5 1/2 months later....at least there's no zombies!

Wow, I’d actually forgotten how hot the summers are here- although it’s apparently hotter than last year- bloody hell!! I was in good Old Blighty this time last year….. how different things were then. I think we’ve all aged 10 years! Anyway it was 39 degrees all last week in the Valley as we are known and over 42 degrees, the hottest on record in Death Valley – a couple of hours away from us. Notice the weather report photo mentions an incident near 'Spunky Canyon Road'. :-) I am getting used to the heat and having aircon really helps, but 🥵no looking glamorous for me in this heat- I look like a tomato🥵 and my makeup floods off when I’m outside.

In these mad times, I've been listening to Radio KCPP which is like Radio 4 and actually does have BBC World news on which makes it all seem much more sane. We don’t know how lucky we are having the BBC – imagine all news channels were set up like Piers Morgan on his breakfast show, it’s exhausting and terrifying to watch!

Amongst the police shootings, militia vigilantes, Trump’s tweets, protests and rioting are news items about new laws allowing employers to opt out of contraception coverage from the medical policies of employees (specifically if they have religious views against it). Ultimately the employer gets to dictate how you live your life – it’s actually horrific.

Fox News are still saying there’s no scientific evidence masks should be worn. Tucker Carlson a supposed journalist at a push... newsreader- well possibly- gets millions of viewers for every show, where he just gets on his soapbox and spouts the most horrendously racist and bigoted soundbites. There are articles where he is considering running for president in 2024- what a country. He even said this week that he felt that the 17 year old that used an assault rifle to kill 2 protesters was justified as he felt he was protecting his country from the riots. Trump of course incited all of this. We just cannot imagine this on UK TV - madness!

‘Carlson himself has been repeatedly accused of making racist remarks on-air, and was earlier this week hailed as a potential replacement for Mike Pence as Donald Trump’s 2020 running mate by former KKK leader David Duke.’

The DNC – Democratic National Convention week of speeches was admittedly anti – Trump, but let’s be frank – anyone with ½ a brain would be surely!!! At least there were some inspiring speeches and Biden spoke well with hope. The RNC week was absolutely horrific (I know I've already used this word, but there is no other word to describe it). DT Jnr looked drugged up to the eyeballs and his girlfriend ( who used to be married to Newsom, our California Governor of all people - he sounds like Better Call Saul actor which doesn't always inspire confidence), screamed into the microphone to a hall which was empty. She reminded me of someone trying to hard to be like Eva Peron. The speeches were filled with hate and fear. Frightening times indeed!!

There is talk of what it will be like if he wins (frightening) and what if he loses (also frightening). Trump is saying that he won’t accept the results if mail voting is used – a vital tool one might say during the pandemic. Civil war has been mentioned many times on the news and in American facebook posts. I am hopeful that this is just part of the paranoia that seems to be very much part of the American psyche. Don’t get me started on Kanye…

Take the couple brandishing guns on black protesters marching past their house to the Mayors house down the road (demanding her resignation because she’d read the names of the protest letters sent to her live on air). They had their house searched by police after the event and the rifle the man was holding was confiscated....but Missouri has a number of laws called ‘open carry’ and ‘stand your ground’ which means that you can carry and show a weapon if you feel threatened. To top it all Trump had them represent the Republican party in their convention week- nutters!!! If you can, catch Sarah Cooper and Randy Rainbow on twitter, they are rays of sunshine out of the Trump swamp.

Thank goodness I have family, UK friends and the UK Quiz Team each week which helps keep me grounded and is like therapy, being able to sound off about the madness here. In a chorus zoom meeting, I let my guard down and made a couple of flippant remarks about vaccines and the fact I supported taking racist lyrics out of songs and one of the ladies decided it was ok to send me a private chat saying I was being very sour against Americans. Of course what I wanted to say was – Yes I am sour, cynical, flabbergasted, confused and (again) horrified by what I’m seeing here, but in my British way, I thought it was best to ignore her ……………….. 😊

In other news…..I set up and ran a quiz for 63 people for Mark’s company – I’m getting much better at zoom now. I also run the tech aspect for Chorus and play all the music online.

