Month: November 2020

Feest Isolation Days – 30 November

Some days are Mahler days and others are Beethoven or Mozart days.  Some are Beatles days and others are Jazz days.  But EVERY day is a music day!  I was reading my book club book, A Gentleman in Moscow (not my cup of tea, but book groups don’t always pick books you like – surely that’s one of the points of a book group?)  I digress.  I felt like I was in a library. Don’t get me wrong I adore libraries.  The silence there is somehow required.  The day was grey and foggy and the house silent.  I realised that a quiet home is unusual.  There is always music in my day.  From beginning to end.  It plays in the background as I type, or do the washing up, or cook.  When we dine we are accompanied by music.  When we drive.  Music is always there.

No wonder I miss choir!  I sing every morning.  Well, sing is probably a bit grand for what I do! Each morning I do some vocal exercises.  I don’t have a specific set that I do, but I can be heard for about fifteen minutes each morning and sometimes I admit  –  I also burst into song! 

My desert island discs of a few weeks ago meant I forced myself to choose just eight songs.  I’m not sure how I managed so few when I realise that the story of my life is always accompanied by music!

Are you a silent type or a music type?  I didn’t even know there was such a thing!  But, of course, there is.  And it’s all down to how easily you become bored!  You can take this quiz which will help you to see if you are easily bored – or not.

https://www.thecut.com/article/how-easily-bored-are-you-take-this-quiz-to-find-out.html

A recent study suggests that those people who are not prone to  boredom are helped in cognitive tasks by having some music playing in the background.  Those easily bored did better in the same cognitive tasks in total silence. Complex tasks seem to offer plenty of stimulation for those who are easily bored, while those who aren’t easily bored are better served with some music.  It’s all down to your personal style. 

I’m not bored by much it must be said…and that means my music can stay.  Whew.  Glad I got that sorted.  How about you? Music?  Or silence? 

Enjoy!

With love,

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 27 November

Tiers were announced yesterday for our coming out of Lockdown, and, as predicted, Bristol is in the top tier.  Tier Three. What that means in practice for us, is that we won’t be heading back to Exmoor for a week’s holiday.  Nor will I be having my increasingly greying hair coloured anytime soon.  Oh well. 

We are resigned to all things Covid related and have our hopes set on the Spring as a time when things will begin to change.

It does look like Christmas is going to be another jolly time for the virus.  As Boris said, “Tis the Season to be Jolly Careful.”  Maybe he has got his mojo back. 

There are still so many people who seem to think that they can let rip. The rules say that up to three households MAY meet for the five days over Christmas.  But it isn’t a target.  We have already spoken to the kids and friends and have decided we will be having Christmas on our own.  No matter, we usually do! 

The what are we doing for Christmas conversation is going to be a difficult discussion for many parents with adult kids.  They want to visit.  With their kids – the grandchildren.  And it is legal!  It is causing a bit of bother for several of our friends who, like us, are listening to the scientists rather than to those who are unwilling to acknowledge that we still have to be very careful. That said, the local news interviewed about half a dozen people in Weston Super Mare and every person said they would be having Christmas at home on their own without anyone else attending. The reporter said they couldn’t find anyone who intended to have Christmas with other people.  Many many people are being sensible.  In Exeter, the first Nightingale hospital in the country is set to begin taking patients because the hospital is overwhelmed.  And they are in Tier Two!

The numbers of cases have not increased following this lockdown of nearly a month, but they aren’t falling. It’s a start but not an end.  We can see the end but it isn’t with us yet

Although we seem to be in the final months of this virus it isn’t over until the whistle blows for full time.  If we were a rugby team (which we will watch again this weekend…Hurrah!) the other team – Covid 19 – might just want to rack up points to prove one.  They know they can’t win, but they aren’t going to stop playing until someone jabs us in the arm with a vaccine and then our side will score.

Just as well the scientists are on our team!

Have a great weekend and if you are in England, whatever Tier you are in, please be safe.  It’s a great time of year to snuggle up, watch some rugby, read, play solitaire…you know the drill!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 26 November

Happy Thanksgiving!  Getting together over Thanksgiving is the American way. A big meal centred around a turkey and shared with loved ones is the order of the day. The menu usually includes turkey, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Depending on where you are in the States, the other ingredients for a thankful meal vary. 

The festival can trace its origins back to 1621.  The story we were told in elementary school was that the Native Americans taught the struggling colonists from the Mayflower how to survive.  The first celebration of that accomplishment was with the Wampanoag tribe when ninety Native American Indians and about fifty survivors from the Mayflower attended.  The feast lasted for three days.  Apparently the peace didn’t last.  The next decade found the previously thankful immigrants locked in battle with the tribe. 

They left that part out when we were in elementary school. Instead, we drew pictures of turkeys and people wearing old fashioned outfits and were treated to the school’s version of thanksgiving dinner in the cafeteria before we went home to share our real dinner with our family.

Over the years, the Thanksgiving festival has become the start of the Holiday Season and travel over Thanksgiving is brutal.  Everyone aims to get to their family and tend to have Christmas at home with their more immediate family.

My last Thanksgiving in the States was several years ago while my father and brother were still alive. My sister and her husband created an outstanding feast that we all shared. When the meal ended, we all went round the table and said what it was that we were thankful for.  My father was thankful to have had the opportunity to be with all of us.   It was special and memorable.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade happens in New York City on Thanksgiving morning, and the last person in the Parade is Santa on his special float.  In the afternoon after the dishes are all put away and no one can move far as they’ve all eaten too much, people settle in front of the telly and watch very fit men play American Football.  The National Football League play some great games on Thanksgiving day.

