Monday/Tuesday

Been a bit under the weather, probably because I woke up yesterday, Monday morning, to snow everywhere.   I posted a little piece about my silly antics trying to get into my iced up car, I am not sure how many of you caught it before I deleted it.    The doors and windows of said car however are still heavily iced up, so I am not about to go anywhere.

 

I embarked on a memory challenging exercise - listing all 17 places in which I've lived;   if I've worked it out right, that's an average of a move every 4.7 years.   The early years were quite easy to recall, the early 60s were a bit challenging, and I am still struggling to remember when I lived briefly at Stone Cross.

I was going to post some pictures but can't get the film card out of the camera, so will just hit 'publish' and be back tomorrow.

Sunday 27th

The weather has changed from warm, sunny, in the 70s, to chilly and very, very wet.   It just rained heavily for hours and hours.    I went to the 10.30 service at Emmanuel, and the church was only half full, I don't think I have ever seen such a sparse congregation.   I think quite a few families must still be away because there are usually a lot more children than there were this morning.

 

So there is not a lot to write about.   Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are still hurling insults.  I think Ben Carson, who seemed to be a front runner for quite a while, now seems to be falling in the polls.   Part of me can't actually believe that Donald Trump could be President, occupying the Oval Office - anybody less Presidential would be hard to imagine, and yet he is still up there in the polls with Cruz and Rubio.  I think they are going to be the front runners and it won't be long before the others drop out, they're just hanging in, hoping for cabinet posts and ambassadorial appointments in the new administration.

 

I don't know if I am imagining it, but there seems to be even more tv adverts than usual, and there always were plenty.   I am sure they take up twenty minutes out of every sixty, one day when I am not knitting and crocheting I will do a survey.    

 

And speaking of adverts - there is a very curious one running at the moment.   It is for a home dryer/freezer, or it may be a freezer/dryer.  Anyway, it freeze dries food that then lasts for 25 years!!!  I can't get my head round that - who, who, wants to think of what they are going to be eating in 25 years time?????    It wouldn't surprise me though if Peter and Michael down at the monastery have got one.

 

 

 

Christmas Day

I hope you all, dear friends and loved ones, had a lovely Christmas Day.

Mine was very good.   I saw Tim and family on Skype, then I went to lunch with Chaplain Bill and his family - two of his three daughters, son in law and grandson Oliver, and it was all very pleasant, they are a lovely family and Oliver is a delightful toddler of 16 months.

 

I was somewhat astonished that none of the churches here have a Christmas Day service.  Emmanuel and the other mainstream churches had midnight masses and I had intended going, but unfortunately dozed off in front of the television and woke up too late.

 

They don't have Boxing Day here, so I guess tomorrow is a normal day.  I haven't actually spent many Christmases in Shawnee, I did the first year I was here because Larry died shortly before Christmas.  After that, if I wasn't in England, I went down to stay with Peter and Michael at the monastery in Beaumont, and I had an invite this year, but although  I'd l love to go I just can't manage a 500 plus mile drive any more, even with an overnight stop, I am just too old and stiff.    It is as far as the south coast to John O'Groats, and these days I wouldn't even make it to Watford Gap.   Old age hasn't so much crept up on me as taken me by surprise.

 

If I don't post anything next week, I wish you all the best for a Happy New Year.

Saturday/early Sunday

My word, I'm not keeping up very well with this lately, am I.

The weather was a bit milder today but it has been very cold, with a fairly thick layer of ice on the car in the mornings.   

I finished knitting a little stack of scarves for seniors and delivered them yesterday, Friday, to the Senior Centre where they were going to be given out at the Christmas lunch.    I was invited to the  lunch but preferred to have it with Bill at the hospital.   I did go back in the afternoon to ask if they liked them - not that anyone would have told me if they didn't - but Kate said they were very pleased.   There weren't enough to go round so they put their names in a hat to win one.

 

Kate gave me another big bag of oddments of wool which people, or someone, brings in to the Senior Centre, so I  have a never ending supply.

 

Apart from all this knitting I have just been watching the Presidential candidates bickering.  The three Democrats had a debate this evening, I would have liked to have seen it but my basic tv package doesn't give me the channel it was on.   Normally I don't need more than the two channels I regularly watch - the evil Fox News, and the Food Network, but occasionally, like today, I'd have liked the one I haven't got.   Mind you, I still have access to a lot.   There are some, like the History channel, or the National Geographic I would watch if I could tear myself away from Fox News.

Sunday 13th November

There has been a change in the weather, it has gone from summery to cold and wet.   I'd intended going to Emmanuel at 8 o'clock for a change, but not on such a dark, wet morning, I went to the 10.30 instead.   

 

Apart from quite a long nap this afternoon (I went to sleep during a programme that is on between 1 and 2, and woke up during its repeat between 5 and 6) I spent the rest of the day watching tv and working on the latest project of knitting scarves for seniors which Kate requested.  She said they feel the cold, especially as quite a few are on blood thinners, and would like something warm around their shoulders.

 

I heard that in France thousands of firearms have been confiscated and mosques either closed, or under surveillance.   Well done President Hollande.   That wouldn't fly here though, you can't take  guns away from Americans, it is in their Constitution.  I think it dates back to when they were fighting us in the Revolutionary War and needed to defend themselves.

 

This incident is back in the news....

 

There have been mass protests today demanding the resignation of the mayor of Chicago because this incident took place over a year ago and the video has only just surfaced.    The reason being that the mayor was facing re-election and it was feared it would scupper his chances.  He has apologised but indicated that he is not resigning.

 

What no one seems to be asking though, and what blows my British mindset, is why the police officer who shot him is being charged with first degree murder.   There doesn't seem to be any indication either of when his trial is coming up, which surely must be soon, I would have thought.

 

The President is going to the Pentagon on Monday.   A rare visit, I understand, so there is conjecture as to the reason why.   I would think myself that it is because he keeps telling the nation that "ISIS is contained, no one has any need to worry.  But on the other hand high ranking military officials are appearing on television complaining that he is downplaying and minimising the danger.   So obviously the record needs to be put straight.   It is also being said that National Security is going to be the dominant issue in the Presidential election.

 

Concern is being expressed because Canada is taking in 25,000 refugees, so it is feared that ISIS supporters will start streaming across the northern border.   

 

It has also been discovered that ISIS are manufacturing fake Syrian passports, so those who aren't illegally crossing the borders are able to come in legally.  

