The beginning of my book...

What follows is the first 'chapter' of my book, titled "The Diary of Aimee Roth - The Girl Who Lived in Colours"

This was the first time Lily Granger had ever flown, the first time she had left Ohio since she and her mother settled there after leaving France at the end of World War II. She was scared and excited at the same time, not knowing what to expect, anxious to experience whatever would come next.

She felt the jerk as the plane began to back away from the terminal, roll slowly across the tarmac, and take its place in line waiting to takeoff. It crept forward and stopped several more times before it made a turn to the left. The engines roared as they began pulling the plane, faster and faster, down the runway, the gravitational force pressing her further back into her seat. She felt the pain from the events of the last several months being pulled out of her from deep within, and hoped against hope it would not return.

She held her breath as the plane lifted into the air and the landing gear retracted. The pressure eased. She felt lighter, freer than she had ever felt. The muscles in her shoulders relaxed their grip and she felt them sag. She took a deep breath happy she had survived the takeoff. It would be seven hours before the next harrowing part of her journey arrived, the landing at Aéroport Paris-Charles de Gaulle!

Suddenly, the plane banked sharply left! Lily grabbed the armrests as she looked out on the roofs of houses and buildings below, sure the plane was going to crash. A sharp right followed, causing her to become lightheaded as she looked down at the water racing by under the tip of the wing. She closed her eyes, her inner voice telling God she did not want to die. At last, the plane leveled off into a steady climb. She cautiously opened her eyes and saw the brilliant blue of the sky above her and the snow white tops of the clouds tinged with soft pink from the setting sun.

“First time you’ve ever flown?” The voice had a French accent.

Lily turned to the man next to her as she tried to regain a sense of composure. He looked to be in his early-forties. His graying hair was neatly trimmed outlining his oval face.

“How could you tell?”

“I think the fear in your eyes and the white knuckle grip of your armrests gave it away.”

His piercing steel gray eyes showed a hint of humor behind the glasses he wore; his smile was soft and understanding.

“Are you going to be staying in Paris, or is it just a stop over?” He asked.

“I’m going to study at the Sorbonne.”

“Interesting. What are you going to be studying?”

“The techniques, colours, and the methods the Impressionists used to capture light in their paintings.”

“You’re an artist, then?”

“Maybe someday. Right now, I’m a ‘learner.’ I studied art in college, but that was some time ago.”

“Is the book in your lap something that deals with art?”

Lily looked down at the diary, running her fingers over the leather cover. She didn’t really want to discuss it or what had happened that led up to her finding it. She tried to think of what she could say that would terminate the conversation in a nice way.

“It’s… it’s a diary my mother had. I planned on reading it during the flight.”

Realizing from her tone that she was reluctant to give more details he reached into his pocket, withdrew a small, business sized card, and handed it to her.

“Take this. Once you’re in Paris, if you need anything, or would like to see the sights, feel free to give me a call.”

Lily glanced at the card as she placed it in the diary. It read ‘Discoverer of Lost History’. Beneath the title was a name – Lucien Chesnel, with an address and phone number in the lower right corner.

“I take it you’re Lucien?”

“I am.”

“What does a ‘Discoverer of Lost History’ do?”

“I find things for people.”

“You find things for people. What kind of ‘things’?”

“During the last war and the turmoil that followed, a lot of people were separated, husbands from wives, children from parents. Some lost art objects; some lost records of big events in their lives, such as marriage certificates, birth certificates. I attempt to find out what happened, perhaps even discover ways to reunite the people, or recover the items they were missing.”

“Why would anyone want to find a lost marriage certificate?”

“You sound like a woman who was married at some point in the past.”

“Sorry. I guess I need to get past the lingering resentment,” Lily said.

“Understood,” he replied. “However, for many others, they may need to prove who they are, prove they were married to someone for inheritance purposes, perhaps prove they are the rightful owner of a piece of property.”

“Sounds like you have an interesting profession.”

“I enjoy it. I enjoy the research, the chance encounters,” he said looking at her, “and it gives me the opportunity to travel to different places, like America for instance.”

“Well, thanks for the card. The offer of a tour is appreciated, and, I just may take you up on it someday in the not too distant future.”

