4th in Lent or Mother's Day

I seem to have been rather lethargic this weekend, so this is going to be brief.   It has been a lovely warm day, I think the temperature got up to 80 at one point.

I went to the adult Sunday school at Emmanuel, but just didn't feel like going to the Service.  I contemplated several options, like the Episcopal church just outside Norman, but instead I joined Pattisue at University Baptist this evening, where they had an interesting speaker from OBU talking about the mission work the students there engage in.   I invited her back for some ice cream but she had things to do for her grand daughter.

I did have to go to Staples.   Because of my failing eyesight I needed a cross stitch chart enlarged.  I handed it to a young man who asked me how big I wanted it.  I wondered, rather irritably, why he had to confuse me, how do I know what dimensions would be possible, or best.   A woman would have just taken it away and got on with it.

Well, he certainly made it big enough.  I can see that. I hope I will be able to see the squares in the fabric equally well.   It is going to be a little cushion (I think, I might end up framing it) for Mark and Mary's lad who is getting married.  All the family are very much into Irish dancing, and the bride's parents are too.  Timothy went to Dublin a while ago to compete in an international event there.  So I thought this would be appropriate.

Watching the news I thought this was an interesting item on autism, we seem to hear a lot about it lately.

Apparently it affects 1 in 68 children, which I thought was rather high.   The average age of detection is four and a half, which is too late.   The earlier it is detected the better the chances of success in treatment.   It is fairly well known that it affects boys more than girls, and the ratio is 5:1.

I had quite a long nap this afternoon before going to University Baptist.   Perhaps tomorrow will be a more exciting day.

Friday, 29th March

As usual on Fridays I did my chaplaincy stint, went round both floors.   I think a new recruit is coming next week although I don't mind going round both, I don't feel quite so bad then at missing all the rooms with precaution notices outside, warning us to wear gowns and gloves and masks.  The hospital have even changed the precaution notices and are a bit more specific about the dangerous diseases lurking within, or the two of them that are very difficult to treat. 

Afterwards I had lunch with Bill in the cafeteria.  

Yesterday at the training day we were introduced to someone who will be joining us soon.  He is a pastor from California, and is intending to open a Cowboy Church in Shawnee.   What - I asked myself - is a Cowboy Church.  I guess the guys will be wearing blue jeans and stetsons, and the women prairie skirts, and they will sing hymns like "When it's Round Up Time in Heaven" and "Silver Spurs on the Golden Stairs"  (notice that I know my Gene Autry).  

However, I asked Fr Clark and this was his response -

Sweet Mother of Mercy!   Cowboy churches are "themed" communities, the idea being to associate being Christian with being macho, redneck, super-patriotic, derisive of science and education, and part of the "cool" cowboy sub-culture with its distinctive apparel and swagger.  So I fear your new chaplain is a dork.  I do hope I am wrong.

He also told me about a Raw Church where the preacher wears black spandex and lifts weights.  I told him I have got to go there.  I've got to get a picture of that for the folks back home.

 

Thursday 27th March

My usual early Thursday morning start, I picked up the donuts from Tecumseh but didn't stay for  Kiwanis,  Chaplain Bill was holding a Training day for chaplains at the hospital.   He did it very well, he had us sitting round a large conference table and encouraged conversation on the points he was making.

 

It was one of the chaplain's birthdays today and he bought an ice cream cake for us all to celebrate with her.  It was lovely.

 

Having a break and eating said ice cream cake.   Bill is standing up near the centre of the table, I was sitting opposite.

Afterwards we all had lunch in the cafeteria.   The Thursday Lenten lunch was being held at Emmanuel today, and I heard there was an exceptionally large crowd there, they ran out of seating space, and the parish hall isn't exactly small.

 

I don't think any of us - who can't fail to notice the striking resemblance between Prince Harry and James Hewitt - hasn't asked that question, but trust an American tabloid to splash it about.  What took them so long.  

 

Fortunately, hopefully, Prince Harry is too far down the Line of Succession for it to matter, and I don't see it making the British Press.  I don't suppose it ever entered Princess Diana's silly, empty head that having an affair could compromise the Line of Succession and bring down the monarchy.  I think Henry VIII had the right idea.  Cut off the heads of unfaithful wives.  Make an example of them.

If it isn't one scandal, it's another.

 

 

I know the evil Putin is a KGB thug, intent on restoring Russia to the former Soviet Union. but it is a bit of a stretch to pin this on him.    And two papers in a week, the Globe is going overboard with its rubbish.

