SUNDAY

We have had some really warm weather lately, it was 77 yesterday which would qualify for a heat wave in Britain.  But it is all about to change, Arctic weather is moving south and is expected to hit Oklahoma on Monday night/Tuesday morning with snow and ice and freezing rain.  It surprises me how accurate the long range forecasts are here.  Last Thursday at Kiwanis they were talking about the Bake Sale on Tuesday and were reminding us that if the weather was bad the Senior Centre will be closed.

I didn't feel too bad this morning, I might have gone to church but didn't have the car.  Friends offered me a lift to get it but I didn't want to interfere with their church services, Pattisue said she would even leave her cell phone on in church, bless her heart.   I got a cab out there and picked it up about lunch time, then did some shopping so I wouldn't need anything when the weather got bad.

Spent the afternoon crocheting with my head against a hot water bottle, and watched live reports of the action from Cairo.  Americans are saying that they have in the past supported unpopular regimes for the sake of stability but the time has come to stand up for democracy.

If the weather gets really bad I might lose the internet connection.  There are far more power failures here in bad weather than there are in Britain.   But I'm sure I'll keep warm, I've got enough duvets.  and I can always pile on all the afghans I've crocheted for my grand daughters.

FRIDAY

I didn't mention it in yesterday's blog but I had quite a bad headache, I kept trying to ring Leanna for another sacrocranial massage but she wasn't there, I think Rosalyn said she was unwell.


As the day and evening progressed the pain got worse and I took myself to the Emergency Room, which was very busy, so I wasn't seen until early this morning.   I had a CT scan and they ruled out a tumour, aneurysm, and haemorrhage and gave me a 2 injections for the pain (the first didn't make any difference).   I dozed a little and when I woke Larry, the chaplain, was in the room.  I couldn't drive myself home after the pain medication so he took me home and Kevin, another chaplain, followed in my car.   Larry also, bless his heart, went to the cafeteria and got me a take-out breakfast/


Friday night/Saturday morning I am not really a lot better.  I went online this evening to a site where doctors will give advice (it is a service you pay for) and I was advised to go straight back  and ask for a stronger prescription.  He also said a sub arachnoid bleed will not show up on a CT scan, I need a lumbar puncture as well.  But I am not sure about that.  And I will leave it until the morning.

THURSDAY

It has been a lovely warm day, 70, but it was chilly when I went out at 7 to get the donuts.  Someone else is getting them next month, so that will be nice, although I enjoy the drive on a day like this when the sun is rising.


The Kiwanis speaker was from the Pottawatomie County Search and Rescue who go out in the wilderness areas.  The police and firemen search for (mainly) missing children and the elderly who abscond from their nursing homes.   It was interesting, they didn't sound as busy though as the Exmoor Search and Rescue of which Malcolm is a member.


Last night (Wednesday), following the meal we continued our debate/discussion on homelessness with suggestions to entertain the Family Promise guests when Emmanuel is hosting them.  Personally though - and I think most thought this - the families on the programme have a very strenuous day, looking for jobs, going for interviews, being counselled, I think by the time they have had supper at 6 o'clock they just want to chill out.   Several people said they would bring their DVD's so that guests had a good choice of films to watch, if they wanted to.


It's not just humans who are homelss, there are plenty of homeless cats hang out round the Senior Centre.  I bought some dried cat food Bubbles didn't like and it became apparent that the little madam  was just not going to eat it, so I donated it to the cat lady at the SC.   When we are on the subject of homelessness next Wednesday I'll ask if anyone there would like to give a bag of catfood to the Senior Centre.  I know Sharon helps out by donating some.


In the news......

Who needs ladders, or tunnels, just fling them over with a medieval catapult.

TUESDAY 25 JANUARY

I went to the gospel singing this morning and because it was Robert Burns birthday I talked about Burns Night, how they would be celebrating in Scotland, and read one of his poems.  They smiled appreciatively but I think I should keep it to a Christian content.


The news for the last few days has been wall to wall State of the Union Address, which is a very BIG DEAL here.  Bigger than the State Opening of Parliament.  Every news pundit on television has spent days speculating on what Obama is going to say, and they are going to spend the next few days analysing it.  I never see the point of that.  It's like elections when they spend days speculating on who is going to win what, and another few days analysing the wins.  Why not just wait and see.


The tone has been one of cosy togetherness.  Obama wants to bring everyone to the centre where both parties will resolve the nation's ills in peace and harmony.  To that end members decided not to sit on opposite sides of the aisle but to mingle, sit together with one another, Democrats and Republicans.  It has also been called 'Date Night'.  So who was sitting with whom was another sideline of the Address.  They threw up a picture of a young Congressman and woman who were going to sit together and said "look at them, they look as if they could have gone on their first prom date, back in the day".