“I’d like that. Paris is an amazing city, and I love showing it to people and telling them about it. But, for now," he said nodding toward her lap, "I’ll let you read."

Lily smiled to herself as she realized she had just made the first acquaintance of her new life. She placed the card in the diary and tilted the seat back. She closed her eyes hoping to take a power nap but the image of her mother’s body hanging from a rafter in the attic of their house stormed back into her consciousness and would not leave her alone.

Their relationship had never been a close one. Her mother, Sarah, was always a very private person. But the fact that she did not speak after Lily told her about being accepted at the Sorbonne, followed by her taking her life the way she did, had weighed heavily upon Lily. She left no note as to why she had taken her own life. Mothers were not supposed to be like that. Not with their daughters.

Sarah never learned English, never made any effort to know the neighbors, and never wanted to go anywhere. The few times Lily was able to coax her out resulted in Sarah very being very uncomfortable. Her reason, she said, was that she didn’t like people staring at the scar that ran from below her nose to her left ear. Even less, she resented the questions people asked when they saw it, rudely expecting a detailed explanation of what had happened.

Lily discovered the diary buried within stacks of drawings found in an old trunk in her mother’s house, along with a notebook, and what looked to be a savings book from a bank in Paris. The name on the savings book was L. K. Bouchard, and even with her limited knowledge of the French Franc, she could tell the account contained a large sum of money.

Looking around the cabin she saw the lights above the seats did not infringe upon the space of the other passengers attempting to sleep. She reached up, turned on her light, and lifted the diary from her lap. She wondered if there would be anything inside that would help her understand the actions of her mother. Resigned to a long night of reading someone’s diary that had been written in French over thirty years ago, she opened it to the first page and began.

More Happy Moments...

Happiness is:

Finding out you're getting a really large refund on your taxes.

Realizing that unless you win the lottery, you won't be paying any tax next year.

Finding out your wife's paintings are beginning to sell once again.

Waking up every day... so far.

Realizing the $60 worth of grass seed spread late last year is actually producing a few blades of grass in an otherwise weed filled yard.

Finishing the restructure of your book, which included rewriting the beginning and end.

Not caring whether or not the stars on DWTS get along with their partners.

Not watching or listening to the news.

Looking outside on a day forecast to have rain, and seeing sunshine.

Realizing you still have plenty of books to read when you finish reading the three you're

currently reading.

Military memories -

I took a troop ship to and from Germany many decades ago. Fortunately, the war had ended long before I ever joined. I read the book "Hawaii" by James Michner on the way across to Germany. There was a bad storm in the North Atlantic during the trip, and I was amazed I did not get seasick. Someone had said that if you kept your stomach full, you wouldn't get seasick. So, I did, and I didn't.

On the way back, I and another GI heard that if you kept on your dress uniform it was presumed you had "special duty", and would not be called upon to do any of the other tasks one normally had to preform while on board ship. So, we did. It was a nice, peaceful cruise back to the states. We went up to the crew's mess (that's where they ate, not something they did) and watched movies, rested while walking the decks, and ate really well.

One thing that has stuck in my mind about the trip back was how totally dark it is at night when there is no moon and is cloudy. You literally can not see your hand in front of your face. Of course, you had to touch your face to ensure your hand was, in actuality, in front of it.

Military training -

While I was at Fort Deven's in Massachusetts taking a typing class, the instructor gave us a break. All but one man rose from their seats and began to leave the room. However, there was one young recruit who remained at his station, hands poised over his typewriter ready to strike the keys, but never moving... He was sound asleep. Being the nice instructor that he was, he allowed the recruit to continue sleeping until we all returned. The recruit was still there, sitting upright in his seat, hands still poised to strike the keys, still sound asleep... until the instructor slammed his hand down on the table next to him.

A short night in Dublin...

I was sitting in Temple Bar, a small pub in Dublin working on my first Irish coffee listening to some traditional Irish Folk Music when I spotted her at a table in the far corner. She was a fine looking Irish lass, long wavy red hair, sparkling green eyes, a spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Well, okay, I couldn’t actually see all that since she was so far away, and cigarette smoke hung heavy on the air.

I wondered why a lass such as herself was alone, but since I was just now finishing my first cup of liquid courage, I knew it would be a while before I might be able to find out. And, with my luck, by then, if I could still see her, she would probably not be alone.

