A Love Story
The real life characters that this story is based on, were referenced in my post a couple of weeks ago. My reading on the subject resulted in an unrelated storyline about fate. About an uncaring universe where the godless (like me) still see signs of karma, or kismet all around us. Psychologists say it is a byproduct of our intellect. We can't help but see patterns of cause and effect wherever we look. We treasure those random twists of circumstance that are weaved into the tapestry of our lives. My favourite aspect of this phenomena is how and when it results in lifelong affection. Love.
It is to be hoped that we all have that creation story (about love) told and remembered from a very individualistic standpoint at least once in our lives. (Some of us, have more than one ... unfortunately). The first time I saw him (or her). Our first conversation. The dawning awareness that this was something different. That dance. That kiss. How our families became involved. Challenges. Victories. Children. And those relationship memories; are what makes us, how we think, who we are. This story is one of those, but without the happy ending, played out on grander stage. Today, it is a historical footnote. A line in a book. A Google search. But for Karl and Sophie, it was simply their story. The kind that all couples have. That all couples tell.
Karl's family is rich. Uber rich. Sophie, while from good stock, could only observe this sort of lifestyle by serving in the household of Karl's uncle. This is a tale as old as time, so we all know what happened next. Their two year secret affair is exposed when his Aunt looks at the picture inside his gold pocket watch which he had left on a table by the tennis courts. Instead of finding a picture of her sister-in-law, she found a picture of her own Lady In Waiting! Oh the frigging horror of it all. After much wringing of the hands, gnashing of the teeth and an outright refusal to end the relationship, they are allowed to marry, but with conditions. She can't inherit, nor can her children. She can't participate in family events. She can't attend public functions. She is spurned by everyone in his family. So they marry quietly and find solace in their own children and in travel (where she is not treated as a pariah). She bears him three strong children and to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary they travel to a rustic town on the extreme southern edge of his families influence.
Long bottled up hatred of him and what he stands for, energizes a local terrorist organization when his travel plans become known. Seven fanatics are coached and armed with a single revolver , a grenade and a cyanide capsule. They line the streets determined to strike a blow for their people's independence. Now, here is where fate, karma, kismet seems to intervene in a string of events so far fetched, they would be unbelievable had they not actually happened. Riding in an open car, our happy couple comes down the main boulevard by the river. Seven assassins line their route. As the car approaches, the first one loses his nerve and sinks back into the crowd. The second, throws his grenade, it bounces off the car before going off with a not inconsiderable bang injuring several people on the sidewalk . The third, takes the cyanide pill and throws himself into an empty canal where he is arrested. The rest hearing the commotion all run away, expect for one. He ducks into a local cafe and sits down. The couple are shaken but unharmed. They continue to city hall where they are received with the pomp and circumstance usually denied them when closer to home. Sophie is thrilled. After being received and fetted by city officials they decide to visit the injured innocent bystanders at the local hospital on their way back to their rooms. No one thinks to tell their driver. When he makes a wrong wrong turn, an official in the car demands that he stop. He slams on the brakes and the car stalls, right in front the cafe where the seventh assassin has been sitting for the past hour. Gavrilo Princip rises, takes five steps onto the street, raises his gun, turns his head away and blindly fires two shots into the back of the open car. Franz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Joseph Maria, presumptive heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie were each hit once, both fatally, and died in each others arms!
Even though it was a terrorist group (The Black Hand) that committed the crime, the perpetrators were Serbian. Vienna saw this as their chance to finally take care of little Serbia, long a festering problem on their southern border. They issue an ultimatum which they know Serbia cannot accept. Little Serbia has a big brother, Russia. They state up front, that if Serbia were threatened, they would mobilize. Germany, an ally of Austria-Hungary announces that if Russia mobilizes, they would be forced to declare war. Now the dominos start to fall. Vienna declares war on Serbia and Russia. Germany declares war on Russia and to protect against a two front war, they need to immediately invade France, a Russian ally. To get to France, they go through Belgium. Belgium has a big brother too. Great Britain. They call up troops from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India and South Africa. Japan, Italy and the United States would eventually jump in and all in all, thirty counties would decide this was a good idea. Eighteen million died. Rule by royalty ended for four empires. I have to wonder that if that young prince looking across a ballroom at his Aunt's Lady In Waiting, could have known all that was to follow? Would he still have walked over and introduced himself?
I think the romantic in all of us would like to say yes. I'm not so sure. When is it ever a good idea to bang the maid?
Our Optimum Week
Mmmm. A very short list of things to grab if you decide to shop at Zehr's this week. Looking through all of the flyers, most of the "deals" are not really deals? Making the large shrimp ring $28 and then giving you $8 back in points, just puts it where it should be anyway? I searched around, but they all know it's Easter and you will have to spend if you didn't plan ahead. There are seven little 10% continuity deals and an overall 15K for the $150 spend. Nothing really works to launch any deals to my second base level of grooviness? (BTW - That thing didn't blow up. I'd have taken odds?). Apple gift cards are on at Zehr's. Golf Town cards at Shoppers. Yesterday, I shopped the Freshco / Food Basics deals I gave you last week. Schneider's Applewood smoked ham half price and a bin of veggies for nine dollars! We are having ham, roast potatoes and cauliflower with cheese sauce. It will cost about seven dollars to feed both of us. Leftover ham through next week. You know what SWMBO says: Mitchie is always right. Well, she thinks it. Quietly to herself. Or so I'm told. I have no idea what goes on in there!
What I'm Reading
Mostly Chinese noodle recipes. I got on this kick after watching a YouTube video from Americas Test Kitchen on Dan Dan Noodles. It's a multi-step, difficult recipe and gathering the authentic ingredients has been a journey. Did you know your phone can look at the label in the Ethnic supermarket and translate it into English? This will be my first cooking video as soon as I get a handle on this MacBook and Final Cut Pro. I'm shooting for May. In the meantime, after forty years of trying, I am eating some of the best Chinese food, I have ever made.
We Are Watching
Go back and watch Charlie Wilson's War if you get a chance? Largely overlooked when it came out, I had forgotten how great it really is. Google says "It's a smart and sophisticated piece of political comedy for grown-ups with sharp performances and a delightful anti-hero who embraces his imperfections and scandalous behavior". It's Tom Hanks, Ned Beatty, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and an excellent supporting cast. It's also a true story. Five stars.
The Walsh Sisters on BBC - Remember Aiden Quinn, the long suffering police lieutenant trying to harness Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary? He is back leading a fantastic cast of unknowns in a modern day comedy drama about four sisters navigating life in modern day Ireland. It is the (pleasant) surprise of the season so far. Four stars.
... and finally
I can't get a break with this dog. After our struggles with giardia, related vomiting and diarrhea, a potential liver shunt, multiple vet visits and three round of antibiotics, Milo is flourishing. Up over five pounds, it is time for the old attitude adjustment though the removal of the balls! So I have him in for a pre-neuter check-up and I get the long face from the vet. One of his testicles has not dropped and none of his baby teeth have come out naturally. These are known problems for these tiny dogs with pushed in faces and it is nothing that cannot be fixed. All it will take is countless sleepless nights and more than I paid for my last motorcycle. Sigh. I heard a comedian talking about homeless people walking around with pets. He says, when he sees a dog looking up at his homeless owner, they must be thinking ... "you know if living on the street was your plan, I could have done that on my own!"
