[Out the window of my little room is the perfect
spot for people watching – if I was ever IN my room anytime during daylight
hours to look!]
More stripping and making of beds. Changed out
four rooms for a group Loraine referred to as ‘the Golfers.’ I assumed she was
talking about a family group – reunion or something. Looks pretty obvious in
writing – yes, it was golfers; as in ‘hit the little white ball with a metal
club’ golfers. Haha. They won’t be doing any of that TODAY – the temperature
has dropped by 15 degrees and it will be raining all day.
Charlotte’s back, with that adorable little Chloe
– who is lavished with gifts, but never time and attention – sort of breaks my
heart.
You know me – the weather nut – headlines from Weather.com:
What in the WORLD is Happening?! Extreme Heat, Cold, Snow Plaguing the Globe.
Is this the new normal?! Record heat, deadly cold temperatures, flooding and rare
snowfall - a wide range of extreme weather events have taken place around the
world in the last few weeks. Examples:
• rare snowfall in Jerusalem, the most in a
decade
• national average temperature of 104.69
degrees in Australia beat the previous record set in 1972; never before in 103 years
of record keeping has there been a heat wave this intense, wide-spread, and
long-lasting
• national average temperature in China from
late November to early January is the coldest in nearly three decades; temperatures below -40 degrees reported
in Manchuria
• More than 100
people died due to the cold in northern India; in New Delhi the high
temperature on January 2 was the coldest daily maximum in 44 years
• On Christmas Eve, Rio de Janeiro's Santa Cruz
weather station recorded an all-time record high of 109.8 degrees
• Even this week in America, in the periphery
it is much warmer than usual, while in the interior (in Utah, for instance), it
has been wicked cold – and has been for a while. (As I follow the weather
closely, I am aware that the Rocky Mountain West has been having weeks of
bitter cold weather; usually doesn’t last any longer than a week – max!), in the south and
southeast there have been crazy warm temperatures from Florida up into New
England. ‘Yes, your calendar may say ‘January,’ but the pattern shaping up for
these areas may give you spring fever.’ Not only that, but the year 2012 was
the warmest year on record. Like the man said – WHAT in the world is
happening?!
Snow forecast for the Midlands tonight – that
would be Birmingham – sorry! (or maybe to the kids – yes!)
Whoa, had an interesting weather experience myself
just now. I was determined to get out around 5 this evening. I knew it was
raining, just didn’t know exactly HOW ‘rainy’ it was until I got out in it –
and it was coming down pretty good. Though
the top of me was mostly dry underneath my raincoat and umbrella, my coat on
the bottom end, the legging-type pants I was wearing, and my shoes got pretty
wet. Finally got to town, did what I needed to do and started back out. By now
the rain had slowed down, and a really powerful wind had taken its place. I
don’t recall very many times that I’ve been in gusts quite that strong. There
was no doubt but that a mere updraft could have turned my little, cheap
umbrella inside out in an instance – and if I were to have turned backwards to
the wind . . . oh, boy! The amusing thing was that as I walked back to the
hotel I could feel my pants being air dried by the practically gale-force
blasts. The thought of one of those washroom hand dryers you encounter in a
public toilet – the kind that nearly knocks you backwards – came to mind. No
kidding.
The Ayles are in – it’s Saturday night! I first could tell they had arrived when I
heard Brother Ayles’ humming in the entryway - I had recognized the sound of it
immediately. They’ve been placed in the room next to mine again – and now he’s
playing the harmonica. He’s SO great. (It is so cute – you’ll be talking away with
Brother Ayles when suddenly something you said will touch his heart strings and
he will pause and well up in tears. It is so touching I can hardly stand it!) Last week he thought he’d left his
winter hat in their room. His wife had known – ‘you’ve left it at home today,
David.’ Tonight he had it on – he said something about how’d I like his Davey Crockett
hat, to which Sister Ayles gently corrected, ‘I think it’s more of a Russian
hat, dear.’ He asked me if I remembered the Davey Crockett show on television, to
which I started singing the theme song. Brother Ayles looked very happy and
said it was good to have someone he could talk to – someone who understood.
(The Ballad of Davey Crockett as sung in the 1955 Disney film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAVN_n0PljQ.
To publicise the 1955 film (released in
Britain in 1956), Walt Disney
Productions launched a massive marketing campaign in the UK in order to make the country's youth
"Crockett conscious." There was already a "Crockett craze"
in the U.S., where the episodes had become wildly popular. Crockett merchandise
was produced en masse, the
most iconic item being the imitation coonskin
cap. The craze became immensely popular amongst schoolchildren, thus
Brother Ayles, singing what had seemed to me like an all-American song, through
and through.)
Went to a singles function later in the evening,
to Poole – Quiz Night was the theme. I had considered not going when my friend,
Carole – also of Poole – confessed she would not be going this time, as she had
other plans. But then, I decided, it was important for me to stay active
socially, outside of my hotel ‘family,’ and went after all. Loraine dropped me
by Gerrie Taylor’s house, from where we walked over to a major street, where
Paula, in her really nice van, picked us up (she tells me she has access to
this incredible vehicle by the fact of her disability – she gets a monthly
stipend, from the government. Not sure what her disability is exactly – she
does walk with canes sometimes. Oh, my kids, how you would salivate over this
van – nothing like the used vans you have driven all these years!), at which
point we drove to Dorchester to pick up Carole (member of the Weymouth Branch
Relief Society presidency), and then onto Poole.
Nice drive through the country – though dark by
now. Gerrie was the one who provided the quiz. Fun! (I actually knew a few of
the answers, though not many – especially NOT the portion on this past summer’s
British Olympics.) Met a lot of other singles from the area (this was a stake
function) – some who were old-new friends from the Weymouth Convention last
November. Everyone was so friendly. On the way back, through the rain, we
observed the headlights reflect off the eyes of a deer standing alongside the
road – part of the way was through a wooded area. Thinking about how ‘not’ fun
hitting a deer could be potentially, I asked what OTHER animals might we possibly
encounter here in the wilderness – badgers, foxes, hares and rabbits. (Funny,
because I was always under the impression that hares and rabbits were basically
the same thing – but, obviously, I’ve come from a ‘hare-deprived’ background!)
Photos_
1- people-watching intersection
2- U.S. weather map, 13/1/2013
3- yogrit - as some of my kids used to say it when they
were children (A find worth braving the storm for – 100%! Rhubarb – didn’t even know they HAD
rhubarb yogurt, and not any old ordinary rhubarb either – but ‘Temperley’
rhubarb! (whatever the heck THAT it!) And then, topped off with the essence of Madagascan vanilla. Oh, man! And
then, as if that weren’t enough already . . . at a give-away price, to boot!) Interesting to note that in this country
they emphasize the fact that this product was ‘made in the UK with British
milk.’
