If any of these items left at my house at Thanksgiving belong to you, please claim them with a comment. Thanks.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Amazing Fireside
I went to an amazing fireside tonight. I took notes, and thought I'd post them in case someone was interested in reading them.
The fireside was by Kitty de Ruyter Bons. She told about surviving WWII in a concentration camp.
She wrote a book, and I found an interview with her on the internet:
http://www.nothingwavering.org/2010/06/08/20949-012-kitty-de-ruyter-bons.html
Kitty told about her Christian mother. They lived on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Her family owned a coffee plantation and had many servants. Each child had their own nany. They obtained a second home in the mountains where it was cooler, and converted rooms in their city home into school for the children of their servants.
Her nanny was Muslim and taught her many teachings. Her mother told her to change the name of Allah to Heavenly father and Mohammed for Jesus Christ, and to apply the teachings. She found many similarities between Christianity and Islam.
During WWII, the Japanese took over their Island. They were seeking the Dutch and other European races. Her Father escaped and started a resistance movement. In hiding, he sabotaged his own sugar factory, even though it jeopardized his livelihood. Soon, his family was placed under house arrest in an attempt to flush their father out. With house arrest, they surrounded the home with barbed wire. They boarded up doors and windows and they were only allowed to use a few rooms in their house. They were fortunate that one of the rooms had a secret door and passage to a bomb shelter that her mother was instructed in a dream to build. She was also instructed on what to stock it with. Only two trusted servants even knew that the room existed.
The Japanese rationed their food to starve them out. They were able to remain, being supplemented with the food in their bomb shelter.
After a while, the path to the market changed to where people passed through their property. The people passing by their one window would pass messages in the native language from their father. They would even pass through packages with food. Kitty said that they were fortunate to have three of the dumbest guards who never discovered the bomb shelter, nor the window pass through.
Anticipating the time when the Japanese would come to intern them, her mother put together backpacks from pillowcases for each of the kids. They were filled with clothes blankets and medicine. She was a licensed pharmacist and taught the kids what color of pills were for what. Dysentery, Vitamins, etc,…. Her mom had a black bag packed with medical supplies and two non-electric hair shavers.
The mom and younger children went to one concentration camp, and the two older brothers went to another. She never saw her brother Herbie again. In the haste of leaving, she forgot her favorite toy at home – a red doll. She was heartbroken. In the camp, they prayed each morning and night. One camp disallowed religious worship, but still woke up very early to pray in secret on the far end of the camp.
Her mother told stories about Jesus to the children while atrocities were being committed by the Japanese. She turned the children’s backs to it. Kitty’s favorite story to hear was Jesus feeding the 5,000. There were 5,800 starving people in the camp and she imagined Jesus coming to their camp and dividing bread and fishes to all of them. They were transported to Palestine as they heard the stories.
Hunger brought out the worst in people. Her mother told them not to judge the other people in the camp who were hungry and stole food. Only God knew their hearts.
Her mom acted as a spokeswoman in the camp. The guards asked to choose 30 girls between the age of 14 and 17 given as prostitutes for a Japanese holiday. She fasted and prayed on what to do. She had an idea to make the girls as ugly as she could. She used the hair shears from her black bag to shave all of their heads. Knowing plants, she found a plant in the compound that emitted a terrible odor when the leaves were rubbed. Three Roman Catholic nuns came forward and helped her. When the guards came for their girls, they were very angry at what they saw and took 6 ladies on a podium. They were ridiculed and beaten. Her mother was punished and tortured. Somehow they put a megaphone near her and she yelled into it and she testified of Christ and virtue. They tied her to a pole and cut a cross into her back. She was sentenced to 2 weeks in a pit that was not big enough to stand up in, nor lay down in. It was filthy and they would just throw food and water down there for the person to eat. Most died and the pit would become their grave.
Before they took her, she asked her children to pray for her, to keep her alive. She survived and emerged legs, face and eyes swollen and with maggots in her wounds. The women of the camp sacrificed their precious washing water to bathe her mother. God watched over her, and caused it to rain twice during the 2 weeks, in the dry season. The clean rain water dripped off the roof and landed in her cup. A breeze came each day in the heat of the day to cool her off. She was able to catch the food with her mouth as they dropped it down, wasting little of the food they dropped.