 

Wednesday 26th March

I had two things to focus on today.  Going to the dentist - hygienist - in Norman this morning, and dessert for the Wednesday meal. 

I like the hygienist very much but think I really should look for a dentist in Shawnee.  Driving all the way to Norman is insane, it's like living in Seaford and going to a dentist in Chichester.  Who would do that!!   It started raining very heavily on the way there, and kept it up until well into the afternoon, it was a nightmare drive both ways.

It takes the hygienist an hour to do my teeth, and half of them are missing, it amazes me.

I made a fruit jelly for Wednesday's dessert at Emmanuel, and a moussey sort of thing with strawberry jelly and evaportated milk, whisked to double its volume.    I called at the church in the afternoon and dished up the jelly on to little plates, to make it easier for the meal team serving, and the kiddos picking it up.   With all my running around this morning though, I stayed in this evening, rather than go out for the meal.

 

It was not only very wet today, but really cold as well.    However, tomorrow looks better.

 

 

So does the week ahead............

Monday 24th March

There's a group of women at the church who make prayer pups, like this one....

this was actually given to Larry, but normally we chaplains distribute them to children admitted to hospital, and they don't have Bible verses sewn on them.   Anyway, the point of telling you this is to say I called at the hospital this morning to deliver a bag of them.  I found Bill and another chaplain in the cafeteria having lunch, and sat with them and 'visited' as they say here.    It was a lovely warm day  (although it started off pretty cold and I was very overdressed by lunchtime) and beef burgers were being grilled outside.   At Bill's suggestion I got myself one, with all the fixings that come with it, but I took it home to eat.

I also called at the Senior Centre for a visit with Louise, and my 5 minutes exercise on a bike.  I had an interesting conversation with someone who has fairly recently started working there.  I asked her where all the homeless couch potatoes had gone, and she told me with some glee that they had all cleared off.   They just wanted to sit on the sofa, and watch television, and drink (which they must have done very surreptitiously because alcohol is banned).   I murmured something sympathetic about them losing their home comforts, and she told me she'd been homeless, but now she had this job and was living with Marian - who assists Kate the Director .   I did feel very glad for her, she was so happy.

I finally today finished the afghan I'd been working on.

It is not as big as I thought it was when it was all piled up on my chest, while I worked on it.   I told the recipient I would bring it over in a suitcase when I come, and post my clothes beforehand.  But I think I can post it after all, I've got some of those bags where you vacuum the air out and it compresses everything.

Last few days

I think I can just about remember back to Thursday.  Our Kiwanis' speaker was the City Manager, and his main topic was the dispute going on at the moment between the four Indian Tribes in Shawnee, and the City.

 

Indians don't pay any Federal or state taxes (state taxes are like VAT, 8.5% paid on purchases, which finances all the City's services) but the Tribes run retail outlets, they have a supermarket I like on the way to Tecumseh, and the City managers are hacked off - with some justification it seems to me -  because the state tax, which white people like myself have to pay, isn't being passed on to the City.  There are angry confrontations, and threats of law suits.  

 

On Friday I was at the hospital in the morning, but the patient numbers were right down, so it didn't take me long to go round.   Chaplain Bill and his wife had gone to Iowa, they have just sold their house there and were moving the last of their possessions to Shawnee.

 

On Friday evening I had dinner with Bruce and Rosalyn at a Mexican restaurant in Tecumseh, and it was very pleasant.   I ordered shrimp faites (I haven't spelled that right) but didn't bother with the faites, I can't be doing with rolling the food up in a tortilla, I prefer to pick up a knife and fork and eat my rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa and shrimp, like a regular meal.

 

I have been out for a little shopping today, and did some things around the house, but I am on the last lap of a big crocheting project, so have been pressing on with that.

 

On the subject of shopping - I was standing in line at the checkout, and saw last week's copy of the Globe, the one about the Coronation, so I was reading it while I waited.   And the Coronation of William and Kate is going to be June 2015 (does Justin know?)  And the Queen hopes to attend, but she might not, because she has heart trouble and is crippled with arthritis, don't you know.   So she asked William and Kate to visit her tomb - on the same day - if she's not there.

