Monday, July 13, 2009

INTERNMENT TUESDAY


Monday was...
Another fine day.

I had to go to the town to the left to the foot doc... to pick up my inserts at long last. Yay!







I had time to kill...

I have lived here off and for about 24 years total time. In all that time I have never before been to the museum.

So I went today. Most of it was the usual stuff. But this painting above and these items below are very interesting to me.




They are from the Japanese Internment Camps. I don't know enough about them to do them justice with a narrative. Here are a couple of sites you can peruse if you wish to learn more.






Historical Overview: Japanese Americans


Minoru Yasui - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





When I first moved up here we landed in a house across the street from a Japanese man who lived in an internment camp. Very nice elderly gentleman. It used to amaze me that anyone could do that to such a nice human being. It still does.



He had a Weimaraner (dog) named Molly. She was very protective of me. In fact she would not allow my husband to get out of the car when he got home from work, unless I came outside and told her that it was okay.

Gosh I liked that dog. ;)







After the foot doc it was back home again for ho-hum... house work and a bit of reading and blogging.

Back in the car at 4:00 for the usual Monday trip into town for all of StbX's obligations.





A nice twist was that Boo, my oldest, was waiting for us at the Court House. So instead of sitting there reading in the heat alone, I had a nice visit with him before he had to go to work.




Then we were off to the Bear's house for a BBQ.

Bear and I had to shop for food, but managed to escape child-free. Meanwhile Mikey P. fired up the grill and began the meat fest.



They are taking off to go owl pelleting in the morning. They will be gone a week. They sell them on line.

I got to see that boy before they left. He was very entertaining.



Mikey P and cousin J were in the recording studio and they were searching through some older music. Link 80 to be exact. Little Mikey decided that he and I had to head bang. Oh yeah... head banging and dancing... that's our specialty!

We all ate way too much. (I'm doing a half fast day tomorrow to make up for it and an extra hour of walking.) Urp!


When I got home, I visited with crazy4coens for a time until a knock on my door... at nearly 11:00 at night... interrupted.


It was my brain damaged friend that I have mentioned before... D. He's a very s -l- o- w t- a- l- k- e- r and I have trouble with that. It makes me fall asleep. Especially when it's late. I feel terrible when I am obviously nodding out on him. He had the good grace to excuse himself this time.


All in all it was a good day. I got some things done that needed to be done. Squeaky has been on a house cleaning jag... so my house is all shiny bright. Today I will drive up and bring Max home for the night to visit. That always makes me happy.

Oh and I ran into one of my "minions" as StbX calls my ex-students. He's got a steelhead for me and will fillet it today. He's going to give me a call when it's ready and promises to keep me in fish all season. Very cool beans! I'm thinking of steelhead in jerk sauce tonight. mmmmm

25 comments:

  1. It's funny how you can live somewhere for a long time and still find things you've never done.

    I love steelhead trout.

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  2. I think I would like a Weimaraner, if only for the name!

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  3. George Takei, the Sulu actor from Star Trek, was in one of those Japanese-American internment camps when he was a child.

    One little known fact was that they interned some German-Americans and Italian-Americans, but these were very few compared to the Japanese-Americans in such camps.

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  4. secret agent woman-- It's true. I knew it was there but never got around to it. There's a merry-go-round museum and an aircraft museum that I haven't seen too. Maybe I should take Sookie and check them out!

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  5. Mo-- Yes it's a great name. Sort of rolls off your tongue. In my library we have books by a gentleman named William Wegman who uses Weimaraner dogs that he dresses up and photographs. http://www.wegmanworld.com/ It is a hoot.

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  6. dmarks-- I did not know that about Mr. Takei.

    Nor did I know that they did that with German and Italian people at all.

    Its a terrible and fascinating thing to think that we did that here in this country.

    There is the coolest house in this same town that I will have to photograph for the blog. The house is neat to look at on its own but the real curiosity is that it has a barn that looks like a nice barn, but not terribly special.

    The owners of that orchard build a secret apartment in their barn that housed their Japanese employee for the duration of the war. The employee could not work that entire time of course. Can you imagine that? Feeding, hiding and caring for someone for what... 4 or 5 years? What lovely people they must have been!

    Yet I can't help but wonder. Was that not trading one prison for another? Though I am sure it is better to be in a prison you choose with caretakers who are so loving and kind.

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  7. when i saw the first picture, i thought it looked like the japanese internmnet camps - and it was! i am rolling on this trivia tuesday - oh wait that's my blog. talking with those interred is humbling. what jumps out at me is the people who helped them - who protected their property while they were gone - who changed their birth certificates to javanese - who build them a safe place in their barn - it is a challenge to me to do the right thing. Thank you for sharing, my friend. Good Tuesday fare.

