Sunday 30th

I seem to have picked up a chesty cough.  I had offered to get the donuts on the 5th Sunday, so  I just got up this morning, dragged on some clothes and was out at 7 to get them and take them to Emmanuel.   Then I went back to bed and slept until 10.   Dropped off again and slept until 12.

The car's windows were iced up but I ran the heater in the car while I pulled my clothes on.   I think that works better than de-icers.   There wasn't any ice on the steps fortunately.

I'll be back when I have something to say. 

Thursday 27th

The weather has been very bad in some parts of the country, and there is chaos at the airports, but here it is not too bad, apart from cold.

 There was a bit of frost on my car early this morning, but nothing like the 1/4" thick layer of ice that there was on Christmas morning.  I ran the car heater for half an hour before going out.  These steps just look wet, but actually were very icy, so I descended the steps extremely carefully this morning, keeping to the edge and clinging on.

The Senior Centre is closed all this week so our Kiwanis met for breakfast at a diner in Tecumseh.   There was only six of there, but we all had breakfast and it was very nice.  

Apart from a bit of shopping this afternoon, I have just stayed indoors.

Christmas Day

Belated Christmas wishes to all those I haven't been in touch with yet, I hope you all had a lovely time, in spite of the flooding I understand you've got over there.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, I had lunch with Cecil and Louise and about 20 of their family members.  They were originally having it on Christmas Day, and when they invited me I had already accepted Bill and Jane's invitation. But when - because of the weather - they changed it to Christmas Eve Louise stopped by to ask if I'd like to join them.

It proved to be a wise decision on their part to change their plans  because the weather on Christmas morning was so icy it is doubtful that people coming from Tulsa, or Dallas, would have made it.

I didn't think I was going to make it to Bill and Jane's.  There was a very, very, thick layer of ice on my car, caused I think by freezing rain.   I used a whole can of de-icer on the windows and hardly made any impression on them at all, but Bill came out and picked me up to take me back to lunch.   They had expected other family members as well who were not able to make it.    

I didn't stay for very long after lunch because they needed to go to the nursing home where Bill's mother - who was going to come to lunch - was too unwell, and it was too icy, for her to come out.   

So the weather caused quite a lot of havoc here, but in spite of it I managed to have two Christmas dinners, and for the rest of the afternoon and evening today I was watching the Food Network competitions and a marathon of episodes of Undercover Boss.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, I went to midnight mass at Emmanuel, which was a lovely service, and earlier in the afternoon I went to St Mark's Methodist.    It seems that most of the churches here have their services on Christmas Eve, and don't turn out on Christmas Day.    At the time I was at the Methodist church Emmanuel was having its childrens service and nativity play. 

I haven't got anything on tomorrow, Wednesday, but am not going out all the time there is any ice about.  I am paranoiac about slipping on it and breaking something.  

Sunday 23 December

It hasn't felt at all like a Sunday today, probably because everyone is getting ready for Christmas.   I remembered to go to church this morning though.

The weather has turned cold, and there is snow predicted on Christmas Day.   I can't believe it only seemed like last week it was about 70, and I was out and about in a short sleeved tee shirt.                              

 The Johnson family, Cecil and Louise, invited me for Christmas lunch but I had already accepted an invitation from a church member.   However, because the weather is going to be bad on Tuesday, and people might not be able to get out, Louise stopped by today and said they had decided to have their Christmas lunch tomorrow, Christmas Eve,  if I would like to go, so that will be nice.

I am not sure if I am going to be able to get out on Tuesday if the snow is too bad, we will have to see.

Friday 21 December

The organisation responsible for the lunches at the Senior Centre were not doing them on Friday so the Centre staff laid on chilli hot dogs, and people either paid $1.25 for the meal or brought a side dish or dessert.

 When I woke up I got busy with my new toy, making blueberry muffins that wouldn't need frosting, and took them along for the meal.

I posted a picture yesterday of said muffin maker, here it is in use.

  And the finished product.

Took them along to the Senior Centre and had lunch.

I'm afraid I pushed myself to the front of the queue as I had to get to the hospital.

I found when I got to the hospital that at least half the floor I went round were in there with pneumonia.   I didn't know there was so much of it going around.

I had to go  to the bank in the afternoon and they were serving cookies and warm cider.  I wonder if that would fly if I suggested it to Lloyds TSB.

