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.