Man & An Owl & Women Making & In History

Hello All,

2020 continues to excel, not always in a good way! I will be glad when November ends, and thus the end of hurricane season! (Though I am not sure 2020 doesn’t have more tricks up her sleeves!) We have surpassed 2005’s 28 named storms,  with 2020’s 30th storm named Iota. Many prayers for all of the people and places impacted by these storms.

There were so many stories this week that warmed my heart. I especially loved the one about the ICU patient – intubated and on the ventilator – playing the violin to thank the ICU staff that was caring for him! Grover Wilhelmsen is a retired orchestra teacher. He was in ICU battling Covid. He wrote a note to his nurses to ask his wife to bring his violin and viola to the ICU – which his wife did. He was able to play for the ICU staff a few times before he became too ill and required sedation. He is out of ICU now in a long-term acute care hospital, still on the ventilator and recovering. And his wife can now see him through the window to his room! The staff was uplifted by Mr. Wilhemsen’s incredible gifts – and so I am!

And then there is Rockefeller! When the crew was setting up the 75 foot tall Norwegian spruce at Rockefeller Center in New York, they uncovered a tiny hitchhiker! The workers saved the tiny owl – that was discovered to be a male Saw-whet, one of the tiniest breeds of owls. One of the worker’s wives called Ellen Kalish at The Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties, New York. Ms. Kalish said the owl – now named Rockefeller – was dehydrated and hungry, had no fracture or broken bones – and is recovering well with food and water. Ms. Kalish said “It’s the Christmas miracle of 2020.” If you did not get to see this lovely story, just google away. Rockefeller is adorable!

Another glass ceiling falls! The Miami Marlins announced that Kin Ng will be the team’s new general manager, the first woman to hold the position in Major League Baseball! She began her career as an intern with the Chicago White Sox and has moved up the ladder from there. With thirty years of baseball experience, she is the ideal candidate. Robert Manfred, the Commissioner of Baseball, said “Kim’s appointment makes history in all of professional sports and sets a significant example for millions of women who love baseball and softball.” Wear shoes everyone – there is glass all over the ground!

As you know, Facebook can occasionally be a place of knowledge and things that tweak my interest. Last week Pam, one of my friends, posted a short blurb that celebrated women called the Night Witches that served in World War II. I love reading about the contributions of women to society, and I had never heard of them. So, of course, you know my curiosity was piqued.

The Night Witches were the Russian all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiments. The Night Witches bombed the Nazis and only at night. Brynn Holland write an article for History (originally published on July 7, 2017 and updated June 7,2019) about these brave women “who flew under the cover of darkness in bare bones plywood biplanes. They braved bullets and frostbite in the air, while braving skepticism and sexual harassment on the ground. They were feared and hated so much by the Nazis that any German airman who downed one was automatically awarded the prestigious Iron Cross Medal.” They dropped more than 23,000 tons of bombs during their service.

Their nickname came from the German word “Nachthexen”, which translated to Night Witches. The only way the Germans knew the Night Witches were coming was because the “whooshing noise that the planes made resembled the sound of a sweeping broom.” The sound was because the daring pilots, actually idled their engines to avoid engine noises over the bombing target and glided to the point to drop their bombs! When they passed the bomb site, they had to reengage the engines. Talk about some gutsy women!

The squadron was devised and lead by Marina Raskova, who was called the Soviet Amelia Earhart. She was the first female navigator in the Soviet Air Force. She petitioned Joseph Stalin to allow her to form an all-female fighter squadron! This made the Soviet Union “the first nation to officially allow women to engage in combat.”

These brave women wore hand-me-down male uniforms and boots, often having to stuff their boots in order to make them fit. When they started, they did not have radios in their planes (another reason their approaches were so quiet). Their planes were so light they couldn’t even wear parachutes. Their planes could only carry two to six bombs, so the pilots often had to fly eight or more missions per night. In fact, some of the pilots flew over 800 missions during the war. Thirty-two pilots died, including Marina Raskova.

I am often amazed at how women are overlooked for their significant contributions to society. If you are as intrigued by this as I am, there are multiple books available on Amazon. I have started to read two of them.  “A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II” by Anne Noggle is filled with actual interviews of the Night Witches. Kate Quinn wrote a fictionalized historical novel about the Night Witches – “The Huntress”.

Intelligence – bravery – ingenuity – creativity – all critical traits of excellent leaders! A tease for next week’s Phyl Phacts!

I hope you continue to give thanks each day in this month of thanks giving. And I hope you also know how thankful I am for each of you!

Phyl

P.S. November 14th – pets! (Though I must admit I am a little prejudiced about George, Gene and Geoffrey.) November 15th – Cokes. November 16th – Lindt truffles (and especially at this time of year because of the yummy peppermint white chocolate truffles). November 17th – autumn leaves, and especially the gorgeous red and orange ones. November 18th – Christmas trees, real and artificial. And the incredible scent of balsam. November 19th – peanuts, pecans and cashews. November 20th – toilet paper and paper towels, which, quite frankly, I took for granted until 2020! (And, stars above! Hoarding has again commenced!)