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I'm home from a marvelous weekend in the country at my friend John's. This time my old roommate/friend Carol accompanied me and we had a ball. After John picked us up in Kingston and we checked out the Rondout --ie waterfront neighborhood of the city (disappointing as it looks like it's dying--with a lot of empty storefronts --but we did have decent mojitos outside a local bar), we stopped in Saugerties for a cookout with a mutual friend. John gave Carol a pre-tour of his property (it was getting dark) while I unpacked. We watched The Jane Austin Book Club which was fun.
Next day, breakfast in Margaretville and shopping for the afternoon party John planned for us. Despite the mid-afternoon thunderstorm we all were able to stay outside on the porch because there's a big awning along the side of the house. The guys from whom John bought the house and property were guests (they live in town now) and John was a little nervous around them (he worries that they disapprove of what he's done with their place --they lived there 23 years). There was a "surprise" guest that John knew was coming but one of our other guests did not--an ex from some 20+ years ago. No one killed anyone else so we counted it a success. Lots of great cheese that Carol brought from Murrays. Lots of wine wine wine flowing. The party started at 3pm and almost everyone left.
John, me, Carol, Ros, and Tom (two friends) stayed and watched Nanking the dramatized documentary about the Rape of Nanking, based on the book by Iris Chang. It's powerful and upsetting, with some very good actors reading the roles of the fifteen Americans and Europeans who tried to save the lives of thousands of civilians in late 1937-1938 by creating a "safe zone" within the occupied city. The Japanese didn't always "respect" the safe zone, but the foreign missionaries and businessmen who stayed did save most of those residing in the zone.
The Japanese authorities prevented anyone going in or out of the city during its occupation so the outside world had no idea what was going on until George Fitch smuggled footage of the atrocities out to the west. There was no information in the documentary about when/why it stopped.
For more information:
Rape of Nanking
George Fitch, a missionary, was my friend John's grandfather on his mother's side. John says that he and his siblings and his mother found many of the atrocity photographs in a trunk in their house. These were turned over to the documentary makers.
The movie interviews some survivors of the atrocity. One describes the murder of his mother and baby brother. It's very hard to watch. There are also interviews with a few of the Japanese soldiers who were stationed there. These old old men appear to show no remorse.
The movie sobered us all up.
Today we went over to John's friend Ros's for breakfast. Tom stayed there too. We all piled into John's car to head to Kingston to catch the 2:30 bus. But we were having too much fun looking at scenery and ended up taking the 3pm bus instead.
Next day, breakfast in Margaretville and shopping for the afternoon party John planned for us. Despite the mid-afternoon thunderstorm we all were able to stay outside on the porch because there's a big awning along the side of the house. The guys from whom John bought the house and property were guests (they live in town now) and John was a little nervous around them (he worries that they disapprove of what he's done with their place --they lived there 23 years). There was a "surprise" guest that John knew was coming but one of our other guests did not--an ex from some 20+ years ago. No one killed anyone else so we counted it a success. Lots of great cheese that Carol brought from Murrays. Lots of wine wine wine flowing. The party started at 3pm and almost everyone left.
John, me, Carol, Ros, and Tom (two friends) stayed and watched Nanking the dramatized documentary about the Rape of Nanking, based on the book by Iris Chang. It's powerful and upsetting, with some very good actors reading the roles of the fifteen Americans and Europeans who tried to save the lives of thousands of civilians in late 1937-1938 by creating a "safe zone" within the occupied city. The Japanese didn't always "respect" the safe zone, but the foreign missionaries and businessmen who stayed did save most of those residing in the zone.
The Japanese authorities prevented anyone going in or out of the city during its occupation so the outside world had no idea what was going on until George Fitch smuggled footage of the atrocities out to the west. There was no information in the documentary about when/why it stopped.
For more information:
Rape of Nanking
George Fitch, a missionary, was my friend John's grandfather on his mother's side. John says that he and his siblings and his mother found many of the atrocity photographs in a trunk in their house. These were turned over to the documentary makers.
The movie interviews some survivors of the atrocity. One describes the murder of his mother and baby brother. It's very hard to watch. There are also interviews with a few of the Japanese soldiers who were stationed there. These old old men appear to show no remorse.
The movie sobered us all up.
Today we went over to John's friend Ros's for breakfast. Tom stayed there too. We all piled into John's car to head to Kingston to catch the 2:30 bus. But we were having too much fun looking at scenery and ended up taking the 3pm bus instead.
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