Kitty became angry at the guards, and lost control. She threw her water at the face of the officer who was dispensing food and spit at him. His honor disgraced, he drew his sword. Her mother intervened. She grabbed the sword with her bare hands and it cut her hands deeply. She cried for her daughter to apologize and make it right. She was paralyzed with fear and could not move, so her mother acted in her behalf. She was her mediator. Apologized on her daughter's name and bowed down low. He looked at her eyes intently and forgave her. He gave her water and a handkerchief to stop the blood. He thanked her for reminding him to be the respectable man he had come to war as.
They were transferred to different camps. One was near their house. Some people who were hired by the Japanese to dig graves knew them. They smuggled them oil, soy sauce (source of vitamin A) and soap. The supplies came from their bomb shelter. They had preserved the supplies, feeling that the family would need them.
It was her birthday. She didn’t see an end to her suffering. She decided to leave the camp. As she approached the fence, she heard someone call her by her pet name. She knew it was her nany. Saw her nanny on the other side of the fence in some bushes. She had walked for many days and waited many many days near the camp waiting to see her. Kitty begged her to take her with her. She told her that she couldn’t. She told her that it was not her fate to die in the camp. She had come to give her the red doll she left to keep her company in the camp. Kitty gave her a hug through the fence. She saw the guards coming and told her to run. Kitty tried to keep hugging her, not sensing the danger. When she let go, her nanny started running away. The guard shot her in the back. She turned to face Kitty and put her hands together and bowed to let her know it was ok before she died.
D-day finally came. Leaflets announcing the surrender of the Japanese were dropped from the air. The Japanese chose to stay to protect the camp from Indonesian gorilla troops attempting to commit genocide against Europeans in the camps. In spite of warnings, eight of her mother’s friends left camp without an escort. As soon as they left, there were screams and then their body parts thrown back over the fence.
The Americans finally arrived by air to liberate them. Her mom asked the kids to remember the scene of the American soldiers parachuting down to their deliverance. One soldier landed in a tree and was badly injured. The mother felt that she needed to help him. She handed her black bag for Kitty to carry and come with her. She was terrified from what had happened to the 8 women.
Before leaving the gates, her mother called out to the gorillas hiding in the trees that she was coming out to help the American Soldier. They came out of their hiding places and had their guns raised. She threatened them that if they harmed her, she would leave a curse on them that would follow their family for seven generations. They, being very superstitious allowed her to tend to the soldier. She put a tourniquet on both legs because both legs had been shot off. She asked him if she could pray for him. She prayed in English. His dog tags had the initials LDS on them. He was a Mormon boy from Texas. She didn’t know what that meant. Seeing how badly he was injured, he lamented that he wouldn’t be able to serve a mission. She told him that his work of liberation was the greatest mission he could serve. She held him as he was dying. He told her to find the LDS Church and to investigate it. As she recited the 23rd psalms he died in her arms.
She found out her husband was in the Netherlands. Waiting to join him, they lived in a garage, sleeping on the concrete floor. Her mom was a servant to a family who again rationed their food. Dutch Soldiers heard them singing hymns in the garage and asked to join them. The food there was too spicy so they brought food for her to cook almost every night and shared it with them.
They finally rejoined their father and sick brother. Their father’s foot had been cut off so that he wouldn't escape the camp. His fingernails had been pulled out and his jaw broken. He suffered a stroke 3 days before they arrived. He died shortly after. Her mom's pharmacy license was not valid in the Netherlands. She worked in a factory all day and cleaned offices at night. For the first time she saw her mother cry. They were going to be evicted because rent was raised.
She was distressed and cleaned her red doll. She brushed it too hard and it disintegrated, revealing treasure sewn in the doll. Rubies. Diamonds.
The jewels raised their circumstances and even paid for college educations of some of the children. Kitty met her husband at the university in Amsterdam.
Her husband suddenly died after 42 yrs of marriage. She remarried a man who had served in the military for 30 years, taught at West Point and was even a paratrooper. She moved from California to Centerville to marry him.
