Tuesday March 31st

I am back but am not sure for how long, I think the computer will have to pay a visit to James at Staples in a day or two.

It's hard to remember what I have done in the last few days, I can barely remember breakfast this morning.

I did however finish the Mother's Tree I have been working on, and it is on its way.

I looked at it and wondered if I should do a Father's Tree as well while I have still got the eyesight, but perhaps not quite yet.

I've enrolled in a crochet class at the local technical college, which meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I have been this evening.    I was lucky when I went to enroll - they had enough people enrolled to make the class viable, and I am a senior, so was told I didn't need to pay.  A saving of $95.00.

Plenty going on in the news.....

This is going to put Lufthansa out of business.  Normally their liability would be limited to $175,000 per passenger, but in these circumstances the sky is the limit, and they'll be sued for billions.

 

A a memory card from a passenger's video cell phone was found at the scene of the crash.

 

 

Heaven help them!!!!!!!!!    is all I can say.

 



And one of the ways he proposes to do that, he says, is to completely seal off the southern border, so that all the nasty, lazy, shiftless Mexicans and Latinos can't cross over and sully this brave new America he intends to usher in.    He hasn't yet said what he is going to do with all the nasty, lazy etc. who are already here.

 

He hasn't yet said what he is going to do with all the nasty Chinese who are already here.   But come his Presidency they will never get an entry visa.  They're all as bad as the Mexicans with their shoddy imports.   No, everything is going to be manufactured here.    And as I am just about to go out and buy my tenth electric kettle since being in this country, I look forward to that, but heaven knows what it will cost.

 

Someone should send him a memo  pointing out that Chinese imports into Britain are good quality because British firms pay the workers decent wages.

 

He is waiting to make a big official announcement, but has practically said he will be a Presidential candidate. 

Wednesday

I've got a computer problem, it keeps sending me messages that 'memory usage is low', or words to that effect, and it takes ages and ages just to download one photograph on here.   So I am going to suspend the blog while I go through the tons of photos and documents clogging up the system, deleting those I don't want, which is probably most of them.

I know who my readers are, and will let you know when I have this up and running again.

Tuesday 24th March

Weather has been lovely again today, very warm and sunny but tomorrow is forecast storms and tornadoes.   Better put my duvets in the bathroom.

Terry finished my car in the mid afternoon.   I went to Hobby Lobby, then photographed the new pet shop next door.

I used to think people with pets just chucked them a bit of cat or dog food - who knew they needed a superstore for their needs.

 

Having just forked out $1000 for my car repair I thought I could lash out another $4.45 on a strawberry milkshake, and cheer myself up.  It's really, really, lovely.  It has subsided a bit but there was a big mound of whipped cream on top.  I put a few more maraschino cherries on it, and I'm still eating it.

 

 



The main news story during the day was the crashed plane.   What is extraordinary is that it didn't just fall out of the sky;  it took 8 minutes to land and there wasn't quite as much wreckage as there would have been if it had just come down.   And there was nothing, absolutely nothing, from the cockpit.  It will be interesting when they tell us what the black box says.

Heads of State don't usually come on television to express their gratitude for the financial aid they have been given, this is considered a big deal.

And the Presidential Campaign..................

The Governor of Ohio talks a lot about "the poor", whom he intends to help.

Under Donald Trump's Presidency however, there will be no poor.   The country will be so prosperous, he claims, there will be no need for social welfare.     Cynical me thinks he will probably also throw out all the poor who are already here, Mexicans, Latinos, and the 5 million illegal immigrants who have just been given permission to stay, they will all be sent back over the border from whence they came.   And I wouldn't fancy being Chinese either.

He said he is going to make an announcement in June.    But how much more 'announcement' does he need!

Puppy Day

Isn't this lovely.   In honour of 'Puppy Day' they showed several pictures of dogs welcoming home their servicemen owners., it was all very quick, I just managed to get this, although I know it is not a good photo.

