Friday morning I went to the movies! Saw Part 1 of The Mockingjay - quite well done, although I really must read the novel again, as I think some extensive liberties were taken with some of the content . . . Had to return the rental car right afterwards, and went back to relax and read for the rest of the day.
Saturday was laundry day - definitely a necessary evil - good to have my clothes clean before I take off on Monday. though.
Sunday - my last day at the Friendly Chapel. Definitely got the full monty today, with one woman totally overcome by emotion literally shrieking "Thank you Jesus" from the back and another lovely young man, just finished radiation and going into chemo for cancer, sobbing and being comforted by two other members of the congregation. I left a quilted fish and Frances' descants, plus Liz Elton's history of Glebe St. James, in the hands of Donna's husband, Philip, one of the leadership team. Hopefully, Donna and I will stay in touch through Facebook - gotta love that Facebook!!
Sunday, 23 November 2014
Thursday, 20 November 2014
November 20th
Kara's birthday! Yay - sent her a little egift , , ,
Today I visited the Central High School historical site - it's a building housing lots of info in the form of videos and photos and audio about the 1957 desegregation issue - and the Little Rock Nine. I spent about three hours there, watching and listening. Incredible stuff - lots of commentary by members of the Nine, who remain very good friends, after their ordeal all those years ago. I had, of course, heard about the crisis, but this info was different - the interviews and personal stories took me right inside the times - and of course, being a teacher, I have a different perspective on the whole situation. I wonder how I would have handled myself in that dreadful time - and I can just imagine the toll this whole thing took on people's families. White students who were brave enough to accept the Nine were threatened - and their families were threatened - it was a really incredible mess! The Visitor Center succeeded in portraying those times in such a very personal, individual way. What started out as a national political attempt to desegregate schools in the states played out in a violent, vicious, degenerate way at the local level in Little Rock. The impact of those years on the city was devastating - businesses in the other states refused to deal with businesses in Little Rock, appalled as they were with the nastiness of the crowds of white citizens. In the end, it worked, though - the rest of the states eventually desegregated schools across the nation - due in large part to those nine black students who went through hell for at least one year - three years for one of them - until they graduated. Quite the day!
I spent the rest of the day just driving around, exploring the city. Can`t really get my head around this city - really quite poor in a lot of places - looks like there may still be some racism going on here, although certainly not officially . . . I stopped at a liquor store to pick up some kahlua - they don`t sell liquers in the grocery stores - and noted the iron mesh covering all the doors and windows.
Today I visited the Central High School historical site - it's a building housing lots of info in the form of videos and photos and audio about the 1957 desegregation issue - and the Little Rock Nine. I spent about three hours there, watching and listening. Incredible stuff - lots of commentary by members of the Nine, who remain very good friends, after their ordeal all those years ago. I had, of course, heard about the crisis, but this info was different - the interviews and personal stories took me right inside the times - and of course, being a teacher, I have a different perspective on the whole situation. I wonder how I would have handled myself in that dreadful time - and I can just imagine the toll this whole thing took on people's families. White students who were brave enough to accept the Nine were threatened - and their families were threatened - it was a really incredible mess! The Visitor Center succeeded in portraying those times in such a very personal, individual way. What started out as a national political attempt to desegregate schools in the states played out in a violent, vicious, degenerate way at the local level in Little Rock. The impact of those years on the city was devastating - businesses in the other states refused to deal with businesses in Little Rock, appalled as they were with the nastiness of the crowds of white citizens. In the end, it worked, though - the rest of the states eventually desegregated schools across the nation - due in large part to those nine black students who went through hell for at least one year - three years for one of them - until they graduated. Quite the day!
I spent the rest of the day just driving around, exploring the city. Can`t really get my head around this city - really quite poor in a lot of places - looks like there may still be some racism going on here, although certainly not officially . . . I stopped at a liquor store to pick up some kahlua - they don`t sell liquers in the grocery stores - and noted the iron mesh covering all the doors and windows.