 

 

 

 

Friday 11th December

The weather here is so summery, blue skies and 70 degrees, it is hard to believe it is so near to Christmas.   I never have been one for white Christmases so I am quite happy with it.

 

Bill greeted me cheerily as I walked in the chaplaincy office, but my response didn't pass the perspicacious test.  After a little gentle prodding I told him I was suffering from early onset Alzheimer's and he said something to the effect that wasn't a diagnosis a non professional should be making.   I confessed  that the purse I thought was stolen from my handbag last week - when I hid it under his desk - was in fact at home all the time.   He said his mother was becoming forgetful and was I going to see a doctor, but I think I can manage for the time being, with lots of reminders around the place.

 

He had been told about my missing purse and said they had looked at the video from the camera outside his office, but there wasn't anyone suspicious about.  

 

Anyway,I did my chaplaincy round this morning and we had lunch together which was very pleasant.

 

The rest of the day I was watching television, as WWIII between civilisation and barbarism seems to be drawing ever closer.   80% of Americans think another attack is imminent.  And Mohammad Ali's daughter has weighed in, and said among other things, that Islam is a "peaceful" religion.   A statement which always totally exasperates me whenever I hear it.   I KNOW there are billions of good, decent  Muslims all over the world, peacefully living their lives in civilised  societies, but Islam is not - and never has been - a peaceful religion. 

 

The Prophet told them -  "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war"   (Koran 9:5)  and

"So fight them until there is no more Fitnah (non Muslims) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone" (Koran 8:39).

 

I don't know why Obama, and other political leaders, don't take a basic course in Islam.  It would enable them to better understand what they are up against, I would have thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 8th December

 I didn't post anything yesterday, I was feeling a bit under the weather, but it was the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941.  

Some statistics........  

The base was attacked by 360 Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded.

 

Back in the 21st century there is a new war and a new enemy, and innocent Americans are being slaughtered by extremist followers of militant Islam - although President Obama has a problem calling it that because he doesn't want  to appear to be waging war on Islam.  He really needs to acknowledge that war is being waged on the US, there are plenty of generals around trying to get the point across to him, but he is in denial.  He was going to be the President who ended all the wars.

Donald Trump has been holding forth (as he does) saying emphatically over and over again that if he were President no Muslims at all would be allowed into the country, they will all be turned back until "we" (whoever "we" is) figures out what is going on here.   Like there is going to be a gate A at airports for Americans to go through, and  a gate B for Muslims to be turned back.

Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US, and the king's son is at Georgetown, as someone said - who is going to tell him he has to turn back?

To the bemused foreign bystander here  neither of them seems to have any idea of how to govern the country, or in fact any grasp on reality.  

But before I hit 'submit' I do want to say here that personally, in my own little world here, I am very grateful and appreciative of all the kindness I receive, and it is the little things in life that make it worth living;    the neighbour over the road with the cheery wave,  the friend who says 'bring me your camera on Wednesday, I'll sort it out for you', the kind friends who invite me to the theatre, or their home for coffee.

Sunday 6th December

I went to Emmanuel this morning, but the weather is so cold I was glad to stay indoors for the rest of the day.  

The television has been dominated by the news you have probably heard  about the horrific mass shooting in California by terrorist extremists.   Even Obama came on television to address the nation about it this afternoon.   When I heard that he was going to make this broadcast I was expecting something rather Churchillian, along the lines of  "fighting them on the beaches etc" but it wasn't.

When these terrorists were being pursued the husband was driving and the wife was shooting out the rear window, and apparently it is extremely difficult - and takes a lot of training - to shoot from a moving vehicle, so this couple, and certainly the wife, were no amateurs.

And while we are on the subject of shooting, you may remember this from a previous post, and I was reading an update on it while having a little coffee break in the hospital waiting room.......

The guy running down the street waving a knife was high on hallucinogens, and he had been using the knife to scratch all the cars parked along the street.   As I think I've said before there seems to be no facilities here for treating the mentally ill, or criminally insane.    And the policeman who shot him was  charged straight away with first degree murder, so his  career was immediately over.  What a tragedy this is.  Instead of shooting him they should have done what our police force would probably have done - boxed him in with their cars, ordered him to drop the knife, and taken him into custody.  

But who am I to tell them what to do - I think I am getting a bit too uppity.   So I think on that note I'll sign off.

Friday 4th December

I was astonished to see just now, that 23 people viewed yesterday's blog.  I usually have about half a dozen, if that. 

This has been a very trying day.   Bill was not at the hospital today, so when I got there I 'hid' my handbag under his desk - and when I got back from my chaplaincy round I found my purse had been taken out of it.    Usually, when he is there it is safe enough under my own desk, but I think in future I will keep it locked in the car.

There was very little money in it, but all my cards and UK driving licence.   I went to my bank and stopped that card, then had to go home and put a stop on my Lloyds card.  Finally I went to the police station to report its loss because of my driving licence, and the fact that it will take a little while to get a new one from Swansea.  I never exceed the speed limit here so I'm not likely to be pulled over and asked for it, but I wanted it placed on record that I am driving round Shawnee without one until its replacement comes.

Thinking about it this evening I have to say I was touched by all the kindness I had.   The customer service rep in my local bank; the person I spoke to at Lloyds who said it would take a few days for a new one to arrive and would I be alright; and the sympathetic police officer I spoke to.

That is really what my day has been about, so there isn't really anything to add to this.

Thursday 3rd December

Goodness, the last post was Sunday, I am slipping, although I see I started one on Tuesday and didn't post it.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I was riveted to the television all day watching the events, the terrorist attack, as it went down in California.  And do you know, even this morning, the President is saying that we can't be sure it is terrorism, and not 'work place violence'.   GIVE ME STRENGTH.   Far be it for me to tell the President of the United States how to run his country, but would someone like to send him a Memo and point out that if someone is dressed in black tactical gear, with a camera strapped to their chest, and in possession of masks, assault weapons and handguns, it can safely be assumed it is not work place violence.

And while we are on the subject of hapless leaders would someone tell Jeremy Corbyn that issues like going to war, is not one on which you call out the Party Whips.   I am glad common sense prevailed among the rebels, and there was a majority of 174 in a free vote.

 

Still on the subject of the terrorist attack.  The next door neighbour of the terrorists was aware of lots of packages being delivered to them lately, and of their working until late at night in their garage, but she didn't want to report this suspicious activity for fear of being accused of 'profiling'.   This is what political correctness does to you......................