This year with Covid around, the hope is that people don’t travel so far and when they do they do it safely.  We are not out of the woods yet. This virus hasn’t finished.

Our plan for the day is to have dinner for the two of us, as ever, and we will end the meal with Pumpkin pie and a big dollop of thanks.  We have much to be grateful for and it’s always good to celebrate that fact.

Stay safe and enjoy.  Happy Thanksgiving!

(Perfect for my former Kidney Doc!)

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 25 November

Its OVER!  Trump has not conceded…he doesn’t know how to do that…but  Emily Murphy, the Trump appointee who is the head of the  General Services Administration contacted President-Elect Joe Biden and formally said she will release the money that is in the GSA meant to smooth the transition between the outgoing and incoming President and his team. The Biden and Trump team will now meet and discuss the issues that the incoming team will be responsible for. Hurrah!

Following the State of Michigan formally declaring Biden the winner of the election in the State, it is almost impossible for Trump to win.  However, that doesn’t stop him from trying! Ms Murphy said she was not in any way forced by the White House to announce the decision. Trump however, said he made the call.  As one commentator said even before Michigan was called, Trump’s likelihood of being in the White House this time next year is somewhere between remote and impossible. 

Apparently, Secret Service people have been asked whether or not they want to transfer to Florida for the post presidential duties of looking after Trump.  It will be interesting to see how many decide to take up that offer!

Biden has been pressing ahead with plans for his tenure and all eyes will now be on Georgia as the last two Senate seats are up for grabs.  You can bet more money than ever will be pouring into the coffers of the Democratic nominees!  Perhaps it is time to cap the amount of money that can be spent on electioneering?  Or is that too Un American?

Here, we are waiting to see what Tier we will be placed in when Lockdown ends.  It’s not looking too promising for Bristol it must be said.  We are also keen to hear what the Christmas plans are for the country – not that we will be going anywhere.  As we are normally either in Russell or on the Rangitiki on the other side of the world, we are less fussed about this than many!

Easter might just become the “New” Christmas! 

The leaves are all off the trees and it is possible to see the structure of the beech which is a magnificent tree.  Our Cotinus however offers the most beautiful leaves of any bush or tree that I know.  While it’s leaves are purple in the summer, during the Autumn they turn a deep and satisfying golden red.  That isn’t unusual at this time of the year, but the Cotinus does have an unique feature.  It’s fallen leaves burst into golden patterns.

We have tried to preserve these gorgeous leaves and turn them into something but haven’t yet succeeded.  Painting them with a lacquer hasn’t worked. If anyone has any ideas on how to deal with these specimens, let me know.  They would make a stunning necklace!  Those golden markings are on each leaf.  Isn’t mother nature incredible?

Stay safe and enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 24 November

There is light at the end of the lockdown tunnel!  There are several vaccines that will be offered over the next few months if the regulator agrees that they are safe and ready for use.  Science will, as ever, help us to carry on with our lives in a way that will be more like normal than anything we’ve known for months and months.

Matt Hancock the Health Secretary says that he thinks by Easter we will be back to “normal”.  It seems plausible now, but we do have to get through the winter first! 

And what will the new normal look like?  Will we take our masks off en masse…have a massive demasking party?  Or will we still feel that protecting ourselves from the germs circulating in the world remains a good idea?  And what about our shopping habits?  Will we still order our food on-line and avoid the queues in the grocery shops?  (I say a resounding yes to that one!)  Weekly food planning and ordering has become part of our routine and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

We’ll be able to see the kids again.  And hug them.  Listen to their voices as they tear up and down the stairs to their games room when they STAY here.  And we can  go to LONDON on the train and see our son’s new flat and wander around an art gallery and take in a show and sit on a tube and jump into a black cab on our way to a restaurant.  Wow.  Post Covid life!  We need to hang on though…get through the winter….

I’ll be able to swim again!  Will I still know how?  This is the longest period of my life since I learned how to swim that I haven’t been doing lengths up and down a pool.  As I’ve cancelled my gym membership I might even join a new club. Exciting times!

We WILL be going back to New Zealand this time next year!  All of our friends there will be getting big hugs.

What are you looking forward to the most?  For me, after seeing the kids and friends in the house with hugs, will be ambling down the street and popping into a café for a cuppa without a prearranged, organised time to do so. No masks to be worn (perhaps) and no worries (perhaps).

Zoom will be a thing of our past – except for those really long distance meetings like Auckland Pilates.  Dinner parties will be for real, and people will get hugs when they walk in the door.  Friends will come and stay.

Meantime, there is a long way to go between now and Easter.  Keep at it.  Keep going.  We’ll be sharing our hugs with you along with our Easter Chocolates.

Let’s all use the last few months of Covid as productively as we can. The light is getting closer but it isn’t here yet!

Stay safe. Wear your mask. Keep distancing. 

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 23  November

The weekend was filled with rain and rugby!  There is an Autumn Nations Cup to enjoy and it makes the weekend feel almost normal!  We watched England win against Ireland, and France bring Scotland’s winning streak to a halt.  Wales beat Georgia, but not by an impressive amount of points.  I do love my rugby!  A bit strange without a crowd but hey, it’s great to watch!