I'd like to know who the presents are for under the tree.

At home I have only seen mistletoe in shops, when I see it up in the trees like this I wonder why people aren't pulling it down, putting it in their houses, kissing each other underneath it.

    
On the subject of the horrifying massacre last Friday you have probably heard that more light has been thrown on the matter.   I have been appalled at the total lack of mental health care in this country.  The mother of the gunman had confided in someone that her son was getting worse, and she wanted him committed for treatment in a psychiatric facility but that is almost impossible unless someone actually does something harmful.  

There is also a great deal of stigma attached to mental illness which is why parents - metaphorically speaking - tend to keep the monster in the basement, which is what this mother did.  She only spoke to another parent who had a child with a similar disorder, otherwise the  young man was kept at home, out of sight, and no one knew how ill he was.   It is being said that he probably flipped when he became aware of her efforts to have him committed.   

One's heart has to go out to the mother battling this problem all alone.   The guns he used were legally registered to her, they were her hobby (I can understand antique guns but an assault rifle ??)  Apparently she used to take him with her to the gun range as she wanted something that would 'bond' them.    She obviously never considered how dangerous it was to have guns available to someone mentally ill.

I have never been able to get my head round the fact that gun ownership here is such a big deal, why this right to bear arms is written into the Constitution.   I have recently learned that Thomas Jefferson (or whoever) believed an armed America was a free America, they needed to defend themselves from the British. I e-mailed Fr Clark and suggested it was time they moved on and left their protection to law enforcement agencies, like they do in other countries.   He said he totally agreed with me.

Wednesday/Thursday

Wednesday
Honestly, sometimes I fear for my sanity.  I rolled out of bed this morning, quickly got myself ready and to the Senior Centre at 8.20, in the belief that it was Thursday and Kiwanis.     Kept asking myself during the day what is the matter with me if I can't even remember what day of the week it is.    I put it down to the fact that all my usual structures were changed;  I wasn't at the Senior Centre on Tuesday afternoon and I was at Emmanuel on Tuesday evening instead of Wednesday.  

Also reminded myself that Alzheimer's isn't forgetting where the car keys are, it is forgetting what they're for.   So tell myself as long as I remember what the car keys are for, or why I am supposed to be at the Senior  Centre on Thursday morning, I am not TOOOOO bad.  I can still function.

There wasn't a meal at Emmanuel on Wednesday as the children and young people were rehearsing for the Nativity play.

I was at the Mall in the afternoon as Daryl, aka Santa, suggested I drop by.   He was having one of his half hour breaks though when I was there, but I photographed his grotto.

 
Thursday 20th The Kiwani speaker was supposed to be someone singing and playing Hank Williams, which I was looking forward to, but he couldn't come, to my disappointment.  Louise, at very short notice though, managed to find someone else, the County Literacy Coordinator, who talked about her work in the library system, which was quite interesting.

Later in the morning I went to Communion, then seven of us had lunch at the Asian diner nearby, Fr Clark joins us now he has been allowed back in the church after his 'Holy Exile'.    It was very pleasant.

This is my Christmas present to myself -

 I know it only makes 7 at a time, but they only take a few minutes, and it looks so much easier than having to do them in a big oven, which I hate turning on anyway.   So the little dears at Emmanuel are going to get assorted cupcakes on Wednesday evenings.

Tuesday 18th November

I was very pleased to see Santa Claus this morning, he stopped by on his way to the Mall to assemble my new vacuum cleaner for me.  It was very kind of him, he has a long day at the Mall from 10.30 am to 8 in the evening, with only two half hour breaks during the day.

 
 I wasn't at the Senior Centre this afternoon, I pulled a sicky, as they say, and shame on me.   I don't sleep well and Monday night I didn't manage to get off to sleep at all, I knew I would not be able to stay awake during Tuesday afternoon, I had to have a nap.  

On Tuesday evening all the talented, creative members of Emmanuel were at the parish hall making costumes for the childrens' Nativity play on Christmas Eve,  so you might ask what I was doing there.  I was in fact gluing and repairing wings and crowns and halos.  I also took some snacks, some cookies and cheese sausages I'd made.

  I had never used a glue gun before;  apparently every American grows up knowing how to use one so Beth informed everyone in the room that this was my initiation, and when I was leaving said she was pleased to have been a part of it.

