Friday 5th March

Not been posting lately, probably the weather but I've been feeling a bit depressed.  I got out on Wednesday morning, the roads were clear but was driving to the hospital in a very fine freezing rain which was unnerving me.  At Bill's suggestion I just visited the patients admitted the previous day then hurried home and by the afternoon the snow was falling heavily again.   I hate this weather.  I will NEVER again complain about unrelenting sunshine and 100 degree temperatures.

 

Everything has been cancelled, there was no Kiwanis bake sale on Tuesday, or activities at Emmanuel last night, and no Kiwanis this morning.    Before I knew that though I did knock up something for the kiddos for Wednesday night.

 

I lined the baking tin with Graham crackers.  I don't know if we have those, I hadn't met them before coming here.  Melted butter and brown sugar and stirred in the nuts, poured over the crackers, and baked for 10 minutes.  It's very nice so was munching on that while watching television.  

 

 

The cat however was more interested in the falling snow.  She's a little Democrat; disdains Fox News.

and on said News...............

 

Oh.....my......goodness.   This is not boding well for her 2016 Presidential chances.   All the time she was Secretary of State all her e-mails were sent from a private account, by a private server set up in her house (how does that work?)  So not having the enhanced security of a gov.com account all the nasty rogue regimes in the Middle East could - it is being theorised - hack into the state secrets in her e-mail.     The senator spitting the most feathers is the one in charge of the investigation into the Benghazi attack in Libya.   He is on to this like a dog with a bone, and is not going to let it go.

She has handed over her e-mails but when asked if he has them all, the senator shakes his head with a "who knows" gesture.

 

It is illegal apparently to hold classified information in an unsecured location.   So Mrs Clinton is in a lot of hot water which doesn't look like cooling down anytime soon.   Poor dear.

 

There has been the equivalent of a Tory Party Conference, and these are the current Republican runners in the Presidential election.



 

Ted Cruz is the junior senator for Texas, Rand Paul the senator for Kentucky.  Ben Carson is a retired neurosurgeon.  The only two state governors are Scott Walker from Wisconsin and Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida, and in my humble opinion I would have thought that being a state governor is the best preparation for running for President.        But who am I to say......

Still on the subject of the 2016 election -

 

Carly Fiorini (sp?)  is hinting strongly that she may run.  She started out in life as a secretary at Hewlett Packard and rose to become CEO.    What they call "living the American dream".



Hilary Clinton is sending out strong hints that she is running as the Democrat candidate.  So good luck with that.  

Sunday morning.

Still indoors, not going anywhere.  I won't say "not doing anything", I've plenty of craft projects going on.   I guess if I really needed to go out I could brush the snow off the car, the road looks a bit icy though.

I'm scrutinising the footprints round the car, wondering if a cat has perhaps taken refuge underneath.

Those icicles are all the way round the house, I'll really hear them when they come crashing down.

Just put some Pilsbury cinnamon buns in the oven, will have a couple for my breakfast.

Update

Intensely cold outside and the car is blanketed in snow.   

 

I've heard of orphans turning up on doorsteps in driving snow but when I opened my front door to look out this evening, I found my neighbour's missing cat, who has been AWOL for days, mewing pathetically and trying to skirt round me to come in (what does she think I'm running here, a hostel for homeless cats!!)  

 

I think said neighbour Donna had me on top of the suspect list - and admittedly me and my partner-in-crime, Jay, did once contemplate finding a good home for Chaos - but failing me Donna became convinced that Chaos had been kidnapped by a gang from OK City, and was holding her against her will, otherwise Chaos would have found her way back to her home and Donna.   I refrained from pointing out that gangs from OK City are too busy ferrying drugs up the north/south interstate from Mexico for distribution in OK City, they don't have time for kidnapping cats.

 

Anyway I rang Donna and told her Chaos was on my porch.  I'm not sure how escaping her captors and making her way to my front door went down with her.   I hope she came and got her and Chaos isn't wandering about in the snow.

