A Little World War 1 History

I use to have a 101 in 1001 days list. You know a list of things I wanted to do in 1001 days. I think I made it a little less than halfway through my list before my 1001 days ticked away. I have continued to occasionally scratch items off the list. One week in March, I scratched off a good one that has loomed over me.

91. Learn the basics about what started World War I.

My dad pulled a book off my husband's bookshelf that I had never noticed before:
A Pictorial History of the World War 1 Years by Edward Jablonski

"Pictorial" called to me. Give me just the basics. Give me pictures. All of the sudden I was engrossed. ENGROSSED and shocked. WOW the more I learned about this war the more I was shocked and appalled with myself for not knowing!

First off, I could never keep straight who was fighting who.

Central Powers: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria
Allies: France, England, Belgium, Russia, USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, Serbia and many others

Now before I go any further. I have to tell you about another book I read a couple weeks before I read the pictorial history book. Agathe von Trapp: Memories Before and After The Sound of Music by Agathe von Trapp


Agathe was Captain von Trapp's oldest daughter and she was always a little miffed that the movie did not accurately portray her family. She eventually came to terms with the fact that people loved the movie and its message about family and God etc. Regardless of the fact that that they actually took a train out of Austria and into Italy when they left the country. They didn't walk through the mountains to make their escape from the Germans. The Captain was also an Italian citizen so the Austrians couldn't force him into service -yet. There were many other discrepancies.



A proud daughter wrote and praised her father for his important work during World War 1.  He manned a submarine. I thought little of this as it was just Agathe's accounting. So as I am reading the pictorial history I realized that the von Trapp was commanding a submarine that was sinking British & French steamers with civilians on them! This is the danger of not knowing history! Her father was an enemy of America and its Allies and I didn't get it. It greatly disturbed me! I wish I had read the books in reverse. Reading about Agathe's account of history with more knowledge of World War 1 would have enabled me to really understand things and not be so easily swayed into how wonderful Austria was.

Now granted Captain von Trapp eventually came to America and he didn't want to fight with the Germans during World War II so obviously there was some change in convictions and loyalties. The point is had I not read the pictorial history, Austria would have continued to be - as it always has been- just this country where the von Trapp Family Singers originated.

When in fact it was they - the Austrians- who really started World War I.
    

They had wanted to start a war with the Serbians. The Serbians wanted to be their own country or something. So when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot it gave them a perfect reason. The assassination was carried out by Serbian terrorists and not the Serbian government. However, that didn't stop the Austrians from declaring war. The next thing you know Germany is invading Belgium and pushing toward France. It was a war that didn't seem to have a really good reason to be happening and nobody wanted to admit it and no one wanted to end it. They just kept drawing in more countries and sending more young men to die.

There is so much to this war. So much to history we should know.

In the end, which really wasn't an end at all, it was just the ceasing of hostilities aka Armistice Day.
That was another thing that was new to me. I didn't know the war didn't really end. They just stopped fighting.
According to wikipedia over 16 million people died in that war. That's 1.75% of the total population of the earth at that time. That doesn't include the wounded.

On one of the last pages of the book was this quote that really tied it all up for me.

Some German delegate at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, asked Georges Clemenceau, the French Prime Minster, "I wonder what history will have to say about all this?" Clemenceau said, “They will not say that Belgium invaded Germany.”

May Americans always know this and so much more. 

I just took out from the library The Pictorial History of World War II by the same author...  

'Tis the Season for Savings Bonds

'Tis the Season for savings bonds otherwise know as graduation time.

I couldn't help but be a little disappointed when I opened up my graduation card and found a savings bond. 30 years to full maturity seemed like such an eternity to a 14 year old with a pimple in her ear. Oh, yes one of the memories I have of my 8th grade graduation party is the popping of my ear pimple.  But I digress...

So I have 4 savings bonds brewing and bursting forth into almost mature bloom. I can't recall speculating how I would use them if they ever matured without me forgetting where I put them. There was a time about 9-10 years ago I considered cashing them in to help pay my way to Italy. We decided to count every coin in the house instead.


When my baby received a couple savings bonds I really got to thinking, "What will he use these for? A down payment on a car, or an engagement ring, towards a trip to Italy or Sweden." Hopefully he won't have to use it to just pay some bill. I feel that a savings bond ought to go toward something special after all you have waited a long time to use it.

I am leaning toward cashing mine in before they reach full maturity because frankly I am afraid the U.S Government won't have any cash left or will decide to keep more of my earned interest. Seriously for a kid waiting to spend money that isn't quite there to spend yet is hard work! I deserve every penny -interest and all but I know I won't get it all.

So I decided a little while back then when I do cash them in. Something very adult. Something that will go with me through the decades - I hope. I will use the money to buy an appliance. So when I look at I can say to myself, "See what patience will get you!"  I can't tell you what I spent the cash gifts on 20 years ago, but I will remember what I bought with my U.S.Savings Bonds.

So I am leaning towards a freezer! With an extra going toward a china cabinet but we'll see.

Much like the Turkey Hill Ice Cream bucket we don't always know how something will be used when it goes forward with us into the decades but it kind of fun to watch and see...

Always Searching

Been on a vacation from rental searching so much so that I forgot I drafted the post below.


The more things change the more they are still the same.

So I am married with a baby and have been on a search. Sure I found my husband or rather he found me but looking for a new rental sure does feel like an online man search. I swear I am having flashbacks to all that craziness...

the frenzy...
the uncertainty...
the looking for a needle in a haystack...
the temptation into something that is not a right fit...
the waiting...
the multiple daily searches on the various websites...
checking again just to see if something new was posted in the last 5 minutes.

It is exhausting.

I ebb and flow from taking it too serious to not serious enough. Though I tend toward the too serious! I need to find that happy medium of looking and putting myself out there through networking and trusting God to bring the right thing along at just the right time. Instead of all the craziness of searching that I am Oh so familiar with and Oh so don't handle well.

When I was single and stuck in the rut of searching like a hamster in a wheel, I knew I had to work hard to keep my brain in order. I had to surrender and be ready at the same time. No woe is me frame of mind allowed! Because I know the right frame of mind is when good things happen. So I am trying...

The Ice Cream Bucket

It is kind of interesting to me how objects can take on a new life of their own as they age.

Take for instance this Turkey Hill ice cream bucket.

Turkey Hill put out these special buckets in the mid-90s. I kept it because it had quilts on it and I thought it might be "collectible" someday. It's a nice sized bucket because back then they sold buckets of ice cream and not these tiny itty bitty cartons. It's proof of the fact that food manufacturers keep downsizing the size of the bucket and up-sizing the price of the product. But I digress...

So for the last 15 years or so I have kept my pink sponge curlers in this bucket under my bed... that is until Baby got a hold of the bucket and the curlers. The curlers got a new home and the bucket was actually headed for the recycle bin. But the Baby liked it so much I decided to keep it and give it a new purpose in life.

The Baby likes to put it on his head. He puts stuff in it and takes them back out. Sometimes he tries to put it on his head with stuff in it! He carries it around. He chews on the lid. He takes the lid on and off. He bangs on it like a drum. He loves this bucket! What I find so fascinating is that once upon a time a teenage girl decided to save a simple ice cream tub to keep stuff in it, never thinking that someday her little boy would have so much fun playing with it!