Of Thee I Sing

Caucus night in our neighborhood...

About 100 people of all ages gather in the school auditorium.  (But, this is only one of 105 caucus meetings going on around our city.)

Views are heard; votes are taken.  I don't agree in all cases; in fact, strongly disagree.

The grass roots of American politics is on display.

And, I am overwhelmingly grateful to live in America.

Hooray for America and Flag Day!

America and England

Seen in America, but not in England:
Big, bold, garish, gaudy billboards along every highway, byway, and little roadway.

(Okay, so I have seen a sign for Taco Time while driving in California or Idaho or Utah, and used it to guide me there. But I love the scenery along the roads here in England and not having to view the gorgeous green between big huge advertisements of food, wine, and furniture stores!)

Seen in England, but not in America:
Names of homes, cottages, apartments, etc by most front doors:

Woodside Manor, Toad Cottage, Yew Tree Cottage, Lakeside Manor

Seen in America, but not in England:
Big, bold pickup trucks and SUVs. It's a good thing they aren't here because they would cause a roadblock on these little teeny roads. The English all drive little cars, and sometimes even littler cars.

Seen in England, but not in America (YET):

This is my personal English favorite:
Funky flavors of crisps (potato chips). The Walkers Company is having a contest to see which flavor is voted on by the public, but first, here are some of their potato chip flavors that are not part of the contest:
Tomato Ketchup

Worcestershire Sauce

Cocktail Prawn

Ham and English Mustard

Now, here is a copy of the official ballot for residents of the UK to vote on for their next favorite flavor of potato chips:

So, while eating your hamburger, you can enjoy chips that taste just like your breakfast! Or you can have chips that have squirrel flavor!

People tell me that the chips taste just like the flavor marked on the package; I'll take their word for it!

American Saturday

Milk, munchies, and movies. That's what is available at the corner convenience store in Abbots Bromley. Olivia, the clerk, is always cheerful and helpful, but even she can't find canned soup in a store that doesn't sell it!

Which meant it was time for serious shopping; we only had one can of soup left, and a teeny bit of milk.

So, armed with Bunny (our GPS), and a credit card, we set out for a larger city to buy groceries. Bunny misled us twice, so I randomly picked a name from the list: ASDA. We headed there, and saw from the road that it was HUGE, the parking lot was jam packed, and we had to pull round the corner to find a place to park. When we got out of the car and headed to the store, I saw more closely the sign on the side of the gigantic store:

ASDA
Wal*Mart






Unreal!

We were in the middle of England shopping at a Wal*Mart! (We bought lots of items, and only 2 were American-known brands; Pringles - Texas barbecue flavor - made in Belgium; and Ritz cheese-flavored crackers, which don't taste anywhere near as good as Goldfish Brand!)

The store was packed with holiday shoppers, (or maybe it's always packed!). A helfpul clerk-"Do you sell hot dogs?" told us that indeed, Wal Mart had purchased the ASDA chain.

The store was absolutely HUGE! It had a 2nd story, which we didn't go to, but it has escalator-like walkways that you can take your carts up to do even MORE shopping!

By now, it was late afternoon, and we were starving, having eaten a small bowl of cereal earlier in the day. Looking at their deli made me quickly realize that I didn't want to eat there: mushy peas are big in England, but I haven't found anyone who can stand them, but there they were - looking totally unappetizing.

Lichfield, the town we were in, is very busy, and has very little parking. Allen didn't want to drive around to find a place to eat since there wouldn't be parking, so we spotted a McDonald's across the street, where we went for lunch/dinner. I had a plain hamburger; it's just like in America; 1/16 tsp of ketchup, and teeny tiny pickle somewhere in there. I was hungry, so it tasted fine.

To complete our American Day, Allen watched a good old-fashioned shoot-em up American Western with Robert Duvall on the telly.

So, I'm not homesick any more!

I love America!

In August 1965, Allen and I were going to summer school at Idaho State University. There were about two weeks left in the term. One morning, my mom called to say that they were leaving for New York City in one hour. It was rather sudden, which totally describes my father and his spur of the moment great ideas. My mother described how she had to hurry as dad had just let her know of these plans, and she had much to do to get her and my 2 younger brothers ready for the grand adventure. Then, as an afterthought, she asked, "Would you and Allen like to come along?" She was, I'm sure, just being her usual nice self and knew that we couldn't go as we were both in summer school, so she was safe in asking. I told her no because I still had two papers to write, etc., etc, etc. When I hung up the phone, Allen asked me what mom had invited us to do. When I told him about the offer of going to New York, he said, "Call her back and tell her we'll go."

And, so, that is how in the hottest part of the summer, my dad, my mom, my 2 brothers - age 11 and 15- Allen and I and my trusty little portable typewriter, drove in a sedan (no air conditioning) across the country to New York. There were six of us jammed in that car and this was long before the days of hand-held games, books on tape, music CDs, or anything other than ourselves to amuse us.

On Thursday of this week, Allen and I returned to visit the Statue of Liberty, and there we reflected on that long-ago trip. We talked about how my parents probably hadn't really planned on us tagging along; what an added expense and added bodies in the car! But, so like them, they never said a word and just lovingly took us with them. It was that trip 43 years ago when I first remember seeing the Statue of Liberty. It struck me then, as it does now....how grateful I am to live in America. And, as Allen and I talked about my parents, we both felt a debt of enormous gratitude for their goodness, their generosity, their love. Thank you, dear dad and mom, for that trip of a lifetime and for teaching me of the blessing of living in AMERICA!