With some bananas that were tempting me to do something with them, I made a banana cake.  A first for me.  Three different recipes offered me several ideas so I blended them all together and came up with my own creation. That was fun!  I’ll let you know what it tastes like.  Also, whether or not it is possible to freeze banana cake. I hope so.  One piece at a time is plenty!

Enjoying being at home after all these months remains impressive.  A friend’s daughter moved into home ownership for the first time this weekend and it got me thinking about places I have owned.  New York is a renters place unless you have pots of money, which I did not when I lived there. 

The first property I jointly owned was in Honiton in Devon. It was special because I had a home birth. This was not in the days when home births were particularly welcomed, but I insisted when I discovered that if I went to the local hospital to deliver, I would have to stay for nearly two weeks!  If anything went wrong with the birth, I was going to be taken by ambulance to the main hospital in Exeter so it seemed sensible to push for a home birth.  After a great deal of conversation between many health care professionals, a home birth was agreed.  This was 1982 and all was well.  Giving birth in a house does leave you with fond memories of a place.

The next home I owned outright was called Hollowhead Cottage and was a million miles from anywhere.  Okay it was three miles from the nearest house, but felt like more.  The name was perfect.  When I left Hollowhead I left my first marriage.

 I headed to Exeter and bought a house that became home for several years. It was perfect for sharing with students and big enough to give my son and I a great place to live for quite a few years.   In an amazing coincidence, Terry managed to buy the house next door to mine and rented his place out to students. When we finally moved to Bristol, we sold both houses to the same buyer.  Result!

Our Bristol home is the most fabulous place I’ve ever lived in and I love it to bits.  We have been happy here and continue to be.  We were fortunate indeed to have found our place and grew into it over the years.  Neither one of us anticipated that we would live here for what will be thirty years next year.  Our wedding anniversary is also thirty years in 2021 and both of these events still feel pretty special. 

How many homes have you lived in and are you in your favourite place now?  I hope so! It’s been a long year for all of us with Lockdown and being grateful for where we are at this stage of our lives is definitely a bonus in what has been a strange year.

Take care, stay safe and keep up the good work!  In England the numbers are coming down.  Long may that last.  Stay inside your warm and comfortable home and thank you for your continued readership.  It is most appreciated.

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 20 November

My Desert Island has offered me a lovely escape for the week.  I’ve got one more piece of music left to choose, and as a special treat, I will also share the first piece of music chosen for the inaugural BBC Programme.

Lockdown seems a snip when you know that Desert Island Discs was initially recorded in a bomb-damaged BBC Maida Vale studio on 27th January 1942. The programme’s first celebrity was an American Viennese comedian, actor and musician, Vic Oliver. He didn’t seem very funny to me, but you can see what you think!

The programme was a huge success. The addition of deciding on a luxury item began in 1951 when Sally Ann Howe chose garlic!  A month later a book was added to the items one could take along to the Island and the guest, actor and director Henry Kendall, chose “Who’s Who in the Theatre.” This of course was in addition to the complete works of Shakespeare and the Gideon Bible.  The producers reckoned those Gideon Bible suppliers missed nowhere!

Michael Parkinson took over presenting duties after the death of the series creator and presenter Roy Plomley. Sue Lawley took up the reins followed by Kirsty Young.  Today the programme is presented by Lauren Laverne.

And now for my  final choice! New Zealand has become our second home. We have developed deep and lasting ties with the place and our many friends there.  The sound of Whiramarko Black who sings to us in both English and Maori takes us back there even when the airlines can’t.  Her albums are played regularly in this house, but the one song that always stays with me is “When Did You Leave Heaven?”  I like everything about it!

The first choice of music in 1942 was Chopin’s Étude No.12 in C minor, played by pianist Alfred Cortot. I’m grateful for his choice because I get to have one piece of classical music with me which I must have!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRxGkzmhh-gV

My book would have to be a thesaurus. I would prefer the online version but the print version would do in a pinch.  My luxury item is undoubtedly a supply of Lancome lipstick in varying tones of red.  The Desert Island would definitely make my lips dry and if I catch sight of myself in the water’s reflection, I can remember a different time when I always wore lovely colours!  (Apparently, lipstick sales have dropped 49% since mask wearing began – I still apply mine daily!)

The journey has ended and I’m supposed to choose just one of these discs to save from the waves – it would have to be All You Need Is Love.  Because, in the end, that’s all we really need! I have chosen seven discs all in with the inclusion of Mr. Chopin and there is one more to pick.  I’ll leave that for you!  What’s your choice? Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

One of our favourite ever islands….My real luxury?  I’m not on my own….

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 19 November

That seems like a lot of lockdown days…and indeed it is!  Yet on we go.  Music helps us as we look back on previous times in our life and is especially relevant to those wonderful wondrous times when the stars line up perfectly and despite whatever else is going in the world, we somehow or other meet the person that was the right person for us.  And us for them.

I’ve probably told you already how Terry and I first met, but suffice to say, the lightning flashed and the thunderbolts banged.  Somehow or other, against all the odds, this girl from Shamokin Dam and the boy from Worthing, got together.  There is magic in the world and we shared it when we met and still do now!  Next year we will be married for thirty years and together for nearly thirty-six.  A lot of years! Makes two hundred and fifty days of Lockdown seem a trifle.

The key to our happiness started with the sentiments in this song and carries on. 

We both somehow agreed with Roberta Flack that “our joy would fill the earth”

And so it has.

Thank you to all you wonderful friends who have enabled us to share part of our life with you!  It wouldn’t have been possible had we not stumbled into each other first.  A lot of firsts.  For me, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was a new beginning. 

Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 18 November

When I was a freshman  in High School I joined the choir. I was already a member of the Band and loved music. I can hardly ever remember a time when there wasn’t music of one sort or another playing at me through a speaker.  Choir was different.  Singing together with other people became a total joy, and something I returned to once again later in life. 

Choir did have its drawbacks…the Senior girls…those girls you look up to when you are a Freshmen, taught their fellow young sopranos something I really wish they hadn’t.  They got us all into smoking!  It’s quite hard to believe now.  Before Choir, I hadn’t even thought of smoking.  The glam Senior girls made it seem like an important rite of passage.  The antithesis of Choir!  We rehearsed for our concerts during school, but also in the evenings. The stage was right across from the Women’s Faculty common room which we were allowed to use, and there is where their indoctrination was carried out.  Shame on them.

When I was a senior, I never tried to get anyone else to smoke. And I’d just like to say I totally stopped smoking when I was twenty-six.  It had become a filthy and nasty habit.

Other than that, Choir was great!  We had an amazing student teacher when I was in my Senior year who adored music and taught us a great deal.  We learned how to make music together without accompaniment with just our speech and voices.  The Geographical Fugue.  Two and a half minutes to “sing” and a whole year to learn.

I joined the music appreciation club in High School as well as choir, and learned how to really appreciate everything from Choral Music to the latest pop and rock.

Several years ago, when I retired, I took up my love of singing once more and still belong to a choir today. I spent a few years as the Chair of a Choir and that was enough to make me realise I don’t want to do that side of things anymore.

I just want to sing!  Zoom is not the same as being together, but it beats nothing I suppose.  I sang one of my favourites during lockdown on Zoom which I share with you here…not our Zoom choir I quickly add.

I decided I could choose two pieces of music today because I only have five picks and the Desert Island folks get eight.  Also, The Geographical Fugue is SO different!

So herewith one of my favourite Choral pieces of music. Mozart’s Gloria in Excelsis Deo – a nod to those Catholic roots!

Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 17 November

Today’s desert island song is worth listening to before you read on.  It’s written by

my old friend and mentor, Doc Pomus. 

Johnny Adams sings it as a tribute to the man. 

Doc was a prolific songwriter who I met when I was living in New York City waitressing in a music club called Dr. Generosity’s.  Doc arrived several times a week to listen to the bands.  His driver would drop him off and park his wheelchair at “his” table. As a boy he’d had polio, and later in life he couldn’t manage the crutches anymore and became confined to his wheelchair.  He was larger than life and I was in awe of him.  When I won a song-writing contest. the Manager of the club encouraged me to tell Doc.  When I didn’t, he did.  A few days later I found myself at Doc’s home while I sat across from his wheelchair, watching for what seemed like hours as he silently read every word I’d written and shared with him.  When he finished he sat quietly and stared at me for a time and then said, “Baby, I’m going to tell you something.  You can write.  But this business isn’t for you.”

It was the start of a long and important friendship.  I was in my early twenties and as luck would have it, I lived half a block away.  He had a dog, Solon, that I walked regularly, and on the weekends when his carers and drivers had time off, I’d visit and we’d chat for hours.  They didn’t call him Doc for nothing. I met his son and daughter who were about my age, and in many ways, he treated me like another daughter. He was down to earth and pulled no punches.  I was fed up with New York, and it was his suggestion that I save up and travel to England. “Go have an adventure, think about what you want to do and enjoy yourself.”  I’m not sure I would have ever thought of that on my own!  When I returned from my trip and saw him for the first time, he said, “I didn’t tell you to go and get married!”  But that is what I did. I fell in love with England and my first husband, who Doc never met, was there making it possible to stay.  He met my son, and we stayed at his apartment when we visited New York years later.  Terry met him first without me, and after their visit, Doc called to tell me I was now definitely on the right track.  Nearly thirty years later, I couldn’t agree more!

I learned many things over our hours of chats. Turn a corner.  Never ever give up on your dreams while there’s still breath in you….No matter how long it takes, or what happens on the way.  I’ll think of him a lot while I’m on my desert island listening to my records!

This clip is from a trailer of a documentary about him.  Thanks Doc. You really did help me turn my life around. And the gift of writing is still something I have!

Enjoy! Stay Safe!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 16 November

I’ve decided to escape for a week!  We were supposed to be heading back to the lovely idyll we found on Exmoor, but Lockdown stopped that.  We are not meant to sleep away from our own homes except for business.  Can’t really call our escape to the moors business, can we?  So, instead, I’ve decided to head to my own desert island.  After listening to desert island discs on the BBC for the umpteenth time, I thought what a good idea!  I will do my own version and run away with my records safely stored under my arms, along with the complete works of Shakespeare, the Bible and the one book I am allowed to take with me.  I’m also allowed a luxury item which I will have to think about. I also will share some lovely photographs from my favourite places.  Can you guess where this is? *

If you don’t want to hear my desert island plans, tune in again next Monday.  All this week I plan to escape! No mention of shhhh!  You know what….nor HIM….you know who…instead…a romp through song and fun.

First up.  Oh dear this is harder than I thought it would be… Time to choose though.

Deep breath.  The Beatles. Has to start with them.  One song?  How do you pick one song from the masters? I suppose you stretch back in time and pick the one song that affected you that still stays with you and brings forth memories that you have to this day.  I was a child of the sixties.  When this song arrived in Pennsylvania sometime in the late 60’s I believed them.  The Beatles had arrived on our television screens via The Ed Sullivan show and brought with them a special magic.  The song that I replayed over and over a thousand times though had to be All You Need is Love.  Still relevant.  They tapped into something profound for all of us.  I knew the words of most of their songs, and still can sing along to many.  This one is easy…we all know these words!