Coming from a country where our police force is highly respected and trusted, I have a problem here where the police, generally, seem to be rubbished, and get a very bad press - although I have never heard anything adverse about the Shawnee Police Chief, Russell Frantz, whom I like very much.  So I was heartened tonight to see the video of a police officer leading people out of the building under attack in California, telling them to stay behind him, he would take the bullet before them. 

http://ramacgregor.blogspot.ca/2015/12/proud-to-be-quebecer-today-new-gun.html    This is from my Canadian friend who is proud to be a Quebecer today because of their new gun legislation.   As I am sure you know, guns are a big deal in this country too.  I have to say, coming from a country where the ownership of hand guns is illegal, and the only people who have guns are those who hunt - even our police force isn't armed unless they are going out on a raid, and even then they have to be signed off by a Justice of the Peace - I do believe, as most of us do in Britain, that violence breeds violence and one only has to look around this nation to know how true that is.

1st in Advent

Well - we've had Thanksgiving, Black Friday Sales , Small Business Saturday (where everyone patronises their small shops)   and tomorrow is Cyber Monday when everyone shops online.  And Napoleon  called US a 'Nation of Shopkeepers'.    Of course that was some time ago.

The weather here has been so wet lately - I am sure the local reservoirs must be full by now - so the only shopping I have done was to venture to the Dollar Store after church to pick up one or two Christmas things.   And I picked up this book in the Dollar Store which I photographed for the benefit of my cat loving friend who persuaded me to take Bubbles in.   I will pass it on to you.

 

While looking for this photo I found another I took a couple of days ago....

 



This is a big news story here at the moment.  The incident happened a year ago, but the video has only just surfaced and is causing national outrage.  A black youth was running down the road waving a knife, and ignored the police call to stop, so the officer shot him sixteen times.    In Britain we would all be asking "WHY", and the officer would be sent for medical or psychiatric evaluation. But here he has been charged with murder in the first degree, so heaven help him if it is a death penalty state.  I'm more bewildered than anything - I think there has to be something else in this incident that we are missing.   What was it that possessed the officer to shoot him 16 times???  

 

In this country every single shot a police officer fires has to be accounted for, so shooting at someone sixteen times is a very big deal indeed and the officer would know that.   But we haven't been told anything about his mental state, or any of the whys or wherefores.    

 

The photo on the left is part of the protest, the police officer is the guy in the middle, and the victim the black guy in the graduation robes.

 

 

 This is a picture from a couple of days ago.  A little ceremony they have at the White House, a turkey is selected for the Thanksgiving dinner, and the other one there (but not in the picture) is pardoned.   But with White House staff as well, they must need more than one turkey I would have thought.  

 

And I thought Obama's daughters suddenly looked very grown up, we don't often see them.

 

And all the Cyber Monday bargains and deals are beginning to cascade into my inbox.

 

 



 

Thanksgiving/Black Friday

As I previously mentioned, my friend Donna invited me to join her and her family for Thanksgiving yesterday, we had roast turkey and lots of side dishes, and it was all very pleasant.   I would have liked to have stayed longer than I did, but had to get home before dark because my failing eyesight isn't up to unlit country roads.   

 

Everyone here always takes a contribution to a meal and I made our traditional (traditional in my family, that is) smoked salmon appetisers.  I also knocked up some cheese sausages, but didn't think they were up to scratch so ate them myself.

 

Black Friday.........

 

The biggest shopping day of the year.   President Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, then in 1939 during the Great Depression Thanksgiving happened to fall during the 5th week of November, and retailers protested that the holiday shopping season was too short.    (I wondered why folks didn't start their Christmas shopping in August, like we do) so in 1941 Congress passed a law making it the fourth Thursday.

 

In the 1950s, people began calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving, essentially giving themselves a four-day weekend. Since stores were open, as were most businesses, those playing hooky could also get a head start on their holiday shopping and rather than try to determine whose pay should be cut, and who was legitimately sick, many businesses started adding that day as another paid holiday.

 

I certainly haven't been out shopping.   Even had I wanted to the weather is now bitterly cold, and very, very wet.   Not that I'd dare complain, mind you, of rain in this drought stricken state.

 

The geriatric cat seems to have been a bit lethargic lately, she has slowed down somewhat lately, but today has spent the whole day on the computer room sofa.  She did venture on to my chair in front of the computer and I tossed her off - I'm feeling very bad about that now. 

 

I've been watching television, normal programming was suspended for most of the day because there was a serious hostage situation at a Planned Parenthood Clinic - a women's' health and abortion clinic.   It has been in the news lately because an undercover investigator found they were selling foetal tissue body parts, but I don't know if that had anything to do with today's situation.

 

After several hours the gunman was taken into custody, but sadly a police officer and two civilians were killed, and quite a few casualties have been hospitalised.   To date we haven't been told the motive of the gunman.

 

 

Wednesday 25th November

Kevin rang to see if I was going anywhere for Thanksgiving dinner, which was kind of him, but I am going to my friend, Donna on the other side of Tecumseh.    I was looking at smoked salmon in Walmart to make some little pre lunch appetisers to take, and they were selling "imitation" crab and "imitation" lobster - the smoked salmon looked genuine though.   I reflected on the fact that for someone brought up on an island in the North Sea the lack of decent fish here is a bit hard to take sometimes.   The beef is good though.

I am about to wade into the muddy waters of political incorrectness here, so all who may be offended - You Have Been Warned.

In the news, a young pregnant mother was murdered in a home invasion by two black youths while her husband was out at the gym.    Also in the news - and not connected to this story - there seems to be a lot of racial unrest here at the moment, and there have been mass demonstrations on the streets,  black people (or 'people of colour' as they prefer to be called)  chanting "Black Lives Matter".    Oh Yes.   How about SOMEONE, ANYONE, telling the black youth of America that White Lives Matter, because it seems to me - the bystander here - that nearly all the crime and violence here is perpetrated by black youth.

I will no doubt be told - and if I am not told it will be thought - that this is all a lie, put out by the evil Fox News, and in actual fact all the crime and violence is actually perpetrated by white people.

And believe it not, I never used to have a racist bone in my body.   This is what living here does to you.

Sunday

I went to Emmanuel in the morning.   I was reading and people were kind enough to tell me afterwards that they love it when I read - I think it's the novelty of my English accent.

 

In the early afternoon I went to the movies and saw 'The 33' about the mine in Chile which collapsed, trapping 33 miners, and  I think most of us remember following it in real time when it happened.   I was surprised though that even knowing it all ended happily didn't prepare me for the emotional impact of it.   At the end, when the first miner emerged, I was dashing away the tears.   By the time  the final credits rolled up,  I was weeping.   It took a little getting into, but it was a tremendously exciting film.