19th March

I slept surprisingly well on my fold up bed at Emmanuel last night, and the alarm woke me at 5.30.   The Family Promise bus comes at 6 to pick up the guests, so we don't give them breakfast on weekdays.    A police car pulled into our car park just before 6, and I went out to tell him we were hosting Family Promise this week, and he said it was on his computer.   I guess he pulled in to make sure the bus turned up, and I appreciated that.  If the bus hadn't turned up I would have been glad to have turned to him.    The police here are really, really good, I can't talk too highly of them.

 

The Mystery of the Disappearing Plane has now - officially - become a criminal investigation.  It is being said here that the US should be handling it, the Malaysians are way in over their head.   And I think they've got a point.  And the way in which grieving Chinese relatives are being forcibly dragged out of the press conference for making a noise is nothing short of outrageous.   I have also learned that it isn't necessary to climb to 45,000 feet to kill the passengers.  The pilot can actually decompress the pressure in the cabin, from the cockpit.   It is macabre to think of the plane flying on to goodness-knows-where with all those dead passengers in the back.

 

I took this picture yesterday.   I love seeing these ceremonies, I find them incredibly moving.  The citation is read out (that's what is happening in the picture) detailing exactly what the hero did to be awarded the Medal of Honour.   There were 24 of them, all black or Hispanic, or Asian, who had been passed over in the past for an honour because of their race.   Only three of them were still alive, the others were all awarded posthumously.  At the end Obama invited the three to stand on the stage together, and they had a very, very long round of applause. 

 

Like I said, it was very moving.   And I have so much admiration for the US military, it is why I am happy to help fund raise for their care packages at the Senior Centre.   A point of view I don't think goes down very well with the Democrats.   Donna, who dropped off my cake box on Monday looked at me with shock and horror when I showed her the raffle prize I'd won, and said I was going to donate it to the Senior Centre for a raffle for veterans.    She said she was a peacenik.   How can anyone be a peacenik in the 21st century?   What the US military are doing, what they have been doing for twelve long years  since 9/11, is fighting a global war on terror, which affects all of us.   And I am as willing as an American to thank them for their service.    

 

And with that I'll jump off my soapbox.

 

 

18th March

Been running round town this morning.   Stopped at the Senior Centre for a little (10 minutes) exercise on one of those bikes that don't go anywhere.  There are those who would tell me to not even think about getting on a bike that does go somewhere.

 

While there I looked in at the gospel singers and got a friendly welcome, so stopped for a while.   I asked this lady if she minded me taking her picture 'as she looked so pretty dressed up like this'.   And I wanted you to see how they so go over the top here for St Patrick's Day (which was actually yesterday, but you would want to get as much mileage as possible out of the outfit, wouldn't you).  Bless.

 I tried to imagine one of our seniors in Denton dressed up like this for St Patrick's Day, and decided I just live on another planet here.

 

 

Is this going to be before, or after, their Coronation?   While in the supermarket I tried to find a copy of the previous Globe to look inside, see what the date of the Coronation is - I know they keep you in the dark about these things - but they are only on sale for a couple of days and a new one comes out. 

 

 

Sleepovers at the Palace.   Whatever next.

 

 

I took this from the bottom of my garden, through the fence,  I knew these people were breeding pit bulls, but this is taking it to a whole new level, and as Sir Winston famously said "it is something up with which I will not put".   When I'm in the computer room I am annoyed at the constant barking in the middle of the night.   I am sleeping tonight at Emmanuel because it is Family Promise Week, but if they are barking tomorrow night I will be on the phone to the police.   And even if they are not barking tomorrow night I am not sure this is allowed within the City limits.  I will make enquiries.



 



 

St Patrick's Day

Everyone has been out and about, wearing their green, in spite of the fact that there aren't any Irish Americans in Shawnee.   It just seems to be a general US holiday, almost.   I was running round town on my errands, and called at the Senior Centre.

I thought it was time for another little fund raising event in aid of care packages for Veterans, and I decided to donate this for a raffle prize, or silent auction prize, whatever Kate thinks, she is away at the moment as it is Spring Break   I have a few other things, I need to have a little turnout.

At the Democrats fund raiser on Saturday I took a chocolate cake for dessert, and Donna in charge of the event stopped by to return the box it was in.   We agreed that the event was rather boring, half the room left before the end, but she said some speakers had travelled a long distance to get there, so she didn't feel she could limit their time.   However they raised over $2000 for the local Democrats, which was very good.     