It is now summer for a little while, lovely and warm outside.  All the neighbours have been out cutting their grass.  I hope Kevin will come and do mine.    I just took the car to Terry, it is in need of some major work, I will get it back tomorrow. 

I watched television and wondered if I am staring down Armageddon.

It beggars belief that we have got anti Semitism in the 21st century...........

The Presidential Campaign has kicked off -

 

Ted Cruz is on the 'likeable' list.   The other list is 'intensely irritating'  ie Rick Perry, Sarah Palin (although I don't think she is running this time) and Donald Trump, who hasn't yet announced that he will but talks as if he is the only one who could deliver America from the Obama administration, and "make it great again", which I think translates to "top dog in the world".

Sunday

I'd intended going to Fr Clark's church at Sand Springs this morning, but when I woke up - and at the time I would have had to set off there (it is an hour and a half drive) it was grey and chilly, so I took my cuddly hot water bottle and cup of tea back to bed.    I didn't get to Emmanuel either, and I know the weather isn't a good enough excuse for bunking off.   The weather did turn, in the early afternoon from grey and chilly to very nice.

Said cuddly hot water bottle, and I LOVE it.   (I know the donor reads this).

With the clocks going forward and the longer evening, I was able to go to Larry's church this evening - Larry, you may remember was the senior hospital chaplain before Bill.

And afterwards went on down to the Lake with a cup of tea I'd brought with me in my thermal mug, and took some photos.

I needed to get back before dark, it's ten miles and along an unlit road, and I could see the sun setting in my rear view mirror.  So I did a swift U turn.   I think it is extraordinary how this came out.

2nd day of Spring

I missed the first day of Spring yesterday, but never mind, let us pretend it is today.

 

The vernal equinox, which is when the sun lays directly over the Earth’s equator, kicks off the first day of Spring 2015 and it occurred yesterday, March 20, 2015.

 

It  brings some unique events along with it. One such event is that the sun will rise due east and set due west with the horizon. Another feature of the event is that there will be exactly 12 hours of day and night for every latitude.

 

There, wasn't that interesting.

 

Yesterday, Friday, I just went to the hospital then had lunch with Bill.  We got into an interesting discussion because he graduated in music at OBU, and was primarily a musician before studying theology and becoming a chaplain.   We were talking about the Welsh and their ability to sing, and he said that almost everybody can sing, some are just better than others.   I told him that my mother once told me that I couldn't sing and I should never try, and from that day on I never have, and now I just can't, I don't even join in congregational singing in church.  

 

The weather, which has been very wet, dried up a bit today, and it looks quite nice doesn't it. 

 Oklahoma is never mentioned but I expect by now you recognise it there, between Albuquerque in NM, and Memphis just over in TN.

 

This morning I went to the monthly AARP meeting, mainly because it is a chance to catch up with Phyllis.  She is no longer President so we were able to sit together.   The speaker was the mayor of Shawnee, and he was very interesting, but then I am fascinated by statistics, and we got a lot of statistics, I wish I had taken note of them.   One that I remember is that it is costing $2million to improve the run down, downtown area, and that will be very nice when it is all finished.

 

He also said that Shawnee is the only city in the nation - not just in Oklahoma - which does not receive any funding to run it.   It is funded entirely by the sales tax in the shops, and he urged us to shop here, not go to Oklahoma City.   Which I don't anyway, because I have always been conscious of this issue of supporting the local shops.

 

 

Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles of WWII, and it all took place on an island 2 miles by 4

 

The veterans there are all in their 90s.   Is it my imagination, or are people living longer these days?  And these 90+ year olds all had to travel there, it is not like they are just sitting in their retirement homes.

 

Things are not getting better for Hilary Clinton.    I think she hopes that it will all just go away.   But it won't, if she runs for President it is all - along with Benghazi - going to come back and bite her.   If she had just handed over the e-mails when asked, it would all be over, so one has to wonder why she didn't.

 

While I was watching television this afternoon the picture suddenly went off, and I had a Direct TV logo, just dancing around on the screen instead.  I have never had a television service that has given me so much trouble as this one, and my patience is wearing thin. 