 

In real time I remembered the President of Chile being there to welcome them when they came up, but they didn't show that (or even an actor playing him).  And I also remembered in real time being very moved that the President of Bolivia was also there to welcome the one Bolivian miner when he came up, but they didn't show that either.  Anyway, it was a very, very good film, and via a take out at the Golden Corral I was back home in the real world of  evil jihadists, facing down Armageddon.  Which got me to wondering "what IS the real world, the goodness of the story of the miners, or the evil of radical Islam".    But let us not go there, it is too philosophical for a Monday morning.

Friday/Saturday.

Yesterday, Friday, I was at the hospital.   At first I didn't see Bill, I circled around a bit then we caught up and had lunch together which was very nice.   It was also very festive.    When the universities of Oklahoma  play Oklahoma State, it is also celebrated at the hospital (although I think the game is actually next week).   All those who would normally pay for their lunch have it free, and there are extra buffet dishes and an air of festivity pervades the cafeteria. 

 

Another touch - but I don't know that it is connected - is that employees and volunteers are given a little loaf of bread in honour of the founders of the hospital, the Little Sisters of the Poor.  Legend has it that a man came to the convent asking for food but there was only one loaf of bread in the house. The sister in charge of the kitchen asked the Mother what she should do, and was told to give the man the loaf, saying "the Lord will provide for us".   Some hours later a child was sent by her mother to deliver a pan of freshly baked bread, and when the child arrived she was greeted with "The Lord has come.  You are the Lord today little one". 

Yesterday evening Bruce and Rosalyn kindly invited me to the Shawnee Little Theatre to see 'Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike' by Christopher Durang.......and courtesy of Wikipedia........

"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a comedy play and revolves around the relationships of three middle-aged single siblings, two of whom live together, and takes place during a visit by the third, Masha, who supports them. They discuss their lives and loves, argue, and Masha threatens to sell the house. Some of the show's elements were derived from works of Anton Chekov, including several character names, the play's setting in a cherry orchard, and the theme of the possible loss of an ancestral home".

I enjoyed it very much and so appreciated them inviting me.    It really is a lovely little theatre, run entirely by volunteers.   We must have known at least half the people in the auditorium, and that is when one really appreciates that this is small town America, in the most positive way.

Today, Saturday, I have not done a lot apart from watching the evil Fox News and crocheting.   It has been very bright and sunny but bitterly cold, I think it was 40 degrees when I went out briefly.  I reminded myself that this was what I wanted when the temperature was 103.    

 

I did go to the monthly AARP meeting this morning and caught up with Phyllis.   She gave me THREE boxes of Twinings Prince of Wales tea which I like, which was very generous of her.   She is going to need a little surgery soon on her ankle.  Last time she was home she took a trip to Port Isaac and Clovelly, and tripped on the cobblestones, and had to have a screw in her ankle, which is now loose.

. 

Tuesday - posted early Thurs.

I have forgiven the French - I forgive them for everything, from Agincourt to keeping us out of the EU for as long as they did.  

 

I looked at President Hollande the other day standing up to the jihadist terrorists after their ghastly attack on innocent French civilians in Paris - young people enjoying an evening out - and  announcing his Declaration of War;  and with all my heart I wished him and the French nation all the best.  

 

Obama won't even call the terrorists what they are - "extremists" are the worst epithet he can come up with.  He came into Office bound and determined to be the President who ended all conflicts in the Middle East, and is sick as a parrot that is not going to happen.

Thursday early am.

Goodness, I must have been tired.  Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, I made some cup cakes for the meal, took them to the church (thank goodness) then closed my eyes for a little nap.   When I woke up it was the middle of the night, all the lights were on, and I'd left the cat outside - how bad do you think I feel about that!   She is now curled up, fast asleep, on the computer room sofa, and I am now wide awake sipping tea and crocheting.   

 

 

 

 

 

16th November

How heartbreaking are the scenes from Paris.   I find it so difficult to comprehend sometimes the level of evil that there is in the world.

 

I understand that Obama is going to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the US because "slamming doors in the faces of refugees is a betrayal of our values".    And yes, I know it is none of my business if he does.....but for the sake of argument let us pretend for a moment that it is.....  He has assured the American public that all these refugees will be "subject to rigorous screening and security checks".   Pause for hollow laughter.  

 

When I came here, a 70 something grandma from northern Europe, I underwent THE most rigorous screening you can imagine, starting with my application for an entry visa,  and I also had to give the address of my local police station so that it could be determined that I didn't have a criminal record. 

 

Then... when I arrived at Dallas I was passed from one official to another and extensively interviewed.   But did the interviews stop there?   Did they heck as like.   I  had to undergo three more trips to Homeland Security in Oklahoma City before finally, finally, I was given a residence permit (I forget now when it expires, but I think I will be long gone).    And Obama is proposing to subject 10,000 refugees waiting in line at their ports of entry, to this "rigorous screening and security checks".   

 

Well, good luck with that.  At least 16 Governors have so far said "not in my state".

 

 

 

Prince Charles' birthday

Republicans are spitting feathers because Obama has said he is going to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the US.   Now - I am not even American, or perhaps I've been here too long and I have somehow become one without noticing.    But Saudi Arabia is a big, huge, practically empty country, they could take in thousands of Syrian refugees and not even notice them, but they don't want to because they are afraid that there might be militant jihadists among them.  

 

What am I missing here?

 

Can someone explain to me - this foreign bystander - why they are coming to the US instead of going to an Islamic state, where they can fit in a great deal better than they would be able to here?   In modern parlance "I can't get my head around it".

 

And that's my little op ed for the day.

 

Changing the subject -  I found something while surfing the internet which rather intrigues me.  Montana is the only state in the Union which allows a couple to be married without either of them being in attendance.   I just wonder how that works, if anyone knows anyone in Montana perhaps you would ask for me.   And more importantly, why would anyone want to?   Isn't the new dress, all the attention, the excitement, the champagne  - the main reason for getting married?   I can't think of any other reason.

Friday 13th

I am sure by now you have all seen the news, are we are on the brink of WW111, Armageddon?

 

I was knitting and watching tv this afternoon when the news from Paris first broke.    I watched for a while then went to Walmart for my shopping, and when I got back to the television,  two or three hours later, the same news anchor was still covering it.   And there wasn't a commercial break until 10.15.