Other than that I have just been watching the news, following the mystery of the disappearing aircraft which officially became a criminal investigation today.   One theory being bandied about quite a bit today is that the plane climbed to 45,000 feet, which would cause the oxygen masks to drop down, but they only have 15 minutes of oxygen (I think I would rather not have known that) so the passengers are all dead on the plane and unable to interfere with whatever mischief the pilot or co-pilot is getting up to,

The weather started off chilly, but warmed up.   This is what it's going to be during the night

 

And the next few days.......................

2nd Sunday in Lent

Memo to my loved ones - would  you pick me up a commemorative mug, which they must be turning out now, seeing that they know the date of the Coronation.   And a tea towel would be nice, if you didn't mind.

I went to the 10.30 at Emmanuel, and that was a bit of a struggle to get there in time, but it wasn't an option, I was down to read.

My kettle died this morning.  I fill the kettle, switch it on, and often times forget about it, but I naively expect - silly me - that when the kettle boils it will turn itself off, like they do at home.   But kettles here are temperamental, they just turn themselves off when they feel like it, and after it has boiled dry a few times it gives up the ghost, like it did this morning.

This is the box of the new kettle, replacement 150.  Being another Chinese import I get through as many kettles as I do alarm clocks.

  As you can see, it has 'auto shut off', ha ha.   We shall see.

Saturday 15th March

One thing about the weather here is that we get what is forecast.  We had the 60% chance of rain, and a thunderstorm, the rain was actually very heavy, but then it mostly is.

I think I am still suffering the effect of the clocks going forward last weekend, at least that is my excuse for being so lethargic.   I went out this evening though to the Democrats' St Patrick's Day fundraiser, although I am not sure why they celebrate St Patrick's Day - Irish Americans in Shawnee are like hens teeth.    I have been in the past and enjoyed it, they have had entertainment, and a little Irish music, that was what I was looking forward to, but I was disappointed this evening, it was just one long, interminable speech after another.    I went with Pattisue, it was held in Tecumseh which is outside my range of driving in the dark.   Had I driven myself I would have left a lot sooner, but she was rapt, I think she was the only one who was, at least half the room had left before the end.

 

Fortunately, I did at least have my C-Nook in my bag to relieve the boredom.

 

Breaking the habit of a lifetime I actually posted something on someone's Facebook page, it was on the page of  an irritating tv contributor I don't even watch, but caught while channel hopping.  Democrats here accuse Republicans of waging war on women, heaven knows why, I never hang around long enough to listen, but this guy was holding forth on what he called the 'Real War on Women'.  It makes me so angry.  Anyone who wants to know about the real war on women should go to Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan.   It is the Taliban waging war on women, not stupid politicians in the US.    That was what I posted on his Facebook page (or something to that effect).  I would have sent an e-mail, but that was beyond the competence of my computer, that's why I went to Facebook instead.

 

The Mystery of the Disappearing Plane (I can see a film coming out one day about this) has become a whodunit.    It seems to be generally agreed that the plane continued flying for several hours after it dropped off the radar.   The background of everyone on board has been investigated, and I think they probably discovered there was no one else on board capable of flying the aircraft, so now suspicion has turned to the flight crew.  Either the pilot, co-pilot, or both, are the baddies.   I just wish they'd find it.  If this was a book I'd have turned to the back by now.

Friday 14th March

I was late going to the hospital this morning, As I told Chaplain Bill, I just didn't seem able to get myself out of bed this morning.   He thought it was the clocks going forward, it does seem to affect us more than we think, or more than I ever thought.

I haven't been water walking lately,  with the arctic weather we have had in recent weeks it has been much too cold to think about it. I think I will cancel my YMCA subscription and exercise on the Senior Centre's new exercise equipment.   I was there this afternoon, I went to hang out with Louise for a little while, and while there I tentatively tried it.  I think all the homeless couch potatoes have moved on to pastures new, they are not exercising.    I said I will be back on Monday morning to exercise in earnest.

As I indicated the other day I have been avidly following the mystery of the disappearing aircraft.    With all the interviews with the dozens of experts who have been on television, holding forth on what could, might, possibly, or not possibly have happened to the aircraft I know a great deal more about aviation than I ever did, including all that goes on in the cockpit.     There is a great deal of aggravation with the Malaysians because they are not keen on sharing information, they are not used to doing so, and there is a big cultural issue on saving face.    

Tonight they seem fairly certain that someone continued to fly the aircraft for 4-5 hours after it lost contact.   Sky piracy (that's a new word, or two words I'd never heard of) seems to be the current theory, and it looks at the moment that they expect to find some wreckage in the Indian Ocean, where they are searching at the moment.