 

So I rang them up, testily told them what happened, and was informed that it was a "safety measure".

"SAFETY MEASURE" I screech.   "I wasn't in any danger".    "I was just sitting looking at it, like one does".    But apparently if I look at it for four hours without doing anything, not adjusting the volume, or looking to see what might be on another channel, or generally fidgeting, it assumes I am not watching and goes into this safety mode.  Golly me.  I think I am just too old and impatient for  all this technology.   

 

I know Bubbles has a little fan club, one or two, who like to see pictures of her from time to time.

 

 

 



 

 



Thursday 19th March

I rashly said - trying to be helpful - that I would collect the donuts for Kiwanis.  I really should have stayed at home and played the 'pushing 80' card.   It was very dark, very foggy, and raining when I set off for Tecumseh this morning, and it was not a good drive.   I delivered the donuts and went straight back home.

The news of Pattisue's visit to the doctor yesterday was not good, but I don't think anyone expected it to be.   She is going to the City tomorrow, Friday, for a PET scan - I am not sure what that is - and might have a biopsy as well.   I think her daughter is going with her, she said she had a ride when I offered to take her.

The last few days have been very, very wet.  I don't think I have known so much continuous rain here.  The schools are all on holiday, it is Spring Break, which is bad luck in this weather, so there are no activities at Emmanuel.     Pattisue rang to see why I wasn't at the Lenten lunch at the Methodist church, but it was just too wet.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Wednesday 18th March

Was at the hospital this morning for my chaplaincy round but didn't stay for lunch, I went to have my hair done.

It looks quite nice doesn't it.  When I was young I always thought that when my hair turned white I would have a blue rinse.   But I have never seen anyone in Shawnee with a blue rinse.  I think women who have them are in centres of civilisation, on the east and west coasts, and probably retirement complexes in Florida, not out here on the prairies.  And the reason my teeth are no longer straight is because I knocked a front one back, when I had that nasty fall on my porch.

The Presidential candidates are beginning to line up......

 As it makes no difference to me what President they have as regards their policies and politics, likeability is all that matters - whether or not I can stand seeing them on television almost every day because, as you know, I watch hours of television a day.    Rand Paul is quite nice.  Marco Rubio is very likeable, and so is Ted Cruz. At a rally Ted Cruz shouted that the world was on fire, which frightened a child, and as soon as he realised that he spoke to her directly, and very gently.  After that she adored him, kept referring to him as "Uncle Cruz".

All these candidates are likeable, with the exception of former Texas governor, Rick Perry, whom I find intensely irritating, he is up there with Donald Trump and Sarah Palin in the irritation factors.

 

Oh dear God...............NO......................Please.

 

I am not sure I approve of the principle of thousands of immigrants pouring over the southern border, but I approve even less of the way in which they will be summarily despatched back from whence they came, by Donald Trump.    He hates Mexicans and Chinese.

St Patrick's Day

Weather has veered from summer to chilly, but it will come back.

I saw in the news that Prince Charles and Camilla are visiting the States.  I thought she had been thrown out of the family for flattening Prince Philip, throwing her gin over him,  and calling him an old goat.   Not the way dear, sainted Diana would have behaved.

Started this yesterday when it was St Patrick's Day, but went to bed.

Was running round town.   Went to the hospital to see how Pattisue got on.  Her doctor had sent her to an ENT specialist for the swelling on her face, which I thought was odd as she has cancer, but the cynic in me thinks the doctors are milking the system for the benefit of the insurance companies (such is their health care here).   Anyway, she has an appointment this morning, Wednesday, with a doctor in the Cancer Dept., and said she might have a biopsy.   I wouldn't have thought that was necessary either, they all know what is wrong with her.

Was watching the news on tv.

Dear old Boris Johnson is still Mayor of London?   He practically succeeded Dick Whittington!!!   He was born in New York by the way, Boris Johnson that is.

