9. 2 September 2019
Late morning. In the Dispatch there is an article about the beginning of World War II, so you checked and discovered it was yesterday. You always remember the date as 3 September. - Amorella
1144 hours. I checked and then realized it was 3 September 1939 that Great Britain and France enter the war; too many years of relating to British history in British lit class (in the 1950's known as English IV or Senior English). I get a kick out of our numeral address 4539 -- easily remembered in the reverse.
Your memory flashes the war years quickly. So much so that even dates are remembered. - mh
1153 hours. I doubt that Ms Havisham.
Mid-afternoon. You stopped at Roush Hardware on South State for a rain gauge then had lunch at the Lucky House Chinese Restaurant at 51 East Schrock, across State Street from Roush's. Very good food, the place has been there for at least three decades, maybe longer. You picked up a Carry Out menu on the way out. Presently, Carol's reading Brad Meltzer's The House of Secrets, Chapter 55. You are facing west in the shade at the south end of Heritage Park across from the practice soccer fields. Pleasant afternoon in the high seventies, partly cloudy. Just above you are the limbs of a buckeye tree with the buckeyes green coated and hanging like limes. - Amorella
1517 hours. I love the thick luscious woods ahead, very relaxing setting for reading and/or writing. I began Churchill's history of World War II as a senior at Westerville High School. My first research paper was on "The Battle of Britain" for Mrs. Lillian Gossett our English IV teacher. I was three to four when I was first conscious of London, England. Edward R. Murrow, on CBS radio in Columbus, Ohio -- "This is London." I remember the words were distinct, slow and somber. Mother listened every night. I listened too. Then, FDR died. Those are my first-hand memory markings. I was consciously alive in slow, quiet and somber times. Words were clearly spoken when needed.
I enjoyed the quiet times too, observing the ways of black and red ants on and near the old corner stone sidewalks at West Park and Knox Streets in Westerville. We had an ice man who stopped by every day or so and dropped the ice picked block of ice into our ice box in the first-floor apartment at 51 (?) West Park Street. At five and six there were more than a few parades with lines of returned from the war soldiers and sailors. Public military reviews of a sort. It was a boy kid's dream world. Funny thing I remember is that everyone was happy to be home, but none of the soldiers I talked to in those days told any war stories, they were just glad to be home, and I was happy to meet my father and Uncle Ernie. Dad was not friendly. Uncle Ernie was. I don't remember them before the war.
I remember Mom, Grandma and Popo Schick, Grandma and Popo Orndorff, Aunt Ruthie, Aunt Patsy, (Great) Aunt Theo and Uncle Doc, (Great) Aunt Betty, (Great) Aunt Gladys, and a few of their adult friends. That's who I remember when being conscious of at four and five, after the European war was over. I was not conscious of the Japanese war except for two dates, December 7, 1941 and August 6, 1945. Both were reflected with quiet, distinct, somber and full slow speaking when they were spoken of by the adults, the big people. I listened and knew I was living in somber times with periodic family smiles to lighten up everyday life before the days of Kindergarten and/or at the Masonic Lodge on South State and Vine Street School at age five. Street bullying by slightly older boys in the neighborhood began then. (1604)
I enjoyed the quiet times too, observing the ways of black and red ants on and near the old corner stone sidewalks at West Park and Knox Streets in Westerville. We had an ice man who stopped by every day or so and dropped the ice picked block of ice into our ice box in the first-floor apartment at 51 (?) West Park Street. At five and six there were more than a few parades with lines of returned from the war soldiers and sailors. Public military reviews of a sort. It was a boy kid's dream world. Funny thing I remember is that everyone was happy to be home, but none of the soldiers I talked to in those days told any war stories, they were just glad to be home, and I was happy to meet my father and Uncle Ernie. Dad was not friendly. Uncle Ernie was. I don't remember them before the war.
I remember Mom, Grandma and Popo Schick, Grandma and Popo Orndorff, Aunt Ruthie, Aunt Patsy, (Great) Aunt Theo and Uncle Doc, (Great) Aunt Betty, (Great) Aunt Gladys, and a few of their adult friends. That's who I remember when being conscious of at four and five, after the European war was over. I was not conscious of the Japanese war except for two dates, December 7, 1941 and August 6, 1945. Both were reflected with quiet, distinct, somber and full slow speaking when they were spoken of by the adults, the big people. I listened and knew I was living in somber times with periodic family smiles to lighten up everyday life before the days of Kindergarten and/or at the Masonic Lodge on South State and Vine Street School at age five. Street bullying by slightly older boys in the neighborhood began then. (1604)
A stop at Kroger's on North State before heading home. - Amorella
Old man, I see you do remember some things, and more you've written of before. - mh
1618 hours. I do. Later in life, I touched one of Churchill's canes and also one of FDR's in different historical settings. Both touches went deep into my heartansoulanmind.
I held on to each for a few seconds before letting go. I was on fire from fingers to brain to heartansoulanmind. Not lightning, but a rush of fire in the nerve lines. Carried on by imagination, I'm sure, but it felt real at the time. Secret stuff one never tells anyone else, private and intimate. Human though, I'm sure of that. I had read a few of both men's books during college days and beyond. Words carried the fire along. Both touched my soul.
I don't have to have Ms Havisham collaborate. Pure poetry it was, poetry without words being transcribed at the moment. Real Life. Everyone has such a "Real Life". You tell me differently and I'll tell you, to your face, that you are a liar, and, if you continue with the statement, then I will say to you directly, "You do not know what it is to be fully human." -- Wow. I don't know where this last paragraph came from. (1634)
I'll tell you where that last paragraph came from, from me, your soul, not from your heart or your mind. - ms
1729 hours. It came from somewhere. I 'felt' as if I were fire personified in a seemingly fully constructed single 'thought'. Spending time on the Internet I found a quotation that relates in a much humbler way to my near present experience.
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"School is a building that has four walls -- with tomorrow inside. Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine out deeds. There are many ways of going forward, but there is only one way of standing still. A lot of us would like to move mountains, but few of us are willing to practice on small hills. Doing your best is more important than being the best. Giant oak trees started out as little nuts. The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire."
French Supreme Commander, World War I, Ferdinand Foch
Selected and edited from "Top 25 Quotes by Ferdinand Foch / A-Z Quotes
[https://www.azquotes.com/author/4942-Ferdinand_Foch]
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1812 hours. I do not remember this military man, but sometimes I do think of myself as a little nuts.
A classic old man response. - mh
No comment. Post. - Amorella
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