 

It has been said that it was unusual for such an attack to be launched without any prior intelligence warnings.  Have the CIA, FBI, MI5 all been asleep on the job?

 

There's a lot of anxiety that all the radical jihadists have already infiltrated most of Europe, and I understand that every single state in the Union is now going to take a long, hard look at possible 'suspects' in their state.  And we've all seen migrants fleeing from the Middle East into Europe - has anyone noticed that 95% of them are young men between 18 and 35?

Thursday 12th November

This has been a somewhat stressful day - my C-Nook - my e-book - has been coming apart for a while now, and this morning the tip of the cable - which goes into the base to charge it - finally disintegrated.  Apart from the way this one was made, I think they are one of the best inventions on the planet, they slip into a handbag, take up hardly any space, but mine had 145 books on it, and I never went anywhere without it, so it had to be replaced.   

 

They are sold by the bookseller Barnes & Noble, and I always went to their branch in Norman, and  it used to be such a pleasant trip - I'd take the scenic route, bowling along Highway 9, a very straight forward journey and easy to find when I got to Norman - from Hwy 9 I  took a right, then a left turn, and I was there, but that has so drastically changed, it is almost unbelievable.    A combination of massive road works and development made it very difficult to find, and I was going round and round in circles, and believe it or not, I had a GPS which was supposed to be telling me the way, but took me all round the houses before it finally got me there.

 

Anyway, I've got a new C-Nook which doesn't have the potential to come apart, so they obviously realised there was a serious design fault there, and it is charging up as I type.   And it was a lot easier coming back because I got straight on to the interstate, but it wasn't the pleasant, scenic journey of Highway 9.

 

I can't possibly go there again so I've been looking up their store in Tulsa, but that's quite a long way (although not 24 hours).   Actually though I doubt that I'll need to go, now I've got the new C-Nook all the books can be downloaded online.   And the 145 were all downloaded to the new one.

 

So that has been my day, I set off in the morning when I was ready, and got home at 4.30, and have been recovering ever since.

Armistice Day

But they call it 'Veterans Day' here.   I think it was a Public Holiday, but I haven't tried to go to a bank or post office, so I am not sure.   

My activity for the day has centred on making biscuits, or what they call 'cookies' for the Wednesday meal this evening.   I was surprised when I got there and found that practically every member of the church seemed to be there, so there wouldn't have been enough biscuits to go round, although I thought I'd made quite a few, the recipe said it did 5 dozen.  Everyone attending the 8 o'clock and the 10 o'clock services had been exhorted to attend, there was a lot of work to be done in the parish hall, sorting things out - but I reckon when one is pushing 80 one gets a pass, and I sloped off after the meal.

Normally, I have about 4 or 5 followers reading this.   I don't know what has happened lately, my readership in the last few days seems to have shot up - there were 18 yesterday!!!   I can't even think of 18 people who would want to read it.   And I am sure it hasn't been my insightful reporting of the political scene, ha ha.

112 years ago yesterday, a woman was granted a patent on windscreen wipers.  And nobody thought they would catch on!

  

Tuesday 10th November

There was another Presidential Debate tonight, so great anticipation and excitement about that among the news anchors and journalists.   As it happened I was out this evening, but I couldn't have seen it anyway, it was on a channel my basic tv package doesn't give me.  

 

When I got back though I caught up with all the inquests on it, and it seems generally agreed to have been very successful, and a far cry from the debacle of the last one.   And from what I have heard it seems that Rubio and Cruz gave the best performances, and they have been in the lead with Trump and Dr Carson for a while now.   I think the forerunners are appearing and it won't be long now, I wouldn't have thought, for the no-hopers to drop out.

 

This evening Phyllis invited me to join her and her husband to a Volunteers Dinner they were going to, and kindly picked me up as well.  VIP stands for Volunteers Impacting People, and it is something run out of the Senior Centre that Phyllis is involved in.

 

Phyllis received an award, I think it was a silver one.   The Humanitarian Award went to a 96 year old, who looks younger than me, and does a tremendous amount raising money and sending care packages to the military.   Old people here do seem a lot more active than at home, perhaps they've got more to keep them busy.

 

I've probably mentioned before that  all 'dinners' here are called 'banquets', but you will see it was at 5.30, which to my English mind is more 'high tea', than dinner, but Phyllis has lived here for more than 50 years and I don't think she thought so.     Anyway, I enjoyed the evening, it was very nice to go out, and I appreciated her asking me.  

 

And we all got a little pressie....

I like these thermal mugs, I've got quite a few of them now, and all given to me.

 

 

 

Sunday/Monday

I went to the cinema in the afternoon - yet again - and saw 'Burnt'.   I looked at the performance times for the rest of the week and they were all after dark, and although I think it will probably be on for a couple more weeks, I didn't want to miss it.   It was quite good, but I think I expected more.  The synopsis was straightforward, even for me......a 2 Michelin star chef screws up his life, becomes a drug addict, then turns life around because he wants a third Michelin star.

When I got to the cinema, the car park was absolutely full.  I had to park at the front and walk through the Mall, and there were crowds jostling in the foyer, so I was somewhat surprised when the cashier told me I'd have the auditorium all to myself.   I commented on the crowd and she said they were all seeing 'Peanuts'.

I must say it did seem a bit strange to have an entire cinema to myself.

I took some pictures with my little back-up camera.

 

I had left the spare room door ajar and Bubbles thought she'd make it her bedroom.  I disabused her of that notion though, but she was allowed to stay until she got up, then I closed the door.

 

 



Isn't this amazing, this car park just broke up.   When this happens it is usually called a sink hole, but this is bigger and has another name.   Some time ago a man was fast asleep - I think in California - and a sink hole just swallowed him up; and they couldn't recover his body.

'Sexting'  that's a word that wasn't around in my day, but with the advent of smartphones kids are taking nude pictures of each other and they are all flying around on each other's phones.   Whatever next.

Saturday......

Not a lot to update you about, except that I saw the movie 'The Martian' with Donna this afternoon, and it was TERRIFIC, AMAZING.  We both came out saying "WOW"  or words to that effect.  It is amazing,  the stunts, the effects, the cinematography.    I recommend it to anyone with the opportunity to see it.

Tomorrow, or sometime in the near future, we want to see "Burnt" about a chef.

Apart from this I haven't really done anything.   Just crocheting and watching tv.   And it was wonderful this morning to talk to my grand daughters on Skype.  That really made my weekend.

Remember, Remember the 5th November......