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| Google Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, and this is what you``ll see! |
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| This gas station is also an historic site - some of the mob of people gathered there in 1957, I guess. It`s right across the street from the school |
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| Significant street signs - Daisy Bates was instrumental in the whole 1957 crisis |
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| The neighbourhood |
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| Liquor store with metal mesh - actually. every store in this strip mall had the mesh on windows and doors |
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| I`m a little obsessed with the Clinton Pedestrian Bridge over the Arkansas River |
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| Starting the lights- red, white, and blue |
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| With the reflection on the water, it`s even more impressive! |
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
November 19th, 2014
Got up today and phoned Enterprise. They finally showed up about 11:20 and took me to the office to rent a car - got a Honda Elantra - quite cute. I'm finding that the hardest thing to adjust to is training my eyes to see the large numbers on the speedometer! I drove over to the Clinton Presidential Center and did an audiio tour of the Library there - narrated by Bill Clinton himself. It's very well laid out, lovely displays, lots of video, impressive historical and political records - but boring for me - American politics is not exactly my forte - or my interest. In fact, politics in general . . . Lots of cool visuals, though - I just had to fast forward Bill through a lot of his commentary. There was even a picture of Jean Chretien - amongst all the world leaders who have been soooo impressed by Clinton. One room was devoted to a mockup of the oval office during Clinton's time in the White House.
There was an art display of Dale Chihuli's work, which was amazing - blown glass. The whole room is full of delicate, colourful bowls within bowls within bowls - hard to describe, but luckily picture taking was allowed!
After that, I went to the River Market and strolled around a bit, looking at the shops - quite eclectic area.
I found a Krogers fairly close to the rv park and finally bought some fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm exhausted tonight!
Some of these photos uploaded weirdly, so I'll try again later!
There was an art display of Dale Chihuli's work, which was amazing - blown glass. The whole room is full of delicate, colourful bowls within bowls within bowls - hard to describe, but luckily picture taking was allowed!
After that, I went to the River Market and strolled around a bit, looking at the shops - quite eclectic area.
I found a Krogers fairly close to the rv park and finally bought some fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm exhausted tonight!
Some of these photos uploaded weirdly, so I'll try again later!
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| The pedestrian bridge, from the third floor of the Clinton library |
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| Looking from the third floor to the second |
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| Beautiful Dale Chihuli creations! |
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| Replica of the Oval Office during the Clinton regime |
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| My fabulous soup in the restaurant in the Clinton Library |
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
November 18. 2014
Woke up to find that my water hose had frozen, so I had no running water. My own fault - I knew that it was going to be cold last night and neglected to bring in my hose. I went out to check it around 9:45 - unhooked, rehooked, manipulated the hose, which didn't actually feel frozen solid - just a bit icy - then went inside and presto - the water was back!
I went over to the church at 10:30 and climbed into the van with seven other people, including the driver. We drove about fifteen minutes to The Main Cheese restaurant in Little Rock - cool restaurant which, contrary to its name, does not serve only, or even mainly, cheese! I had a delicious quinoa salad and sampled someone else's homemade potato chips! What a great group this was - although, incredibly, there were two long tables - and the 5 white people sat at one (except for me and the driver, whose name is Donna - absolutely lovely woman - and she's one of the church administrators) and the 8 black people sat at the other (except for three women who came late and sat at the other table, thus evening up the black/white balance). [btw, if you're doing the math - yes, this does mean that some people arrived in their own cars.] Anyway, the food was delicious and the company was entertaining - we laughed and chatted a lot - and the welcome was absolutely amazing!
I went over to the church at 10:30 and climbed into the van with seven other people, including the driver. We drove about fifteen minutes to The Main Cheese restaurant in Little Rock - cool restaurant which, contrary to its name, does not serve only, or even mainly, cheese! I had a delicious quinoa salad and sampled someone else's homemade potato chips! What a great group this was - although, incredibly, there were two long tables - and the 5 white people sat at one (except for me and the driver, whose name is Donna - absolutely lovely woman - and she's one of the church administrators) and the 8 black people sat at the other (except for three women who came late and sat at the other table, thus evening up the black/white balance). [btw, if you're doing the math - yes, this does mean that some people arrived in their own cars.] Anyway, the food was delicious and the company was entertaining - we laughed and chatted a lot - and the welcome was absolutely amazing!
