Monday 29th - last few days

My lovely neighbour over the road, Dale, has left her little fat, redneck husband. She went away at the beginning of August then came back on Saturday for the rest of her things.     I have been feeling sad because I miss her warm, friendly presence over the road, but I know she is better off where she is, which is near her daughter in Texas.   I had a chance to talk to her briefly on Saturday as she was leaving, and she gave me her phone number, so I will keep in touch.

 

On Sunday Emmanuel had its annual service and picnic at St Crispin's, the Episcopal Church's retreat centre, about half an hour away.   It was a nice service with some very lively music from a jazzy group.   I took something for the potluck picnic, but then decided not to stay.   The young, athletic, and fun loving - none of which is me - were going hiking and swimming after lunch.  

 

I came home to watch the war on tv.   The war-that-is-not-really-a-war, even though jets are taking off and bombs are being dropped, and four star generals are insisting that it (whatever 'it' is) can't be won without ground forces.   Mind you, the generals are calling it a war, it's only Obama who can't bring himself to do so.   Any more than he can say the words "jihadists" and "Islamic terrorists". 

 

Last Monday I stopped by Emmanuel and found someone making up all the sack lunches for the homeless by herself, so I stopped to give her a hand, and this morning I went again to help, it's quite a big job.    Afterwards I took the flowers from Emmanuel to the hospital chapel, and had lunch in the restaurant there.   Chaplain Bill was there with his wife and another chaplain, I was pleased to join them.

26th September

Was at the hospital this morning, and afterwards had lunch with Chaplain Bill and his daughter who brought his grandson, little Oliver, a dear little baby.

This afternoon was watching tv, like the news addict I am, while working on a project for the Senior Centre to raffle.

And in the news on said tv............

 

 

This war - or whatever it is that Obama wants to call it - has now come to a neighbourhood near me.  Almost - Moore is a suburb of Oklahoma City.

 

And it took place in a processed food factory, so it is not murder, it is "workplace violence", which made a local police officer very testy when interviewed, and insisted it was "bloody murder".

 

The perpetrator had just been fired from his job at this food processing plant, and is a recent convert to Islam.  He had also been in prison on various drug related charges, and assaulting a state trooper, and it is thought that was when he converted to Islam and was radicalised. 

 

In this country they are so proud of their 'free speech' they won't recognise hate crimes, so anyone can go on Facebook - or whatever - and write hate filled rants to their hearts content, fanning the flames of racial, or other, tensions.    And this guy's Facebook page was filled, apparently, with hate filled rants.  Someone suggested the FBI should be going through everybody's social media spotting the potential terrorists.   And how realistic is that??

 

 

 

Thursday 25th September

I don't like change.  And change confronted me this morning at Kiwanis.  When I first joined, shortly after Larry died, Cecil invited me to sit beside him, then Fr Clark joined us, but now with Cecil gone and Fr Clark on his way to Sand Springs, our little threesome this morning just came down to me. 

 

The programme was very good though, it was a couple on a harmonica and piano, and a musical programme is what I like best.   The harmonica player was also a bit of a stand up comic.

 

At noon I went off to the hospital in search of some company and joined Chaplain Bill, Pattisue (who was there for her weekly lab test) and another chaplain, for lunch.   We had quite a long lunch, chatting, and it was very nice.

 

Had an afternoon nap, then met Pattisue at the downtown cinema for 'Earth to Echo'.   I don't know why I wanted to see it.   It was rubbish.   If I had been by myself I'd have left before the end, but I just sat back and sipped my illegal lemonade - illegal because one can only eat and drink what is on sale at the concession stand, which has nothing I like, so I smuggle in my own.   The person selling tickets was a friend of Pattisue, and a member of her church, University Baptist - anyway to cut a long story short I am going to their Sunday morning study group on Hezekiah, which I had better read up about, between now and then.   It might sound a bit dry, but you don't take a degree in theology if you're not interested in it.

 

So that has been my day, with its high points and low points.

 

This day in history......2008

 

Paul Newman died.   I didn't know he was dead, I missed that.  But he was 83, so a lot older than I thought he was.    Another fact I didn't know is that he was a keen on motor racing. After playing a professional race car driver in 1969’s “Winning,” he became passionate about the sport and competed in a number of races, including the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, at which he took second place in 1979.

 

 

 

 

 

Rosh Hashanah - Happy New Year 5775

This evening I celebrated the Jewish New Year at the small Hebrew congregation in nearby Seminole (anywhere under a 100 miles here is nearby, but Seminole is 17 miles).  The service was lovely, the prayers were chanted in Hebrew, then recited in English.   Normally, quite a few of us go in the church bus, but there weren't so many this evening so I went with a couple, and one other person.   We had dinner first at an Italian restaurant.

 

The congregation is too small to have a rabbi, so a rabbinical student from Cincinnati, Ohio, always comes on the High Days and Holidays to lead services, and the student this year was a very pleasant young man, who preached an excellent sermon and I am sure will become a very good rabbi.

