Georgia Veterans State Park, Cordele, Georgia
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ~ Matthew 6:26
If you would’ve told me two years ago that we could sit around for a day and spend inordinate amounts of time bird watching from our chairs, I’d’ve thought you were crazy. And probably would’ve told you so.
But today, that’s exactly what we did!
Oh, I worked on the blog some, and Blaine had things he was doing, but in the afternoon, we just sat. I guess it’s a sign that we’re aging, that we need a rest day after hiking a few extra miles, but we’re not admitting to that! 😊
While I don’t have any pictures of these so-called birds, nevertheless, we observed them – an osprey fishing, swallows dipping into the water as they scooped up the water bugs . . . . Oh! And don’t forget about the goose family – mama, daddy and five little ones wandering up and down the bank. But the most fun was the mockingbird fending off the cardinal who kept infringing on ‘his territory’.
The reason for the rivalry? It was all Blaine’s fault.
After lunch, he’d emptied the potato chip crumbs out onto the corner of our lot. Evidently, the mockingbird felt they belonged to him, even though he wasn’t eating them. The cardinal felt they were fair game. The cardinal would look around, swoop down to stand by the chips, and most of the time, before he could grab one, the mockingbird dove like a WWII Allied fighter plane after the Red Baron, and they’d both fly up into the trees on the opposite side of the lot. Every time the cardinal came around. Even when the mockingbird was nowhere to be seen, he somehow knew when that red bird was on the ground!
Blaine also fed two squirrels peanuts while we were out there. One wasn’t too bright. At least in the ‘find the peanut’ category. If he didn’t see where it landed, he couldn’t find it.
And now, I’ve resorted to inane reporting.
I was so caught up in bird watching, I forgot to mention our bike ride around the Park this morning! We also stopped by the Visitor Center and walked through their military museum. It was a nice, well-done little museum.
This collection of paper money, officially called Southern Development Bank Notes are examples of a special currency issued by the Japanese Military Authority after the conquest of various Asian countries during World War II.
In early 1942 the Japanese Government passed laws to establish two Banks. The Wartime Finance Bank loaned money primarily to aid war ventures such as power generation, ship building and petroleum, whilst the Southern Development Bank was established to provide financial services in occupied territories.
In an attempt to proclaim independence from the Western world, Japan produced this replacement currency to be used in the various areas they occupied which by the end of the war included: the Philippines, Malaya, Burma, North Borneo, Sarawak (now Malaysia), Singapore, Brunei, the Dutch East indies (now Indonesia) and some areas of Oceania (New Guinea and the Solomon and Gilbert Islands).
The first country to have it introduced was the Philippines where the Japanese military confiscated all hard currency and then replaced it with the Southern Development Bank Notes. The locals called it ‘Mickey Mouse Money’.
All notes bear the words “The Japanese Government” and depending on which country they are for, each note bears different names and serial numbers and/or letters.
The currency was worthless after liberation and much of the money was burned.
(Never let it be said I posted an entirely inane post!)
And our short walk this evening.
Smelled heavenly, but too far away to eat.