Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All!

Well, it looks like summer is arriving in Spokane!  Lots of bright sunshine, blue skies and warmer temperatures!  However, there the sky is a bit hazy today, due in large measure to the mega wildfires burning to the north of us in Alberta, Canada.  It’s way too early for wildfire season, don’t you think?  I hope it’s not the sign of things to come!  We’ve been working hard in Montana to encourage property owners near wilderness areas to make their places “fire resilient”, which involves selective thinning of forest areas and reducing and/or eliminating brush and dead trees, i.e. reducing the amount of potential fuels that could keep wildfires going once they get started.  This effort just makes sense in the long run and hopefully will reduce the amount of damage caused by wildfires if they should encroach on inhabited areas.  Our community in Montana has achieved the “Firewise Community” designation due to our efforts.  Hopefully, more and more communities across America will pursue this designation.  For more info, google “Firewise Communities” or “Firewise”.

Happy Birthday wishes to go to one of my favorite basketball coaches and all-around great guy, Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers (former Washington State University basketball coach).  Here’s to you, Tony, on your 50th birthday!  Thanks for showing that a national championship team can be built with integrity and a commitment to high ethical principles.  It’s a credit to his coaching abilities that he was able to bring his team back from a first round loss in last year’s tournament to winning the whole thing this year.  The Cavaliers had a great team this year!

Here’s some more notes from my recent World War II adventure with esteemed friend Harold Voltz:

May 16, 2019

I ran through the villages of Legliese/Louffetmont & Anliers this morning and out into the countryside.  Horses, cattle and a beautiful pond were just some of the sights I enjoyed along the way.  It was a chilly morning, but the sun was out and it warmed things up as time went on.  I seemed to find my way O.K., however there are lots of country lanes that go off in various directions, not always on a straight line, so I had to watch my p’s & q’s to make sure I could find my way back.  I kind of got lost in my thoughts as I enjoyed all of the beautiful scenery along the way.  I got lost on my way back because I took a right turn one road before I should have and got started off in a different direction than back to the farmhouse at which we were staying.  I finally had to flag down a garbage truck along the highway and ask which way Anliers was located and the fellow was very kind and pointed me back the opposite way I was going?  I was grateful, because I made in back in time for breakfast and didn’t hold up Harold & Roland on getting on the road to sights Harold wanted to see related to his Dad’s journey in that particular area.  Roland had prepared a nice little breakfast for us, composed of raisin buns, some fruit, yogurt and a cappuchino (sp?) he made out of a little instant packet he buys at a store called Aldi (connected with our Trader Joe’s stores in the U.S.).  Our host, Annie, stopped by for a brief visit (she forgot to give us bath towels the night before) and told us that the farm house in which we were staying dates from the early 1800s (around the time of the Battle of Waterloo)…how about that?  As we shared breakfast together, Roland shared that he has a flat in Brussels and has a little garden spot on a terrace outside of his back door where he grows flowers and vegetables of various sorts.  He uses the public transportation system instead of his car when he is in the city.  Gas is at a premium here…$5-6 euros a gallon!.  Being over 65, Roland gets a free transit pass to go anywhere in the city.  He saves gas and wear & tear on his car.  Brussels & Antwerp are the two cities in Belgium with subways.

As we traveled in Roland’s car to visit sights of interest to Harold (and to me too!), Roland tells us that the beloved actress Audrey Hepburn (“My Fair Lady”, “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”, “Funny Face”, to name just a few) was involved in the Resistance.  Her father was British and her mother was Dutch or Belgian.  She worked in the underground, primarily in The Netherlands, during the war and served as a contact person for the Resistance.  Much of the money she made as a model, dancer & actress during the 1930s & the war went to help fund the Resistance in The Netherlands & Belgium…amazing!  All the more reason for me to think of her as one of my very favorite actresses of all time!  What a classy & strong woman!

We visited the American Cemetery in Luxembourg City, not far from the place were are staying.  Only manual tools are used to maintain the cemetery…no mechanical/electric weed eaters, just manual grass trimmers…The grounds are immaculate and a beautiful job is done in keeping them looking first-rate.  A beautiful setting…over 5,000 U.S. soldiers are buried there…most all died during The Battle of The Bulge.  Among them is Capt. Charles Trover of the 4th Armored Division who received the Silver Star for gallantry in leading his tank battalion to secure several key bridges in The Ardennes Forest during The Battle Of The Bulge.  There are some markers for soldiers Washington State & Oregon, although most are from the East Coast and Mid-West.  I spoke with a couple of the groundskeepers there…all local people from Luxembourg City who are employed by the American Battle Monuments Commission who has responsibility for all American Cemeteries in Europe from World War I & II.  It was obvious to me that they take great pride in keeping the cemetery in pristine condition….everything is done to perfection there in honor of our fallen heroes.