So being part of the board of chorus is interesting in these times. We had a virtual Region 11 training conference at the end of July which was ‘attended’ by over 300 people. I was part of the tech team for that, which involved opening up the rooms virtually, running the sound and monitoring the chat rooms. I presented 2 quizzes and a virtual cocktail ½ hour (I just presented what I’d seen at the Bombay Sapphire cocktail masterclass) with added stories of UK life. People were impressed with my use of the swirly spoon to pour the ginger beer into the gin cocktail. I was ‘virtually’ worn out on the Sunday.

https://www.bombaysapphire.com/distillery/gin-cocktails/the-laverstoke/

Mark and I have been growing veggies and it was going so well until we went away for a week and the watering system didn’t work. After 39 degree heat for a week we got back to things fried to a crisp!!!

I have nearly completed my year Fine Art foundation in 5 months and am planning to carry on with the degree next month. I am really enjoying it and wish I had done it years ago. The pottery studio has reopened, with temperature taking, social distancing and masks and my wheel throwing is improving, although my glasses keep fogging up! The owner Hanna is an excellent teacher and so patient.

Mark has been helping me volunteer for the Animal shelter making up the Kongs each week, but they closed the centre near us, so now I volunteer at the local Food bank, making up packages for the homeless who are walk ups and low income families. The people they serve now have trebled in numbers since Covid. It’s humbling.

We decided to take a few trips out and spent a few days travelling up north towards Santa Barbara, Oxnard and Ventura and then we followed the Pacific Coast Highway south to Santa Monica (one of my favourite places) and onto Long Beach (my new favourite place). We were looking at houses to rent in these places as they are so beautiful, but they were around $7k a month, with no pool. it is outrageously expensive in this region. We have decided to stay put, enjoy our pool and go to these places at weekends!

We went on a road trip too, travelling South. I wanted to cross the Mexican border as we are only a couple of hours away, but as discussed before, Trump has changed the immigration rules, so we wouldn’t be able to get back in!

So, we travelled across the San Bernardino valley basin, through to Palm Springs in the hottest part of the year. Palm Springs is a desert town and if the electricity went and there was no aircon, I think they would all be cooked alive. Restaurants were seating people outside and they had sprayed water aircon to cool us down – my god it was hot. We went into shops every few yards just to stop from fainting. We also went to Joshua Tree Park which was truly inspiring. In our infinite wisdom we decided a mile hike would be fine…. Mad dogs and Englishman and all that. After walking for ½ hour, we were trying to stand in the shade of the Joshua trees (which let me tell you is very difficult). They are the right shape though. My face went a bright beetroot and we sat for 20 minutes in the car with the aircon on to recover. I wonder how many people get lost there and if they are ever found after being eaten by the wildlife.

San Diego was next and we loved it. It has such history and lovely architecture. We went on a city tram ride and saw the sites. Old Town was wonderful with Mexican building and crafts as well as wonderful restaurants. The marina was beautiful, with Spanish galleons, but all closed apart from the USS Midway which had the flight deck open. Little Italy was beautiful too. We stayed on the Coronado Island which had the most fantastic bridge spanning the habour. The Hotel Del Coronado is a Victorian masterpiece and was featured in the film, ‘Some Like It Hot’. It was magical and we loved every minute.

After a lovely trip to San Diego Zoo, we went onto Temecula Valley, which is South California’s version of Napa Valley. Miles upon miles of vineyards with hotels attached to them. We stayed in a vineyard called Ponte and basically sat by the lovely large pool overlooking the vineyard and drank copious amounts of wine. The restaurant was closed so the chef was prepping food to eat by the pool which was open until 10pm. What a lovely way to end the week. We travelled home with hangovers, but happy.

Of course what I haven’t mentioned through the politics and travel is how much we miss family and friends and how much we miss the UK culture and humour, but we have each other, the doggies and of course the blue skies and sunshine – it could be far worse couldn’t it?

Keep safe and well everyone. Sending much love (and peace).

Can you just imagine the parties we will have when all this is over? I can……