 

Afterwards there were refreshments and it was pleasant to renew acquaintances with members of the congregation.

 

This morning I did my chaplaincy round, but didn't stay for lunch.   I needed to go home and frost the cakes for this evening's meal, which I did in the church kitchen.

 

The chocolate and carrot cakes I knocked up from packets, the moist fruit cakes taste nice, I put a tin of crushed pineapple in them, but it is an English recipe and they have different flours here, so I don't know what raising agents to put in to make them rise. The box in the foreground is short bread, just butter, brown sugar and flour, very simple and quick to make.  So are the moist fruit cakes, I just put the fruit, butter and sugar in a pan, simmer, then stir in the flour and spices.

 

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was tied up with the car which I had to take to Terry.  It is extraordinary what can wear out in a car, apart from the moving parts in an engine and I had  to have the mechanism replaced in one of the rear windows.  I wasn't worried about being able to open it, so just asked him to secure it, but as he had to take the door off anyway, we thought he might as well do a proper job of it, the labour was a bigger cost than the part.

In the news......(apart from the war that - to Obama's chagrin -  is a war, even if he doesn't call it such)

He steps off his helicopter carrying his latte and salutes the marines at the bottom of the steps with it in his hand, and you would not believe the furore.     For crying out loud, the nation is at war.  DOES IT MATTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on Update

My goodness me, I am lost in admiration for the US Military and Intelligence.   This was the group they took out last night...

Khorasan in Syria.   They were making cell phone bombs, and Intelligence warned they were planning an imminent attack on Western targets.    They didn't say, but I wondered if it was the NATO summit in New York.

Anyway, well done I say, to those who foiled them.

Update

There has been discussion this evening on the legality of this war, that is now a war, because ISIS did not declare war on the US.  However, it has just been revealed that about 100 ISIS members have just made their way back to the US, and the FBI have been tracking them, so it is believed that something major was about to happen here.

First Day of Autumn (not that you'd notice, it still feels like summer)

For most of the day I was convinced it was Tuesday, not Monday (this is what happens when you are old and confused and pushing 76).    I had sort of arranged to go to the movies with Pattisue to see 'Earth to Echo', and when she rang this afternoon my mind was very much in Tuesday mode, and I was mentally geared up to spend the evening baking, for Wednesday.   She put me right as to what day it was, but we decided to leave the movie for another day.

There's quite a bit of baking to do.   As well as the usual young people and assorted adults, there are Family Promise guests.   

This morning I was out and about doing my errands round town.  Called at the hospital to ask Chaplain Bill if the grandson's adoption hearing went ahead, as it was very touch and go if the birth mother would turn up, but she did, and has signed over her parental rights to the adoptive parents, so great rejoicing!!!!!!!!!!!!    Praise the Lord.   The little lad will have a wonderful life in the adoptive family.

I know this all sounds very trivial, but if I am not writing about the trivia in my life, what shall I write about?

However, I am about to move on from the trivial.  I was doing this in dribs and drabs while watching television, so I saw - live - at 8.28 our time, when the war-that-was-not-a-war became a war.  This was the last thing Obama wanted, he said he was elected to end wars, not start a new one.   He has said he will address the nation tomorrow.

And to finish with trivia

This day in history................

1761 - Coronation of George III and Queen Charlotte.

1896 - Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.   The Queen must be catching up. *

1910 - The Duke of York's Cinema opened in Brighton. It is still operating today, making it the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.

1955 - (ITV) Commercial TV begins in UK; meanwhile on BBC radio Grace Archer is killed in a barn fire on Brookfield Farm -   I remember both those events - like they were yesterday!

*I looked it up.   She has reigned 62 years, 228 days, so has passed George IIIs reign of 59 yrs 96 days.   And is not far behind Queen Victoria's record of 63 years 216 days.

Saturday 20th September

My heart sank when my internet connection went down this afternoon.  I know the cable company, under its new ownership and expensive updates in equipment, would always provide a better service, but I can't subscribe to one that is as prohibitively expensive as it became, so I was just hoping for the best from its alternative.   Fortunately, I got the connection back when I turned off the modem for a while, but I hope that is not going to be a regular thing.

There's been no sign of Chaos for the last couple of days, so I am hopeful that she is at least somewhere safe.   Bubbles has her confidence back in going outside.  I stepped out on to the porch this evening and she literally ran out behind me.  A far cry from yesterday's very tentative stepping out.

 

This morning I went to the AARP meeting, Phyllis had rung to say there would be a musical entertainment, and they were indeed very good, singing golden oldies, and she and I were jigging about like the 1950s teenagers we had been.

 

The meeting starts at 10.30, the business part takes about half an hour, then they start queuing for lunch at 11.00.   Lunch at 11.00 doesn't seem to faze anyone else, who I am sure got up at daybreak, but as I think I've said before,  I can't be doing with lunch at 11.00, I've just had my breakfast.   So I just had Phyllis' cheesecake.

 

That is really all my excitement for the day.

 

Today in history...............

