Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All!

Prayers are lifted up for Judy this morning that the cortisone shot she got yesterday will relieve the pain she has been experiencing in her hip.  We’re looking forward to our trip to Iceland with our daughter Andy’s family and would like to do some hiking there, so we’re praying that the shot Judy received yesterday will do the trick!  Prayers are also lifted up for our friend, Seth…that his surgery yesterday removed all of the cancer and that his recovery will be quick & smooth and that he’ll be cancer free.  He is an exceptional young man and beloved by all who know him.  Here’s to you, Seth (and your lovely “better half” Brittany)!

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

May 23, 2019

Before we leave Houffelize, there are couple of other things about out trip to Bastogne yesterday that I’d like share…

We visited McAuliffe Square at the center of Bastogne, where all of the roads leading north, south, east & west meet… the main crossroads, if you will, and the big reason why a major battle was fought here…for control of the crossroads.  There’s a bust of Gen. McAuliffe there right beside a Sherman Tank.  It memorializes Gen. McAuliffe’s famous response to the German’s request that he surrender…”NUTS!”  The Belgian Army barracks where Gen. McAuliffe’s headquarters was located during the siege of Bastogne, also includes a room where there is a moving memorial to the “Angels of Bastogne”, two Belgian nurses…one a native Belgian and the other a nurse from the Congo…who committed themselves to tending the injured soldiers under the most difficult of conditions.  The barracks house the highest Belgian medal that can be given to a civilian that was awarded to each of these remarkable women.  The native Belgian nurse died in the conflict there and the medal she was given after she died is the one that is housed in the barracks and the nurse from the Congo lived a long life after the war.  Both saved a number of injured soldiers during the siege of Bastogne.  They were called the “Angels of Bastogne” because the soldiers thought they looked like angels as they were attending to their wounds.  It’s quite a story…the native Belgian nurse who died is a big part of one of the episodes of HBO movie series “Band Of Brothers.”

Right across from McAuliffe Square is the most interesting store I think I’ve ever scene…it has a number of art objects that are animals made to look like super heroes life Batman, Spiderman, etc…and in the upstairs windows there are polar bears of all things showing up in each of the windows looking out on the square.  I didn’t have time to visit the store, but that would have made for an interesting adventure to find out why there are polar bears in the upstairs windows.  I was able to capture a couple of photos of that anomaly and I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t glanced up to look at the top of that particular building.  Some one really likes polar bears in downtown Bastogne!

Needless to say, Bastogne was largely destroyed during the war, but you wouldn’t know anything about that based on how this city looks now…a vibrant business & retail district and many buildings surrounding the town square.  It’s definitely the business center for this part of Belgium, as Arlon is farther to the south toward Luxembourg.  Bastogne looked to be a shopper’s paradise.  Fortunately, we didn’t have enough time to use the credit card there!

After our terrific breakfast at the hotel (Cocoon Hotel…definitely a “must stay”), I walked down the street and visited the Valentine Bakery (it’s located just across the plaza from the Stella Artois pub I mentioned previously and not far from the church that serves as the focal point of the village (as churches seem to do in all of the Belgian villages we visited).  Well, it was mighty hard to make a decision as to what kind of pastries to purchase.  I finally settled on a strawberry crème puff (it was yummy) and a large raspberry torte that I shared with my fellow tour bus friends.  They sure have more bakeries in Belgium that we have in the U.S.!  If you were going to live here, you’d have to work out/exercise all the time given all the wonderful pastries, Belgian chocolates and Belgian beer to choose from.  You motto would be:  “I run for beer” or “I run for chocolate” or “I run for pastries” or all of the above!

Oh, Houffelize, it’s hard to say goodbye to you!