This is Mrs Claus, Daryl's wife Cindy.  They are a talented couple, both of them quilt.   They also have a music group going for young people, or anyone, who wants to learn to play an instrument.

Monday

This is called 'how to make the living room look festive'........most people would put up a Christmas tree, but when it is like a summer's day in England with a blue sky, nearly 70, and I am out shopping in a tee shirt, it is hard to think 'Christmas tree'.   I took down the autumn decorations, and thought this was a bit seasonal.

 You get the cat's blanket - which in its other life protects my bedding from her hairs - and has a Christmassy looking pattern on it,  and drape it over the sofa.   Then you rummage around in your stash of wool, and with luck find some Christmassy red and green, get out a crochet hook and voila!!!   

 You have a couple of Christmassy looking cushions - at least I like to think so.

 

 Put up a few decorations and Christmas cards.

I bought a string of lights and set up an Advent wreath.

Saturday

The main event of the day has been the Christmas Dinner for the Community at Emmanuel.   There were lots of church members helping, I found a niche dispensing Kool Aid and cold tea.   There were 250 people, which I think was a record. The homeless seemed to be single white men, and the poor families almost 100% Indian.

I was mistaken about the china, we did have disposable plates and paper napkins, but the tables were pretty and we had proper silverware.

I didn't take any photos, I left my camera and handbag in the car, I don't like to take them into the parish room when there are lots of strangers.

The rest of the day has been spent crying in front of the television, like most of the rest of the nation, the news is still entirely the mass shooting in CT.   

They have now finished processing the crime scene and the victims names released.  There must have been quite a few pathologists working through the night, forensically documenting every body, one child had eleven bullets.   All the bodies had to be x-rayed and every bullet removed and matched up to the murder weapon.

Friday 14th December

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you the dreadful news that has been unfolding here all day, it is beyond overwhelming.   Every parent or grandparent with a precious, much loved child must feel impacted by it.   Obama was visibly choked up, surreptitiously wiping away tears as he addressed the nation, he said that he and Michelle will be hugging their daughters extra tight tonight, and I've heard several people say that, including a Fox News contributor who read a message he'd received from his mother asking him to hug his children for her.

When I haven't been watching television I made an apricot trifle for the big Community Christmas dinner Emmanuel is putting on tomorrow.   I dropped it off this afternoon and could smell the turkeys cooking from the car park, there were five turkeys and I don't know many hams.  The women in the church on these occasions provide the desserts, and cranberry sauces, and the men do the heavy lifting.  Cooking and carving the turkeys, making mountains of dressing and peeling 60lbs of potatoes.  I'm impressed that they peel potoatoes and not use that powdered stuff.


Pattisue invited me to lunch at the hospital's Cancer Centre, they had their Christmas lunch and patients could take a guest.   It was a nice lunch but very 'cafeteria', plastic tablecloths and disposable plates.    At Emmanuel's Christmas dinner tomorrow there will be china plates, linen napkins, silverware and the tables will be beautifully decorated.   One end of the hall though will look a little like a jumble sale as guests help themselves to clothes that church members no longer want.   I noticed though there were lots of new hats and gloves on the tree for them.   

Thursday 13 December

The Kiwani speaker was the Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a volunteer organisation which provides mentoring relationships for children who need, or want, them.   Volunteers are all screened and vetted and carefully matched to a child.   There is school based mentoring which involves spending an hour a week with a child at school, or community based mentoring which is spending time together in the community, a few hours a week, a few times a month.  

It is said, and I can well believe it, that it is very rewarding for the volunteers and the children benefit enormously from feeling there is someone listening to them, giving them undivided attention.

The meeting starts at 8.30, so even if I am not picking up the donuts it is still an early start for me, so I went home and had a short nap before going to Emmanuel.   I went to the discussion group Fr Bill leads, and Communion, then six of us went to lunch, which was very pleasant.

Afterwards I went to the Mall for some Christmas cards.   At home I've been updating the photographs on display, putting up some more recent ones of precious grand children.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I made fruit jellies for the meal at Emmanuel, and white chocolate chip and cherry cookies because I thought they sounded very nice.   The cookies were supposed to spread out but they came out like little English rock cakes.   I think I will stick  to packet mixes instead of trying to be all ambitious and making things from scratch.

The cookies tasted quite nice.  Nancy said they were not soft enough to be brownies, and not crisp enough for cookies.