1915

Stonehenge is sold by auction for 6,600 pounds sterling ($11,500) to a Mr. Chubb, who buys it as a present for his wife. He presents it to the British nation three years later. I didn't know that!!!!      Did anyone else know that?

Friday

This evening was a little triumph for Bubbles, the most nervous cat on the planet.  She refused to go out on the porch when she thought Chaos might be there, but I think Chaos has got the message that it is not open house - or open porch - so over the last few days I have been trying to encourage Bubbles to go out, as it is warm and pleasant out there in the evening, and she loves sitting on her chair, watching the bugs flying around.   This evening she managed - one cautious little paw at a time, like she was stepping on eggshells - to make it to her chair.   Honestly, it was like rehabilitating an invalid.   I look out every twenty minutes or so to see if she wants to come in, but she's looking quite happy.

 

I didn't get to the hospital this morning.  I had a bill yesterday from the cable company for my  phone and internet connection, I was thinking of changing it anyway as $113 a month seemed excessive, but this bill was something just over $250.   So I called the television providers - who have just bought out a local internet provider - and they are 'bundling' a package to something more reasonable.   But it meant staying in all day as they couldn't tell me what time they were coming.

 

It also meant another engineer had to come and run a telephone cable from the post in the road to the house, so I hope snow and ice and falling trees don't bring it down in the winter, otherwise you might not be hearing from me.

 

That has really been my activity for the last couple of days.  I was at Kiwanis yesterday morning, then Communion at Emmanuel, and afterwards six of us went to lunch at a new restaurant which has just opened in Shawnee.   When I first looked at the menu I was impressed and excited - North Atlantic cod and chips.  GOLLY ME,  we can't get North Atlantic cod in Britain, how do they get it over here???   Then someone familiar with fish and chips in Britain  reminded me that it won't be the chips I'm expecting, they will be American chips, ie crisps.   So I ordered lobster macaroni and cheese, but I had a hard job finding the lobster in it.  However, I won't write off this new restaurant just yet.  I might try it again.  And the lunch generally, with friends, was very pleasant, for someone who lives alone it is a big deal to share a meal.

 

Fr Clark had a Cuban sandwich, which was a big deal for him.  He's a staunch supporter of Castro and Cuba and his wife makes him Cuban sandwiches twice a year, on the two nationally important days in Cuba, so he was pleased to be having an extra one.  His lunches with us are numbered, they have had an offer on their house so hope to be moving to Sand Springs, near Tulsa, at the end of next month.

 

 This day in history.....1959
Khrushchev was visiting the US for an extended visit and a summit meeting with President Eisenhower.   He said he would like to see Hollywood, and on September 19 he and his wife arrived in Los Angeles.   The trip was all going swimmingly, he was enjoying himself, everyone I think was fawning on him.  Then he said he would like to visit Disneyland.   And the fawning - for some reason I can't quite fathom - seemed to abruptly stop, he was told he couldn't go to Disneyland, and he had a massive tantrum.

But in spite of his childish outburst the visit continued the next day, then he went to Washington for his summit with the President. 

 

Wednesday 17th September

I debated for quite a while whether to put this item on the blog, but it has taken up a significant amount of time this afternoon and evening, so I decided to do so.

 

I've told you about next door's cat, Chaos, who was haunting my front porch, wanting to be taken in. It got to be a difficult situation when Bubbles refused to go outside in case Chaos was there; she normally likes to sit out on the porch and sunbathe when it is pleasantly warm, as it has been, so I decided I had to do something, and started chasing Chaos off.  When I chased her and she ran straight out into the road, things ratcheted up, because it was only by the grace of God a car wasn't coming.

 

So I penned, or typed, the following missive, but to put it in context - I asked Donna why she didn't give Chaos back to the original owner - who had asked Donna to 'look after' her for a while, but was now in a position to have her - and Donna said the owner didn't want her "either".   The conversation took a sharp, downward spiral when I pointed out the likelihood of Chaos being run over (all Donna's cats since I have been here have been run over) and she told me, very matter of factly, that yes, she will get hit.  So this was what I wrote -

If you help me get Chaos into a cat carrier I will take her to the Animal Center, where she can be put up for adoption, and hopefully find a good home.    It breaks my heart that she is running around the neighbourhood, camping out on porches like mine, day and night, hoping to be taken in.   Or running up and down the street waiting to be maimed or killed by a passing motorist.   All your cats come to a brutal end on the street, and it’s not right.   Animals need, and deserve, our care and protection.

I have lots of friends in Shawnee with cats and they all live like Bubbles does, secure in their homes, they are not running up and down the street like strays, waiting to be run over.

Even if the Animal Centre doesn’t find her a good home and they put her down instead, it will be a more humane end than being run over.

Guess what happened next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...........she calls out law enforcement.   I get a visit from a police officer, who spent quite some time beating about the bush, until I asked what exactly was the complaint against me and he finally said I was "harassing" her.    He'd read the letter and we both agreed that her complaint was pretty ludicrous, so I will leave it at that.