Anyway, I decided I'd had enough.  I was just thinking of going to a movie when Sharon rang and invited me to go with her and another friend to the downtown cinema, then have something to eat.  So that was nice and we went to the Cracker Barrel Country Store and Restaurant, one of my favourites.   We saw the film 'Megamind' which was animated, I think I need to see it again to understand what it was about.  I'm not very good at following story lines, Roy and Larry always had to tell me what was happening, interpret it.  Now I have to watch it over and over.  Old age is not just creeping up on me, it is overtaking me.


This is one of the multiple choice questions in the Oklahoma driving test.  I selected oxycontin, that's what Michael Jackson's drug pushing doctor gave him, that killed him, that has to be the worst.  I thought.  But actually it was marijuana.
11. Studies have shown that people who use __________ make more driving mistakes than other drivers and have more trouble adjusting to glare.

A. diet pills
B. cold medications
C. marijuana
D. oxycontin

MONDAY

Referring back to yesterday -  talking about left over beef and bubble and squeak -  I learned sadly that there weren't any left overs yesterday, so my fanciful notions of a Boxing Day meal on Wednesday evening bit the dust.  There's going to be baked potatoes with an assortment of toppings and green bean casserole. Those responsible for it did like the sound of the bubble and squeak though and suggested I do it anyway, but I think it would be too much starch with baked potatoes.

I didn't go out until this afternoon, when I stopped by the Senior Centre for something, and  getting back in the car I tried to switch on the ignition and nothing happened, I couldn't turn the engine over.  With a sinking heart I went back in the Senior Centre and called Terry who came out straight away.  While I was waiting for him I decided I just wasn't going to spend any more money on the car, I'd just try and manage without it .   But it was just a loose connection which he tightened, and he suggested I go back with him and he would clean up the points etc.


When he finished I proffered my visa card but he just waved it away, I'm always so touched when people are kind to me like that.


I had my book in my handbag and decided to go to the new downtown coffee shop on Main Street where I relaxed for a while with my book, a mocha latte and a blueberry muffin.

In the news......The woman who kidnapped a baby 23 years ago was in fact the woman who brought her up.  She appeared in court today and said she kidnapped her because she had several miscarriages.


She was originally arrested for violating her parole conditions on an embezzlement charge and leaving the state, but now she faces life imprisonment, and life here means life, not ten years.  The 23 year old obviously wasn't very happy with her because she is overjoyed with her new family.


Another item of news is about a woman, who was in a very abusive marriage and won $190million in the lottery.  She never divorced her husband though and under Idaho state law, because they are legally married, she has to share it with him, so she's run away, with the money (and who would blame her) and with that kind of money she can live anywhere.   I wish her the best of luck.

 David Cameron, and Britain, is being held up as a shining example of fiscal responsibility because he is going to reduce 86% of our debt in four years.  Did you know that?


Fuel prices here are going up like they are there.  They've averaged $2.59 a gallon for ages but are now about $2.91 (1.81 a gallon).  I've just bought nearly 12 gallons and it was $34.50 (21.56)

SUNDAY

 I was awake at an unearthly early hour this morning, went to the 8 o'clock at Emmanuel so that I could finish the healthy, nutritious, fibre rich salads I was taking for lunch after the annual church meeting.

We did have the meltingly tender, smoked brisket, yum, yum, yum, for lunch.

I was thinking they will probably serve up the leftovers on Wednesday evening, perhaps I should take some bubble and squeak, and it will be just like Boxing Day (at least Boxing Day in England).

As I was feeling tired from my early start this morning I thought I'd have a nap this afternoon, but I crashed out and didn't make it to Rosalyn and Barbara's diet class.  I didn't make it anywhere, not to University Baptist's evening service.

 She's playing with the mouse instead if sleeping on it.

SATURDAY

It has been a very warm day today, about 57, which is warm for this time of year.  It's still brutal though up north and down the east coast.


There is a Youth Rodeo on in Shawnee and I thought I'd go and look but I had a job finding it as there are several huge buildings in the complex where it was, and there was an Alpaca Show going on as well.  There are a lot of alpaca ranches in Oklahoma.   I left it a bit late too to go, but there is an adult rodeo next week I think, and I'll try to go to that.  I want to see the barrel racing, and bull riding.  In bull riding the cowboy hoists himself on to a fence then drops down on to the bull, who then furiously tries to toss him off.  He has to stay on though for 8 seconds.


In the saga of the woman who solved her own kidnapping the parent who brought her up has fled, there is a warrant out for her arrest because she is in a lot of other trouble as well and has breached the conditions of her parole.  But obviously when the police catch her they want to question her about the kidnapping.  She has a 13 year old son with her.   So it is an ongoing saga.