I drained the first cup, running my finger around the insides to ensure there was not a trace of Bailey’s flavored cream left trapped inside.

The evening progressed as I stared at her, giving her traits of and the personality of a sensuous saint, a woman who knew how to create a heaven on earth for this lonely male.

Not once, but many times, as I drank my next Irish coffee, I watched hopeful male after hopeful male approach her table only to leave after a short time, faces a blazing red colour, while hers remained unmoving, save for a slight smile I thought I detected as each one left.

I finished my second coffee. The music the band was playing was beginning to sound like a herd of cows crashing through a field of tin cans. The heads of the people around me were becoming large, fuzzy, balls bobbing and weaving to the sounds of the noise.

I tried to focus on the woman of my dreams. She was still there, still alone. One more cup of liquid courage should do it, I figured, and requested same from a passing waiter.

Now I was having trouble seeing her. Someone had started making the room tilt one way and then another, the customers moving all around me in a circular motion making me dizzy.

Another swallow, a big one this time. Now, I told myself go! I stood, fastened my eyes on her and began the long journey to her table. It was not easy as there were more and more people pushing at me, spinning me around and around, but perseverance paid off, and I was there, standing in front of her, reaching out to take her hand in mine when all of a sudden she fell over and lay flat on the floor as if run over by a steamroller!

I gasped, terrified I had somehow killed her until one of the waiters reached down and stood up the cardboard cutout of an Irish lass advertizing the hand soap to use on your next trip to the loo.

The above is fiction, except for being in the Temple Bar in Dublin, which I have been, and the Irish coffee that I experienced in a nice restaurant, also in Dublin. I based the effect of the coffee in the story on having the one at the restaurant. It was really potent!

Mont St. Michel, Normandy, France

While we were staying in Bayeux, France, we took a day trip to see Mont St. Michel. It was about a two hour drive from Bayeux through the Normandy countryside. One we arrived, we were "turned loose" so to speak, to make our own way into the abbey, and, if one had the energy, to walk to the very top.

The abbey was built over several centuries. Everything used to build it had to be literally brought over to the island while the tide was out, and then lifted through the use of a pulley system to the construction site. Once the abbey was completed, the lift was used to bring supplies, such as food, up to the abbey.

As you can see from the pictures below, it was quite a climb to reach the vary top.

Neither of the photos above were taken from the very top. I think the one at the left will give a better idea of how far up I was.

Mont St. Michel used to be a tidal island, which means that when the tide came in, the area you see with the cars and buses would be under water.

When any enemy attempted to attack the Abbey they had to be aware of the tidal schedule. If they had not breeched the doors by a certain time, they had to give up and head back to the mainland in order not to drown.

The abbey is still in use today, and our guide indicated there were at least seven nuns still living there.

The photo to the right shows one of the few remaining working drawbridges in Europe.

If you focus on the bridge, you can imagine a knight in shining armor galloping over the bridge in his quest to save his lady fair at the last second before it was raised and he would be left to the ravages of the tide.

There are only two times a year when Mont St. Michel is again an island, and those are during the winter and summer equinox. Then, if one looked out at the island, all the green shown at the bottom of the photo would be under water.

The fields surrounding the island are used for grazing by sheep farmers in the area. As you can see, the countryside is quite beautiful, and makes one think of a Renaissance style painting.

There is a ten year project that will soon get

under way to restore the island to its previous

state, namely, an island. A bridge will be built for

access to the island, and tourist hotels are planned

for the landward side of the bridge.

Mont St. Michel was one of the main places I wanted to visit when we went to France that time, and we did! It was well worth the cost and the drive just to be able to see such an amazing structure and the beautiful countryside.

Do we really have Guardian Angels?

I have often wondered that very thing as the result of things that have happened to me over the course of my life. I have no definitive answer for the masses, but for me, I have to believe that there is something or someone that is watching out for me, protecting me, often times from myself.

While there are many instances I could cite as my reason for believing, the one that happened to me many decades ago is the one that stands out in my mind. When I was in Denmark I met a young woman who turned out to be a contessa. We became involved to the point where when she left Denmark to come to the United States, I just happened to decide I would return to the states.