 

The rest of the day has been pretty mundane, I did my chaplaincy round, made little orange jellies for the young peoples' dessert this evening, I had supper at Emmanuel, jambalaya, which was a bit spicy.

And I have been watching the news.   The war that is-not-a-war is now being called a war by all the military analysts and generals, Obama is still clinging to the fiction that it is not exactly a war.   His apologists all say it is because it is his core belief  that the reason for the terror attacks is because of wars waged against them - Middle Eastern nations - in the past by the US.

 

Monday 15th September

I think I need to get a life,  I am busier than I should be monitoring the barking dogs in this neighbourhood.   The pit bull opposite me was tied up and barking all Saturday morning, I called Animal Control, and he turned up and pulled out his little pad, said I would have to sign the citation to take the owner to court.   I asked if he couldn't just speak to the owners, tell them barking dogs are not allowed in the City limits, it upsets the neighbours.   I haven't heard from it since.

But my patience is wearing thin.   The neighbours behind me are breeding pit bulls, who were barking madly this morning, so I called Animal Control again (I have them on speed dial) who sounded rather irritated, I think their patience is wearing thin too - Donna, next door, was on to them last week.
 

 Meanwhile, the owner of the breeding pit bulls is beyond irritated - when I went outside he came up to the fence shouting, and accusing me of racial prejudice because he is black.   I was rendered too speechless to tell him I have complained about all the white owners in the neighbourhood as well.

It has been suggested to me by a loved one that all this complaining, in a country where everyone has a hand gun, is ill advised.

This evening I went to the movies with Pattisue and we saw 'Into the Storm', which was all about tornadoes in the Mid West.  The critics didn't seem to think much about it, but I thought it was the most action packed, exciting film ever.  It was about people who chase tornadoes professionally to film them.   And now I know just what it is like when a roof is ripped off a house in a tornado I might be a little less sanguine when the next one is bearing down on Shawnee.  I might consider going to a shelter, I'll see if a bank will take me in if I get there in time.   I'm a trifle snobbish and I'd rather be in the strong room of a bank, than in a public shelter.

 

 

This day in history..............1588

Britain defeats the Spanish Armada.  Yaaaaay.       Rule Brittania...............................

Sunday 14th September

Picked up the donuts for Emmanuel, went to the 8 o'clock, then the adult Sunday school.

Spent the rest of the day crocheting and watching television, trying to keep up with the war that is not a war.   David Cameron seems to be taking seriously the execution of a British citizen, I understand he left a wedding and headed for Downing Street.    He's coming in for a bit of compassion anyway, for the fact that in the midst of all this he is dealing with the possible disintegration of the United Kingdom, if Scotland secedes on Thursday.  Is James I - or the VI of Scotland - turning in his grave, one wonders.

 

When Obama addressed the nation after this third execution, he said that Islam is a "peaceful" religion........what!!  where did he get that idea?

 

The infidels should not think that they can get away from us.  Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorise them.  They are your enemy and Allah's enemy.   (Koran 8:59)

 

Fight and kill disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, beleaguer them, and lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war (Koran 9:5)

 

The driving force behind Islamic terrorism is the Koran.   Furthermore, followers of Islam are repulsed by Western women's freedom, their dress code and their independence; this is a big deal for them, and  they use women's rights to rally, recruit and motivate Muslim men.   They view with disgust, for example, any woman wearing shorts and a tank top to go to the grocery store.  I've heard Muslim men refer to all western women as prostitutes.

 

But back to more mundane matters.............Bubbles hasn't been outside for several days now.   The weather has been warm and pleasant so I left the front door open for her, and she positioned herself so she could see the street outside, but not the porch where the interloper cat might be lurking.   I've started chasing said interloper away, I feel a bit mean but I have to look out for Bubbles.

September 13th

Weather is brighter today but still a lot cooler than it has been.   I am hopeful that autumn is on the way.

This sad cat is becoming a problem. And hasn't it perfected that sad cat 'look' it's what I get every time I open the front door.  She is camped on my front porch day and night.  The only time she leaves is to go home and eat.   I will have to speak to Donna.   The problem is that Bubbles likes to sit outside on the porch too, watch the world go by, or the fireflies if it's dark - and she's entitled to - but every time she puts her nose out of the door and spots the cat she stalks straight back inside again.   There just isn't room for the two of them, this cat has got to be disabused of the notion that it lives here.

 

This war that is not-a-war is ratcheting up.   Obama is still saying it will be confined to air attacks, there will be no ground forces, or 'boots on the ground', as he puts it, but all the retired generals and military analysts have said that to have air attacks there has to be ground forces too, in order to direct them to the targets, among other things.   So Obama will have to snap out of his denial and call it what it is.

 

And it is beginning to worry me.  It has been revealed that all the sub stations - or whatever they are that provide electricity to the National Grid - are undefended and vulnerable to attack.   And Al Qaeda took out the Grid in Yemen, so I am sure ISIS know how to do it 

 

I can't begin to imagine an indefinite loss of power.   Without radio, television or the internet one is virtually cut off.