It's the church annual meeting tomorrow and lunch afterwards.  The church provides the meat and the drinks - wine, juice, cold tea - and members bring a side dish or dessert.  I always feel sorry for the vegetarians at these dos.  They stand looking miserably at the laden buffet tables, the meltingly tender smoked brisket (which is absolutely wonderful, I hope we have that).  Most of them don't eat cheese or dairy either, and there is always potato au gratin,mmmmm.    Anyway this evening I made a couple of salads to cater for them.  Brown rice and a lentil and tomato salad.

FRIDAY

Bright sunny day, nearly 50, and the snow - such as it was - was melting.  The children are back at school, I asked Pattisue how kids up in Montana or Wyoming, Washington state, ever manage to get an education.  She said they have a lot more machinery and ploughs than we do in Oklahoma and asked what we do in Britain when it snows.  I told her we get up and go out regardless, that was why I was out at 7 o'clock defrosting my car to go and get the donuts, before I realised the insanity of it.


There was a message from Larry in the Chaplaincy office that he had been called in very early, asked us to lock up.   Pattisue and I had lunch then did a floor each.   


In the news......A 23 year old woman who was snatched from the hospital just after her birth has just solved the mystery of her kidnapping and been reunited with her biological mother.  She noticed that she didn't resemble in any way her parents and family, and became more suspicious when she couldn't get a birth certificate or social security number.  Then shortly after her own child was born she went online, looked at the website of missing children for the year she was born and saw her own picture, which was a startling resemblance to that of her daughter, and she felt that missing child must be her.  She and her biological mother were DNA tested and there was a joyful reunion.  She wasn't happy with the parents who brought her up, I think they abused her and there's obviously more to the story because I don't think they were the ones who snatched her.


One has to marvel at modern technology, this would not have been possible a few years ago, before the Internet and DNA testing.


Another story which amused me was a woman who was walking through a Mall, texting, not looking where she was going, fell into a fountain.  Obviously she was all wet but she got up and ran off, but it was caught on the Mall's video and the security guards thought it was so hilarious they put in on You Tube where - as they say - it went viral, it got well over a million hits.  You couldn't see her face on the video, she couldn't be identified but she is suing the Mall for laughing at her (you could hear the security guards laughter on the video)  She was interviewed on television, so now everyone knows who she is and she has come in for a lot more ridicule than falling in the fountain.

This is the border fence between Arizona and Mexico and these two women were up and over it in 18 seconds.  The news anchor was making the point that this fence cost billions of dollars and why isn't there any razor wire along the top.  It's obviously not keeping out illegal immigrants anyway.

THURSDAY

I woke up early and winter had indeed arrived overnight, I stepped onto the rug on the porch in my bare feet and it was like wet snow.  There was a very thick layer of ice on the car, and I did go out and turn the heater on in it but there wasn't Kiwanis this morning. The Senior Centre is always closed when the schools are closed and the little dears here don't go to school if there's even a slight dusting of snow on the ground.


I went back to bed with some hot chocolate, a hot water bottle, my crocheting, and watched the local Oklahoma tv station.  Bubbles located the hot water bottle in my lap and draped herself across it.

There was traffic on the Interstate early this morning.

There wasn't much traffic on the overpasses which get really icy and dodgy.

This chubby man was advising people to slip something on their shoes to grip the ice, especially people like him who are "gravity enhanced".  Thinks "you're WHAT!!!"  I don't even know what that means.

WEDNESDAY

It has been a nice sunny day again today, around 50, but I heard that winter is on the way tomorrow, I hope to get the donuts alright from Tecumseh in the morning.  


I got to the hospital a bit earlier this morning, Pattisue and I had lunch with Larry which was nice.    I had my appointment this afternoon with Leanna for sacrocranial therapy and feel so much better, I won't leave it so long again.  She said it was a tension headache and all the neck muscles had gone into spasm, she applied pressure to different parts of the body, un-knotted the seized up muscles, then a quick all over massage.  Who needs a doctor.....


I was doing the dessert for Wednesday evening's meal, made an orange jelly with mandarins in - fruit in jelly is a bit of a novelty here, and the children seemed to like it.   And I took some cake I'd bought at the Kiwanis bake sale.    I finished the book we are discussing at Nancy's group, it was the most moving book I'd read ever.  Nancy said at one point she just wept and wept, I told her I had too and wondered if it was just me, I'm glad it wasn't.


It's now nearly 6.30am Thursday and am just going to look outside, see if winter has arrived (I keep the blinds at the windows down permanently so have no idea until I look out).

Tuesday

When I do this blog on my desktop PC I set the font to HUGE, anything smaller appears on the published post as too tiny to read.  However I have noticed that when doing it on my laptop the font comes out quite different, and there is less need for adjustment, so I wondered how it appears on your pc's.  I hope it doesn't come out HUGE.


