Weekend Movie Pick - To End All Wars

Yes, it is Saturday and after all the chores are finished I like to tune into a 

great movie and do some knitting.

Todays choice - To End All Wars.  

At first I thought it was going to be one of those typical war movies but oh was I wrong.

What made me choose this movie today was the connection to Burma.

So often we don't think of Southeast Asia when we think of WW II.  

So much has been written on the German involvement and 

while every school student learns about Japan's impact on us during this conflict 

I don't think they realize just what was happening around that area. 

India-Burma Campaign

2 April 1942-28 January 1945

Inspired by real-life events, this drama explores the experiences of Capt. Ernest Gordon and other Japanese prisoners of war enlisted to build the Railroad of Death. 

As the men struggle to maintain their sanity and will, they begin to drift apart.

If you get a chance to view this movie, you won't be disappointed.  I warn you though - it is graphic in portraying the hell these men went through.  BUT, there is something more here and what changes the hearts of the men held captive. 

BABY IT'S SNOW OUTSIDE

Now, that we have had summer  and then winter and now finally spring, I thought I would post a photo taken by the owners of One Nineteen West Main  a superb eatery in 

La Grange.  This was taken the day after the big tornado explosion in Kentucky.  

Crazy wacky weather. 

Warm Spring brings out the cold in me.

WINTER OF 1780

Friday's get away brought us to Goat Island, NY and when I learned about how the island got it's name, a wee bit sad, I read about this really cold winter - the Winter of 1780.

Sons of Liberty and Morristown

We think our winters are horrible.  We complain when we have to shovel snow yet I remember the stories my grandfather told about how he and the boys would shovel not just their drive way but from their farm down the road to the next.  But think how truly horrible it was for the Continental Army when they camped in NJ to be hit with one of our severest winters.

DARRYL HAMSON has written a nice and concise article about that winter recording it as the worse winter in 400 years.

But to get back to Goat Island -

John Stedman — an early pioneer and miller — kept a herd of goats on the island so that the wolves wouldn't eat them. Upon returning to the island after the terrible winter of 1780, Stedman found all but one of the goats had died; thus giving the island its name. I am assuming he called his one surviving animal - Goat

MARCH 23, 2012 - Just returned from our adventure on New York's west cost. 

It was so very nice to get away on a warm NY March day.

I had forgotten how cold the spray was this time of the year

And yes, the water is that green

A view from Luna Island of the Maid of the Mist walk ways

Can you see the rainbow - there was several through out the falls areas. 

And Nikola Tesla - a favorite of my "son the engineer".  In fact it was the first thing he asked when he heard we went to Goat Island - "did you see the statue of Nikola?"

And that was my short adventure - I am hoping to return next Friday - 

number 3 son needs to pick up his new glasses. 

It was a weally big fish and i lub it

Big shout out to Grampa Tom for taking Tyler fishing 

at the Bass Pro shop in Indiana.  

THAT's what grampa's are for.  Thanks Tom.



Tyler on his first boat trip sitting on his grampa's knee.
Looks like some serious talking going on.

Soakers - for baby that is.

My crochet binge has taken me to diaper soakers.  Now I only wish I had another granbaby to use them.

With nothing to go by my first attempt came out a large so for my next attempt 

I shortened up the chain length and got a size more suiting to a 3-6 month 

but then again there is a lot of stretch in this crochet stitch. 

I found a really nice natural wool that works up super nice. 

Needed to add some color to my evening hooking session so I put in a 

quick order to knit picks and got some really nice heathered peruvian wool. 

 Another soaker made of acrylic yarn (Vanna's - for acrylic it works up nicely)

Needed to try a different pattern and I really like the feel of this yarn as well as the stitch. 

This really gives a much better idea of the red and green that I used.  

Well, I couldn't continue crochet only so  in my search for a knit soaker I came across curly purly and this pattern.  I particularly like this style because 1. no need for a tie 2.  you can make it long in the waist. .

Almost finished, all that's needed is the leg cuffs and then some blocking.  

Formosa Betrayed

It is the weekend and that means a good movie or two or maybe more.  I have always like movies that take me someplace or are based on true events.  Tonight was Formosa Betrayed.  It is a MUST see movie, especially if you were never aware of what was happening in Taiwan and why it is still not an independent nation.

Inspired by two actual events, one surrounding the death of Professor Chen Wen-Chen (陳文成) of Carnegie Mellon University^[2] in 1981,^[3] and the other the 1984 assassination of journalist Henry Liu in California, Formosa Betrayed is the story of FBI Agent Jake Kelly's  investigation of the murder of Henry Wen (Joseph Foronda), a Taiwanese professor in Chicago. With the help of his partner Tom Braxton  and a sharp Chicago police detective , Agent Kelly discovers that the murderers have fled to Taipei, capital of Republic of China (Taiwan).

Agent Kelly is sent overseas to assist Taiwan government's search for the killers. Initially guided by an American diplomat  and a KMT official, he soon realizes that not only is he an unwelcome guest in a foreign land, but that something more treacherous is happening beneath the surface.

With the help of Ming, a Taiwanese activist, Agent Kelly discovers the unsettling truth about the island, once described as "Ilha Formosa" ("beautiful island") by the Portuguese, leading to dangerous and painful consequences. Agent Kelly finds himself on a collision course with the U.S. State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and ultimately the highest levels of the Kuomintang, where this FBI agent discovers how a complex web of politics, identity, and power affects the lives and destinies of all the citizens.

(taken from wikipedia)