Hope the weather stayed dry tonight for your bonfires and fireworks.

The weather here has been funny.   It was very overcast this morning, I went to Communion, then we decided on lunch at a nearby Asian diner, but in the car park one of the group had a call from her husband warning of a severe weather alert and possible tornado, so we all hurried home.    A little while later we had very heavy rain, but then it cleared up and the sun came out.

 

Two big items of  news, firstly the crashed aircraft in Sinai......was it, wasn't it, ISIS  brought it down?  According to reports I heard, David Cameron seems to think so, but politicians over here were a bit reluctant - I don't know why - to say so.   I think by this evening though the general consensus of opinion is that it was.

 

The second news items is the Presidential Debate next Tuesday, the candidates have been announced.  To qualify for the 'top table' as it were, they have to have polled at least 2.5% in the four opinion polls chosen.  So the front runners are Trump (sigh) Dr Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.  I think one of those will eventually be President. Notice I am not giving the lying, untrustworthy Hilary Clinton any credence, my critics would say I've been brainwashed by the evil Fox News, but although there might have been a time when I thought she was alright, you can "go off" someone.

 

The other four making the top table are Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich the Ohio governor, and Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky.

 

Those on what I call the 'kiddies' table - who I would imagine would be dropping out soon - are

New Jersey governor the brash Chris Christie; former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee;  Rick Santorum and  Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal.  I like Bobby Jindal but I don't think he has much chance of making it.

 

Trump keeps attacking his closest rival, the gentle, softly spoken  Ben Carson,  accusing him of being "low energy" (like that's an insult).    Someone should tell Trump that anyone performing an intricate brain operation for 15 hours, with all the concentration that entails, is hardly "low energy".  I think Trump is jealous of his brilliance and popularity.  

 

So that is my two cents worth on the next debate.

4th November

Weather was a complete contrast to yesterday's warmth and sunshine.  It has been cold, grey and chilly.

 

I just went out this evening to the meal at Emmanuel.   For dessert they had the cakes I bought at the Kiwani bake sale yesterday, and I also knocked up some nutty crunch.

 

I took my camera there and showed it to my friend Stephanie, who officially pronounced it dead.   I told her I'd had it about 8 years since just before I came here and she said that is about its life span.   I think it is called - isn't it - built in obsolescence?   So I have been looking online at Walmart and Staples for a little inexpensive replacement.   But I will keep the old one, which was a present from Tim, on display.  It has served me well.  May it R.I.P.

I saw two cameras online at Staples, one was $19.99 (£13)  but I think that sounds a bit too cheap.  There's another I am thinking about which is $37.99 (nearly £25)  Of course they are not the quality of the Samsung they are replacing but I think the latter will serve its purpose.  But first I'll see what Walmart has to offer.

Today, the 4th November, is officially 'Death to America Day' in Iran.  It was the day in 1979 that radical Islamic students seized the US Embassy in Tehran which led to the 444 day hostage crisis.   And the news has been showing American flags being burnt, and everyone celebrating in the streets.

And Obama has just signed a deal with them, and is giving them - among other things - $150 billion!!!    If I were a US taxpayer I think I'd be spitting feathers.  

I daresay there are British taxpayers spitting feathers at David Cameron taking in thousands of East European migrants, but better that than giving billions to Iran.

Ted Cruz is leading in the Presidential polls, because of his excellent performance at the Debate.  Mario Rubio is also doing well.    With honest, decent, candidates like those I don't think the lying Hilary Clinton has a snowball in hell's chance.  And I know, I know, critics, that I shouldn't be watching the evil Fox News.

There are those who would have me believe that everything on Fox News are lies.  But is it not an inescapable fact that Americans were held hostage in the Iran?  And is it not also an inescapable fact that Obama has just given them - among a lot of other things - $150 billion?

Time to jump off the soapbox and head for bed.  Bubbles has given up reminding me.

Tuesday 3rd November.

Weather is still lovely, blue skies and sunny.   I was at the hospital this morning, and decided this afternoon to do something about my camera.   I thought it just needed a new battery, that was all it needed this morning, but I couldn't get one in Shawnee, so I decided to be brave and risk driving to Mid West City, about 30 miles away along the interstate, where I'd established a battery shop had one.

 

The car actually is okay, it drives along fine, the problem is the fact that it is long overdue for a new timer belt - whatever that is - and if that goes while I am out driving then I will have a much bigger problem, hence the anxiety and the caution.   The timer belt is actually quite an insignificant part, the $600 it costs to put in a new one is all down to the labour charge of having to take the engine apart to fit it.

 

So I puttered along at just under 40 miles an hour and it seemed to take forever to get there, and when I did I was surprised  to find a HUGE shopping area with some nice shops and department stores.   At another time it would have been nice to have browsed around there.

 

Anyway, I got the battery, the guy in the shop put it in for me and to my extreme dismay, I found I couldn't see anything at all through the viewfinder.  It is just totally black.   The assistant seemed as perplexed as I was; it wasn't a camera shop, they just sold batteries and light bulbs.  But I took the new battery - the existing one had been in the camera for years - so I obviously needed it but now I have a worse problem to deal with, because I don't  know who to go to now ..... as I have no idea why it is malfunctioning.

 

Shawnee is a sizeable town, I just don't know why they haven't got a proper camera shop.   Hailsham - which is nothing like the size of Shawnee had/has, one.

 

The manager in the battery shop volunteered the information that they have a branch in Norman, and opposite the branch there is a camera shop.   IF ONLY  I had known that in the first place.  But I think I will have to go, a camera repair shop is the only answer.  They gave me their card with the address on it.

 

Driving back, I am carefully following the GPS instructions, but there are a lot of road works going on, and I think that was the problem.   I found myself at a road with a sentry in a box, obviously wanting to know where I was going.  I gaze around and realise I am on the biggest military base in the world, people who live here will know where I was.  Military man at the box wants my driving licence, and I can't find it.  While I am rummaging around in confusion and panic he spots my passport, and asks for that.  Honestly, I take a wrong turning, and I need a passport!!   But I don't argue, obviously.  I go all confused and humble.  So clutching the passport in one hand, he tells me he wants me to do a U turn, indicates where I am to go and says he will see me round the other side of the  box, where he hands me back my passport.   Phew!   From there I was on to the interstate and it was downhill all the way.   I needed a little rest this afternoon to recover.

 

Actually, I had made some moist fruit cakes for the Kiwani bake sale yesterday and I was out early taking those to the Senior Centre.  They're very popular, they didn't even stay on display on the table, and I thought I'd pass on the recipe - grand daughters, my own or others, might like to try them.