The weather has been warm and sunny again today, but brutal down the east coast.  New England, Maine and North Carolina might be pretty places to live but I wouldn't want their weather.


I spent the morning trying to locate a doctor in downtown Shawnee and the afternoon deciding I wasn't going to bother.  I made an appointment with Leanna at the Holistic Healing Centre, where I have been before, Rosalyn took me there the first time.  I am going tomorrow afternoon.  When I told Leanna I was having severe headaches in the base of my skull she said it sounded as if the muscles in my neck had gone into spasm.


In the news.....It seems to me that every week there is a shooting in a school or a university.  Two High School students have been shot and are critically ill in California. It has been said that the gun went off accidentally which might be so, but what are kids doing taking guns to school!!   These kids even have to go through metal detectors, so everyone is also wondering why the metal detectors didn't seem to be working. 


Another big item of news is the state visit of the Chinese President, who is being given the 'works', red carpet, gifts, state lunch and dinner  with all the dignitaries and famous people in attendance.  The last Chinese president to come had very short shrift.  One half of the country wants to know why he is being given all this red carpet treatment in view of China's appalling human rights record, and the other half says that you can't pick a fight with your banker.  The US owes China nearly a trillion dollars.

Martin Luther King Day

This is a bank holiday but not one of those BIG DEAL holidays like July 4th or Thanksgiving, only bank and federal employees seem to be on holiday.  Children are supposed to be on holiday from school but there's controversy about that in different states.  When the weather is too bad for children to get to school they have to stay at home, but all these 'snow days' as they're called have to be made up at some time or another, and some school districts decree that MLK day is one that can be used to make up a snow day, and children have to go to school.  The Governor of S Carolina takes exception to this and is introducing a Bill in his state decreeing that every child in his state has a holiday on MLK day.

It would have been MLK's 82nd birthday.

Flags are flown at half mast on MLK Day.  This is the post office.


I invited Bruce and Rosalyn to lunch today and we went to a nice Mexican restaurant in Tecumseh.  They travelled separately and Bruce picked me up as I live en route to Tecumseh.  Rosalyn had something to do and left a little before us. 

The Restaurant.

The main street in Tecumseh.

As Bruce was driving me back through Shawnee he was pointing out one or two historical things which I will photograph when there is less traffic about.  He hadn't been to the new coffee shop which opened on Main Street a fortnight ago so I suggested stopping there for a coffee.  Barbara's husband who owns the bike shop in Shawnee (they're very keen cyclists and go all over on their bikes, including touring in Europe) was having lunch there and joined us, then someone else we knew wandered in.  As I've said lots of time before this is small town America and one is always running into people one knows.


I think I am beginning to sound rather hypochondriacal with my sleep apnea and headaches but this is me, my blog and what is going on with me.  The headaches have lately settled in the base of my skull and seem to be getting worse, they are relieved slightly by a hot water bottle.  I'm writing this up in bed, on my laptop.  I ventured out this evening to a pharmacy hoping for a diagnosis but he just told me to take Ibuprofen, which I have been but it isn't doing a lot of good.  I think I will have to subject myself to what passes for health care in this country and see a  'doctor'.  I use the term loosely because what one actually sees is a nurse practitioner, doctors are like hens teeth (how I love our Health Service not just because it's free but because one sees 'proper' doctors).


When I was whining about this to Rosalyn she said her nurse practitioner was wonderful, better than a doctor.  Unfortunately though, like her dentist, this nurse practitioner is situated in Norman, about 45 minutes away.  I'm thinking maybe I'll see if I can find a really, really small surgery in Shawnee, where hopefully I'll see a proper doctor.

Sunday

It has been a week since the shooting at Tucson, Arizona.  At first I thought the 24/7 news coverage was over the top, but now I get it.  In the course of the past week the stories have unfolded - of the victims, the survivors and the gunman. And instead of looking at a news report of a violent incident I feel now I am looking at a much bigger picture. 

The happy smiling nine year old, born on 9/11, looking forward to meeting her Congresswoman, has become the iconic face of the tragedy.  Her body and organs were donated to another child, which was a brave decision on the part of her devastated parents.  There was an elderly couple who had been High School sweethearts and were inseparable. When the shots rang out the husband threw himself across his wife to shield her, and he was killed.  A 30 year old aide of the Congresswoman who was recently engaged was also killed.  And a lovely, elderly widow who organised a lunch out every Friday for other widows was also shot.  Her friends all met for lunch as usual last Friday and they were remembering and toasting her.  And the federal judge who was a kind, decent guy was stopping by on his way from Mass to say hello to the Congresswoman.

There’s the hero who refuses to accept he is a hero but Obama had him in the front row of the Memorial Service.  He ran straight into the direction of the gunshots, pulled the Congresswoman into an upright position and was applying pressure to  stop the bleeding from her wounds, then went in the ambulance with her.