This afternoon I took my poor flat-tired bike to a bike shop a few blocks away - awesome guy - checked my bike out immediately, found the hole in the inner tube, put a new tube in, straightened the handle bars, and charged me $16! The whole thing took about 20 minutes.
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| The main part of the restaurant |
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| Our tables inside an alcove |
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| The front of the restaurant |
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| Looking across the parking lot - the restaurant does seemt to be oiut in the middle of nowhere! |
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| I`m terrible with names - I think Stephanie, Charlotte, and Cecil |
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| My bike - all ready to go - note its name . . . which is probably why I bought it |
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| The Friendly Chapel! |
Monday, 17 November 2014
November 14-17, 2014
On Friday (14th) I headed for Little Rock., Arkansas. When I got near Little Rock. my GPS took me waaaay out into the country, down narrow roads, to a farmhouse at the end of a long drive. I checked out my GPS and discovered that I had inputted "Locust Dr." instead of "South Locust Dr." - so I corrected that and headed for North Little Rock - a totally different part of the city which required backtracking to the highway . . . Took another 40 minutes to get to the correct rv park! Oh well, at least I had left in plenty of time - and I have no schedule. Downtown Riverside RV Park is right on the Arkansas River - and my site is about 100 yards from the riverbank - awesome view! The main part of the city is on the other side of the river, accessed by a number of bridges, visible from my site. To my left is a railway bridge with a pedestrian walkway built into it (the Clinton Pedestrian Bridge) and to my right are two bridges - one the main highway access for cars; the other another railway bridge with pedestrian bridge attached. I haven't tried any of them yet - I'm waiting for a warmer day - betcha it's pretty cold on those bridges, with the wind and the current temperatures in the low to mid 30's fahrenheit (that's hovering just over 0 celsius). It's not supposed to be this cold here, damn it!! I hooked up - at least I have full hookups here, although the water hose may freeze . . . At night. the Clinton bridge is lit up with blue lights, which is pretty cool! I walked over to Wendy's for dinner - really no options other than Wendy's, MacDonalds, and KFC.
Saturday, I walked over to a gas station to get some groceries - at least I found some bananas, but that was the only fresh food available. I should have stopped at a Walmart or something on the way here, but I just assumed that, since this is a downtown site, that I would have pretty ready access to grocery stores. Boy, was I wrong! The area on this side of the river is very run down and poor looking - not sure how safe I feel walking down the streets - definitely won't be out at night here!
Sunday, I went to a church just across the street - the Friendly Chapel. It's a Nazarene church - don't know much about the Nazarenes, but hey, a church is a church . . . They were - yes - very friendly - even announced in the middle of the service that there was someone here from Canada - made me stand up. Not exactly what I was going for, but oh well . . . They're a very huggy congregation, which is fine with me - not gotten much in the way of hugs the last little while! The service was very evangelical - come up to the altars at the front of the church and be saved - right now - sort of thing. There was one guy playing a very nice electric piano, and the words to the various songs were projected onto the walls to either side of the chancel. A woman was baptized - total immersion - so that was cool. At night, the Clinton bridge had variegated lights flashing - and loud music playing - luckily, I can sleep through pretty much anything , , ,
Monday - today - I got an email from one of the church members inviting me to a lunch at 10:30 - I thought she meant today, so I went over, but it's actually tomorrow. Don't know what to expect - she said that she was taking a group out to lunch and would love me to join them - guess I'll find out what that means tomorrow. In the meantime, they gave me a bowl of soup from the soup kitchen that opens at 10:45. I spent the afternoon lying down - not sure why I'm so tired.
I'll added these photos later, as I took them with my phone, and they didn`t upload to Dropbox for a few days. WIFI here is generally great for text, but not so good for pics and terrible for video. No Netflix here!!
Saturday, I walked over to a gas station to get some groceries - at least I found some bananas, but that was the only fresh food available. I should have stopped at a Walmart or something on the way here, but I just assumed that, since this is a downtown site, that I would have pretty ready access to grocery stores. Boy, was I wrong! The area on this side of the river is very run down and poor looking - not sure how safe I feel walking down the streets - definitely won't be out at night here!