She had 2 Japanese exchange students stay at their house for just the night. They liked them so well, that they stayed the whole school year. Because of the unconditional love of the students, this helped her to heal.
John 16:33 “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;I have overcome the World.”
The fireside was by Kitty de Ruyter Bons. She told about surviving WWII in a concentration camp.
She wrote a book, and I found an interview with her on the internet:
http://www.nothingwavering.org/2010/06/08/20949-012-kitty-de-ruyter-bons.html
Kitty told about her Christian mother. They lived on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Her family owned a coffee plantation and had many servants. Each child had their own nany. They obtained a second home in the mountains where it was cooler, and converted rooms in their city home into school for the children of their servants.
Her nanny was Muslim and taught her many teachings. Her mother told her to change the name of Allah to Heavenly father and Mohammed for Jesus Christ, and to apply the teachings. She found many similarities between Christianity and Islam.
During WWII, the Japanese took over their Island. They were seeking the Dutch and other European races. Her Father escaped and started a resistance movement. In hiding, he sabotaged his own sugar factory, even though it jeopardized his livelihood. Soon, his family was placed under house arrest in an attempt to flush their father out. With house arrest, they surrounded the home with barbed wire. They boarded up doors and windows and they were only allowed to use a few rooms in their house. They were fortunate that one of the rooms had a secret door and passage to a bomb shelter that her mother was instructed in a dream to build. She was also instructed on what to stock it with. Only two trusted servants even knew that the room existed.
The Japanese rationed their food to starve them out. They were able to remain, being supplemented with the food in their bomb shelter.
After a while, the path to the market changed to where people passed through their property. The people passing by their one window would pass messages in the native language from their father. They would even pass through packages with food. Kitty said that they were fortunate to have three of the dumbest guards who never discovered the bomb shelter, nor the window pass through.
Anticipating the time when the Japanese would come to intern them, her mother put together backpacks from pillowcases for each of the kids. They were filled with clothes blankets and medicine. She was a licensed pharmacist and taught the kids what color of pills were for what. Dysentery, Vitamins, etc,…. Her mom had a black bag packed with medical supplies and two non-electric hair shavers.
The mom and younger children went to one concentration camp, and the two older brothers went to another. She never saw her brother Herbie again. In the haste of leaving, she forgot her favorite toy at home – a red doll. She was heartbroken. In the camp, they prayed each morning and night. One camp disallowed religious worship, but still woke up very early to pray in secret on the far end of the camp.
Her mother told stories about Jesus to the children while atrocities were being committed by the Japanese. She turned the children’s backs to it. Kitty’s favorite story to hear was Jesus feeding the 5,000. There were 5,800 starving people in the camp and she imagined Jesus coming to their camp and dividing bread and fishes to all of them. They were transported to Palestine as they heard the stories.
Hunger brought out the worst in people. Her mother told them not to judge the other people in the camp who were hungry and stole food. Only God knew their hearts.
Her mom acted as a spokeswoman in the camp. The guards asked to choose 30 girls between the age of 14 and 17 given as prostitutes for a Japanese holiday. She fasted and prayed on what to do. She had an idea to make the girls as ugly as she could. She used the hair shears from her black bag to shave all of their heads. Knowing plants, she found a plant in the compound that emitted a terrible odor when the leaves were rubbed. Three Roman Catholic nuns came forward and helped her. When the guards came for their girls, they were very angry at what they saw and took 6 ladies on a podium. They were ridiculed and beaten. Her mother was punished and tortured. Somehow they put a megaphone near her and she yelled into it and she testified of Christ and virtue. They tied her to a pole and cut a cross into her back. She was sentenced to 2 weeks in a pit that was not big enough to stand up in, nor lay down in. It was filthy and they would just throw food and water down there for the person to eat. Most died and the pit would become their grave.
Before they took her, she asked her children to pray for her, to keep her alive. She survived and emerged legs, face and eyes swollen and with maggots in her wounds. The women of the camp sacrificed their precious washing water to bathe her mother. God watched over her, and caused it to rain twice during the 2 weeks, in the dry season. The clean rain water dripped off the roof and landed in her cup. A breeze came each day in the heat of the day to cool her off. She was able to catch the food with her mouth as they dropped it down, wasting little of the food they dropped.