And the gunman.  At first I thought he should definitely get the death sentence, the fact that he killed a federal judge and a child qualifies him for the death penalty. But it has emerged that he was, or seems to be, a paranoid schizophrenic. Everyone is now asking why the warning signs were missed.

It has been said that 9/11 changed America, and I have noticed, walking through Walmart, the Mall, a parking lot, wherever people are on their cell phones or saying goodbye, they always end with “I love you”.   People even say it to me.  Millions of Americans have realised that when one is hurtled into eternity the only thing that matters to those left behind is the “goodbye and I love you”.

SATURDAY

Went to the monthly meeting this morning of the local American Association for Retired Persons, held at one of the large Baptist churches in town.  I don't go every month but I didn't have anything else on my calendar and I like to have some social contact in the day.   The new chairlady is a cockney, I didn't know that until I was leaving, I'd have liked to have talked to her more, maybe next month.  I did take along a door prize/party bag.  I was having a turnout and found some toiletries someone had given me, and although I appreciated the kindness the scent was not to my taste, so I decided to re-cycle them.  I think probably everything given is recycled like this, and goes round.


On the subject of door prizes/party bags I noticed we didn't have any at the Friends of the Library annual meeting.  I was looking round for them.   I meant to say yesterday that the Libraries here are much more than just borrowing books and DVD's.  It is more of a community place with events and book sales.


We haven't had any photos lately.  There was once a series in a Sunday supplement where famous people spoke of the significance to them of their knick knacks. I don't for one moment think my knick knacks are anything like as interesting as theirs but I thought I'd do this anyway.

The police car and the man were one of Roy's retirement presents, and he always had them on his bedside table. Next to them is a Sussex Police paper weight, also a retirement present. The paper weight next to it was given to him by his son, Simon's, best friend who lived in Guernsey, and he gave it to him when we were on holiday there. It has the emblem of the Intelligence Corps of which this young man was a member. Roy was so pleased to have this, it reminds me of him, the holiday, the young man who gave him it.  Next to it is a tiny glass butterfly given to Larry and I for a wedding present by a nurse who cared for Larry shortly before we were married.  Next to those are two glass candlesticks - which together with a heavy matching fruit dish I had to leave in England - were a wedding present to Roy and I from a very dear friend, Hannah Hillman and her niece Elise. I really appreciated Elise driving down from London to bring Hannah to the wedding.

The glass praying hands were a house warming present from Larry to me when I moved from Seaford to Denton.

The blue glass paperweight I bought at the Caithness Glass factory, on a trip with Roy.  I announced I was going to collect paper weights but it never took off.  The one next to it I bought, with the little vase, when we went to a glass factory near Dartmouth.

The two little vases on the left came from the pottery at Shanagarry, near my Dad's home in Co. Cork. The items on the right are new. In the framed case is a Two Dollar Note, first issued in 1776, and was a Christmas present from Rosalyn and Bruce. The mug next to it was among some gifts Sharon brought back from Alaska.

This I put together this afternoon.  I cut out the photos from last year's calendar which dear sister sent me.  The dream catcher on the hook was a present some time ago from Roslyn, in Montreal. On the same hook is a key ring I bought at Trinity College, Dublin on a visit there with my Dad.  It was looking rather tired so when Mark and Mary's son went to Dublin to take part in an international Irish dance competition I asked him to bring me back a new one.  So I have a lovely, bright, shiny, metal one which I use.  

This is a photograph I took I particularly liked and had it mounted on canvas.  It is St Bega's church at Bassenwaite, near Keswick, and I took it on a holiday there with Roy.  It is the most beautifully situated church I've ever seen, and dates originally from about 975.  There were probably baptisms in the lake years ago.  St Bega was an Irish princess who fled from an arranged marriage and landed at St Bees on the Cumbrian coast, where there is a priory named after her.

These are family photos on my bookcase.  The one at the end is the nativity window at Emmanuel, and was taken by a church member.


So that's a tour round my knick knacks.

catching up

I've been a bit under the weather and not written up the blog the last few days.  Anyway, thinking back to Thursday - which is about as far as my short term memory takes me - it was bright and sunny but everyone was saying how cold it was, although it actually wasn't any colder than a normal January day in Britain.   Yesterday though was really warm and springlike, in the mid 60s.  It's so variable here, I don't ever remember a January day in the 60s at home.


Thursday morning I was out early for the donuts from Tecumseh.  Someone else has volunteered for next month, so that will be nice not to get up quite so early.   The Kiwanis speaker was a member, who is the Superintendent of schools in the county, I thought that was what she was going to talk about, but actually she is also a keen birdwatcher, and that was the subject of her talk.  Oklahoma is a great place for birdwatchers and naturalists but she was talking about the exotic birds she went to see in the rain forest in Belize.  It was a glimpse into a world - where had I been younger - I might have been interested in pursuing.