Our first stop today is at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg City, a place that Harold and I had previously visited with our personal guide Roland.  As it was with the American Cemetery in Normandy, this place is truly amazing.  Row upon row of Crosses of Jesus and Stars of David.  This cemetery is the final resting place primarily of soldiers who died during the Battle of The Bulge.  The memorial chapel there is impressive with beautiful stained glass windows and a place for reflection.  On one of the walls is inscribed the following:  “Take unto Thyself, O Lord, the souls of the valorous…that they may dwell in Thy glory.”  The entrance to the cemetery features tall wrought iron sections of the gate that bear gilded laurel wreaths, the ancient award for valor.  Gilded eagles surmount the stone pillars of the entrance gate.  Each radial mall at the cemetery contains two fountains overlooking three jet pools on descending levels.  Bronze dolphins and turtles decorate the pools, symbolizing, respectively, Resurrection and Everlasting Life.  There are two large excellent relief maps on massive stone monuments that vividly show the Ardennes and Rhineland campaigns.  There were beautiful red rhododendron bushes in bloom all around the periphery of the cemetery.  You can easily follow the path of various units of American forces that were involved in these campaigns.  The American cemetery is a mighty impressive place.

From the American Cemetery, we then headed toward Munich, Germany.  As we traveled from Luxembourg into Germany, I was taken with how prosperous things looked in Germany.  Lots of solar panel farms all along the way and one could see a number of cranes in cities along the way, indicating some large construction projects underway.  We passed many vineyards that are situated along the border region as we made our way toward Germany that continued on into Germany.  Really beautiful landscapes all along the way…many river valleys & rolling hills.  There was lots of traffic on the roads and a lot of goods were being shipped by truck.  I got to see the “Autoban” for the first time and it’s mighty impressive and somewhat scary.  Lots of sleek sports cars came whipping by our tour bus at high rates of speed (well over 100 mph).  You don’t want to be in the inside lane on the autoban if you’re not planning on racing your car!  There were nice rest stops all along the way.  Paying for use of the bathroom is a requirement in Germany, it seems…be sure to bring along lots of change for the bathroom stalls!  Germany has well maintained roads, but in some cases not enough lanes to manage traffic volumes…not unlike back home!  I noticed that traveling into Munich is easier (less traffic) than traveling out of Munich, but that probably had something to do with the fact that we were coming into Munich at the end of the work day, and more folks were traveling out of Munich on their way home to the suburbs!

Charlie, our “Beyond Band Of Brothers” guide, mentioned that German children are taught about World War II and The Holocaust.  They are required to visit a labor and/or concentration camp as part of the school curriculum/graduation requirement and are required to write an essay about how they feel about The Holocaust…this was in answer to a question posed by one of our tour bus friends.

It was weird to travel along and see so much new construction and then to see old castles appear from time to time.  200 years is a long time in American history, but 200 years is a drop in the bucket in European history…i.e. we don’t see any Medieval castles in Spokane!  Another thing that made a big impression as we traveled across France and across Germany is the number of rivers that had to be crossed by the Allies on their way to Berlin during the war.  No wonder the Germans were intent on either defending the bridges or blowing them up as the case may be.  There were a lot of rivers to ford, that’s for sure!

We arrived in Munich around 7:00 p.m. and found our hotel…Hotel Europa, not far from the 1972 Munich Olympic Park…a beautiful place for the look of it from the tour bus window.  Another great place to stay…for a “Budget Tour”, the accommodations have been first-rate…great beds, great bathrooms and great breakfasts…what more could want?  Well, maybe free drinks???

A group of us found the “Loewenbraeukeller”, a beer hall that has terrific German food and lots of it.  Good beer too!  Hitler gave a speech on the terrace above the beer gardens sometime in the 1930s.  Unfortunately, I got caught without enough cash (Euros), as I’ve been trying to pay for most of my incidental expenses with a credit card.  My bad!  Fortunately, my traveling buddie Harold covered for me!  Let this be a lesson to anyone traveling in Europe…be sure you hit an ATM not long after your arrival and get some Euros to tide you over if you ever run into a situation where they don’t take credit cards…I had to “learn the hard way!”  In fact, Harold came well prepared for any financial crisis on this trip…much like his Dad did for his outfit during World War II…he was known as “the banker” because he always had some cash on hand and didn’t blow it playing cards or some other form of diversion that required going into debt.  Here’s to you, Harold, and to your Dad…some of the “responsible people” in this world…and boy, do we need more responsible people, especially in the world of finance/personal expenses!