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  8. crazy4coens-- It is so remarkable how brave ordinary people can be and how self-less. Would we when put to the test?

    Hey, what ever happened to those wonderful asian antiques your mom had in your house? You had ashes that were hundreds of years old in that wooden hibachi. I was impressed that unlike my mom, your mom could keep those and not clean it out. Ha. Still have that marvelous robe? I think of you dancing in that. I love that memory.

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  9. Wow. That sounds like a very full and interesting day. When I was in the California Conservation Corps in Leggett, CA., We raised 10,000 steelhead trout in pools. Yummy.

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  10. Churlita-- I bet that was very interesting and fun. I used to love to feed our fish up here in the salmon ponds... looks like a piranha frenzy.

    Steelhead are sooo tasty. I can hardly wait.

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  11. of course the title of your post could have been my tip off -ha! I pretty much have all the Japanese and Chinses stuff that my mom had. No one else really cared - which worked for me :)

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  12. I want to go owl pellet hunting. No one ever has ever invited me to go owl pellet hunting :(

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  13. I read a book to my students about a girl that lived here in Poston at an enternment camp. They really liked the book AND I managed to get us shuschi for a cultureal experience like no other. Most of my 90% hispanic students LOVED washabi! LOL Go figure!

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  14. Sebastien-- Oh, it's very cut throat! No one wants to give away their secret locations. Mum's the word and all that. I'm sure that's the reason for your lack of invitation.

    Who would have known that raptor puke could be so lucrative and such a closely guarded secret?

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  15. Superstar-- Ah you are in education too! (They only let the best people in you know!)

    That sounds fun. I like the idea of including the suschi. I often have it for lunch... three little circles. Washabi and hot mustard are wonderful creations. I think I'll borrow your idea next fall.

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  16. crazy4coens-- OH lucky you! Your mom had great stuff and great taste.

    You know I was a fan of hers. I liked the cheerleader story when she broke her ankle was it?

    And questions like:

    "What is it kids are drinking with their cokes these days?"

    LMAO. Art Linkletter had her so concerned for us. Hey...wait a minute... she was right to be concerned. Sheesh.

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  17. Oh I enjoy your blog more and more every time I come here because it is always so interesting. There is quite the Japanese ornate temple in Ontario, Oregon because of the internment camps. Never been but I am thinking I might go this weekend. I love that stuff. My dad was stationed in Japan for a bit and their culture has always fascinated me. I like a lot of their philosophies on life. Anyway hope your fish turns out good.

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  18. Mr. Shife hello! I'm thrilled that you are enjoying your visits here. I sort of reel around on subject matter and substance. I wonder about it. So that is a relief.

    I have not been to Ontario. Sounds like I'd like to visit there myself one of these days. Like you, I find that culture fascinating and their art work is out of this world.

    The fish will be supreme! I have not found a fish yet that I did not love eating. It's even better when it's free fish. Improves the flavor tremendously.

    I am hoping that your showing up here means that there is a photo of that darling baby Shife waiting for me at Confessions! I'm off to get my eyeful! As always, I'm so happy you stopped in.

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  19. Lots going on in this post :-) I work near Santa Anita Race Track, which was used as a holding center for Japanese Americans on their way to internment camps. We have quite a few photos in our archives.

    Sounds like your kids are all doing well and that you are enjoying them. Very nice to hear about a close family like yours.

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  20. laura b.-- It's an interesting coincidence that in Fresno, Ca where I grew up, they put Japanese folk into the underground stables at our fair ground there.

    I do enjoy my family very much. But there are days when I think I see them scattering like dandelion seeds on the wind. :(

    Still, they will always be as close as my heart.

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  21. I'm so glad I didn't live back in the days of WW2. It was supposedly for their protection, but they were treated harshly.

    Glad to hear you got your inserts, now hopefully your feet will feel better.

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  22. oh my gosh - i just wrote this long rambling comment - but i wasn't signed in - i will shorten it - my mother's cheerleader story was this- she was drinking at my uncle's house - decided to do a big kick (don't remember why - i was little - i bet the alcohol had something to do with it) and fell on her tailbone and broke it. she did have good tast, otherwise.

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  23. aliencg-- Would that not have been frightening?

    Yes. I am wearing them right now. They feel funny but my feet seem to be very happy. Thank you for your kind thoughts.

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  24. crazy4coens-- Yes! That's the story. I loved it when she told us that story. heehee

    Yes she did. I enjoyed your mom.

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