In the news......the major news story running at the moment is the industrial unrest.   Michigan has just become a 'right to work' state, which means that workers have a choice of joining a union.   Apparently this is a very BAD THING.   The unions - and Democrats - want everybody to be made/forced/compelled to join a union, and they have taken to the streets; fists are flying, workers are manning the barricades and screaming at the greedy capitalists who are paying slave wages and don't want unions.

I e-mailed Fr Clark and said that our Peasants' Revolt which demanded higher wages and shorter working hours was in 1381, so they have got a lot of catching up to do.   The Black Death had decimated the labour population of Britain so Wat Tyler was in a better bargaining position.

Monday

It has been cold, this is the day the temperatures dropped, but hopefully will be warmer tomorrow.

Have felt a bit lethargic today, I think I have the pre-Christmas blues.   Fr Peter rang today to ask if they could expect me for Christmas, but I am not sure I can manage the trip again so soon, and I'd have to find someone to come in and look after Bubbles, I could never, never send her away again.

Been trying to remember what I have done the last couple of days.  On Saturday afternoon I went to the local chorale society's Christmas concert, there were quite a few people there I knew.  Bruce was there but Rosalyn had a cold - she used to be a member of this choir - my friend, Carla the Methodist pastor, is also a member of the choir, and there were several people I knew from round town. 

I rang Pattisue and asked if she could come if I picked her up and dropped her at the door of the venue, but she had been out and about chauferring her grandchildren in the morning and didn't feel like going out again.    She has just finished her 7th round of chemo and has a heart problem, which is a side effect of the chemo, it happened after the 1st chemo, but as it righted itself the first time she is confident it will do so again.  It has made her feel very weak though.

The concert was held in the foyer of what used to be a big hotel in Shawnee, but has now been converted  to a retirement complex. 

 It is very conveniently situated downtown.  It is the building on the left, the Senior Centre is in the background of the picture, the post office is opposite and the cinema is a stone's throw away, out of the picture.

 The foyer.

 The choir.   I have been to quite a lot of their concerts and they are usually uniformly dressed, but were a lot more casual on this occasion.

On Sunday morning at Emmanuel one of the church members dressed up as St Nicholas, who as you probably know was the original Santa Claus, and the bishop of Myra.  His feast day is the 6 December so he usually comes on the 2nd Sunday in Advent, is seated on the bishop's throne, and talks to the children about the origin of the Christmas story.

Between his crown and his beard it was hard to recognise him.  

On Sunday evening I went to Larry's church where members of the congregation put on a concert.   The two young men from Malawi are returning home on Tuesday.   The visit has been an amazing experience for them; they live in a village, Dowa, with no electricity or water, they have to walk everywhere they go, they have only one meal a day, and have fallen in love with pizza, hot dogs and chicken fried steak.   One of them was asked by a friend back in Malawi if there was witchcraft in America, he said yes, he stepped into a little room (an elevator) and it shot up 50 floors.  

They joked about learning to be couch potatoes.  They were watching a baseball game with Larry, and his wife Vicky called them into the kitchen, she liked to show them how to make whatever it was she was cooking but Larry jokingly protested and told her to let them be couch potatoes.

They took part in the downtown Christmas parade, on the church's float, singing and dancing, and they loved it so much they said they were going to have one when they got back, although it might be January by the time they organised it.

Larry's wife, Vicky, is photographing them.   She sang a Christmas song she had written herself when they lived in Hawaii, which I also photographed but it won't come out the right way up.     It always amazes me, the musical ability and talent of people here.  I sometimes wonder if there was this much talent in Seaford and I just didn't know it.


 

Friday - Anniversary of Pearl Harbour

OK, so I'm a bit late putting this up, it's now Saturday morning, but never mind.

Friday was pretty uneventful anyway, but so might Saturday be, I was just running round town doing my errands.   Went to the hospital in the morning.

In the afternoon I had an appointment at Staples for my free lesson on the laptop, which was useful.  I had figured some of it out, but Windows 8 is so different from Windows 7 I need all the help I can get.

I have become what I think is called a "news junkie".   I suppose if you watch one channel long enough you get stuck in the groove.  Although I do find my way to the Food Network programme occasionally.