There remains something beautiful and simple about this song.  My friends in High School truly believed these words.  We would remind each other of their power when everything else was getting us down.  There was a war on we didn’t believe in, and our families were still trying to step out of their war years and better themselves along the way.  The culture was becoming more permissive, and we embraced the possibility of a certain kind of freedom.  Love is all you need spoke to us all.

How could it not?

Enjoy, have a great day and see you tomorrow with another thought from my desert island! 

*The photo is from Abel Tasman on the South Island of New Zealand.  Not an island nor a desert simply divine place to spend some time…

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 13 November

Friday the 13^th!  Here it is.  The second Friday the 13^th this year.  The first one was in March.  Remember March?  That Friday the 13^th was a few weeks before we were all Locked Down! We knew there was something around but we hadn’t yet realised quite how it was going to change the lives of everyone on the planet. This time we enter the 13^th on a more positive note!  Universities are already gearing up to train medical students to administer vaccines.  Doctors and nurses are being asked to come out of retirement to do the same.  There are plans afoot to get the army involved in the process.  Yea Haw!  We are most likely and hopefully nearing the home stretch of dealing with this disease.  For now though, we still stay locked down, follow the rules, and keep washing those hands for certain.  But there is some hope!  Thanks to the scientists.

I wonder what Christmas will bring?

An irrational fear of Friday the 13^th is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia. But if you are in a Spanish speaking country you’re fine.  Its Tuesday the 13^th that scares people there.  In Italy the fear mongers emerge on Friday the 17^th.

As I’m sitting in Bristol on a beautiful sunny day and don’t intend to worry too much about the date, I thought it might be time for a few funnies to see us into the weekend. 

I’ve spent a lot of the week talking about what is happening across the pond, so thought it was time for some British humour to even things out.    I hope you enjoy some of these snippets of humour.  Just the thing to get over a Friday the 13^th and the mess that’s going on in the White House!

Hadn’t seen these chaps before…this is lockdown teacher humour….

https://www.youtube.com/user/foilarmsandhog

Just a short little hop and a few seconds of the Vicar of Dibley…

Heading to London and Lee Mack…

Enjoy!  Stay safe and see you on Monday.  Batten down the hatches if you are in the UK, we are in for a wild and windy weekend!  Easier to stay in though….

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 12 November

Several years ago when we were travelling from New Zealand back home, we passed through Los Angeles airport.  An entire plane load of people were forced to go through passport control immediately after disembarking the aircraft, even though we couldn’t have got into that area of the terminal if we hadn’t just arrived on the plane.  We stood for ages while two people processed our documents that couldn’t have possibly changed during the twelve or so hour flight.  We were all going on the next flight to London, and were placed in a holding area after this passport control.  We were all tired and fed up with the process. Then, one of the two officials took off with a poor chap who had his arm in plaster.  Then there was one.  By the time it came to our turn, I asked the man why there were so few people doing this job, and pointed out that it didn’t need to happen in the first place. I suggested that it gave people a terrible first impression of the States.  He agreed but said he couldn’t do anything about it. I asked him if he might speak to his manager and explain how people were upset and complaining.  He said he would. 

Then Trump was elected.  I thought twice about saying anything like that to an airport official during his tenure as the temperature had changed. We all became more wary of each other.  Fortunately, the situation didn’t occur again so I didn’t find out if I would have found my voice. 

Do you tell people who are not wearing masks, or wearing them improperly to put them on, or tell their superior to tell them?  Do you stand up for what you believe even when everyone else is taking the other view? Do you go along with whatever is being said or do you make your distinct voice heard?  Would you call out homophobia or racism if you encountered it?  If you answered yes to any of these questions the likelihood is that you are a moral rebel.  Having a psychological name attached to this behaviour is new to me.  Finally, there seems to be some science to explain why some people don’t follow the crowd.

Neuroscience research tells us that an ability to stand up to social influence can be seen in the brain!  People who want to fit in have more gray matter in the orbitofrontal cortex of the brain.  This is the place where memories are stored and those who have been rejected by their group hold onto these events in this area just behind their eyebrows.  Also, two other areas of brain activity are more responsive in those who have been excluded.  These people feel the worst and do all they can to fit in.

Moral rebels on the other hand feel pretty good about themselves.  They have  confidence about their own judgment, values and ability.  They also believe that their views are superior and that they have a social responsibility to share them, according to Psychologist Catherine Sanderson. She tells us that moral rebels “aren’t worried about feeling embarrassed or having an awkward interaction. Perhaps most importantly, they are far less concerned about conforming to the crowd. So, when they have to choose between fitting in and doing the right thing, they will probably choose to do what they see as right.”

Before we moral rebels get too carried away, it is probably useful to remember that the same mechanisms are in play for say, vocal anti abortionists as well as pro abortionists. A sense of smugness isn’t helpful; knowing you’re right is probably best tempered with a dose of reality.  Facts help. 

Still.  It does feel like the new occupant of the White House gives many of us a bit more of a sense of surety about what we believe.  It certainly makes speaking up possible again. 

Stay safe, and enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 11 November

Lockdown has become the Collins dictionary word of the year!  Lockdown is defined by the publishers as “the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces.”  The word has seen a 6000% increase throughout the world in the past year. 

