A Marvelous Book to Read

I read an excellent book recently called Unbroken, a book about the survival, resilience and redemption of the human soul. I recommend it highly.

It was about Louis Zamperini and his capture during WWII. Hubs asked me to buy it as he had heard about it, so I did. It was a marvelous book. He's a history and military buff and I caught him being very emotional while reading the book. He told me I should read it and I did. I was in tears a lot. Zamperini gave up going to the 1940 Olympics to join the Marines and go to fight for his country.

Louis gets shot down along with everyone else in the plane he was flying in at the beginning of the war. He and two others get into 2 lifeboats. One man eventually dies in the lifeboat but Louis and his friend spend 47 days in the Pacific Ocean and are finally caught by the Japanese and spent two and a half years in captivity under the merciless opposing forces. I couldn't and wouldn't go into all the details but I'd like to offer a few details to you.

Now, this was during the 1940s so men were a bit smaller in weight than they are now. Louis weighed about 155 lbs. when he got into that rubber raft. When he was captured he weighed 67 lbs. You'll have to read how they survived by reading the book. And he was beaten just about every single day for two and a half years. Once the man in charge of the prisoners, a sadistic man, named Watanabe, had every single POW in the camp, hit Louis in the face as hard as they could. If Watanabe didn't think they hit him hard enough, he made them hit him again—hard—in the face. The soldiers kept count and they figure Louis was hit 220 times in the face in just that one day. He wasn't even recognizable.

But at the end of the war, Louis committed himself to the Lord through Billy Graham and tried to find the man to tell him he—Louis—had forgiven him. The man was contacted but refused to see Louis. It was an amazing book of courage, resilience, tragedy and forgiveness in this man's life. I recommend it highly, just to see how our POWs were treated and going against the Geneva Convention and killing them with all kinds of tortures and humiliating them by making them even eat the excrement of the animals. It is a powerful story and an absolutely astounding account of how they survived.
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Beautiful sunset plus I love bougainvillea and its fuchsia flowers. In Mexico, they put some on your bed at night along with chocolate of course.

Another living room I like. I've always been leery of putting shelves over a chair or sofa because of falling objects. I think this comes from the earthquakes we had in California and in Hawaii when we lived there.

A beautiful view from a living room is something I've always enjoyed. We can see our roses out front but with our large porch, not much else.

I love the pink plates under that lovely pitcher.

Okay, just how many people would want a bed around their swimming pool. It would be humid and smell like chlorine, but it sure makes for a pretty photo shoot.

This looks to be in a European country, but the verdigris faucet and that lovely handle would thrill me if I had it in my backyard.

Another beautiful porch with wispy sheer curtains blowing. What a lovely porch!

This looks to be some kind of resort as not many people could afford to do this to their yards. But wouldn't it be wonderful to visit this place?

I love the little cabinet and all the cute things she has put on its shelves.

A darling clutch purse.

While I love the color and the curtains, I'm not sure I'd want to live in a three-story house. No one could steal your laundry though. Prettily done however.

All kinds of fabric and ribbons.

My favorite pink colors in the fabrics and on the hydrangeas.

I'd take that gorgeous chair!

Yeah, yeah, a gorgeous hanging bed, but I'd be afraid hubby and I would come crashing down at some point. ;-)

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Tidbit:

James Dyson has invented a vacuum cleaner that can order its own spare parts.
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