The news seems to have shifted slightly from the Middle East - although that is still prominent - to the economy, and I am so tired of the economy.  And the Fiscal Cliff.   I think I am the only person in the US not about to fall off the fiscal cliff.   I don't know why they don't do as we do and have a Chancellor bring in a Budget every year.   So there are some things we might not like in our Budgets but we suck it up and move on, we are not going through all this angst day after day, for months and months.

The big news event in Shawnee - and maybe people are turning to it for a bit of escapism - is a missing baby kangaroo, it is getting the attention of a missing child - there is another search party organised for it this morning.    There is a $1000 reward out for it.  I've heard some people say they would love to catch it, they could do with the $1000.  The other school of thought wants to catch it so that the family doesn't have to pay the $1000. I suppose it comes down to the economic circumstances of whoever finds it.  Personally I wonder how I would get it to where it had to go.  I'd no more want a kangaroo loose in the back of my car, any more than Bubbles.

The weather has been mild lately.  This is Saturday morning.

It is not bad at the moment at 63, but come Monday it is going to plunge to 44.

Thursday 6th December

Went to Kiwanis this morning, I've got a couple of months off picking up the donuts.   The speaker was one of our members who gave a talk on 'Art Around the World', it was quite interesting but he had gone to England, toured the Cotswolds; Stratford on Avon; Oxford; Bath; Coventry; London and I'd hoped he would show pictures of that trip.

When I got back home I had a headache and felt unwell, so I didn't go to Communion and out to lunch, I just wanted to sleep and did eventually go to sleep.

This evening there was a Christmas Parade downtown.  It was expected that people would park in the church car park so some of the choir sang carols, and Beth's little group served hot chocolate.

 .The choir look a bit fuzzy but you get the general idea.  They actually needed some accompaniment, or a lot more of them.

Serving the hot chocolate.   They started to get more takers as I was about to leave, it was 6 o'clock then and getting quite dark.    I didn't have the energy to go along and watch the Parade, I did cruise the streets looking at the lovely decorations in peoples' gardens - they get bigger and better every year.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I was taking down my autumn decorations and putting out some Christmassy/Wintry things.   I am not quite ready to photograph them yet.   In the evening I went to the meal at Emmanuel and took the brownies I'd bought at the bake sale, and another cake, for dessert.

The news has been pretty much the same as you have had....strife and chemical weapons in Syria...problems in Egypt.... the Middle East on the brink of war.... but here in the US there has been the far more weighty matter of a showing of the film 'Lincoln' in  Congress, so they have had to have a serious debate on waiving the rules and allowing food and drink into the auditorium;  unbuttered popcorn (never mind buttered popcorn, they didn't even go there) and movie snacks, and soda.   It was decided that it would be allowed.   Phew! that must have been a relief. 

Tuesday 4th December

I was out and about most of the day.    At the Senior Centre early for the Kiwani bake sale where I bought the usual chocolate brownies for the youth tomorrow night.

While I was there I thought I'd have some of their breakfast, which this morning was hash browns (shredded potato, fried) apple sauce and scrambled eggs.

I took a couple of pictures.

 The breakfast is served from a little kitchen off the activities room. I think the crowd are there when the Centre opens at 8  and wait for it to be cooked.

 It is probably the homeless taking large cups of coffee out, and who can blame them, but as the notice says, their $$s are limited.

I used to go to the Tuesday morning gospel singing at the Senior Centre and contributed a poem or reading I'd found online, but when I volunteered to man the front desk on Tuesday afternoons I felt I was too busy for a regular morning activity as well, but people said they missed me and my contributions so I made an effort to go this morning.  I was so warmly welcomed I was glad I'd made the effort.  

I read a little peom I'd found about Thanksgiving, and I told them about something I'd read the other day.   That life is like an expedition, we plan for it, but some things we can't control, like the weather, and things will happen that we wish hadn't.  But what we can control is our attitude, so I'd written at the front of my journal "Choose your Attitude".    And I went on to say that I'd recently bought a new vacuum cleaner, but when I took it out of the box I found it was in about 25 parts which had to be assembled, which freaked me out.  There was even a notice on the box DO NOT RETURN TO STORE, which was precisely what I would have done if I could have got it back in the box, and in my current state of frustration would probably have thrown across the Customer Service Desk.    Then I sat down and 'chose my attitude'.   I thought of the kind people in my church, one of whom would I am sure assemble it for me.   

