WEDNESDAY 19TH January

The Hospital have a group which meets monthly, and Larry chairs, called PAL, or Positive Aging for Life. It is not held at the hospital though but at the Expo Centre, which I don't find easy to get to, so somehow each month I've managed to miss it but this morning I made it, thanks to Pattisue who rang to remind me.

We had breakfast, which here usually consists of muffins, cinnamon rolls and fruit, then the speaker talked to us about the Rehabilitation Centre where patients go after their surgeries.

I went on to the hospital.   As I limped painfully across the parking lot I wondered if my injured toes would qualify for a handicapped parking space.  I think I will go and see my doctor.  I can't believe it was only a month - or less - ago that I was striding round the tracks with my pedometer on, walking across America.  And I didn't even make it into Kentucky.


This evening Sharon made the dessert for the Wednesday meal, but she is giving it up after tonight.  She is also a member of a Baptist church in town and she cooks and bakes for them too, and I think she was finding it too much.  I said I would carry on doing it by myself, and I assured the person in charge that I didn't mind.  I am conscious that others in Emmanuel have multiple jobs and responsibilities, but this is really the only thing I do.

The new licence plates are mushrooming all over the state.

This licence plate supports the planting of wild flowers across Oklahoma.  This is what I copied from the website.


"With your support, some of the prettiest wildflowers you've ever seen will be blooming across Oklahoma every spring and summer.

Seeds are sown where the most people can see the most flowers. That's roadsides, parks and other highly visible public land. We negotiate for low seed prices; buy only seeds grown in this region, and keep expenses down. Oklahoma’s top wildflower experts advise us for free. City and state crews do the planting".

This vehicle is a bit of a distance from home.  Murray State University is in Kentucky, which is about three states away, north of Tennessee, east of Missouri.

The Osage Nation originated in the Ohio River valley then migrated west of the Mississippi to the present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and in the early 18th century were the dominant power in their region.

They are based mainly in Osage county in the north of the state and are said to be the tallest race of men in north America, few of them are less than 6 feet, and generally between 6 and 7 feet.


Today they have 9,635 enrolled tribal members with 4994 living within the state of Oklahoma.  They own a gas station, 13 smoke shops (American for tobacconists, they are usually drive-thru places) and seven casinos.

 This is a map of the Indian Territories.  Shawnee is in the centre of the state, it's actually in the centre of the country - the main north/south and east/west interstates intersect at Oklahoma City.


The tribes round here are the Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, Seminole, Citizen Potawatomi and Absentee Shawnee.   When I am going down to Beaumont I am driving down through the Choctaw Nation.