 Let’s hope that the word of the year for 2021 is Vaccine. Or possibly even Science.  Yesterday’s news about the success of the first vaccine to progress to the stage of nearly jab ready has been so welcome.  The oldies and those caring for them in nursing homes will be the first in line for the vaccine here, followed by the older well folks.  These are the people most at risk. An enormous distribution task is already underway.  Light at the end of our lockdown tunnel! Jabs by spring would be good!  We can wait.  Knowing that we can see the vaccination headlights in the tunnel is enough to cheer us!

In America, the toddler in the White House refuses to go, claiming unsubstantiated voter fraud. Fox News even cut away from the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, when she repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.  “Whoa, whoa, whoa”  the Fox anchor Neil Cavuto said: “Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue to show you this.”

The first actual voter fraud case in this election in Pennsylvania was a Mr. Robert Lynn who requested a mail in ballot for his dead mother. The election officials had cross checked databases with voter registration and discovered that the request was fraudulent as the person was deceased. The address was visited by officials.

In late October officials handed Mr. Lynn a warrant for his arrest. He was placed on $10,000 dollar bail and a trial will be held later this month. Pa election officials are confident of their vote tally and one can see why!  They are scrupulous in their work. Voter fraud is punishable by fines of up to $25,000 and up to five years in prison. 

The registered Republican will be the first case of voter fraud in Luzerne County Pennsylvania in thirty years.

Last time around when Hilary lost there were discussions of voter fraud. I thought it might have been possible because of the alleged interference in the election by Russia.  However as an astute member of my family reminded me, without proof there is no case and I was being Trump like in my concerns.  Fair cop.  America has lots of problems. Voter fraud isn’t one of them.

Still, it’s going to be a long few months until January.  But thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Be safe.  Stay locked down if you live in England, and wherever you are, wear a mask!  We aren’t there yet.

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 10 November

The day started with sun and a glorious tramp around Ashton Court in Bristol, just over the Suspension Bridge. 

The trees are still clinging to their leaves in some cases, a bit like Trump clinging to his Presidency.  But the inevitable in both cases will occur; the leaves will fall and Trump will go. 

The most splendid news bulletin arrived just before lunch and the excitement is already heating up the stock market all over the globe.  Pfizer and BioNTech have tested their vaccine on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.  They are racing ahead with developing huge amounts of vaccine and hope to have 30 million injections available to use before the end of the month.  The dose is delivered twice three weeks apart and is said to work for 90 per cent of recipients.  The company described the breakthrough as a “great day for science and humanity”.  I’ll say! 

Between having treatments that actually work, and a vaccine, science will get us off of Zoom and back into contact with each other.  There are still eleven other main vaccines that are in late stage trials and hopefully will also prove effective.  We eagerly await more news on all of these and give the scientists a huge round of applause.  Brilliant people doing a sterling job!

Apparently the numbers of young people wanting to work in health care and make a difference in the work that they will eventually do, has soared.  Both medical and nursing school applications have gone up since the pandemic began.  It is so heart warming that young people have seen the kind of difference that they might make to their communities and are voting with their feet and preparing to enter the profession. Thank you to all of you and good luck, too!

My pastime when I’m not writing to you all, or writing generally, is often playing word games as I’ve previously mentioned.  Sometimes when playing Words with friends, I come up with words I’ve never heard of before as I shift my tiles around on the board and I have to look up the word that the game board accepts and is new to me.  Today was a cracker!

Bork.  Hmmm?  Bork?  Danish for something or other perhaps?  At least Scandy! It sounds like the words that those noir Scandy detectives use after all.  But no.  Bork according to my online dictionary, means “to discredit a candidate for some position by savaging his or her career and beliefs.”  It seemed a fitting word with all the hoo-ha going on in America at the moment. (hoo-ha by the way is NOT in my online dictionary however, my spell check on word accepts it with a hyphen – I think we all know what that word means…)

Back to Bork. From 1973 to 1977, Robert Bork, served as Solicitor General under President Nixon. He became Acting US Attorney General after his superiors resigned rather than fire Special Prosecutor Cox who was investigating the Watergate tapes and wanted them to be handed over by Nixon. Despite others declining to fire Cox, he followed Nixon’s orders and did the job.   When Regan was President, he nominated Bork for the Supreme Court.  Bork had a history of advocating for views that Right Wing Conservatives were happy about. He was an Originalist, (getting a bit scary now isn’t it?).  Fortunately, the person in charge of the Senate Judiciary Committee which was responsible for the hearings to confirm Bork’s placement was one very young Senator, Mr. Joseph Biden.  He was an astute man who worked on both sides of the political divide and carefully enabled Bork to be demolished. The Senate did not approve his nomination.  Biden was clever enough to let the man speak for and discredit himself.  Bork.

There certainly is a great deal of knowledge and experience that will come in handy for the new President Elect.  I learned all about this because I just happened to have the letters to spell Bork on my game board.  See what a little curiosity will do for you?

Stay curious, it’s a fascinating world.

Thank heavens those Scientists think so too!

Stay safe.

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 9 November

We spent a very stressed out weekend watching the news feeds and waiting.  Would the count go to Biden?  YES was the final answer!  When it came, many around the world breathed a sigh of relief.  America has been pulled back from the brink.  Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46^th President of the United States.  Kamala Harris will become the first female Vice President.  She is of Jamaican and Indian heritage and is the first woman of colour.  The ceiling has finally been broken.  There is glass everywhere! 

