* A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WW II*

 by Sarah Helm

I was at first intrigued by this book. Then I was bored, very bored...and lost in lists of names, dates and unfamiliar locations....but somewhere along the line I again became very interested in the topic. I'm glad I kept reading.

This book centers around Vera Atkins who "selected and ran the four hundred (British) agents - thirty-nine of them women - who were smuggled into occupied France in World War II." Vera began as secretary at the newly formed SOE (Special Operations Executive) and then became the second in command. The fuddled bureaucracy portrayed in this book was amazing. I'd love to think this has improved over the years; but I fear not. At the time of the formation of SOE women were NOT to be sent to combat locations and yet at least 39 female SOE F agents were sent to France during the Nazi occupation. Since they were not military, they were not afforded the "rights" of prisoners of war when captured. Many died horrific deaths in concentration camps. After the war the female agents tended to fall through the cracks of bureaucracy once again...they had to fight for military benefits etc. Vera was at the center of most of this. Fighting for the rights of the women, fighting to cover the tragic and mistakes of the SOE, fighting for recognition for the SOE (disbanded after the war).....

Vera fought and won the right to track her agents who were missing immediately after the war. She served on war criminal boards.

Vera herself was an "enemy alien" during her time of service in the SOE. She was a Romanian born Jewess. Rosenberg is her family name. Questions still swirl around the memory of Vera...was she a double spy? Was she a Russian spy? A CIA plant? A German spy? Was she cold and heartless or riddled with remorse and having sent so many in the waiting arms of the Nazis?

I plan to read more on this subject....there are biographies out on various SOE F agents, a few movies...not sure where I'll start.

Garbage Saga

We are a big family. We try not to have lots of garbage...but even without packaging there is a LOT of garbage.

I began doing a monthly co-op and thought nothing of leaving the boxes at the curb once a month. They didn't seem to mind.

I didn't make the connection when we began weekly produce co-op. I DID notice our garbage service was getting REALLY bad. I did notice an extra charge for extra cans. We began recycling. The garbage men didn't seem to note that we were trying and our service got worse and worse.....Last week I found our garbage cans TOSSED OVER OUR FENCE.

I instituted "operation suck up". I went to Sam's and bought 4 6 packs of Pepsi. Friday I MADE Jamin run out (this is way beyond his comfort zone but I was still in my robe) and give them 2 6 packs of Pepsi. They smiled. But look how they left our cans. I'm determined to change their image so that we become the "nice house with the soda and cookies" rather than "that house with all the boxes and extra garbage!"

This cracked us up! Not only are the cans NOT thrown in the alley or over the fence....they are in the right spot, but they were obviously nicely placed with handles all pointing out for our ease. ::snort:: We're making progress.

Slice of Family Life - Sunday Afternoon

2:20 p.m. 4 March 2007

Josiah - is at a graduation meeting.

Zander - Caught a family pig????

Stacia loves to play with our produce boxes

Beatrix spends more and more time laying in the sun

Jamin, possibly fearing I would never get around to it, made granola

Some sort of internation competition....Jared is Brittan, Nolan is Scotland, Arielle is Wales, Zander is Ireland...I have no clue but keep hearing things like "It's a Welsh Ball"....

I'm checking nutritional information for Popeye's. That must be the last fast food restaurant in America without healthy options. ARGH. I did take off the skin, I could have had a corn on the cob...but didn't see it....no salads or fruit....fried, fried, fried. Oh well. While at the restaurant Stacia spilled TWO cups of soda on me - one landed on Jamin too.

The Saga of My Lights....

When I went to pick up the boys from paint balling....Marty looked at my fuses. He thought I needed a head light bulb or something too...but found three fuses completely missing from the van. I can only guess that this happened when the shop wired the van for the trailer.....he gave me a list of fuses to buy. I left and did contemplate going to the auto shop. I think it would have made it to the top of the list around Wed. next week. I've gotten used to driving without lights now....the dome lights can be very helpful in such conditions and I really only drive at night about once a week - Tuesday night - which is why it would have been at the top of the list on Wednesday.

I deposited the boys and went to get Arielle. I then dropped Arielle off to play with Ashley and got sucked in by "friendly vibes" and sat a good hour or so talking with Tricia. When I got home I discovered that Marty had dropped of fuses.

Here's the van's fuse box....

Here's De'Etta messing with the van's fuse box...

and I believe I now have lights....

Completely Crunchy

I've done it. I've surpassed all the "crunchies" the boys know. I'm now carrying my own cooler filled with "clean" snacks. I am determined, at this time in my life, to eat some sort of great produce and/or lean protein every few hours. I feel so MUCH better now that I'm keeping my blood sugar stead (go figure LOL)....but this is difficult when you are out....and so I substitute with Recees Peanut Butter cup...you know "carbs and protein". ::snort:: One great idea I got from that Eat Clean book that Heather loaned me was to take a cooler with me. Jared says I've now gone completely over to the dark side.

This is my cooler....

Yes, I can hear Mike now. "You won't catch ME carrying that." I know. ::chortle:: THAT is the point. This is MY cooler and I'm betting that NO ONE will be carrying FISH from the stream to the camp in THIS cooler!!!! ::snort:: No, I'm really not bitter...I have a cooler fetish and was actually happy to find my cooler still smelled like AK salmon. ::smirk::

WHY all the photos????? I feel guilty for being to busy to take photos all week. I'm sure the girls and Mike will be brought to the very heart of our home by seeing photos of our appliances and my new butter bell. ::snort::

Proverbs 31 woman and I....

She had her servants to look after and I have mine.

In this corner: Servant Number One - the 2 qt crock - busily cooking away chick peas (garbanzo beans) to be added to salads for extra fiber and protein, and to make hummus. This appliance joined our household one winter day in AK - the "day after Christmas sale" - $5.

In this corner: Servant Number Two - the trusty ole rice steamer. This is a FRIVOLOUS appliance but one I use a LOT. I wanted one when I noted that all my favorite Chinese restaurants had them. One day our BX in MT had one mis-marked. I carried it to the manager to let her know that it was mis-marked and to find the correct price. She was in a SNIT and insisted that the marked price was correct....she wouldn't listen to me...so I bought it at the mis-marked price...paying 1/4 of the retail price for the thing. Today, it contentedly steamed up 8 cups of rice for dinner and to be used for lunches and stir fries throughout the week.

And finally: the oldest servant in our home - Servant Number Three - my workhorse - 6 qt Rival Crockpot. This poor crock pot has served me for over 23 years. The handle is melted. I think one of our movers stepped on it this last move because the plastic top has several long cracks running through it. I suspect it no longer cooks efficiently because of the cracks...but I'd like to find a new one of the same size and shape so I'd have two crocks for pot. Though the electric part of this one works....maybe I simply need a new lid for this one. Yes, I have a very hard time replacing anything that still has a semblance of life left in it. Oh, I know, it's not one of the cool colors...but nothing says late 70's/early 80's like harvest autumn orange. Here it heats up last week's BBQ beef. I must have doubled the honey because it was very sweet. Jamin mentioned it would make the base of a nice sweet and sour...so I added pineapple and served it over rice tonight. ::snort::