Monday 13th January

Noticed my fans are dropping off.  There are a lot less people viewing than there were.  Perhaps I have just become too boring.   Or perhaps when the viewing figures were high, that's when the NSA were looking, and now even they are finding me boring.  Ah well, there's nothing I can do to make my life more exciting - it is what it is, as they say.

Went to the Senior Centre this morning where Fr Clark gave the second of his two talks on the History of the Bible.  He is an excellent Bible scholar and has done a tremendous amount of research on the subject, but the Senior Centre is not the venue for his scholarship; it would go down well at Emmanuel, and I have suggested that.   The congregation at Emmanuel accept that the Bible has evolved, as Biblical scholarship has evolved, but most fundamentalists down here in the Bible Belt believe every Word was dictated direct from God.

Dr Laura Schlesinger is a US radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call into her radio show.  She said, as an observant Jew, that homosexuality is an abomination according to Lev 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance....end of debate.  The following response was an open letter to Dr Laura posted on the Internet.   (and I am just extracting a few of the questions).

 Dear Dr Laura

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law.  I do need some advice from you, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1.  Lev 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations.  A friend of mine claims this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify?   Why can't I own Canadians?

2. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10) it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality.   Can you settle this.  Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

3.I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7.  In this day and age what do you think would be a fair price for her?

4. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath.  Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death.  Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it? 

5. Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight.  I have to admit that I wear reading glasses.  Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

I think I have probably made my point.

A few days ago there was a major news item.  I wonder if you got to hear it.  Someone wanting to discredit the Governor of New Jersey, or one of his associates, ordered traffic cones to be put down on the Washington Bridge, connecting NJ with Manhattan.  This resulted in one of the worst traffic jams EVER.

In this country apparently, someone can put traffic cones down on a highway for no apparent reason, and motorists just accept it.   Some people were in that traffic jam for 6 hours. 

I commented to someone that the gumption it took to jettison tea into Boston Harbour was sadly missing on the Washington Bridge.  I think the motorists should have hurled the traffic cones over the bridge.  There wouldn't be enough police in NJ to arrest and process hundreds and hundreds of motorists.  What a story that would have been, it would have gone down in history, and traffic cones would still be bobbing along the Hudson River - or whatever river that is that flows under the Washington Bridge.   

Sunday 12th January

The weather is looking a bit better, has been brutally cold with the Arctic Vortex (the latest buzz words at the moment.

There is a saying here that if the weather is bad not to worry, a nice day will soon come along, which is true since we have come from Arctic Vortex to the 70s in the space of a week.

I am going to Barnes & Noble bookshop in Norman shortly, and at the moment have 3 layers of sweaters on as I was out early picking up the donuts for Emmanuel's 8 o'clock service.   These hourly forecasts are useful as I will need to rethink my wardrobe before setting off.

  And the week ahead doesn't look bad.

Just catching up on odd jobs this weekend around the house.   The house next door with the constantly barking dog has cleared their garden of all the branches that came down in the ice storm before Christmas.   I hope it doesn't mean the barking dog is coming back, it has been such a relief not having the constant barking, the last few days, I am just realising the extent to which it got on my nerves.  If it does come back I will be on the phone to the police, I am not putting up with it anymore.

I was reading the Lesson this morning at 8 o'clock.   Someone expressed appreciation of the fact that I read with the punctuation.  I didn't tell him, but I try to read as if I am familiar with the text, even if I'm not.

So, just off to Norman after I've divested myself of some of my layers.

Thursday 9th January

Our Kiwanis speaker was Rachael, the Marketing Director of a very nice retirement complex in Shawnee, consisting of town houses,  assisted living, and independent living facilities - it is not a skilled nursing facility however.   Seemed a wonderful lifestyle with all sorts of activities going on - gardening, quilting, book clubs.   

She talked about the Veterans Lounge which is opening at the end of January for which they have been collecting memorabilia.   Veterans returning from - she said it was Korea, but I thought it was Vietnam - suffered a great deal of hurt and emotional abuse from the American public because of the unpopularity of the war, for which Americans now feel very sorry, and they honour and respect their veterans now in a way they never did before.   And the Veterans Lounge is a means of expressing appreciation of them.

At the end of the meeting when Louise was talking about the bake sale, Rachael said we could have a bake sale there.   I was thinking I could run a bake sale, either for Kiwanis, or for the benefit of the residents there.  It needs a little more thought and discussion.