 

You will need - (and just multiply if you are making a few like I did)....  A large saucepan.

 

12oz dried fruit.  4oz butter.  4oz sugar (brown or caster)  13oz tin crushed pineapple.  Simmer a few minutes, then cool.

Stir in 8oz flour.  tspn (or so) of spice.  1 tspn baking soda.   2 eggs.   And cook in a low oven, like 350,  for however long you think it takes, depending on the size of the tins.  I actually use little disposable aluminum loaf tins.

 

I've had this recipe a long time. Years and years.  A colleague in the radiology department at the Nuffield, Woodingdean made it, and it was so popular everyone had a copy of it.

 

 

Monday

The weather starts off chilly in the morning, then becomes warm and spring like by the afternoon.   I am conscious now that with the clocks going back at the weekend I need to be sure I go out, and do what I need to do, before it gets dark.   Going to Emmanuel doesn't count, it is a very short distance and along a main road.

The inquests into the Presidential Debate are still going on, it seems universally agreed that it was a debacle, and the candidates all had a cosy get together on Sunday and they have decided how it is going to be run in future, which I gather will be a lot more professionally.

One would think, looking at the supermarket tabloids, that Hilary Clinton is in trouble.........

 

 

But I doubt it.   A Democrat Senate, and especially a Democrat President , who would have to okay it, is not going to - I think the expression used here is -  "throw her under the bus".

 

And there isn't even anyone else standing in the wings ready to be a Presidential candidate.  There is of course, Bernie Sanders, but he is a socialist, and socialism doesn't have any traction in this country.  Maybe by the next election.

 

It has just been revealed that she warned the  Libyan President of the Benghazi attack.   But not - as we know - her ambassador.

 

The White House also told her not to blame the Benghazi attack on the offensive video about the Prophet because nobody in Libya, in the general public, would have seen the video.  They just don't have these things over there.  

 

There is a drip, drip, leakage of her e-mails, coming from someone in the FBI who are holding and investigating them.   If this carries on much longer I can foresee FBI resignations on the horizon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween

Well, I got the candy in but I didn't have any takers, any trick or treaters.   I did go to the movies just before 7.30, but I don't think I missed them, I think they would have come earlier, before dark, if they were going to.    They probably go round the better neighbourhoods.   So - oh dear - I will have to eat the candy myself.

 

I don't like Halloween, I never have, so I am glad it is over, but they make a big thing of it over here, dressing up, decorating the front gardens and the stores do a roaring trade in HUGE bagfulls of candy, and costumes.

 

The movie I went to see downtown was 'The Visit'.  It was on in one of the main cinema complexes for quite a while and I'd kept debating whether to see it or not because it was billed as a mystery and suspense.

 

 It was alright - better than 'Steve Jobs' but it was very weird and I don't think I would recommend it to anyone, but it did keep me engaged trying to figure it out.    And as anyone married to me would testify, if a film isn't straightforward I need  constant explanations on what is happening, and who is who.    Fortunately, when I got home I found a very good website which gave a  detailed, day by day account of all that happened.   So now I know what it was all about.

 

I doubt if anyone reading this plans to see it, so I will tell you it is about two children sent to visit their grandparents they have never met because their mother was estranged from them.   The grandparents are WEIRD - but it transpires near the end that they are not really their grandparents, but two patients from a mental hospital who have murdered the real grandparents and put their bodies in the basement.  The children get hold of their mother on Skype, who sees the pseudo grandparents and rushes to the scene with  cop cars, and lights flashing, and all ends well.   But one would think, in reality, the children would go home extremely traumatised and need years of counselling to get over it all. 

 

The dust has been settling following the Presidential Debate, and Rubio seems to have done very well.  It was announced this evening that a billionaire has come forward donating millions to his campaign.  

 

Jeb Bush is not doing at all well.   He criticised Rubio at one point in the Debate for his attendance record at the Florida Senate where he had missed votes because he was campaigning, and asked Rubio if he was adopting the French working week of three days.  Unfortunately the French ambassador was watching the Debate, he was very irate and complained to the Republican party.  So that hasn't helped Jeb.

 

Sadly, I won't be able to see the next Debate, it is on a channel I don't get with my basic tv package, but I guess I'll get to hear the main points.

 

Thursday/Friday

Yesterday, Thursday, all was well with the world.   The weather was warm and sunny, in the 70s.  Went to Communion then six of us went to lunch at the Brick Town Brewery - how Roy would have loved that place.   I ordered a turkey pot pie, and I kid you not, it came baked in a 6" pie dish.  Someone asked why I was surprised when I know that Americans always serve huge portions.   It looked so nice with a golden flaky crust, I thought I'd take it home to eat, and there I dined off the side dishes of potato salad and mashed potatoes (the waitress couldn't remember what I had ordered so brought both) 
 

Things started to go downhill when I realised I needed a new battery in my camera and can't get one in Shawnee.   It is was suggested I go to a battery shop in Mid West City, but as you might know, I don't drive out of Shawnee, so I will try and find it online.  

 

I was in Terry's vicinity so asked him to check my fluid levels, and explain the problem with the car. He said it is something called the timer belt - it looks perfectly alright but he said these things have to be replaced at a certain mileage, rather than when they break down and  becom problematical. 

 

Wednesday evening was another Republican Debate, I didn't see it as I was at Emmanuel, but from all accounts it was a total debacle, the moderators had no idea of what they were supposed to be doing, and asked all sorts of stupid questions about Fantasy Football and the like, instead of the political issues they were supposed to be addressing.   I think another factor is that the network running the Debate is very left wing, and the Republicans are to the right of Genghis Khan.   The fallout from all this was still going on Friday afternoon when it was announced that the Republican candidates are all going to have a get-together on Sunday, and they will never again have anything to do with the left wing network.   It seems the debacle of the debate has bonded them all together in a camaraderie they didn't have before.  So, silver linings and all that.

 

Today, Friday, I have just been to the hospital.   For one reason or another, Bill and I haven't been able to have lunch together for a while - usually because he gets a call to go to the ER - but today we were able to do so, and that was very pleasant.   We lingered over lunch and chatted.

 

So, this is my 'letter from America' which someone was kind enough to say was more entertaining that boring old Alistair Cooke's.

 

 

ps.  I started off saying how lovely the weather was on Thursday.   Today, Friday, it has been very heavy rain all day.  