The weather has been quite nice.    This is what it is currently -

Apart from Sunday next week looks quite nice.

Bubbles is waiting for me to turn in.  As soon as I get up and turn the lights out she will spring to her feet.

Tuesday 11th March - Mystery of the Disapearing Aircraft

The plot thickens.   I know you get all this news over there, I am just giving my interpretation of it, based on how it is reported here.

Apparently this aircraft's transponder, which identifies the aircraft,  had been turned off before the aircraft suddenly changed direction, which the crew would not have done, so it is assumed that highly suspicious activities must have been going on in the cockpit.  What is further confusing everybody is the fact  there is a tiny island in the middle of the ocean which picked up a radar signal as the plane flew over in the opposite direction of its  supposed flight path, and apparently the Malaysian military were aware of this all the time different nations were spending hundreds of millions of dollars searching for the plane in the wrong place.  

 

Also, until a few hours ago passengers cell phones were merrily ringing away, suggesting that they were not down in the water.

 

I look forward to tomorrow's developments.

 

I had to call at the Senior Centre, and while there took this picture.    This lounge had two large, very soft, comfy sofas in it, and the homeless seniors liked to relax on them, and watch telly.   But Kate decided it was time to get these couch potatoes exercising, so took the sofas out and installed this exercise equipment.  

 

Part of me sees the hilarious side of it, the other part feels sorry for the homeless losing their comfy daytime billet.    And as you can see no one is exercising.  I'll ask her tomorrow if she is going to leave them there.

 

People here call the Emergency Services for the weirdest things - like being attacked by their cat.

 

 

 

This is the offending cat,which is 22lbs, which might be big, I don't know what Bubbles is - but surely a human being can outsmart a cat!   I would have grabbed the duvet off the bed, and wrapped the cat in it while it was wondering what hit it.   I would have liked to have known what the despatcher said.

 

And they are not getting rid of the cat by the way, it is having therapy.   I still wouldn't trust it round my 7 month old child.

 

Mark and Mary invited me to their son's wedding in May, so I decided it called for a nice cross stitched picture, and/or card to go with it.    So I went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon in Midwest City, which is a HUGE craft emporium.

 

The founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby is a member of the religious right, and currently there is a lawsuit being filed because he refuses to provide health care - Obama Care - for his employees, on the grounds that providing contraception violates his religious beliefs. 

 

What I don't understand, and no one seems able to tell me, is why the employees can't buy their own contraception.   By definition, they are working, and therefore have the means to pay for it.  I just can't -  for the life of me - figure why they expect it to be provided by their employer.    Another weird facet of America I can't get my head round.

 

Fr Clark - who is very anti the religious right, and Hobby Lobby in particular - sent me a memo suggesting I boycott Hobby Lobby.   But I told him I love the place, and this is where my principles, even if I had any, would meet their Waterloo, no way would I boycott it.

Monday

It has been a lovely day, I haven't been out though apart from stepping out on to the porch from time to time.     I haven't been very well, had a double whammy with my head - the pain and also the onset of a migraine.   I took something strong which shifts the migraine, but nothing seems to touch the other pain in the base of my skull, but lying on a hot water bottle helps.    So I slept on and off through the day.

 

During the time I was awake I was riveted to the news about the missing airliner.  It is like living through a mystery novel, except that it is not moving fast enough, but you couldn't make it up.

 

Plane climbs up to the safest point of the flight, when it is cruising on auto pilot, then vanishes into thin air.  Then the narrative  goes down several dead ends which don't lead anywhere.   Radar data suggests that the plane did a U turn to go back, but didn't make any contact to say they were going back.   An oil slick is discovered, so it is at first thought it had gone down there, but lab tests showed it wasn't jet fuel.   Two passengers boarded the flight with stolen passports.   Lots of speculation there.  Were they terrorists, did they take over the plane?????   

 

Then it was revealed that their tickets were one way; bought the previous day by an Iranian; who paid cash.    Much gnashing of teeth there.    The self righteous were demanding to know why - in those circumstances - the passports weren't run through Interpol's stolen passport database. 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing.  (pause, while I reflect on the fact that mine was lost since I've been here, the one I have now has never been used to travel - mine must be one of the 40 million on the database).    I predict long delays at airports while all passports, for a while at least, are going to be run through the database.