CNN, The Beeb, all the television networks worked round the clock to provide us all with the news as it became available. It looked good for Biden/Harris on Friday, but it wasn’t until Saturday that we popped the champagne corks.  The tears flowed.  It is surprising how many people cried when they heard the news. Van Jones, a CNN and an experienced lawyer, spoke so eloquently through his tears. If you haven’t seen this, it is worth a watch.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiwuZLm_PPsAhViRxUIHcB7D7gQwqsBMAB6BAgDEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9eMoCW1Pq54&usg=AOvVaw1UPFj1t4FzYsm1rQb_3YV5

It is as though, collectively, we are  all relieved that the grownups are back.  They had taken a long holiday and trusted the kids with the keys to the house but the kids  trashed the place and held parties they shouldn’t have.

Unfortunately, the present incumbent doesn’t want to leave. He is claiming (falsely) that the election was stolen, and that there was fraud.  These unsubstantiated claims are still being regurgitated by some of his followers as they stood outside the Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg, and in Phoenix, Arizona over the weekend. And they carry guns.  Those who want the country to continue on the course of the past four years, still wish to follow that path.  And there are millions of them.  It remains a divided nation. This election victory has brought it back from the brink, but how will it unite?  Biden has a lot of work to do. 

Meantime, in Moscow, lawmakers are currently considering legislation that would grant ex presidents lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution. That might come in handy for Mr. Putin who is reported to be suffering from Parkinson’s disease and might step down in the next few months. He is shaking and walking with the Parkinsonian gait according to several sources.  We shall see. 

Covid is still on the march though and Bristol has become the 12^th worst infected city in the country.  In England, there are tests being carried out on all the residents in Liverpool and later this week, two other towns in England will test everyone in an attempt to identify where the virus is and how it is spreading. They plan to repeat tests as they pilot the full testing.  The hope is if these tests work, we might, just might, have a festive Christmas.  Lockdown is with us until December 2. 

Who knows what will happen after that?

The world may just be a very different place come January. An inauguration!   A possible change of ruler in Moscow!  A vaccine?  Fingers crossed. 

Take care and I leave you with a little something from New York. Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 6 November

What a week!  Lockdown started yesterday here in England, and in America, Donald Trump won’t go away. He thinks he’s packed the Supreme Court with enough people who will overturn the outcome of the election that Joe Biden may win. We still don’t know. But it is close!  What a morally corrupt despot the man is. He has unleashed a wave of hate that is hard to watch.  Let’s hope there will be some sanity restored soon.

Burglars tried to break into our garage last night.  But they were foiled!  Our shiny new mechanised garage door stopped them. Unfortunately, they have broken the door in the process so we have to get a new one.

The excess on our insurance is not insignificant.  Just as well the thieves didn’t get in.  I would have been unhappy if I lost my Lockdown bike and helmet which were literally just inside the door.  There has been a spate of burglaries and bike thefts in our area.  Car windows have been smashed in order to get the goodies people may have left inside. Covid hasn’t stopped thievery. In a further development just now, a neighbour from a street away rang the bell and told us he saw three young guys trying to break into the garage last night!  These chaps were dressed in black with Halloween masks on and he saw them as he was parking his car. Shining the headlights on the trio meant they high tailed it.  Solidarity in neighbourhoods is high!  Bored and fed up young potential thieves is, sadly, also high.    

The week has been a glorious one weather wise and it is hard to get too upset when the sun is shining and the birds tweeting and chirping as they ought. (and the thieves didn’t actually steal anything)   Nevertheless, three Guardian writers Steven Morris Nazia Parveen and Helen Piddfrom proclaimed in an article that we in England are all united by our gloom.  Speak for yourself you three writers! 

We are not all feeling a sense of gloom.  What’s the point?  We are in lockdown whether we are miserable or content and for me content always wins.  I am aware that I am in a fortunate position, there is no job to dash off to, I don’t have to worry about the bills, I’m not furloughed and there are no kids here to support.  There isn’t anyone but my darling hubby and I here either.  We are not able to have people round even in the garden, but we are allowed to walk with one other person.  My diary has two friends a week booked in throughout lockdown. Keeping up with friends is important and walking is great. Win win.  Pilates helps as well. 

The routines we developed early on in the lockdown help.  We order everything on line, still wash the groceries when our Key Worker brings them from Sainsbury’s, and continue to have tea or coffee together on the swing at the bottom of the garden a couple of times a day.  Some days we will need an umbrella to get there and back, and other days gloves and hats, but we will still go. And we leave behind any devices.  We enjoy the garden, each other’s company and a good chat about whatever.  Having these sorts of moments together is important and a part of what keeps us bouncy and focused on the good things.  It is our sanctuary.  Where’s yours? And who do you share it with?

The weekend is upon us again and we might just have to go back to our friend Zoom to hold a dinner party or two.  We won’t be sitting around anyone else’s table, or they ours for a month. Where would we be without Zoom?  Choir! Pilates! Dinners! Courses! And the rest….

Lockdown Two, the sequel.  Let’s hope it works. Take care. Stay safe, and whatever you get up to – enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 5 November

Thank you to so many of you who sent emails and texts and cheery thoughts about the election.  My favourite ….