Sunday, I went to a church just across the street - the Friendly Chapel. It's a Nazarene church - don't know much about the Nazarenes, but hey, a church is a church . . . They were - yes - very friendly - even announced in the middle of the service that there was someone here from Canada - made me stand up. Not exactly what I was going for, but oh well . . . They're a very huggy congregation, which is fine with me - not gotten much in the way of hugs the last little while! The service was very evangelical - come up to the altars at the front of the church and be saved - right now - sort of thing. There was one guy playing a very nice electric piano, and the words to the various songs were projected onto the walls to either side of the chancel. A woman was baptized - total immersion - so that was cool. At night, the Clinton bridge had variegated lights flashing - and loud music playing - luckily, I can sleep through pretty much anything , , ,
Monday - today - I got an email from one of the church members inviting me to a lunch at 10:30 - I thought she meant today, so I went over, but it's actually tomorrow. Don't know what to expect - she said that she was taking a group out to lunch and would love me to join them - guess I'll find out what that means tomorrow. In the meantime, they gave me a bowl of soup from the soup kitchen that opens at 10:45. I spent the afternoon lying down - not sure why I'm so tired.
I'll added these photos later, as I took them with my phone, and they didn`t upload to Dropbox for a few days. WIFI here is generally great for text, but not so good for pics and terrible for video. No Netflix here!!
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| Cool bridge, ehÉ |
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| One end of the bridge |
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| That`s my rv in all its glory! |
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| The Clinton Pedestrian Bridge over the Arkansas River - from my window! |
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| The back of the Friendly Chapel |
Thursday, 13 November 2014
November13, 2014
Today was my Graceland day! I walked across the parking lot, bought my ticket, hopped on the shuttle and crossed the street to the Graceland estate. We were all given iPads and headphones with which to do a self-guided tour of the mansion and outbuildings - really very, very efficient and effective method! I learned a lot about Elvis, who has never been a particular favourite of mine , , , I remember watching him on the Ed Sullivan show, where the cameras refused to leave his upper body. I remember people (probably my parents) being scandalized by his hip-shaking - although where they got the chance to see that, I don't know. Come to think of it, where did I see that show? We didn't get a tv for at least 8 years after that. Oh well - who knows? The tour was well organized and fascinating - and because it was self-guided, no need to listen to the boring parts - and lots of time to spend in the interesting parts.
After a tour of the grounds, we shuttled back to the main, touristy part of the Graceland experience - Elvis' car museum, a number of places with displays and videos, three restaurants, and a whole raft of gift shops! I'm exhausted!
After a tour of the grounds, we shuttled back to the main, touristy part of the Graceland experience - Elvis' car museum, a number of places with displays and videos, three restaurants, and a whole raft of gift shops! I'm exhausted!
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| Eek! The white stuff! Oh well, another two hours and it was all gone . . . |
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| Sitting rooms in Elvis' home |
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| Definitely the loooongest sofa I've ever seen! |
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| Note the poodle wallpaper in the bathroom |
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| Dining room |
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| Entrance to the media room |
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| Apparently, Elvis used to watch entertainment, sports, and news at the same time on three different tvs |
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| Interesting corner decoration |
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| Yep - another couch |
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| Part of the games room |
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| Note the wall and ceiling patterns |
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| The jungle room - and another couch - or sofa - or chesterfield - depending on your cultural background |
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| Fountain at the end of the jungle room |
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| Graceland from the back |
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| There were four of these magnificent animals! |
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| Awards upon awards upon awards |
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| Priscilla's wedding gown |
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| I didn't realize that Elvis gave so much to charity - and in a very unassuming way, too - even hid some of his donations from the public view |
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| Elvis apparently was very, very touched and humbled by this award, which isnot usually given to artists |
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| Selfie in another games' room |
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| Remember all those scarf-throwing moments onstage? |
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| More awards |
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| . . . and more! |
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| Not too sure of the theology behind this . . . |
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| Elvis and his immediate family are buried here |
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| Elvis' tomb - eternal flame and all |
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| The front of Graceland! |
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| Lots of caddies! |
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| A purple one . . . and . . . |
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| . . . the pink cadillac!! |
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