A drunken Secret Service agent drove into a railing at the White House after a party, and the Director - the head honcho mind you - is dragged before a Committee and publicly humiliated and interrogated as to how and why it happened, because no one in Congress has ever done anything as stupid and ill advised as get drunk, so it is beyond their collective comprehension.   The Director was asked if he fired the agent and he replied that he didn't have the authority to do so - which I think came as a surprise to a lot of people.   (he was one of the very few people on television not wearing a green tie for St Patrick's Day, but considering the hot water he is in probably thought it inappropriate)

They call this public humiliation "transparency" and apparently it is supposed to be a GOOD THING, it is an oft bandied about word here.    I can't tell you what I call it........ words are failing me.

 

Parents are posting photographs of their children on Facebook which apparently is very BAD, so it warrants a research team studying the effects on the poor dears.

 

Now back to Wednesday morning and am off to the hospital for my chaplaincy round.



Monday 16th March

Was just running around town today.   I took some prayer pups the ladies at Emmanuel had made, to the hospital which we give out to children there.   I joined Bill and two other chaplains for lunch in the cafeteria.

Pattisue was having a CT Scan and will see the doctor tomorrow.

I stopped by the Senior Centre and was having a chat with an English friend who has lived here a long time, and has children and grandchildren here.  She has a little job at the Senior Centre answering the phone, but wasn't busy this afternoon.    She commented that I dressed like an English person, because I always wear skirts whereas Oklahoman women are all in jeans or some sort of trousers.   I don't often think about it, but remember that I did discover that when I tried to buy a skirt here and couldn't find one.   I bought two or three when I was back home at Christmas.

Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, Bruce and Rosalyn invited me to the 'Second Best Marigold Hotel', which was good, but would be worth seeing just for the performances of Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.   I discovered when I got home they are both 80 - one is 19 days older than the other - and they have been best friends for 60 years, since they were at the Old Vic together.

The weather has been really lovely the last couple of days, very warm and sunny and pleasant.  

Saturday 14th March

The Chicago River has been dyed green to celebrate St Patrick's Day.   How stupid is that.  I'm sure St Patrick's Day is celebrated more over here than it is in Ireland.

 

One has to feel sorry for Obama.  These serious global crises are not what he signed up for when he ran for President, and he is way in over his head.  A stronger, older, more experienced President - someone perhaps like John McCain, would have stopped ISIS in their tracks but it is way too late now, they have become a very serious threat to world peace.

When he came into Office I understand he went on a tour of the Middle East, and apologised for America's imperialism in the past, thinking presumably that would ensure peace and stability in the area, and he would concentrate on bringing social justice to the nation.   Instead of which the country is teetering on the verge of anarchy, and I can't recall a time when world peace seemed more far away.  Even the Suez Crisis and Bay of Pigs pale into insignificance compared to this.

I haven't been out today.  I have been engrossed in a very good book.  Set during the Second World War, it is basically about a 16 year old evacuee and her six year brother from the East End evacuated to the south coast.   And memories have been flooding back.   Ration books.  Shortages.  My Grandma's air raid shelter at the bottom of her garden - my grandparents and aunties lived on the edge of Croydon airport, which was heavily bombed, so I can say I was in the thick of it from six months until I was 4.   My aunties often talked of rushing me down to the air raid shelter when the sirens went off.   

Friday 13th

I think this can best be described as a 'non day', one in which all that happened was that I got wet and ate a lot.   It rained heavily all day, just like it does in Britain - heavy, steady downpour but which is rare here, where it normally comes down like stair rods and turns the streets into fast moving streams, at least in my area it does.

 

Nevertheless I ventured out to the hospital for my chaplaincy round.   I knew Bill was not going to be there, but I thought Kevin would be, and would have printed off the patient lists, but he wasn't and he didn't.    I looked long and hard at the computer and the printer, and thought that even if I figured it out on the computer, the printer was beyond me.    So, sadly, the patients were not visited today.  

