Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. -Ezra Pound, poet (1885-1972)
Up at 6:00 am to go downstairs to fold laundry I'd put in dryer before going to bed last night . Once I'd done a bit of repacking I plan to head back to Casa Vicente for a cup of Vinnie's wonderful java!
Traffic from Healdsburg into Berkeley was very light so have never had such an easy commute. No rain either! We were knocking on the door of Casa Vicente at 4:00 pm. David had done a scrumptious lasagna so we continue to be extremely well fed.
I might have mentioned that they "discovered" two cases of your/my wine, 2008 vintage, in a corner of their crawl space a few months ago so we opened four bottles for dinner: ZP2C, Escuro, Petite Sirah and Aca Modot. [I think that is right but by the time we finished of with a few snorts of malt it was a bit of a repeat of Thursday evening at your place!] All very, very tasty!
Please pass along snap to Catalina and thank her for such a lovely tasting. Have a grand time on your cruise. Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!
You are very welcome....I'm glad you stayed and Dave didn't scare you off the first evening :-)! You were very self-sufficient, delightful guests to have and are glad that you enjoyed it all! We are now earnestly beginning to pack for our flight/cruise. Having not taken a flight for quite some time, we are inexperienced about what and how to pack.
Have a great time in Berkeley and for the rest of your trip. Safe travels back home when the time comes! Pat
P, Match times attached. If you are going to schlep all the way over here, come when there is an Open match in the offing. Sunday afternoon is always a good time. We are 0 for 1 so far and play 11 and 1:pm. Enjoy, W
P, University Club at Powell and California. Take Bart to Powell stop then cable car to top of Nob Hill. U club is on NE corner. Squash club is downhill behind. W
By the by, Chasy & I rode the bridge and returned by ferry last year. We can tell you about that.
Dear Travel Agent! Thanks for info but I think you need to FOCUS on MOVING UP! See you later! Your Ball!!! Cheers, Il Conduttore! PS: We just cycle for fun!
Ayn, I wondered if my email below might have been lost in your “junk” mail. Please let me know if you receive this because I’d like to get the bequest to you. Hoping you’re well! Lisa
Secondly, I am truly at a loss for words! Your Dad, my Uncle Erich, was for many years my only tie to my Vogt roots when we moved to Vancouver. He always checked up on me and over many years of estrangement from John, he was a constant that made me feel I was still a Vogt, no matter what. When I moved to Los Angeles, to study and later begin my career, he would call to encourage my progress and tell me how proud he and Auntie Barbara were of me. I still carry those words and their belief in me to this day.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for this amazing and much too generous bequest. I am incredibly moved and grateful to be honored with such an unexpected gift from your father’s estate.
Lisa, once again so sorry to have not seen your earlier email and thank you for sharing such wonderful news! Ayn
Hi Ayn, What a beautiful note. You truly have talent. I know it was wonderful to see you at Long Beach. We’d love to catch up with you at any time. I don’t think we’ll be up in Vancouver at the same time (we are working week by week thru Soccer, Cross County, Music and School schedules, so we won’t likely know until early December.) If you do happen to be in Seattle at any time please let us know, Rob, Bren and the boys.
Just about to walk up the hill to say hello to Cactus and Co and find out which BART station to tell Whirlygig to meet us at tomorrow morning. He will be coming in from SF. He's playing in a doubles squash tourney there, with his brother, Carlos The Jackal. We took the BART in yesterday and watched a match. They won! After chatting and a spot of complimentary lunch at the University Club, (host club), we walked back down Powell to take another train to 24th.
After we left you we walked back down Powell to take another train to 24th. It was a glorious day and we spent about two hours or more, strolling down Mission and/or Valencia, (colourful murals, street vendors, restaurants, shops, etc.), back to 16th where we hopped another trian back to Rockridge where David collected us, around 4:00 pm.
A History of War in 100 Battles, Richard Overy, Oxford University Press, 2014: "In the final analysis, World War II can be best
understood as a war between Germany and the Soviet Union. Those two
countries suffered
by far the most casualties -- estimated to have been over 7 million in
Germany and as high as 26 million in the Soviet Union (as compared to
405,000 Americans). This was epitomized by the Battle of Stalingrad
(modern day Volgograd on the Volga River in southern
Russia), which with over 400,000 deaths, was one of the bloodiest
battles in the history of the world:
"Stalingrad was one of the
longest battles of the Second World War and the bloodiest. It has
rightly come to symbolize the epic struggle between the German armed
forces and the Red Army. It was regarded at the time
as a turning point in the war against the Axis states. ... Men on both
sides were pushed to the limits of endurance and beyond. More than
400,000 lost their lives in the effort.
"Neither side had predicted the
battle. Hitler decided to open his summer campaign in the south of
Russia in 1942, and detailed his forces to capture the Caucasus
oilfields and cut the Volga river link with northern Russia around the
city of Stalingrad. ...
"[Overwhelmed, outnumbered, and] under constant bombardment, [the Red
Army] fought in many cases to the death. A few weeks before, Stalin had
issued Order number 277 'Not a Step Back', by which any retreat or
withdrawal was to be treated as cowardice.