In the absence of a priest and Communion on Thursdays there is a little morning service at midday, run by the deacon who is taking the study group.  I don't go to the study group but get there for the service, and afterwards six of us went for lunch at Benedict Street market, a restaurant/high class deli.  And it was very nice.


Thursday evening (or 5.30 which qualifies as evening here) I went to the annual meeting of the Friends of the Library.  They were serving soup and cornbread and cookies, which is the standard buffet fare here, unless it is a special occasion.   There were quite a few there I knew, Bruce and Rosalyn; Fr Clark and his wife; Sharon; two or three from the Senior Centre I knew, and Pattisue.


Friday I had lunch at the hospital with Pattisue then we did our chaplaincy rounds.   In one room I visited there was a baby, a fortnight old, I was gazing and gazing at him, as he is the same age as my latest grand daughter.   The baby had some kind of sepsis but I think he will be alright.   Afterwards in the afternoon I was running round doing my errands, had to go to Tecumseh.    I'm studying hard for the Oklahoma driving test, so am carefully observing all the road signs while I'm driving around.    I think I went to bed before 8 o'clock which must be a record for me, I thought I'd wake up about 1 or 2, so I'd do my blog then, and left the computer on, but actually slept until 5ish.

Monday

The weather didn't get any worse overnight, at least not here it didn't. The morning was cold, grey and overcast, pretty much as it had been last night.  The southern states however; Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Missippi have all declared a state of emergency, the weather there is very severe.  And they are so not used to it, they don't have ploughs or shovels to clear the snow.


The news coverage is still wall to wall about the shooting incident in Tucson, AZ.  Obama spoke to the nation again from the White House, it was more informal than yesterday though. He was seated with his bosom friend, President Sarkozy, affectionately referred to as Nikolae.


There is more information and analysis about the gunman.  He lived with his parents who wouldn't let the FBI into the house, they barricaded the doors.  They must be very naive if they thought the FBI would just walk away.  There has been quite a lot of coverage about the nine year old who died, her family, understandably, are beside themselves with grief.  


I had to go to the cable company this morning because of the phone line not working and was told someone would come tomorrow.  They did jiggle it a bit and it worked for five minutes, but has gone again.  It occurred to me this evening to wonder that as everyone seems to be switching to cell phones - smart phones and iphones - perhaps they are just not recruiting and training staff to maintain land lines.  I have a cell phone but I only charge it up when I am driving outside Shawnee, which is rare. Tecumseh doesn't really count, it's only five miles away.

Sunday

Our warm spring days seem to have come to an end, for the time being.  It's cold and light snow is forecast.


I went to Emmanuel, to the adult Sunday school/discussion group at 9.15 but didn't go to a service.  I was too tired to get up for the 8 o'clock,  and by 10.30 had decided I would go this evening instead to University Baptist.   Pattisue asked how I was getting on with my lost ID paperwork and I told her I was frustrated at all the British Embassy web sites that don't have phone numbers, because what I really, really, wanted was to talk to a human being there.   She went home and found one for me on the white pages, so I'll try them in the morning.


Every day since Friday Fox News has not covered anything else but the shooting in Tucson, AZ.   The gunman has been charged by the Federal authorities for the murder of the Judge, which carries the death penalty, then the state will charge him for the murder of the other five victims.   I am not diminishing the seriousness of the crime but the round-the-clock reporting is a bit over the top.   Every possible angle has been covered.  There are graphic diagrams of the brain of the shot Congresswoman, showing the trajectory of the bullet in her brain, and there have been countless medical experts expounding on her prognosis.  The father of the nine year old who died was interviewed and asked - among other things - what were her last words to him.  This is just way too much information.


My next door neighbour knocked on the door and said her ex-husband died this evening in a car crash in Shawnee.  There wasn't another vehicle involved, the Highway Patrol didn't think he had been drinking.  My neighbour thinks he fell asleep, she said he had to wear a mask at night because he suffered from sleep apnea.  She was rather upset about it, and her teenagers are distraught.


Between the weather, the news, and my neighbour's bereavement, this is a rather gloomy blog.   Let us hope tomorrow is better.

Saturday.

Yesterday (Friday) I had to go off to the cable company about the phone line that had gone down again.  I drove there praying that I'd find the kind, nice customer service agent in the office, and I did.  She told me to go home and wait for someone who would definitely come today.  I stopped by the hospital and left a message on the chaplaincy board that I might not be in.    However the cable company rang to say that they had re-positioned the line (whatever that means) and the phone worked.


