Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The Tanks and More...
We went to the Tank Museum in Portola Valley, aka The Jacques Littlefield Military Vehicle Collection. It happened casually; we were at Tom Bates’ house in Berkeley and were absorbed by his pervading interest in the Second World War and his stories of the Royal Norfolk Regt. Read about Tom. He waxed enthusiastic about his visit to the Tank Museum, to which Eric Narveson regularly takes his U.S. History class from Evergreen Valley College, where I work. I thought this would be a good way to pay back my debt to Bill for patiently sitting through many reunions of family and familia in Australia. Not only Bill but our friend, John, and his friend, Ron, came along. Boys will be boys, I thought!
But it had a huge impact. And, it’s huge. We saw over 150 tanks. Yes, full size tanks (with inoperable guns for safety reasons). Here we are in front of one—on the way in.
It was sad, too. We couldn’t help but think of all the kids who died in those tanks. Maybe 2000 just in the tanks in the museum plus those they killed. People. Young men. When we were in Europe, we saw an international graveyard in Normandy, 5000 men, all 18-25 who had died. Poles, Germans, Austrians, Gurkhas, Englishmen, Americans, Irish, Italians—you name the country. The graveyards are lovingly kept by widows from that era.
In Paris on Bastille Day 1996, fifty years after the end of World War II, we saw the invited German tanks buzz down the side streets off the Champs-Elysees after the parade. We could imagine the Parisians in 1940. You can read about it in BBC:On This Day, June 14, 1940 German troops enter Paris--check the Timeline.
There’s a Tank Museum in Kubinka, Russia. In case you are ever interested.
We do go to other museums. On our trip down to Pasadena to attend the TechEd conference,
we enjoyed visiting with Paul in Paso Robles, Polly and Bill sr. (Bill’s ‘folks’), Jim and Linda (Bill’s cousin), Aunt Martha, Mani and John and their friend, Roshan—with whom we made another test for the perfect dosai at Woodlands in Northridge (it was perfect!) and Jenny and Agustin in Santa Barbara. Whew! We got to stop at the Norton Simon (see me in front of Rodin’s Burghers of Calais) 
and we saw a very unusual special exhibit on Durga, the ferocious Hindu Goddess.
I move now into an active academic six weeks to wrap up the spring semester, finish my professional recognition classes and conferences, complete my peer review covering the last five years at work, install the Asian Pacific Islander display in the library, organize the Appi Mishra Scholarship fundraiser…among other things. A full, rich life!
Hello to Jasmine, in Sydney now. Natala will be traveling to Washington DC, Boston and Chicago. Sheila, have a great time working in NYC awhile! Jessica and family are in Hawaii and Portland. It will be great to see Amy, Bryant and Taylor over the Easter weekend in MV. Our Raj Group dinner for Elena’s birthday was really special.
Judy, Cathy, Sue, Elena, Kris, Margaret, Linda and Moi (Mali--absent)
HAPPY EASTER all my good friends and family! And, that special group of familia from Hebron/Breeks/Ooty—truck on!
But it had a huge impact. And, it’s huge. We saw over 150 tanks. Yes, full size tanks (with inoperable guns for safety reasons). Here we are in front of one—on the way in.
It was sad, too. We couldn’t help but think of all the kids who died in those tanks. Maybe 2000 just in the tanks in the museum plus those they killed. People. Young men. When we were in Europe, we saw an international graveyard in Normandy, 5000 men, all 18-25 who had died. Poles, Germans, Austrians, Gurkhas, Englishmen, Americans, Irish, Italians—you name the country. The graveyards are lovingly kept by widows from that era.
In Paris on Bastille Day 1996, fifty years after the end of World War II, we saw the invited German tanks buzz down the side streets off the Champs-Elysees after the parade. We could imagine the Parisians in 1940. You can read about it in BBC:On This Day, June 14, 1940 German troops enter Paris--check the Timeline.
There’s a Tank Museum in Kubinka, Russia. In case you are ever interested.
We do go to other museums. On our trip down to Pasadena to attend the TechEd conference,
we enjoyed visiting with Paul in Paso Robles, Polly and Bill sr. (Bill’s ‘folks’), Jim and Linda (Bill’s cousin), Aunt Martha, Mani and John and their friend, Roshan—with whom we made another test for the perfect dosai at Woodlands in Northridge (it was perfect!) and Jenny and Agustin in Santa Barbara. Whew! We got to stop at the Norton Simon (see me in front of Rodin’s Burghers of Calais) 
and we saw a very unusual special exhibit on Durga, the ferocious Hindu Goddess. I move now into an active academic six weeks to wrap up the spring semester, finish my professional recognition classes and conferences, complete my peer review covering the last five years at work, install the Asian Pacific Islander display in the library, organize the Appi Mishra Scholarship fundraiser…among other things. A full, rich life!
Hello to Jasmine, in Sydney now. Natala will be traveling to Washington DC, Boston and Chicago. Sheila, have a great time working in NYC awhile! Jessica and family are in Hawaii and Portland. It will be great to see Amy, Bryant and Taylor over the Easter weekend in MV. Our Raj Group dinner for Elena’s birthday was really special.
Judy, Cathy, Sue, Elena, Kris, Margaret, Linda and Moi (Mali--absent)HAPPY EASTER all my good friends and family! And, that special group of familia from Hebron/Breeks/Ooty—truck on!