Kitty became angry at the guards, and lost control. She threw her water at the face of the officer who was dispensing food and spit at him. His honor disgraced, he drew his sword. Her mother intervened. She grabbed the sword with her bare hands and it cut her hands deeply. She cried for her daughter to apologize and make it right. She was paralyzed with fear and could not move, so her mother acted in her behalf. She was her mediator. Apologized on her daughter's name and bowed down low. He looked at her eyes intently and forgave her. He gave her water and a handkerchief to stop the blood. He thanked her for reminding him to be the respectable man he had come to war as.
They were transferred to different camps. One was near their house. Some people who were hired by the Japanese to dig graves knew them. They smuggled them oil, soy sauce (source of vitamin A) and soap. The supplies came from their bomb shelter. They had preserved the supplies, feeling that the family would need them.
It was her birthday. She didn’t see an end to her suffering. She decided to leave the camp. As she approached the fence, she heard someone call her by her pet name. She knew it was her nany. Saw her nanny on the other side of the fence in some bushes. She had walked for many days and waited many many days near the camp waiting to see her. Kitty begged her to take her with her. She told her that she couldn’t. She told her that it was not her fate to die in the camp. She had come to give her the red doll she left to keep her company in the camp. Kitty gave her a hug through the fence. She saw the guards coming and told her to run. Kitty tried to keep hugging her, not sensing the danger. When she let go, her nanny started running away. The guard shot her in the back. She turned to face Kitty and put her hands together and bowed to let her know it was ok before she died.
D-day finally came. Leaflets announcing the surrender of the Japanese were dropped from the air. The Japanese chose to stay to protect the camp from Indonesian gorilla troops attempting to commit genocide against Europeans in the camps. In spite of warnings, eight of her mother’s friends left camp without an escort. As soon as they left, there were screams and then their body parts thrown back over the fence.
The Americans finally arrived by air to liberate them. Her mom asked the kids to remember the scene of the American soldiers parachuting down to their deliverance. One soldier landed in a tree and was badly injured. The mother felt that she needed to help him. She handed her black bag for Kitty to carry and come with her. She was terrified from what had happened to the 8 women.
Before leaving the gates, her mother called out to the gorillas hiding in the trees that she was coming out to help the American Soldier. They came out of their hiding places and had their guns raised. She threatened them that if they harmed her, she would leave a curse on them that would follow their family for seven generations. They, being very superstitious allowed her to tend to the soldier. She put a tourniquet on both legs because both legs had been shot off. She asked him if she could pray for him. She prayed in English. His dog tags had the initials LDS on them. He was a Mormon boy from Texas. She didn’t know what that meant. Seeing how badly he was injured, he lamented that he wouldn’t be able to serve a mission. She told him that his work of liberation was the greatest mission he could serve. She held him as he was dying. He told her to find the LDS Church and to investigate it. As she recited the 23rd psalms he died in her arms.
She found out her husband was in the Netherlands. Waiting to join him, they lived in a garage, sleeping on the concrete floor. Her mom was a servant to a family who again rationed their food. Dutch Soldiers heard them singing hymns in the garage and asked to join them. The food there was too spicy so they brought food for her to cook almost every night and shared it with them.
They finally rejoined their father and sick brother. Their father’s foot had been cut off so that he wouldn't escape the camp. His fingernails had been pulled out and his jaw broken. He suffered a stroke 3 days before they arrived. He died shortly after. Her mom's pharmacy license was not valid in the Netherlands. She worked in a factory all day and cleaned offices at night. For the first time she saw her mother cry. They were going to be evicted because rent was raised.
She was distressed and cleaned her red doll. She brushed it too hard and it disintegrated, revealing treasure sewn in the doll. Rubies. Diamonds.
The jewels raised their circumstances and even paid for college educations of some of the children. Kitty met her husband at the university in Amsterdam.
Her husband suddenly died after 42 yrs of marriage. She remarried a man who had served in the military for 30 years, taught at West Point and was even a paratrooper. She moved from California to Centerville to marry him.
