Saturday 6th July

I had to go to Barnes & Noble in Norman today.  My C-Nook reader wasn't charging, I didn't know if it was the device or the charger at fault so I took both, and I had stupidly put the cable for the C-Nook into the wrong plug. That's what comes of having all these gizmos - cell phones, i-Pads, C-Nooks, laptops - one has to make sure of having not only the right cable in the right device, but the right plug at the end of it.

It was a long way to go to discover in  two minutes I'd made a silly mistake, but I didn't mind too much, Barnes & Noble is a huge, huge bookshop with a Starbucks in the middle of it, so I browsed the bookshelves, bought a book on Oklahoma, and sat down in Starbucks.

 I think I might take some trips off the beaten paths.   Although I know that Oklahoma is south of the Mason Dixon line, one doesn't, or I didn't, think of it as a "southern" state, but according to the Introduction there is biscuits and gravy on the breakfast table (retch, vomit) fried chicken at supper, and they talk slow, all of which makes it southern.

On the subject of trips.  I had one of those robot telephone calls this morning informing me I was the LUCKY WINNER of a cruise to the western Caribbean.  Actually, I was also a lucky winner last year and I enquired then as to what the 'catch' was.  The catch is that they want to fill the ship with people they hope will spend money in the bars etc., so they give away the cabins they haven't sold.  And the cruise is only three days.   Now, if I lived in Miami where one embarks  I would probably take advantage of it.  A free cruise, albeit three days, around the western Caribbean might be quite nice.  And I wouldn't HAVE to spend money in the bars, I could drink water, but it certainly isn't worth it if I have to fly from here to Miami.

I'll stick to my dream of a trip to Tennessee, to the Smoky Mountain National Park, which is more feasible.  It's only (gulp) 600 and something, miles from here to Memphis on the Arkansas/Tennessee state line, and another 600 odd miles from Memphis to the Smoky Mountains.  It is more do-able than the same distance in Britain, 
not that one can drive 600 miles without falling into the sea.

An illustration of the extremes of weather here - 

You know how we measure rainfall in inches...here it is all in FEET.

 And in Shawnee.........

Perhaps I'll stay in on Tuesday.  Anything in triple digits is too hot for me.