 

Last night, or Thursday night, Bruce and Rosalyn invited me to the local Little Theatre which was very kind.   It was a musical 'La Cage aux Folles'.    This is a synopsis of the plot -

 

 Renato is the owner of a Saint Tropez nightclub, where the main attraction is a nightly drag act performed by Renato's lover, Zaza.     Renato had a son, Laurent, who became engaged to his girl friend, Simone and he lied about his father's profession and "persuasion" so as not to offend Simone's father a member in good standing of the Union of Moral Order.    When Laurent announces that both his fiancee and her father are coming for a visit, Renato and Zaza desperately try to "butch up" their relationship.

 

I enjoyed it, and thought it was a very brave topic to stage in as conservative a place as Shawnee which might account for the fact that the theatre was barely half full.

Friday afternoon

It  has been a rather concerning couple of days.  My friend Louise has congestive heart failure, and I noticed she has been even slower than usual lately, but she took a sharp downward turn yesterday and was admitted to ICU.   I visited her yesterday afternoon, and again this morning when I was at the hospital for my chaplaincy round.   This morning she was moved out of ICU but is still looking very frail.   I can't imagine she is going to be back to turning out all the cakes she used to make for Kiwanis.   I think I chose a rather bad time to bail out of Kiwanis, and wish I'd hung on a bit longer.  I will ring the President shortly to see if there is anything I can do to help.

It is intensely cold here.   While I was having lunch with Bill just now at the hospital it started snowing, so I hope it doesn't get too bad.

Wednesday 25th February

The weather has veered from freezing to summer.  Lovely blue sky, sunshine and in the 50s.  That doesn't sound very warm, but it feels warmer than that.

 

Finished the crochet project this afternoon and took it to the Senior Centre.  Kate was very appreciative, she is not sure whether to raffle it, or have a silent auction.  I think she would like to have it herself and has a greater chance of getting it in a silent auction.  But someone who also liked it and could afford a raffle ticket, but probably not a silent bid, walked off looking rather disappointed at the notion of a silent auction.  I don't get involved in that, I just hand it over to Kate and leave it to her to decide how best to raise some money with it.

 

I like to crochet in the evening when the light is not good enough for cross stitching.   But the Mother's Tree is coming on.   I think the end is in sight, I've done the outline and am just filling in the tree.

I was off the hook tonight for dessert as it was team Taco, or team Mexican.   Speaking of which - they have outfitted themselves - if that's the right word - with their own special tee shirts.

And this is team Mexican.   On the far right of the picture is Beth, the associate minister and youth leader, she's a lovely person  (well they all are really).  Next to her is my friend Jack who is very kind to me.  Jack's wife, Tiffany, is on the far left of the picture.

And if you didn't get the pun - and it took me a few moments....here is another look

Then I snapped an informal shot when they weren't looking...

Tuesday - update

Well, the snow melted off the car by the afternoon, I think tomorrow the temperature will be in the 60s, then go back to freezing.

You have probably heard the verdict in the American Sniper trial.  I was riveted to the television waiting for the verdict.  As the guy was undoubtedly guilty the only two verdicts were either 'guilty' or 'guilty by reason of insanity'.    It just took the jury a couple of hours to bring in the guilty verdict, which means he will be in prison for the rest of his life, with no possibility of parole, and that was the verdict everyone wanted and seems to be satisfied with.  The 'by reason of insanity' means he would have gone to a mental hospital and at some time in the future could be released.

Obviously he had mental health issues but didn't meet the criteria for legally insane.  Just after his arrest he tried to pretend he was insane, asking if he was going to an insane asylum, but apparently no genuinely insane person would say that.

At first the reporters were referring to it as a capital murder verdict, as capital murder in Texas is two or more persons murdered in the same crime, but I was thinking it meant he would get the death sentence, and I think I read somewhere that there are more executions in Texas than anywhere else in the nation.   But I suppose because of the element of insanity - even though not legally insane - they can't execute him.

Chris Kyle is - quite rightly - a major American hero at the moment, and someone said that when the other inmates of the correctional facility  discover his killer is among them he is going to have a hard time.   I didn't think convicted criminals were so patriotic.

So all that has been an education for me this evening.

Tuesday - current situation

Still snowed in.  I suppose I could get out if I had to, if I scraped the snow off the car.  But I'll let it melt instead, the sun is shining outside so it might.   In the meantime I am back to the telly - and the computer, and Bubbles curled up keeping an eye on me.