 

This day in history................

On September 13, 1814, while witnessing the British bombard Fort McHenry in an attempt to capture Baltimore during the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

 

It was originally called "The Defence of Fort McHenry,"  and Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak, as reflected in the now-famous words of the "Star-Spangled Banner".    And for those of you who don't know it - which is most of you reading this - this is the first verse, so you can understand why I - who has to listen to everyone singing it every Thursday morning - had no idea what it was supposed to be about.

 

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

In 1931, the United States adopted the song as its national anthem.

 

 

Friday 12th September

Rain has continued today in a steady drizzle, which is unusual here, when it rains it is almost always torrential, but I am still enjoying the pleasant change from searing heat.

 

Chaplain Bill is out of town, I went to the hospital expecting to find Kevin, his second in command, but he wasn't there and the office was locked.  I debated finding someone to let me in but thought as Kevin wasn't around the patient lists probably hadn't been printed, so came home.   I'll ask Bill next week to show me how to do it.  

 

Mark dropped by with his toolbox as my dryer wasn't working.   Things must last a lot longer here.  Mark and Mary had this dryer for ten years before they passed it on to me, and I have been here for six, and I am sure that in Britain - after sixteen years - it would be pensioned off.  But a part had burnt out, Mark replaced it with one from his toolbox and in no time at all we were up and running again.

 

I was very pleased.  Mark and Mary had nine children, so this dryer - and the washing machine - are a very useful size, I'd have been a bit disappointed if I'd had to have a new, smaller one.    One might argue that I don't need it, since I'm not washing for nine children, but I still need to wash big duvets.

 

Would someone tell me if Britain considers itself at war.   No one knows here if the US is at war, and everyone is confused.  It is officially called, and it has been emphasised by the Secretary of State, that it is a "counter terrorism operation".   It is NOT a war.

 

I get it that Obama was elected on the promise of ending wars, hence the extreme reluctance to start a new one, but someone should really tell him that you can't end a war, you have to win it.

 

And I don't think Obama grasps the Muslims' totally different mindset.  In the Cold War, for example, there was safety from the nuclear armed Soviet Union in the fact that neither side wanted to die.  However for nuclear armed Iran, and for all radical jihadist Muslims, destruction means death to the US and assured paradise for the martyred rest of them.   So they will push the button with a smile on their face and seventy-two virgins are just around the corner.

On this day in history....................1972        Butch Cassidy rides off to his last sunset. 

After nearly 40 years of riding across millions of American TV and movie screens, the cowboy actor William Boyd, best known for his role as Hopalong Cassidy, dies on this day in 1972 at the age of 77.

Boyd was to be the first cowboy actor to make the transition from movies to television. Following WWII Americans began to buy television sets in large numbers for the first time, and soon I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners . The Honeymooners??? I never heard of them.  I know I Love Lucy,  I can't imagine why, but looking back, I remember we always made a point of seeing it on our 9"  television.

However, many network TV producers scorned westerns as lowbrow "horse operas" unfit for their middle- and upper-class audiences.   Presumably the working class didn't even have 9" televisions.

Riding to the small screen's rescue came the movie cowboy, William Boyd. During the 1930s Boyd made more than 50 cheap but successful "B-grade" westerns starring as Hopalong Cassidy. Together with his always loyal and outlandishly intelligent horse, Topper, Hopalong righted wrongs, saved school marms in distress, and single-handedly fought off hordes of marauding Indians.   This is obviously before the era of political correctness.   "marauding" Indians!!!!

 After the war, Boyd recognized an opportunity to take Hopalong and Topper into the new world of television, and he began to market his old "B" westerns to TV broadcasters and a whole new generation of children thrilled to "Hoppy's" daring adventures, and they soon began to clamor for more.

Rethinking their initial disdain for the genre, producers at NBC contracted with Boyd in 1948 to produce a new series of half-hour westerns for television. By 1950, American children had made Hopalong Cassidy the seventh most popular TV show in America and were madly snapping up genuine "Hoppy" cowboy hats, chaps, and six-shooters, earning Boyd's venture more than $250 million.

Soon other TV westerns followed Boyd's lead, becoming popular with both children and adults. In 1959, seven of the top-10 shows on national television were westerns like The Rifleman, Rawhide, and Maverick. The golden era of the TV western would finally come to an end in 1975 when the long-running Gunsmoke left the air, three years after Boyd rode off into his last sunset.

Next door's cat is still camping out on my front porch, just goes home to eat and comes straight back. Every time I go in and out of the front door I get the sad cat look.   For a cat allegedly worth $2500 he's well down on his luck.

 

Anniversary of 9/11

I've seen seven anniversaries here of  9/11.  And all are a little different, and amid the sorrow there are always tremendous stories of courage and self sacrifice which are inspiring.