This evening the Shawnee Peace Fellowship, and Sustainable Shawnee, had a combined Christmas party at Zacolo's, a Mexican restaurant in Tecumseh which was very nice.   Bruce and Rosalyn picked me up as there is no street lighting between Shawnee and Tecumseh.

Monday

I have been looking at the supermarket tabloids for weeks now - well, not looking, but they are in our face at the checkout - and the headlines have been screaming that Kate Middleton is pregnant, and the jealous, evil, step mother is wreaking revenge and havoc.    So now it is official, straight from Clarence House (not the wicked stepmother) but that she is pregnant.

It has been on every news programme, liberally laced with sarcasm at our "funny British accents" (their words).   Of course they were interviewing the silliest, most gushing women on the streets, and speculating on the names - John, Charles, Brooklyn, Chardonnay (imagine the sarcasm the latter two engendered).  I could tell them though that it would not be John, we will never have a King John, it has long been considered unlucky.   I think the last prince John was a son of Edward VII who was severely learning disabled, when learning disabled was a thing to be ashamed of and swept under the carpet.   

We've been told that the only reason we are told this news today, so early in the pregnancy, is because Kate Middleton has been admitted to hospital with severe morning sickness.   Hospital???  morning sickness???  what can a hospital do that can't be done in Clarence House???

This morning sickness has got a long fancy name I can't begin to remember, but all the newscasters have made the point that it usually occurs when the mother is expecting twins and whichever one comes out first will be the heir to the throne, regardless of its sex because we have changed our laws.  

Well, I think I have said enough about this.   Moving on.

As yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent I put away all the autumn decorations, and got out the winter ones.   It will take a few days though before I consider I've finished.   And when the weather is a warm, sunny 77, and I am running around in a tee shirt with the air conditioning on, it hardly seems like winter. 

I went to the hospital this morning.  There were two chaplains there who went round the floors and I did ICU, Larry was very busy with meetings but joined myself and another chaplain for lunch.   I was telling him that the two young men from Malawi spoke to us at Kiwanis on Thursday.   He said there was going to be an entertainment at his church on Sunday evening and they would be singing, I told him I'll be there.

1st December.

In all the time I have been here I still haven't found a hairdresser I have been happy with, the last one I had been going to screwed up badly with the colour.  I went to one this morning who did not make a bad job of my hair but her salon was messy and unprofessional.  I sat there reflecting on the fact that next to my family, what I miss and long for most back home is my hairdresser, Carole Electra, in Seaford, who did my hair exactly as I liked it, ran a very professional salon with heated towels, and kept the tea flowing.  None of the hairdressers here offer refreshments, or has decent towels, one would think this was a third world country, or maybe I just haven't found a posh enough hairdresser.

Anyway, enough of my griping.  Most of the rest of the day was occupied with the Saturday Food Network programmes and Hallmark films (light, girly stuff).      

This afternoon I went along to the monthly Bean Supper at Carla's church.  Supper is a bit of a misnomer though, it is at 4.30, so I took the supper to go, and sat and ate a piece of Louise's pie with a cup of tea and chatted to her and Cecil.  As people here only drink cold tea I produced a tea bag from my handbag, they were going to pour hot water on to it from a tap but I asked, ever so gently, if they would fill the cup with cold water and I would bring it to boiling in the microwave.  

I arrived there shortly after 4.30, later on they got busy and filled up.  Sharon turned up too, it was the first time she had been.   The supper is a traditional Oklahoma thing of beans (brown or white) cornbread and coleslaw.

As I think I have mentioned before people go really overboard with their Christmas decorations in their front gardens.
Some of them are quite tasteful -

 others are a bit over the top -

 
Yesterday, Friday, Rosalyn and Bruce invited me to lunch with another friend who was at high school with Bruce.

 Although the dainty little sandwiches are very nice I think the place is patronised more for its ambience.    It is never straightforward eating out with Bruce and Rosalyn.   As there is nothing vegan on the menu Rosalyn brings her own beans which she adds to a salad, and asks if the potato and leek soup has any dairy product in it (which it does, so she doesn't have any) and instructs them to bring some bread with the crusts left on. I say I'll have some soup if it is creamy, and if they like they can cut my crusts off.   Bruce instructs the waitress to chop the sandwiches into very tiny pieces for him. I don't know how much tip Bruce gave her but the waitress certainly deserved whatever it was.