After Kiwanis I went to Communion, then eight of went to lunch at a deli/restaurant, I was given the choice today and I think it is quite a popular place.  It was very pleasant.

On the saga of my  tickets from the state trooper, which weren't a citation nor nothing, I had the headlight fixed but went to the police station about the allegation that I didn't produce a driving licence.    Police stations here are weird, one doesn't actually see a police officer, one goes into a little vestibule and picks up a phone.  And I wasn't in the right place anyway, was told I needed to get in touch with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.   Sometimes I really do feel like a little old lady, groping my way through the complexities of life in a foreign country.

A new cat appeared on my porch this morning, at least I think it was a cat, it was bigger, fatter, fluffier that most cats and there are all sorts of animals here I've never seen before and can't identify.  I don't know if it was just passing through, or a newcomer to the neighbourhood.   I've noticed for some time an absence of the cats next door, I asked Donna where they were, particularly Ryan the sweet grey cat, and a ginger tabby who were camping out on my porch, begging me to take them in.   She said they were run over.  She must be keeping indoors the couple she has left.   I've decided that any more stray cats are going in the cat carrier, and I'll take them to the Animal Shelter.   Even if the Animal Shelter puts them down it will be a more humane death that being hit by passing motorists.

Wednesday morning (early)

I seem to have got behind with this but have been a bit preoccupied and busy.   With my ageing memory I am a bit pressed to think further back than Tuesday.   Tuesday morning was Kiwani bake sale so was up early helping set up in the Senior Centre.   Louise always did bake a lot of cakes, but is making even more now because it is stress relieving for her since Cecil has been ill.   The bake sale raised nearly $200 so it is worth doing, all the money Kiwanis raises goes to help childrens' projects.

I was going to make some cakes on Monday evening but instead went to the movies to see 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'.  It was quite nice, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't up there with 'Saving Mr Banks that I saw with Pattisue on Friday, or the weekend, that was absolutely excellent.

And I did wish afterwards that I'd stayed at home.   I didn't know it, but a headlight was out and pulling away from the movie complex I was pulled over by a state trooper.   I never think to check my headlights but will do so from now on.   I can't drive very well in the dark but manage to get around Shawnee because I stay on the main north/south, east/west roads that are lit and busy, which is why I didn't notice the headlight was out.

The state trooper was very nonplussed with my UK driving licence, and thought I should be carrying my 'visa' around with me (not, he hastened to assure me, did he suspect I was an illegal immigrant).  I asked if he meant my passport, a visa is something required to come into a country.  He said, that's right, it's the same thing.   Telling Louise about this later she said he wouldn't know the difference, he's probably never left Oklahoma.   Also said he probably kept me talking to listen to my accent.  What is it about me and my accent in this place!

Anyway, I end up with two pieces of paper which he assures me "is not a citation nor nothing" just a record of our contact.   One referred to the headlight which has now been fixed by Terry.  The other refers to an absence of driving licence, so I need to go to the police station and sort that out, I can't be stopped again and reported as not having a licence.  And apply myself to getting an Oklahoma licence and save myself all this hassle, tell myself I actually live here, I'm not just passing through.

 
All over Shawnee at the moment front lawns are looking this rather weird shade of blue/green, although in the first picture it has come out on the photo as almost normal looking, not quite as blue as it is in reality.   It is done by lawn contractors and doesn't last, and by summer they will all be a healthy looking, nice, lawns.    But according to the people I hang out with they are a BAD THING, I think they pollute the environment, or something.

Sunday - 2nd after Christmas

The big concern at the moment is the weather.   It is so cold it is breaking records in the US.

As you see it is 14 below freezing in Dodge City, which is just north of Oklahoma, in Kansas.  About 4/5 hours from Shawnee.    And at 47 below in Minneapolis there is serious risk of frostbite if one goes out with any part of skin exposed.

 It is beginning to look a bit better during the week.

This morning there had been a bit of snow overnight, but it didn't seem to be icy so I made it to the 10.30 Service at Emmanuel.

Afterwards had lunch with Bruce and Rosalyn in the new restaurant in town, a "Gourmet Chinese" restaurant it is called.    It was quite nice.   Certainly not gourmet prices though, the bill was $21 for the three of us.    I think I prefer the China Buffet where one can cruise around, keep going back, and they have a selection of sushi and desserts as well.   But I always like seeing the new places.