 

It is not, however, being assumed that these two guys with stolen passports were terrorists.  No, flying around south east Asia with false passports is actually quite common, but nothing to do with disappearing aircraft.   Thailand apparently is a hotbed of stolen passports and people smuggling.  I keep wondering where my passport is.

I hope there are more developments tomorrow.  Like a book, or a film, that is moving too slowly I want to get to the end.  Know where the plane is.

 

Looks like it's going to be a nice day.  83 must be the warmest day this year, so far.   I am just off to bed, as you see I took this at 3.09 am.    But then having slept a good part of the day I wasn't very sleepy.

Sunday

After I posted the picture of the supermarket tabloid yesterday I was on a BBC website, and saw  there is a furore over there because Kate and William are holidaying in the Maldives, leaving the offspring with its grandparents, the Middletons.    My first thought was "where are they penny pinching, I'll have to go back to the supermarket and read the inside".    This thought was swiftly followed by "HELLS TEETH, the nation should be rejoicing that this kid is having a normal childhood, which includes staying with loving grandparents, unlike the Queen's own children".  

There must be thousands of people my generation who remember the early years of the Queen's reign when she went on a very long tour of the Commonwealth - it was months- and there was furore then because she left the children behind - shut up in  Buckingham Palace with nannies.  Not that the Queen - with a grandmother like Queen Mary - could have any concept of  ordinary, loving, grandparents.   I mention Queen Mary because I remember reading somewhere Princess Alexandra said the reason she has sat up straight, all her life, was because she was Queen Mary's granddaughter, it had been drilled into her.  The Queen's children probably had better grandparents, but they were busy.  

Thinking about it, and writing this, has made me realise how far the Royal Family has advanced into the 21st century.

I'm beginning to sound like a journalist, writing a column, so I'll change the subject.   The alarm clock worked this morning and went off, thankfully, because I was sound asleep, so I am hopeful it might last a bit longer than usual.

Picked up the donuts, and went to the 8 o'clock service.    It was a big day at Emmanuel because the Bishop came for a confirmation service.

I didn't stay for the confirmation, I went home after the 8 o'clock, then came back for lunch, which was - as usual - very nice indeed.  The church provided the tender ribs and chicken, and the wine, and people brought side dishes.   I took some cakes I had in the freezer for dessert.

Having lost an hour's sleep last night, and getting up early for donuts, I slept soundly for an hour and a half when I got home.

Saturday 8th March

On Thursday morning I had to get the donuts from Tecumseh for Kiwanis.   As I hadn't replaced the last rubbishy alarm clock I set my cell phone alarm, confident that couldn't let me down.  Fortunately I woke up in time, because it didn't go off, and as I have to be up early tomorrow morning - Sunday - for the donuts for Emmanuel I decided I had better invest in another alarm clock, so set off for Walmart before it got too busy this morning.

Instead of getting a $2.80 something alarm I decided to lash out, and paid $12.87 for something I hope will last a bit longer than the five minutes I had the last one.   Decided that on my next trip home I will buy one that will still be made in China, but a much better quality than the Chinese imports sold here.

The Kiwanis speaker was quite interesting, talking about her job as a nurse at the Early Learning Childhood Centre, a kindergarten in a lovely modern building, and said to be the best in Oklahoma.

On Thursdays in Lent different churches in the town host a Lenten lunch, generally soup and sandwiches, and a small group from Emmanuel attended the first one.

Friday morning I was at the hospital, there is still only me and Chaplain Bill there on Fridays. and I went round both floors, and most of the rooms were occupied.  There seems to be a lot of patients in with pneumonia. 

Today, after my shopping trip,  I was mostly engrossed in a good book on my C-Nook, so that is all I have really been up to the last couple of days.

The weather has been intensely cold today, but looks as if it is going to get better.

 

 

 

 Monday and Tuesday look quite nice. 









Tonight the clocks go forward (unless you live in Arizona) O Joy, O Rapture, I've been looking forward to that for so long.  I just hate dark evenings.   I have even been toying with the idea of taking a little trip, with a longer evening I should manage it in a day.   To the Heritage Centre of the Cherokee Nation; it is a couple of hours away, two and a half actually.  Perhaps a bit more for me because I keep stopping to stretch my legs.   It is over in the north east of the state, north of Tulsa.   I'll see how it goes.

And the latest on the supermarket stands....

As she is 85 I guess she has enough to tide her over.  We were told last Christmas that it would be her last.