So I did get to the hospital in time to visit some patients.  I also had a problem with the computer, so was running around about that.  Computer shop put in a new video card, but only charged me for the labour as I have not had it very long.  I've come to the conclusion that it would not be worth spending any more money on computer repairs, I noticed in Walmart that a new desktop would cost $298.   Anyway, the computer is now working alright.


Saturday

I told Bubbles she was supposed to play with this.  It was a Christmas present from her dog cousin, Tarka.   There is a toy mouse on the end of that piece of string for her to play with, also the bag has a filling in it which rustles, and she is supposed to crawl inside and investigate.  However she obviously - at the moment at least - thinks it is somewhere to curl up on beside my computer chair.


This morning was Breakfast on Broadway, Emmanuel's monthly Outreach to the homeless.  I offered to help yesterday but they have all the help they need.  I did go for breakfast though, which was sausage and biscuits (like scones) and gravy, but I had scrambled egg and tater tots. I was asked if we had gravy like that in England, I said we have gravy but we don't put it over scones or biscuits. yuk, yuk, yuk (I didn't say yuk, yuk, yuk)


I have been feeling incredibly tired and keep napping.  I think I've got sleep apnea.  I've Googled it and I have got all the symptoms.


In the news....You have probably heard our main news story which has dominated the news all day and evening, nothing else has been covered. There couldn't have been more news coverage if the President was shot.  Obama came on television and addressed the nation.  Crazy gunman (but it has since emerged this evening that he was not alone) shot a Congresswoman in Arizona, she was the target apparently and is in a critical condition, but he also killed 6 others, including a federal judge, which means he will have the death sentence, even if they don't have the death sentence in Arizona.

Thursday 6th January

I got my purse back this afternoon.  I went into my bank and someone had picked it up in the post office, and the only means of tracing it to me was the bank's receipt for the money I'd just transferred prior to going to the post office.  My residence permit, UK driving licence and passport didn't have my current address on them. The person who handed it in to the bank asked if there was a reward, but I know I had about $100 cash in it, which was gone, so I think they've had their reward.


The bank tried to ring me but I only got my phone line back this morning, so they weren't able to. 

I haven't mentioned the fact that in addition to all the other hurt and aggravation I've had in the past week has been my week long battle with the cable company to get them to fix my phone line.  I've been going in there twice a day, every day, to ask when they were coming. One of the customer service agents there  is always kind,  polite and apologetic, but this morning I ran into the very stroppy young woman who shouted at me that going in every day was not going to get it fixed any quicker.  I didn't think it would but I wanted some indication - if it was going to be fixed that day - when they would come. Was I supposed to stay in every day, all day, until they finally turned up.  Anyway, I think this altercation attracted the attention of the supervisor who had a technician with him, and he sent the technician straight away.  The technician was very kind, very nice, fixed the line, sorted out the new phone and asked if there was anything else I needed.

I made one phone call and it has gone again, so I'll be back as usual tomorrow morning.  I just hope I don't have to go in every day for another week. 


I'm going to look for another provider.  

In between the aggravations life has gone on.  I went to the hospital yesterday (Wednesday) morning.   Things are back to normal at Emmanuel, except that Fr Clark isn't there, and last night was the meal and activities.  Sharon gave the teenagers a short class in Tai Chi.  Tim Sean, the youth minister, wanted them to have something calming before going off for their other activities, learning the guitar, or whatever.   I joined a book discussion group which is reading a book about a homeless black man and a wealthy white man, which I think will lead to some interesting debates.  Outreach to the homeless is a big thing in Emmanuel, helping at Family Promise and the Community Breakfast.


This evening, Thursday, Bruce and Rosalyn invited me to the cinema to see The Fockers, which was very good.
 

Tuesday 4th January

I haven't written anything for the last couple of days or so, I have actually been terribly upset and I am finding it very hard to get over it. 


 On the 30th I lost my purse and all my ID; passport; residence permit; UK driving licence; Lloyds debit card (I cancelled the debit card the minute I got home and there's another on the way).  Normally I am ultra careful with my purse and ID, but one unguarded moment was all it took.


I'd been to the bank and used my passport and debit card to transfer money from my account at Lloyds to Shawnee.  I then went on to the post office to pick up a packet, I put my hand in my bag to pull out my purse with the passport, thinking the clerk would want to see some ID, but he didn't.  I picked up the parcel, got back in the car, looked in my bag for my purse, and it wasn't there.  I ran back in the post office, sure I'd just dropped it, or left it on the counter and it would be waiting for me.  But it wasn't.  And I can't get my head round that. If someone behind me picked it up off the floor, or the counter, surely the post office clerk would have seen it, I'd have thought......


I put a stop on my passport at the British Embassy in Washington, but I am so daunted at all the paper work I have to work through to get these documents replaced.