"On 7 September the Soviet commander in the city, General Alexander Lopatin, did order a withdrawal and was promptly sacked. He was replaced by General Vasily Chuikov, a tough, brave, no-nonsense commander, who shared the hardships of his men and risked his life over and over again. The Stalingrad front was placed under General Andrei Yeremenko, who, like Chuikov, was a tough commander who was wounded seven times during the battle, but continued to command from his hospital bed. ..."The courage of the Soviet defenders was exceptional. Some failed to cope and it is claimed that over 13,000 were shot for desertion or dereliction of duty.
"On 7 September the Soviet commander in the city, General Alexander Lopatin, did order a withdrawal and was promptly sacked. He was replaced by General Vasily Chuikov, a tough, brave, no-nonsense commander, who shared the hardships of his men and risked his life over and over again. The Stalingrad front was placed under General Andrei Yeremenko, who, like Chuikov, was a tough commander who was wounded seven times during the battle, but continued to command from his hospital bed. ..."The courage of the Soviet defenders was exceptional. Some failed to cope and it is claimed that over 13,000 were shot for desertion or dereliction of duty.
For the rest Stalingrad became a symbol for which
they were prepared to give their lives. Chuikov bullied
his men but he also inspired them. They became adept at the art of
street fighting, a form of urban guerrilla warfare that has become
familiar since 1945, but which had not yet been seen in the war. ...
"Unknown to either side in
Stalingrad, the Soviet high command had devised a way to end the battle.
In September General Zhukov, Stalin's deputy, and the chief-of-staff,
Alexander Vasilevski, drew up a plan to cut
across the long, exposed Axis flank, strike at the weaker Italian and
Romanian divisions, and encircle the 6th Army, cutting it off from
effective rescue. It was a bold plan but Stalin accepted it and agreed
to use all the reserves to build up, in complete
secrecy, a force of over 1 million men, 14,000 guns and 979 tanks on
either side of the long Axis flanks. German intelligence failed to
detect it. The whole plan depended on the ability of Chuikov to keep his
small and battered force fighting for the month
it took to organize the counter-strike. ...
"Chuikov's small force had done enough. On 19 November the
counterstrike, Operation Uranus, began. The weaker Axis divisions
crumbled and within five days the two prongs of the Soviet attack met at
Kalach on the Don Steppe. Paulus was encircled with 330,000
of his men. Hitler refused to allow him to break out and an attempt by
Field Marshal Erich von Manstein to drive through the Soviet lines to
rescue the 6th Army was too weak in deteriorating winter weather. The
fighting resumed in Stalingrad, but this time
it was the German army doing the desperate defending. ... On 31 January
[1943] Paulus finally surrendered. German forces to the north of the
city surrendered three days later.
Famished, poorly clad and ill, the
defenders trudged into captivity where most died
on the route. The extraordinary courage of the Soviet defenders had made
it possible to inflict the largest defeat the German army had ever
experienced: 147,000 dead and 91,000 prisoners. For the final siege the
Red Army paid with 485,000 dead, injured or missing."
Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors, James Reston Jr. ,Anchor Books, Random House, 2005 In the middle ages, a vast portion of what is now
Spain was ruled by Muslims, who
were a model of religious tolerance, and who provided Europe with the
knowledge and technology that was one of the keys to its resurgence in
the Renaissance until they were finally from Spain in 1492 by Ferdinand
and Isabella. Their territory is in part remembered
today as Andalusia-"Al Andalus":
"After the Moorish conquest
of Spain in the eighth century, the emir of Al-Andalus had been a vassal
of the caliphs of Damascus and Baghdad. But this western outpost of
Islam was the first of the Muslim provinces to
break free of its Oriental masters. When the Mongols destroyed the
caliphate in Baghdad in 1258, the independence of Al-Andalus was
solidified, and the Spanish Moors began to relate more to Europe than
the Middle East. "In arts and agriculture, learning
and tolerance, Al-Andulus was a beacon of enlightenment to the rest of
Europe. In the fertile valleys of the Guadalquivir and the Guadiana
rivers as well as the terraced slopes of the Alpujarras, agriculture
surpassed anything
elsewhere on the continent.
Moorish filigree silver-and leatherwork
became famous throughout the Mediterranean. In engineering the skill of
the Spanish Moors had no parallel, and the splendor of their
architecture was manifest in the glorious mosque of Cordoba,
the Giralda and Alcazar of Seville, and the Alhambra of Granada. Its
excellence in art and literature, mathematics and science, history and
philosophy defined this brilliant civilization. "Among its finest
achievements was its tolerance. Jews and Christians were welcomed, if
not as equals, then as full-fledged citizens. They were permitted to
practice their faith and their rituals without interference.
This tolerance was in keeping with the principles of the Koran, which
taught that Jews and Christians were to be respected as 'peoples of the
Book' or believers in the word of God. Jews and Christians were
assimilated into Islamic culture, and occasionally,
Moorish leaders helped to build Christian houses of worship.
"In 1248, work began on the
colossal Alhambra in Granada. With its thirteen towers and fortified
walls above the ravine of the Darro River, the river of gold, the red
palace took shape over the next hundred years.
The extraordinary rooms of its interior -- the Courtyard of the Lions,
the Hall of the Two Sisters, the Court of the Myrtles -- were finished
at the end of the long process under the reign of Yusef I in the
mid-fourteenth century. With their arabesque moldings
and gold ornament and vegetal carvings, these rooms became the wonder of
the world. Most stunning of all was the Courtyard of the Lions, whose
Oriental feel was more reminiscent of Japan than the Middle East and
whose vision was to replicate the Garden of Paradise."
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| Alhambra |
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