Friday/Saturday

Was back in the saddle on Friday at the hospital chaplaincy.   Friday evening I went to the movies with Pattisue to see 'Saving Mr Banks', which was an excellent film, I would see it again if it came downtown.

This is what is being said about it -

In the winter of 1933, in a thatched cottage in Sussex, England, a complicated woman named Pamela "P.L." Travers began to write "Mary Poppins," the first in a series of novels that would inspire the beloved 1964 Walt Disney movie and supply generations of children with a magical fantasy nanny.

The reality of Travers' own turbulent childhood — and her reluctance as an adult to relinquish control over her characters to Walt Disney — are the subject of the movie "Saving Mr. Banks," which has just gone into wide release. Directed by John Lee Hancock, "Saving Mr. Banks" follows Travers (Emma Thompson) as she travels to the Disney lot in Burbank for two weeks in 1961, tangling with and tormenting the studio chief (Tom Hanks). The L.A. visit inspires Travers to recall her childhood in Australia, in particular her father, a charismatic drunk played by Colin Farrell.
Some critics have complained that "Saving Mr. Banks," which Disney itself produced and distributed, is too hard on Travers and too easy on the company's founder. Travers is cold, critical and strange — arbitrarily objecting, for instance, to having the color red in the movie and dismissing Disney's "silly cartoons." "Uncle Walt," by contrast, is jovial and encouraging, with few flaws to speak of save for a bad smoker's cough.

P L Travers was a pen name, she was Helen Goff, and an Australian.   Her father died at 43, and she came to England and became very British.  Insisted that everyone call her Mrs Travers, and she called Walt Disney, Mr Disney, in spite of the fact that he told her everyone uses first names in Hollywood.

I loved the Englishness of it.  She was picked up in a limousine, being driven to studios, staring out of the window and said "No one is walking here".   I think everyone in the auditorium heard my laugh; that was my reaction when I came to Shawnee.   There are no pavements or sidewalks, occasionally a homeless person might be stumbling along the grass verge, otherwise everyone is in a car, going somewhere.

I am thinking tomorrow afternoon of going to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  I tried to see it this evening as I had to go out, the weather is forecast to be very bad tomorrow  so I needed a few things, but I couldn't find anywhere to park near the cinema.   It is only at the cinema that parking is ever a problem in Shawnee.

Happy New Year

Set out on my errands this morning and to my surprise, as I never noticed it before, it is a Federal holiday.   The Bank and the Post Office, on the top of my 'to do' list were closed.

Spent most of the day reviewing my New Year Resolutions, most of which have to do with overcoming my Attention Deficit Disorder.   Like organising myself.   Taking a lesson from the monks and properly scheduling the day.   Starting all sorts of journals - like a gratitude journal, noting the little kindnesses during the day that one is grateful for, because it is not possible to be really unhappy if one is grateful.   I could start with the fact that my friend, Jay, who fed Bubbles and cleaned my house while I was away, stopped by today with some scones she had made.

And I wondered about a "food" journal.   I thought I might eat a more balanced diet if I noted what I was eating.   It might persuade me to cook instead of graze all day.  I'll see, and start with today's meal which is traditional in the southern United States on New Year's Day, of black eyed peas.

The peas were provided by Rosalyn who had cooked a big pot and gave me some.   And to go with them I cooked some rice, and made guacamole from two avocados so I could have a big dollop, which I don't get in Mexican restaurants serving rice and beans.

The following I found on the internet on the subject of eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day, it is good luck.

The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War. At first planted as food for livestock, and later a food staple for slaves in the South, the fields of black-eyed peas were ignored as Sherman's troops destroyed or stole other crops, thereby giving the humble, but nourishing, black-eyed pea an important role as a major food source for surviving Confederates.

Today, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved into a number of variations and embellishments of the luck and prosperity theme including:

Served with greens (collards, mustard or turnip greens, which varies regionally), the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money. In some areas cabbage is used in place of the greens.

• Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold.

I didn't know about the greens and what-not, that's why I just cooked rice, made guacamole and got the sour cream out of the fridge.

And finally....I forgot to mention yesterday that I left Shawnee for Beaumont just before a dreadful ice storm moved in.  Someone told me the sound of trees coming down was heard all over Shawnee.  The tree between my garden and next door neighbour has been slowly dying for the last two or three years, and the ice storm saw it off.  It fell mostly in the neighbour's garden.   I had a very big branch come down into my garden two or three weeks ago and Mark had to take it away, it was too big to drag over to a corner.