We had the same flight, and sat next to each other. We parted when we landed. She went to Boston to become a nanny for a Harvard Professor while I continued on to Indianapolis to find a job. In actuality, I found eight jobs over the course of a year, but that's another story. Anyway, we stayed in touch, and I invited her to come to Indiana to visit, and she agreed.

During the week she was here, I discovered she had become enamored with the life of the well heeled Harvard men, and maybe even with the professor she worked for. We ended up having more than one horrendous argument and I almost sent her back early. But I didn't.

When she did leave, I was devastated, to the point it was obvious to all who worked with me. One day shortly after she left, I was working as a teller in a bank, and a man came to my window. He was about a head shorter than I was, a little bald on top, wore glasses, a windbreaker, not one who would stand out in a crowd, or even a small gathering for that matter.

While I was working on his transaction, he asked me, "How was the visit?"

I answered without thinking, "It didn't go very well at all."

"Sorry to hear that."

As I completed his transaction and handed him his receipt, all he said as he made ready to leave was, "But, I think you'll find that what happened was for the best." And he left.

It didn't sink in until later that I had never seen this person, and since that was the case, how did he know about the visit? Not only that, why did he say what he did about 'it was for the best'? How would he know?

I never saw him again, and, what's more, I never saw her again either. Thinking back on it, had the visit gone the way I wanted, I would never have met the woman who would become my wife. Was it all due to fate? Or was there something else at work?

Around Madrid

As you can see, the scenery that surrounds Madrid, Spain, is quite beautiful. The photos are from the first time we visited Spain. Our last stop was Madrid. We spent five full days there and flew back to the states at the end of those five days.

People who want to travel, but are afraid of the cost should be aware that there are places where one can stay, nice places, that will not break your budget. The room we had in Madrid was in a really nice hotel, not fancy, just really nice, with a great big bathroom, a large tub as well as shower, and it cost 55 euros a night. At today's exchange rate, that is less than $75 a night.

The hotel was one of three that occupied the upper floors of the building. There was one hotel on each floor. Ours was on the third floor. The entrance did not remind one of the Ritz, the elevator was old and had interesting little quirks in order to operate it properly, but the room was really nice, and the owner was super nice and extremely helpful. If we have the opportunity to visit Madrid again, we will stay at the same hotel.

It was about a twenty minute walk from the Atocha train station, five minutes from El Prado, a huge museum of art, five minutes from the Thyssen Museum, and close to several great places to eat.

The Thyssen Museum holds the painting once owned by Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza. She began collecting in 1980 inspired by the collecting activities of her husband, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornenisza. The largest, and most important part of the collection, was acquired by Spain in 1993 for $385 million. The collection still continues to grow to this day.

I have yet to understand my desire to photograph people I see on our journeys. Perhaps it is

because I have this fantasy of producing works of art from them. I have done several paintings

of people I have photographed. One was a pastel painting of a person I refer to as the 'Pigeon

Lady of Vienna'. Another, that I have started, was of two elderly gentlemen sitting by the

Eiffel Tower in Paris feeding the pigeons. But, there it sits on my drawing board, just waiting

for me to dip the brush into water, then the paint, and as brush touches paper, bring them to life.

Maybe when the desire to write runs it course, if it ever does, I will take up the brush

once again.

The photos above are from the inside of a train station. That's correct, a train station. It is

the Atocha Station in Madrid, unfortunately the station where on March 3, 2004, bombs killed

191 people and wounded 1800. But, as you can see, it did not deter the people from returning,

and using this beautiful station.

One of the nicer things that took place near here was the day we arrived. I knew our hotel

was probably within walking distance, but once outside I wanted to get my bearings from a street

name perspective. As I was looking intently at the map, a woman came over and wanted to know

if we needed help to find something. Totally unsolicited. We had several experiences like that on

that trip, and it was nice to know people were so willing to assist us.

Click on the picture and notice the building leaning out over the

street. It was built that way....

Above are two pictures I took when we went to the park located not far from the hotel. It

was a Sunday, and the park was full of families enjoying the sunny weather. The nice thing about big cities such as Madrid is that many of them have big, beautiful parks in the center of town. What with the number of people who live in town, they are all well utilized.