 

I had breakfast there while waiting and hoping for Kevin to turn up.  And when I was leaving I bumped into an old friend who had been a member at Emmanuel, but left to become a priest and now runs two small churches nearby (or as 'nearby' as you get here) so that was very nice.  She was visiting a parishioner.

 

I'd intended visiting Fr Clark's church on Sunday, but am on the rota to read at Emmanuel.   I e-mailed him and mentioned that this Sunday, which is the 4th in Lent, is Mother's Day in England.  Mother's Day here is sometime in May, and has nothing to do with the church calendar.  

 

I explained how Mother's Day for us originated in Victorian times, it was the day when servants went home to visit their mothers (presumably because they would be too busy at Easter)  and their employers graciously gave them presents to take home (among them a Simnel cake which is why our supermarkets are stacked up with them).    I also told him that in the churches - at least those I went to - the ladies in the parish made up posies of flowers which the children gave their mothers during the service.   He thought it was all very interesting and is going to tell his congregation about it.

 

I don't know if it is the weather but I think I have eaten more today than I can ever remember eating in one day.   Wandering round the supermarket on an empty stomach I stopped at the hot cabinet where they have boxes of ribs and roast chickens, and I picked up a big slab of ribs, and some Italian bread to mop up the juices.  Then I looked for a box of pancakes in the freezer section, because I was fancying them as well (I tell you, I don't know what came over me).   Had the ribs as soon as I got home while they were still hot, and have been eating the pancakes with lemon and sugar throughout the evening.

 

I don't think I need to eat now until Easter.

 

Thursday 12th March

My Thursday morning 'lie-ins' didn't last long.  Was knitting away, watching the evil Fox News at twenty to eight this morning when I remembered I said I would be at Kiwanis, taking notes so that I can do the bulletin to help out while Louise is away.   And - ever eager to please ha ha - I said I would get the donuts for the rest of March and April.  So that's an even earlier start, but it is a nice drive to Tecumseh on a fine morning, and April should have fine mornings.

 

I rang Louise when I got home and she had great difficulty drawing enough breath to speak to me, but said she is doing better.  I suppose 'doing better' is relative to propped up on pillows in hospital, she is able to get around at home with a walker.

 

It was Emmanuel's turn to host the Lenten lunch today.   I didn't get to the service, I was busy, but got there in time for some lunch and a chat with Pattisue, who has a very large swelling on her face.  She has an appointment with the doctor at the hospital in the morning.

 

Spent rest of the day watching the news,  Hilary Clinton and her e-mails and it is not looking good for her.   I don't know why she doesn't just hand over the e-mail server, but so far she hasn't. (Actually one reason might be because her aides were in frantic damage control mode over Benghazi and she wouldn't want that all made public).   

 

And goodness know how many pundits keep reiterating the fact that she is holding classified information in an unsecured (unsecured by State Dept standards) location, which is VERY BAD .   And furthermore, that all State Dept employees, including her, have to sign a form when leaving to say that all classified information has been handed over.  So did she sign the form, and if not, why not, that is the burning question of the day!!   As usual, the cover up is looking worse than the offence.   There are now two investigative committees looking at her.  One delving into Bhengazi, and the other, well I am not quite sure what the other is doing, but I think it is addressing the missing e-mails and has she broken the law.

 

The other main news story has been rioting in Ferguson, Missouri when a police officer, back in August, shot a black teenager in self defence, and a Department of Justice Report into the shooting has just been released. 

 

This Report found widespread racial bias in the Police Dept., and three police officers who were sending racist e-mails have since left.   The Report said that the police disproportionately targeted black people, the Police Chief and City Manager have resigned, and protestors are shouting that they didn't resign soon enough.

 

Although the rioting today looked bad it was actually only about 200 protestors.

 

It has been suggested that the rioters are anarchists, and an American billionaire, on the far left, is behind the anarchy and finances it because he wants the US to become a European style, socialist democracy.   Personally, I can't see that happening, I think he is on a hiding to nowhere.

 

This is an incredible story.