She had 2 Japanese exchange students stay at their house for just the night. They liked them so well, that they stayed the whole school year. Because of the unconditional love of the students, this helped her to heal.
John 16:33 “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;I have overcome the World.”
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Alaska VIII - Inside passage and home
Thursday we navigated the inland passage. As Diane and I were working out on the stern of the ship a pod of dolphins swam with the ship. They looked like they were having a lot of fun.
At Dinner we gave thank you cards and chocolate to our waiters, and gave them envelopes with our tips.
Late that night our ship arrived at Port in Vancouver, Canada. It is cheaper to dock in foreign ports than American ports.
We came through customs to leave the port. We rode in buses down to Seattle. We drove through a lot of Vancouver to get there.
We saw lumber mills that used the river for transport.
?
Our bus went through the border crossing. We had to get off the bus and run our bags through X-Rays. No passport stamp, though. We had a bathroom stop at a gas station for two buses at a place called something like Port Aesbestos. There was only one women's toilet. That was exciting.
We drove through a town called Mt. Vernon. It was green, pastoral and had big mountains behind it. I could see myself living somewhere like that. It was about an hour north of Seattle.
We drove by the space needle in Seattle.
We had a fairly long wait at the airport. We watched Anne of Green Gables part two on my I-Pod.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Alaska VII - Ketchikan
We used our sea pass (which doubles as a room key, boat boarding pass and credit card) to buy tickets to the lumberjack show. We looked in the shops, including the Christmas store. Santa was there. They sold books there about native Alaskans, as endorced by Sarah Palin. 
It rained all day, so it was nice that the lumberjack show seating was covered and heated. 
The lumberjack show was loud. Fortunately for me, I wore my ear plugs the entire trip, so I was fine. My favorite lumber jack was Bryce (second from the left). He had a cochlear implant. They divided the competition into the Canadian Camp (Plaid) and American (Grey shirts). Our half of the bleachers cheered for the Americans and boo-ed the Canadians. They climbed poles, ran across logs, chopped things and....
tried to spin each other off of the log in the water.
We were good at finding tourist information booths, and found a city map that showed us where a rainforest hike was across town. We walked over to it and had great views of the city. We watched sea planes land and take off.
We didn't see any ewolks. We walked about 6 miles total.
I liked the doors on this fishing boat. We went to the "Piano Man" production show. It was put on by the cruise ship's singers and dancers. It was interesting seeing how they changed costumes, and how the sets kept changing. Good thing the boat was fairly steady.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Alaska Part VI: Icy Strait Point
Icy Strait Point was a small area that used to be a fish processing plant. A mile off of the point is a town called Hoonah, which is a small fishing village. The ship set anchor off shore and they sent the ships tender, or smaller service ships to relay people on to shore. People ride a zip line from the top of the hill beyond, down to the point. We walked around and watched people as they came down the zip line. The whole day the weather was at the verge of rain, but it held off until we returned to the ship.
We went hunting for rocks on the beach. We saw the steam from Whales from shore.
They had a path that worked its way around the coast, then through the rain forest. They had a campfire lit with picnic tables around it, and two totem poles. I could tell by the names in the small cemetery there, that there were many native Alaskans who lived in the area.
We enjoyed the walk through the rain forest. We found cool mushrooms, a squirrel and trees with weird scales for bark. We met up with our waiter from Turkey, Ozgur Isik. He was sweat on Diane. We did the rain forest walk with him, then walked the mile into the town of Hoonah.
We walked through another cemetery. It was a cute little fishing town. Ozgur bought us icecream at one of the stores. He is from Istanbul and has a degree in travel and tourism. One of his dissertation papers was on Hagia Soffia, the large church there, that I studied in school.
Hagia Sofia, Instanbul, Turkey.
Thimble berries in the foreground (like rasberries). I ate a few.
Hagia Sofia, Instanbul, Turkey.
Thimble berries in the foreground (like rasberries). I ate a few.We walked back to the dock, and got Ozgur back a little late. We hope he didn't get in too much trouble.
The evening show was the comedy and music of John Joseph and Johnny B--a little border line but pretty funny.
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