 

And the US is now in another war.  At least I think it is, the news anchors can't seem to agree though on what constitutes a war, but they all seem to be in agreement that it can't (this might-be war) won by air strikes alone, and Obama has vowed and declared there will not be "boots on the ground" a phrase much bandied about at the minute.   Does Britain think there is a war?   And I believe I heard that Angela Merkel doesn't want anything to do with it, but then Germany isn't being threatened.

 

There has been a change in the weather, it is cool, damp and lovely, and 65 at the moment.

 

The Kiwanis speaker this morning I think would have been interesting, the subject was the cattle trails across Pottawatomie county, and the speaker was a retired history professor from OBU.  He looked about 100 years old, but couldn't be, he went to school with Louise.   Unfortunately he talked very quietly,  in a flat monotone, and my English ears are just about tuned into normal accents, at normal volume, I can't cope with anything else, I just get lost.

 

This is the little bit of cross stitch I have been working on.

 

Chaplain Bill at the hospital has become a grandfather for the first time, and there is so much joy and excitement surrounding this birth.   The child is adopted - Bill's daughter and son in law were at the hospital when the mother was giving birth, although they didn't meet the birth mother, and they took the baby home with them a day or two after the birth.

 

I was going to hold back with the gift until after the court hearing legalising the adoption, but there are some bumps in the road so I took it to the hospital today to pass on.   The court hearing was supposed to be last Friday but the birth mother was too stoned on substances to attend.   The mother lives with her father, and he is keen for the adoptive parents to have the child, and he said he will try and keep a tight rein on her and hopes to get her to the next hearing on Friday of next week.  I think Bill said she is also due to attend a criminal hearing on Thursday for possession,  So like I said, there are bumps in the roads, but the child is just so loved and cherished and doted upon, and when the adoption is final I am sure everyone who knows Bill and the family will be so pleased.

 

By the way, I did the cross stitching, a friend at Emmanuel who has a sewing machine made it up into the cushion.   She left it on my front door when I was at Kiwanis, and when I went to Emmanuel to thank her, I was told she left this morning for a holiday in Missouri, she obviously dropped it off on her way.   I was so touched - when I gave it to her on Tuesday she never even hinted that she was busy, or about to go on holiday, people here are just so kind.

Monday 9th September

In between household chores I've been finishing off a needlework project and looking at television.

So what have I been watching...............

He admitted he made a mistake, obviously David Cameron and the other NATO leaders told him that you don't go off golfing when a terrorist has just beheaded one of your citizens.  But bless him, we all make mistakes, at least he's admitted it.    ('optics is a new word much bandied about lately, I thought it was something to do with dispensing drinks in pubs).

So now he's rolled his sleeves up and he's got a strategy.   Something he gaily admitted to not having last week.  

And did you know they've discovered who Jack the Ripper was?

And I thought it was the Prince of Wales.    That was the most interesting theory.

Before last week I barely knew where Minneapolis was, just that it was vaguely somewhere up north, near Canada.   Now FBI agents have descended on it, en masse, it's all over the news.   It has the largest Somali population outside Somalia, and as I think I mentioned last week, a very high percentage of young men, all ready and eager to be radicalised, it gives them a feeling of "belonging"....

The FBI agents must all be on overtime.    And looking into all the mosques, and not before time I would have thought.

I was pleased to hear the news of the Royal Couple's baby.    The morons at The Globe, on the law of averages, had to get their guesses right some time.

Day of Pentecost

I was awake early this morning and went to the 8 o'clock at Emmanuel.   Afterwards I joined them at the discussion group/adult Sunday school, which has grown to quite a big crowd now.

In the afternoon there was a baby shower at Emmanuel, and I took along this baby blanket I have been working on for the past two weeks or so.


This day in history..............8th September 1974

In what was said to be a controversial action President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard-I-am-not-a-crook-Nixon for any crimes he may have committed, or participated in, while in office.  Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate Scandal.

 

The pardon was widely condemned at the time but decades later, the John F Kennedy Library Foundation presented its 2001 Profile in Courage Award to Gerald Ford for his 1974 pardon of Nixon.   In pardoning Nixon, said the Foundation, Ford placed his love of country ahead of his own political future and brought needed closure to the divisive Watergate affair.

 

Ford left politics after losing the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter and died on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93.

1960

Penguin Books in Britain is charged with obscenity for trying to publish the D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterly's Lover.    I remember that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    there were headlines, it was splashed across the television news. Am feeling really, really, tired.....................going to turn in. 

Saturday 6th September

Some welcome relief from the searing, unrelenting sun.   It has been very chilly today, and we have had several hours, starting early this morning, of very heavy drenching rain.   I was talking to Phyllis this evening, who has just got back from the Motherland, and was telling me it was cold there, it didn't get above 75.

 

I haven't been out at all, I've stayed indoors engaged in my handwork projects.  Memo to loved ones.  You are all going to get home-made/hand-made Christmas presents.

 

And I'm also keeping up with the news, and my goodness there is so much of it.

