March 17, 2008:  Happy St Patrick's Day!  Irish greetings to all, especially to brother Bob who is spending this happy day on dry land in Cork, Ireland.

Bob sailed from Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands to Lisbon, where a good time was had by all, to Cobh, Ireland, aboard the tall ship Roald Amundsen, enduring a fierce storm near Cork.  Since I repeatedly warned him this was the second worst bit of sea in the world in the absolute worst time of the year (And if I know this being the queen of seasickness, how bad must it be?), you would think he'd have rethought the voyage.  Instead, a merry time was had by all.  Congratulations to the entire crew for their excellent seamanship.

On a different note today, The Oklahoman, the local paper, ran an article by Peter Duffy about the financial support the Choctaw tribe gave to the Irish people during the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-52 while Queen Victoria's government was allowing food to be exported from Ireland, pretty much over the dead and dying bodies of the starving.  Duffy reminded us that mass starvation still exists and we could honor the Choctaw Nation by duplicating their generosity.  

Jane Marie and Bruce on the campaign trail at the Amelia Island St Patrick's Day Parade

March 9, 2008:  Mistaken Identity  The other week (when I obviously wasn't writing here), I got an e-mail from a very nice woman named Merrily (Harris) Snider.  Merrily is searching for a classmate named Jane Marie for the October 2009 50th class reunion of Edina-Morningside Senior High School in Edina, Minnesota.  Our Jane Marie has never been to Minnesota, though she love to go, and won't be going to her 50th reunion for a few more years, but I am amazed by how many of us have the same name.  Nancy Kamp is a Dutch doctor and lots of other women as well as yours truly.  The other day I met a woman who insisted she was my husband's sister with whom she had gone to grade school.  Guess who doesn't have a sister.

January 8, 2007  Keeping Up   I didn't write a thing for these pages in December of 2007, although I held and voiced strong opinions on many subjects ranging from politics to O'Hare Airport.  Now, I've closed up Teddy O's Oklahoma Centennial Blog and am attempting to come up with a fresh look at the world around me. 

Let's see, human trafficking and terrorist idiocy continue.  Everyone wants to lose weight, and I still have too much to do.  But for what it's worth, I know I can't do it all, so my belated vow for the new year is to do what I can, vote for the best presidential candidate possible when my primary comes, and enjoy each day.  And sometimes, I will count my blessings.

April 29, 2008:  China Thoughts  I spent the beginning of the year planning our trip to China, and now that we are home, I should have something profound to say.  Here goes:

China is amazing.  The land of Chairman Mao has joined the world.  I remember Jane Marie's story of handing out individual sticks of gum to orphans living near Hong Kong who had apparently never had a present before.  Today's Chinese are pulling themselves out of Communist poverty and into world domination faster than you can imagine unless you go there.  The price is pollution.  The land, water and air are sick.  While I agree with the much maligned (in the Chinese press) Dalai Lama that the Olympics should not be boycotted or interfered with for political reasons, I don't know if the air will be clean enough for track events.  I hope so.  Isolating an emerging giant just doesn't make sense.  We are all in this together.

May 14, 2008:  Body Counts  Even as we rejoiced that our Jill wasn't anywhere near the epicenter of the latest killer quake in China, we mourned the thousands lost there and in Burma's typhoon with its sad, sad governmental mismanagement of the recovery.  All this while Oklahoma and its neighbors are sorting through the rubble left behind by killer tornadoes.  And, oh, terrorism keeps on rearing its ugly head.  No wonder I recommend Matt Beynon Rees mystery series about a Palestinian teacher who tries to do the right thing.  Begin with The Collaborator of Bethlehem if you need a mystery with a soul.