.....
Thanks, HEATHER, I had worried that you would most likely be offended by my thoughts, as I know you have military connections! I've always wrestled with this - as a child and later I questioned how my own Father could have volunteered for WW2 (served in the Desert Rats)! And when I married, I told the OH that if there was any whisper of "joining up" (during the cold war), I would be leaving him!
I'm awfully glad that he didn't join up, then, OG!!!!!
I'm sure we all respect anyone who holds pacifist views. No one of any decency and sense thinks that fighting is a good thing. But after my own thoughts as a child, having been told about WW2 by adult relations, I could see that even for those with a distaste for war, there has to be resistance to bullies, whether in the school playground or between countries. In the event, as far as I know, my father never killed anyone, although I know he would have done if he had been ordered to. Almost everyone he had trained with in his early days of flying, was eventually shot down. Their wives were left to patch up their lives in an uncertain world. He grieved for them, and vowed to protect his wife and any children they might have.
I've been outside watering, it's easier in the relative cool of evening. Today was just a little less hot but more heat is forecast from Thursday onward.
Annette - My Friend G is a force of nature. She has never been idle, and has filled her life with friends, travel, gardening and cooking. Even when she sits down she reads voraciously, she can read a short book in a single day!
This week she wants to do as much as she can before her treatment begins. She's nagging her OH to take her to Liverpool next weekend to see the Terracotta Warriors, where some of them are on view for just a few days.
LINDA - I can understand what you are saying, and respect your views. When my Dad was dying and passed away age 76, I realised that he had "died in the war" - not literally, but in spirit - those who knew him before described how he came back a different person. But I suppose like many he did what he thought was his duty, and as you say, he obeyed orders.
Cooler here this evening - although we did get a hot couple of hours in the afternoon - and we probably won't get the full force of the heat at the end of the week - about 18-20 degrees suits me better!
Great news of the successful rescue of the soccer boys & coach. Now for news of our Adelaide doctor & remaining divers. Wonderful how people can come together for a crisis. Why can’t people work together likewise to prevent wars.