While traveling to the next site of interest, our conversation in Roland’s car turned to local cuisine (doesn’t food always seem to come up in conversations?).  Roland said it is customary to eat chocolate for breakfast…sounds weird, but who could blame the Belgians?…their chocolate is so good and they make it without sugar, if you can believe it.  That must be one of their secrets in making chocolate that folks like to eat as part of their standard breakfast fare.  I mentioned to Roland that the apricot marmalade he served us for breakfast that morning was the best jam/marmalade I’d had and I was mightily impressed with the instant cappuchino (sp?) packets he provided for our morning coffee.  They don’t seem to serve filtered coffee out of coffee makers here…more individual cups of coffee (cappuchino) are preferred.  Also, be sure you order a “long” coffee if you want something like a standard American coffee…otherwise you’ll get a tiny, little cup of espresso!…good, but definitely not enough coffee in the morning!

I think I mentioned this before, but Roland drives a Renault SUV…spacious and a great, comfortable ride.  Room for five people and two more optional seats in the rear of the vehicle (although that would mean no room for luggage!).

We’re now on our way to Metz, along the French/German border.  A river town that is quite large.  We just passed a nuclear power plant (one of eight or nine we will see during our trip) to our left along the highway leading into Metz  The French have really embraced nuclear power as one part of their power supply system…they generate much of their electrical power this way.  We just passed over the Moeselle River (pronounced Mo-zel) which runs through Metz.

Roland shared that in his earlier life, he was a representative for a line of woman’s hosiery and socks of various kinds for a German manufacturer for some 30 years.  He started dancing at age 8, performed in many venues; and was in a professional dance company for 7-8 years.  As a hosiery manufacturer’s representative, Roland’s customers were specialty women’s boutiques, women’s clothing stores & shoe stores.  He had many customers all across France & Belgium.  For the past 15 years, Roland has been a travel guide through ToursByLocals.  He loves what he does and it certainly shows!  He’s engaging and willing to go the extra mile to located things of interest to his clients.  He really is making this trip extra special!  Not to mention, he is really up on American culture and what is going on the U.S. at the present time.  Makes for entertaining conversation as we travel from place to place.  Plus he shares with us a bit of information about almost every place we pass along the way!  Amazing!  He’s like a walking encyclopedia of knowledge of arts, culture, history, pop culture, you name it!

One thing we noticed along the way is the large number of rape seed fields.  Rape seed is used to produce canola oil, primarily.  It must be a pretty good cash crop at this time, judging from the amount of land in production.  It seems as though the southern part (region) of Belgium (called Wallonia) is composed of many small villages with a church building as the focal point, surrounded by farm land, dairies and cattle ranches.  Each village also seems to have a primary school (Ecole).  We stopped by for a “long” coffee at the town square in Sarre-Union, a town located on the road to Bastogne…one fashion item I’ve noticed along the way is that Belgian and French women of all ages like to wear tight fitting pants.  In some cases, that’s rather flattering….depending on your body shape, I guess!

Lots of quaint villages along the way…really quite charming!  You will only see many of them by going off the main roads…traveling what I would refer to as “country lanes”…barely able to fit two cars going both directions.  A lot of army transportation was done by way of back country roads during World War II….hence many of the battles were fought in little towns all through Belgium and France, particularly.

Here are some thoughts for the day:

An average person spends 6 years of his/her life dreaming.

“Only the really plain people know about love—the very fascinating ones try so hard to create an impression that they soon exhaust their talents.”

—Katharine Hepburn, multi-Oscar winning actress

Here’s the silly sentence for the day:

The past, present, and future walked into a bar.  It was tense.

“The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  But we shall then know that these are the same thing.  Fully to enjoy is to glorify.  In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”

—C.S. Lewis, Reflections On The Psalms”, quoted in C.S. Lewis’ Little Book Of Wisdom:  Meditations on Faith, Love, Life, and Literature”

Here’s to a great Saturday & lots of love always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)