This three year old survived in a crashed car, in which her mother was killed, for fourteen hours.  The car left the road and overturned, and couldn't be seen.   Rescuers went to the car because they heard a woman's voice calling for help, although the mother had been dead for some time.    Water was filling up in the car but it hadn't reached the car seat, and apparently hypothermia sets in much quicker when a person is wet.     Amazing.

 

Tuesday 10th March

Was looking forward to a pleasant day having crocheting lessons with a group at the Senior Centre.  The instructor - who I have had before - e-mailed to tell me about it, said it was a potluck (ie you take a contribution for lunch) so I knocked up a fruit jelly last night, made a sweet corn salad this morning, then busied myself organising crochet hooks, yarn and what I wanted to make.    I hadn't enrolled, thought it would be alright if I just turned up and paid.   Big Mistake.   If I'd enrolled I would probably have been notified that it was cancelled because no one enrolled.  No one else turned up either.  

 

So the fruit jelly and sweet corn salad are sitting in the church fridge, for tomorrow's meal. 

This is Chaos, the cat from next door before it went AWOL.  I actually took it some time ago and I printed off a copy today at a photo lab and gave it to Donna, so she could take it round the vets' surgeries in town to ask if they had seen it.  I think it will make her feel better if she can feel she is doing something to look for it, but I deep down hope  that Chaos has found a nice home somewhere where it is the centre of attention.    I thought too, that seeing it sitting on my porch of its own free will, she might let go of the notion that it has been kidnapped by one of those gangs from Oklahoma City!

She invited me in to look at the plants she has been propagating for her garden, and I saw she had another dog, so there are three now.   She has had it for a couple of months, which I think is about the time Chaos decided to leave home.   I don't know much about animals but I didn't think cats liked dogs, so is hardly going to want to live with three.

The dog is very small, I can't spell it, but it is the size of an overgrown rat.   She said it belonged to an old man she was looking after, and was only going to have it for a couple of weeks while he was in hospital, but then he was taken into a nursing home.

Norman, Oklahoma is in the news, or more precisely the University is.

I think a Fraternity House is like a Hall of Residence, and there was a video going viral - isn't everything videoed and going viral these days - of a group of students on a bus chanting a song with very ugly, racist words.  The students identified in the video were promptly expelled, but they are so hung up on their "free speech"  here that thousands turned out to protest.  They should have laws like we do prohibiting the inciting of racial hatred, that would put paid to their free speech and racial chants, they would all be in police custody tonight.   And quite rightly, I can't be doing with their free speech.

Also in the news.........................Chinese women are coming to California in their thousands, wearing voluminous dresses to hide the fact that they are pregnant, then giving birth, whereupon the child has an American birth certificate, and citizenship, and ultimately the parents will as well.   It is called "birth tourism" and the police are cracking down on it.

Here the police are raiding a facility where these Chinese people stay, ostensibly on holiday, but actually where they are all busy giving birth.    What puzzles me is the fact that I thought Chinese people were very patriotic, and proud of their culture, I don't know why they want to be American.

 

 

Last Couple of Days

Which have been uneventful except for yesterday, Sunday afternoon, when Bruce and Rosalyn invited me to the American opera 'Susannah' which was performed in one of the theatres on the OBU campus.   It was lovely, and interesting too for its insight into 1950s America.

I was going to paraphrase the synopsis but it was a bit too long, suffice to say it was beautifully performed and sung and I enjoyed it very much.

Oh dear, domestic abuse at the Palace.  Who knew.   According to them Prince Phillip got a bit shirty with Camilla and she threw her gin over him, whereupon he fell back knocking himself on a piece of furniture.  The ear apparently was injured at Sandringham over Christmas, but the fall opened up the wound and blood poured everywhere..   As you can tell I actually took the trouble to read this rubbish.   My theory is that the Queen finally lost it with the old goat (which is what Camilla is alleged to have called him) and she hit him with her handbag.   That's as plausible as their explanation.

 

And elsewhere in the news....

I am sure you have seen this all over your news broadcasts..

Eat your heart out Agatha Christie.