Ash Wednesday

I went to the service at noon today at Emmanuel.   There was another one in the evening for those who work.   But I didn't go up for a sooty black mark on my face - the imposition of ashes - it isn't really something I am used to in the churches I've belonged to in the past.    Otherwise I have just been in the  house.

The spoiled kid is still dominating all the talk shows.  I wondered who was paying her legal fees and apparently it is the boyfriend's father.   No wonder her parents didn't approve of the boyfriend, if that's the father he has.   Any responsible adult would send her back home to heal her relationship with her parents.   From time to time the news would go to the unimportant stuff, like Russia and Ukraine.

Another item widely reported is that of a mother who drove her car into the sea at Daytona Beach in Florida, with her three children in the back, screaming "Mummy's trying to kill us".   Mercifully there were people on the beach who rushed to the rescue.  They got two children out alright, but it was harder to get the 3 year old out of his car seat, and they only just managed it.   The mother is in hospital undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.   I have heard it said that the mental health services in this country are very poor, and they have seemed to me to be so.  

The weather has been better than the last couple of days.  The little dears are back at school.   When it is time to make up for these lost school days in the Spring Break there will be controversy because parents will have booked up a holiday.

Next Monday and Tuesday look nice.

Shrove Tuesday

I went to Emmanuel this evening for my pancakes.   The church youth ran the event and it was in aid of their summer camp.   I took my own lemon and sugar, Americans haven't heard of that on pancakes.   But I did have a helping of crispy bacon as well.

Everyone was asked to bring their palm crosses from last year - but I, predictably, forgot, it is still pinned on my notice board.   Then they were burned to provide the ashes for tomorrow's Ash Wednesday service.

I couldn't focus this very well, but you get the idea.

I was out and about early this morning because I thought it was the Kiwanis' bake sale, but the schools - and therefore the Senior Centre as well - were closed because of the bad weather. 

There was still quite a bit of snow about, but I got around town all right on my errands.   The sun was out all day and when I looked outside later in the afternoon it had practically all gone,

In the news...........

We've all smiled haven't we, at litigious Americans and their lawsuits, but this spoiled kid takes them to a whole new level.   Basically, there was a teenage/parent meltdown because her parents didn't like, or approve of her boyfriend.   I've never had a teenage daughter but I am sure this is a scenario that plays out in millions of homes, on both sides of the Atlantic.   Kids are told to toe the line, follow the rules, that's what responsible parents do, and with all their life experience they are in a far better position to know what is right for their kids.

But this kid left home, alleging that her parents threw her out.  I suspect the sub text was 'give up the boyfriend or else'.   So she moves out and leaves this charming voice mail for her parents -

 

Anyway, the judge recognised that to allow this kid to sue her parents is going to open a whole tsunami of law suits from aggrieved kids who don't want to follow the rules.  He said there will be kids demanding iPads, then suing their parents if they don't get them.   There is going to be another hearing though at the end of April.    Watch this space..............

I've not felt all that well today, I have got the headache back at the base of my skull.  It is worse than migraine because migraine responds to medication, but this doesn't.   I have just been lying on a hot water bottle.   I hope it doesn't last too long.

Sunday

Winter is still with us, and still brutal. 

But I guess it could be worse, like Minneapolis.

 

I looked out early and it was obvious I was not going anywhere.

So I stayed in crocheting what is turning out to be - I think - the biggest Afghan I've made.  I'll take a picture when it is finished.

 

As I couldn't go running up the road for my Sunday take-out from Golden Corrall, I decided to re-purpose the odds and ends languishing in my fridge.

Cooked two salmon fillets yesterday which I couldn't finish.  I added what was left to a bit of cream cheese left in a container, and a manky looking lemon, and made a pate.

It was quite nice with some good bread, and will also be nice in a sandwich with some cucumber.

I had some stale raisin cinnamon bread, and about 3 cartons of eggs in the fridge, so made a very nice bread pudding, the custard part was made with about six eggs.  I really scoffed that.

The chicken stock had a very nice flavour, I'd made it from a rotisserie chicken.   I dragged the peas out from the back of the freezer, and used up the bit of cream.

A bit of mint mixed in might have been nice.   I thought of crisping up a bit of bacon to put on top, but didn't have the energy.   So these were my meals, not bad for leftovers.

 

If a doctor ever wants to put a stethoscope on me I'll tell him to get an antiseptic wipe.

 

And to finish - as I started - with the weather...........