 

FINALLY, after two years we are hearing what happened in Benghazi when the Consulate was attacked, and the US Ambassador and three others died.   Three of the men on the ground that night have come out and told their story.   They were security contractors hired to guard the CIA annexe which was situated a mile away.   When they saw the Consulate under attack they wanted to go immediately to their aid, but the guy in charge of them told them to wait, to "stand down".   There is a bit of a dispute going on centering around the semantics of "wait" and "stand down".    But whatever - after thirty minutes when they saw the Consulate on fire they disobeyed orders and took off.  They recounted the story of the 13 hours of fighting, and their efforts to bring the Ambassador and Sean Smith out, but as we know, they were too late.  

 

I don't understand - and they didn't tell us - why it has taken all this time for their story to be told.  Why the State Department and the Administration clammed up and refused to talk about it.   When Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State at the time, was pressed by the media to explain she threw her hands in the air and asked, very irritably, what does it matter.  It certainly matters to the families of those who died, and I think if she were to run for President that video footage will come back and bite her.

 

This is Donna's cat Chaos, making herself at home on my porch this evening.  I wish I had the camera in my hand when Bubbles spotted her, and was staring her down in some astonishment.

 

Three years ago Chaos belonged to Donna's neighbour on the other side, she moved house and asked Donna to look after her.   Recently the owner asked for her back, and I gather Donna told her that after three years she couldn't have her.   I also understand that she is, allegedly, quite a valuable cat and Donna said she is going to try and sell her for $250.   I can't see her getting any takers though.  Unless a buyer has turned up and that is why she has fled to my porch.   I'm interested to see if this is a one-off visit, or if she comes back.

 

The goings-on in this neighbourhood.   The pit bulls behind me (it's a puppy mill) have quieted down recently.  Donna has been on to Animal Control because they had too many, and one was taken away.  But I had a phone call this evening from Linda, the other neighbour behind me, who said they had just sneaked it back.   Their living conditions are appalling, and the poor bitch has had twenty puppies in a year.  I suppose that is two litters, I don't know how long it takes to produce a litter.   And three of them drowned recently in their kennel, in very heavy rain.  All rain in this country, or this state, is heavy, they don't have gentle showers.  It runs along my street like a river in full flood.  But I now seem to be rambling, so I'll call it a day. 

Friday 5th September

It is hard work sometimes understanding America and Americans, but I think some light is dawning (ok, I know I am slow, because all of you, dear readers, probably know it already - but when you're pushing 80 you are a bit slower on the uptake).

 

For days I just couldn't get my head round the fact that an American journalist was beheaded, and three minutes after Obama was shown the video he heads off to the golf course.  A similar situation in Britain with David Cameron going off to play golf, would be beyond our comprehension, wouldn't it.  We would come together as a nation in righteous anger,  the PM would make a beeline for the House - not the golf course -  and there would be REPURCUSSIONS, because that is something - as Churchill famously said - "up with which we will not put".

 

But I am learning - and herein lies the key to my understanding - Obama was brought up to believe that the cause of terror in the world is because America in the past has treated other nations badly.  That the attack on 9/11 and all subsequent terror attacks are, in fact, America's own fault, its comeuppance.   And I don't know why I was so slow grasping that.

 

He, Obama, does not subscribe to the right wing, conservative, Republican view of "American Exceptionalism" a term often bandied about by the right wing media, and especially just lately.

 

'American Exceptionalism' is a term used to describe the belief that the United States is an extraordinary nation with a special role to play in human history, a nation that is not only unique, but also superior.   And I can see why Obama wants to lead the nation away from such an ideology.

 

I think I will leave it at that for today.

Thursday 4th September

Instead of a speaker at Kiwanis this morning a former member, who left to become a Methodist minister in the next town, and who is very musically gifted, came and entertained us on the piano. 

 

She is a member of the local Chorale Society, and also plays in a band which plays a little country, but mostly big band music, and it was a selection of big band music that she played this morning.   It was lovely to see her and catch up.  She's never been outside the United States so is excited to be going to Italy next year with the Chorale Society to perform Mozart's Coronation Mass.   Chaplain Bill is also a member of the Chorale Society, but has hasn't mentioned it.  I would imagine it would be far more difficult for him - with his work and family commitments - to take the time off to go.

 

Later in the morning I went to Communion at Emmanuel, then six of us went to lunch.

 

This day in history.................1886

On this day in 1886, Apache chief Geronimo surrenders to U.S. government troops. For 30 years, he had battled to protect his tribe's homeland; however, by 1886 the Apaches were exhausted and hopelessly outnumbered. General Nelson Miles accepted Geronimo's surrender, making him the last Indian warrior to formally give in to U.S. forces and signalling the end of the Indian Wars in the Southwest.

Geronimo and a band of Apaches, eventually ended up at the Comanche and Kiowa reservation near Fort Sill,  in Oklahoma . There, Geronimo became a successful farmer and converted to Christianity. He participated in President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade in 1905 and  died at Fort Sill in Oklahoma on February 17, 1909.