 

 

I've 'sort of' acquired another cat.  It's not a stray, and it is not coming inside.  It belongs to the family in the house opposite, and heaven knows what it's name is.   I thought that privately that is what I will call it -  'Heaven Knows', or maybe HK for short.

Looks quite at home doesn't it.  Bubbles, needless to say, is NOT PLEASED.  She came out on the porch, gave it a long hard glare, stalked back inside with her tail in the air and hasn't spoken to me since.   But she's going to have to suck it up.

 

I expect you have seen this picture as I believe it was taken in Essex.   But it has gone viral, as they say.  I think it is lovely.

Saturday 7th March

I was married on the 7th March in 1959, and as I typed in the date above, I thought "golly me, I would be nearing my Diamond Wedding".   How old is that!!!!

The weather has veered back from freezing to summer..

Sunny, blue skies and in the 60s which is quite warm, compared to what it has been. 

I don't know what it is with the cats round here.   I opened the front door and the cat in the house opposite spotted me, streaked across the road at the speed of light, and before I could step back and shut the door it was in my hallway.    Bubbles had been sound asleep on the sofa, but was immediately up and alert, and fixed me with a "don't-you-even-think-about-it" glare, so wondering how I'd raised such an inhospitable cat I ushered the interloper out.

I wondered if cats perceive a quiet home, and that's why they beat a path to my door, the family opposite has a pit bull and two young children.  As Bubbles won't have anything to do with anyone except me, animal or human,  I know she hasn't been bragging on her cushy lifestyle here.

Today has been a major commemoration .....Obama was there.

I thought it was only the IRA who inflicted Bloody Sundays and Bloody Fridays.  The woman on the right of the picture is the niece of Dr Martin Luther King, and they are commemorating the march from Selma, AL to Montgomery, the state capital,  protesting the disenfranchisement of African Americans.

As the marchers were walking out of Selma they were stopped on a Bridge and state troopers attacked the unarmed marchers with clubs and tear gas to prevent them getting to the capital. Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. led a symbolic second march, to show solidarity, the marchers were again met by Alabama state police officers, and this time the marchers retreated, avoiding another bloody confrontation.

 

I tend to think that anything that has happened since I have been grown up is "recent" and it beggars belief that as recently as only 50 years ago people of colour didn't have any civil rights.

 

The clocks have just leaped forward, I don't have any choice about tomorrow's services, I am reading at 8 o'clock, I'm debating whether to just stay up, or try and get a little sleep, but I feel wide awake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Update on the News

Well , I have to find something to do when I wake up at 4am, and it gets to 6.30 and I wonder if daybreak is ever going to come.

Remember her?   In self defence she stabbed her boyfriend 30 times, shot him in the head, then for good measure cut his throat - this is what happens when you think you've met the love of your life and are going to live happily ever after, then he lets you know he is just having a fling and you feel used and trashy, she says, with all the wisdom of her 74 years.    But I digress.

It was the second time a jury has been unable to decide whether she should be executed for his killing, so under Arizona law, she can no longer be sentenced to death.

The judge now has the task of deciding her punishment, and can sentence her either to spend the rest of her life in prison or to give her the possibility of parole after 25 years. The next hearing is set for April 13.

Personally, I don't think she will get parole.   The victims family were loudly weeping in court - and who could blame them - at the thought that she might get out in 25 years.   I think she will be in prison every day for the rest of her life.

And the weather doesn't get any warmer.  We are still in the freezing season. 

Oklahoma is in there between Amarillo in Texas and Little Rock in Arkansas.   And to give you an idea of scale it is 595 miles between the two.    Thinks.....looking at the map.....wonder how long it will take me to drive to Miami in Florida.   And I just looked that up,  oh the wonders of the internet.   It will take (an average person) 22 hours, it is 1418 miles but at the speed I drive I'll arrive a fortnight next Thursday.    Think I'll stay where I am, that's almost like driving from Seaford to John of Groats three times!!!

Well, I' ve rambled on and it is now daylight, so I'll go and catch up with the news.