A Day at the beach - Omaha Beach in Normandy

The above pictures are Omaha Beach. To look at it now, it is very difficult to imagine how different it was on the 6th of June, 1944. Omaha Beach is but one of the beaches that were stormed that day by upwards of 160,000 allied soldiers. Omaha Beach was one of the two beaches the Americans assaulted, the other one being Utah Beach. Omaha Beach is approximately 4 miles wide. For the landing, it was split into five different zones. In the initial wave, each zone were to have 6 landing craft containing 192 troops each.

In order to gain some perspective as to how big this beach really is, double click on the picture above. To the right side between the beach and the foliage, there is a parking lot, and there are two vehicles parked there. Honest, there really are. When you see how tiny they are in the picture, and how wide the beach is in comparison, you will have an idea of the distance the assaulting forces had to go to reach any cover.

Entry points, little valleys like the one seen above, separated the beach into the different sections. The troops landing in each section were to funnel into these 'valleys' and work their way up away from the beach. The Germans, knowing this would happen, had cement bunkers on either side in order to have a murderous crossfire brought down on the Americans.

If you look closely, just a little to the southeast of the monument you see what was a concrete machine gun emplacement. Looking towards the beach, you can tell that the person manning this machine gun had an unobstructed view of the troops assaulting the beach. Believe it or not, the German who manned this position survived, and escaped unhurt. He lived through the war, and after it was over, wrote a book about his experiences. He said in his book that he believed that he accounted for the most American deaths that day. He was not sorry, and he did not apologize. For him, it was his job, and he did his job.

The house pictured above was there on the 6th of June, 1944. Hard to believe, but it suffered very little damage during the invasion.

The beach above is Red Beach. This is where the Americans suffered their worst casualties. The first wave contained 192 men. Within a half hour, 130 of them were dead. With that total were nineteen young men from a small town named Bedford, Virginia. Bedford is where the D-Day Memorial is located. The French named a street after Bedford in memory of those young men who gave their lives on this beach.

The pictures above show just a little of what the Americans landing on Red Beach faced. In the photo on the left, the bunker that shows up under the house in the background contained an 88 millimeter piece of artillery. It's shells can take out a tank.

The photo on the right shows two more bunkers. The one to the left of the walkway contained a 20 millimeter canon, and the bunker in the hillside above the white building on the right contained a heavy machine gun.

These were only a few of the weapons that faced the Americans in this area of the beach. How any of the troops landing here survived is beyond comprehension.

The photo on the left was taken at the American Cemetery where almost 10,000 American troops have been laid to rest. Originally, it contained over 33,000, but at the end of the war, the government gave the relatives the choice between leaving them there, or having them returned to the states and buried at home. The relatives of over 22,000 took them up on the offer.

We noticed when we walked into the cemetery that there were no names visible on the crosses. The reason is because they are on the back side of the cross, the side that faces America.

The photo on the right is a wall that stands behind the monument by the entrance to the cemetery. It is in a half circle, and has thousands of names on it. These are the names of the men whose bodies were never found. It is not widely known that retrieving the bodies from the beach did not begin for three days after the landing. By that time, many of them had been washed out into the English Channel. If there is an asterisk beside the name, and there are a few, it means that remains of a sort were recovered after the wall was built.

The Germans began to fall back from the beach at one-thirty in the afternoon of June the 6th.

It is impossible to grasp everything that happened that day on this beach, and the others where landings took place. Our guide, Alain Chesnel, a Frenchman, took us on a ride around the area of the beaches. He stopped next to a rather large field. Across the field at the far end, we could see the English Channel. In order to show us how rapidly the battle developed, he told us that the initial waves hit the beach at 6:30 AM on the 6th. At 7:30 PM on the 7th of June, the field we were looking at had become an airfield, and the Americans were flying cargo planes into it, and removing the wounded.

I hope I am able to return here one day in the not too distant future. I would like to revisit this beach, and also visit the other beaches. I'd like to spend some time walking around them, absorbing the echoes of the men who came this way many decades ago, and left their spirits in order for me to live my life in freedom.

Alain Chenel's web site address is http://www.overlordtour.com/en/ww2/references.htm

There, you can learn about Alain and his attachment to the 29th Division, the division that landed on Omaha Beach. He is a very nice, interesting person, and he knows his D-Day history. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Normandy area and want an excellent tour, check out his web site.