Also without ID I can't transfer money from Lloyds to my account in Shawnee, so as well as being daunted by all the paper work I have to do, I am frantically studying the Oklahoma Driving Manual so that I can take the test and get an Oklahoma licence, and have some ID.  I should have had one by now, like when I got my residence permit.  If I'd moved from another state to live here I'd have had to take an Oklahoma test by now.


Anyway, that was the 30th. Back in the present. I was wide awake very early this morning so knocked up some cup cakes for the monthly Kiwanis bake sale at the Senior Centre.  I made them from a mix and they were definitely not as nice as doing them properly.  Then I turned them into 'butterfly cakes' .  Cut off the tops, filled them with ginger preserve and put the tops back, cut in half, so they looked like butterflies.  Which made them look 'British' and un-American, and therefore had a novelty factor, even if they didn't taste so good.


I went to the gospel singing at the Senior Centre which was very good, there was quite a crowd there.  I gave a little contribution, talked briefly about the hymn 'There is a Fountain filled with Blood' written by the English hymn writer, William Cowper in 1772. Afterwards the pianist suggested everyone sing it, which they did really well and enthusiastically.   So that went down well.


In the news.....  you haven't had this for a while.  The new members of Congress are being sworn in.  The Republicans have now got control of the House from the Democrats and are vowing to repeal the Health Care.  But as long as there is a Democrat in the White House that is so not likely to happen.  The very emotional, former House Minority leader is taking over as Speaker.  He is the guy who, during the elections in November said, "I came from a working class background"  sob, sob, sob, "I took every rotten job I could get", sob, sob, "to put myself through college" sob, "so that I could live the American dream", sob, sob, sob.  And that is what the Republicans are all about.  Limited government, none of our social policies, health care, entitlements, etc.  Everyone living the American dream or falling by the wayside.  Mostly falling by the wayside.


Governors all over the country are being sworn in.  In California Arnold Schwarzenegger lobbed a bombshell on his way out.  Some time ago the son of a friend of his was imprisoned for manslaughter - he was with a couple of other guys, got drunk, and someone got stabbed.  He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.  But Arnold - on his way out - commuted his sentence so that he will be out in a couple of years.  The victim's family, understandably, are spitting feathers, and the state is in uproar.  The state is billions of dollars in debt, it is tottering on the brink of bankruptcy, almost in as bad a state as Greece and Ireland, so Arnold is not leaving a grateful populace behind.  And he is off skiing with some high ranking Russian.

Happy New Year

Last night, New Year's Eve, I was mainly pottering on the computer. I thought I might see the New Year come in in Oklahoma and switched on to a local channel at midnight, but they were celebrating it from Las Vegas, which I wouldn't have thought was in our time zone, being just east of California.


My telephone - landline - came to the end of its life and I got to Staples just before they closed to buy another.  I congratulated myself on being able to assemble it all (the main base and an extra handset) and they  look as if they ought to work, sitting there with a charge light on, like they're supposed to.  But they don't, I've tried ringing from my cell phone.   I might ask Sharon tomorrow, she is very practical and capable and likes to be able to do things herself.  But me, I'm not proud, I'm the first to admit I'm technologically challenged.


Today, New Year's Day, I was invited to lunch at the home of my friend Sandra, and her husband, which was very pleasant.  Her husband teaches physics at St Gregory's Roman Catholic University in Shawnee, she is a professor of music at OBU and a member of Emmanuel.  Two other guests were also staff members of St Gregory's.  One of them, Faith, I already knew.  We'd both attended a retreat there some time ago  and she'd invited me to lunch a couple of times in the staff dining room.


When I got home I finished reading a weepy novel.  I think it was the weepiest novel ever, I couldn't stop crying, I wondered if I would be able to repair my face before I go to church in the morning.


All the new laws come in effect today, there are 756 in California.
Here are a few which caught my attention.

California parents can be fined up to $2000 and go to jail if they fail to get their children to school.

California officially repealed a 60-year-old law requiring the Department of Mental Health to research the causes and cures for homosexuality.

It will be illegal for Illinois residents to own a primate in their home,.


North Carolina is the nation's largest tobacco grower, but smoking is now banned in restaurants and bars across the state.


California becomes the first state to ban restaurants, bakeries and other retail food establishments from using oil, margarine and shortening containing trans fats. The law affects oil, shortening and margarine used in spreads or for frying. 


A new Arkansas law prohibits selling toy guns that look like the real thing, Imitation guns used for theater productions and other events are exempted, as are replicas of firearms produced before 1898, paintball or pellet guns.

In Texas, teenagers under 16½ cannot use a tanning bed, and those between 16½ and 18 must have a parent or guardian's written permission.

Nevada and Louisiana have banned the sale of novelty lighters - devices designed to look like cartoon characters, toys or guns or that play musical notes or have flashing lights.