We walked back to our hotel and dodged many bicyclists in the process.  It was obvious to us that Munich is a city of bicycles.  And you better watch out for them, because it looks like pedestrians have to yield to bicyclists!  Fortunately, there are lanes on the sidewalks designated for pedestrians and bicyclists, but for folks like Americans in Munich for the first time, you really have to think about were you are standing or walking or you’ll have a close encounter with a bicycle!  I had a couple of close encounters of that kind while I was trying to take pictures and not paying any attention to where I was standing!!!

To be continued…

I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card for Bobby Bell, the great Kansas City Chief linebacker.  I remember watching him in the first Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Packers.  He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame (he played for Minnesota) and was a member of the Chiefs’ team that won Super Bowl IV against Fran Tarkenton and the Minnesota Vikings.  He was born in Shelby, North Carolina in 1940, son of a handyman and chauffeur of the local textile mill owner.  Bell excelled in several sports at a then segregated Cleveland High School in Shelby.  He played quarterback for his small high school, where he won All-State honors.  At the University of Minnesota, he switched to the defensive line.  He was big at that time…6’4″ and 230+ lbs. (not considered big now!).  He was the 1962 winner of the Outland Trophy (nation’s best interior lineman).  He finished third in Heisman Trophy voting that year (remarkable for a defensive player).  Bell’s college team won the 1960 NCAA National Football Championship.  He played all of his professional career with the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFL, even though he was drafted higher by a NFL team.  Bell was noted for his one-of-a kind athleticism and was reported to have run a 4.5 40 yard dash (great even today!).  His Chiefs’ head coach, Hank Stram, said at his Hall of Fame induction that Bell was the most physically gifted linebacker in pro football history.  The Chiefs used what was called a 4-3 “stack defense” which allowed Bell to step out of the line and become a fourth linebacker.  He was noted as one of the finest open-field tacklers in pro football history.  He was also a great blitzer from the outside linebacker position due to his speed.  Coach Stram said Bell could play all 22 positions on the field, and play them well.  After football, Bell opened a number of highly successful BBQ restaurants in the greater Kansas City area and now lives in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.  Here’s to Bobby Bell, one of the all-time AFL-NFL greats!

Here’s the silly question for the day:

Q:  Where do you study the history of cows?

A:  In a mooseum

Here is the fact for the day:

Every year, life expectancy increases by three months

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“Some mornings you wake up and think, gee, I look handsome today.  Other days I think, what am I doing in the movies?  I wanna go back to Ireland and drive a forklift.”

—Liam Neeson, Irish actor of “Commuter”, “Star Wars” & “Rob Roy” movie fame

“If you look at life one way, there is always cause for alarm.”

—Elizabeth Bowen, Irish novelist

“Seven islands to the high side of the bay, ‘cross the bay…to the sunset, through the blue light, of a fiery autumn haze

We went walking on the high side of the bay on a chilly morn…and we saw how leaves had fallen on the beds where trees are born

Any man in his right mind could not fail to be made aware…any woman with a gift of wisdom would not seek her answers there

Seven islands to the high side of the bay if you’re looking west…to the sunset you can see it, all in fiery autumn dress

Anytime would be the right time to come up to your bed of boughs…anybody with a wish to wander could not fail but to be aroused

Living high in the city, guess you think it’s a pretty good way…you get to learn, but when you get burned, you got nothing to say

You seem to think because you got chicken to go you’re in luck

Fortune will not find you in your mansion or your truck…brothers will desert you when you’re down and shit out’a luck

Look around at the morning, guess you’re doing the best you can…surely you know, that when you go, nobody give you a hand

Think of the air you’re breathing in, think of the time you waste

Think of the right and wrong and consider the frown on your face…”

—Gordon Lightfoot, “Seven Island Suite”

“I’ve got to be a jump ahead.  I like to do things on reaction.  I don’t like to wait and think.  If you do that, you’re always late.”

—Bobby Bell, Kansas City Chiefs’ football great

Here’s to a great Friday and lots of love always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)