Skipping ahead a few days - the 7^th September 1940,

300 German bombers raid London in the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. This bombing  continued until May 1941.   So that's why I learned to walk in my grandma's air raid shelter at the bottom of her garden.    My friend Phyllis, who comes from the East End, said they used to go down the nearest Underground Station.   By the end of day one, 448 civilians in the East End died that afternoon and evening.

A little past 8 p.m., British military units were alerted with the code name "Cromwell," meaning the German invasion had begun. A state of emergency was declared in England, and the home guard were warned to be ready.

It has been said that one of Hitler's key strategic blunders of the war was to consistently underestimate the will and courage of the British people, who would not run or be cowed into submission.   We had Churchill and his speeches to thank for that.  

"We shall not flag or fail............we shall fight them on the beaches....we shall fight them on the landing stages....... we shall fight them in the streets and in the hills.........we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be........We shall NEVER surrender.     Bless Him.

Shortly before I went to lunch someone on television was saying that the rest of the world has always looked to America for leadership "like they did in WWII".     I brought this up over lunch, and I was all ready to point out that Britain and France declared war in September 1939, and it wasn't until December 1941 when Pearl Harbour was bombed.........but I didn't need to, they are all educated in Emmanuel.  Fr Bill and Fr Clark also knew the precise dates, and were right there with me saying it was a ridiculous statement. 

And in the news.............

Whatever next..................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 4th September

I was out early this morning and had breakfast at the hospital before going round the floor.

I didn't have any baking this week, team Mexican who did the Wednesday meal at Emmanuel, brings their own dessert.    I was very touched because one of the team did a little special, non spicy, taco for me.  Wasn't that kind.

 

There's a postscript to the bit I did yesterday on the young men in Minneapolis, who are being radicalised in their mosques then joining up to fight with ISIS.   Two of them who were friends and went to the same High School were killed, and one of them worked at the airport at St Paul's, the state capital.   He was cleaning the planes, and refuelling the aircraft, for which he needed security clearance.  So it is setting off alarm bells.   I think myself that Homeland Security should be looking at all the young Somali men in Minneapolis, but they won't because that would be "profiling", which is very BAD, and causes outrage.

 

There's something else setting off alarm bells all over the nation.   Thousands of young people come here on student visas, and they are not all studying at Yale and Harvard.  They also go to schools which teach subjects like hair braiding, and horse shoeing (!!)   And it is just being realised that thousands of them haven't been turning up for their classes and are unaccounted for.   It is the responsibility of the school to report any student to Homeland Security, who has missed a class for more than thirty days.    But they have been a bit lax about that.

Labour Day and Tuesday

I haven't done a great deal this Labour Day, I haven't even been out, just carried on with my needlework and a little more desultory sorting out.

 

In my sorting out I came across an old laptop, and I can't understand why I haven't got Microsoft Word on it.   I have a document on Word Pad called, rather pretentiously, "The Decades of My Life", ha ha.   I suppose you would call it an attempt at an autobiography.  Memo to my loved ones.  If I am run over by a bus tomorrow (assuming I will be somewhere where buses run, but I don't know where that will be) you might want to retrieve this.   I was jotting down my memories.   I have been trying to figure how to transfer it to my desktop so I can edit it.   I think it might need a visit to James and the tech guys at Staples.  I'm a total stranger to the sales staff at Staples, but I was told once all the tech guys know me.   I don't think I want these tech guys to see this highly personal stuff, so I'll try and hide it and tell them I can't access my e-mail.   I'll have a look in a minute and see what else I can't access.

Tuesday
I was up and out early this morning, I heard a much loved member of Emmanuel had been admitted to the hospital over the weekend, and was going to be transferred to the City, so I went to visit before they left.

And I sorted out the computer room.   I decided that with a desk and a computer, it can't help looking like an office, but it looks better than it did, with some re-arranging of furniture, rugs and throws.

The next job in the late spring clean is the spare bedroom, and that is going to be a job and half because I have got handiwork stuff scattered around it which needs sorting.

I watched television when it was reported another journalist had been beheaded.  It just broke my heart to try and imagine what his mother must be going through, what the families of all the other hostages are going through. I can't begin to express my feelings towards those responsible.   I don't like admitting it, but I didn't think I was capable of feeling this much hate.  

I think everyone is surprised at just how many - and it runs into hundreds - of radical Muslims there are, both here and in the UK, travelling around the world with western passports.   In Minneapolis in Minnesota, for example, there is a very large Somali community of single parents who were originally refugees, consequently there is an enormous number of disaffected young men who are being radicalised in the mosques, and Muslim schools, there.   And they are leaving - in droves - to join the ISIS fighters. 

I fear we are facing down Armageddon and I can't get my head round the fact that the President just seems to be pretending it is all not happening, or it will all just "go away" because he had no idea how to handle it.   The news anchors are trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, saying none of us knows what is really going on behind the scenes.   They seem a bit "put out" for want of a better expression, at the fact that it is David Cameron who interrupted his holiday, is acting decisively addressing Parliament on the crisis,  and  taking a leadership role on the world stage.  They have prided themselves for so long on "American Exceptionalism".

I think that's my two cents worth ............................