Band of Brothers finally arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon, and I managed to watch the first four (of ten) episodes last night along with Dan, who is a WW2 scholar.
I am even more firmly convinced now that it is the finest thing made for television that I have ever seen.

The mini-series is about "Easy Company", a group of paratroopers who fought in WW2. They parachuted in behind enemy lines to open things up for the regular army units to invade. The company took something like 150% casualties over the course of the war.

The first four episodes dealt with their training in the American south, with their actions in Normandy on D-Day where they jumped in behind the Nazi defenses of the beaches, subsequent battles in Normandy, and the last with them parachuting into Nazi occupied Netherlands. There is graphic violence and some swearing, both very realistic under the circumstances (battle scenes).

Each episode begins with snippets of interviews with the men who actually served in Easy Company.

I cannot stress enough the high quality of this production. Think a ten hour long movie with very high production values, all based upon the letters, diaries, and memories of the men who served, along with official historical sources.

Today, of course, was a work day. It was quiet, which was good as my million mosqito bites from last night's flower planting are very itchy and are driving me nuts!! I am about to take some benadryl, to kill the itchiness and make me sleep like a log.  

There is a terrifying looking hurricaine about to hit New Orleans. Katrina looks like the storm everyone in that area has been dreading for years, a catastrophic storm which might do a huge amount of damage to that large and historic city, which is below sea level. It is supposed to make its way up here on Wednesday, and even after traveling across so much land, we will still get 4-8 inches of rain from that thing. Amazing! I hope the coastal areas which will be hit have been fully evacuated, and that the people who did not leave (for whatever reasons) will somehow be safe.

And my son will two have two extremely muddy soccer games on the road this week!

Tomorrow one of my friends is turning 42. So we are having a little birthday party for her. Should be fun!!

Speaking of birthdays, we are trying to decide where to go (if anywhere) for my birthday, as I have a long weekend for it in October. I had been seriously considering Chicago, but that's out of the question for now. I wouldn't mind going up north, and seeing the gorgeous fall leaves...but Frankenmuth would also be just fine. We'll have to see.