Wednesday 28th

I had an invite this morning from Fr Peter to join them at the monastery in Beaumont for Thanksgiving.   But even if I were to hire a car it is too far to drive, it is over 500 hundred miles and 10 hours (10 hours that is for an average person, it would take me a lot longer and I'd need an overnight stop) and now that I am pushing 80 I just can't do it, I become too stiff and cramped driving for that length of time.   But I appreciated them thinking of me and asking.   I heard Michael once telling someone at Beaumont that there is a Benedictine monastery in Shawnee, but I drive all the way down there.  

 

Hospitality is a Benedictine 'thing'.   I drive - or did - all the way down there to visit them because of the warmth of their hospitality, but I just don't know the monks at St Gregory's in Shawnee.  Maybe I would if I drove there from the other side of another state but can hardly turn up from a couple of miles down the road and expect a red carpet welcome.

 

This evening was the 3rd Presidential Debate, but I went instead to the meal at Emmanuel.   I didn't need to do anything about a dessert because team Mexican, responsible for the meal this evening, do their own (Mexican) dessert.   After the meal we go into our little groups and discussions,  I'm in a small group with Fr Bill and three others.

 

I haven't really got much else to write about.   I went to the hospital yesterday and miss Bill's friendly presence, but he is going to be tied up on Tuesdays for the next few months.

 

I think I need to replace the battery in my camera, I tried charging it when it didn't work, but it wasn't effective.   And what is a blog without pictures.

 

I forgot..................I had this picture on my desktop.  Yesterday was the 134th anniversary of the Shoot Out at the OK Corral, between Wyatt Earp and his brothers, who I think represented law and order, and a gang who were up to no good.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday/Monday

We've had some rain, and chilly mornings but it has not been too bad.  It was 70 as I went through town today.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to Emmanuel in the morning, and in the early afternoon to see a movie with my friend, Donna.   It was 'Steve Jobs', and I thought it was the most boring film I have ever seen - in my life - it just went right over my head, I couldn't understand it, and couldn't tell you today what it was about - apart from, obviously, Steve Jobs.   But Donna thoroughly enjoyed it.   So there you are, if you're thinking of seeing it, it is all a matter of taste.

In the news..........or in the Presidential campaign, Donald Trump is not happy, ha ha ha.

In fact he is spitting feathers......

and here he is  railing at Jeb Bush - who is slipping in the polls so I don't know why he should be the subject of Trump's ire - but he says Jeb is meeting with his donors, and with "Mommy and Daddy" to discuss his campaign.   "Daddy" is a former US President, and they are parents of another US President, and Trump is sneering at their credentials to advise Jeb!!!

All the candidates are going around promising this, that and other thing, but if I were an American with a vote  I would vote for the candidate I most trusted to be woken at 3am with the news that the world is in danger, and Donald Trump who would be bristling with outrage, is not that candidate.

This is an awful item in the news over the weekend in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Oklahoma State University had a big parade, there was a large crowd of people and a woman driving her car  went around a barricade, ran a red light, drove over a police motor cycle  and ploughed through the crowd of spectators.     4 people died and I think 47 injured, some of them critically.  Witnesses said bodies were flying in the air like rag dolls.   

The investigation is still ongoing, but the driver apparently has a history of mental illness, and it is believed at the moment that it was an intentional act, and not an accident,

She is being held on a million dollar bond because the judge said she didn't want her leaving the court house and getting back in a car.

With all respect to any American reading this, I have to say I have long thought that the mental health services in this country SUCK.   They are abysmal.    And I don't know why the politicians who are always saying this is the greatest country on the planet, don't do something about them.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

Update on Saturday.

This morning, after posting last entry, I visited my friend Donna, on the other side of Tecumseh and that was very pleasant.

Last night - Friday - I went to an event at the Museum.

A Mummy from the Roman era had a CT scan at the hospital - I seem to recall Bill mentioning it at the time, but I didn't pay attention - until I received my invite to the Reception where an anthropologist from Tulsa gave a talk on it.  

 It was quite interesting but I have to confess that by the time of the interval I had seen enough of it and slipped away.

 

 

Even the nibbles at the cheese and wine part of the Reception had a theme.

I don't know how Hilary Clinton is sleeping at night.  The results of the Hearing on Thursday are going to take some time to be known.  There are still documents to go through, and more e-mails.  I even heard it said that - if elected - she might be impeached on day one of her Presidency.  

But I really doubt her chances of election.   I think a Republican, Ben Carson or Marco Rubio, has a better chance.    Capitalism is so deeply entrenched here - socialism is practically a dirty word - I can't see Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, making it.  And I don't suppose it helps that socialism isn't working in Britain.   Our health service is collapsing.   And a friend told me that Britain may be hit by massive power cuts because the EU have ordered the closure of all coal fuelled power stations.

I'd like to know who thought it was a good idea for us to join the EU, she says bitterly.  But I seem to be going off at a tangent.  I'm just musing.

Saturday Morning - from my laptop

I'm back (sort of) thanks to technologically savvy son, Tim, but there are still some wrinkles to iron out.   I can pull up the page on my desktop pc, but can't  access the dashboard for a new entry there, because in my frustration I thought I'd try and create a new blog and got halfway there, but now I don't want to proceed, I want to delete my attempts and stick with this one, but can't.   It doesn't give me any opting out, or deleting options for my half created new blog.

I prefer to use the desktop for this because it is easier to post photos.  

Anyway, to try and cast my mind back to what I have been doing.

Last week - or it might have been the week before - I went with Sally, another chaplain, to a chaplain's conference in OK City.   It was quite interesting but would have been better with handouts, I am better at taking in written words. 

It was held at the hospital in the City which I hadn't seen before, and it was beautiful, and HUGE, I thought the biggest hospital I have ever seen, and  I enjoyed spending time chatting with Sally in her lovely car.

This fountain is in the foyer of the hospital.

As I mentioned in the temporary blog I saw Hillary Clinton facing the Benghazi Enquiry into why four Americans, including the US ambassador, were killed in a raid on the Consulate in Benghazi.
I don't know myself how she can win a Presidential election.   She'd had numerous requests from the ambassador for extra security, which he didn't get.  She knew all the time that it was a terrorist attack, but told the American public that it was a demonstration, a protest against a You Tube video about the Prophet.   And lying under oath is a Federal offence, that seems to me the bottom line, and how is she going to survive it.    We shall see.  The Clintons seem to be fireproof.


There's been a change in the weather, it is now damp and bit chilly, I think in the 70s.