The answer so far is sadly, not yet.  And he may win.  That is what a democracy is about.  The people vote and the choice is made.  Having said that, it is clear that there has been mischief in the process.  I didn’t say fraud, but mischief.  From the beginning, and it hasn’t reached its conclusion yet.  Nevertheless a huge proportion of voters want Trump and all that he stands for. Many people adore him. He is (to them) a charismatic leader who puts two fingers up to Covid, Laws, Rules and they think somehow with him at the helm they could have a piece of the American Dream.  We don’t share the same values, that is clear.  The fact that many Americans want Trump speaks volumes about the country I once called home. 

Voting mischief has been around for centuries.  The original Electoral College was framed so that populations in the South were not disadvantaged by having slaves. There were half a million slaves in the South and of course they could not vote. But they were counted as two fifths of a person and all population numbers counted toward the number of Electoral College votes.  The more slaves a state had, the more votes! Freeing slaves meant losing votes!

Further mischief with representation occurred after the 1920 census revealed that people were moving into the cities from the countryside disadvantaging the Republican vote.  It was the Republicans who then capped the numbers of seats in the House of Representatives which means that smaller states still have a huge advantage with electoral college votes.

Two short articles on these subjects here! 

https://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-3-2020?r=a7qc7&utm_campaign=post&u

It’s a lovely day, the election results are not all in and who knows who will be in the White House for the next four years?

We shall see. 

Meantime, a little something to lighten the mood. Little Karen from Outnumbered gets it about right…..

Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 4 November

There is a lag in time zones with England five hours ahead of the States (as well as several centuries) and of course if you hadn’t guessed I always write this the day before it goes up on the web.  So I have no information yet about the election. People are still voting in America.  At this stage all I can do is wait and hope and get my hair cut! 

With lockdown arriving Thursday, I booked the last slot at my hairdressers that’s available until late December.  Popular hairdresser!  I was watching the local news and our kindly anchor man spoke about getting a haircut and how he got it shorter than usual as it would be a time before he could have it cut again.  I got on the web and snapped up the appointment. Like many other things, they will be closed for a month from Thursday. Who says I’m not influenced by television?

The day is gorgeous today and looking outside both our front and rear gardens are a vision of Autumn. The colours are golden and the leaves nearly off some of the trees.  Its crisp and cold and my fisherman is out on the lake for his last fish of the season.  Last week he caught the biggest trout of his year and our neighbours with three kids were the recipients of his efforts.  There is a limit to how much trout a couple can eat!  As it is we are having smoked trout for dinner and there are fish cakes in the freezer that will be eaten soon.  Along with who knows how many other trout in the freezer that will get us through the winter.

As I listen to Radio New Zealand Concert while I type, I’m thinking of what I would normally be doing this time of the year.  November means preparing for our Summer trip to New Zealand as we have done for the past nine years.  Summer clothes are carefully arranged in piles and sandals are brushed up and ready for packing.  It’s also the start of Christmas preparations because we have an early celebration with the family before we go.  And then of course it’s the preparation for the Christmas Choral Concert.  That usually determines the date we leave.  Not this year.  No concert, no Christmas celebration at the beginning of December.

When we get to NZ again next year (hope so!!!!!) my aim is to have an extra month.  At least.  We shall see.  Meantime, Lockdown begins on Thursday and I have two walks planned with girlfriends.  We are allowed to walk outdoors with one person.  My diary will be filled with friends to walk with as it is the only way we will manage to see each other – and that, my friends, remains an important thing to do. Safely and outside masked up  is the way to go.

Stay safe, enjoy and don’t let the news depress you.  Sometimes, it gives you useful tips like time to get your hair cut!  Take the good stuff from it…..

And if you need a real gem today…here tis!  Thanks dear Kate in Arizona for this one.

More on this story from the Associate Press here…

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-poland-europe-courts-warsaw-5a0d8970a2422290d2338b9bbb2f1fde

My Polish genes are feeling very pleased!

Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 3 November

This weekend we heard Mr. Johnson, our very own Boris give us the news we had hoped we would have heard about three weeks ago.  That we were headed into another lockdown.  This time he has a bit more information for us than he had at the beginning of lockdown back in April. This time he has Scientific evidence to tell him that he got the timing all wrong and without a lockdown he will have presided over a country that cannot cope with the Covid wave that is hitting.  He is standing up in the commons getting a vote on the plan he already announced.  What a leader! Some clarity would be good.  And consistency.

I don’t want this anymore than anyone else does, to be clear.  But I know it is needed.  Here is a fantastic video explanation for why this is necessary. It comes from El Pais in Spain and has been making the rounds, and rightfully so.  If you were in any doubt whatsoever that we need to stop seeing each other, this might help you to understand why.

https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html

The election is carrying on in America and as far as Trump is concerned the doctors are lying.  Here is what he had to say at a rally in Michigan over the weekend  in a baseless claim that his base lapped up. “Our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid. You know that, right? I  mean, our doctors are very smart people.” 

Yes Donald they are, and they have been telling you for months what to do instead of infecting American citizens and brazenly lying to them.  Let us hope that sense will prevail.

Estimates from a Stanford Uiversity study suggest that 30,000 people have been infected at his rallies, with 700 people dying.  It is beyond belief.

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-10-31/super-spreading-trump-rallies-led-to-more-than-700-covid-19-deaths-study

It might be a good time to watch a New York times interactive Anxious Guide to the Election.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/27/us/elections/election-2020-questions.html

We shall soon see what the next steps will be in this election. In the meantime, it must be time for some light relief.  Let’s hope real relief arrives soon.

And, as so often, I turn to Mr. Randy Rainbow to give us the last song of the election.

Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x