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".