Latest acquisition. A real life Snoopy/Red Baron story. During WWII, a lone crippled American B-17 bomber is flying across Germany trying to get home when a Meeserschmitt fighter appears on it's tail. The German ace (Second Leutenant Franz Stigler) allows the American pilot (Second Leutenant Charlie Brown--I kid you not) safe passage, saluting him in farewell. They later met after the war and remained friends until they died (2 months apart) in 2008 . The story was classified by the Air Force at the time (they didn't need any of our boys hesitating on the trigger thinking "what if this is one of the 'good' Germans?" And Stigler was told he would face a firing sqyuad if he told his story. Moved to the top of my TBR (probably right after Carrion Comfort).
Finally, a bit of (non-book) nostalgia. A reminder of when I was fitter and better looking--and one of the few things I brought back from Japan after my tour of duty ended: my Fuji stick.
I got it when I climbed Mt. Fuji in 2001. The climb started off at around 2300 meters above sea level and ended up around 8400 meters. There are 13 stations on the route up, each one you can buy water and a stamp that denotes the station. The top has a small restaurant and place to relax before starting the trek down. The trek up took me 4 hours, but the trek down to 30 minutes! The climb up had trails trails and rock faces, but the trek down was a zigzagging path over volcanic rock that you could actually run down! At each station , they also sold--CANNED AIR!! and the higher you got, it was more expensive (I never bought any, though I did feel the air getting thinner as I climbed.) I did get all thirteen stamps, though.
There are social clubs that do the climb once a year. I was was with a group of people who had been doing this for 20 years and they all had photos of their sticks to prove it! An interesting tidbit of info I picked up was that at the beginning of the climbing season, the station workers climbed the mountain and then stayed up there all seaon! Food and stores were flown in as needed. Reminded me of...being in the US Navy! Go figure.
There are social clubs that do the climb once a year. I was was with a group of people who had been doing this for 20 years and they all had photos of their sticks to prove it! An interesting tidbit of info I picked up was that at the beginning of the climbing season, the station workers climbed the mountain and then stayed up there all seaon! Food and stores were flown in as needed. Reminded me of...being in the US Navy! Go figure.
That's crazy, they just lived on the mountain for months. I couldn't do something like that, I frickin hate camping.
"now youes can't leave"
A Bronx Tale
directed by Robert De Niro.
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